When I went out to feed the animals yesterday morning Mama had her front feet up in the feeder and was peering at me over the fence. What a welcome sight. And then in the afternoon she found her voice and baa-ed at me for getting home late. This is the first time I have heard her speak since her miscarriages. And I cannot tell you how relieved I was to hear her big deep voice. Every sheep has a different voice. Mama is a contralto. She has real timber in her calls.
But I have no pictures of her today because we went to the movies! And I had no trouble sitting through the whole of The Hobbit. I was ready to stand at the back of the theater (I know some people who worked on it you see) but the Dragon was well worth the risk of an uncomfortable few hours. So now I can drive, go to restaurants and sit in the movie theater. I believe my injury is letting go of my life. 
I caught Kupa again this evening and carried him across the field to the chook house. He said not a word. He is not well poor old fella. I have no pictures of this move as it was done at dusk and I kind of had my hands full. He is gaping and rasping like an asthmatic. I have noticed that his condition worsens on the colder days (yesterday we had a high of 16F (-8C) with a cold wind and last night we had a low of 8F (-13C) even colder). So he has gone in to live with the chickens where it is warmer and there is a hot lamp to sit under, also it will be easy for me to catch him again and take him to the vet this coming week if he does not improve. The worms that were eggs when he was last treated will have hatched out now, so if that is his problem he will need another round of the treatment. I am sure this is the first time someone has brought a peacock through the vets door!
I was avoiding this move because he may have been infectious but Tui and Pania have no problems with the cold, are quite well and none of the barn flock is doing the gaping thing so I am risking it.
On our walk yesterday morning I inspected under the bee hive. I cleared away the snow from their entrance and got a stick and pulled all the dead bees out of the way as they were blocking the door. There were a lot of dead bees. Hundreds of them. I became sadder and sadder as I pulled out the little frozen bodies. Then beginning very quietly and getting louder and angrier I heard a furious buzzing from hundreds of other bee voices. It was good to hear them shouting at me to bugger off! Good wee bees, I said. You go back to sleep now. They have piles of honey this year, I took none at all, so as long as they find the honey, there is a good chance they will do alright. Cold does not bother them, it is the fluctuations in weather that will cause the problems. So as far as they are concerned it is a good thing to get cold and stay cold. Losing some at the beginning of the winter is normal. So I am hoping this was not a bad sign.
We had a little more snow in the night, it is shaping up to be a very wintry winter.
Have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farmy
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
60 responses to “Mama finds her voice again and Kupa is moved into the chook house”
I am so, so glad that Mama is better! I hope the Duke of Kupa follows suit soon.
I have been wondering for a while if, Peacocks being a bird of tropical/subtropical origins, wouldn’t be affected by the extreme cold prairie winter temps? However, Kupa should have acclimated as that is where he was hatched – interesting. Hope he recovers – just like Mama did. So glad she has bounced back. Laura
We had a lot of snow this weekend too, it sure is a pretty sight. Hope Kuppa feels better soon. So sad about the bees, I hope they do well over the winter.
Love knowing Mama’s a contralto. I’m wondering what TonTon is–and Boo too. My border collie was a tenor. Oh, I hope Kupa pulls through. I remember the day you got him at that country fair.
Red raspberry leaves are excellent for reproductive ailments for both man and beast. My does gobble it down as if it is candy.
very cool, not a leaf in sight round here now, but I have always wanted to plant more berries.. c
You have had such a varied time since yesterday – poorly Kupa, dead bees but cured Mama and film show. We could never be bored by this blog! Glad your tail let you sit down in the cinema.
Love, Viv
BTW the ground up meringue in the Royal Icing is an enormous success, has remained un-concrete-like.
the meringue icing is definitely something I am going to try! thank you viv.. c
We just nursed a chicken with the similar symptoms to Kupa… made a chicken hospital with heat lamp in a dishwasher box, then force fed her until she started eating. You can squirt the water soluble antibiotics along with some chicken Gatorade with electrolytes into his mouth with a squirty thing used for cats. Both are powders available from the feed store. By Jove, our chicken Rocky slowly recovered. It’s better when they are not using energy trying to keep warm and can just fatten up. And she is recovering! She was starving and we thought she was a gone-er. But now she is clucking and joining the chickens during the day when it’s warmer. We catch her every night and put her back under the heat lamp. Good luck with Kupa. It can be so sad when an animal is sick— can preoccupy one.
the gatorade sounds like a good idea.. thank you.. c
Here’s hoping your local vet has taken an interest in avian diagnosis and treatment – I would count you lucky if he/she has. In the UK you have to drive a long way to find a poultry/avian specialist; even with the recent boom in poultry ownership our small-animal vets are sorely lacking in the necessary skills/experience – as I found to my cost. Maybe Kupa has a developed a secondary infection which is causing airsaculitis; finger’s crossed it’s not a Mycoplasma-based infection.
Although I was born a flatlander, I have lived in or where I could see mountains for over 55 years. The sheer expanse of flatness of the plains is awesome. Like gazing out at the ocean. I love to watch the Hobbit films just for the scenery. Going to NZ is at the top of my bucket list….I think it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Glad Mama seems to have recovered from the loss of her lambs. Now she will be a lamb sitter. We had a ewe that watched lambs while the rest went out to pasture in the mornings. Little lambs lay on top of her and all around her while they napped in the sun. Interesting about the bees. Getting rid of the drones when they have served their purpose. Mmmmmm. Nuf said. So glad you are healing nicely and getting back up to speed. I am sure the animals missed your extra care. Today we are bringing chicken waterers into the house to fill as the outside pipes to the garden and hen house have frozen. What a bother!! DH redid those pipes a few years ago and buried those pipes over 3 feet deep! Temps of 20 below at night have taken their toll. Keeping my fingers crossed that nothing broke underground. If you can’t fix the Duke, nobody can, I think. You are a natural healer.
The Duke and i are working on it, but he is very low.. hate it when the pipes freeze! c
The vet I use (in California) has 10 acres that are divided into runout pens for dogs he boards, and maybe 3 acres of pasture for some ancient sheep and a couple of ponies. Last year a trio of peafowl wandered in, stayed, and raised 4 babies. It’s the most inhospitable habitat I’ve ever seen for peafowl, with dogs behind fences everywhere, but they show no signs of leaving. Even so, this vet knows nothing about birds. He has been feeding them cat food entirely. I gifted him a sack of game bird mix for Christmas and he called me and said, “Wow, you should see them eat this!” Duh. A good avian vet is so hard to find. We have an excellent diagnostic lab at UCDavis, but they only examine deceased subjects, so you don’t take a live bird to them unless it’s expendable. The most common thing that has shown up in their reports of examining back yard birds over the past couple of years is tumors, which is disturbing. If Kupa had anything the other birds could catch, it seems like they’d already be showing signs even worse than his, I don’t believe chickens are as hardy as peafowl. Let’s hope it IS something curable and in the meantime keeping him warm and close at hand sounds like a wise move.
UCDavis is top notch for cancer researh in golden retrievers. Excellent!
Your vet sounds like quite a card, Jan. And also someone who does not mind input a helping hand!! lovely story .. c
So glad Mama is Baaaaa-ck to her normal self, and that you can sit properly again.
I just noticed that your post came to my mailbox at 4:22AM. You are up that early?
So-o glad to hear that your back is getting better. And that Mama is on the way up too. Poor old Kupa… I’m sure the cold would get to him, as getting acclimatized is the work of hundreds of years of evolution, and I’m not sure the poor old cows have got used to the heat in the North after a hundred and fifty years or so…
Mostly smiles ~ There is no way you could have felt pain in your back whilst watching what both your NZ sons helped create . . . glad you had the chance to see ‘The Hobbit’! And great about Mama: once thus far I don’t think she’ll backtrack – a contralto, well, well 🙂 ! One better, one to go – hope something can be done about Kupa – there is a long winter ahead!! But I would love to send a special hug for those beautiful snow photos around your home – for once so beautifully peaceful . . with that glorious pale blue tint on the snow!!
Oh dear Kupa….sigh…I hope the trip to the vet helps you…poor soul…maybe the heat from the lamp will help. I feel sad for you…lovely big bird! Saying a little prayer for you!
It was in the 30s here today and tomorrow it will drop once again. It was a nice reprieve though! Got more snow last night. Had to move it today…
My squirrel is back and eating in his house I made for him! So happy about that! 🙂 Yay! Mama is doing well again! What a relief! Nice welcome she gave you! 😀
I would love to be a fly on the wall when you bring Kupa into the vets office!!!!! Eyes will pop!!! LOL
Baked 173 dog bone treats today. For Christmas presents for my children’s pups!!! Got some really cute Christmas buckets to put them in!!!
Tomorrow I rest!!!! Ahhhhh…..
Oooohhhh Harry Potter!!! I heard it was fantastic!!! Who doesn’t love Harry Potter! Glad you had a great night out and your tushie is feeling so much better!
Take care! Love you!!! Hi everyone!!! Muah and a hug!!!