Adventures of the Bird Whisperer

This week on "The Bird Whisperer..." 

I was sitting at my computer checking on the weather after the sky had suddenly become quite dark and ominous, when from behind me a small voice said, "Mom?"

I turned around and saw...

"They all wanted to come out!" she stated proudly. Apparently my 9-year-old is practicing for her future in Olympic Poultry Handling!

From left to right: White guinea, pearl guinea, chicken, pearl guinea, my daughter (A.K.A. "The Bird Whisperer"), white guinea.  Imagine how this would look in another month when all those guineas are about the size of house cats.

So while admittedly I was laughing my head off and worried I wouldn't get to my camera fast enough, I was also a little freaked out thinking about what would happen if all 4 guineas suddenly got scared of something - like a raging dust bunny - (because guineas do less-than-brilliant crap like that) and each flew off through the house in a different direction?

I wasn't so worried about Mills the chicken (rooster, actually) because domestic chickens are far less flighty, and Mills is about as mellow as they get. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone just how mellow Mills is considering he has logged more hours in my middle-kid's lap than in the brooder or bird cage.

Guineas, however, are not quite as domesticated as chickens. They are used to keep bug populations under control and to "alarm" if predators come near the chicken flocks. Since they are notoriously nervous, flighty (and rather stupid) birds, they are perfect rural alarm systems!

So with visions of 4 less-than-brilliant adolescent guineas flying madly about the interior of my house, pooping, I quickly shooed Iraq back upstairs with the birds (right after grabbing my camera, of course).

Yeah - I know what you're thinking! You're thinking, "Gosh - I've been looking for wallpaper just like that for ages now!"

Well, I'm not responsible for the wallpaper (the house is rented) but yes - I shooed Iraq upstairs with all the birds because that's where the bird nursery (Chirpury) has been set up. I keep it pretty clean, so the air doesn't get fowl...  

Initially we thought we'd be moving to the farm this weekend, but sadly those plans didn't work out. In fact we'll only start to move select pieces of furniture on the 20th and the bulk of our junk belongings won't be moved until the weekend of the 24th.

Thankfully, Mimi and Pop happened to have a leftover parrot cage from one of my sister's past pets. Of course now we run the risk of allowing the poultry to grow up believing they are colorful birds of paradise. Farm... Paradise... yeah - pretty much the same thing in my mind! And truth be told, even roosters aren't as loud as Macaws! We'll know for sure if permanent psychological damage has been done if any of the poultry starts talking.

So as it stands, we currently have 4 guineas and one teenage rooster in a parrot cage, and 5 adorable, fluffball chicks (of fancy breeds but unknown genders) in a RubberMaid container. Just one, big, feathery family!

So how does one little girl charm 4 flighty, not-so-domestic birds and one sweet rooster into sitting on her arm... together... and then staying there as she walks down stairs?

I have NO clue in the world.
But Iraq did it, and they all stayed happily on her arm until she got back upstairs and safely into the chirpury. Five little heads craned around while 10 beady, bird-eyes looked about in wonder and curiosity throughout their avian adventure together... it was like birds on a bus! You could practically see the teeny little gears in their tiny little bird brains, turning... turning... turning...

But these particular birds aren't very smart, so maybe those little gears only turned twice...
Or once...

Steve!

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Eat Mor Beef!

With Iraq's new found talent with, and love for chickens, we have added to our flock!

Not to be left out, Broadway wanted his own chicken, provided it was going to be BIG and black! Meet "Steve" - a large, Black Orpington chicken who will mature to be one of our largest chickens, and once he/she gets his/her adult feathers, will be a lovely, shiny black color! Should Steve someday start laying eggs, she will take on the name "Astrid" instead... just because Broadway thinks Vikings are cool.

Next up is a chick added to our flock with some trepidation. This is "Teeny" who may get a new name at some point if Iraq decides to change it, and who may mature to be one of those funny-looking, poufy birds with wild, reggae-esq "hair" upon its small head. Teeny is a Blue Sizzle Bantam... sounds delicious, no? 

The next three are all Swedish Flower Hens. I feel very lucky to have gotten these amazing and beautiful birds. Just 2 years ago (in 2010) there were only about 1,000 of this breed left in the world - living in a small town in the south of Sweden. These chicks should mature to look something like this:

 (Clicking the image will take you to the source & original importer of these beautiful birds)

So with no further ado, I introduce:

And last (and smallest of our Swedes):

And yes - Millie (who we now believe is a "Milton") is doing great, too!

Cheers!