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Post by Hezz on Jun 29, 2018 1:30:43 GMT
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Post by clt80 on Jun 29, 2018 5:38:27 GMT
Is that your garden Hezz?? It's like a lovely rain forest I love it. Do these chooks roam about? I take it they aren't yours? Hoppy  i wonder whatever happened to his leg. |
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Post by jellybean on Jun 29, 2018 6:53:31 GMT
Wow!!!! That is some garden Hezz. Are those the Scrub Turkeys?? They certainly know who's good to them 😀 |
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Post by Shirls on Jun 29, 2018 7:07:52 GMT
Fantastic!!! Love the pictures Hezz, did you take them or the OH? How wonderful that they now know to come and see you to get fed.  I'd love it to have so many big birdies to visit. |
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Post by samwiseg on Jun 29, 2018 7:52:29 GMT
Wow they are spelndid aren't they?! Are poor Hoppy  - looks like he might have had a break at the top of his leg? Glad he can come and feed from your garden  |
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Post by Hezz on Jun 29, 2018 10:42:12 GMT
clt80, yes that is our driveway. You can just see the street almost in the middle of the first photo. The "chooks" obviously are not proper chooks, and as jellybean has guessed correctly are our own wild native brush turkeys. They are native, they are protected and they are wild, not owned by anyone and free-roaming. We don't have a fence; the dog, Mac, has an electronic fence, so the birds are free to wander through at will. Shirls, samwiseg .. I saw them all waiting in the drizzle from the deck, so decided to give them a feed, and take the camera down with me, so yes, Moi was the camera operator. Hoppy is the initial reason I started feeding them on a semi-regular basis. You might remember that about 18 months ago, around Xmas, I noticed that one of the birds was very badly injured - I think attacked by a dog - and not getting around very well. As a forager, trying to get by on one leg had to be really tough. I felt very sorry for him, got some wild bird seed and started throwing it out for him when I saw him. At the time there were actually two injured, but the hen recovered nicely. Hoppy will always be the way he is now, I feel; the leg hasn't gotten any better over the time. I think the same as you, Sam, that the leg must have been broken. He is only a youngster, injured before he got his colours and wattle, but don't be fooled; he can hold his own at a blow-off between the boys, even though you can see that he limps more straight after. He used to come to the back door and tap on the glass. I would give him his own bowl of seed out at the back door, but then the one of the other toms woke up to that so we had to call that quits.  While still a wild bird, Hoppy will take food out of the dish while I am still holding it, and is happy to keep eating while I shoo the others away so he gets a decent amount. It was really good to see him today to see him nice and healthy, albeit hoppy. I did worry for a time there that he might have gone to God, a few months ago.
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Post by samwiseg on Jun 29, 2018 17:45:44 GMT
Well you've started something now Hezz so you cant really stop it can you! Bet they love you now am so glad Hoppy found you and came back for that matter, as he may have struggled in life a lot more even may not have survived bless him  x |
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Post by clt80 on Jun 29, 2018 19:55:51 GMT
It all looks lovely! You have a dog? What breed? Any pics? |
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Post by Hezz on Jun 30, 2018 0:36:14 GMT
Well you've started something now Hezz so you cant really stop it can you! Bet they love you now am so glad Hoppy found you and came back for that matter, as he may have struggled in life a lot more even may not have survived bless him x That's what I was worried about, Sam. They really are just like chooks - great scratchers - and how hard must it be to forage with only one good leg?? Had to laugh at them; it is still rainy, and this morning is a typical feed-morning. I had 17, Hoppy was there again, plus four little peaceful doves. It all looks lovely! You have a dog? What breed? Any pics? Mac-the-mutt-Dog is a lab cross. He's a rescue dog and comes with his own suitcase full of baggage. Doesn't like men, storms, flies, dogs that bark at him, people that look at him (okay, I made that bit up ) acts as though there might be a storm somewhere on the planet even if there is not a cloud to be found over our whole general area, has had a broken leg in four places from being bitten by the previous owners' other dog, and came to us terribly thin and afraid of everything. Plus he has survived a paralysis tick. This was taken last year.  |
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Post by clt80 on Jun 30, 2018 5:55:36 GMT
Ah Mac he's a beaut. Sounds like he had a troubled life before you got him, poor soul. What's he like with the budgies and Loki? |
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Post by Hezz on Jun 30, 2018 10:20:30 GMT
Ah Mac he's a beaut. Sounds like he had a troubled life before you got him, poor soul. What's he like with the budgies and Loki? (Must explain that he is wearing his own name tag from my work. Someone suggested a work-pet mascot thing so I stuck Mac's name over mine for the photo.) He was only 12-18months old when we picked him up, and we have had him for six years as of the end of Feb. He is really good with the birds. In fact I trust him more than I would trust most people, not that he ever gets in the same space without cage bars between him and the budgies. I have used him as guard dog against raptors when the buds have been out getting some sun, and I have had to duck inside for a minute. "Sit,stay, Mac" and he will sit right beside the cage without showing the slightest bit of naughty interest in the contents of the cage. There is a six-eight month old great dane pup across the road who has been coming up to play with Mac on a regular basis the last few weeks, and I really get to appreciate how Mac is with the birds, because this pup is very, VERY interested in Lokki, and not in a good way, I feel. I would hate for him to get anywhere close to any of the birds. The difference there being (I think) that the birds were already here when Mac came to stay; they were already part of the furniture, so to speak. Plus, they are my birds, and basically Mac is my dog, as I'm the one who walks him, takes him to the vet, washes him. I'm not always the one who feeds him, but probably about 60% of the time. |
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Post by jellybean on Jun 30, 2018 11:58:49 GMT
What made you take him on Hezz knowing his background and behaviour, most people would run a mile. Well done to you. He's a beauty. |
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Post by Hezz on Jul 1, 2018 1:04:04 GMT
We didn't know much about him initially, jellybean. The rescue centre could only work with what they had been told by the people who gave him up - "that he didn't get along with their other dog". When we took him on they weren't aware that the leg had been broken - they thought they were only treating a bite - and it was only after we had had him for about a month and he jumped out of the back of the ute before I got the tailgate down for him; this re-fractured the weak semi-healed breaks. The centre was very good about it and covered the costs of XRay, meds etc. I got the impression that he had been beaten with a stick or something similar early on as he was scared of me picking up an umbrella to take him for a walk. He trembled all over when I walked him down to the shops for a paper etc; that has gotten better, thankfully. The storm issue, unfortunately, has gotten worse and worse and we feel that he is a bit delusional as well, or maybe he is just more sensitive to certain vibes than we can know. He is an odd-bod, but all in all he's good. He got antsy about sleeping at the front of the house when I got a bad cold and slept in the back bedroom for about a week. Was that coincidence or was it because of me? Shrug. So you see, he is a mixed bag of good and weird issues that only he could explain. |
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Post by clt80 on Jul 1, 2018 7:11:15 GMT
How truly heartbreaking if he had been beaten. Sometimes I just don't understand the human race and how some can be so cruel.
Alfie is a rescue, he was about 18mths old when we got him. The council found him as a stray in a rough area. He shakes if he sees a tall, bald man approach him. The last time a man looking like this had his little daughter with him and asked if she could stroke Alfie, when I realised Alfie was panicking I of course said sorry but no, picked Alfie up and walked away. So I've always thought his previous owner was of this description.
They never quite forget do they.
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Post by jellybean on Jul 1, 2018 7:37:08 GMT
I'm so glad he ended up in a loving caring home.
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I'd love it to have so many big birdies to visit. 
- looks like he might have had a break at the top of his leg?
x