Welcome Vince.
Can't wait for chapter 2, and the rest of the story.
I think most people were catching wild finches in the 60's and 70's in country areas. I can remember catching red brows, double bars and chestnuts.
No snakes lasted long enough to get big or fat. We used the same lead poisoning solution.
It's great to be back to "Finching"
Cheers Craig-
VinceS
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- Posts: 70
- Joined: 19 Mar 2012, 21:54
- Location: Newcastle
The thing about that snake was we suspected it before we saw it. Of course because there were no bodies I spent a fair bit of time looking for holes but no luck. Then my wife saw what she thought was a snake skin but it turned out to be a piece of old bra that had got in the cage somehow, no idea, maybe there was some cross dressing going on with the local birds visiting and the clothes line nearby? Anyway it was a big joke for a while, the scary bra snake eating all the birds. Then one sunny day we spotted the real thing....
I was on crutches then and pretty slow (it was a femur) as they let me out of hospital with a fibreglass cast on. I hobbled down to the aviary with a spade and soon realised what a sitting duck i would be so didn't go in the cage. The snake disappeared while I was looking for another way. A week or so later it was seen and I had an old fashioned slug gun available. These just bounced off the snake (poking the barrel through the wire), a couple stuck in a few mm then fell out. All I was doing is getting it really agro and looked like it would smash through the wire. Then suddenly the next thing that happened was ......
I was on crutches then and pretty slow (it was a femur) as they let me out of hospital with a fibreglass cast on. I hobbled down to the aviary with a spade and soon realised what a sitting duck i would be so didn't go in the cage. The snake disappeared while I was looking for another way. A week or so later it was seen and I had an old fashioned slug gun available. These just bounced off the snake (poking the barrel through the wire), a couple stuck in a few mm then fell out. All I was doing is getting it really agro and looked like it would smash through the wire. Then suddenly the next thing that happened was ......
Some days are Diamonds some days are Zebs. Sometimes the coccidiosis won't leave me alone. Sometimes a cold wind blows a chill in my Gouldians. But any day with my finches is a day without stones.
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VinceS
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- Posts: 70
- Joined: 19 Mar 2012, 21:54
- Location: Newcastle
I left!!!
I was still on crutches and no chance of beating this really aggro creature, it was hitting the wire so hard decent dents were happening in the wire. And still I had no clue how the snake was getting in. I had realised the now about 80 birds were very reluctant to go into the feed box, but didn't know why. This was an approx 1m2 plywood cover about 0.4m high and was in the open with a sloped lid and a pair of feeders near the back. Fairly weatherproof and I did put concrete in the bottom with a bit of an apron, but of course I will have used one bag when it shoulda been two, so it was pretty thin up the back, and easy for a snake to punch through.
I had a triple two Remington but this was not something to be let go a round out of in suburban Wollongong, even backing onto a reserve and a valley as we did. So I borrowed a mate's 22 and sub-sonic ammo, about the same as a noisy cap gun. I should explain we had a full width first floor back verandah and overlooked directly to the aviary immediately below, so we could have launched an exocet missile at the thing without any risk of damage outside the back yard.
Some time goes by, no snake sightings and I am back to work graduating from crutches to a walking stick. The feeders worked pretty well but I am still in there every couple of weeks or so filling them up, missed the snake every time thank gawd!
Then I get a ph call in the arvo at work, the missus has let one rip, but you wouldn't believe what she's done.........
I was still on crutches and no chance of beating this really aggro creature, it was hitting the wire so hard decent dents were happening in the wire. And still I had no clue how the snake was getting in. I had realised the now about 80 birds were very reluctant to go into the feed box, but didn't know why. This was an approx 1m2 plywood cover about 0.4m high and was in the open with a sloped lid and a pair of feeders near the back. Fairly weatherproof and I did put concrete in the bottom with a bit of an apron, but of course I will have used one bag when it shoulda been two, so it was pretty thin up the back, and easy for a snake to punch through.
I had a triple two Remington but this was not something to be let go a round out of in suburban Wollongong, even backing onto a reserve and a valley as we did. So I borrowed a mate's 22 and sub-sonic ammo, about the same as a noisy cap gun. I should explain we had a full width first floor back verandah and overlooked directly to the aviary immediately below, so we could have launched an exocet missile at the thing without any risk of damage outside the back yard.
Some time goes by, no snake sightings and I am back to work graduating from crutches to a walking stick. The feeders worked pretty well but I am still in there every couple of weeks or so filling them up, missed the snake every time thank gawd!
Then I get a ph call in the arvo at work, the missus has let one rip, but you wouldn't believe what she's done.........
Some days are Diamonds some days are Zebs. Sometimes the coccidiosis won't leave me alone. Sometimes a cold wind blows a chill in my Gouldians. But any day with my finches is a day without stones.
And then????? 
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Jayburd
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- Posts: 5795
- Joined: 08 Dec 2009, 12:08
- Location: Canberra
Welcome 
Come on, next installment already!! This may have to go in the newsletter!
Come on, next installment already!! This may have to go in the newsletter!
Julian
Birdwatcher and finch-keeper.
Feel free to check out my photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lewinsrail/
And my birding antics here: http://worthtwointhebushbirding.blogspot.com.au/
Birdwatcher and finch-keeper.
Feel free to check out my photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lewinsrail/
And my birding antics here: http://worthtwointhebushbirding.blogspot.com.au/
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VinceS
- ...............................
- Posts: 70
- Joined: 19 Mar 2012, 21:54
- Location: Newcastle
I come home early for a look. Her back teeth are under water from the steady stream of neighbors in for a sticky beak and a cuppa. She says she didn't go with the plan (which was to pop one into the snake from the back lawn and pointing into the bank with the sub-sonic jobbie). No she has got the .222 and let one rip off the back verandah, and I later found from various friends how far away you can hear that little jobbie go off from!
OK so I look over the verandah and there's a couple of wires missing out of the roof, big enough hole to lose what little finches were left, if they noticed. Looks Like a motionless snake at the bottom of the aviary. She said she aimed for the head. So I cautiously go get it, dead as a doornail. Pick it up and in about the middle it has a fist shaped piece of snake missing. And clearly there are three lumps from the latest smorgasbord of feathered fun. "Aimed for the head did you? Must be the unluckiest snake alive - how fast was it moving?" I asked, knowing she had said it was too scary to go down the back next to it.
"Oh no", she says "It was asleep curled up". This is the point where any wise husband knows shutting up is a great choice, so I shut up of course (that is my story and I'm sticking to it).
This happened in 1986. I remember now that some species were survivors and some, like the canaries, were the first to go, and I didn't like losing red factors then as they were the most expensive bird I had bought to date. King quail and I think it was Javas could manage to avoid the seed box the longest, or maybe they were smart enough to go in there after they heard the snake do its lock jaw thing on a beak they recently shared a perch with? For the rest the budgies, zebras, mannikins, chestnuts, spice, diamond doves and whatever seemed to deplete fairly evenly.
That whole event was rather dispiriting and I knew that whatever had gone on this aviary was not going to stay like it was as the seemingly nice feature of integrating it onto an embankment actually created all sorts of other problems because of course I had done a pretty good job but had issues which fundamentally stemmed from not thinking about how it was going to work a few years down the track. You get that!
I don't remember what I did with the remaining birds but I pulled the aviary down. It was then i dug into the bank and found the true extent of what had gone on. Rats nests hollowed out in the dirt and lined with fluffy stuff, including bird feathers. I did know prior I had an issue with rats but it only just started as a couple of lobotomised birds turned up, very grizzly discovery that is! In the nests there were even some dried up rats, I am guessing they were hiding from the snake and couldn't get out. It was rather surprising to find this network of tunnels and nests, easy 15m underground and nowhere a big snake could turn around so gawd knows what was actually going on.
Anyway, this is post four, so I can fast forward to today, or really three years ago when......
OK so I look over the verandah and there's a couple of wires missing out of the roof, big enough hole to lose what little finches were left, if they noticed. Looks Like a motionless snake at the bottom of the aviary. She said she aimed for the head. So I cautiously go get it, dead as a doornail. Pick it up and in about the middle it has a fist shaped piece of snake missing. And clearly there are three lumps from the latest smorgasbord of feathered fun. "Aimed for the head did you? Must be the unluckiest snake alive - how fast was it moving?" I asked, knowing she had said it was too scary to go down the back next to it.
"Oh no", she says "It was asleep curled up". This is the point where any wise husband knows shutting up is a great choice, so I shut up of course (that is my story and I'm sticking to it).
This happened in 1986. I remember now that some species were survivors and some, like the canaries, were the first to go, and I didn't like losing red factors then as they were the most expensive bird I had bought to date. King quail and I think it was Javas could manage to avoid the seed box the longest, or maybe they were smart enough to go in there after they heard the snake do its lock jaw thing on a beak they recently shared a perch with? For the rest the budgies, zebras, mannikins, chestnuts, spice, diamond doves and whatever seemed to deplete fairly evenly.
That whole event was rather dispiriting and I knew that whatever had gone on this aviary was not going to stay like it was as the seemingly nice feature of integrating it onto an embankment actually created all sorts of other problems because of course I had done a pretty good job but had issues which fundamentally stemmed from not thinking about how it was going to work a few years down the track. You get that!
I don't remember what I did with the remaining birds but I pulled the aviary down. It was then i dug into the bank and found the true extent of what had gone on. Rats nests hollowed out in the dirt and lined with fluffy stuff, including bird feathers. I did know prior I had an issue with rats but it only just started as a couple of lobotomised birds turned up, very grizzly discovery that is! In the nests there were even some dried up rats, I am guessing they were hiding from the snake and couldn't get out. It was rather surprising to find this network of tunnels and nests, easy 15m underground and nowhere a big snake could turn around so gawd knows what was actually going on.
Anyway, this is post four, so I can fast forward to today, or really three years ago when......
Some days are Diamonds some days are Zebs. Sometimes the coccidiosis won't leave me alone. Sometimes a cold wind blows a chill in my Gouldians. But any day with my finches is a day without stones.
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VinceS
- ...............................
- Posts: 70
- Joined: 19 Mar 2012, 21:54
- Location: Newcastle
Yep 3 years ago I owner built a house and this is the keeper. Installed a new wife since I musta missed one of those important "shut up now" moments and the old one exploded messily (as they do!). Its been a long time without finches and I absolutely missed the peace, serenity and general good will having feathered friends to share a beer with, and be fascinated by all the frenetic fun of their daily lives. And of course the excitement of breeding time and all that comes with the shared joys this brings.
I am especially looking forward to the return of those fluffy baked beans that follow mum king quail around, very funny when it is a large family to watch 14 fluff balls at the stage when they can't quite run in and out of the wire anymore and they increasingly panic before finally they find the right hole that their fluffy little bodies can squeeze back through. Not that they will play that game with the mouse mesh I have all round this aviary (and the left over Termimesh dug in 300mm under ground level all round to make burrowing in harder).
Anyway, this aviary which we have called a "finch habitat" - because it is, and to cushion the blow for those morons whose initial reaction and level of understanding starts from a belief that one is imprisoning birds. What they don't realise is how much my birds love their life and are queuing up to be "held captive" at this joint! Well almost all, but that's another story, maybe for post 6 when I am unleashed from the shackles of another of our modern world's necessities - moderated posting!
Right, didn't finish the sentence above! Try again. This aviary has been planned and planted from the outset. There was a whoopsie but it has turned out for the best. Planted a Japanese Gaicia girl which had reached 3m in all directions and was a really fine perch gymnasium, then realised there was a question whether the berries were poisonous or not. Without a clear answer to that we bit the bullet and moved the thing a year ago, it is only now recovering quite nicely from the rigours of the move. Fortunately in the aviary space, freed of the restriction of the dainty purple flowering bush a ti-tree exploded into bushiness just nicely in time for the arrival of a 2.5m mesh and Colorbond roofline which pulled it down 0.5m. Two other ti-trees planted are over 1m tall now and will be good next season, but a vine creeper we grew on the wall wired for the purpose has turned into a brilliant place for birdie hide 'n go seek.
Oh look pics do work here with a bit of a struggle for size. I have planted out the bottom since this one was taken, but you get the idea, and can see where my landscaping priorities lie!
I am especially looking forward to the return of those fluffy baked beans that follow mum king quail around, very funny when it is a large family to watch 14 fluff balls at the stage when they can't quite run in and out of the wire anymore and they increasingly panic before finally they find the right hole that their fluffy little bodies can squeeze back through. Not that they will play that game with the mouse mesh I have all round this aviary (and the left over Termimesh dug in 300mm under ground level all round to make burrowing in harder).
Anyway, this aviary which we have called a "finch habitat" - because it is, and to cushion the blow for those morons whose initial reaction and level of understanding starts from a belief that one is imprisoning birds. What they don't realise is how much my birds love their life and are queuing up to be "held captive" at this joint! Well almost all, but that's another story, maybe for post 6 when I am unleashed from the shackles of another of our modern world's necessities - moderated posting!
Right, didn't finish the sentence above! Try again. This aviary has been planned and planted from the outset. There was a whoopsie but it has turned out for the best. Planted a Japanese Gaicia girl which had reached 3m in all directions and was a really fine perch gymnasium, then realised there was a question whether the berries were poisonous or not. Without a clear answer to that we bit the bullet and moved the thing a year ago, it is only now recovering quite nicely from the rigours of the move. Fortunately in the aviary space, freed of the restriction of the dainty purple flowering bush a ti-tree exploded into bushiness just nicely in time for the arrival of a 2.5m mesh and Colorbond roofline which pulled it down 0.5m. Two other ti-trees planted are over 1m tall now and will be good next season, but a vine creeper we grew on the wall wired for the purpose has turned into a brilliant place for birdie hide 'n go seek.
Oh look pics do work here with a bit of a struggle for size. I have planted out the bottom since this one was taken, but you get the idea, and can see where my landscaping priorities lie!
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Some days are Diamonds some days are Zebs. Sometimes the coccidiosis won't leave me alone. Sometimes a cold wind blows a chill in my Gouldians. But any day with my finches is a day without stones.