WELCOME to HAPPY TO BE...This is a blog about my love of Antiques, My family, humor, as humor keeps us laughing and my every Day life...I hope you enjoy your visit...Please leave me a comment to let me know you Came by so I can visit with you Thank You !!...Hugs and Smiles, Gl♥ria

January 21, 2009

~FOR THE BIRDS~

Hey guys...I thought today I would share with you my Bird farm...Yes from 1991 to 2007 I use to raise birds.... From BIG birds to little birds...see these Eggs ??? Well the Big one is an Ostrich egg, the green one is an Emu egg and in the front row is a Bob White quail egg, and of course a Chicken egg.. we also use to raise Peacocks and Guinea hens... Now I am sorry about these pictures but they are just snap shots that I had to scan..this is my sweet little Mama with a just hatched Emu chick, these are Emu chicks in the brooder box under the heat light and here is an Emu chick at a week old in its chick run...

Now this is an Ostrich male at 6 months old and the 2 birds next to him our an Emu pair at 6 months old... Ostriches can reached heights of 10 foot...where Emus will get to 8 foot..now these are still babies birds... these are just pictures of me in the pens with the birds so you can really see how big they can get.Now Ostriches come from Africa and they are the largest bird in the world...but they can not fly..thank God for that, I sure wouldn't want to clean my wind shield after they flew over... Emu's come from Australia and are the second largest bird.. Ostriches lay there eggs during the summer months and Emus during the winter months..so we were always busy with incubating eggs..and with Emus the male sits on the eggs to hatch them and the female will only lays as many eggs as what he will sit on..if she lays to many he will kick them out from under neath him...And Emus will only drop there eggs at night time...and our would lay one every 3 nights.... The female Emus will have nothing to do with her eggs she'll lay them, and get up and leave them for the male...and the Male when he is sitting will go for 56 days without food or water while he hatches them.. Now the male Ostrich will get very mean while he is in color...his neck will turn bright Red..and he really don't want anyone near him at that time...I mean come on he is servicing his women !!!




Now this is what we called our grow out pens....now every chick we had we did blood work on for DNA sexing and Microchip ed each one in the piping muscle in their necks...As when we got ready to sell them we know they were unrelated pair...we would sell week ago chicks to one year old birds... the older they were the more they coasted...Yearly Ostriches were selling for $42,000. a pair.... Emus were $18,000. a pair....




Now this is a male and female Ostrich both at 3 months old...you can really see how gray and little she is to the male who is the Pretty one...he is just coming into his black and white color..the other picture is of them full grown Yearlings..
Hope you enjoyed my little bird farm today...it was really fun when we did this...but was too hard on me to keep it up after my late husband died...those 50 lbs feed sacks got to be too heavy for me...at one time we had over 300 Ostriches and Emus here...and girls I will tell you one Ostrich egg will made an omelet for 10 people...where as it takes 5 quail eggs to equal one chicken egg and yes I did use the eggs for baking...only if they were not fertile and we also sold the by product from the birds...the Ostrich's eggs we sold for $50.00 and Emus eggs for $25,00.

We also would have the Emu's bucthered ...The fat from the Emus was rendered and sold to burn clinics...nothing on those birds was a waste...And the Leather from the Ostriches was also another by-product we sold...after we send it to the tannery...





Hope all of you have a safe and blessed day today...


hugs and smiles Gl♥ria





39 comments:

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed your info on the birds! Have a great evening!

Salmagundi said...

How interesting!! I had no idea about ostriches or emus. I learn something every day. Thanks for sharing this part of your life! Sally

xinex said...

Oh those baby big birds are so cute, Gloria. I can just imagine how muich work they required. I love the eggs. Thanks for sharing your experience. It's really neat!...Christine

Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer said...

Gloria

What a wonderful post... I love the eggs and the birds...and a great picture of your Mom!

Beth at Aunties said...

I am impressed with your bird farm and all the information. It had to have been rewarding work and yes a lot of work!
We have had birds from parakeets, cockatails, parrots to several red tail hawks while our family were being raised. Our son was a falconer.
Your eggs are so beautiful.

Thanks for sharing such an informative post.

Lady Katherine said...

I loved to hear about the birds! So wonderful. I had one baby emu, under a light but he did not make it, we then were given two adults, when the market went down. They got out one day after being here several years. Could not be caught. So they went into the freezer instead, had a huge party at New Year's everyone had to have a couple of drinks, before they would taste, then we got calls do you have any more emu meat. lol Then I got another emu. She was the sweetest, eat out of my hand. The woods by our land, loggers came in and were cutting it. They cut our fence, came on our property and cut down trees. Well we never seen my sweet emu again. I had a chat with the loggers, for at the time we had a hundred or so grown sheep and angora goats. Finally they fixed my fence. But now emu! Those were such fun days.

Connie said...

That's really interesting, sweet chick! And "chick" brings a special meaning to YOU, honey. :-)
Smooches,
Connie

Kat said...

Hi Gloria - wow, that had to be ALOT of work! I'll be honest, big birds scare me a bit (no, I wasn't traumatized by Sesame Street lol) ever since my brother was attacked by a Canadian snow goose when we were little. Isn't that the goofiest thing you've ever heard? But I do see the beauty in all of God's creatures (well maybe not snakes, but who am I to second guess right?) I work with animals and love it, but it takes a special person to work with large animals. Great post! Kathy

bj said...

Once upon a time, a long time ago, we also raised Emu. What fun it was to find those precious,big green eggs. THEN...the bottom fell out of the market and folks were left with lots of big birds. It sure was fun while it lasted....
xo bj

Confessions of a Plate Addict said...

Wow! Amazing, Gloria! My neighbors down the road have emus. Now I'll know more about them as I check them out. How is little Miss Kyra? We are praying for your sweet angel...Debbie

Missy Wertz said...

How interesting! One of my mom's neighbors used to have an emu. It disappeared before Thanksgiving one year...

We have 3 keets and one parrot. That is a lot of work and they are demanding pets. I cannot imagine having a farm of birds. Thanks for sharing.

Melissa Miller said...

Hi Gloria,
What an interesting post.
This must have been such hard work. I'm floored by the trendous size of them. Just curious... What did people buy them for? Zoos?
~Melissa :)

Lynne (lynnesgiftsfromtheheart) said...

Gloria, this is totally awesome. I enjoyed reading about the raising and selling of the birds. The difference in the size of the eggs is incredible. Your mother was down right beautiful girl.. beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing.. hugs ~lynne~

Bargain Decorating with Laurie said...

Gloria, I learned so much from this post! I cannot believe how large a 6 mo. old Ostrich is! You are so funny-yes, I'd hate to have to clean up that bird poop-a splat from above might injure a person! How is your great granddaughter? laurie

Four Paws and Co said...

Great post Gloria! ♥ Diane

Cindy (Applestone Cottage) said...

This is very interesting, thanks for sharing! I visited an ostrich farm once, and the owner kept stressing how dangerous the male could be. He told about several cases where the owner had been killed by the male bird. freaked me out. Cindy

Melissa Miller said...

I have passed on a very sweet award to you! :)

nikkicrumpet said...

THat was very interesting. What a cool experience it must have been raising all those different types of birds! That definitely is way more fun that a 9 to 5 desk job! And I'm sure it was much more work too!

Anonymous said...

Wow, who knew emu eggs were worth so much?

Kristens Creations said...

Hi Gloria, What an interesting post! I'm glad ostriches can't fly either. Wouldn't that be something to see flying across the sky.lol! Kristen

Anonymous said...

Gloria you have had the most interesting and adventureous life. I sure have been praying for your sweet baby. Your Mama was so beautiful and of course you are too. Sure hope everything goes well for little Kyra. Love, Cindy

Marie Reed said...

Holy Moly! What an amazing life you've had! I was mesmerized by this post. I've never heard of anything like this!

SmilingSally said...

I love learning and today you've really taught me a good bit. Thanks.

Glenda said...

Worse thing about any kind of farm life I can think of is that you can't easily take time off. Most especially is that true if livestock is involved. They have to be cared for no matter what. This was a most informative post. I'm glad that you can have more of your time to call your own now. Prayers are still going up for you and your family.

Terrie's Lil' Piece of Serenity said...

You know I love this post. I am the bird girl. That must have been a lot of work. I wouldn't want to try to do it on my own. But, I am sure the two of you enjoyed it together. WOW! I didn't realize they were worth that much.

"Blossom" said...

That message was "just for You".
You are the sweetest person I know.
I love your birds too. Thanks, for comming by.
Blossom
How is the baby? I say a prayer for her everyday when I pray for mommy.
Blossom

Anonymous said...

You know--------------I loved this.Wow,would I have loved to do this.But,I would have them all as pets.I coudn't have sold them.Very fasinating.AWWWWW...
By the way,I have an award waiting for you.It's the MOM award...ann

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Gloria, this is FASCINATING! My best friend in high school's nickname was Emu. She absolutely loved the Emus at the zoo!

Thanks for the tour and sharing all of this with us. It was so neat!

XO,

Sheila :-)

Anonymous said...

I would never have guessed you had a bird farm. Great post. My blog and comments are working now.

Melissa Miller said...

I'm glad you liked your "Mom" award!
You are a wonderful Mom & Grandma & Greatgrandma.
Well deserved. :)

Anonymous said...

I know you have the mom one already which double means you're such a good mom.I've noticed we can have more than 2 or more of the same one.just post it twice.and dear you deserve them all .Please take all of them.I love ya...Ann

Bo said...

Oh my goodness little Gloria...you have lived a 1000 and 1 lives... I am amazed at what all you have done thus far...keep it coming little one! ;-) Bo

Tootsie said...

love it! and want to let you know that I am still praying for the baby. she is a fighter already...just like you are my dear...
we really need to chat again very soon. I have lots to tell you....maybe later tonight or tomorrow? let me know.

ksarra said...

Hi Happy, Girl, I am learning sooo much from you about so many interesting things. Those eggs are fascinating. You've done so many things in life WOW. And I love the picture of your Mom, what a sweetheart, thanks for sharing. "Talk" soon my friend.

Rattlebridge Farm said...

My husband and I both LOVED this post!!!!

Jessica said...

Dearest Gloria~

I've had your blog opened for like 30 minutes but Mammaw called me~ you must have visited me while I was sitting here visiting you. :)

Oh how I loved your post today~ your bird farm was great and how much fun you must have had. I know it was hard work~ but that is so awesome. I want a farm one day w/tons of animals. :)

Thanks for the tip and you MUST make that cloche! I want to see it...get busy my friend!

Big hugs from me~ J.

Susan (Between Naps On The Porch.net) said...

Facinating post, Gloria! Sounds like hard work but very, very interesting! Thanks for sharing this part of your life...you are an amazing woman! Susan

Sara's Sweet Surprise said...

That's one eggs Benedict I'd like to try!

Sweet Wishes,
Sara

lvroftiques said...

Gloria this really was a FASCINATING post!! Girl next time we talk I want to hear about all the details. Thank you so much for sharing the link for it. I'm not sure how I missed it? But day-um girl your life is too cool!!! Seriously you are one of the most interesting people I've ever known...Although I'm sure you hear that alot *winks* I'm trying to wrap my little feeble brain around all the work that must have involved. I sure wish I knew ya back then...course I probably would've driven you crazy with wanting to hang with the birds! I know they can be dangerous but that wouldn't have stopped me from wanting to pet and interact with them (Or just watch them) Did they consider you mama? I read that big birds can make the best guard animals....Can you just imagine having a pack of 8' plus HUGE birds running after you?! Did that ever happen to you?? I have a million questions! OK let me also add that picture with your mama and the baby emu is precious! And girlfriend you looked beautiful!! You were and still ARE one HOT MAMA!! *winks* Love ya! Vanna