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Murphy Flock, 9 and counting.


murfchck

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Busy weekend! Kane is now in a cage and slept on her perch all night! She is just so darn cute I could just stare at her for hours on end.

Cocaba also moved in Sunday. This is "old man". He is a 60+ year old red front. Hard to believe we are his 3rd home. He was wild caught and purchased by an author out of California who wrote books on macaws. Then he and his mate moved to my friends house many years ago, but they are now moving and Cocaba would not be able to handle the move or new weather climate so he is now with us to live out his twilight years. He took over Kanes baby pen so he doesn't have to worry about perching or falling. He is not a hands on bird, but still entertaining. lol He will grab things when he sees Pat and throw them at him. He will take food from your hand very nicely but that is where he draws his line.

https://goo.gl/photos/71Am2MaeyRgTT8Sf8

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  • 2 weeks later...

Been a while but all is good on the flock front. Took Kane to the vet Wednesday, she was loosing a (what I thought was anyway) lot of weight. When we moved her into a cage, she stopped eating fresh foods and just once in a while we would see her with a pellet. She wasn't taking much formula either so in my new mom panic I went back to 3 feeding a day, maybe 30cc's each time. The Dr laughed at me and said if I keep hand feeding her like that, when will she ever get hungry? He said I had until Saturday with just 2x's a day since I stressed her out bringing her in but then just one feeding in the evening. lol It was funny when he was checking her heart beat, said it was just perfect and then wanted to see how she would do with excitement. Just couldn't get her excited though, she was just very calm until he tried to look at her tongue then she bite him. Woo-hoo, another first for my girl! She weighed in at 518 but since I knew the parents, and knew they went to the same vet he looked them up to compare the weights and got what should be her average, we are good and will be in the high 400 to low 500's!

I was also offered a baby grey from my friend since it hatched less than a week from her moving and get this, of all times for my mouth to form the word no, it did. lol I told the Dr about it and he said he was happy to hear I knew what that word was and how to use it. He also suggested, not now but when Kane is older, to trim her other wing some so she has better balance as she gets more active, makes sense. It is a hard decision though because she can fly some, 6ft has been about the most air flight she gets then will coast to the floor.

Cocaba is doing really good also. My, "he is so old don't be surprised if he dies soon" guy. He isn't supposed to fly or perch but guess what? He does. Dr Moore knows this one too so let him know what was going on and he laughed at me again. I am so glad I was able to make him laugh so much that day. :-)

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Kane is now at one feeding a day. This is really hard for me, she cries to me, not to Pat, to me. Breaks my heart but seeing her eating pellets makes me proud. lol

We had to go pick up another blue and gold tonight so I could take her to the vet tomorrow. Nati (naughty) is her name, she is really a beautiful bird. She does have a Chulo beak but it is more just over grown, not deformed. Really over grown, :-( I am just glad he asked us to take her for him. We had a weird feeling about this and opted to take my car instead of the truck and sure enough, he wanted us to take her cage to and just keep her. It has been raining her and he has been very sad but deep down he isn't ready to let her go. We told him we would bring her back after the vet and if he still felt the same after a few days, we would come and pick her up on the weekend. He won't though, he really loves this girl.

Here is Miss Kane all grown up with Cocaba in the foreground:

https://goo.gl/photos/PTtGFbyE4Njq8Br26

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  • 2 weeks later...

Been a while, it has been hectic here and there are just not enough hours in the day anymore. As I thought Kane is a big handful. Yesterday morning she got her head stuck in a toy that hangs from the top center of the cage, it was lucky I was still home and had not left for work because she would have died. This was supposed to be a safe toy so we had to check all of the toys the birds have and no matter how safe you may think they seem, there is always that off chance they will figure out a way to make it unsafe. After work, she flew into a window, hard enough to cause several birds to take flight because the loud thud scared them. The window had blinds so even the stickers wouldn't have helped. She was just on a mission to give mom a stroke yesterday.

https://goo.gl/photos/PPTUZAWup9c5rjYM7

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Fingers crossed, it has been 2 days now since Kane got formula, she acts like she is dying but I know she isn't. She eats pellets and raw sweet potatoes, apples and snap and snow peas (as long as they are on a skewer) Cottage cheese and yogurt are okay with her as long as they let the pellets stick to her beak for eating later. lol No to sprouts and nuts, she won't eat them at all. She will clamp her beak closed as soon as she sees a nut, pretty weird. During the storm yesterday we found a big dog, wrangled him up and called his parents and sat out front waiting for them, by gosh, Kane wanted to know what was going on so she wandered through the house along with our 3 dogs so she could get a better look. This girl is fearless in a bad way. She is not handicapped, she is 100% handi-capable! I am not use to having to lock up a bird so I can get something done but for her own safety, I have to learn to!

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And 40cc's it is. She was crying and crying. I gave in but think she just missed the one on one attention during that time, not so much the food. lol She actually goes into her cage by herself to eat when she wants to, so I know she isn't starving. But maybe, just maybe I gave in because I missed that "special" time we had when feeding. Hmmm, just a thought.

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After speaking with my friend who is the breeder, I was told that she wouldn't be weaned until 6 months. 4 months is an average for other macaws but after raising 1000's of these guys, they wean at 6 months and her taking 50cc's a day is perfectly fine. My brain is turning to mush!!!! Our decision, which is what I have been doing, give her what she wants when she wants it!!

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I didn't have time to log in then, but when I first read 2nd post back, I was thinking, "Are there rules?" Like, "You must stop at a certain point!" (...remember I've never had a baby large parrot). I was going to ask because I thought I'd seen Dave posts about Greys' weaning sometimes taking forever vs the conventional time table. And I thought according to him letting the fledgling decide was just better for everyone. Also, I know it might be easier on you in the long run, but it didn't really sound like you were ready to give up the more precious aspects of those moments yet, either.

 

Re your misadventures in curiosity; my sincere best wishes! You're so used to fids who are older &/or have become conditioned to some less than super living conditions that Kane may just be a bit of a culture shock. But you guys have accommodated everyone & everything else so far. I'm betting you'll be an old hand at lassoing your latest little challenge by this time next year. It wasn't that long ago when a certain loud Too was the bane of your existence & these days he's hardly even a foot note. Look how far you've come in such a short time!

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Haha, that she does. It is funny to already understand her different screams. The "I like", "I don't like". "I love this" or the "this is interesting scream". The one I hear most though is the "this must be killed" scream and the poor ping pong ball is paying the price.

Marley (military) just turned 2 in August and she came in with a horrible wing clip. Guess what! I found 4 flight feathers that were trimmed on the bottom of the cage this week. Lord help me, lol. My hubby told me to keep feeding her so she will be too fat to fly, lol. She is in her young terror days also so having 2 this way, you should go ahead and get my padded room built and ready.

Yesterday, Vincent was on my shoulder during dinner prep time. Bongo would fly over my head, I thought looking for room on my shoulder. Turns out I shouldn't hold any other bird when I am cooking. He was dive bombing Vincent. Well, except Kane, he lets Kane on my shoulder.

 

Here is how I do dishes now, Kane and Bongo.

https://goo.gl/photos/MK9BQmW3FqpXcGP87

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So this isn't a Kane picture (lol) but I just had to share it. Koko has been with us now for a year. Not once in any of that time did I ever notice how huge she is, until I saw this..Look at those feet!

https://goo.gl/photos/VWxsnedkg8Xihumm8

And yes, my life is lived at the sink in the kitchen. I am up at 5 am, at about 6:30 I start gathering bowls, 18 food and 18 water and clean them. I get their breakfast ready and feed by 8:00am. I sit with hubby and have a cup of coffee. Clean the kitchen from the debris of breakfast and make it to work by 8:30. I get home at 4:30 from work, gather and wash 18 food bowls, 18 water bowls and 5 stand water bowls. Then I start our dinner, get their dinner started. This is when we have a moment to clean a cage or 2 and play with them. Their dinners are usually ready by 7:30, feed them, check on our dinner, 8:00 I feed Kane and at 8:30 put them to bed. This is the time of night I finally get to sit for a second, and I mean a second. lol. Then I am back up cleaning whatever mess I have made with their dinner and hopefully our dinner is done. It is now about 9-9:30pm. We get to eat! Then it is right back up and cleaning our mess up. Hubby does this part while I get to go outside and reflect on "what the heck can I do to make this easier on everyone". This is our daily routine and I still have not found a better system. lol In bed at 10. (and right now I am in a finger splint. We were moving a few sheets of wire, Pat said push I must have heard pull. Cleaning and drying all of this while not being able to use a finger or get it wet is fun!!!) There is actually so much more I have to get done from the time I get home until I go to bed, but that will be shared in time, it is a surprise!

Edited by murfchck
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Her story isn't that sad but it does show how our feelings roll on to them. She has a wonderful mommy who to this day keeps in contact. Her mom and dad were divorcing and Koko began to pluck under that stress and now being back in the work field and doing it alone she hoped that maybe a sanctuary with other birds would help her past the stress of it. She thought Koko needed company, more than anything. She made visits and donations for Koko's care while at the sanctuary for 5 years. When Koko was going to have to be moved to Florida, mommy couldn't stand the thought of her being so far away and be adopted out and not know where she would end up. They reached out to me to take her in. Mom continues her support and keeps up with Koko and really loves her dearly. Koko is 25 or maybe 26 by now ( I would have to look in my book, I can't keep up, lol) and I am her second home other than the 5 years at the sanctuary where Greywings looked after her!

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  • 2 weeks later...

And now my sweet Kane bites like a viscous pitbull! It is sad though because you know when she is going to attack. She comes toward you hopping up and down, up and down! By the time you stop laughing you can move yourself in time to avoid the bite. Or she will roll on her back and wave her feet at you and if you try to touch them she grabs and bites. Lures you in with that cuteness then BAM! At 5 months she is our hardest biter!

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