 ‘Dang’ is the Thai word for ‘Red’!
…and our Dang is the father of this little fellow born last week to Bridgette. He certainly takes after his father being a glowing deep red. A life of leisure awaits him on the farm!
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I collected 8 Guinea Fowl eggs in August and I put them in the small automatic incubator. They should hatch after 28 days but not much happened! Just one egg was ‘piping’ and for 2 days the ‘keet’ was really struggling to hatch. Against all written advice and my better judgment I cracked the egg to free the ‘keet’. Normally it is a sad fact that you just leave the egg alone and if the ‘keet’ cannot hatch it is just left to fend for itself because that is usually how it is meant to be and very often the ‘keet’ will have a deformity and is not supposed to survive. So the ‘keet’ hatched and I really did not think it would endure but doses of vitamins and with a nice warm brooder it perked-up and after a day was walking around chirping. Being only one of eight eggs to hatch we have called him (or her!) Solo. Now 2 weeks later Solo is beginning to put on weight and grow! He is wonderfully friendly and just needs lots of hugs and makes so much noise if he isn’t get enough attention! Guinea Fowl make splendid pets if handled several times a day when they are very young. So here’s to a very special bird called Solo who will have freedom of the farm when he is old enough!    Here’s a snap of Ruby a rescued baby Civet Cat! She was found close to the farm but left for the night in case her mother was close-by but even in the afternoon of the following day Ruby was still alone and now crying as well! Poor girl! So she was rescued by village folks and where else better to take care of her than Thung Dong! She has only been with us for two days but is settling-in nicely. A few years ago we had another rescued baby Civet Cat called Rik who was very tame and with us for a long time but as he grew older he started to eye the chickens and Guinea Fowl! So lucky for Rik he found a home in the breeding program at Chiang Mai Zoo! But we will have many happy months of taking care of Ruby and watching her grow before she is either returned to the wild or joins Rik in the safety up at the zoo! Every now and again the long hair rabbits need haircuts to remove their matted hair to make them more comfortable and especially around their eyes so they have uninterrupted clear vision. So it was a few days back It is surprising how calm and passive the bunnies are when they are being trimmed as if they know and welcome the shave. It is also so surprising how much unwanted fur can be removed from just one bunny! As the Australians have sheep-shearing competitions I’m looking to see if Thailand have Bunny shearing events where surely Thung Dong Farm would excel! Many thanks to Khun Michelle for providing the clippers which are also used to remove all the unwanted coat on our Izzie and which turns our gorgeous girl into a stunning beauty!
P.s Complimentary haircut and trims for our guests on request!! I would like to introduce you to Molly another Beagle pup and a companion to Louis. Molly is the cutest little dog which no one wanted because she is currently suffering from a bout of Bronchitis! (..and so she wears a jacket when it's chilly!) She is fine during the day but in the early morning and again at night time she tends to cough a little. However after several visits to the local vet she is improving a lot. The vet told me not worry and Molly is on several medications which will ensure a speedy recovery! She and Louis are the very best of friends already and play together throughout the day and sleep together at night. I am currently trying to teach them both not to chase ducks and try to be kind to Izzie who now has two bundles of mischief to contend with!!
Driving into the farm the other day I was surprised in seeing quite a large bird sitting quietly on a post next to the lower lake. I drove slowly, it didn’t move and I came up next to it very close and put the window down…and it still stayed there right next to me and still didn’t move. I took a couple of snaps quickly without realizing that the flash was on which must have startled it as it gently flew over to the other side of the lake and settled onto another post.
I’ve looked through everything I can find on the web but cannot positively identify it only that it was most probably a juvenile and we are sure that it’s an Eagle because of the bright yellow bill and legs. Wonderful to see but we have to be careful with our young Guinea Fowl, Fantail Pigeons, baby chickens and baby rabbits! We very often see 3 tiers of Eagles in the sky above the farm but we have to frighten them away with small ‘Pop’ rockets to protect our smaller animals. I hope that we get the opportunity to see this young bird again preferably sitting quietly on a post and not in the sky eyeing its next meal…or was this just a flying visit?!  Here’s a quick snap of the kids from the orphanage on their first day back at school. I was asked to post this as a means to thank all of our guests who have so kindly donated clothes, stationary items and offered their kind support to The Youth Charity Foundation.
A BIG THANK YOU! from all of us! She has never had a real name; I found her on the back of a truck passing through the village on her way to a very uncertain future. That was after only one week of taking tenure of the land which became Thung Dong Farm!...and that was 18 years ago! The person who sold her to me said he thought that she might be having a baby in a month or so but after just four days she gave birth to Dang…our big Red Bull!..and ever since we have just called her Dang’s Mother. She must be about 20 years old now and sadly almost blind…so she freely roams around the farm and very often find herself in the front garden or the car park! She is the sweetest and most gentle cow you could ever want to meet and she loves corn! It’s her favourite treat and even though she cannot see much that beautiful black nose can smell a corn cob at 200 meters!! So happy 20th birthday Dang’s Mother and many more lazing days of roaming on Thung Dong Farm!   I couldn’t resist posting this snap of Izzie having a drink from the upper lake and young Louis giving her a break! Louis is always wanting to play and hanging around Izzie who has more tolerance than anyone else on the farm…but it is a very sweet snap of the young and old or should we say
the mischief and the patience?! (aka Louis & Izzie!)  A few days back I went to check Harry and Hattie in one pen and their two babies in another. All was well but I couldn’t find Hattie, she had disappeared! She must have lifted the wire mesh from their enclosure and gone AWOL! I was very worried for her but after some time I removed all the furniture and animal food etc from the room where our hedgehogs stay and as I lifted a small bird-house it felt a bit heavy and there inside was Hattie and more of a surprise a two day old baby hedgehog which is quite big because I suppose she only had the one baby this time! Hattie must have made a break to get away from Harry who would harm any new offspring and she had found the bird-house to give birth. So now she is back at home in her own enclosure with her new youngster and both are doing well. You’ve done it again Hattie, congratulations!
Louis, our baby Beagle pup, was 4 months old yesterday and yesterday evening we had the first big storm of the season. The thunder and lightening scared Louis so much he was shaking and scrambled to get onto my bed with me but he is too short! So I lifted him up and even then with a big hug he was still staring around with fright. So I gave him a baby pillow, which a recent guest left, and he snuggled-up to that but still yapping and very worried about the noise from above! So I thought that I would try a pacifier (dummy) and that did the trick! After a few minutes he was fast asleep and he slept sound through to the morning with just the occasional moan of peace and contentment!   Last Saturday, over Easter, we went to our local orphanage to take all the wonderful clothes that our farm stay guests had so generously donated. The kids at the orphanage were thrilled and excited which could be seen on their faces as they discovered such brilliant new outfits! Thank you so much to all those guests who have so kindly supported our project and which has brought so much happiness to the kids at The Youth Charity Foundation!  The idea of our ‘Stay & Leave’ project is that when guests stay with us we suggest that you wear all your old clothes which you are ready to throw away and then leave them with us when you depart and we will wash and repair as necessary and when we have enough we will donate to an orphanage and to Hill Tribe folks in the mountains. (…and think of all the extra shopping you can do in town without exceeding your airline baggage allowance!!)
 A quick snap of Hattie and one of her babies. No longer the Ranbutans they once were but the cutest bundle of quills you ever have seen!
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