Meadowlark Farms
Lady Gouldian Finches - About the Farm
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| First I must clarify...It's not really a farm. It's actually a small home in the suburbs of Detroit. Here, along with our four children, we garden, can our own goods, play hard, and happily care for our many critters and each other! |
| The name "Meadowlark Farms" came about when my husband decided we had far too many animals. He began calling our house "The Farm". He was right, you know. We had a dog, 2 rabbits, several mice, a rat, lizards, an assortment of tropical fish and goldfish, a beta, a lot of birds, and a cat. We live on a street called Meadowlark, so "The Farm" soon became "Meadowlark Farms"! Pretty soon he wanted labels for his jams and jellies, canned goods, and breads he gave as gifts during the holidays. What should he put on them he asks me? It was simple - Meadowlark Farms! His labels now bear the name Meadowlark Farms as does "The Farm" and all the creatures within it! Our friends and family think it's funny. We think it fits! |
| WHERE WE GOT THE NAME |
| Our life is extraordinarily busy, as is the life of most people we know with children and pets. We care for our pets with love and diligence. Every child knows how to feed, water, clean up after, and give overall care to each of our animals. They have all watched as baby birds emerge from their shell and as the parents assisted the chick. They have accompanied me to the veterinarian each time our cat or dog has a visit. They've watched me hand-mix food for the birds, rat, mouse, and rabbits, and have watched as our dear animal friends pass of old age. They hold funerals for each of those dear friends and plant flowers in their remembrance. They have been taught that animals, no matter how small, are to be treated with kind hands and kind words. |
| GET 'EM YOUNG, TRAIN 'EM RIGHT! |
| Don't laugh. This is a true story! Back in 1999, when all the Y2K scare was in high gear and talk of war and biological warfare began to heat the airwaves, my mom and I were having a discussion about how we would know if there was some kind of biological weapon used in our area. Yes, it sounds silly...I agree! Mom brought up the fact that coal miners used to use canaries in the mines to alert them to accumulating fumes that could potentially kill the working miners. Birds are very sensitive to fumes of all kinds and will drop dead from the perch if exposed to these toxins. She thought it made sense to keep a canary to alert us. I figured we'd know when we dropped dead, but figured a canary would make a good birthday present! Some months later, while on a trip collecting supplies for my other pets, I stopped in to my local bird and fish store. There, singing their little hearts out, were two canaries. They were priced inexpensively because of their ages making them very affordable for me! I took a leap of faith, in a strange, this-is-really-silly-I-don't-know-anything-about-canaries sort of way, because I thought canaries only came in yellow - I purchased the pair. I came home with Felix, a black and white American Singer cock, and Rusty, a red mosaic Gloster consort cock (no, I had no idea what I had at the time!). Felix came home with me, and Rusty went to mom's...and the hours of research began - I had no idea there were so many types of canaries. I had no idea they came in so many colors! I had no idea there were so many kinds of birds kept in captivity! That little "click" in my brain was almost audible...I was a sucker for feathers, and I think I like birds! |
| HOW WE ENDED UP WITH BIRDS |
| I was completely and utterly entranced by Felix. He was a lovely bird. I loved the way he flit from perch to cage bars and hissed at me when I got too close to the cage. After a few weeks, he was no longer hissing, but began to sing to me. You see, single canary cocks will often "court" their caretakers when there is no hen present. I had read this on the Internet somewhere but was skeptical. Turns out it was true! Then it hit me...I was in love with my bird! Oh my goodness, I'm a "bird person"! I didn't know I was a bird person! Soon I realized I had to have more...that little "click" turned into an obsession...can you say uh,oh??? Canaries turned into more canaries and zebra finches, then parakeets, an African Grey - rescued from certain death - society finches, orange weavers, spice finches, and finally Lady Gouldians. I bred for color, for type, for song. I had dozens of birds. My entire flock lived in my living room in front of my big windows. It was noisy, but wonderful! But they made an awful mess! And during the molt? Whew! It looked like it had snowed in my living room! I spent so much time cleaning cages and vacuuming, that I got calluses on my hands from the over-worked, overheating vacuum cleaner! My obsession had just added to my already large workload at home. I finally decided it was time to move my birds to a space where mess didn't really matter. |
| I DIDN'T KNOW I WAS A "BIRD PERSON" |
| So we built them an aviary in the basement. We had no idea how to go about it and spent many long hours on the Internet looking at pictures of other peoples' bird rooms and housing arrangements. I figured out what I wanted to build, wrote a parts list, then took the kids to the local home improvement store to purchase the items we needed. 6 wooden screen doors (the kind you see on old Victorian houses) A box of deck screws Connecting pieces (flat aluminum with holes to screw through, corner pieces) UV protection corrugated plastic for the ceiling (with the wood parts shaped to fill the spaces) Several 1" x 2" boards to attach to the wall so I could drill holes for the fixed perches and nest boxes. 4 Piano hinges for the door. A box of screw-eyes to hang miscellaneous perches, greenery and feeders from the ceiling A box of locking hook-latches (I used these to hang the aviary feeders so they couldn't fall) Newspaper for the floor (taped together so it didn't fly around with the movement of the birds) I hi-jacked some long work lights from my husband's stash in the garage, wired them with long cords and fitted them with full-spectrum bulbs. I merely had to lay them on the roof once it was built, then plug them in! NOTE: I thought I would be moving the entire aviary outside eventually, though I'm glad I didn't. However, once it was built I realized it didn't make much sense to use a UV protected roofing when I was using full-spectrum bulbs. Live and learn! (Also a good reason to build a "plan" first! Be sure to think it through!) The kids had a blast! We worked as a family to build that darned thing. And when it was done it was a work of art! It was 9 feet long, 7 feet high, and 5 feet deep. We could walk right in and sit amongst the birds! It was a beautiful sight to see. A few months later, we adopted a cat... |
| THE BIG HOUSE |
| Katalyn is a beautiful, tuxedo short-hair cat that we rescued from a caged existence. She is loving and friendly, and very social...and, like any other cat, likes to eat birds. The first time she saw the aviary she looked as if she had just found Nirvana. She sat for hours staring at the many birds flitting around amongst the natural tree branches and hanging perches. I swear I saw her drool! She watched but never touched! I was impressed! Then one day a cheeky finch decided to come down to introduce himself. It was nearly his last introduction! I just happened to be sitting there, staring at the aviary and watching the interaction inside, when the cat jumped. No, let me rephrase that. She didn't just jump...she FLEW! Before I could move, she was hanging from top of the fragile screening...then she was at the bottom, claws tearing through the screen as she came down. *heavy sigh* It was the first of many holes to appear in the screen. A few of the canary juveniles figured out how to chew their way out, then proceeded to show their siblings how to escape. There was duct tape everywhere in an attempt to conceal the holes for as long as I could. Somewhere along the line I lost control of the population as well! I was losing track of who belonged whom, their birth dates, the genetic trail...even how many birds I actually had in there! This was no good. I'm a control freak...my birds were out of control! It was becoming apparent...my lovely aviary wasn't going to work out as well as I'd hoped - and on so many levels (planning, planning!). So I gave in and purchased new, larger cages, and back to the cages the birds went! |
| BACK TO THE CAGES |
| AND NOW... |
| It was back to cleaning many cages and accessories. At this point I had about 170 birds of various types and breeds. I had to figure out a better way to care for them. After cataloging all of the "volunteer" birds, banding them, and guesstimating their birth dates, I was back to a more controlled, reserved, breeding setting. My husband suggested I keep only the Goulds because they were neat, quiet, and calm. I was spending too much time cleaning and vacuuming and my family was suffering. So I made the decision to concentrate on a smaller number of birds - hubby was right! As much as I loved the canary song, the feisty zebras, the silly societies, the breeding colors of the weaver males, I needed to downsize. So I sold most of my breeder canaries, all of my zebras, the weavers, the spice finches, and most of the societies. I started researching better breeding cages. I found some lovely, easy to clean European type cages that I really wanted. Then I looked at the price. YIKES! They were definitely NOT in the budget! I began to hunt for breeder cages elsewhere, then stopped in to my local bird and fish store again. I lost my mind, and neglected to heed my own best advice, NEVER PURCHASE USED CAGES! Read the story of what happened next here...http://ladygouldian.com/features_dracula.mgi |
| THIS IS RIDICULOUS! |
| Now I breed Lady Gouldians, exclusively. I pair them to preserve the natural colorations, and pair them to produce the other color mutations. My personal favorites are the red-headed, white-chested cocks. I still keep societies for fostering, but have found that if I wait until the Goulds are two years old, I don't need the societies at all! See the rest of this site for the continuing saga! Thank you for reading! Happy birding! Kristen |