Well, as usual, the breeding season brings a mixed bag of news. One thing that I am sure of is that it is earlier this year. And I know that for a fact because canary breeders traditionally use Valentine's Day to put the pairs together BUT this is because they start manipulating light from the first of the year, which I do not do, so I am always 'behind' compared to them. But, this year, I could easily pair them without any danger of the males attacking the females because the males are singing up a STORM and the hens are beginning to pull the paper from the bottom of the cage, both sure signs that they are already in almost high condition. I am still going to wait a bit... mostly because, this way, the season is shorter instead of longer.
Now, let's see: Sunny Sunconure is doing GREAT! She doesn't waste a single second hesitating and comes out of her cage as soon as I open the door (took months to achieve this!). She is also flying much more adroitly, can take off and land without a problem, is not strained at all even after flying from one end to the other (from living room to dining room to kitchen to canary room), does turns like a pro and, although her style is not as elegant as I would want it to be, she is getting stronger and better at it every day. She is also eating very well and beginning to enjoy a wider range of produce.
The lovebirds are as happy as they can be. I gave them an empty Milkbone box (which I have to change periodically because they mess it up with poop but which is no problem in my house with all the dogs I have ) and, in a matter of a few days, there were three eggs in it. I messed up and broke one of them but the other two, which I rendered infertile, of course!, are been faithfully incubated. They are also eating great: fall fruits and greens every day but only some veggies, not others. On an interesting note, I goofed big time with the genders (that should teach me not to get too cocky about these things!). Peachy ended up being a female and Jerry (ex-Cherry) a male! But I got lucky and ended up with a good mate-bonded pair anyway! Oh, and Jerry is coming along very nicely. He is no longer scared of me and doesn't even move when I clean the cage or put my face next to the cage at night to say Nite Nite.
The zons are all having sex and chewing up every single box I can get my hands on. Precie laid her second egg this morning and they are both nicely shelled but I still ran to ABBA to get a new bottle of Calcivet this morning, just in case.
Sophie CAG has been nesting for a while now but has laid no eggs this year - at least, so far.
Pookey still has issues... I found this lady that had good avian vet references and own house but she had children, worked full time and clipped so that was that for her as a prospective adopter for Pookey. I will keep on looking until I find the right home for her.
Davy ARB turned out to be a fabulous bird! That boy eats EVERYTHING I put in front of his face! You should have seen him this morning happily munching on yellow zucchini! And he eats leafy greens on a par with the cockatoos -something I had never seen in a medium size parrot before! Isis ARB is getting there with her hormones but she doesn't give Davy the time of the day preferring, instead, to pester my husband and I for PicaPica (head scritches) CONSTANTLY!
Now, the good surprise in the news! Zoey has decided to accept Sweetpea! YAAAAAYYYYY! (And it only took what? two years?) Davy had been courting her and, although Sweetpea did not do anything different than what he has been doing all along, she finally decided he was good enough for her because, this morning, I saw her kissing his cheek AND asking him for food in her beak! He is sooo cute when he is courting her! He was doing his little dance, all fluffed up and softly saying "Come on - come on - come on" to her. So I put them both together again in the big cage and got them a nice wooden nest in ABBA (again, I am not planning on breeding them but I do want them to be happy so a nest was in order).
Now, the bad surprise! Linus has gotten aggressive with poor Freddy. He had being chewing up wood like a maniac and screaming -which was OK as it is their breeding season- but, a couple of days ago, I left them with my husband and, when I called him to find out if he had remembered to feed them dinner (I had already turned off the lights), my husband mentioned that he did not see Freddy or Linus so I sent him back to the birdroom to make sure they were OK and he said they were. But, when I went to the birdroom in the morning, I saw blood on Freddy's bottom tray paper and, when I looked at him, I saw that he had gotten a toe bit. I cleaned it up, put some sulfa powder on it and gave him some metacam but I am pretty sure I am going to have to take him to the vet to get the tip of that toe amputated. I was so mad at my husband I must have screamed at him for half a hour non-stop! I don't know what came over Linus, he has changed like night to day since he first came here. Whereas before he was the shiest bird ever, never moving from one spot, never vocalizing, just plucking and barbering himself, he is now all over the place, climbs all the way up to the platforms, screams and now, he goes after Freddy.... My guess is that this must be the first 'normal' breeding season he has had in a long time and that, added to the fact that he is feeling strong, has as much wood as he wants to chew and is cage-free has emboldened him. I hope he will calm down when the days get real long because I've had to keep one caged while the other is out and alternate who goes in and who stays out which I hate because I feel terrible having to cage one of them for hours at a time.
The other animals are all doing good but I do have to take my 20 and my 18 year old cats to the vet for their check-ups as well as my 19 year old dog (gotta keep on top of the old timers' health because things can change from one month to the next with them). My foster dog went back to his owner and the two dogs I found on the street are doing very well. The female has an appointment to get spayed and vaccinated on the 14th and the male on the 16th for vaccines, and they are both doing much better with the housebreaking issue.