murfchck

Welcome to the family! I must be doing something wrong, you said they don't ask for much in return, lol! Mine are a demanding bunch, but I wouldn't change a thing.

Well she is just a beauty!

Wow, that's tinker bell? You need more flock to train!

So little girl Frito (or Freda as we call her) is so darn cute. She just loves me which is strange to me. I have seen all the girls with Pat act this way but never with me. Bongo likes (or liked) to love on my fingers and feed them but Freda loves me! I can hold her and give her scritches and kisses all day. I am not to sure if brittle bone is an accurate diagnosis for her. She falls a lot and so far nothing. She tries so hard to step up for me but both her lil feet are damaged so that is a whole lotta work for her. Now when I see her lifting her bad foot I know she wants up and I slip my hand, palm up, under it and near the bars. She grabs the bars and rests her weight on my hand and wiggles until both her feet are secure on my hand then will let go for me to bring her to my chest. Took many tries for us to get a working step up she felt safe with, lol. The dogs... they are really trying to kill me. Jake keeps breaking out of his kennel, Gabby is in heat and less than 5lbs, Jake is almost 75 lbs. He gets out of the kennel, bounces off the bedroom door until it opens and spends the day unsupervised. Athena, his real girlfriend, is depressed that Jake is ignoring her so she is pooping all over the house. One of the two big dogs have dug 2 holes in the mattress now which also means through the bedspread and the sheets. I am on the 4th bedspread and do not own sheets without holes or rips. This fence, which is 3/4 done now, needs to get done soon so they can get outside and expel some pent up energy!!! We were planning on finishing Friday but now Pat will be working and rain is also in the forecast for the next 4 days. :-( As far as the deck for the flights, it is coming along also, 5 boards at a time, lol. 5 boards = $50.00 so we are picking up as we can. Being 20x35 and done with metal posts and 2x6x10 for supports and decking, we are well over $1000.00 for what we have done so far.

I am so happy to hear all is good! I am actually in the midcities area myself, well I work there. If you need anything at all just let me know! I have followed your story since the beginning and would love to meet you both!

I promise I will be posting pictures soon. I got a new phone and they don't update like my old one. I can not figure it out! :-(

While I was at work yesterday, Pat worked on the cage some more and got it just right for her. She was all around it! When I was feeding them their dinner, I got to her cage and she told me "It's okay". I broke into tears. Pat asked we wait to go to the vet, she has moved so much this last week he just wants her to de-stress a bit. I get that so we are going to wait a few weeks. Today we will be working on the fence so the dogs feet will touch grass again, lol. Fingers crossed, we have never done a wire fence before. Oh and while Pat was getting some wood from under the house for Frito's cage, he opened the access door and right there was a good 3' of snake skin. Yeah. hahaha!

So... I wrote this Monday and never hit the post button, doh! Frito moved in last night. She is in the travel carrier for now. Her feet are very badly deformed so any moving around is very hard for her. I was told she is a hands off bird #1 because she is pretty mean #2 because of her condition. So she does hate me, just like all the other female greys in this house, I did not expect anything less. She tolerates Pat. He got her out and had her against his chest giving her scritches. Sweet and sad, how long has this baby not had love like that? I know her condition makes being held hard but how can you not long to show your love? The ferret penthouse II is what I am looking at as far as a cage. It does have ramps and platforms. Going to look today and see if it is in stock or if I have to order it. If we do get the boar, the neighbors have already laid claim. They said no matter what the time is, call and they will be there. lol As of today, the ferret cage wouldn't work, the bars are to close and she needs to use them to get around. What we ended up doing was moving Gilly into his bigger cage, Gabby into Gillys old cage and Frito into Gabbys cage. I packed the bottom with anything soft I could find until it made the bottom close to the food bowls then picked up 2 memory foam bath mats and covered it with paper. And just to keep with the Mexican food theme, one of the mats say "You had me at Taco!" Added a ramp ladder if she needed it to get to the food and water but she really shouldn't need it. I have wood platforms in there as resting spots as well. When we made the switch from the carrier to the cage, she jumped out and tried to fly. Crashed to the floor of course but she seemed okay, who knows... I don't know how brittle bone works but I would have thought that something like that would have broken her keel. (maybe a foot drop to a carpet floor)

True, I didn't think about the paint on the crates. I will look into the Kings travel carriers, thanks! She didn't get to come by yesterday, she is going to try for this afternoon but it has been raining here 2 days straight and my driveway is a mud hole. Last 2 rains prior I got my car stuck in it and had to wake Pat up to get me out, lol. Did I mention our newest wild visitor? A boar... Yup a tusk poking, snout wearing, yard damaging pig! It was huge, guessing between 300-400lbs. It has been a few days since we have seen him again but the deer are not back either so he is around somewhere. YUCK!!!!

He isn't coming with his cage so we have to start fresh no matter what we end up with. :-( We took yesterday off brain wise so came up with nothing. I may just end up going to Tractor Supply and getting a wire dog crate for him. It has the larger bar spacing and provides room for him to roam a bit, also a washable solid bottom. I am also thinking maybe a wooden box of sorts for him to have as a platform.

That would have been perfect but... It went to the curb when we moved. I never thought I would ever need it again since taking in babies and elders is so rare. Pat doesn't want him in a hamster cage, he wants him to feel like a normal bird in a real cage and wants to modify it like we did Cocaba's outside cage. I am just not sure how that would work, he will need bedding at the bottom and it would be a grate, not solid so how would it work? I have one day to figure this out. :-( I still have to move Gilly into a bigger cage, thinking of putting the hawk head into Gabbys cage and then Gabby would get Gillys smaller cage and Frito (new guy) will take the hawk heads (I can say her name, just not spell it, lol) All while building the deck out back for the flights. Wow, glad I had that week off so everything could pile up on the weekend. Yikes!!! I will contact A&M Monday. Frito came from the same home where Gilly and Tamale came from. Seems like I will soon have a Mexican food take over!!!

Alrighty then, we are taking in another grey. This one has brittle bone disease with a severely deformed foot. Any one able to help with ideas on how to care for this guy? He is 6 years old and right now lives in a hamster cage so if he falls, it isn't too far so he may not get hurt. He can not perch but can climb. I googled "how to care for..." but get nothing but info on the disease itself.

I am getting there, just not there yet. I am finally on vacation next week, I will be staying home. I would guess a few days being there all day with them will help bring me to that point quickly!

To young right now, they just started exploring the house. Yesterday however I was checking the traps and one was running around the shelf in a closet. I ran and got Annie and put her up there to catch it. She was very interest but it had left already. Did catch 2 yesterday. One in middle of floor (not sure if dog or cat got it) and one in a trap. My closets are empty so they have no where to hide in them! I am not winning this war and just can not bring myself to use glue traps.

The 2 new ones actually came to us through Dee's (Mardens Ark) outreach program. I don't know exactly what she calls it but she reached out about a woman who lives around here who needed help with her birds. First it was just toe nails and meeting but she (the bird owner) reached out and asked if I could take these two and I also found homes for her little ones. This leaves her with 6 or 8, I can't remember. Tamales is the green wing. Gilly is the b&g. Gilly only has 40% usage of his feet but he gets along pretty good. Yea for you Greywings helping a stray! Because Lord knows we don't have enough things to do to fill the hours in our day. I am back up to 20 parrots, 5 dogs and 3 cats inside our house now. Lol

Hi there! It has been a while since I have been able to write. I keep coming on to check on Timbersmom but then right back to work. We have started to build a deck in the back yard at the back door. It is approximately 35' x 10' at the moment but will go out another 10' on one end for the bird flight. It has to be double wired so the critters with the long arms can not reach them. We did take in 2 more, a green wing and a blue and gold. Both are just so sweet. I ended up taking in 2 kittens with high hopes they would be good mousers, their names are Annie (Oakley) and (Calamity) Jane. Yea, no luck there with the mice. They do like to get into the bird water bowls and play and those bright tail feathers are a teasing toy. Having to be extra careful and when we are not home, they are locked in the bedroom. All the birds are doing really good, they just want out more and I don't blame them! We are working hard to get that resolved!!

I am so happy to hear of his improvement! Big hugs!

Much love and so many prayers!

I keep checking back to see if you have heard anything, morning noon and night. This waiting is the hardest part and I know what you are going through and want you to know that we are all here for you. Big hugs!

Many many prayers and hugs to you both!

Snake away only works when you can smell it and my gosh it stinks... YUCK! Now we are fighting mice. I have lost count on our catch and release program, but have had to add snap traps. We both hate those but it is out of control now. Yesterday I was cleaning out a closet and four babies were there. Each female mouse can give birth to 6-10, so I am missing 2-6 babies in just one closet. I hate to say I would rather have snakes. I also need to get my eyes checked very soon. I dump the bird left overs outside for the bunnies, I have Fufu and her friends out there. Last night I was delivering their dinner, chatting away to them telling them what was on the menu when Fufu's friend jumped in the air did a little flip and started running. It was an armadillo, not a bunny!! I will get some pictures of Tamale and Gilly soon. Pat took the pictures so they are on his phone. :-(

So it looks like we will be taking in two more birds today. Another blue and gold and a green wing. There are also 4 budgies, cockatiels, green cheeks and parolets. The smaller guys I have already found homes for but the big guys, one has nerve damage in his feet and only has about 40% use and the other (gw) has been with him his entire life and no one wants to split them up so there ya go lol. Back up to 20 again and removing a piece of furniture so everyone has space. So much for my bigger house and everyone, including us, having their own space. lol Wouldn't do it any differently.

Well i am either deaf or so use to the screams now i am not bothered by it! Lol

Happy Birthday! A little late but heck, just celebrate again!

Dogs only eat the pellets darn it. Lol