Sunday, December 12, 2010

From 6 to 8 - Day 2

Today we proceeded with some introductions.

In the morning, I kept it to my usual flock, Nemo got the room and Itsy was in the bigger cage. However, to make up for her time in the cage, I took Itsy out for about an hour after breakfast (which apparently was the right call because she dove in her breakfast bowl when it was offered to her).

In the afternoon I took everyone out at once..well after getting my own flock settled. Itsy was in my lap and Nemo was with the Boy. Things were ok for the most part, but I did have to bring Itsy in once she started getting a bit antsy.

Later in the evening I proceeded to having my flock out with Itsy, Itsy being on me so I could keep her under close supervision. At one point I had her and Zuri in close proximity and were scratching both their heads...and eventually got a pretty sharp bite from Zuri on the tip of a finger. I think he wasn't too happy with having to stay where he was, forced there by the head scratch, because he was very very interested in Itsy once again.

Itsy later became a tad too restless so in her cage she went and out came Nemo (he was in his cage since Zuri had landed in his cage for the bite and insisting to go where he shouldn't). Nemo was very well behaved and so was Shade. In fact, I had both on me once again without any trouble..from them at least. Piper kept trying to scoot on one shoulder, having been on me for most of the day at this point, and was getting dangerously close to one of the Sennies beaks. I passed him on to the Boy and from there Piper went to eat more pellets.

Ironically, the two Red-bellieds who usually like to create a little mayhem were the most well behaved, Petey having tried to dive-bomb me on a few occasions during the day.

An early birdy Christmas present

The birds got an early Christmas gift!
It came from my parents who brought it over yesterday with Itsy and Nemo.
It's a climbing net which has four sides - 2 panels crossing in the middle.
It's from the same company that made my cube which Zuri is so found of.



I just hung it temporarily for the sake of taking the picture. The cube goes there. I'm not sure where I'll hang the net yet - probably will try to devise something in the bird room for it.

So what do I do will all those beads?..

...and other toy parts??

Foot toys of course!

Shade's behaviour

Although I don't want to set human sentiments on birds, it really seems like there is some jealousy going on. Most certainly with Shade. Why would I say that? Normally twice per year she gets a bit distant. I think this is normally when hormone kicks in and this generally always happen in late fall/early winter and in the spring. Instead of getting mean, she just gets a bit more independent and a bit more grouchy with the other birds. I've noticed over the last week or two that she's been getting in that "mood" - she doesn't want to cuddle as much and just does her thing. Having "competition" around has made things interesting. Just like yesterday, although she was perfectly content being on on her own, the moment Nemo showed up she had to show that she was #1 bird. She's been doing the same with Pixel lately as well - I normally take Shade first then move onto Pixel and when offering to Shade to spend time with me, she either doesn't come over or steps up, stays on my shoulder for 2 minutes and then flies off, at which point I go and get Pixel. But the moment I have Pixel on me, she wants to be there. I've had Pixel since June and while it was bit of an adjustment for Shade for the first week or so, that routine (Shade first, Pixel second) worked fine.

While a lot of birds get aggressive when hormones kick in, I just never saw this with Shade. Even now, it's not outright aggression anyways. At this point, it just seems like she's more insistent on letting all the other birds know she's "head bird" when it comes to me and she does this by insisting to be on me when others are and being rather possessive of my shoulder - not by showing any aggression to myself, quite the contrary, she cuddles as close to my head as she can and will.not.budge.

From 6 to 8 - Day 1...Part 2

Apparently I'm a liar.
I did say I wouldn't do any introductions yesterday, but I did, with Nemo.
My regular flock was behaving nicely, none of them, but Piper, wanted to be on me at the time, all busy playing with other things so I figured it was time to go check on Nemo who was in the big cage. And I felt bad for the little guy so I brought him with me thinking it would be ok, since I could manage him and Piper on me at once.

I was somewhat wrong.

The moment I showed up in the living room with him, Shade started showing interest, but not the good kind. Pixel also flew right to me...so I ended up with Piper on my head, Pixel on one shoulder, Shade on the other and Nemo in my lap. Of course, the two Senegals wanted to get at each other so I had to keep them separate with one hand. Piper tried crawling down to a shoulder so I had to keep him out of harms way. And, to make things even more interesting, Zuri decided that this was an appropriate time to get his head scratched...And extra pair or arms and hands would have been practical at this point. Luckily, Pixel quickly decided she had enough of this and flew back to a perch to eat some pellets. Which liberated a shoulder on which I put Nemo. Apparently both Senegals having their own shoulder made them more happy and they stopped, for the most part, trying to get to each other. Zuri, having got his quota of head scratches also went somewhere else to play. All I was left to contend with was Piper who didn't want to remain on the head...and absolutely wanted a shoulder, which was out of the question.

Now they are out again - my flock in the living room, now it's Nemo's turn in the birdroom and Itsy's turn in the big cage. I haven't tried with Itsy what I did with Nemo since Shade is currently claiming my shoulder and seeing how Itsy went after Nemo yesterday, I can only imagine that she'll do the same with Shade (she hasn't differentiated in the past) so I won't tempt it. I might just take her out for half an hour once all the others go in for breakfast for some one on one time.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Is this an indication of anything?

Joey just did something interesting.

I gave him a string of five beads. I like things that match so I normally string beads in some type of repeating fashion.

On this occasion, the string of beads was made of greed coloured beads, but there were light and darker beads. It went as follow:

light bead - dark bead - light bead - dark bead - light bead

Joey meticulously destroyed all the light beads in order, from one end to the other.
Only when they were all destroyed did he go for the darker green beads.

Why not go one by one? I did, in the past, give him a string of beads that were entirely different colours and he just destroyed them one by one, from one end to the other.

So why would he now go for one kind then the other?

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.

They are here!

Posting pictures right now, will post more about the day later on.







Friday, December 10, 2010

From 6 to 8..

Starting tomorrow..

My mom will be dropping off her two pois, Nemo (Shade's brother) and Itsy (possibly Zuri's older sister...assuming the breeder only had the one pair of Meyer's) for a few weeks while my parents go away for the Holidays.

I'll try to do like last year and have a collection of daily posts about how things are going around here, with the addition of two new birds.

New challenges?

-Well Itsy and Nemo seem to have only grown to hate each other more. Keeping them separate while insuring that they both also get some quality one on one time might be tricky;

-Shade and Pixel, although seemed to have calmed down a bit (should go knock on some wood), have started being a bit more open about not entirely liking each other. Not sure what throwing "new" birds in the mix will do;

-Itsy was not fond of Shade the last few time she was here (might be her not liking Senegals as Nemo is one..). She also wasn't very fond of the Meyer's but didn't seem to care too much about Joey. However, I'm not sure how Pixel will perceive this addition of another female bird here..

-Nemo and Shade always have a rough few first days together - hopefully this time it won't last as long and they'll get over the wanting to attack the other and just start ignoring each other faster.

Here are their temporary cages away from home:





I also have another larger cage in my bedroom in case anyone should need it (if I need to separate them a bit and a bird is already occupying the bird room).

Recent Rosie Toys order

Earlier this week I ordered a few things from "Les Jouets Rosie" since there is a 20% discount on everything but the cages and shipping.

The biggest part of my order consisted of more beads.Lots and lots of beads.



I also got two small toys. The small balsa one is for Piper. Trying it out, if he doesn't take to it I know I have some birds which will reduce it to toothpicks in less than 5 minutes. The other one is for Petey. He currently has one that is in a pretty sad shape as it is the toy that takes quite the beating when he's frustrated.



And now off to make more foot toys with all those beads..

Thursday, December 9, 2010

You preen me....





...and I'll preen you!




And my favorite...

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The last of the Sidewalk Sale Order

My wood shipment from Pet Products by Nature (PPBN).

Truthfully, I got it yesterday at the same time as the Things for Wings order as well as my Secret Santa package. That was quite unusual for me, receiving three packages at once (which I loved!)

Anyways, I had ordered 400 wood coins from PPBN - 200 willow coins and 200 cottonwood coins, as they are the favorite types of wood for my birds. The birds also love yucca/kiote, but I figured I'd go with something that took them a smidgen longer to destroy, as they go through yucca like a knife through butter.

Honestly...after having people tell me how 100 coins were a lot and how much space it would take, I was expecting a slightly larger-in-size shipment than I did. But it's all good - those 400 coins should last a bit!



I've said this before, but I held off ordering straight from Pet Products by Nature because the coins are sold in larger quantities and not knowing what my birds would and wouldn't like, I didn't want to have too much of something they did not like on my hands. When Things for Wings came along and started selling the PPBN wood in smaller quantities, I was happy and tried a few kinds. Knowing the favorites, it was just logical to go through PPBN. It was a pleasant shopping experience, however, it will probably be the first and last time I order through PPBN. Unfortunately, the owner has closed down the general retail website and will only be dealing with wholesales for personal reasons. So, I do recommend that you keep an eye on her website, as there should be a list of vendors which will be carrying PPBN wood available soon.

As for myself, I'll be going back to Things for Wings as long as Danita carries the PPBN wood!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

T4W Sidewalk Sale order

I received my Things for Wings order I made during Avian Avenue's Sidewalk Sale last month.

This order was all custom toys. I went with the smaller amount, $10, since I was having 5 of them made and it all adds up.

I'm quite happy with the end results - for Joey, Shade, Zuri and Pixel I have wanted the same toy, only in a different colour scheme as they all like the same things and if toys end up too different, then I don't know who to give what. This is what their toys looked like.



For Petey I wanted something different as he doesn't like wood and chewables that you can destroy as much - he's more of a leather and plastic kind of bird, although he does enjoy paper so I asked for some of that. His toy is the following and I have to say I'm quite pleased with it as well



Yes Piper didn't get a custom toy. But he doesn't really play with the toys he's got and he also has containers full of them (he was my first bird after all and got plenty more than the others did in that first year). His favorite thing is to spend plenty of time on me and he gets to do that every day - that makes him happy. So I figured that this time, we could skip getting him something.

Secret Santa gifts!

I have participated at this year's Secret Santa gift exchange on Avian Avenue. Last year I did not and it seemed like much fun so I figured why not try it?

I received my package today. And I opened it - yeah Christmas is still far away, but if I wait for Christmas to give the birds the toys, where's the harm? In any case, most people who have received their packages have opened them as well (and some of these were in November).

Everything I got fit in a shoe box. No I didn't take a picture of the box as we all know what a shoe box looks like...

The contents, however, were fantastic - I am so happy and I'm sure I'll have some very happy birdies!







The gifts came from Oliver's Garden - the boing is a dead giveaway and I also checked the information provided by Canada Post online about my mail stub - it indicated the package originated in Chester, Nova Scotia, exactly where Oliver's Garden is located.

The toys are great, love the fact that I got a yellow boing and that block with multiple "leaves" is quite fantastic (so is everything else). I'll have a hard time deciding who gets what!

Monday, December 6, 2010

An Avian Organic baked goodie - The Flatbread Fusion

Yesterday I finally made the Flatbread Fusion (pomegranate flavour) I ordered from Avian Organics a while ago.

Not sure why I waited so long.

As with most Avian Organics products, it was quite a success. Shade, Zuri and Joey ate their pieces right away. Pixel picked at it, but she's never really been the one to eat much when out of the cage and it was a much bigger success when I offered it as an in cage treat. Even Piper and Petey, who take longest to warm up to new food, looked at it and, in Piper's case, picked at it a bit.

This is what the flatbread looked like when I took it out of the stove and let it cool down a bit.



Some pictures of Shade, Zuri and Joey enjoying their portion of flatbread.













Zuri liked it so much, he went through the crumbs left by Shade and Joey after having eaten his AND Petey's share.

I will now leave you with one last picture, one of my favorites.


What?! I don't look at you when you are eating!