murfchck

Ah, a can opener!

Gabby is our house "cleaner". She can clean off a countertop in seconds flat. Me? I would be trying to organize everything and put it where I think it should go, she just has this way of getting it done so quickly and amazingly I can still find everything afterwards. Ixta and Cotay are in construction, they have this great idea for textured walls, their idea is that there should be no texture. It is starting to catch on!

My heart goes out to you Ray. I wish you and I were closer on the map!

TOPS is still in business. This is the brand that was donated to us and is also the one that caused the sneezing explosion among almost all our birds. I switched them back to the Vegi blend of Zupreem and the sneezing has almost stopped completely. I was very excited to find this totally organic pellet too, lol. Every pellet causes crumbs, but this was more like dust. (and it did not smell nice out of the bag either, not spoiled just nasty)

Yeah, now he has to. Poor lil guy. Our neighbor who gets our birds to screaming every time she comes by wanted to meet Vincent tonight. Ha, he finally came out of his cage, too bad that tail was flared out and I swear he was licking his lips ready to eat her alive! lol She was who we got MaryAnn and Marley from, I took great pride that Marley wouldn't go near her! She was trying to grab his tail when he turned his back to her to get away. I about lost my neighborhoodness on her!!! I was so happy when I walked over and told him everything was okay and he wasn't leaving and he stepped right up for me! One point for the good guys!

Ha! If we could figure out all the functions on our phones and then how to work our darn remote we would in a heartbeat. We look at all the camera systems at Sam"s every time we go there and think, "One Day, ahhh"!!! Can not wait to hear how it goes!

From the still shot he looks shocked that you disturbed his hard work! lol Love it! Welcome to the family!

These storms need to end soon or they need to stop warning us with that alarm on the tv. Vincent is new to tv and that scares him every time and he flies around, which causes every bird we have who can fly, to fly also. Vincent will eventually land on my head and Bongo goes to Gabby's cage, but Gabby flew into the front door, Cotay ended up in the bay window on the sill, Chulo onto Chacho's cage and Marley hit the floor. Which doesn't really sound terrible until you add volume to it, 7 macaws screaming at the top of the lungs, 3 umbrellas screaming, 1 amazon yelling at the bird on his cage and 2 yippy dogs barking. The 3rd dog is at my feet panting heavily because she is terrified of storms and will stay under foot. (BTW, we use the rescue remedy for her and it really does work great on the dogs!) Talk about having to be quick to assess the situation, between me and Pat we would do good in an emergency, getting lots of practice at it anyway. lol

Congratulations! Tell us about your soon to be!

Hahaha, already training you I see! They get us trained way quicker than we can train them. Keep offering your hand out and when he/she starts "stepping up" praise him or her or offer the favorite treat as a reward. (a small amount or you will be waiting there a while before you can move again, lol) Practice by laddering, one to the other hand until he/she is comfortable with it. Oh, teach this with both hands too, one day you could have an injury to the one they are use to and will need them to be able to go to the other hand to step up. But take your time and enjoy these baby days, they grow up so fast!

Vinegar is a great cleaner, I also use Seventh Generation multi cleaner, natural botanical cleaner and it smells like lemon grass. Works great for those tough poops, works on glass too!

What a cutie!

Update on them all, this may take some time lol. Bongo is doing great, he is pestering Gabby flying into her territory. She runs after him until he is out of countertop and flies back to his cage only to do it again a second later. At least I know they are both getting lots of exercise. Gabby, well we made a big booboo and got her a wooded box to play in since she wants any and every box in our house. Thought it would be better to keep her in one area. She set up house and now is 1/3 less feathered. She started plucking out feathers to line her new house. Also now when there is another bird out and she is in her cage it drives her batty that they could get into her area. Yesterday we removed the box and will see if this obsession wears off any. Cotay, she has her own box on the kitchen table and loves it. I have gotten a few warning nips and a good bite or two when I forget she is out and put my hand on the chair or table to bend over. I wish ii could bend over without the help of anything but I just can't, getting older is such a pain! I can now pick Cotay up from anywhere with out covering my arm! Yeah! Ixta, she is just a talker and still picks things up daily. She is one you really have to watch your p's and q's around. She alos let me pick her up twice this weekend from her cage. That is the first time I have been able to hold her without Pat putting her on my arm. In the mornings we do not even have to open our mouth to get the dogs out now, she does it for us. "Come on, lets go outside. Time to make a peepee, lets go, come on" Chacho, he is doing wonderful with me, still would like to remove Pats jugular. Oliver, he has the sniffles but he gets that yearly and we have to do steam baths. It comes and goes so we don't put too much into it. When he first moved in he was like this and we went to the vets several times and to different dr's trying to help him, we thought he was dying and no one could help. Turns out he wasn't and was removed from all meds. seasonal allergies who knew it happened to birds too? Bubba, his butt has been doing pretty good this last year, knock on wood. He and Oliver can not be separated so the feather loss isn't getting any better. We tried to keep them apart, wore earplugs even but they were having none of it. He does smack Ollie on the head now when he is started to pull out any chest feathers and will also kick him but Oliver just won't give up! Chulo, he is getting better by the day. Even started talking yesterday. He said hello and pretty boy. We have noticed his eyes are weird, the color part isn't round but wavy I guess is the best way to describe it. He is moving around his cage and the flight so that to us that is a great start! Diet is much better so fingers crossed. He sneezes a bunch too and has a red nose but that is calming down now. On a side note with the sneezing going on, we got this all natural organic pellet and I will be damned that every bird except for 3 started sneezing after a week or so of using it. I have stopped that pellet and things are settling down. Honey and Sunny, they do not like to be in the main room with all the birds, much happier just being in the room with each other to explore. Their exploring causes a HUGE mess. They like to pull all the paper out of the cages, open every water and food bowl and dump the pellets and food on the floor. Sunny was supposed to be the leader of the pack, if Sunny does it Honey will follow. Well we either have those two mixed up or the roles have changed because it is Honey who leads the way! Even gives me kisses. Mary Ann, she is doing so good. I can handle her any time now after being told she is a mans bird and will attack the females. HA! She is just a sweetheart to us both. Pat can pick he up by the beak and swing her around, she loves it! Marley, still a mess but is progressing very nicely. She will step up every time for me and I have been working on the pick up by the beak thing. This Friday we did it! Saturday however I got a solid "oh hell no, we ain't doing that again". She will not let Pat near her which leads me to believe she is really a he. The girls go to Pat and they boys to me. They say that doesn't mean anything, boy or girl, but we are finding out that it really does. She is also starting to pick up new words and listening to her practice them would melt your heart. (No sneezing, refused to eat the pellets and thought it much funner to throw them out of the cage) Koko, she is just the cutest thing. She will carry a conversation with you for minutes before you realize you are talking to a parrot. She knows what to say at the right times. The he/she thing doesn't seem to apply to the cockatoo's as it is the girls who love me and the Gus who loves Pat. Koko chases and attacks Pat if she is out in the room. Gus, my guster butt. He loves to fly and cause chaos. Still bites when he lands which is why he got his wings clipped a few years ago but we have resigned to just taking the bite. It is more a nip/balance bite so with his love of flying we won't clip him again! Lily, my precious Lily pad. She is such a butt to everyone but me. We can not let her out of her cage unless she is with us in the evening in a room with no other birds. Even if we put her in a flight outside, she screams and chases the birds beside her. She tried to rip off Koko's beak causing a nose bleed and ripped off the top of Gus's head and it has not gotten any better with her. She needs to be in a home with no other birds but since she is so attached to me she bites any and everyone who even tries to hold her, including Pat. She is at the age where she is reaching her sexual maturity, hopefully things will settle soon. Vincent, my little mini too. Acts just like Chacho, hates Pat, difference is he tolerates Pat and only bites when he deems necessary. Pat has taken a few good ones, one probably should have had stitches but oh well. He loves to take baths which is good because that black soot from the candles is tough to get off. He is still very dirty but it is a work in progress. Loves to throw himself backwards and do flips, gotta watch that cuz when decides to do that you better have a toe in a good grip or he hits the floor. lol He is an excellent flier and lands very well on the arm. Have not heard him talk yet but he does try to. The cockatoo mumble. I think that is all of them. This weekend I gave up and moved the couch out. My last sliver of a home is now in the room with the cockatoo's. I just couldn't get rid of it all together, it is in good shape. We decided to let the Too's have it so when they destroyed it, it wouldn't break my heart to throw out. No more bob and weave through the living room, so much nicer. The only grown up furniture left is the kitchen table that Cotay uses when she is out. We do have a bed and a love seat in the front of the house, yeah us! lol

Awe, that is just to cute! These guys know just what to do when they have us wrapped around their talons!

When any of ours are out and refuse to go back in, 99% of the time if I show them their favorite nut and place it in their cage where they can see it, they go back in by their self. That is their reward for going back in! Open the cage up and let him explore at his own pace. You just walk away and show no nevermind to what he is doing (at least that he can see, lol) Two weeks is nothing in their mind so relax. I am sure you are thinking that you have given him so much, he should be out enjoying it all but in reality, they get scared and overwhelmed. If you are afraid to use the top perch, then put a few perches on the outside of the cage by the hatch door or near the top opening for him. He will come around eventually, some take weeks or months and there are those who take years so be ready for a long haul just in case!

Sure you can, we did!

Oh, got a message a few days ago from my neighbor. Seems our bull frogs thought the water was better across the street, but they didn't make it. Sad day in bull frog land. Peaceful nights in my land now.

Ya know, it has been raining since the day we finished this! Maybe sometime before the 100 degree weather moves in they can use it. Lets just hope it doesn't float away first. I would love to have them out there even in the rain but the nasty mosquitos are in full force out there. Since it is covered the sun isn't drying things and there are leaks in the roof we have not been able to fix yet because the surface has to be dry. This rain is getting really silly. I hate to complain about it because in a month we will all be wishing for some, but all we need is 2 days of some sun, I am starting to get cranky!!!

I know you have not posted here yet about Peck but I wanted you to know how truly sorry I am for your loss. Know that you did all you could for him and that now there are two red butts up there watching over you and your mission in life! (((Big hugs)))

Hahaha, I guess there is one under every thread!

It has been a long time since i have been bit like that. New birds i expect it because, like greywings said, you are still learning their quirks. The ones we have had i know when they mean business and can avoid the bites. Like i know not to be holding Chacho when he can see or hear Pat, i would get bit.

We don't give up, just change our approach. Right now with Chacho, he still attacks Pat any chance he has so he has to stay in his cage when Pats home or outside in the aviary (which he prefers ) Pat sits by him and talk softly to try and gain the trust. Ixta, she won't have anything to do with me but I continue to try with her. I just do what I do as if she were any other bird but at a distance, lol. Cotay would only step up for me if I had a towel on my arm, otherwise she would bite me, we are now at the point she will step up without and problem onto my arm and now doesn't want to step off. It just takes time with some of them. Bongo wasn't social until lately, for 3 years he was a statue. Gabby use to bite the snot out of me, last month she started letting me put my hand on her back and now I can fully pet her (3 years in the making) Bongo and Gabby were the only strangers who moved in with us. All the others we have know prior to them moving in and they all knew at least one bird who was already here. 5 we have now all came from the same house, 3 came from one house and Bongo Oliver and Bubba came from the same house. I think because of this the adjustment for them was much easier. It was hard for Bongo though because he was the first so he had to make his own way. I also protected him and let him make all the first moves like letting him decide when he wanted to come out of his cage or when he was ready to step up etc, all the things people tell you to do when first bringing in a bird. The rest we have not done that with. They get a day or less to get use to the new surroundings then it is game on. They don't know what they like or don't like until they try so we expose them to different things and then they lead the way. Sure, Vincent was scared when he first saw all the other birds but then he flew through them and now it is like they are not even there. We compare it to jumping into a pool, you know it is cold and shocking when you first jump in, but then the water feel warm and you never want to come out! If you didn't jump in, you would never know how good it felt!

Oh my is this bird a mess! Pat decided he needed to face his little terror tonight and I could only watch but he would do the handling. All was going very well too, I was quite impressed. Vincent let Pat bring him into the kitchen and he set him on the stand, that lasted, oh a minute maybe, then we found out just how great a flyer he really is. Around the scarlet he flew, past the grey, over 3 blue and golds, past the military and laded on an empty cage. I went and brought him back into the kitchen. Pat started to feed the dogs and he was "jazzing" up their dinner with some left over pizza and beef stew. Ahhh, Vincent like pizza, Vincent must have pizza so off he went to get what he wanted. He chased the fork around that Pat had and Vincent won. He stood in the plate daring Pat to make a move. It wasn't easy but Pat got the plate, he ran up my arm to my shoulder watching Pats every move behind me. When the plate was empty, he clamed down. He stepped right up for Pat when he asked, this is going great! He was on Pats hand bouncing around as cute as could be and then he just threw himself backwards, he did a flip, okay he got lucky. Bam, another and another, now I am thinking this kids got talent. He and Pat are having so much fun, one more flip, yeah, oh wait, ouch! He removed a very large patch of skin from Pats little finger, ah but they were playing so there is no reaction from Pat. Owww, okay now that one had to hurt, but still no reaction from Pat. I now see drops of blood on the floor as Pat is returning him to the stand, as I turn to get something to wipe the blood I hear my little Vincent screaming and turn to see Pat with his forearm seemingly attached to Vincent's beak now. Calmly my husband removes his arm from the death grip that had him. He walked to the sink and is washing his battle wounds off. He turns to me and says, I know I should try harder with Chacho too, but honey, I wouldn't have any skin left. I laughed so hard I cried, I am still laughing at the thought hours later. Here is the picture of how it all began. https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-QaVw7m70DRQ/VVu_TESg0sI/AAAAAAAACQg/8wp6rBlA9nQ/w326-h579-no/20150519_175442.jpg

I am with you with the feelings, as you remember Bongo started plucking and I figured out it was sisal rope he wanted. Now my Gabby has started to pluck, she is 27 now and has never plucked before or I should say since we have had her. I thought this might help you. I got home tonight and she had started pulling out on her neck, I was just talking to her while she was on the kitchen counter, turned for a split second and when I looked back there was a full feather on the counter from her wing. I picked it up and was telling her if she didn't stop, she would soon run out of feathers and not be able to fly around and chase all the others away from the areas she has claimed as her own. (which is the entire kitchen now and the chairs by the table) I picked up the feather and stuck it back in her wing and just giggled thinking I would tell you that if all else fails, stick them back on him yourself, works for a little bit until they move or fly off! https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ehUWu-EoVfE/VVvIP5vZXQI/AAAAAAAACTA/oO33x6R8w0I/w326-h579-no/20150519_183303.jpg https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-mwNP4DBKzs8/VVvINYJChrI/AAAAAAAACS0/hPZhIvtthyg/w326-h579-no/20150519_183256.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-u2ZQKV_eZvM/VL8fh5UUmSI/AAAAAAAAAJg/HCePIGjybxA/w434-h579-no/20140513_173657_LLS.jpg https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-sKw-aliL9SM/VL8hM8b5qyI/AAAAAAAAAwg/dqlIACgnci4/w434-h579-no/20140629_204707.jpg https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Z7gbvvHKcEQ/VL8izxIjMqI/AAAAAAAAAcU/j1u8pKMIV-k/w434-h579-no/20141018_125155.jpg https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-b1sEA1zjKWo/VTRLF9IpfEI/AAAAAAAAB5w/F2A0W3btqL0/w326-h579-no/20150419_193359.jpg https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-s4alqLrf220/VT1oCfum9II/AAAAAAAAB_I/30VkCx97QNo/w326-h579-no/20150426_173414.jpg https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-n-48y9gHK8M/VUQUabmm1PI/AAAAAAAACCc/pmPV4LFRpBc/w326-h579-no/20150501_170948.jpg Sometimes there is no answer as to why. They are who they are, feathers or not, they are happy and in the long run that is the most important reminder you can give to yourself. Hugs to you both!