Sacrifices you've made for your birds

[patdbunny]

Entranced - You mean your horse isn't "bar broke"? Oh yeah, yours is a dressage horse not a cowboy horse. Mine aren't bar broke either, but my cowboy neighbor says his are - they eat when he gets out of the bar!

[CheekyandMalolo]

Hahaha!! I'm 'starving' my Mr. Horse at the moment, or atleast he seems to think so anyway!!

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Roz, too funny! Have you seen the "designated driver" Tshirts?

Case in point why maintaining feeding time flexibility is good: Once you reach the age of endoscopy, you may find yourself driving your (hungry and cranky) significant other somewhere at 6 in the morning. I chose to let the birds sleep in and feed them when we got home, which wound up being later than I had thought, closer to 12 that 10. Still, they seem unperturbed and glad to have us in the house for the day. Scooter pretended to be mad for 2 minutes, thus scaring me, but is presently infesting my desk and being incredibly cute between begging for head scratches.

[patdbunny]

My "cowboy" neighbor's a moron. I originally was asking him horse care and training questions, until I figured out he grew up with horses but actually knows pretty much nadda about care and training. He's one of those old time kick the horse for not behaving kinda "cowboys". True cowboys care about their horses, their horse get taken care of before they eat, etc.

Yeah, I've seen the designated driver T. I love the T that has one horse saying to another, "My name's WHOA D*MNIT! What's yours?"

Cheeky - We joke that our grey arab's a 1000 pound cockatoo with hooves. He's constantly pacing and whinnying for attention. . . and food. I will have just fed them and he's got his face in the hay, he hears the back door slam from someone coming outside and you hear him, "WHEEEEEE!!!!" Um. . . Well, that's my pinyin for a horse whinny.

Sacrifices I've made - SLEEP!!! I'm feeding a baby conure that's less than a week old. 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. every 2.5 hours right now. Y'all have NO idea what a HUGE sacrifice this is for me. I LOVE to sleep. I want to reincarnate as a lion just so I can sleep 20 hours a day.

[MandyG]

My husband had to give up everything in our kitchen that has non-stick coating. He doesn't mind cooking with stainless steel and cast iron but we really do miss the indoor grill.

I miss my cleaning products the most! I used to be a Febreeze, scented candle, and Lysol fanatic. Now that I use more natural products (such as vinegar) I really miss the scents that are available with the Lysol products and I really have a hard time believing my house is as clean as it used to be when using the strong chemicals. Having a number of pets in the house, I find it harder to achieve that 'just cleaned' smell when having company over. On the plus side, I know it's a lot healthier for everyone in the house (animals and humans) for us to be using less chemicals. I've also lost a lot of time and spontaneity when shopping. I can't just pick up a cool new product, I have to thoroughly read the labels to make sure it's safe.

I'm just thankful that our ensuite is well ventilated and far from the birds, I couldn't live without hairspray!

[kaylayuh]

I have sacrificed relaxing before bedtime without a feathered pillow on my neck. I don't really mind and I think it's really cute, but my boyfriend says I spoil him and he's going to be jealous of a bird.

We cuddle for an hour to an hour and a half before it's his bedtime. I go to his cage, ask him if he wants to cuddle and he comes to the edge of the cage and jumps on my shoulder. I take him to bed and then we lay there and watch tv for a while. Last night, I fell asleep so my little guy got to be cuddled for a good two and a half hours.

[patdbunny]

MandyG - dilute bleach solution. That will give you a sterile-clean smell. Makes my husband gag.

[MandyG]

MandyG - dilute bleach solution. That will give you a sterile-clean smell. Makes my husband gag.

What ratio do you use to water? I've tried using 3:1 water to bleach and I find it still burns my eyes. I was scared if it bothered me that much that it might be harmful for the birds. Is it ok to be used near them?

[patdbunny]

1 cup bleach to 1 gallon water. 15 minutes of contact w/ the bleach solution kills all sorts of junk. Wipe down after 15 minutes w/ rag w/ clean water. Yes, the fumes can be hazardous so make sure the area's aired out.

I have the bleach solution in a spray bottle and I'll spray my brooder aquariums with it, wait 15 minutes and then wipe them out w/ rag w/ clean water. I don't actually remove babies from the room, my babies are usually about 10 feet away. I stick my nose in the aquarium I just disinfected after it's completely dried out and there's very minimal bleach smell left, then I put the babies back in.

[Natacha]

For anyone who comes in my apartment and would notice - I gave up my dining table (amongst other things) for their stands (table stands).

Mind you, having birds has also brought positives so everything balances out