Snoodles, a chick with attitude!

Camera : Canon EOS 550D 

Taken in my garden (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa)

This is Snoodles, the little chick I saved from the dustbin, took her out of the egg in November 2013 and she’s been living with me in my studio. She’s getting to be a big girl now and has already joined all the other girls in the chicken coop.

As soon as Snoodles was big enough, we’d go on field trips through the garden and my wildlife pond area, where she would investigate every nook and cranny, delighting in catching the odd insect. Here she hopped on a rock, chasing after a Dragonfly.

Good luck with that Snoodles!

 Snoodles standing on my computer speaker, taking a peek at what's going on outside

Snoodles taking some time out on the edge of Jacko's chair, much to his disgust!

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A place to start

What is an egg, but a place to start,

Nestled under a mother's heart?

What is a nest, but a place to be,

Surrounded by those whose love is free?

What is a chick, but a beginning new,

Fresh and sweet as the morning dew?

What is a pullet but a lady who waits,

For that day when she too can say;

What is an egg but a place to start,

Nestled under a mother's heart?

- Sheryl DéLeon SoRelle

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Peeps

Camera : Canon EOS 550 

Taken in my studio (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa)

After being abandoned by his mother at far to early an age, Peeps often follows Snoodles into my studio, hops up on my desk and takes a break on the window sill or on top of my speaker on my desk.

 

Peeps was born 3 weeks after Snoodles (one of the original dustbin chicks), and was an only child. Mommy had 10 eggs, but due to weeks of heavy rain, Peeps was the only one to emerge after the designated 19 days of brooding. Mommy was absolutely wonderful with Peeps, protecting him when he was cold, finding him the tastiest morsels, showing him all the corners of the garden and teaching him the way of chickens.

Normally baby chicks stay with their Mommy for about 7-8 weeks, after which she regards them as grown-up enough to fend for themselves. Besides which, she starts longing for Mr. Rooster and getting the urge to lay eggs, so that's perfectly understandable. But Mommy started getting these urges when Peeps was a mere 4 weeks old and summarily abandoned him in search of Mr. Rooster.

Peeps wandered the garden for 3 days, desperately calling to his mother, but to no avail. She had moved on. But soon he sought the company of Snoodles who, herself, was a bit of a loner, growing up in my studio and not mixing with the other chickens much when she was out in the garden. He started following her around, coming into my studio to eat when she ate and soon became quite at home here.

But every night I tried to put him back outside to find his Mommy and besides, he had his usual little sleeping place out in the garden shed. After a few failed attempts I gave up, and he joined Snoodles in her basket at night, the two of them snuggling comfortably in one another's company.

The two of them became have now become inseparable and spend their days together, foraging in the garden and keeping out of the way of the grown-ups, who will not let a chance go by to let them know they are new-comers and better behave!

The next challenge is getting Snoodles and Peeps integrated into the flock. They're ready to leave the basket and it's time for them to move into the coop with Artemis and the rest of the girls...

 

Snoodles in the garden

 

 

Snoodles taking a turn on the speaker, looking to see who's outside

Snoodles roosting on Jacko's chair, much to his disgust - his chair is private property!

 

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Time flies and Snoodles is growing up

Time flies, but the memories collected along the way can never be replaced. 

- Ashley Tisdale

Well, the festive season is past, the holidays are over and just about everybody is back at work. I personally have not known my Wednesdays from my Sundays over this holiday period and how time has flown! We're already heading towards February! (Well, not quite, but you know what I mean!)

And Snoodles (the dustbin chick straight of the egg) has been growing just as fast. One of these days she will be joining all the other girls in the chicken coup. No more sleeping in a basket in front of my bed - already it's difficult to get her to settle down at night, she is not content with sleeping under a towel anymore, looking for something to roost on - and she's waking up earlier and earlier every day, virtually taking her cue from Artemis when he starts crowing at 4am! Here are a couple of pics showing her progress since Christmas day. 

Snoodles on Christmas day, taking her first sand-bath

Snoodles on the 28th December 2013

Snoodles on the lawn early this morning 7th January 2014

7th January 2014 - listening intently to Artemis crowing

7th January 2014 - at the pond. Very alarmed, she saw Torti, my Leopard tortoise going past

What on earth is that? I'd better get out of here!

Snoodles on the 30th November 2013 - just 5 weeks ago!

They say time flies when you're having fun, so here's to another fun-filled year ahead of us!

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Happy New Year!

Snoodles, the dustbin chick I saved out of the egg.

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Snoodles, the dustbin chick

Little Snoodles reaching up to take a tit-bit from my fingers

This is Snoodles, the little chick I pulled out of the egg after rescuing it out of the dustbin (read the full story HERE.) She has grown in leaps and bounds over the past six days and is a real little treasure! Over the past week I have tried several times to put her back with Mommy, who is quite keen to take her, clucking and calling, but unfortunately little Dusty has already imprinted on me and would stand there calling until I answered, when she would run her little legs off in the direction of my voice.

Imprinting is "A rapid learning process by which a newborn or very young animal establishes a behaviour pattern of recognition and attraction to another animal of its own kind or to a substitute or an object identified as the parent." When rearing a newborn animal, it is very difficult to avoid imprinting as it takes a lot of effort of not letting it hear your voice or not letting it see your hand, for example, feeding it. In the wild it is therefore always preferable to let nature take its course and not to interfere and pick up fledglings that have left the nest and landed on the floor. Normally the parents are close-by and will feed it until it is able to fly. That is how they grow strong and learn to fly.

I know predators are always a worry, but unfortunately that's how nature is. Once you "save" it (we all have that instinct), releasing it back to nature is always difficult as it has not learnt the necessary survival skills to ensure it makes it in the wild, where it will then probably perish anyway. The other alternative is then spending the rest of its life in a cage, definitely not an ideal situation.

Investigating everything on my desk

 Little Snoodles showing great interest in the seeds I offered her

Aaah, that was a nice meal!

A full tummy and feeling very sleepy...

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M.I.A. because of lost chicks

I've been 'missing-in-action' for a couple of weeks and it's all summer's fault! Everybody is broody and  Solly's chickens have been hatching babies like mad, but the heavy rains and predators have been taking their toll. One of his hens hatched six little chicks but within a few days there were only two left.
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I suspect a stray cat which I spot every now and then, skulking in the bushes and behind tyres in the workshop, but have never managed to befriend it so that I can catch it and take it to the S.P.C.A. Then, to top it all, the mother suddenly abandoned the two chicks and I found them woefully calling under one of the shrubs in the garden. I managed to catch them, fast and wild they are! and brought them inside and, to my delight, within the hour they thought I was their Mommy! I didn't expect imprinting to happen so fast as they were already almost a week old.
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Their Mommy did a good job of teaching them to eat the corn and seeds I put out for Solly's chickens every day because they immediately took to eating and drinking some water after I showed them where it was.

 

After having their fill, it was time to settle down for a quick preen and a bit of a roost.
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Then a couple of days later, another one of Solly's hens hatched five of the cutest little chicks, but by the next day there were only four left, the little black one at the bottom of the photograph being gone.

Early one morning at about 5.30am, in pouring rain, I heard the panicky calling of a little chick and upon investigating, I saw one of her little black chicks all alone in the grass outside the garden, soaking wet and close to collapse - the mother and other chicks were nowhere in sight. I rushed out into the rain, collected it and rushed back, drying it off and cupping it in my warm hand while I prepared a hot water bottle for the basket. It soon warmed up and within half-an-hour it was preening itself and looking around.

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Solly's chickens do have a coop but they are REALLY free-range with only a few of them choosing to sleep in the coop, the rest wander and nest all over our property. I normally try not to interfere with 'nature', but it's impossible for me to see a lost chick and not to rescue it...

So there you have it, taking care of little demanding chicks didn't leave me much time to get round to blogging, it's like being a young mother all over again!
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Up-date - The same day I found the little black chick, and still pouring with rain, later in the morning I saw the Mommy and her three other chicks having some seeds outside my Studio, so I rushed out, put the black baby down and she fairly attacked me, gathered the baby under her wing and then herded them all to safety under a canopy and out of the rain. Whoot whoot! Another happy ending and one less baby to take care of! To date, all four are still safe and have grown into beautiful healthy little chicks!

The first two are still in my care, having gotten used to the routine of sleeping in their basket every night and being let out into the garden in the morning, calling when they miss me and following me back to my Studio for a rest and some roosting. I've also taught them the route to the bathroom court-yard garden and every now and then they wander over there for a scratch and a sand-bath. But it's a full-time job and I'm just now catching a breather as they prefer to be in the garden scratching around with the other chickens. Seems they will be joining my girls in the coop shortly...

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Bond between chick and parent does not last

Black Eagle juvenile - Jabulani

Unlike in human beings, where many families share a lifetime of existence together, bonds between parents and offspring only last a for few months for many animals.     

Verreaux's eagles (black eagles) are no exception. The juvenile that hatched a few months ago at the Walter Sisulu botanical Gardens in Gauteng, South Africa, jealously guarded and fed by its parents, will soon be chased away forever to start a life of its own. The eaglet, dubbed Jabulani, enjoyed all the protection it needed to make it in life. It even had the dubious privilege of killing and eating its own sibling with the ‘approval' of its parents. After several months of learning how to fly and hunt, along with other survival skills, Jabulani's future now depends on her wings. 

She took her maiden flight on 13 September 2012 and has been seen taking plunges on some of the canopies. Although she has not yet mastered the art of hunting, all the other features she need have now fell in place - a sharp beak, strong feet with claws as sharp as daggers and wings that will give her total control of the skyline. Her parents will soon chase her out of their Garden territory and she will have to fly away to establish her own territory until she meets a suitable mate who, like her parents, is likely to become a lifetime partner.             

For now, her main concerns will be to learn and perfect hunting skills, and gain weight that will be needed for her battles ahead. Verreaux's eagles are capable of eating any small to medium-sized animals and typical prey includes guinea fowl, francolins and dassies (rock hyrax). 

Photograph: G. Heydenrych  

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