I made more toys this week-end

It seems that I felt up to the task of making toys a few days longer than I normally did. A few of these I made yesterday and the rest were done today.

It is surprisingly time consuming and it did reinforce my belief that those out there who make all hand-made parrot toys deserve to be paid accordingly! I generally do look for value, but would often chose a handmade toy from a vendor I trust over the mass produced stuff which mostly stocks the shelves of pet stores.

In any case, I hardly feel like the pile of toys I made over three days will last long with the flock but it's been nice to get creative a little.

I also think it's worth mentioning that I need to really thank my friend Stephanie who a while ago sent some cotton rope that she uses when she makes her homemade toys for me to try out - the reason I've been able to make as many toys in a row was because of how nice it was to work with the cotton rope; it didn't leave my fingers feeling as raw as they have been when I was using paulie rope, seagrass or any other type of abrasive rope. The best part is although I've used A LOT of the rope, the spool hardly seems any smaller.

Here are some pictures of what I've made, in the order I've taken pictures (which does not reflect the order they were made in).

#1 Butterfly/bead/paulie rope toy



I've really been starting to like the all natural look for toys, but given the large amount of colour beads I still have, I felt compelled to use some up - after all, as long as I have them, I might as well use them. But this brought out the OCD in me and you will notice that matching strands on either side of the butterfly have the same pattern of beads and colours...

I have a few more butterfly bases so I'll be making more of this toy (in fact, in between having taken the pictures and writing this post, I already completed one other in the same fashion).


#2 Hardwood/natural wood/cotton rope toy



There will be a few toys to come that share the same combination of material and ironically, I think this might have been the last one I made. As such, it's much more filled than the others, as I added strands on existing strands. I really like how it came out.


#3 Pine/hardwood/cotton rope toy



This is a similar model to one I made and posted about last Friday. This time, two of the strands showcase coloured pine from Oliver's Garden. I believe these are pieces she uses in her Chunky Monkey toys and are a true favorite of the flock, especially of Shade's.


#4 Hardwood/cotton rope toy



The title says it all. I made this one yesterday and had Léa around as I tried stringing beads. I said "tried" as she made it impossible; she kept trying to get to the unfinished toy. It will be going in her cage at the next toy rotation.


#5 Hardwood/natural wood/pine/balsa/cotton rope toy

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A mix of a little of everything I had on hand. Not a very elaborate toy either, but I'm sure whoever will get it will enjoy it.


#6 Another hardwood/natural wood/cotton rope toy



I'm not sure what that big piece of natural wood is at the top - all I remember is that I got it from Things for Wings - but I felt it was a nice way to start the toy. If I had thought things through before, I could have put in a second hole and had another spot to put some rope through but I didn't. Still like how it came out though.


#7 Another hardwood/natural wood/pine/cotton rope toy 



Using some pine blocks from Mother Pluckin' Bird Toys. This was one of the first toys I completed on Saturday.


#8 Another hardwood/cotton rope toy



Another one made to Léa's liking - some of the hardwood pieces on this one would be a bit too big for the other Pois who tend to like their wood on the thinner side.


That is it. It's really not much if I think of how much time I spent making them but I'm quite happy they'll get to enjoy toys I've made!

308:365 - He loves the net

It was actually quite difficult to get a picture of him looking at me instead of him chewing on the net. Not that I would have minded it had his head been somewhat visible beyond the underside part of it.

Geronimo!

Some days, I get disappointed when a picture that would have been otherwise fantastic comes out entirely out of focus.

This is such a case - but his positioning in the picture is just too funny not to share! His legs are my favorite part.

Some mornings, they are just crazy

It should really read "week-end mornings" as during the week they are brought out ridiculously early and all seem to be slowly waking up during that time - as a result, they are calm and quite pleasant to be around; they don't get into each other's space and they do their own thing.

Then there are mornings like today where they are totally the opposite.

I don't know if it's the combination of us changing the time and actually taking advantage of the "extra" hour to sleep, which means they got some extra sleeping time as well, the uncertain weather outside which generally means somewhat more crazy birds...but there was something this morning that made the Littles extra nuts.

They are generally let out of their cages in the following order - Shade, Zuri and Piper, followed by Joey and Pixel and finally Petey. This morning was no different except that the Red bellies didn't wait to be brought into the orange room as much as they just flew to it, forcing the Boy to run behind them while I was already in the room with the first trio. The Red bellied sudden appearance (they have a certain frantic aspect to their flight) got the others a little on edge and while Joey just flopped himself on the back of my chair (it didn't feel like a controlled and intended landing), Pixel aimed for Shade's spot (and probably Shade as well). Shade, always very smart and quick, got out of the way, and landed on the back of my chair, next to Joey. Generally Joey wouldn't mind, but this morning decided to do a warning snap in Shade's direction. Joey got moved to the computer desk and Shade to my shoulder.

Things were alright for about five minutes, but then Piper decided to get under my hand again which meant getting close to crazy Joey and that was far from being a great idea. Joey has been known to very suddenly jump on things when provoked and I felt that this morning he was in a mood to do just that. So I kept Piper away from him, which made Piper more antsy because he wasn't getting what he wanted and he just kept trying and trying.

Shade kept flying between me and the playstand on which Zuri was hanging out on. Generally this is not a problem, but Zuri was in a cranky mood so every time she landed remotely close to him, he would snap at her. Oddly enough, Shade didn't get the message and kept going back and forth.

According to the Boy, Petey was also quite antsy and hard to keep under control - which means it was just a matter of time before he launched into an aerial attack on me.

40 minutes of this brought the Boy and I on edge - and given that the risk of an accident seemed quite high, they all went back in their cages a little earlier than intended.

But it seems the crazy attitude wasn't only meant for them - since Léa came out all she has been doing is getting into trouble as well.

It's going to be a fun day...

Scratch me, please

All he wants lately is for me to scratch his head any time he's out of his cage. He's not willing to share either - if I have been scratching his head for a while and stop to move onto another bird who is also requesting to get its head scratched, Piper will show that he's clearly not happy and will try to interfere and get his head back under my hand, something that can be rather dangerous.

He is fearless and knows what he wants.

Poi bath time in Instagram

I had meant to post these when I did my original bath thread in October, these having been taken on the same occasion but with my phone instead of my DSLR. I kinda like the look the processing gave them.

Cage cleaning day

I'll be honest, cage cleaning has got to be my least parrot ownership related task and granted, I didn't make things easier for me as I added members to the flock.

These last few months, life has been really busy and while we did a daily clean up (changing papers and spot cleaning), we were long overdue for a full strip-cages-down-clean. Seeing how the weather is in full November gloom, today became cleaning day.

The smaller Pois are relatively clean in general, so their cages weren't too bad, albeit the "hidden" spots (where the grate is inserted into the cage) saw a welcome clean. Léa's cage is still nearly brand new and I can't get over how easy those stainless steel bars are to clean. While I tried to spot clean the bars closer to her fresh food bowl as I see mess appear, there were a few places I missed and food dried hard as cement and yet, a breeze to clean!

We are left with Piper...oh Piper. It took me longer to clean his cage than it did take me to clean Léa's, Zuri's and Shade's combine! I don't know what he does, be he seems quite keen about pooping ON the bars. It's ridiculous, seeing the mess, you would swear he's part lorikeet! It's at the point where I'm strongly considering getting him a flight cage in hopes that the spread out space would help.

But it is quite nice to know everything will be very clean again, at least for a few hours...

307:365 - Beak grinding time!

Léa getting ready for bed last night!

I made a few toys today

It seems I was in one of those moods today where making toys was relaxing. Mind you, I didn't go complicated at all!

Sometime last year, I bought stainless steel skewers with every intention of using them for food. But once they got here, I put them away in a bin and kinda forgot I had them, which isn't very practical. Today, while I was changing the toys in the cages, I thought about them and figured I might as well use them as quick toy bases rather then let them sit unused.

These are beyond simple, but should keep the birds occupied for a day or two.





As well, seeing how some of the birds have been in the mood for snapping thin slabs of pine (this comes and goes), I made a few more very simple toys using pine slabs I've had for a long time, some beads and some cotton rope.

A "big" version - I used 6 slabs of pine per strand I think?



A few "small" versions - I used 4 slabs of pine per strand.



These won't necessarily last me for a long time, but I guess I might as well start using all the toy making supplies I have on a more consistent basis instead of just keeping them nicely tucked away...

Some birdies had fun today!

Last month I ordered some toys from Crystal's Bird Toys. One "kind" was the "Small Squeak Squiggle" - which really is a result of me asking her to make a smaller version of her "Big Beak Bop" toy.

Today, I decided it was time to give it to the birds for destruction - Pixel, Joey, Shade and Zuri got theirs this morning and Petey will get his later tonight when the Boy will help me reorganize his cage.

This is what the toys looked like "new" -



While it is difficult to take a nice picture of the toys now, given other toys are in the way, here is the a glimpse at the mess created by all four birds who quite enjoyed them.

Shade's cage


Zuri's cage


Pixel's cage


Joey's cage - he has some coloured wood mixed into his "mess" as he also started to enjoy his new Sunflower Farm Things for Wings toy!


I gave a quick glance at the toys themselves and there were at least half way done with them, if not more. I'm guessing by tomorrow evening at the latest they'll all be completely destroyed.

Silly Léa pictures

Some alternates from her Halloween portrait session.

Alternate #1 - The "I got my seed and must fly away from this thing as fast as I can" pose.



Alternate #2 - The "I must voice my discontent as loud as I can" pose (even though my half-cooperation is being rewarded with delicious pumpkin seeds).

306:365 - Closed eyes

But not a sleepy bird!

Petey was actually in a pretty good mood last night. I was singing and he was dancing, lots of head bobbing up and down, side to side. His whole body also got into it for short periods. And I was just snapping away..and really found this one cute and funny!

Things are looking up

Back in October I posted about having a minor set back with Léa and her not wanting to step up anymore.

I've tried a few things to try and get her to start again, but knew that time would probably be the biggest factor..and it seems like patience was indeed the way to go.

Yesterday, she started stepping up my wrist when asked AND she even, for the first time in a long time, lifted her foot in front of me, her way of asking to be allowed to step up. She did follow the request by a nice uneventful "step up".

As well, for a while she was freaking out if I got too close to her cage and she assumed I was going to ask her to step up - now, she's back at acting rather normally (I should go knock on some wood) even if she won't exactly step up from inside yet. However, I didn't ask her to step up from her cage yesterday, I figured we would get her stepping out from outside more regularly before I attempt that again.

305:365 - Simple is sometimes all it takes!

This is yesterday's picture.
After the whole pumpkin photoshoot, I really wasn't in the mood to take yet more pictures. So I figured a simple "bird on hand" picture would be quick and easy - and how convenient that the "bird of the day" was a bird I could do that with!

A simple picture, yet one I like a lot. Pixel's colours are the hardest I find to truly capture in a picture and while it's still not entirely right, I think they are better showcased on this picture than they have been on any other picture of late!

304:365 - New hanging out spot

He wouldn't want to perch there for the longest time. Yet, for this photoshoot he suddenly was willing to stay on it, at least for a little while.