From 6 to 8 - Day 1

So it has begun.

My mom dropped off Nemo and Itsy in the late afternoon, around 3pm. They went straight to their temporary cages, to give them some adjustment time. Around 4pm I let my guys out in the living room (so that they wouldn't be harassing the new ones in the birdroom) and Itsy and Nemo were doing what sounded like flock calling. I don't think it was so much for the birds as it was to get my attention. However, Zuri did respond..and tried going in the birdroom so eventually, as this is all he wanted, he went in but this meant in the cage.

I put my guys in around 5:30pm and decided to let Itsy and Nemo out in the living room with us for half an hour before dinner. I took Itsy out of the cage first and then moved on to Nemo. The moment I opened Nemo's cage door, Itsy, who was on my shoulder, bee-lined for him. While I knew they didn't get along, this was more animosity that I've ever seen coming from Itsy for Nemo and I've birdsat both of these guys before on a few occasions. I restrained her, took Nemo out and went to the living room. Itsy ended up on an atom for the first 10 minutes while I had Nemo on me. When the boy showed up, I handed him Nemo, took a few pictures of Itsy on the atom, then moved Nemo to a perch and took pictures before handing him back to the boy and I then took Itsy for a bit. They were reasonably well behaved, Itsy sticking to me and Nemo staying on the Boy.

We always prepare the cages for nightime -aka take out dinner food bowl, change the water bowls, change the papers, give some dry food if required - when the birds come out after dinner. We normally let them out progressively, as we move from cage to cage. In this instance, I wanted to keep Itsy and Nemo's cages for the end. I sent Shade and Zuri into the living room early on, as they behave well together with minimal supervision for a few minutes. This did not go well with Zuri who kept coming by the bird room, trying to approach Itsy. Based on what I have seen in the past, I was predicting it and the outcome was unsure - Zuri did at first show interest in Itsy but Itsy had wanted nothing to do with Zuri but attack and there were a few close calls in the past, which I wasn't keen on reliving. So for the moment being, I wanted to keep them separate, so back into the living room Zuri went.

At this moment, my flock in out in the living room with the Boy and I, Itsy in free in the birdroom and Nemo is in the extra large cage in my bedroom. I think I will, for the most part, be alternating between Nemo and Itsy who gets the birdroom and who gets the cage (each taking turns) and will reserve 30 minutes to an hour of one on one time with the Boy and I at one point in the day, while my guys are in. I will see how things go. I might try doing introductions, but if it's anything like in the past, Shade and Nemo will be on the outs for at least a week before settling in, Itsy will want to go after everyone and will only be happy if she's on me (not on the Boy - she does not like men), which will be problematic as Piper, Shade and Pixel do want to spend a fair amount of time on me as well and Zuri and Joey often come by for head scratches.

All in all, I don't feel like dealing with any type of fighting today so if I do do introductions, it will have to wait until tomorrow.