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."