thenabrd

you have a gramma?! wow, the one my mom says is gramma hardly ever comes over, so i'm never sure if she's really the gramma or not. but we do have a very strange and confusing thing happening here. every couple months these people show up, mom says its my "brother and sister" and they always bring the thing that's soooooo confusing to me and athena. he looks like the others in my flock, but he's the littlest one i've ever seen!!! the 1st time we saw him, he was really tiny and sometimes made loud noises, mom said it was crying. the next time, he was bigger and squirmed around on the floor. i thought he was "broken" some how and he still made those loud crying noises but he also did a lot of silly noises and the rest of the flock just laughed and praised him. the visit after that, he was bigger still and scooted all over the place. mom, dad and my "brother and sister" chased him all around and followed him where ever he went. now this last visit, he's up on both feet like the rest of the flock, but he's still so small!!! i don't know what he is, he's too small to be like the rest of the flock. although i do have to admit, the rest of the flock is strange too, they don't have tails or wings and they can't fly-wow, i'd go crazy if i was damaged the way they are!!! but even damaged i do love my flock very much. i've tried everything i know to figure out this "thing", i've watched him, i've talked to him (he likes to watch me and sometimes tries to "talk" to me, but i don't understand a single thing he says), i've even come down to his level and lowered my head for a much expected and deserved head rub but he doesn't rub my head! the nerve, the gall to not give me my head rub!!! i know kallie, he is a very strange creature, very small, very curious to say the least. do you think he'll be bigger the next time he comes here? he sure does take all of the flock's attention away from us. i just watch him, he's just too weird for me to want to even think about touching me. eewww!! yes you're right about the rest of the flock being damaged by not having wings and tails. have you ever noticed they have 5, count them 5 claws on each of their feet and they even have 5 claws on each of those things they call hands!!! i wonder if the extra claws get in the way? the flock does seem to have adjusted well to not having wings and tails, but i don't know how they do it!

if you have access to a saw, what about large diameter dowel rods. there's also lots of options in rope perches and other perches made from branches of different woods. a variety of different perch diameters is needed for proper foot health.

hey, this is kallie! daddy does the exact same thing, goes to this "work" place and I HATE IT!!! he's not here to worship me, the center of the universe!!! personally, i think there's another bird some where else and he likes that bird more than me and that's why he goes to "work"!!!!! he comes home and loves on me and athena, but he's so tired and even has the gall to fall asleep in his chair!! i just know there's another bird, i just know it!!! i want to know what he and that other bird do all day that wears him out so much. i'll find out for sure one of these days, i don't know how yet, but i'm working on it. when i figure out how, i'll let all of you know!!! oh, and athena agrees with me 100 million billion percent. she'd tell you, but right now she's "busy". she's got her head in that bell thing of hers and is ever so slowly rubbing her cheeks with one foot. i don't know about you, but i think thats really weird!!!!

i've looked and looked but can't get the same answer, so if this is a repeat question, sorry, i just haven't found the answer! i've just harvested sweet basil and lemon basil for the season. it's been so hot and dry, i've just decided enough is enough. i've trimmed of the flowering areas and seed developing areas that escaped my notice until now, lol! can i safely give the flowers/developing seeds to my birds? if so, is raw ok or do they need to be steamed? also, just the flowers/developing seeds or can they also have some of the leaf? thanks for your help!!!

hahaha, that way, when darwin or zulu (which ever one becomes the first name) does something really naughty, you can use his full name just like parents do with kids, lol!!!

why not use both names darwin zulu or zulu darwin, then put your last name with it and the he's got a "full" name like the rest of the flock!!!!

lol, both girls would eat nothing but cheese if we let them. if i put some in their dinner bowl, even at the very bottom, covered with veggies, they'll dig it out to eat it first. its a warp speed "attack" to get at the cheese to eat it. athena always does her little "happy squeaks" while she's inhaling hers, lol!!!

jake, is that what pellets are for---to EAT?!?!! eeewwwwwy! i've tried them, yuck, they're awful, i figured they must be foot toys cause they taste so bad, lol!! mommy is just crazy if she thinks i'll ever, ever, ever eat those icky things. they're much more fun for my science experiments with what mommy calls "gravity". they're like little balls, they bounce before they jump! then they jump right out of the cage and onto the floor, much better than paper that just floats. i think its sooooo funny watching the mommy when she's got that stick thing with a tail on it, rubbing it all over the floor. its got the ugliest tail i've ever seen, that's probably because the mommy ruins it rubbing it on the floor, dumb mommy!! doesn't she know a tail is supposed to be meticulously groomed and fussed over? sometimes i'm so awe struck by my tail that i'll grab of few of the feathers and pull them to see if any are ready to come off so i can wave them around like a flag. i don't pull too hard though, cause that'd hurt to make a flag before the flag was ready to be a flag!! kallie, finally something we can agree on, pellets, bleck, bluck, ugh!!! i used to "eat" them cause the mommy was so happy when i did, but i worked hard on her training and now she knows better. i don't think they're toys though, i think they're trash to be dropped to the bottom of my mansion. that's where all the trash must go, to the bottom of the mansion! then the mommy (who's more my personal maid) cleans my mansion, ha! she's such a easy thing to train, you should try it sometime!! that poor, poor tail she rubs all over the floor, what did that tail ever do to make mommy abuse it that way?! we better be extra careful or she might want to rub our tails on the floor too! my tail is so long and straight and perfect, i just don't want to imagine the horror of what it'd look like after the mommy used it for something on the floor. man, now i'm going to have to skip my nap, cause i just know i'll have bad, bad dreams about my tail. thanks kallie, you just had to bring up that stick thing with the tail and you know hard i work to keep my tail perfect!!!

we haven't and won't try to get our girls together. yes they are curious about each other, watch what the other does intently, etc. kallie speaks mostly in "athena" rather than her own voice with whatever words she might have. the biggest reason we won't attempt this is because athena has always hated flying. i've tried my best to help her with this, but to date she still gets terrified. it scares the crud out of her, always has and probably always will (she's 9 1/2 yrs old now). when she does fly, she says everything she knows in a high pitch rapid fire and hovers more than goes straight. the size difference between the girls is huge-athena 70 grms, kallie 413 grms. even though athena believes she's the biggest bird the universe has ever created or seen, its just too big a risk since kallie flies pretty well and athena wouldn't be able to get away if she needed to. if you can get your birds "together" go for it!!

right now kallie's favorite toy (besides the bells she loves to do battle with) is a foot toy. its a "hanging clip" with 2 washers on it. she spends lots of time "studying" it, rubbing her head with it, swinging it around, etc. i know she loves this toy because she rarely goes to the bottom of her cage, but sometimes she will go retrieve this toy from the bottom of the cage! of course watching her try to figure out how to get back up to her perch with the toy in her mouth can be pretty funny, but it's also making her think of solutions to a challenge!!!

man, i wish my mom would call what i do with the phone book a "spitball piccasso"!! she says i'm her little confetti factory! i'm not a factory, i'm athena!! i swear mom is truly delusional, or, she's a complete idiot!!! a factory, honestly, do i look like a factory? no, i have greens, a bit of blue and a gorgeous bright peach area on my forehead and i'm the center of the universe. factories are not the centers of the universe!!! even kallie can't make confetti as good as i do, her pieces are way too big! athena, i told you, my beak is just entirely too big to make confetti like you do! mom doesn't call what i do confetti any way. she's says i'm a shredder factory and a shredding machine!! and just because i'm not greens, blues, peach like you, doesn't make me a factory either!! i'm also not a machine. i'm a scientist! i study gravity using paper, toys and food! i'm all greys and have a stunning red tail, ha ha ha! i'm very sophisticated with my colors, you're just chaotic with your colors, ha! oh, by the way i'm the center of the universe! no, i'm the center of the universe!!! no, you're not, i'm the center of the universe!!!! you are not am so are not am so not so .............!!!!!

more gov't overreach to dictate every aspect of our lives!!!!!!!

i've heard cinnamon and/or cayenne pepper works as well

lmao, demando and bossy feathers, hahahahaha!!!!

athena will say daddy bird or daddy boo on occasion, but has never said mommy or mama anything, hahaha!! kallie doesn't call either of us anything as of yet! i keep trying to teach them and they keep digging in their heels so to speak or not, hahahaha!!!

athena created a name for herself as well. it's boo. i have no idea where this came from, i don't say that word to her at all. she'll say thena good boo, daddy good boo, big boo. (she's refused to say mommy or mama, lol). i know this doesn't mean bird because she'll also say thena good bird, big bird, etc. i've tried to think of what word it might be that she just can't say (she says wee come for welcome) but i'm at a loss as to what it could be, lol!!

i'm in ohio. i'm still trying to figure out if "outside" is a good thing, so until i do, i'm staying close to home, but thanks for the invite. mommy insists on taking us outside to watch the birdies, talk to the birdies and get our sun. "outside" is very nerve wracking. something keeps touching me but i never see it, and that's very very creepy. mommy says its the wind but how can i know what it is if i can't see it?! i think its ghosts, eeeewwwwww!! then there are these humongous things above me. they're always changing shapes and they move. i think they're some kind of monster, but i can't be sure since they change and move. mommy says they're clouds, but sometimes i think mommy is delusional! then there's all these noises that i don't know what they are and i can't see what is making them. i know its just got to be those ghosts and they're doing it just to mess with my head!!! plus, she puts me in a very small house she calls my mobile home. how am i supposed to help decorate when there are no walls in the "outside" place? then there's athena, what a nerd!!! she calls and calls her name then waits for a response. even i know that i'm the only other being in the universe that speaks "athena". but noooooo, she holds out hope of some kind of miracle, she's a silly missy pants!! hey kallie, stop that right now! i'm NOT a missy pants. and for your information, those "clouds" aren't monsters. they're really magicians in disguise. how else could something change shape and move at the same time?! ghosts?! ghosts?! if i had i hand i'd smack my forehead with it!! its not ghosts, its breathing by those big things that fly around up there!!! breathing can't hurt you when it comes from something so far away, so i don't see why you're so freaked out about it!! don't you see me all relaxed and comfortable "outside"? there is nothing to be afraid of, mommy has us in our mobile homes. it keeps us safe from those big things flying around up there. some mommy calls hawks and some she calls buzzards, but they're not nearly as gynormous as those things she calls airplanes (i think she's lying and they're really super duper huge birdies)! there was one that was coming straight for our house one time, and when i saw it all my feathers stood out and i couldn't help but shout out WOW!!!! as far as flying to rochester, i'm sorry, but i don't fly. i hate it, always have, always will, but thanks for the invitation! the only reason i can find for why i hate flying is because i'm too evolved for it, i'm a superior species of bird that just can't be bothered with the mundane task of flying! i'm just like that guy sheldon on that show you seem so obsessed with kallie. honestly, just because i don't imitate you, you somehow think that makes me less smart. well think again kallie, even mommy and daddy don't know how smart i really am and i plan to keep it that way!

athena is thena bird, or missy pants (from all the times she's plucked her green chest feathers leaving grey down and looks like she's wearing bright green shorts), or thena mina kallie is big kallie, or silly goose, or big silly

hey i do that too in my water bowl!! i love taking my splash, splash!! i not only splash my face and feet, but the floor and walls as well. i love the way the water shines there! mom has that bottle too, uses it in the winter time, i hate it. i make that bottle chase me all over my cage and i yell at it and make lots of ugly sounds at it, but it won't go away. just wait, i'll get that bottle someday and that'll be the end of that, ha! this is what has me confused though. i eat something like peas and have a glorious green pea beard hanging off my face and my parents are laughing at me. i don't get that at all! i've worked very hard to get those peas just right to hang that way, its not funny, its fashion! i guess mom and dad don't like my facial fashion statements. ok fine, i'll tolerate it, but just wait until they get some facial fashion, i'm gonna laugh at them! hey kallie, why do you think mom calls what you do in your water bowl a "splash, splash"? because that's all you do, you're not taking a true bath silly nut! now when i take a bath, i say "take a bath" and i get not just my beak and feet clean, i soak my chest. i think watching the water drip off me is super cool, you should try it sometime!! i guess i must miss my pits or something cause that bottle chases me all around the cage too! i don't know who that bottle thinks it is, but i'm with you-that bottle must pay and pay dearly, never to return! mom and dad laugh at your "facial fashion" because its funny! do you ever see me sporting a green beard or an orange beard or any kind of beard at all? of course not, i avoid veggies as best as i can! besides, who ever heard of a green or orange or whatever other color beard anyway?! your ideas of "fashion" are a direct indicator of your young age! i don't think its facial fashion at all, i think what you're doing is testing costumes for halloween this year or to see if you can create camouflage to hide some how. i create designs with my bright green shirt, some of which are pretty stunning. you weren't around when i had the grey vest with the bright green buttons running straight down the front or when i had that crazy grey and green checkerboard action going on. it was totally awesome and boy was it a lot of work to get it just right. unfortunately, while putting on the finishing touches, i botched it, so i changed it to a grey sweater with a v-neck to show off the bright green turtle neck i was wearing and left just a single bright green feather on my tummy. i wanted to see what it was like to have a belly button!!!

hey, this is kallie. my parents are just so silly, they think they know sooooo much. well they're wrong. i have to keep daddy in line and must show him he's wrong once a week. see, he's the center of my universe and should be with me at all times adoring me. well, daddy's very bad, he leaves for what he calls "work" (i'm sure there's another more favored bird there, why else would he leave?!) and stays gone for hours and hours. of course he always comes over to say hi and give me a head rub when he's finally bored with "work" and comes home (yeah, i still say "work" equals another bird). but once a week while he's giving me my long overdue and much expected and required attention, i clamp down hard on his finger! i mean who does he think he is anyway leaving me like that for hours on end? then there's mommy. she won't let me go over and see if athena is real or a toy!!! honestly, i know she's a toy and i want to play with and tear up that toy! it's the perfect size, has lots of green and makes the greatest sounds of any toy i've ever seen. in fact the noises that toy makes are so cool, those are about the only sounds i make. mommy keeps asking me to talk with my own voice and tries so hard to teach me her "language", but really, it's very boring compared to the sounds of that awesome green toy she won't let me have! maybe if i keep imitating it so well and refuse to say anything else, she'll finally get the hint and let me have that toy!! so i try to devise ways of clamping down on mommy's finger to show her just who is in charge of this place, but she's too fast for me and watches me while she's giving me a head and cheek rub. but i promise, one day, i'll be quicker than her, after all i am the center of the universe you know. excuse me, kallie, but let me have a chance to say something. athena here! i mean i am you're big sister even if i am smaller than you. i'm 9 1/2 and you're not quite 3 1/2, you're such a baby, please just grow up already!! kallie, how many times do i have to tell you I AM REAL!!!! geeze, you sure are stubborn sometimes! but i must say, your impression of me is outstanding and i take it as a sincere form of flattery on your part, but in this i agree with mommy, you need to be yourself more than being me, ok, just saying. as far as mommy and daddy go, well, mommy is the center of my universe. i grudgingly tolerate her attentions to you! (that's why i'm always ready for you to make the mistake and dare to get on my cage! you'd be really funny looking with less than 4 toes on your feet) this is how i make mommy crazy, i say the same stuff over and over for weeks on end, then just when she's become immune to that, i say something else over and over for weeks on end, hahahaha, its so much fun! daddy, i like to show him i'm the boss of him! i give him a nice sharp nip every chance i get. but don't you even try to do that as a way to control daddy, come up with your own "thing"! and another thing kallie, if we're both going to go around partially dressed, could you at least try to co-ordinate what you're doing with me from time to time?! after all, i have the grey underwear thing down pat, but noooooo, you come along and not only don't like to wear a turtle neck, you think its just so awesomely cool to show off your belly button! the problem with your plan, silly kallie is, you don't have a belly button, so stop it, it's embarrassing sometimes to even think that you're my sister. gosh, what am i going to do with you?!

have you tried eating the fruits and veggies you want him to have with him watching? try doing that, being really excited by it and how yummy it is, maybe he'll be curious enough to try it. also sometimes when we're having something for dinner that the girls can't have, i'll still make up bowls with things they can have. then before we start eating, i'll bang my fork on the plate, then on the bowls then back to the plate then back to their bowls. (pretending that i'm sharing what we're having, the entire time i'm telling them "i'm fixing it") this gets them all excited thinking they're having the same things we're having. it's funny hearing athena do her "happy squeaks" about an almond, because when she just gets one as a snack she'll just eat it with no "happy squeaks"!!

we rarely use the word "cage" with the girls. we use the word "house" instead. if i'm talking to my husband i'll use "cage" though, just to save some confusion, especially if i'm telling him i cleaned "their house/homes", hahahaha!!

the problem is we don't have a video camera. we use our phones for pics and video. i can zoom in some, but not much, for pics, but can't zoom at all for video. so i can't sneak it at all since i have to get so close, lol!!! i've even tried to just "record" the words/sounds when i'm in another room, but i swear they both have radar because the minute i start, they stop, even with my phone on silent so it can't make any sound!!! they're both tooooo smart for their britches that's for sure!

hahaha, this explains why athena sounds very dinosaur-ish when she's intrigued or amazed by something!!!!

we changed kallie's name. when we got her, her name was honey, and it just didn't seem to fit (at least to us). she was 2 1/2 at the time and the family felt that "honey" was more of an endearment than an actual name. we never heard her say her name. so we started saying "honey kallie" or "kallie honey" and over time slowly dropped of the word honey. she didn't seem bothered or to care at all. now she'll say "hi kallie", etc. if for some reason she'd have had stress over this, we would have kept "honey". kallie didn't come from a bad situation, her owner passed away and the family couldn't keep the birds. we have had rescue dogs in the past that did come from bad situations. i had read that sometimes a name change was a good idea to help the animal move past the bad memories associated with a name. so, if you think this is something you want or need to do, just go nice and slow and see how she reacts.