An Isaan Pond

[DrWilly]

I bet he kisses the fish too

[baldrick]

does he whisper the chickens ?

What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World's Most Familiar Bird

Sy Montgomery

A charming and eye-opening exploration of the special relationship between humans and chickens from Sy Montgomery, “one of our finest chroniclers of the natural world” (The New York Times).


For more than two decades, Sy Montgomery—whose The Soul of an Octopus was a National Book Award finalist—has kept a flock of chickens in her backyard. Each chicken has an individual personality (outgoing or shy, loud or quiet, reckless or cautious) and connects with Sy in her own way.


In this short, delightful book, Sy takes us inside the flock and reveals all the things that make chickens such remarkable only hours after leaving the egg, they are able to walk, run, and peck; relationships are important to them and the average chicken can recognize more than one hundred other chickens; they remember the past and anticipate the future; and they communicate specific information through at least twenty-four distinct calls. Visitors to her home are astonished by all this, but for Sy what’s more astonishing is how little most people know about chickens, especially considering there are about twenty percent more chickens on earth than people.


With a winning combination of personal narrative and science, What the Chicken Knows is exactly the kind of book that has made Sy Montgomery such a beloved and popular author.

What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World'''s Most Familiar Bird by Sy Montgomery | Goodreads

https://mega.nz/file/SMd3kTpR#k29ete...j26w_n7_tqp5H4

[Mendip]

^ Chickens are a much maligned bird because all they are only considered as is food.

I could tell some lovely stories from my chicken run.

Ducks are even better company. They are real characters and a long term plan is still to extend the chicken run and add a few egg-laying ducks to the flock.


Today I went down to the pond with my early morning cup of tea, dogs in tow, and to my horror saw that the fish were in real trouble.



Loads of big fish were up at the surface, gasping for air.



Lately we've had sun all day with a stifling 36 to 38 degrees daytime temperature, but yesterday there was a sudden 15 degree temperature drop to 23 degrees and it was overcast and rained all day. There's a body of cold air come down from China, bloody Chinese.

I can only think that the sudden air temperature drop and a load of new water dumped in the pond has also suddenly lowered the water temperature... cold water holds less oxygen than warm water and the overcast day will have reduced photosynthesis in the green algae... all combining to leave the fish gasping for oxygen. That's my theory anyway, but I could really do with a specialised pond water person.

Anyway, on closer inspection I saw that we'd already lost one nice fish.



Some nice fish an' chips right there if they survive. I'm constantly amazed at how hard it is to catch these fish when I sometimes see how packed out the pond is with big pla nin.



These ones seemed to be particularly struggling.

Pla jackaree... or something like that?

Nev knows, and it's name is somewhere in this thread.



I netted out the dead 'pla jackaree' and also a few windfall mangoes, thinking that they probably won't do the water quality any good either.

I thought there's 'baked fish in a mango sauce' right there and offered it to the gardener, but surprisingly enough he declined. So, it went over the wall just outside the dog-killer neighbour's house. That should be nice and stinky in a couple of days time!



On went the overgrown waterfall rapido, to hopefully get some oxygen into the water.



With hindsight I should probably have given the fish to Anna. She absolutely loves to munch on a raw fish.



Maybe she'll get this one? I'm hoping it warms up today and that the sun to come out. We urgently need some photosynthesis in that green algae and warmer, oxygen-supporting water or I fear this guy will be Anna's next meal.

[DrWilly]

I honestly don’t understand why you don’t run the waterfall the entire time. It aerates the pond and you’d avoid all these problems. I think I recall you saying it was too noisy, but it’s like a ticking clock, you’ll soon tune it out.

[Mendip]

It is way too noisy, not for us because the pond's a long way from the house, but for the apartments which are right next to it. The water splashing noise seems to get amplified by the concrete garden walls. You have to be considerate of your neighbours... but not the dog killers, of course.

Another reason is for when we have power cuts, which are usually at night. The pump needs priming, so when it turns back on with the return of electricity after a power cut it'll burn itself out, without priming. Whenever we have a power cut in the day, someone has to remember to turn the switch off so it doesn't restart without priming when the power comes back.

Anyway, a few hours later and all is good in the world again. It's amazing what a bit of aeration and photosynthesis can do!

[Edmond]

There's presumably a reason to not have a pump, a solar pump, constantly giving them lots of nice oxygen bubbles.

[Mendip]

^ It gets dark up this way at nighttime.

[Edmond]

It is way too noisy, not for us because the pond's a long way from the house, but for the apartments which are right next to it. The water splashing noise seems to get amplified by the concrete garden walls. You have to be considerate of your neighbours

This is where Thais would laugh at us nice, considerate silly-billies. Thais wouldn't give a flying fok about such a thing, and certainly wouldn't disadvantage their own life for the sake of others they don't even know. Especially as the Thais in the apartment would almost certainly be completely oblivious to any extra noise.


There's a property I was looking at recently, there's a huge school along the road and next to the school is a big open aluminium factory with massively loud saws and cutters and grinders at jumbo jet decibel levels going on all day, right next to the huge school with a thousand or so kids apparently trying to study, could hear it from 2 km away.

[Edmond]

^ It gets dark up this way at nighttime.

I plug out our fish tank pumps before bed to give them a good night's rest then plug them back in in the morning. No casualties as of yet.

[Mendip]

^ Yeah, I also have a little fish tank in the living room.

Easy.

This is where Thais would laugh at us nice, considerate silly-billies.

Yeah, I get that, but you don't have to go to the lowest common denominator.

I still pick up litter along the road and I'm sure that Thais laugh at that. Just because I live in the arse-end of no-where doesn't mean I have to turn into an arsehole.

The day I stop caring is the day I've given up... and become Thai.

Bollocks to that, I have my self respect and also a daughter to set an example for.

[Edmond]

turn into an arsehole.

Unfortunately it comes naturally to some of us. :/

[DrWilly]

The sound is soothing.

[malmomike77]

Erm cold water holds more oxygen than warm water

[Mendip]

^ Would you believe it... finally a pond water specialist comes along!

So maybe it was just the shock of a load of new cooler water, along with a day with hardly any photosynthesis?

[cyrille]

This is where Thais would laugh at us nice, considerate silly-billies.

Wow.

Are you really ​in that group?

[Molle]

There's presumably a reason to not have a pump, a solar pump, constantly giving them lots of nice oxygen bubbles.

^ It gets dark up this way at nighttime.

You might not know but there are factories that make nothing else than batteries

[BLD]

Wow.

Are you really ​in that group?

You on the archers again cybil?

[malmomike77]

^ Would you believe it... finally a pond water specialist comes along!

So maybe it was just the shock of a load of new cooler water, along with a day with hardly any photosynthesis?

Could be.

You seem to have the same issue every year.

[malmomike77]

By that I mean being unable to catch the large fish, then when they practically throw themselves at you, you don't take up the offer

[BLD]

That wouldn't be fair

[malmomike77]

[david44]

What about silent solar pumps?

Passive no running costs or upset neighbours

Silent Mini Water Pump Solar Charger ราคาถูก ซื้อออนไลน์ที่ - มี.ค. 2025 | Lazada.co.th

thats a cheapy must be better at pool/garden or fish shops, who know you might need a Splashport run to Nana to pick one up?

[Mendip]

^ I can fart better bubbles than those things produce.

And I don't need solar power either!

[Mendip]

I was just finishing up and heading back to the house tonight when I spotted another floater.

Apparently these are called 'pla ta'pian' or something like that. At least, that's what I could hear.

These guys seemed the worst affected by the latest pond event.



I was about to call Anna when I thought that I should give the gardener first refusal... he looked t it, then checked the gills and finally gave it a big sniff... and then smiled the biggest smile I've ever seen.

He was well chuffed.

There is such a thing as a free lunch!



I haven't smiled like that for 17 years, 11 months and 4 days.

[david44]

I can fart better bubbles than those things produce

Lateral thinking you geologisms are more than useless hot air, baked bean brekkie in the pond THEN .......................






DOUBLE BUBBLE?