I've been waiting and waiting to give you this update because I wanted to post pictures of the birds but my husband won't be home for 12 or 13 days and he is the one that takes pictures so they will have to wait until the next one.
I wanted to show you the budgies, which are doing SOOO well! It's sheer joy just to watch them! They get along famously and, although Blue had shown -and still shows every now and then- an interest in Flora, he still goes back to Chloe. Not that she seems to care one way of the other because she does her own thing all the time and doesn't seem to have a whole lot of interest in Blue. The others, Luna, Tweety and Harley are all doing well. Harley eats a bit too much [he is always the first one going down to the dish or the greens] but he doesn't gain any weight due to his liver problems and, despite meds and good diet, I doubt he will ever get well. But he is doing as well as can be expected and seems real happy... And I don't know if it's my imagination but he seems to be molting darker than before. He was never a plain blue, he's a violet and whereas before I thought he had only one dark factor, it seems that he actually has two because you can actually see the black hue in his feathers now -REAL pretty! They are all molting -and it's a real hard molt for them, too, due to the bad diet all but Harley had before- but the hens are still sporting their 'brown moustaches', testament to how opportunistic they are as breeders!
Paquita and Rajah are doing well even though they did not try to breed this season - but that might have been because they were still 'too new' to the home - we will see what happens next spring. Paquita continues being the Queen of Mean but she has perfect plumage now, eats like a champ [LOVES the greens and fruits!] and gets along with Rajah very well.
Codee is doing well and her usual sweet self with me BUT lately, I've seen her pushing poor Pablo off the food dish, especially for the seed dinner, so I've started spreading the seeds over the covered platform where they sleep at night and where Pablo spends most of his time. Pablo is still fighting real hard to stay alive, bless his little heart! He eats, he drinks, he bathes, he poops, he sleeps and he screams for his dinner every evening so I guess he will be with us for a little while longer. He can no longer use his feet much... it's not as if he has lost more toes or gotten hurt or anything so I am guessing it's arthritis. He has taken to walking [actually, it's more limping than walking] on his ankles. He can still climb if in a pinch but I've been trying to get him used to my picking him up to put him up on the platform when he falls down and, given enough time, I think it could be achieved without him stressing out because he is getting better at it. This is one of those times that one doesn't know what is better for the bird... Is it better not to touch him and allow him to climb on his own even though it's obviously so very hard for him? Or is it better to stress him out a bit and pick him up to avoid him such hardship?
Sunny Sun Conure is slowly becoming a decent flier. Notice I don't say a 'good' flier because I doubt she will ever get to that but she is much more self-assured about it, much more daring and more adept. The days are now getting shorter so I started drawing the black out curtains I have between the kitchen and the dining room so as not to expose the birds to the artificial lights I have no choice but to turn on when I come downstairs with the dogs and Miss Sunny has taught herself how to open them (she flies to them, hangs on to the middle of the curtains -where the two panels meet- with her feet and, with her beak, opens them up so she can stick her head in and then her body] so she can sneak into the kitchen to be on my shoulder. Needless to say, each time I send her back to the darker dining room but it's becoming harder and harder because she has figured out that when I put my hand to her on my shoulder, I am going to 'throw her out' and the little imp screams at me and flies away so I can't do it Smart cookie, eh? She is also molting but, for the first time since she came to me, it's a perfectly nice and soft molt so YAAAAYYY for her!
Sweetpea and Zoey Senegal are still very interested in nest sites and still chewing way too much but I don't think she will nest because silly Sweetpea does not feed her in her beak! They do get along just fine now, he preens her and she preens him and, even though sometimes she gets a little testy with him when he stands what she considers much too close to her, they are, pretty much, always together but, although I've seen her looking into the nest, I've never seen her actually going into it so, although we are not in fall yet, I don't think she will lay any eggs -which is, of course, totally fine with me! They are not molting yet and neither are the redbellies, as far as I can tell.
Davy and Isis Redbelly are not 'hooking up' any time soon but, aside from that, they are doing great. These birds are EXCELLENT eaters and it's a joy to feed them, I swear! They both like to eat VERY early in the morning so I am thinking that it must be a species trait. They are always the ones that are pestering me when I am preparing the produce for everybody, stealing stuff all the time to the point that I now cut two extra pieces first so they can eat them in the kitchen while I am working. Davy will still, every now and then, court Zoey, trying to feed her in her beak but it's becoming more and more seldom -which works for me as I want him to bond to Isis. She has now become very affectionate with me and insists on being on me all the time so I am teaching her to share me with Sunny and it's working - very slowly but working. Davy is also very smart! He has not only learned the routine to the point that he anticipates the actions but has also learned what I say when and has taken it upon himself to 'help' me with the cats dinner. The cats eat on my dining room table [I have a thick, transparent plastic cover on it and, although they eat in paper plates, I use plastic plates under them so as not to mess up the table at all] and, when I come with the food, I call them by going 'BSSBBBSSSSBBBBSSSS COM'ERE! COM'ERE!' and now, as soon as go through the kitchen door and start going 'BSSSBSSS' he goes COME HERE!
The old ladies, Naida and Mami are also molting and getting more feathers but Mami is already overpreening both of them and you can see that, although the feathers are there, they are all frayed so I don't know how long they will last... But they are eating very well and very happy! Naida, which used to only say 'Hi, Nate' and only in the evenings right before her dinner has taken to talking more. She now says Hello and mumbles all kinds of human sounding something but I can't still understand what she is saying IF she is saying anything at all
Zeus and Precie YellowNape are very happy, roaming all over the birdroom now that they are no longer hormonal. They are also molting and the brown 'stain' Precie had on her abdomen is getting smaller and fainter by the day. They get along just fine with Sophie CAG and Linus which continue their relationship -whatever it happens to be. Linus Too actually has remiges and rectrices right now! Only half the rectrices so he has the right side of his tail but not the left, and not all the remiges, either, but there are some and they are whole... so far. I doubt they will last the entire year but, although I am not completely sure, I do think he is allowing more feathers to come out AND remain whole for a longer period of time this year. If there is going to be a breakthrough in his plucking, it would be happening about now because he has been with me for a couple of years now so it's about that time when they finally 'feel' their new home as their own. Mind you, a 'breakthrough' doesn't mean he is going to stop plucking now or even in the near future because these things never happen like that! Birds that have plucked for years and years very rarely actually stop completely but they do show improvement and that's what I am hoping for.
Everybody else is doing well. Itsy stopped calling every morning and every evening the day after Bitsy joined him and they get along famously! They are always together and sleep side by side - cute little things! Canaries, finches and cardinal doing good. Dogs got fleas so I had to do the Treatment [with capital T] which is A LOT of work as I have so many animals that I can't afford to get an infestation but it's the only way I can be certain. I already vacuumed and washed all the floors in the house with flea med, changed all their and our bedding and covers for the sofas. I also treated all the dogs and cats with the drops and bombed my bedroom. But I still have to mow and rake the backyard so I can treat it with the special spray for dirt because I am sure that's where they got them as I feed ferals which, of course, have fleas -I'll do that as soon as I am finished here.
Oh, I also have a very young [maybe not even 2 weeks old] feral kitten I brought in because his eyes were terribly infected and would not have made it out there so I am bottle feeding every 3 hours [day and night -ay ay ay!]. But he will be adopted out for sure! My husband calls me every day to check in and when I told him that I had bad news, he asked if I had crashed the new car [he ALWAYS asks the same thing and it aggravates me something terrible because I've never had a single accident in my entire life so I don't know why he always assumes that!] and, when I told him that it was that I had take in still another kitten, his reply was: "Ooooh, I don't mind about that at all!" That man loves cats as much as I love birds, I swear! If it was up to him, we would have 50 of them! Thank goodness he stops me on the birds and I stop him on the cats! Perfect marriage!