Our newest family member - meet Shaun the sheep

WARNING: This is a very word and picture heavy post.

We have had a heartbreaking few weeks here, with an early lambing season coinciding with freezing conditions and some ill considered nutritional decisions. I have been letting my girls out to graze freely right into late pregnancy this year to reduce the cost of buying hay for them, so they have been eating a lot of lantana and when the freezing weather came two weeks ago (on the 16th July to be exact) Kracken went into labour three weeks early. I can't find any evidence that the lantana is to blame for the early labour or the low birth weight of the babies, but my instinct tells me this is the key.

 I was away for the day and didn't get home until 10.30 pm, my long suffering partner dutifully called the girls in, fed them and shut the gate in the afternoon, all without realising that Kracken was in the throes of labour. When I got home I went out to check the girls (the usual night time tuck in ritual) and found that she had given birth to twins, one looked to have been born dead and was very small, the other was also tiny and was struggling to even sit up. I took the live baby to the shelter and nestled him into the straw bed with his mum, hoping that he would get stronger and be able to stand to feed.

This is Shaun at 12 hours old in the lambing shelter.

In the morning we let her say goodbye to her dead lamb and buried him, then began the fight to save the living one. He still could not stand, so I mixed up a small bottle of Divetalact (milk replacement for animals) and fed him before work, hoping that would give him the energy to stand and feed alone. Kracken was very worried by this time as her baby wasn't doing normal things. By the time I got home from work she had decided he was a lost cause and walked away from him, so I knew it was time to take over.
He was whisked inside and put in a box beside the fire wrapped in a towel while we tried to milk his mum to get some colostrum. This activity fits firmly into the 'don't try this at home' category of extreme farming; she kicked and butted, she refused to let down her milk all the while calling out in combined anger and fear to her sisters who crowded around and tried to offer advice. Eventually we gave up and decided to do our best with commercial products.

All wrapped up in towels in a box

He took to the Divetalact well and fed hungrily every bottle (every three hours) and won my heart by cuddling up against me with a contented sigh after each bottle. He was peeing and pooping well so we knew the inside bits worked, but he still couldn't stand up. As he weighed in at 1.4 kg (a normal twin weighs about 2 kg) I decided it was because he was so premature and gave him time to learn to stand. Thanks to the kids at school (and my boss) he was named Shaun the sheep.

On the third day he managed to struggle to his feet for a short while and after that there was no stopping him. He is now two weeks old and weighs just over 2 kg. He lives in the humpy with us (of course) and is still having three hourly feeds. I am suffering badly from lack of sleep and washing overload (he uses 'nappies' made from ripped up old towels), but am completely in love with him. He is resting on my bed under the covers (wrapped in a towel) as I type this. He has suffered some shortening of the tendons in his front legs, but regular exercise and massage will cure this I'm told.

Shaun's attitude to my writing. He loves cuddles though

On his nappy towel beside the fire

In his coat being examined by Dr Bandit

Meeting Rabbito, who weighs more than he does.

Spending some time with his biological mum

In his new permanent house (well, until he grows out of it)

Tucked in for the night

Lounging in the dog beds

This is how we weigh Shaun

This lambing season has been terrible; Nut lost her lambs earlier in an early miscarriage, Kracken had twins and lost one and Snow White had twins but both died (despite our best efforts), now only Gaia remains and I'm beginning to think her belly is just pudge (what can we expect naming her after an Earth goddess) as she has no udder development to speak of and would be due in another two weeks if she is pregnant. Peridot is too young for babies as yet so has been spared the sadness. Next year I will be bringing them into the lambing paddock a month before due and damn the expense of feeding them all. However, Shaun has been a blessing and has inspired love, joy and kindness all around him. A good friend of my eldest daughter's who is in her last year of a veterinary degree, sent me a lecture on tendon shortening in lambs and offered to have a look at him for us, my youngest daughter spent her precious time off from university feeding and cleaning up after him while I worked and my partner (who refuses to touch animals and only grudgingly pats the dogs) has donated several days to caring for Shaun while I work (and yes he does have to touch him as he won't sleep without a cuddle). A friend of mine (Graham) has offered Shaun a home when he grows up and insists that he needs a mate for him so he won't be lonely, is building him a shelter and fencing in his property in anticipation.
Shaun has reminded me once again that the simple love of a child is the real treasure in life (he is my child, even though he isn't my species), the in-the-moment joy of being warm, safe and full is so evident in his whole being that it can't help but make everyone around him happy too.

Local insects and animals - the noisy miner

Three days ago my partner greeted me at the door with a grin and the words "I've got a present for you", I was immediately suspicious as 'present' has become a code word for 'lots of work' in our relationship. I came inside to find an ominous looking box on my desk with a tiny bit of fabric sticking out the bottom. When I opened the box I found the little fellow below nestled on a t-shirt (begging questions about Kev' driving around shirtless).

He (I'm assuming his gender) is a noisy miner; a bird native to this area, although not around the humpy. He coped with a close up inspection fairly well and I discovered a slightly damaged wing on the left side and a slightly more damaged hip on the left side. As he was picked up on the road (sitting like a stunned mullet, according to Kev') I assume he has been clipped by a car.
He can grip a perch with both feet, but sits with one leg off to the side. I am hoping he has no broken bones, and after three days he would be dead by now if he had any (gangrene sets in fast).

Noisy miners in the wild eat nectar, pollen, fruit, insects and occasionally a little lizard. I am feeding him a mix of fruit smoothie with added insectivore mix that we keep in the cupboard for emergencies, I also add one drop of pentavite (liquid vitamin). When I can, I will add some nectavore mix (lorrikeet food), but at present I have none in stock. He seems to love the mixture. I went out and collected some white ants for him too, which he had fun playing with, but didn't eat.

When he can put all his weight on his leg and fly around we will begin the long process of re-assimilating him into the wild; probably at my parent's house where there is a family in residence, although their complicated flocking behaviour means that he will not be accepted if he is a she; apparently the females maintain fairly rigid territories which do not overlap while the males wander about in gangs, joining new gangs on a random basis.

This little man needs a name for the (hopefully) short time he will be with me; any ideas?

Local insects and animals - Red browed finch

The red browed finch is a fairly common bird in our area. They live in large flocks and spend their time foraging for seed in my chook pens and on the ground around the humpy. Seeing these little flashes of red and olive green flit through the garden or chook pen really cheers up the day for me; they always look so happy. 

In spring, just before they breed, these little finches go through an insect craving stage and spend a lot of time searching out insects from my vegetable garden, which is very useful when insect populations are high. They are often found with the blue fairy wrens in the yard, which is apparently a common association. Although the two species don't seem to talk to each other and wrens are predominantly insect eaters while finches are predominantly seed eaters.

In the ecosystem of the humpy they provide insect control, eat and spread small seeds, provide food for corvids (butcher birds, currawongs, crows and ravens) and generally lift the life and joy about the place. They also provide a warning to everyone when a goanna or snake is about by flying around frantically and making high pitched squeaking sounds until someone comes to investigate.

These photos were taken out of my office window...while I was supposed to be studying.

What kinds of finches do you have at your place?

Local insects and animals - Feathertail glider

This afternoon, on the way home from work, I was contacted by a local school. They had a tiny little Feathertail glider in a box; apparently she  (it's a girl) had glided down into assembly this morning. When I got home (a half hour bus ride and a 1 km walk later) I opened the box to see what I had. She is a juvenile female (weighing in at just 7 g) and seemed fairly active and bright to me. I put a shallow dish of water in the box and some gum flowers from the trees outside, snapped some quick photos, weighed her and had a look to see what gender she was. Then I popped her back in the box and left her in peace while I rang WIRES. 

The Feathertail glider is the smallest gliding mammal in the world, with an average weight of 12g. They feed on pollen, nectar, insects and seeds. In this area they are fairly common, often being found drowned in dogs water bowls or bought in by cats. 

I think this one was probably heat effected as it was a burning hot day. Heat stress kills a lot of native animals, especially those who live in urban areas (like in the school buildings). This little girl will be handed over to a wildlife carer and hopefully will be released back into her home territory before too long.

Blurry, but I was trying to prevent an escape.

Look at that feathery tail. The curling indicates distress, and who can blame her; a big predator has her.

If you have Feathertail gliders in your area you can put out SHALLOW water containers, plant flowering native shrubs and (most importantly) bring in the dog and cat at night.

Oh, and thank you to the little girl who held the box so carefully for me all the way home (you know who you are).

Local insects and animals - St Andrews Cross spider

A lot of people seem to be frightened by spiders, I don't know why. Maybe it's the way they move or the fact that a small (really small) proportion of them are poisonous? These don't seem like good reasons; after all a small (really small) proportion of people are murderous, and we still keep talking to them...
On my recent trip to my mother's garden I managed to snap a picture of a really pretty spider, so I thought I would try to identify it.

X marks the spot

After a little bit of internet searching I discovered that this is a St Andrews Cross spider (as you probably guessed from the post title). I also discovered some amazing facts about Australian spiders (as is the way with internet searches);

• Spiders have eyes like ours; not segmented or faceted like an insects.
• The funnel web and red back are the only really venomous species in Australia, the bites of other spiders can be irritating but not dangerous (unless you are operating heavy machinery, but that's another story).
• Mating is very dangerous for some male spiders; females may not even wait to mate before eating him.
• There are some killer knit and crochet patterns out there for spiders and spider webs (I got distracted, OK?)

As for the St Andrews Cross spider specifically;

• They are a species of orb spider; known for their beautiful web spinning.
• There are at least three sub species of St Andrews Cross; Argiope keyserlingi and Argiope picta and Argiope mangal (based on our geographical location, the one above is a Argiope keyserlingi).
• They make that beautiful cross that they sit on from a special UV reflective web which they use to attract insects to their web.
•  The spider gets it's name from the shape of the cross it makes in it's web. In short; St Andrew was a Christian priest in Turkey or Greece who convinced a Roman commander's wife to give up sex, the commander had him crucified for it (Freud would be right onto that one) but he requested that he be tied to a saltire (an X rather than a +) as he was not worthy of being crucified in the same way as his Christ.

They are certainly beautiful little spiders. They are not venomous, they catch insects for a living and they build art in the garden, what's not to like?

Local insects and animals - King parrots

Australia has a lot of parrots; 56 species to be exact. The king parrot is one of the most beautiful of them. A lot of people in our area see them as pests because they can be extremely destructive and will destroy a vegetable garden in the blink of an eye. I think they are beautiful, but I take care to keep my vegetables growing in secure cages.

We have a little family of king parrots who visit in search of food regularly. There is Steve; the dad of the group, he may have been hand raised (I'm not sure) as he isn't scared to come into the house to steal bites from fruit and chew things. Next is Kerry; the mum, she is shy and hard to photograph, she flies away as soon as she sees me. They have two babies every year who stay with them until they get full plumage, this years babies have yet to come to the house.

Steve, waiting for me to fill the feeders.

Feeding wild birds is never a good idea (unless you are planting shrubs for them to feed off) they get used to being fed and rely on the food source without bothering to find more. They also get obese and are easy prey for predators. Having said that, our wild birds visit the chook pens and eat anything left over after feeding time. I don't encourage this, but I don't actively discourage it either. What can I say...I'm weak, I like to see them flying around the place and know they are all OK. They can be a pain in the proverbial though...

We came home from work one day and found the house in disarray, from the evidence, we had either been vandalised or the king parrot family had come over for coffee and found us not home. They pushed books off the shelves, chewed the back off a chair and tipped over some bottles in the kitchen. They also tore a cardboard box apart to expose the fire extinguisher inside, and had a good go at figuring out how to activate it (the pin was pulled out but the handle proved too hard for them to work).

A close up of Steve, he was in the house and had to be caught and escorted outside.

The chair back they chewed up.

Do you have king parrots? Do you love them or hate them?

Lambs update - they grow up so fast

The lambs are growing up so fast...
They have been locked up in the lambing paddock since they were born but now they are big enough to be let out. Yesterday I opened the gate for four very bored and demanding ewes and four very excited lambs. They all ran around and rolled in dirt piles before settling down to some serious nibbling. The lambs are now eating grass and leaves as well as drinking milk.

Nut making sure I get her good side

Everyone down by the duck dam

Tired babies

This is Wolfie, the youngest lamb. Growing up fast

Rabbitto and Rabbitta - two more of our strange animals

Rabbitto, wearing the hat and scarf my daughter made for him (reluctantly)

We have a rabbit who lives with us, my eldest daughter bought him home about five years ago because his owners didn't want him and were going to put him down (she does that all the time). We call him Rabbitto. For the first four years with us he lived in a fairly large hutch, by himself. It always bothered me that he was alone because rabbits are social creatures and they need company. About a year ago I decided that he would be happier running around the yard, even if only for a short time (considering the predators that hunt in the area (cats, hawks, owls, etc), so I let him out and my daughters made up some shelters around the yard for him.
He is still there in the yard after a year, so I guess he is smarter than he looks. Lately we have noticed something; he has a girlfriend (or possibly a boyfriend), a wild rabbit who comes to visit and bond over the rabbit food we supply. We haven't seen rabbits in the local area before so she/he may be new to the property. We call her Rabbitta (assuming that our rabbit is heterosexual), she comes to play with Rabbitto through the fence and has dug her own little entrance into the yard which Rabbitto has ignored thus far. They run up and down the yard and jump around like mad followed by a quick nibble of rabbit kibble and a snooze in the sun side by side.

Rabbitto, in his winter coat (he wears the jacket mush better than a hat and scarf)

Rabbitta, blurry because the photo is taken at the extreme end of the camera's zoom function. She is a wild rabbit after all.

Rabbitto and Rabbitta having a rest in the sun

Talking through the fence.

I know there are many possible disasters in this scenario;
Over breeding of rabbits in our yard and surrounds
transfer of diseases from wild rabbits to our rabbit
holes all over the place
Rabbitto deciding to elope with Rabbitta

BUT; to me the advantages outway the possible disadvantages (so far);
Rabbitto is happy and fulfilled, waiting for Rabbitta to visit each day.
I love to watch them play together
They keep the lawn mowed between them

What do you think; am I being short sighted, should I nip the romance in the bud (probably full flower by now, rabbits court fast)?

Lambs everywhere

We now have four new babies (lambs) they are all beautiful and unique in their own way. Having never had lambs before, it has been a really interesting time and  I have noticed some interesting things;

First - Lambs seem to be born just before or during rain, all three of the babies were born on overcast, drizzly days (and there have been very few of those lately). I don't know yet whether this is a fact or just luck of the draw, given the small sample size of the observations, but later years will tell me if I'm right.

Second - My girls guide each other through labour, the first girl to give birth; Kraken (she has a black spot), was alone. The other girls hung back and watched until the baby was born. The second girl; Snow White (obvious really) had Kraken by her side the whole time, licking her face and making encouraging little bleats. The third girl; Nut (and she is) had the other two mums to help her, but she went a bit weird after the birth and ran around and around the paddock like a maniac before coming back to feed her baby (which the other mums had cleaned for her). It seems to be a community event.

This is Peridot, the girl cleaning her is Kraken and her mum; Snow White, is behind her.

Third -  The mums will feed each other's babies. I noticed this with the first two babies; the lambs just go to the closest boob for a feed. I didn't think sheep did this, but obviously I was wrong.

We have three boys and one girl so far and we can't keep them all. We plan to keep Ramesses the First (our first born boy) as a wether to keep Stag (the ram) company in the lambing season. We will keep Peridot (our second born girl) as a breeding ewe. We can't keep the new boys (no name yet) and we will be making them wethers too. I hate the idea of having to eat some of these babies one day, but it might come to that if I can't find homes for them.

The mothers love their babies so much, and take such good care of them that it hurts my heart to think of taking those babies away. I have to burn the horn buds off Ramesses today and castrate the poor boy too, that will be quite enough torturing of children for one day I think.

Do you keep animals for meat? How do you reconcile the heart warming moments you observe with the eventual act of taking them away?

Does anyone want an automatic lawn mower and hedge trimmer in about three months time?

Local insects and animals - the brown quail

You can only see her head in this photo; we had to hold her securely as she really wanted to get away from the camera.

Yesterday we had a visitor in an old chook pen which has been empty for some time. My daughter heard a commotion, went to check the pens and found a little bird. The little quail was fluttering about trying to escape from the pen so my daughter caught her and bought her up to the house to be checked over (we weren't sure how long she was in the pen for). Thankfully she was Ok, but the encounter reminded me to check the empty pens regularly.

The brown quail is an unassuming bird at first glance; dull brownish plumage and a tendency to freeze when they hear anything make them hard to spot, but up close they reveal brilliant maroon eyes and soft satiny feathers. Their tiny little feet and legs remind me of chickens, but much more delicate.

They have an omnivorous diet of seeds, green shoots and insects, much like a miniature chook really. Brown quail live in social groups called coveys, breeding between December and January in tiny nests on the ground. Both sexes take turns incubating the eggs and the young leave the nest as soon as they hatch. The babies look like tiny brownish cotton balls with match stick legs, huddled under their mother or father for protection and warmth.

The babies are so beautiful.

The marking of brown quail are apparently very diverse.

I am glad we have a population of these delightful little birds in our backyard and I will be sure to provide plenty of low stubble and insect habitat for them to use.

Teal'c the clown; a funny clip

Teal'c is such a clown. We managed to get this short clip of him 'showering' with the help of my daughter. He is enjoying the sun and the water running through his feathers. I hope you find it as funny as we did.

Salmon Faverolles update

The Salmon Faverolles are all grown up; they are passing the scrappy, teenaged stage and becoming full grown chooks. I think I will see some eggs this spring, maybe we will set some under a clucky chook and have more adorable babies. I have found them to be very quiet, docile chooks with lovely natures.

Here are some photos to refresh your memory;

Newly hatched Salmon Faverolles

At a few weeks old

At that awkward teenage stage

One of the little pullets, all grown up.

Another pullet with one of the minorca pullets behind her

I love watching my babies grow up.