My sister sent this to me and I thought I should share. :D

The design is by Birdorable at birdorable.com Just do a search for Parrot Christmas and you will find quite a few beautiful designs. The Santa African Grey amd the Quaker perched on the ornament are definite wants for me. (The grey t-shirt for John and the quaker anything for me. XD) If you just do a search of Christmas you will find even more designs with other types of birds, all of them awesome. Be careful, the site can be a time sink as you look up all the different bird designs they have. XD

Have a great Holiday weekend everyone, I'll see you all on the other side.

Christmas with the Cranky

The crankiness has spread from the amazons to the others. I am not sure why, they are getting lots of yummies and fun so whats the cranky-pants stuff all about?

Echo, the most easy going of all the flock shows off his cranky with a look that says, "Back off Momma, I'm not in the mood for snuggles."

Duke here displays how he puts the "AH!" in "Bah, Humbug!" And yes, he was charging me in his ever so loving "I am going to eat you." way. (He's been taking lessons from Lou.)

Pedro who is cranky all the time normally has taken being a cranky-puss to an art from. (Pedro as you can see, kinda, is not well. The vet has no clue why, neither do we, but he is eating on his own which is an improvement from a few months ago.)

So it's going to be a Cranky Parrot Christmas over here, whee!


((Hey, Sara, "Cranky Parrot Christmas" There's a fic in that!))

Slow day

Today is going to be a long slow day. I am fighting to keep my eyes open and the birds entertained. All I want to do is lay down and sleep. The amazons are cranky and loud and Trouble wants some one on one love sponge time. It's times like this I realize there is not enough of me to go around. I need to get the outside enclosures finished so they can have something more to do.

Insomnia

Insomnia if directed can be quite useful. Since I didn't sleep last night i got some house cleaning done along with some other needed to be done chores, including mixing more bird bread since this has become a regular staple.

Todays bread is strawberry banana. Its the same basic recipe as the birdie bread. (found under the recipe tab) Cornbread mix, eggs, apple juice, as a base then add in things your bird likes. I always add the 1/2 cup pellets, just so I know they are getting as much rounded nutrition as possible. Today I added in 1/2 cup frozen veggie mix, 3 large chopped strawberries and 2 large bananas. I like this base bread recipe, it's pretty cost effective and I can add what ever is in season or on the cheap at my local farmers market. Strawberries were a steal this week.

Last week I added sweet potato, zucchini, and grated carrots because thats what was in abundance and affordable at the farmers market. Keep in mind that the apple juice is "as needed" I did not need to add any with last weeks bread because zucchini and carrot are very watery.

So this afternoon the birds will have some nice fresh bread to munch on. That should keep them happy. Maybe I'll make up some rice for them too.

Quiet

Spent the morning watching Echo tear all the toys off the play stand. Once he wore himself out I brought Duke out now he is pacing back and forth not happy that the toys have been moved.

Ah sibling rivalry, so much fun to watch.

I wish my camera was working right now.

Amazing

My Mother In Law sent me this and I thought it was so amazing that I had to share it with you guys.




It is amazing to watch as the wind ruffles the feathers, especially at the end of the video. Beautiful camera work, breathtaking.

Bad Bird Day

Just like having a bad hair day, it seems that every feathered occupant here is having an off feather day.

Duke has not stopped screaming all day, I finally had to cover him to give my migraine a rest. Kenya almost "got me" when I was feeding her. Echo let out an alert scream right on my ear as I was feeding him. Pedro is upset and yells at me every time I walk past him. In fact, the only bird that seems happy to see me today is Lou, and I am just not falling for it.

Holiday Hazards

With the holidays upon us and the festivities going into full swing and the fact that the other night I watched my neighbors house burn to the ground, I thought it prudent to make a post about the hazards to us and our pets during the holidays.

I, like most of us, decorate the house with yule tide cheer. I love putting up the tree, the garlands and all the other flotsam of the season. The day after we trimmed our tree we found one of the ornaments in the back room chewed like a great white swam threw the living room. Thank goodness it was just a cheep non-toxic reindeer that my dog decided looked quite tasty and that he did not actually eat it, or the rest of the tree...or the lights..or anything else in general.

The fact is that during the holidays we must be extra vigilant, for the safety of our pets and our family. Here are a few things you can do to make sure your holidays are full of cheer and not fear.

1. Check your fire alarms! There are more fires on the news in December then any other month. It can be caused by your holiday lights, or a space heater, or just about anything. So check your smoke detectors while your setting up your decorations, it only takes a second to do and if there is a fire they can save your life.

2. Have an escape plan! Have a plan, any plan. Think of the different exits in your home and plan ways out with the rest of your family in case of an emergency. Have a meeting place once your out so you know where everyone is and Never, EVER, go back into a burning house.

3. Keep emergency numbers on hand. Call your vet and find out what their schedules are during the holidays season. Get numbers for emergency vets they recommend. Pets can get into a number of things at this time of year, having the numbers and schedules of vets can save a lot of time when you need to find someone quickly.

4. Be vigilant. Dogs, cats and birds do not understand that the new items in the house are not for them to explore and taste. They are curious by nature and will want to check out all the new visual stimulus. Keep a watchful eye on them to be sure they don't get into trouble.

Be safe out there guys. Take care of yourselves and those you love. Have a happy yuletide season and a safe one.

The Sounds of Silence

Everyone is so relaxed and quiet today it feels like I just took a shower in someone else's house, and they don't know I am here yet. They possibly might not have even invited me. It's really quiet. Maybe their not home....

I am not sure where all the silence is coming from. My flock likes to let them selves be known. Loud and Proud! Thats my feathered buddies, so why suddenly all the quiet. Maybe they have given themselves migraines instead of me? Can birds even get migraines?

I don't know, all I know is I am going to enjoy it while it lasts. Only a fool would question something that is so rare that you assumed that it went the way of the Dodo. I am certainly not going to go ask duke to make his ear splitting alarm clock noise just so it feels like my home again. No sir. I am going to go lounge in the recliner and grab a book. See you guys tomorrow!

Insomnia and Birds

I have serious bouts of insomnia that can last for days if not weeks. When they are over I am left with a whacked out sleeping schedule that I have to slowly try and right one hour at a time.

This week has been one of those weeks. Not being able to sleep until you pass out is annoying enough for me, but it really upsets the birds. They get very loud if they can't see me during the day. Echo gets particularly stressed out and has been known to throw himself around his cage in an effort to get my attention.

So what does one do when they know at 4:30 am that at some point they are going to pass out and sleep all day? They grab a blanket and sleep in the living room.

I am in shock that it worked. Other then the Charlie Horse that woke me up and made me yelp, the house was quiet all day long. Absolutely silent, and they hadn't been fed yet. O.O I am amazed, and am planning on sleeping in the living room again if the insomnia doesn't let up tonight.

12 steps to Framing

How to frame a picture...

1. find the perfect frame and backing paper while out and about doing other things.

2. Come home remove backing and picture from frame. Making sure to carefully pry tacks as to not break glass.

3. Attach picture to backing paper and put into frame.

4. Hunt down a piece of cardboard for new backing.

5. Let husband bend tacks back into place.

6. Cringe when you hear the distinct *pop* of the glass breaking.

7. Go back to store and find another picture the same size as the last one. (there were only 3 left on the second store run, there were tons when I first bought the frame)

8. Pull out tacks on both frames to replace glass. :(

9. Find out there is no way to replace the tacks once you have the picture in.

10. Fret, worry, panic.

11. Rig something up and pray it works.

12. Attach miscellaneous gears and cogs to frame to complete Steampunk look.

So yea, it was an adventure in framing this weekend. The original pictures I took of course did not come out so I don't have any before and after shots of the project. I had to take the finished project outside to get a good picture so here it is.

Outside the background looks very blue, it isn't, it is actually a beautiful green. You can see the original picture in this post here.

The close up pictures of the corners came out blurry but you'll get the idea.

As you can see, kinda, there is a clock face with some cogs and gears in the upper right corner and some spoke-like wheels and a gear in the bottom left corner.

I really love the Victorian-esq backing paper. The darkness of it really makes the art pop in my opinion. What do you guys think?

Too Cute to Save

Zora was in a mood last night and got really cute with John. So of course I took video!



So cute the kissy faces. :P

Cristmas is in the air....

The smell of Christmas cookies, the slight chill of winter, Holiday music filling the house, Zora chewing the bread basket.....

Zora like holiday music, she sings along with it, in her scratchy peach front conure way. She also gets excited when I bake cookies. Not the making of them, the after their in the oven and smelling really good time. So today is bound to be a whole lot of fun.

Yep, it's Christmas time!

Stand off

Last week Duke and Echo met on the play stand for the first time. It went about as well as one expects these things to go. Duke was a bully but Echo held his ground. I of course was close by, a stick in one hand, just in case, and a camera in the other.

Echo displaying at Duke, the ruffled feathers to make himself look bigger more of a threat etc. The display is to let Duke know that he doesn't want him to come any closer.

"What the heck!?!"
A closer look of Echo's display

Things calming down a bit, but not for long. This is about 15 mins into the first meeting.

I put echo up soon after the last picture. They spent just a little over 15 minutes on the stand together. No actual fight but a lot of displaying on both sides. Dukes displays were much more subtle then Echo's. Duke is much older and has a bit more experience in these matters, he also tends to be much more sneaky and deliberate with what he does. Which in the end, worries me.

Normal

Tings are finally returning to normal here. Birds are seemingly calm and noisy at times. Duke is back to screaming when he doesn't get his way, unlike the just screaming all the time because of all the hustle and bustle around him, and Echo has returned to the playful clown he has always been.


Echo loves to wrestle. He has more fun wrestling with me and his toys then with any other activity. Because of all the excitement he didn't get out of his cage much last week so his jaunt on the play stand today was long over due. He made prime use of his time wrestling with his toys for over an hour. Enjoy the pic-spam of his fun. ;)

As a note for those concerned, the toy was a temporary addition as of this morning, when Echo broke the original I had in it's place. The chains and bell will be removed as soon as my husband gets home and has a chance to exchange them with newer ones. Until then I am watching him carefully.

Romeo

I have posted before about my Sun Conure Romeo and how much I adored her while she was with me. In all honesty I don't talk about her much because I still miss her, and would do anything to have her back with me.

For a long time I knew I wanted to have some artwork of her done. I wanted a piece in Memoriam to her, something special that would make me smile. So when I saw Christie Cox's work I knew she was the one that had to do it.

I thought about what I wanted and decided to steampunk the picture so it wouldn't necessarily make me tear up every time I saw it, like her pictures tend to do. It came out amazing!

Romeo is done in watercolors and colored pencil for the steampunky bits. I absolutely love it. You guys should go check out her work on her Facebook and Deviant Art pages. Her rates are extremely reasonable.

I have to say that working with Christie was a wonderful experience. She knew this was a Memoriam piece and that it had very special meaning for me and she treated the process with care and sensitivity. She is a wonderful artist and person and I Thank her with all of my heart.

DIY Wild Bird Suet feeder

You will need:
Twine
Tinfoil
Fat/grease IE bacon or hamburger grease works great.
Scissors
Various sized containers (Any kind of storage containers will do.)
Bird seed and other treats (dried fruit works well)

Directions:

Mold a piece of tin foil to fit in the bottom and up the sides of your container, then remove it and poke a hole through the center. Tie a knot in a piece of twine and feed it through the hole from bottom to top. (Cut the twine long you will be using it to hang up your treats when they are done.) The knot should be resting on the bottom of the foil. Put the foil back into the container. The purpose of the foil is to make removal of the treat easier when it's done.

Melt your grease/fat in a saucepan over a low heat. When it is completely liquid remove from heat and stir in your seed and any other treats. Mix well and spoon into containers. Once done the twine should be sticking out of each container like a candle wick.

Refrigerate about an hour or two depending on the size of the treat. Freeze any extra that you will not be using right away. Pull Suet from container by the tinfoil carefully. If the mixture is still soft put back in the fridge or in the freezer until firm enough to hold it's shape. Once the Suet is removed, peal away the tinfoil and hang the treat in a tree for the wild birds to snack on.

Holiday weekend

A hectic weekend is still looming ahead. Though today is calmer then yesterday the birds are still trying to relax from the rush that was the rest of the week. So to say the house is a bit noisy is an understatement.

The blog has been neglected this week, because of all things happening it was the least demanding. Things will return to normal on Monday, so until then, I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend.

Out of Hand

Duke is getting out of hand. He is actively trying to attack me now and I have no idea why. I can only hope this is just a phase he is going through. He is an older bird and is really starting to push his luck with me. I have enough birds in the house that would like to see me hurt/maimed/dead I really don't need it from him too. :(

Sick day and a busy week

It's inevitable that I get sick on one of the busiest weeks of my year. This is family week, family that I haven't seen in at least 5 years are in town this week, so with all the cleaning and such that I need to do I of course will get sick on top of it.

So sickness and stress aside, tomorrow Lou and Trouble will be rolled out onto the porch again. With people coming here for the day I cant have them inside. Lou is an accident waiting to happen. He will bite if someone is within reach, and Trouble screams with any amount of excitement so for the day they will go outside and we'll bring them in once everyone leaves.

I feel bad about it, but it is safest for both humans and birds this way.

Party Time!

It's Friday again, time for a nice relaxing weekend before the holidays rip us to pieces. ;) I don't know about you guys but Echo knows exactly how I feel.

Here he is showing you his impression of momma when she starts to stress, thinking about shopping and decorating and driving much to far in the car to visit homes filled to the brim with people. AHHHHH! ^^;;;





On a serious note though, Echo is the clown of the house. He always does this bit of dancing if he deems that I am not paying "enough" attention to him. XD

Settling down

Things are finally finding a flow in the house. I was up early this morning, I went straight into feeding the flock and quieting everyone down. They can get quite loud in the morning.

Everyone gets bird bread in the AM. It's a basic corn bread/apple juice mixture with anything we have in the fridge they can eat mixed and baked. Almost everybody gobbles it down before I have a chance to walk away from their cage.

Duke now only eats when he is on the play stand. I put a foraging toy in his cage about 2 hrs ago in hopes that it will encourage him to eat when he is in there. I hope it works.

Echo seems to be relaxing around Duke. He isn't really screaming when Duke gets close anymore. Things are looking up.

Kenya is still eating anything I offer her. Defiantly a plus. She is also very curious about Duke. She watches him all the time and moved to the side of her cage that is closest to him when he is on the stand.

Lou has been talking a lot when I leave the room. Right now he is calling out "step up" and "Peek-a-boo". He may want to see me, so he knows where I am, or maybe he wants to lure me in for a bite, who knows. I think he wants out and is trying to be cute so I forget which bird he is and open the cage door. But I am suspicious like that. ;)

I have been trying to switch the birds to a organic pellet this week. It's going slowly as any food switch does. Pedro is completely switched over, and Echo is mostly there as well. I hope the others fall into line as well. The new pellet is much better for them.

Fussy Butt

Duke does not like change much. None of the birds do really but Duke can get rather grumpy about it. Right now I am trying to find creative ways to get him to eat because at the moment he refuses to eat if he is in his cage. Lending to more problems when he is out of his cage but thems the breaks.

So yesterday he was running about on the stand and I had just put some fresh food and water out for him and went to get my lunch when I returned to this...

There was water everywhere. Floor, walls, my chair, my table, Kenya's cage, you name it, it was dripping. Of course Duke could not stop yet, he had to keep going to make sure his bathwater fully covered the room. ;)

It was a bit of cleaning once he was finished but he seemed happy and he ate a little bit while he was out so, I'm happy.

A Sad Day

A horrible tragedy has befallen a blogging and parrot loving colleague. Her little budgie Brian was involved in an accident last night and unfortunately he had to be let go because of it.

I am not ashamed to say that I am crying for Mary and Brian. My heart breaks for them because I know how it feels to lose a bird to an accident. The shock of it can be overwhelming, making a person question everything they do.

Mary is a beautiful, brilliant woman who gives her birds the world. She has made me see what my flock can be like, and I want it. I see the harmony and discord that goes on in her and her birds daily lives and I know that one day, that will be my house. I have goals now, where before I had nothing but a semblance of what might make everyone happy. This is all because I found Mary's Blog, Parrot Musings.

My sincerest condolences to you Mary. Brian will forever be remembered for the little feathered joy that he was. I am so sorry for your loss.

Long weekends

I am postponing the DIY post this week. After a long weekend of re-arranging the house we have finally gotten everyone inside for the winter. As a result I ran out of time to get the DIY post together. :( I will try and get it done for later this week if I can.

The resulting noise level of the house has gotten almost unbearable. It will take a few days for everyone to settle down and find a routine and I just hope that it happens as quickly as possible. Trouble is loud when she is unhappy, and she has been unhappy since Friday.

Lou on the other hand is actually quite happy and is singing scales as I type this. I wish I could get video, but he is really camera shy sometimes and I have never been able to catch him singing. Kenya continues to eat everything I put in her bowl, which is still a surprise to me.

Duke is constantly throwing a tantrum. He wants to be the only bird and that's just not happening. Seems he and Trouble are on the same page when it comes to this. Echo is just happy making noise and chewing on my hand, so I know he will fare quite well through the rocky changes of the living arrangement. I hope I will.

Video Friday Staring Zora

I feel like giving little Zora some love today. I had her out and about earlier this week and she kept making her kissy noise at me. Of course this was all the while she was trying to bite me. I think maybe she is taking a page from Kenya with the whole "lure them close then get 'em" technique.

So anyway, always looking an the bright side I got out the camera and got some footage of her blowing kisses. Enjoy!



Close up of Zora blowing kisses, then trying to bite me, then blowing kisses again. Watch her eyes flash towards the end. She was really wanting to "get me."



Zora's first experiance with the bird in the mirror. Rawr! Thats one sexy bird. ;D

Birdie Bread Baked

As I promised Pictures of today's Bird Baking.

Fresh from the oven.

I love those tiny disposable mini loaf pans. I did not have to spray them, the bread just popped right out when I turned them over. :D

Birdie bread

All the birds are being loud today, even after I fed them their usual goodies. So knowing that chewing beaks are not screaming beaks I just finished mixing a batch of birdie bread. You can find the recipe here

I thought I'd let everyone know that the recipe makes 5 mini loves, or 2 normal loves. I always go with mini's because I have quite a few beaks of varying sizes here and the mini's are great to break up for all of them. Soon I will be investing in one of those mini muffin pans and make a whole buch of those as well. Mini muffins are the perfect size for Conures, Tiels and other small birds.

I'll try and post some pictures of the finished bread when it comes out of the oven.

Ut-Oh!

I know I need to watch what I say around the birds. I know this. My husband knows this. This is why when wanting to cuss myself blue I look like a fool yelling "OH Muffins!" at the top of my lungs.

So when Duke let out a scream the other day and Echo immediately replied with "Shut Up!" I ducked my head and slipped out of the room in shame. I am pretty sure he got that from me, but it is possible that John has done it too.

Sometimes, when migraines strike, I can be a very bad birdie mommy. :( Sorry Duke.

The battle of Noise

Duke and I have been having a raging battle between my sanity and his alarm clock noise.

To try and combat his repetitive screaming, I have been using a time out system. If I bring him out and he starts screaming, he goes back into the cage. If he screams in the cage, I cover it. I have been doing this for about 2 weeks now and I think, maybe yesterday he got the idea.

I had him out on the stand and he started up. I told him to hush now or I'd give him a time out. He stopped. I am amazed because he didn't scream the rest of the day. Lets hope this trend continues. :D

Who are you and what have you done with Kenya?!?

I have spoken before about my Congo African Grey, Kenya, and her extreme fear reaction to anything "new".

"New" can be anything, from toys to perches to people to..food. :( She has been known to throw herself off perches to get away from her food bowl because I put a tiny sliver of apple in it. o_O

So how has Kenya become my best eater in only a few weeks?

Seriously, someone tell me 'cause I have no clue. Not only is she eating everything that hits her dish with vigor...I caught her actually playing with toys yesterday. O_O I have actually been catching her playing a lot lately, so again I ask...

Who are you strange Congo African Grey, and what have you done with Kenya?

I really need to try and figure out what brought this turn in her on, so I can repeat it for some of the other birds.

Better late then Never! DIY Preening Toy

I apologize for the lateness of this post. I have been feeling a bit under the weather all day and just could not get motivated to write this up until now.


For those of us that have only a single bird, or a bird that has not paired off, we find that when they molt they start to look ragged with pin feathers sticking up all over their head and neck. Pin feathers in those areas are usually groomed by another bird, one of the reasons birds are so social. Now I have the problem where even some of the birds who like being handled do not like to have their head scratched. This can cause a problem with grooming, since the cant reach those itchy pin feathers, so some may start to pluck. This toy can be made as large or as small as you need it to be. Use your own judgment for the size of your bird.

DIY Preening Toy

Need:
Sisal rope
D-ring
Scissors

Cut a few lengths of rope ruffly the length of your bird. Thread them threw your D-ring and fold in half, so the ring is in the middle of the rope. Cut another shorter rope and tie the ropes together with it.

I only used one piece of rope for the toy because all I had handy was a very small d-ring.

As you see I tied the smaller piece around the larger one securing it in place. Since the bird this toy is for is small I just used a simple square knot to secure the rope. For a larger parrot that might enjoy undoing the knot, you may want to use either a different type of knot or some wire wrapping techniques instead.

Still stage two just a different angle.

Last thing you do is unravel all the rope ends and trim to the size you want. Sisal is course and stiff, perfect for them to preen on and rub against, think of it as a small whisk broom.

I left this toy in different stages of unraveled. This will hopefully entice the bird in question to attempt to finish the job and encourage her to use the toy.

Fab Friday Videos

Cockatoos are known in the bird world as "Velcro Birds", this is mainly because they are so highly social in the wild. So when you Take a highly social bird out of the wild and lock them up in your house with only you for company, they become a bit obsessed with you.

Trouble is no exception. In fact unlike most birds who live their lives through their beaks, tasting and chewing everything in sight, Trouble lives life through the top of her head. All she wants is for someone to scratch her head. It is a social preening behavior that enforces a tighter bond threw birds, and she just wants it all-the-time.

In fact, if she could be scratched 24/7 she would be in Too heaven.



As you can see in the video, Trouble approaches everything with her head down asking for scratches. I was actually surprised that she came to the camera like that since she is usually weary of new things, but not this week. This week all she cared about was getting me to touch her. :D

Movie Night

Last night was movie night. We try to have at least one a week where we just settle down in the living room together and throw one DVD after another in until we're done. Trouble is an excellent addition to movie night. For one, she doesn't really talk, she mumbles and whispers very softly.

"Are you sure you want to watch this Momma?"

Also she is a snuggle butt so she is perfect for watching scary movies with.

"No! No! NO! Don't go in THERE!"

And to top it all off, she -LOVES- popcorn. So she is the perfect companion for movie night, and just about any other night too. ;)

A Happy Zora, is a Noisy Zora.

For the past 3 days Zora has been whistling up a storm. Keeping all the other birds chatty and noisy as she does so.

Zora's winter home is in convergence of the Kitchen, Dining room, and Living room. This means she gets a lot of attention, which she loves. Unless we are in our bedroom or the bathroom she can always see us from her cage, and this makes her insanely happy. She is in continuous serenade mode. Trying to woo us and bring us closer to play with her.

I worry about her being out too much though. She is full flight and has a very unhealthy interest in the large birds. I have already had to grab her off of Kenya's cage twice, so I am scared she is going to get seriously hurt. I don't really know what to do because I rather not have to clip her wings. I think she should be able to fly around, I just worry about where she chooses to land.

Weekends never last long enough. :( There is never enough time to do everything you want to let alone everything you need to.

We wanted to move the last three birds inside this weekend, we only had time to clear a spot for the smallest of the three. Our Peach Front Conure, Zora. Who is at this moment watching my fingers type with viscous interest.

"Oh fingers, Yum!"

Zora is yet another bird who prefers John to me. So I can only have her out is he isn't home, otherwise she will bite me. John of course can hold her anytime because she loves to cuddle him. But we're working on it, Zora and I will become friends if it kills me or leaves me bloody. ;) (Considering she just nipped my pinky, I don't think I am too far off on the bloody.)

She is an odd bird. She will let me pick her up if I put a washcloth over my hand. But if my hand is bare she goes for me. John of course does not have this issue so I don't know what her deal is. I think she just doesn't like my fingers. They must offend her in some way. By the way she is staring at them now I think I may be on to something.

"Lookie me, I'm typin!"

"Back off lady, this is my keyboard now."

DIY: Birdie Bread

Ingredients:
2 box/bag Corn bread mix
2 Egg with the shell, (wash eggs)
3 bananas, mashed
1 cup bird pellets ground up (I use Zupreem for Cockatiels, the pellets are very small so no need to grind them)
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup frozen veggies
1 cup apple juice

Preheat oven to 375F
Mix all the dry ingredients together. Add eggs, bananas and vegetables. Add apple juice as needed. Should be the consistency of cake batter. Spray your pan with nonstick vegetable spray and pour in mixture.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, Test with toothpick. When toothpick comes out clean it is done.

Cool until room temperature. Cut into serving size squares for your individual birds and serve. Bread can be frozen, if kept in refrigerator it has a shelf life of 3 days.

*Recipe found in The healthy Bird Cookbook by Robin Deutsch

TGIF

Happy Friday everyone! It's been a long week over here. Lots of little birdie idiosyncrasies to work around but it's getting better. Slowly getting better but I am just happy we're moving in the right direction.

The video I took this week didn't turn out, so I was looking threw my video's (being video Friday and all) and found a nice short one featuring Lou. Lou doesn't get a whole lotta love here so I thought it would be nice to post this video short.

So Here's Lou doing his Happy Dance. Why so happy? Cause he is inside, loose, and keeping me on the other side of the room. ;)

Kenya the Explorer

Kenya, the Congo African Grey, does not like new things. This is because my husband and I did not know much about Greys when we got her and did not introduce her to new things constantly as a young parrot. We have been paying the price for that mistake ever since.

I have taken it upon myself, since I am home all day, to try and slowly get her used to new things and become more adventurous now that she is inside again. I have never been a huge fan of Greys. Honestly, Greys and Macaws scare me. My worst bites have been from them, in fact, when I worked at the pet store I could guarantee that anytime I worked with the Greys I would be bitten, at some point, by all of them. So yea, I don't trust them. (Mainly because I haven't figured out how to read them yet.)

So yesterday I decided to open Kenya's cage and put the bird stand against the door. Otherwise she just closes the door until John comes home and I did not want her to have that option. In less then an hour she was checking out the stand. Not getting on it, but chewing a perch and overall checking it out.

I was excited. Not only was she hanging on the outside of her cage dealing with a new object but she ended up on the top of the cage playing with all the D-rings that hold her toys. She also started to dismantle the play top by pulling all the bolts out, but I digress. ;)

Here she is spying a bolt.

Everything went well until something spooked her and she careened to the floor and decided to take her frustration out on an antique trunk. I tried shooing her away from it but ended up having to catch her in a towel and put her back in the cage.

It was fun while it lasted though. :D

Favorite Foods

Normally when I put Duke on the play stand he finds the farthest corner away from me that he can and just hangs out or plays with the toys there. It's just his way, and has always been his way when it comes to me.

So how surprised was I when I sat down with lunch yesterday and as I raised up my spoon heaping with mac and cheese to take my first bite that Duke practically tripped over himself running to get as close to me as possible. He was hyper talking "hello" at me that kinda of got strung together like "hellohellohello" which is his way of saying "Gimmie what you got!"

Since he has -never- done this before, I have no choice but to conclude that Duke's favorite food is Macaroni and Cheese. Good taste that bird has. ;)

Calm

Things have been calming down slowly since we brought three of the birds in from outside. We still have three more to go and I am almost dreading it because it will get really loud when two of them come inside.

Duke still poses a problem when the sun comes up. His alarm clock is so annoying. It gets loud too, especially if I don't come talk to him. But I can not give in, will not reward bad noises, darn it.

Echo has become more relaxed with running about the house getting into everything. When the holidays pass he will have more access to roam because the house won't have "extra wires" laying around. My birds love holiday decorations, and not in a good way. If how they react to all the Halloween stuff is any indication, Christmas will be fun. I can tell. ;)

Bonus Post!

It took a while but I just caught Kenya playing with the toy I put in her cage last week. I wasn't quick enough to get a picture, but I am so very proud of her getting over her fear quicker then normally.

She is defiantly coming out of her shell now, she's been yakking at me all day.

Yey Kenya! You go girly bird! :D

DIY: Dying Sticks & Wirlygig

Dyeing Popsicle sticks is a little different then dying regular blocks. First, you don't need as much liquid. Second, you need something flat to dye in,(like a pie pan) not like blocks where a cup will do.

Basically you use enough rubbing alcohol to cover the bottom of your dish, then add your food coloring until you get the desired color. You will have to stir in the food coloring because most of the time it does not mix on it's own.

Here is my set up.

Don't forget the newspaper, and learn from my mistake, use LOTS of newspaper. I only used 2 sheets folded in half and it bleed through to the counter top. :(

3 of the 4 colors I did last night. Remember, your sticks always come out lighter then your dye. Also if your dying a lighter color, like the green I used, you will have to use a whole lot of coloring to get anything decent.

Most colors, like the blue and reds that I did, (red not shown here sorry) only need to be dipped in for a moment, others like the green and the purple for some reason I had to leave for 5 to 15 mins to get a nice color going.

Like the blocks I let these sit until they were fully dry plus about 3 hrs to let the rubbing alcohol smell dissipate.

The Wirlygig

The size of your bird will determine how big you want to make this toy. I made this one for a small Peach Conure so I only used 24 sticks and 2 wood blocks.

Things you need:
Popsicle sticks
String or bailing wire
1 D ring
Scissors or Needle nose pliers (depending on if you are using string or wire.)
Drill
2 wood blocks

Drill a hole in the center of all your sticks. Don't worry too much if all the holes don't line up straight. You will be fanning the sticks out when your done and honestly, the birds really don't care if your toy is perfect. ;)

Thread your sticks onto your wire or string. I used wire here, but string is simple, just knot your end a few times and slide all your sticks onto it.

Use your pliers to make loops in both ends of your wire.

Now to cover your wire ends use your pliers to squeeze the loop, making it thinner and slip a wooden block over it, then using your pliers open the loop back up so the block does not move. Put a d-ring threw one loop, fan out your sticks and your done!

Sorry about the blurry pictures. It's hard to take a picture of something your holding. :)

Abierto - Cerrado

Fab Friday video time!

This week I thought I would give Kenya the spotlight, so here she is swinging on her cage door.




Have a great weekend everyone. See you on Monday.

Lazy Dayz

It was a quiet day yesterday. I slept in, did a little house cleaning and put a new toy in Kenya's cage. She is not happy with me for this. When she is not giving the toy an evil glare, she is giving it to me.

This is par for the course for her. Usually I have John take her out of the cage and out of the room before doing any "redecorating" in her cage. As long as she doesn't -see- it done, she is normally fine with minor changes. Major ones still are met with a WTH reaction, but she gets over it.

Right now she is backed in a corner staring at "the toy" waiting for it to do something so that she can scream at me for putting it in there. If she doesn't relax sometime today I will have to take it out and wait for John to occupy her so I can do come cage arrangement.

We'll just have to see how it goes.

Bringing the outside in

We moved Kenya inside Monday night. The living room is starting to get a tad crowded but I don't mind much.

Kenya is in the white cage by the windows. She likes watching the world go by. Duke is in the top of the duplex and Echo is the one hanging upside down in the bottom.

It seems Kenya has really picked up a variety of wild bird sounds. I know this because I thought I had a flock of house sparrows running a muck somewhere in the house when I woke up this morning. :D Noise like that I can get used to.

I had her cage door open all day and she never moved near it, in fact, she closed the door when I wasn't looking. I thought John had done it before he left, but no, he left and she shut the door. I guess since her "man" wasn't there she had no use of it being open.

Later that night though she came out of her shell and hung around with us.

"Back off lady, I am here for my man."

"Go on, shoo!"

"Don't make me come over there."

She pretty much hung on the door while she open and closed it. It was fun for her so who am I to argue, just her coming out was a step in the right direction. I did manage to take this shot....

just a second before she took a suicide leap off her cage and onto my foot. O.O John had just left the room and apparently she thought I drove him away and was going to tell me personally just how pissed off that made her.

We won't go into the high pitched squeal I let out when she did that. Nor will we mention me yanking my foot up to my chest to avoid her beak and the possible loss of toes.

It's a work in progress...for both of us.