Everybody doing well. I was going to take Pookey and the lovebirds to the lady in Long Island but my husband, who was supposed to come back this morning from Ct, called me last night to tell me that they couldn't tape the program so it was rescheduled for today and it's back to square one on the coordinating the delivery to their new home.
Zoey Senegal is actively looking for a nest for the first time in her life and Sweetpea Senegal faithfully follows her wherever she happens to be searching (mostly behind the living room bay window draperies and sheers which they've been chewing holes in - and my husband is not very happy about that!
) but the boobie is not feeding her in her beak so I don't know what will happen in the next few months (their breeding season is in the fall so things might change by then). I had hoped that Zoey's acceptance of him would make him stop plucking but that doesn't seem to be the case - at least, not yet. He has learned a new phrase though... One of the dogs I found on the street had been starved and she was left with this desperation for food so, every time I go into the canary room, she quickly sneaks in to look for anything that might have fallen to the floor (this dog would eat ANYTHING! lettuce, peppers, celery, you name it, she eats it!) which forces me to tell her to get back into the kitchen a few times a day: "Sweety! Get in there!" So now, whenever he hears me saying her name, he goes: "Sweety! Get in there! Get in there!"
He is big on telling others what to do, he tells the dogs "Shut up" when they bark, the other birds to 'Stop it!" when they are doing something they shouldn't and "Get in" when I am putting them back in their cages. He is soooo smart! He uses language cognitively and applies the right phrase to the right circumstances with the notable exception of "Good evening" which he says completely out of context. He even makes jokes... A conversation this morning:
Sweetpea: "Ready? Ready?" (he is actually asking if his food is ready)
Me: "No, not ready. You have to wait. Wait"
Sweetpea: "What's the matter?"
Me: "Nothing. Nothing is the matter."
Sweetpea: "You OK?"
Me: "Yes, I'm OK" "Are you OK"
Sweetpea: "Yeeees, you OK... you OK" (he doesn't say "I am OK")
Isis and Davy Redbelly have not bonded but they are not fighting and seem to have accepted each other as flock mates. And they are both doing great. I don't know if I lucked out with these two or if all the Redbellies are the same but these two are GREAT eaters! They eat leafy greens, veggies, fruits and love their gloop. They like produce so much that they don't even wait for me to give them some, they come over to the kitchen and steal it as I am preparing them to the point that I always cut extra pieces because I know for a fact that I will end up with less than I need for every one of them. Davy molted the first remige in each wing so he now has one 'normal' primary in each - and he is looking might pretty, I might add. I am sure it's my imagination but I could swear that his orange chest is brighter than it was when he first came.
Peachy and Jerry Lovie started their third clutch, which doesn't make me very happy but her eggs are nicely shelled and she doesn't seem to be suffering in any way from it. They come out to fly everyday and, although Jerry is not tamed at all, he has learned to go back into the cage once I put the food in it -I do have to be on the lookout so I can close the door once he goes in or he would come out right back out but I've learned to time it just right so it has become part of the morning routine.
Mami YCA and Naida BFA are busy chewing box after box after box with Naida often laying down in one of them but no eggs so far. They are terribly plucked... much more so this year than in previous ones because Mami seems to be on a campaign about it. Her entire chest and abdomen are plucked as well as Naida's chest and back of her nape and head (from Mami overpreening her there). But they are eating/pooping/vocalizing well and seem quite happy with their lives so it's just a matter of looks and, if they don't care, I don't care either.
Precie YNA is beginning to abandon her eggs for longer and longer periods... She has found the way to open one of the bowl doors on the side of their cage and I often find her outside but, so far, no problems with the other birds so I will give her the benefit of the doubt and see what happens. Zeus YNA only came out once through the little door and went back in as soon as he saw me coming into the room (smart cookie!) while Precie waits for me to open the door and tell her to go home (smarter cookie!).
Linus Too continues with his 'papa' role and sticks close to Sophie CAG (and when I say 'close' I do mean CLOSE, his body touches her) when she is sitting on the eggs and watching over them whenever she gets up. She hasn't showed any signs of abandoning the eggs yet.
Sunny Sun Conure is doing VERY well. Her flying skills continue to improve and she now is able to fly up and down the stairs. She has also become a Velcro bird and is ALWAYS on me to the point that she is beginning to be a bit of a pest because she has this habit of hanging on to the center of the neck of whatever top I am using and softly touch the hollow of my throat with her beak which I HATE so I am constantly moving her to a shoulder just for her to go back to her favorite spot - ay ay ay!
Paquita and Rajah Plet are doing GREAT! Those little birds are excellent eaters - and I do mean EXCELLENT! But Paquita is mean, mean, mean!
A real termagant of a little midge! My husband and I are always laughing in delight over her tantrums... she is such a tiny little thing and so completely fearless! All we have to do is put our face next to her cage to look at her and she comes close real quick to scold us and threaten us by making lunging motions with her head while holding her beak open as if trying to bite us!
What a cutie she is and what an indomitable spirit she has! They haven't had a single argument and she now has a smooth back (she had a real rough spot between her wings) and a fully feathered chest! She still has a strip in her abdomen that has only down but it looks as if it's beginning to fill up so I think she will be fully feathered later in the year, after she molts (let's all keep our fingers crossed!).
Harley, Blue and Chloe Budgie are also doing VERY well. Eating their gloop like little troopers and although they are not still 100% consistent on eating their leafy greens, they have eaten fruits which was a big surprise to me. They get along famously -but I expected that. What I did not expect was for Harley to pay more attention to Blue than he does to Chloe! Could Blue be a girl? Because, although it's common wisdow that male budgies have blue or lilac ceres while hens have pink, beige or brown, I did have two females (sisters) that had blue ceres which turned brown during breeding season so it's not impossible for a female to have them although I don't know why this happens.
The one that is not doing as well as I would want is poor Pablo Peachfront. Cody GCC is doing well and they are both beginning to use a box I gave them in case they wanted a nest. They only use it for sleeping so I don't think that she is nesting or anything like that. Pablo got bit by Sweetpea at the very end of the half a wing. I was sooooo upset over this and blamed myself for it. But, aside from that and the fact that he has lost a bit of weight (not fast, very gradually), he's still going... eats all his food, poops normally and although his energy level has not decreased, he is now climbing VERY laboriously so, most nights, I simply put their dinner dish wherever he happens to be so as to save him some effort. I will take him back to the vet but, in all honesty, I doubt there is anything that can be done for him... he is an old bird that had a terrible life for very long and, as much as anybody can try, the consequences of bad care will remain no matter what we do.
The squirrels went to the Wildwood Wildlife Refuge for weaning and later release, and I have a couple of pictures that I need to upload to Photobucket so I can show you.