Mr. Floofyhead

I love putting those stray fluffy feathers on his head and see how long it takes him to notice it.

Petey and the new swing

Well new is relative.
I had already posted about receiving this swing back in January. But up until now, it was nicely folded and put away in a closet since I had nowhere to hang it given all the hooks in the birdroom had enough hanging on them (the swing weighs quite a bit).

Today my dad came and helped me put a new hook up (my drill doesn't like the concrete ceilings). Since the birdroom was rather full, I decided to have the swing in the living room.

Here are some pictures with Petey on the swing.

Preening




Oh that feels good - Apparently the cotton rope is nice for rubbing itchy parts.


Overall view

The Joey Chronicles

What's that??


Must get it!


Grr..missed!


Try again


Just..a...little..more...


Got it!



(On a side note, it seems I have taken a slow start to blogging in February..)

One year anniversary

..with Zuri.

It's been one year today that she first came to live with us.
Time did go by fast.

She's made a lot of progress socially with people, although there is still some progress to be made.
Her forehead also became much more yellow. She was hatched in 2007, but I'm not sure she's quite three yet.

Here is to a long future together :)

My new best friend

The food processor.

This is a batch of fresh food for the birds I made this morning



Normally my mix of greens is slightly more chunky; I would cut everything by hand. It would take a long time, as I would try to cut the vegetables really small, but at one point, I would get a little tired and the chunks wouldn't be as small as when I started.

This morning I remembered we had a food processor; a tiny little thing (it holds 3 cups max and even then..it doesn't like to be filled up past the half way point) that Bram's old landlords had given to us when he moved out as they had got a much better one as a wedding gift..Anyways, we had seldom used it and it lay in the cupboard above the fridge, forgotten.

Well I gave it a whirl this morning and I doubt I'll go back to manually cutting veggies for the birds again; it took me much less time to go through the pile of veggies (list to be found below) and everything was cut so small. What a revelation! So much so, that I'm considering getting a better one in the near future (which can hold more and has different cutting options). Plus, it will be much harder for the birds to pick out what they do not like and for the same amount of veggies, it take much less storage space!

Here is the list of what when in the mix this morning:



-1 big carrot
-1 stalk of broccoli
-A couple florets of cauliflower
-1/3 of a large sweet potato, peeled
-1 red bell pepper
-A couple strands of rapini
-A couple leafs of collard greens
-A handful of Brussels sprouts
-1 orange (mostly for the citrus juice which helps keep everything fresh)

I think that is it. It tasted quite good too!

More new toys!

"Les Jouets Rosie" had some sales through one of the bird forums I'm a member of. The items were good deals and of course I couldn't pass.

I paid for my order on Wednesday (had put some toys on the side waiting for others to be on sale) and when I got home last night, a box was waiting for me at the door (insert giddy reaction here)!

Here are pictures of the toys I got..

The triangular swing. It's HUGE. I did not think it would be this big and heavy. I actually doubt that any of my existing hooks in the ceiling, which are already carrying some weight, can take the added weight of the swing/perch, nor can any of the chains I have going through the room. I'll probably have to wait to have a new hook installed before this guy can go up.



I also got this second swing, a much smaller one, which I was able to hang in the room straight away on the chain. I stepped out of the room for a moment and came back to this..



Joey also went on it and as I thought he would, he seemed to enjoy the smaller wooden beads present on the swing.



Once again, the Pirate toy was on sale so I had to grab another..



Finally, some toys that weren't on sale but that I though I'd get anyways. My birds love balsa and although it doesn't last long (balsa is an incredibly soft wood), I figured I'd get each of the Pois a balsa toy. Not knowing what they looked like exactly (it's rather hard to gauge the size of a toy from the website), I took two different models, the "Yo Man" and the "Balsa en folie". Both were the same price and although the Yo Man is very cute, I think the Balsa en folie is probably a better value.

Yo Man


Balsa en folie

Zuri Foraging - Testing out the "Pont Levis"

Zuri is definitively my best "forager". She'll find threats just about anywhere. I was thrilled when I saw that the Pont Levis had specific designed foraging holes, perfectly sized for an almond or Nutriberry.

I decided to take pictures today of her showing off her foraging skills. Mind you, she's gotten pretty good at getting treats out of this toy, I'll have to make it more challenging.

Approaching target


Reaching in


Got it!


Another one while eating the Nutriberry because Zuri is too cute :)


Slyly moving towards the other side when the extra Nutriberry was noticed..


Reaching in


Working that tongue


Success!

The birdroom revisited

I have taken more pictures of my birdroom this week-end. It's getting hard to do so without having something get in the way...

Also, there is at least one bird in every picture; try and guess if you can find them all.

Oh Joey... - The picture

He tried it again..this time, the cap of the plastic nut and bolt was to be strung on some shredding toy.



Obviously, since there was no hole going through the cap (pink thing in his talon), this was never going to work...

The play stands in my living room

The birds are not confined to their room. I also like to have them out in the living room with me so for this reason, I have a few stands in there.

I have four substantial gyms, one metal and three made of Java (coffee) wood and two small "foraging" trays, which are basically a cafeteria tray and a "u" shaped PVC perch. Of course, any human limb is good enough to stand on and they seem to have taken a liking to perching on my dining room chairs as well as the table.

Here are some pictures of the 4 "big" play stands.

A Super Pet EZ Care Activity Playground for small birds and the first Java table stand I purchased (at Critter Jungle in Ottawa).


The second Java table stand I purchased (at Pet Circus, also in Ottawa).


Finally, the Java tree (which I purchased at the Canadian Parrot Conference in Guelph last year)

Peak-a-boo!

..I see you!

This is the 100th post on this blog.
Funnily enough, half of the posts have happened in the last two months.

Rawr!

Blooper

A little slip derived from her over-exuberance.

I love that it's mostly in focus. Normally these shots end up somewhat blurred.

The return of Batbird

She spent a lot of time like this yesterday...

Pirate Treasure Toy

When I ordered the Pont-Levis I also bought a "Pirate Treasure", although I got the larger version (I can't find the link for it right now).

I changed stuff around in my birdroom and added some chain links and was able to put the toy up (I should really take new pictures of the room..maybe this week-end).

The reason I got that toy is because it looks like it's full of shreddables, and my birds love stuff that is easily shredded. So far, Joey, Zuri and Piper have played with it, although they haven't really gone beyond the outer layers (yet..it's only a matter of time).

I got some pictures of Joey playing with it.

Hanging out by the bridge

Or on the bridge as the case may be.

Some pictures of most of my flock with the new "Pont Levis" from "Les Jouets Rosie. Piper would rather stay on me of course than go on the new swing.

First on it was Joey, which is often the case with anything new.

He sat on it for a while..


Then tried figuring out what was the best angle to start chewing the rope.


Then Zuri came along (also no surprise there), and she liked trying to get at the wood on top.


Joey and Zuri in the background


Shade liked Zuri's idea of chewing the wood and she took a different approach; sit on another toy/perch while chewing (this also give you a whole perspective of where/how the bridge is hanging)


Finally, Petey was quite content just sitting there. Might be those comfortable cotton covered perches :)