Tick tack
When Mr Flowers has his tail up at full power he does this funny thing. Imagine the tail spread out as an enormous fan, maybe 150 to 200 feathers , now count in ten feathers from the right and imagine the next four feathers on the far right as one panel and four more on the extreme left as another panel. When he has his tail fully unfurled and there is a female in front of him he does a few wee steps with his feet, then ticks his head to one side and at the same time, as though he has a string attached to them, the right hand panel of feathers will flicker and shake and as these four individual feathers move they make a ticking sound. Only those feathers mind, no other feathers in this sequence. The female will move into the center just a little more. Then he flicks his head again and shimmies his feet again and the panel of feathers on the left hand side will tick tick and vibrate sharply. Gently shooing her back to the center. 
It is extraordinary to watch, these feathers moving completely alone amongst all the other plumage. With this little tick tick sound, that seems to come from the feathers themselves. Amazing.
Godot is so small in comparison, I am glad he has Mr Flowers to show him the ropes. No eggs yet though.
Naomi has graduated to a grown up baby calf collar. She wears a collar so I have more control of her when separating her from her mother in the morning. She is growing and is getting to be a big strong calf.
OK. Here is the pigs bottom shot. Sorry Tima. See how her belly is lowering. And lest you think she is fat. 
Here is a shot of them both. I know they are a different sex and this will make a difference in body shape but they eat the same food. Grass and milk, with the occasional egg. I live in fear of fat pigs. But it looks to me like Tima has a rounding belly. (However she could be fat too!.)
The Daily View (just not so daily anymore) 
Cow sleeping.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farm,
celi
49 Comments on “Tick tack”
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thekitchensgarden 
I was laying in my bed this morning thinking about Mr Flowers….isn’t he just the most beautiful of birds and i think if someone clicked their feathers for me looking like that..he would be irrisistable ,spelt wrong but you know what I mean…Maybe I just a sucker for a handsome fellow.
Godolt is also beautiful when he displays his plumage and he reminds me of a bride dressed for her wedding…all white and beautiful.
Naomi’s new collar is very smart, she is such a cutie……..also love the piggies….bottoms and stomachs…..
Interesting anatomical photography! Good news on Tima.
Do you have a shot of Mister Flowers display from a bit further back? Jock wants to do a new embroidery, but wants the whole shape in. Personally I think yesterday’s shot of the display makes a fabulous composition, but you know what men are like….
Have a lovely day,
love,
ViV xox
Mr Flowers is in the peacock palace and his tail is SO large that it might be hard to get without him seeing me.. i will work on it though!
I love the chicken photo bombing the pigs. They are so good at that.
I love the shot of Tima’s Bun in the Oven! And Naomi’s new collar is very smart, but I did so love her red links….
Timas’ tummy looks fuller and firmer somehow, here’s crossing every available thing 🙂 I wonder if Godot feels totally overwhelmed by Mr Flowers displays? Laura
You are surrounded by beauty. I hope the Cadet can witness the tick tack of Mr. Flowers. I think she will find that fascinating. I hope his romantic maneuvers are successful. Happy Friday C.
You are surrounded by beauty. Happy Friday C.
Looks like the weather is getting Spring like…as it’s a bank holiday here it’s pissing down:)
Ha ha – it’s been lovely here – lots of sunshine where I was today in Wendover 🙂
wendover?
Up the A40M to Buckinghamshire. I went to see some friends with pigs and chicken. I spent the day putting up a chicken wire fence and feeding the chickens a few worms 😉
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendover
sounds like a good day to me
Yes, nothing beats time spent with happy pigs and chicken 🙂
Tima certainly does have the pregnant look! Have her teats become more pronounced yet? This usually happens about a week before the piglets are due. xo
Mr. Flowers certainly knows the “moves” and how to woo a gal. How interesting it is in how he controls his feather dancing.
Lovely day blooming up here just outside of Chicago. Hope you are warming and getting sun down there as well.
Naomi’s eyelashes are amazing! As are your observations of Mr. Flowers’s charms!
Naomi is stunningly beautiful. I think the new red collar actually makes the beauty quite startling.
The photo of LadyA sleeping — the trees behind are greening up!!! What a comfort that is, to know that this past winter is finally receding for sure. It seems to me a long time coming.
hehehehehehe — how can you be raising piggies and, yet, live in fear of fat ones? Doesn’t ‘fat’ sort of go along with the territory?
You indicated that hopefully Mr Flowers was showing Godot the ropes but so far no eggs. Are peacocks/peahens not like chickens, giving eggs whether fertilized or not?
A super post — thank you, and you too have a lovely day! ~ Mame
Yes they will lay unfertilised eggs, for the last two years these girls have laid without a fertile male.. so hopefully he visits with the girls before they start to lay again..
I doubt you need to apologize to Tima for the shot of her belly. You know the young girls today take selfies of their pregnant selves, and some even have professional shots done where the belly is up close and center. I’m sure this blog post would make her quite proud. Lifeonthecutoff’s comment reminds me that Mr. Flower’s is much like the provacative dancing John Travolta of the 70’s. He definitely has the “moves” and Godot is fortunate to be able to study under him. I’m really jealous of so much entertainment going on up there – but then Daisy deer does the crazy head gambol and the squirrels jump and roll so I guess I have some entertainment myself. We all have entertainment around us if we care to notice, right? 😀
We certainly do.. isn’t it just wonderful.. c
Wonder if the rappers got the “Shake Ya Tailfeather” from peacock moves or if Mr. Flowers is a rap fan? Pretty neat trick. Love the new collar on Naomi…looks more sophisticated. Tima does indeed look pregnant and it would be exciting to see Kune Kune babies on the farmy. Happy Friday!
I often have that line running through my head when they turn and literally shake their tail feathers .. i will get a shot of that next! c
We did have fat pigs…. I’m sure it’s because we allowed them to eat (we fed them a type of ‘piggy food I bought at the CoOp) whenever they wanted. There’s a reason they say ‘to eat like pigs’ because the pigs must’ve been eating their little hearts out. Except for the last few years we owned the farm, we lived in Malta at the same time we had the farm, so my husband’s cousin did all the slaughtering for us and divided the food among the family up there. (I would be at the farm from spring to autumn.) One year we had a pig roast and invited the family from Quebec, Montreal and the States… plus our friends and neighbors…. but I just couldn’t eat the pork… although everyone said it was delicious!
I have to be very careful how much the breeding girls eat, how interesting that you were farming in Malta, you really are having such a diverse life.. c
You are so rich and lovely and green there. We are gradually greening up here. Do you know if the two male peacocks will fight like chicken roosters do? I know so very little about peafowl.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
You have so many exciting things happening on the farmy this spring.
I to admit that I’ve become a bit obsessed with peafowl since you brought Mr. and Mrs. Flowers home. Not that I’m anywhere close to having a farm at this point, but I still have a plan in place and tweak those plans from time-to-time if I learn of another animal that would have a good purpose on my own little farmy one day.
As I understand it, your desire for peafowl on the farmy is beauty and to hopefully one day sell peafowl or eggs to bring in more income. I believe those two things are absolutely wonderful reasons to keep peafowl. I imagined one day having these beautiful feathered fowl strutting around my farm, but I wanted them to have another purpose and while researching more I found that purpose. Apparently, peafowl make wonderful guard dogs as they will send out a barking type noise to warn of predators. I love an animal who send out the warning signals in an effort to protect the flock. It’s one of the things that intrigues me about the guinea fowl.
As time goes on, I’m envisioning my future farm to have a lot of feathered friends – chickens, guinea fowl, ducks, turkey and maybe even some peafowl.
Oh yes you are right they do that too.. they also squawk when I drop a hammer or slam a door in the house or someone shouts out to someone else.. they are fast to respond!.. c
I am so wondering if Tima is pregnant that I spent a great deal of time wandering the internet to see if there was a “Pee on a stick” sort of thing for pigs. There is not. 😦 I just figured you could sneak up behind her as she pottied and get a sample. All for naught. Looks like we all have to wait together.
Carla, that image had me laughing out loud! I was trying to picture our Celi following Tima about waiting to catch a sample!
I know.. ha ha ha .. I was investigating whether maybe I could hear something with a stethoscope but found no references for that either..
Tima is looking more like a rugby ball with each passing day. How long is the gestation period for Kunekunes? Celi, am email is on the way with my additions for the book.
I love learning the subtleties of the peacock dance. Amazing that you can actually hear certain feathers ticking and flicking!
cow sleeping … sounds like a lovely yoga pose. at my house, it’s called cat sleeping. and thanks so much for the explanation of the peacock’s “come hither” moves. nature is just so fascinating – creatures and plants alike. every year, i see a new bug — usually intricately detailed and colorful — in my yard, for example. same thing with flowers. the diversity and science packed into a tiny seed/a cell/dna is overwhelming. AWEsome indeed. –suz in ohio
Ho Suz, your garden sounds wonderful.. it is all pretty miraculous when we stop to think about it!! Maybe we should stop more often.. c
Fingers crossed for Tima, though she does love food 😉
not wrong- that..
Simple pleasures… peacocks shimmying (described so particularly, I could clearly see it), cow sleeping in the warmth, possibilities of pig bellies, the gaze of a calf and a snapshot of a green view, sky and space, a Lounge of Comments… is why I show up every day 🙂
My favourite photo of the day: Naomi with her new collar! So glad she is growing like crazy: let’s face it, she was a rather small bub and I just hoped and prayed she would bolt up in size! Yep 🙂 ! That’s the farmy for you . . .
My earlier comment seems to have disappeared! Mr Flowers is gorgeous, if you had time in all your spring busyness to take a video of him displaying, we would love to see it!
Fingers and toes crossed for Poppy – Kune Kune pigs are the friendliest animals, a herd (litter?) of Kune Kune piglets would be so exciting!
Duck shooting season started here today. I hate it with all the guns going off, and thinking of the birds that are only maimed and not killed, but they say it is essential for keeping populations under control. We tried wild duck once when a friend gave us some of their catch, very tough and full of little gritty bullet bits!
Mister flowers is radiant! No other word. And Tima is…round!! No other word for that either. And Naomi is, well, Naomi is perfect. All cow-loveliness. Those eyelashes and the resolute lower lip just kill me. Beautiful.
A belly full of promise, I would say.
Tima looks round-bellied to me. Fingers crossed for little Kune Kunes!
I agree that Tima appears to be “bellying-down” with piglets. How exciting!! I like the idea of putting a collar on the calf for easier catching. Wily little things that they are.
Oh good.. you know what to look for! No sign of any thickening in Poppy though..
I often cannot see the bellying-down until a few weeks before they are due. Since this would be Poppy’s first litter, she may not show until fairly close. Let’s hope that is it!
I am still terrified that she is just fat.. which make me worry about giving her extra feed?
My husband figures feed based on protein %. That is much harder to figure when out on pasture and not mainly (only) consuming a mixed feed ratio.
This is a lovely season for the Daily View.