Last night while I was watching the
news on the television, again very intensely video clips of the deluge
that is taking place in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York State and other
places. The whole scenario was scary. I feel sorry for those people that
they have to endure this natural disaster.
I have a few friends and fellow fanciers
that live in those areas. Three of them called me on their cell phones
and they told me they lost their entire bird rooms located in their
basements. All three of them managed to save some of the birds crowding
in small cages. Hopefully this deluge will come to an end and things can
get back to normal again? My three friends expressed to me their
frustration and disappointment. Most of their 2006 breeding season has
been ruined.
All the areas where I live are on high
grounds; there is no chance that my houses could get flooded, however
our manufacture facility here in Hillside is located in a flood prone
zone. Thank God for the last 16-18 years we had no problems with floods.
My bird room is located on ground level, but all the breeding cages are
placed at least 24in above the floor. All the outside walls are brick
and concrete and the room is completely sealed so that in any event that
a flood would occur, the bird room will remain practically dry. I'm
hoping this will never happen. I wouldn't want to see the flooding
conditions that occurred in Wilksbury, Pa. (I'm not sure of the spelling
of the town).
Early this morning I picked up a
generous amount of a variety of seeding grasses including Rye, Fescue,
and others. Today the seeds were in the advanced milky stage. Actually
the Gouldians, Carduelan Finches and Canaries too devoured this nature
bounty with gusto. I am posting on today's date several photos that show
the seeding grasses. You may view them by visiting the Abba website @
www.abbaseed.com and click on Photo Album and view the seeding grass and
while you are there you can view all the other photos as well.
At the time that I am posting this note
at around 2ish PM, the sun is trying to appear but the clouds are
preventing it from doing so. Lots of humidity in the air, we need in
this area dry and pleasant sunshine to turn things around. It breaks my
heart when I look at my vegetable fields, the wild sunflower plants as
well as the Perilla plants and Bella di Notte, although alive, have
grown very little so far. In the past years at this time the wild
sunflowers were about 4- 5 feet high, what a difference good weather can
do to nature. Well, on a positive note the weeds are growing like crazy.
Because of the intense humidity in the
air, the dehumidifier in the bird room collects 2-3 gallons of water per
day. Thank God for the dehumidifier, excess humidity creates fungus very
easily and it is detrimental to the birds. Yesterday and today and for
the total of five days we supplied in the birds drinking water medicine
to prevent the flair up of Coccidiosis. This morning I inspected a nest
box containing six or seven baby Gouldians. Despite the fact that the
dehumidifier is running practically steady and a huge fan that pulls and
exchanges the air, the young Gouldians were practically wet covered in
feces. We removed all the youngsters out of the nest box, put in a clean
one, replaced with new fresh and clean nesting material and everything
looked okay after. On a daily basis we will be checking all the nest
boxes as well as all the nests in attempt to keep them dry and clean and
we hope everyday that the weather climate will change for the better.
In this weather condition we make sure
that all the seed and other food we feed to the birds are dry and not
humid. Humidity on the seed and food can create fungus and therefore be
detrimental to the health of the birds especially to the youngsters. I
gave strict orders to my helper to feed a very small amount of soft food
at a time. Also we minimize the feeding of high water content greens.
Keeping everything dry and clean will assure the survival of the birds,
young and old.
From tomorrow on I will be away until
July 14th/15th. I hope that everyone of you when you have to time will
continue to post good information that all the other fellow fanciers and
friends can enjoy reading. Lets keep all the groups full of good
educational information. This is all for now.
To each and every one of you I wish a
Happy Forth of July, don't get hurt with fireworks and be careful when
you picnic not to eat spoiled food, Bochilism flairs up very easily in
picnic settings.
If you are not a member of the following groups, please join and be
part of the learning experience.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ABBASEEDBIRDSQANDA/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/COM_USA/?yguid=47202339
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ColorbredCanaries101Genetics/?yguid=47202339
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EuropeanGoldFinch/?yguid=47202339
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GPA101911/?yguid=47202339
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/timbrado/?yguid=47202339
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NFSS/?yguid=47202339
Best Regards,
G.A. Abbate in cloudy, hazy, New Jersey—The Garden State?
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