Mothergoosemagic's Menagerie

[mothergoosemagic]

Just Hubby & myself at home. Parents of 7, grandparents of 33+ (#34 next week, #35 in June)--no "multiplying like rabbits" jokes. Believe me, we've heard them all.

Dogs: Sadie & Gabby
Quaker parrots: Otey & Aldo
Lovebird: Lovey
Critter-sitting: Marco (tri-colored guinea pig) & Polo (NZ albino buck)
Hens: Big Edie, Paloma, Lacey, Little Red & Little Brown
Bees: 5 stands
Pond fish: 4 big goldfish
Little Bunnies: Franklin, Bandit (female) & Snowball
Big Bunnies: Thumper, Sweetie & her 7 babies

I think that's all. I hope that's all.

 

[Audrey]

Jealous of your big family! I come from a very small family and always wish I had a huge family. Do you harvest the honey from your bees?

 

[mothergoosemagic]

Audrey, my Hubby is from a small family--he was the "surprise" after his two sisters hit their teen years.

We do harvest honey. My best hives came thru this horrible winter with full supers of honey on top. I've already fed each a pollen patty to get them started, as well as 1:2 sugar syrup until things start blooming.

I have a huge garden, lots of fruit trees & bushes, so Christmas means packages with comb honey, berry jams & apple butter, & dried fruit leather. And cookies, of course. There's no way to keep up with all the grands likes & dislikes, but they all like to eat!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Wow, that's a big family! :shock: You are very blessed.

I come from a small family- my parents immigrated from Denmark, so I am a first generation American with two brothers, one of which is Canadian. Canada was their "gateway" to the States, because it had less stringent requirements at the time. All of my relatives are in Denmark so I missed out on having an extended family to interact with.

My husband is from a family of seven, two of which never had children. The rest only had two or three each, for a total of thirteen kids.

We have three kids, and I wish we had more! Hubs wanted to stop with two (kids are expensive!) but my little Colliepup had different ideas. :lol: Surprise!

I've got you beat on critters though! I don't have a current count on rabbits, but there are a LOT of them. We have 7 dogs, 2 house cats, about a dozen barn cats with some litters on the way, 4 horses, about half a dozen chickens, 3 ducks, a tiny fishtank with 3 Zebra Danios, and a Leopard Gecko who is over twenty years old. We usually have at least one bird (the last was a Lovebird named Birdface), but have been without for a while.

How do you like the little Quakers? I have heard that they are exceptionally sweet birds.

 

[KKRabbitry]

:welcome:
Welcome to RabbitTalk!
What a wonderful menagerie of "kids and kritters" you have! I'm sure it keeps you busy!
I'm from a family of nine kids, and I couldn't imagine life any other way At this point I have 13 nieces/nephews, all born in the last 10 years.
(So yeah, we get the "multiplying like rabbits" jokes, too, lol!)

I may have to pick your brain about bees sometimes.....always wanted to try my hand at bee keeping. Someday.
We had a hive for a few years when I was younger, but lately my Mom has been thinking about trying another one. Yes!

Anyway, enjoy the forum here at RT!

 

[mothergoosemagic]

How do you like the little Quakers? I have heard that they are exceptionally sweet birds.

I wouldn't exactly classify our guys as sweet--more like quixotic. Both are rescued birds--Otey is more bonded to females & Aldo more bonded to males. When Hubby is home, Aldo absolutely refuses to step up onto my hand or have anything to do with me (unless I have some banana). When Hubby leaves for work, then Aldo adores me & I can handle him all I want.

Otey had been abused before he came to his first rescue family (we're his second), so he was very cage aggressive & never has been inclined to step up. He's much more sociable now, but still doesn't like to be handled.

Quakers are very, very smart & learn new things all the time. Aldo is only 5, but Otey is 18 & still surprises us with new words & sounds. They can get pretty vocal, too. All our birds are fully feathered, so once we open cages in the morning, they can fly around as they please.

Lovey, the dainty little 2 year old yellow peachface, is the one who really rules the roost. She bosses both the quakers, bosses the dogs, and definitely bosses the People. As a rule lovebirds don't talk, but she has 4 distinct sound patterns that are words. Of course, the very *first* thing she learned from Otey was quaker-cussing. Sort of a crowing noise combined with cockatoo up & down head moves.

She knows my laptop has "birdies" in it, so she'll fly over & demand I pull up her special YouTube lovebird video. She'll flutter & chirp until it starts, then she'll fly back to her perch by the front window. Then she bosses the outside birds & any human passerbys.

Loads & loads of personality. Sort of feathered Lhasa Apsos.