New Lesser Sulfur 2

[Pajarita]

As most of you know, I have a 23 year old Lesser Sulfur too named Freddie who lost his companion, Zachary, when he had to be put down due to kidney failure last year. So, when I saw an ad in Craigslist about a plucking LS2 needing a good home, I answered and, last night, we went to get him. His name is Linus (but he has never been DNA'd so he might not be a boy after all) and he is 25 years old (the posting said 11 or 15, I forget, but his leg band has a 90 across) and he is terribly barbered and plucked to the point that I believe that even if he stops, he will not grow feathers in large areas (legs and abdomen) as the follicles there look to be gone (no little goose bumps, the skin is perfectly smooth). My husband took pictures of him and I will show you the terrible state his plumage is in right now - let's hope I can make it better.

But he is a friendly guy who says Hello and Hi, Linus all the time and MIRACLE OF MIRACLES! who ate the tomato, banana, romaine lettuce I gave them this morning and went straight for the gloop as soon as I put it in his bowl even though he had another one with seeds! He is now in quarantine but he did see Freddie this morning because I had forgotten to bring a bag with me and, of course!, I had Freddie stuck to me when I came downstairs to get it (it was still 'his' time on me - I give the birds in the birdroom turns to ride on me) and boy was he interested! They both immediately displayed with what I call 'the whip' (they erect the crest and dip their heads as if they are bowing but real hard and fast -thus the name 'whip') and, as I was walking away, Linus turned around so as not to take his eyes off Freddie until he could no longer see him So, so far, it's been great and I couldn't be happier!

[Wolf]

Wonderful, I love it !

[Pajarita]

I gave him a spray bath this morning (which he thoroughly enjoyed) and was able to see his wings opened up and they can make you cry! Below are a couple of pictures of him but I don't know if you can appreciate the degree of plucking and barbering he has done on them. The poor thing has no contour feathers anywhere on his body except on his head, he has large areas where there is only naked skin and where, apparently, there is already follicle damage because the skin is smooth... he has no secondaries or terciaries and you can count with the fingers of one hand the primaries - well, primary stubs because he doesn't have a single one that is fully grown! The poor, poor thing!







And, as an added bonus, here it's a picture of Wolf and me (the two old bird nut foggies

[Pajarita]

He got a bath yesterday, which he enjoyed A LOT! He also 'discovered' the cardinals cage which is tall, sits in front of a bay window with view to the street and gets direct sunshine in the morning and has decided this is HIS spot so he goes there as soon as I open his cage in the morning and eats his produce on it.

He is a great eater but, then, that has been my experience with the five that I've had. So far, blueberries, bananas, apples, tomatoes, carrots, romaine, celery tops, dandelion greens YES with one single NO for green peppers... wonderful, isn't it?

[Pajarita]

He is doing great! He has gotten the routine down pat and has created his own little routine within the general one so, when I open his cage early in the morning (at 6am this time of the year but, of course, no lights on) to take out his bowls from the night before, I whisper to him if he wants Pica Pica (this means scritches) and he immediately whips his crest up and his head down so I spend a minute or two scratching his entire head, neck and cheeks and caressing his beak and doing Tickle tickle which he learned in two single sessions! He had A LOT of pinnies which I've preened completely so I am sure this makes him more comfortable. As soon as dawn starts to break, he climbs down and walks over to the bay window where the cardinals cage is, climbs up and looks out the window, chews the ends of the perches in the cage and preens a bit. When I turn on the overhead light in the dining room, where his cage is, he walks back to it to wait for his produce and, when he seems me coming with his gloop later on, he goes inside for his breakfast. He has discovered a cat toy that he loves and which I have to hide when he is out because, if he finds it, he chews the whole thing up Thankfully, it's a scratching thing with a replaceable center of corrugated cardboard (kind of like a honeycomb) so, when I forget and he finds it, all I have to do is just put a new one in it. Unfortunately, he also discovered the window sills in the bay window and he chewed one to smithereens this morning -which I am going to get hell for because he had taken a couple of bites from it before and my husband had asked me to watch him when he's out so he would not do what he ended up doing -ay ay ay!

But, aside from the usual chewing naughtiness they all have, he is doing great! He eats like a champion, I found the kind of toys he likes to destroy (took only 6 tries ) and he has 12 (TWELVE!!!!) new down feathers coming out on his otherwise naked chest! Now let's see if he allows them to grow or plucks them before they begin to cover his skin...

[Wolf]

Sounds like he is doing very well, now we get to see if it holds.

[Pajarita]

Yes, the test of time is yet to come.

On another note, I was looking at both Freddie and him yesterday and, although it's impossible to compare plumage or even body with one been normal and the other one been all plucked, I noticed a couple of differences in their heads. Now, I don't know if this means that Freddie is a female and Linus a male (I still have to DNA them), if they are different subspecies or if they are just different the way two human beings of the same race could be completely different but Linus head is larger, his beak is wider and his 'pompadour' (I guess you could call it his forehead) is much, much puffier, sticking out to the front while Freddie's is almost at the same level as his face. I'll ask my husband to take pictures of both their heads to show you.

[Pajarita]

He's doing very well... my dining room and living room are not doing so well thanks to his chewing abilities (neither are my ears with my husband's complaints about it!) but he is doing good He has now learned to go into his cage on command, has been exploring all over and has started 'talking' in the evening. He loves to destroy the cats toys all over the floor so I have to be super vigilant about this not because I care about the toys -they are easy to replace- but because I don't want him putting into his beak something that might have cat saliva on it. So he got his own scratch pad (he loves loves loves to chew on it and you guys might want to consider them for plucking birds -http://www.amazon.com/Bergan-Turbo-Scratcher-Replacement-Pads/dp/B0002AS1CC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443201520&sr=8-1&keywords=cat+scratcher+refill) and his own cat toy (a ball that has a fake mouse inside that squeaks when you move it: http://www.amazon.com/OurPetsPlay-N-Squ ... with+mouse ). His 'new' chest down feathers are still on his chest and I can feel pinnies around the edge of his naked neck so, so far, so good with the plucking. He also lost (molted, not plucked) one of the two chewed-up primaries he had left on his wings so now he has only one.

[liz]

YAY

[ParrotsForLife]

I think they look like they are in a Rocko band when they whip theyre crests like you said.Hes lovely I bet he will stop plucking soon with an owner like you and he will be even more happier once he meets Freddie.