Hunting Bushmen with Guinea Fowl Feathers on a Decoupage Ostrich Egg

Size:
Width: 6 inches
Length: 6 inches
Height: 9 inches

This egg has been hand painted using the San style; the egg has been painted using the stylized style of painting that the Bushmen or San have been using for thousands of years. It is designed to look like the cave paintings that are found all over Southern Africa. This particular egg has men hunting with guinea fowl feather interspersed; it comes with a wooden ring stand.

All about Egg decoration.

The decorating of eggs (eggery) is a time honored tradition that has been around for hundreds of years.
Eggery is the art of decorating hatchery shells in the style of the famous Faberge egg. Carl Faberge, the father of modern-day egg decorating, used precious metals such as silver, gold, copper and nickel to construct an egg-shaped figure, then decorated them with rubies, diamonds and emeralds.

Over the last 3 centuries many cultures have developed endless methods of decorating eggs. The Moravian and Ukrainian (Pysanky) batik-designed egg patterned geometric fantasies, and their designs differ according to region or origin.

The practice of decorating ostrich eggs dates back centuries, and originated with the San or Bushmen who live in dessert regions, for them the egg symbolizes life, not just because an egg is a sign of fertility, but because the eggs were used as vessels to carry and store water, which in itself is life sustaining but when in a dessert region critical.

The custom of decorating eggs has many associations. The art of eggery did not begin with the Easter egg, although we don't know who the first decorator was, we do know that painted eggs as edible gifts were given by a Chinese chieftain in 722 B.C. to celebrate spring fertility festivals.

About the Ostrich.

The ostrich Struthio camelus is a large flightless bird native to Africa (and formerly the Middle East). It is the only living species of its family. It is distinctive in its appearance, with a long neck and legs and the ability to run at speeds of about 74 km/h (46 mph), the top land speed of any bird. The ostrich is the largest living species of bird and lays the largest egg of any bird species.

The diet of the ostrich mainly consists of plant matter, though ostriches do eat insects. The ostrich lives in nomadic groups which contain between five and 50 birds. When threatened, the ostrich will either hide itself by lying flat against the ground, or will run away. If cornered, it can cause injury and death with a kick from its powerful legs. Mating patterns differ by geographical region, but territorial males fight for a harem of two to seven females.

Ostriches are oviparous. The females will lay their fertilized eggs in a single communal nest, a simple pit, 30 to 60 cm (12–24 in) deep and 3m (9.8 ft) wide, scraped in the ground by the male. The eggs are glossy and cream in color, with thick shells marked by small pits. The eggs are incubated by the females by day and by the male by night. This uses the coloration of the two sexes to escape detection of the nest, as the drab female blends in with the sand, while the black male is nearly undetectable in the night.

The Helmeted Guinea Fowl

Is the best known of the guinea fowl bird family. It breeds in Africa, mainly south of the Sahara, and has been widely introduced into the West Indies and southern France.

It breeds in warm, fairly dry and open habitats with scattered shrubs and trees such as savanna or farmland. The nest is a well-hidden, generally unlined scrape and a clutch is normally six to twelve eggs which the female incubates for twenty six to twenty eight days. Nests containing larger numbers of eggs are generally believed to be the result of more than one hen using the nest; eggs are large and an incubating bird could not realistically cover significantly more than a normal clutch. Domestic birds at least, are notable for producing extremely thick-shelled eggs that are reduced to fragments as the chicks hatch, rather than leaving two large sections and small chips from where any chick has removed the end of the egg. The chicks are cryptically colored and rapid wing growth enables them to flutter onto low branches barely a week after hatching. These guinea fowl live as long as 12 years in the wild.

The Helmeted Guinea fowl is a large (21 - 23 inches) bird with a round body and small head. They weigh about 2.8 lbs. The body plumage is gray-black spangled with white. Like other guinea fowl, this species has an un-feathered head, in this case decorated with a dull yellow or reddish bony knob, and red and blue patches of skin. The wings are short and rounded, and the tail is also short. Various sub-species are proposed, differences in appearance being mostly a large variation in shape, size and color of the casqued and facial wattles.

This is a gregarious species, forming flocks outside the breeding season typically of about twenty five birds that also roost communally. Guinea fowl are particularly well-suited to consuming massive quantities of ticks, which might otherwise spread lyme disease. These birds are terrestrial, and prone to run rather than fly when alarmed. Like most gallinaceous birds, they have a short-lived explosive flight and rely on gliding to cover extended distances. Helmeted Guinea fowl are great runners, and can walk 6.2 mph and more in a day. They make loud harsh calls when disturbed. Their diet consists of a variety of animal and plant food; seeds, fruits, greens, snails, spiders, worms and insects, frogs, lizards, small snakes and small mammals. Guinea fowl are equipped with strong claws and scratch in loose soil for food much like domestic chickens, although they seldom uproot growing plants in so doing. They have no spurs.