Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Rooster refugees re-located

So we got the roosters moved, without needing to have a poultry mass-execution. (That would really have had the neighbors in a tizzy!)

The ten favorite roosters were sent off up north to stay on a farm near Oatlands. Julie found someone at the croquet club whose family own land up there, and he persuaded them to take the ten. We now refer to them as "the Government in Exile" since there is just a chance that one day they may return to their old home.
The remaining crowd we managed to re-locate to a country property a bit closer to town. A poultry breeder told Julie about this disused farm whose owner is prepared to let people release unwanted chickens onto his place. There's water, shelter... they're even near the beach. It's more like a holiday camp than a detention center for refugees.

All we had to do was catch the roosters one by one and shove them into a feed sack. When we had enough to fill the boot of my car, we'd drive off across the river and release them. It took about three trips but we did it. I like to think of it as "the Shangri-La for roosters" rather than as abandoning them. They certainly look happy enough when we were down there.

The following week we arranged to meet the Environmental Health Officer and take a walk around Julie's property. He seemed a nice enough young man (you couldn't actually see the horns that we had imagined him with) and made few demands.

So for the time being, things are quiet. But Julie is still going through the real estate section every week, searching for a property where you could keep roosters.


This week we visited such a place, a turkey farm up near Molesworth. It was the first time I've seen turkeys up close in numbers, and they actually do make that gobble-gobble-gobble sound and fluff up their feathers when there are strangers about. Very impressive looking.


This persistent cough of mine is now into its fifth week. Taking revolting cough mixture by the bottle. I had been going to visit my GP and see if I needed antibiotics, but he passed away unexpectedly. I am going to see a new doctor tomorrow, so we shall see what happens then.


Old Time Radio CatOld Time Radio Catalog (OTRCAT.com) is dedicated to the preservation of the golden era of radio (old time radio). You can hear thousands of old time radio episodes online and can stream or download full episodes in Mp3 format. Detailed descriptions of the performers and series broadcast in the era (1920's - 1959) are available to read. In the 'daily downloads', there are the broadcasts of the day throughout history (from the last 50-70+ years). More information about old time radio...