Of Chickens and such....

Ok... Opinions are divided about the sex of this chicken.... the friend who gave it to me said its a hen, another 2 friends says its a cock. I as usual do not have an opinion ;)

Its a specie of game fowl from Philippine. Thought I would like to cross it with the Siamese varieties and see what turns up. Meat for the table probably hahaha!

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Red Jungle Fowl.... a change in plan

I called a friend yesterday to ask him to look out for Red Jungle Fowl eggs when he goes wandering in the jungle as he most often likes to do. There is a change of heart in the policy makers in the country. Licenses for the keeping Red Jungle Fowl may be issued, together with hunting licenses other than using a gun for them. What it means is, if we are willing to pay, we can keep them and catch the wild ones using other methods (other than the traditional guns). It means that interest level in these chicken will soar. It also means that I could venture to safeguard pure lines of the Red Jungle Fowl.

According to some, there may not be any pure ones out there. Some disagree. I think there might be a chance too. Pheasant like features. Anyway, the new law is still pending approval. But finding good specimens takes time and is not as straight forward as going out to purchase one. Couple with the fact that a wild Jungle Fowl is known to bolt for the jungle even when raised together from hatchlings together with kampung chickens. So, I will look for eggs as a better bet and hope to accumulate enough to start a breeding program of sorts. Anyway I have a little experience raising pure looking RJF which may come in handy one of these days. And my network of chicken trappers are second only to Shama trappers hahaha! ;)

This will be fun......

Bathing a crow....

Trying to make it a ritual, shower under the hot scorching sun. The other birds don't think its funny..... but from experience, they will soon learn that it is harmless ;)

The intelligence of the crow can sometimes be frightening. Which makes them a pest in a lot of places. Hard to believe that there are certain species of crows that are endangered. Would like to collect a few more species if space permits ;)

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Citra, the hybrid Jambul

Kept this fella out of curiosity. A 2nd generation hybrid of Jambul with Yellow-vented Bulbul. Appears to be singing longer notes than when I took it some time back....

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Pied Shama pair

The female white spotted Shama incubating. Probably need to get a weather proof cctv installed before I can get any useful visuals.

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Keeping the "Wau" tradition alive

Yeah! On a more positive note, a couple of friends decided they have nothing better to do and wanted to give the modern kite fliers a run for their money, so out came 2 brand new Wau Burung (Wau means kite - a term commonly used in Eastern coast of Malaysia where this tradition is alive & popular) and a 10 year old Wau Bulan.....

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3rd Clutch - Casualty

Always sad to see a casualty.
One chick was dead and thrown out from nest. Something could be wrong.... is it the diet?

Anyway, I removed all 3 remaining chicks to be handfed. Looking at them, they would probably survive.

The dead chick:


The remaining chicks:


Things are not always positive..... but I have to count my blessings. 13 chicks so far.
8 from my long tailed pair and 5 from a short tailed pair.

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Addition to Serama flock

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Diet for the Shama

After reading much discussions by people more knowledgeable than me on topics regarding the perfect diet for Shamas, I feel moved to at least try one very high protein diet. Nearly 60% protein content when calculated on its dry weight content.

With ingredients listed like meat meal, poultry meal, ground beet pulp, fish meal, spirulina, brewers dried yeast and a host of listed essential nutrients, it appears to be a diet to silence all high protein diet. Do I dare feed Shama chicks on it.... appears a good idea at the moment, but I shall refrain from it and test it on a molting adult Shama. This Shama has has a form that yo-yo up and down - mostly down :D


But has a very good song if he so chooses to sing ;)
If this diet does something for him, then I can venture further with it. If it doesn't.... all goes to the crow hahaha!

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3rd Clutch - Day 4.5

All chicks look healthy thus far. Almost equal size. Should be well....

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3rd Clutch

Photo of 3rd clutch taken today (12th June 2012).... Appears to be 3 chicks with an unhatched egg. Easier now to take photo inside the nest after I installed a small light that can be switched on from outside.

At least 2 chicks hatched on 11th June 2012 as female was seen carrying out the empty egg shell from the nest. One in the morning and one in the late afternoon.



I am keeping track on this blog the events because I need to inform the Wildlife Department of such matters. Just in case I lose track on the dates and stuff as I am very sure with the passage of time, it will all become a blur. Non of them will be for sale. I am keeping them all. They will be my valuable F1 stock to produce F2 chicks next year.

A lot of people think that I think too big. Yeah its probably a genetic fault that I cannot do anything about :D but I have a strong suspicion that most of them did not know just how "big".....

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1st day training....

Sit Blackie, sit....



Stay Blackie, stay....

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Taimong

Taimong from 1st clutch.

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Cockroach culture

Currently I have 2 breeds of cockroaches. Well, there are over 3,000 species out there, so 2 is not too much ;)
I shall refrain from naming the specie just in case I am inadvertently promoting misinformation which actually happens quite a lot of time :(

Today's highlight is actually a roach culture that has been around for more than 5 years. Possibly much much longer as I took the culture from Mr. John Yim, a gentleman who is well known to have been around the bird scene longer than I have been alive.

And this culture went through a yo-yo of up and down, disease and pest infestation.... but they survived until this day. So, the thing is, there will be a lot of inbreeding among the roaches.... so much so that if a DNA were to be done, I could have inevitably created a sub-specie hahaha!

So, anybody out there keeping these roaches, I would appreciate if I can buy some from you to introduce new genetic material to further strengthen my culture. Thank you.

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3rd Clutch

It used to be a dreaded picture.... oh! Must have thrown out the egg, broken its own eggs, soft shells etc etc.

Actually after many years of trying, it is now a psitive image. Wa! 3rd clutch leh!
So, I am busy like the mother bird, trying to find suitable live food for them. Unfortunately pin-head sized crickets are not so readily available. So I am now picking one by one the smaller sized crickets.

Of course when I get more breeding pairs, I have to re-look into all these supplies....



Another positive image is the parent bird with food in its beak visiting the nest ;)
A sure sign that there is life in it....

The CCTV is acting up. After a black-out a couple of weeks ago, I cannot get visuals. Must have been the settings that were reset when it happened. Sigh! need to find the manual to troubleshoot :(

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Adopting a pet

After discussing with a friend, I have decided to adopt a dog rather than buy one. So, while in K.L. today, I actually planned to look for a small terrier like dog that is full of energy and hopefully hates cats ;)

But things would have it that I will successfully adopt one..... a black one though, and looks nothing like a terrier hahaha!


OK, plan B.... train to free fly this crow. Cheaper to lose than a flying parrot ;)
Now, how do I go about it? have to consult some resources from the net....

Oh! found a dog for adoption in Ipoh! Sigh! there goes another annual leave, thinner tyres and lighter pockets ;)

Would be good to come back with an eagle instead though :)

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The crickets are only as good as you make them

I have been advised again and again on the importance of feeding the feeder insects right. So I have been very particular lately. Palm Fruits are on the pipeline. Meanwhile I think the menu is healthy enough.

2 parts cereal mix (Nestum) 1 part oats (Quaker) stirred into a mash. Carrots provide the backup food when the mash finishes which usually last half a day with the quantity I feed on half a kilo of crickets. As the numbers reduce, the same quantity lasts longer.

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Watching this pair more closely.... would be interesting if they do breed.

Then try to get a pure white strain and laugh all the way to the bank muahahaha!

Well, I can dream can't I ? ;)

Escaped Shama

To say that the moment was tense when my Shama escaped would have been a lie. I am worried, but not about getting the Shama back into the cage, more of the cats that could be lurking around.
So, I took out my video camera after ensuring the perimeter was somewhat safe and tried in vain to get some good footage ;)
Anyway, today I contacted a couple of friends to be on the lookout for Jack Russells. I heard that they are generally cat haters. Hope that is so. I am actually divided about adopting from the S.P.C.A. or buying one. Let's see how the search progresses. My kids would like to raise one from puppy, I suppose. And I would not like to risk raising another "cat lover" :D

Young players

This is just a fun video.... I also had another one of a Malay boy calling his dad's birds ;)
They are quite fun to observe..... and 20 years later, they will determine the way and direction this hobby moves. Towards the end of the video, the call to "minum" which means "drink" is to humourously encourage the competitor's bird to stop singing and start dinking water. :D

Who says we are the perfect sportsman..... ;)

Work in progress - cage

An interesting work in progress.... hand carved wood that will be part of a cage. The square Jambul cage favoured in K.L. and J.B. to be precise.
Will be ordering one.... ;)

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