Gideon's Got a Girlfriend! Gideon's Got a Girlfriend! She Isn't Pleased!

[sumi]

Oh, heck. That's getting a bit warm... I hope they are o.k. now and Gideon calms down before he has a stroke!
I've been so lucky with my chickens and the heat (touching wood here) no losses, except one broody's eggs when we had a heatwave last January. From the 1st to the middle of the day on the 6th when it started raining, mid afternoon temperatures over 110* The previous December, if I remember correctly it was the 16th, we had a record breaker of 133* A friend told me a farmer we know lost a few ostriches (and those things are tough) to the heat. He didn't provide shade for them!

How awful.

How's Tiny? Poor thing. I can't help feeling sorry for her!

 

[speckledhen]

She's hiding from Gideon every minute, but he still catches up with her on occasion. He mated her this morning then she ran to her daddy, who holds her and babies her every single day while he's raking under the roost. She is still favoring her leg, but it's too hot to pen her up separately right now and her limp isn't that bad. She must have twisted it trying to escape him is all I can figure.


I can't even imagine 133*, but I've watched so many African animal documentaries and seen the drought conditions, then the rains come. It is fascinating to me, the landscapes there and the wildlife.

 

[sumi]

We live in a semi-dessert area, which is tough and dry, but beautiful, especially in spring, when the vygies (a type of succulent) is in flower. The weather goes from extreme to extreme with hot summers and very cold winters. We get snow on the mountains every year and sometimes a bit down here. It happened 3 times since I moved here 12 years ago and the way this winter's going I think we may get another snow fall this year.
Give your terrorist a hug from me (if she'll let you!)

 

[speckledhen]

Beautiful landscape! Where exactly in S. Africa are you?

We put Tiny in Zane's cage for awhile since the temps are much nicer today after the storm last night. Her poor leg is hurting so we also gave her a baby aspirin.


I was in bed and thought Isaac's crow sounded really weird and like he may have been having issues, then I heard his crow sound fine. I realized I was hearing Gideon, not Ike, LOL. He's sounding more like an adult.

 

[sumi]

Oh, I love practice crows! They are so funny sometimes. Wow, Gideon's growing up quick now. But poor Tiny. Hope she gets better soon.

We live in the Klein Karoo (Little Karoo), it's in the Western Cape province. Lots of ostrich farms and soft fruit and of course, grapes. We have a LOT of wine cellars here. And some excellent wines and port. The areas closer to the coast is lush and green and absolutely stunning. I'll take some more pics for you when we go down to Cape Town for our visa paperwork. I must confess I've never been there. I grew up in a town up North, near the border. That is where most of the nature programmes for TV get filmed.

 

[speckledhen]

Neat! I look forward to those pictures.

 

[sumi]

That would probably take a few weeks. We're waiting out the property sale, then we got to buy a car, make an appointment for my test etc. We have minimum 3 trips to Cape Town to look forward to. We're in the quiet before the storm period. Crazy days ahead, but it'll be worth it at the end. We still don't know exactly where in the UK we want to go! We have a list of no-go's, but we change our minds daily. It's hard to get an idea of a place online.

I'll see if I can get my brother to send me some pics of the area he lives in. He's in Mpumalanga (don't ask).

How's Tiny's leg?

 

[speckledhen]

Tiny's leg is still not great. She holds it up a lot and limps on it. When she gets time to rest without being chased, she limps less.

Gideon is really filling out nicely, I noticed. I want to get a picture of him, but that boy is in perpetual motion. He's 14 weeks old now, will be 15 weeks this coming Saturday, so I'm watching his temperament to see how it's going to be. So far, so good.

 

[sumi]

Hope his temperament stays good (or improves lol)

Poor Tiny, I hope Gideon falls out of love with her and leaves her in peace for awhile so she can get better.

 

[speckledhen]

I saw it. Daddy Isaac knocked Gideon off Caroline today. So, the heat is on with father and son. He didn't pursue the youngster, just said, that one is mine, boy, LOL.






A close up of Tiny's spurs. Gideon better watch his step-she may remember she has weapons!