Showing posts with label Male. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Male. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

2.5 Growlers, A Screamer and A Beggar!

Of my four cats, three of which are female, I have two and a half Growlers, a Screamer and the beggar is usually two of the four.

When was the last time you heard a cat scream?  There really isn't a sound like it and it can't be mimicked by human vocal cords. If I absolutely had to part with any of them, only Winston could relocate and there is no way I'm parting with him!

Wondering which are which yet?

Winston and Sassy, two cats on a chair Winston is my male tabby and he's the biggest darling you will ever meet.

Sassy, on the other hand...

She's my Screamer! No cat screams like Sassy!  She sets the entire household on edge with her screams and she screams when any cat, other then ours are around. Yesterday she didn't realize that she was laying beside a grey barncat in the office, when he moved and touched her, she screamed. She is also one of my growlers. Poor Winston, he's surrounded with moody females, each with a temper and he's always getting snapped at or a whack on the nose for no reason. He always exits the room as fast as catly possible and with as much dignity as he can keep intact.

Winston and Emmy, two tabbies
You would look at Emerald, sitting on the chair and think to yourself, what a beautiful cat!  Well...

Depends how you like your cat personalities.

She is my Chief growler.
She absolutely HATES to be picked up and will growl at you for it! Come to think of it, she hates a lot of things. She growls if you pet her when she doesn't want it, she growls if you pick her up, she growls if you don't give in to her demands, she growls if you let other cats into the house, if you've touched an alien cat and then have the audacity to pet her... Ya, well, you get the picture. Emmy will not only beg food from you, she will down right take it off your plate if you're not watching. We love her anyway ~ we kinda have no choice!

Molly and Winston, two cats on a large chair
Molly and Winston are pictured here ~ Mom and son, though half the time you wouldn't think so. 

Molly comes in a close second in the growler department but with something added ~ a Real Catattuide! Molly is one of those cats who believes the world and more importantly, that we in particular, owe her a living. She is the principal one to give Winston a cuff, a slap, a whack, a growl whenever she sees fit. She is very Moody and a very particular beggar. There are only certain things she demands and she demands them, incessantly. Molly is also very animated, she will come and ask to be let outside and will ask persistently if you don't do it right away.

That leaves my Winston...

Tabby in a bucket

Gifted with the sweetest disposition that the females lack, he's become far more vocal since he's been neutered. He 'puts up with' his mother ~ Molly, Sassy and her daughter Emerald. He's a strategist though, when they start with the growling, screaming or bopping ~ he's OUTTA HERE! He will only growl if the barn cats come too close.

As you can well imagine there is seldom a dull or reasonably quiet moment to be had in this house, especially with the constant invasion of about four barncats who like to spend the day inside sleeping and out of the cold and wet where they usually spend their nights. Its been a slow process but my cats have learnt toleration. That, of course, does not mean always acceptance of the rule of sharing what they consider their exclusive territory. Oh well.

Catspaw

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

~~ Raising Budgie Babies! ~~

So, my cousin has been raising budgie babies and selling them to good homes. This is her story ~~~

Its December 26, 2011 in the home of my cousin. In an excited email she told us the great news that, in her words:

 "Great news! I just wanted to share this with you all. There’s a chick in the nest, alive and kicking!!!!
The egg hatched about an hour ago. I heard something and then both my birds were in the nest box. I checked it out because there seemed to be some excitement in the nest box then I saw the chick! Will take pictures as soon as I can. She is on the nest and will feed the chick 4 times an hour so I can not disturb her too much now.
The other eggs are due to hatch within a day or two in the order the four eggs were laid.
A day after Christmas too! Yup, I am a bird breeder!! Oh, I wish you were here to see this with me. This is so exciting!!"


Day old baby budgie
One Day Old Baby Budgie
Then last December 28, 2011 I received this from her:

 "I have 3 budgies, my female, Shyla and her mate Chico started breeding. She laid 4 eggs. This morning another egg hatched. Now I have two baby chicks in the nest. Both parents feed them. When they are 6 weeks old and eating on their own I can sell them. I will be trying to sell them on the Kijiji website or I can sell them to the pet stores, they will take them for sure. Budgies do sell very well. But it is very exciting to watch it all unfold in your own home."

Three baby budgies
One More to go...
Now its January 1, 2012 and another email tells me this:

" Just wanted to let you know that the fourth and final egg hatched this morning, on New Years Day! Four eggs were laid and four eggs hatched. They are all alive and doing great. Both parents feed them and they are so protective of their babies. Each time an egg would hatch, the parents got so excited! It is really remarkable to see this all unfold."

Sadly on January 11th she sent me this email update:

"Two of my baby chicks did not survive. They hatched late and were not big enough to fight for the food and it appears that they were trampled to death. But two of the chicks have survived and are doing great. They are growing fast and they are beginning to get their feathers now and their eyes are open and they are moving around more in the nest box. Looks like they both will be white budgies which are considered pretty birds and sell for a higher price. In a couple of weeks when they have all their feathers and are coming out of the nest box and eating on their own, I can sell them. I may have a buyer for one of them already; will have to wait and see. I have never done this before so out of four chicks, I still had two chicks that survived."

Four Baby budgies
Four baby budgies
 As of March 8th:

"Guess what? I did it! I was successful! A lady phoned me this afternoon and wanted to buy one of my budgies! She told me that she wanted to buy one for her daughter. She went to the pet stores to buy one but was not happy with what she saw because she wanted a ‘baby’ budgie; which by the way, to get a baby budgie right out of the nest is not easy to do. The pet store gave her my phone number and directed her to call me to get a ‘baby budgie!’ She told me that.

All I have done so far was posted on a piece of paper that I had some baby budgies for sale and I put them up in the malls and corner stores. My camera won't work so I need to get a new one so I can get some pictures of the budgies. Anyway, the lady with her daughter showed up tonight and I sold her a beautiful blue and white female budgie. This budgie was only 2 and half months old – born January 2nd 2012. This budgie had a beautiful voice too and the female budgie is a lot quieter than the male which was what they wanted. They both seem very excited about buying my budgie so I do feel confident that she went to a good home. They are calling her Twitter – seems to fit her too. I sold her for $30.00 – not bad for one bird – ay!! In the stores they sell them for $35.00 – $45.00 and up.
And my female budgie, Shyla, has once again, so far, laid 2 more eggs in the nest box. So by the end of the month looks like there will once again be a few chicks in the nest." 
Baby budgie getting feathers
Would You Look At That!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I was a kid my mother had a cranky male budgie named Poncho, he was green and lorded it in his cage!  His favorite activity was to be let out of his cage all day after he had his wings clipped, although by then he was getting too fat to fly! He was so very proud of the 'game' HE invented ~~ it went like this: someone put a spoon on the dishwasher where his cage was and Poncho thought it GREAT FUN to pick it up in his beak and throw it off. He'd chatter loudly and happily to himself after the fact and got really annoyed when we didn't put the spoon back on the dishwasher. He'd play this game for hours if we let him...

This was a great story to share, I hope other readers and visitors will share a story, idea or suggestion in my comment box. 

Catspaw