Our Winged Friends

Bird Keeping Journal:

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3-03 After much on line reading, magazines, and a few books, I’ve decided I ultimately want a pionus parrot. I’d prefer either a bronze wing or a dusky. I’m not sure whether a second-home parrot, pet store, or breeder baby would be best.  I have much more reading and learning to do.  We played with a white capped at one the local pet stores. He flew to me and snuggled with me. They’re so adorable. H suggested a budgie initially when we began to consider adding a bird to our family.

 3-29-03 Ordered some books on parrots off Amazon and read the Second Hand Parrot.

 3-31-03 Checking on line bulletin boards. Hopefully, I learn some interesting things through the experience and stories of othiss.  Ogled a bronze winged pionus parrots and all the little birds,  finches and budgies, at one of the local pet stores.

 4-1-03 Checked the two closest Avian Assoc. Vet.’s Des Moines Pet Hosp. and Burien Pet Hosp. They were both ok. Des Moines seemed a bit more family friendly. Burien seemed a little sterile but bigger.  Looked a bit online at different resources like petfinder.org and at myparrot.com [a Seattle local parrot breeder.] 

4-3-03 Visited one of the local pet stores to see the birds. Noticed an adorable handfed budgie that was frantically looking for attention. He’d follow me and then get upset if he couldn’t see me. I asked about his. Apparently all the others handfed budgies had been purchased. He’s eight weeks old and had only been these a couple a weeks.  We talked about it. I thought about his off and on the rest of the afternoon. I went home and did some reading about budgies/parakeets and found some web sites and a bulletin board for budgies.

 We went and got his that evening. We bought a ladder, a bird hut/sling, perches, parakeet seed & pellets, a toy that we played with in the store with his, and some extra food dishes.  One of us stayed with his or hand his on their finger the whole time we were in the store. We had bought a travel bird/reptile carrier when we raised a baby sparrow last summer.  We brought a blanket to help keep his warm.  A friend had given us a 24H 14D 19W cage a few weeks ago.  We were set.  We just put a single perch, food & water, the ladder, and sling inside. We clipped the toy to the outside for now.  We spent some time with his and then covered his for night night.

 4-4-03 H spent some time with his in the morning before I got up.  He’s met Oatmeal, the cat, and Bella, the dog, from inside the safety of his cage. After my morning and tea and some verbal greetings, I handled his and went over “up” commands. He hadn’t eaten anything yet. The books say that’s normal, but he insists on mouthing and nibbling to even biting us. So, I scooped some food into my hand and offered it to his while he was perched on my finger. He gobbled two little scoops [probably a tablespoon or less] of food and napped afterwards. Later in the day I showed his where the food was and he ate on his own as well as helped himself to some water.  He napped off and on and after I had lunch, I had his finger perched and waited for a "bombs away" and then moved out of the cage into the bathroom. I sprinkled water on his.  He wasn't too sure about the different room.  He crawled up my arm to nibble on my ear and hair. I moved his back down to my hand but he fluttered to my chest.  He seemed to act like I was introducing many elements at once: out of the cage, in a different room, the sink and the very slow dripping faucet--imagine that. We had lots of gentle praises and once I returned his to his cage he preened. I look forward to the arrival of my books and when his interest increases in his surroundings. His training/handling times have been short [between 5-10 min.] since I want his potty trained and I want to his to learn sustainable levels of attention.  Meaning I don't know how long he can "hold it" and I don't want to push it. I'm also trying to wait until he goes in his cage and praise his for that so he knows it's ok to go in his cage.  Further, I want his to get used regular handling and attention in the amounts I think we can sustain. I think a lot of pets get tons of attention at first and then after the newness wears off, they're not so interesting and then behavior problems develop. A name hasn't really stuck yet. I like BeBe we'll see what H thinks after spending more time with his.

4-5-03 Unsure what his biting is about whether he's hungry, unhappy about what we're doing, or tired. We're trying to learn what his patterns and reinforce good ones.  Each of us took his out of his cage several times pet his as best we were able and played with his, made sure he knew whise his food was as well as fed his a bit out of our hand.

4-6-03 We awoke earlier than usual to go to the tulip festival. Before we left, we each spent some time with BeBe. I did a quick clean of his cage wiped the bottom down with a wet paper towel knocking any sticky poo into the tray, replaced the paper in the tray, cleaned his water dish, replaced his water with fresh distilled water, got rid hulled seeds and added fresh seed. Each morning we've been doing a sprinkling bath/shower in the bathroom sink. He was very cute this morning. Fluffing and trying to drink the droplets.  When returned from the tulip festival we greeted all the animals and he beeped a bit at us. I think he was glad to see our return. We played with his, made sure he knew where his food was, and pet his a few more times before bedtime.

4-7-03 H talked BeBe while getting ready for work. I talked to BeBe and greeted his and the dog. After feeding the dog and letting his out. I did another quick clean of BeBe's cage and got rid of hulled seeds and adding more seed. He got excited and rushed over to eat while I sat and talked to his. Then I took his out while I made my morning tea. I put his back in after a while. And took his out another time for his quick morning shower which he seemed to recognize and fluff for. He got much closer to the faucet and really shook and fluffed himself.  Lots of praise and pets and then later we returned to the cage. He preened and is napping as I head off to work also. I came home for lunch and hung out with the animals. BeBe is quite good at running up my arm. H spent time with the animals after returning home in the evening. BeBe seems to be maybe trying to preen us which translates into pulling our arm hair. Something startled BeBe while H was holding his and he ran up H's face to perch on H's head. I wish I could of seen that. 

4-8-03 We had our first avian vet appointment. I found two local Avian Vet. Assoc. through the web and visited their offices early last week before we even had BeBe. I picked J. Onorati at the Des Moines Vet Hospital. We used the travel cage of course. I brought a few toys and a towel to cut the draft a bit. He did not like the ride to vet but we spent some in the truck calming and reassuring touches and outside his cage finger perched. By the time we went into the vet's he was calm and sleepy looking.  The staff and vet were very pleasant. After being put in an exam room, I took BeBe out which made his happy. We then curled up on a bench seat with his finger perched on my crossed arms. He tried to nap while I just watched his. Dr. James Onorati was wonderfully friendly and seemed truly delighted with BeBe. He went to him and perched nicely. He offered head kisses and he gently beaked his nose.  He checked his ears, nostrils, felt his over, checked his vent, and then with permission took his to have samples done. They are running blood tests and culture tests of his poo.  He was calm and great with the staff and the new environment. Everyone went on about how pretty he was. The doctor said I had done a great job of picking his. He said in time we'll know whether BeBe is a he or he by the color of his nostril area. Brown is girl and blue is a boy [I think.] We'll have the results of the tests on Thursday. He strongly urged us to try to get BeBe to eat pellets. He recommended Harrison's and I bought some. He said after he recovers from the tests maybe tomorrow to take out his seed after he eats in the morning and put in the pellets. He said to return his seed later in the day. That way he'll get used to it and get hungry sometime in the afternoon and try it. He said it may take a while but that I should persist. He said millet is like bread is to humans and will make his fat. That he needs variety. I mentioned we starting an organic fruit & veggie delivery thing. He was quite pleased and talked about green veggie options.  He spent quite a bit of time answering my questions about whether BeBe will be happy as a single budgie in a home.  He thought he'd be fine and imprint on us.  He was also pleased I work from home mostly and would give his lots of attention. We talked about parakeet illnesses.  He said if we want to get another bird that these are vaccines we may want for our second bird if it's going to be a parrot.  He said pionus parrots are great pets but a baby would need vaccines because parakeets can carry diseases that don't really hurt them but are bad for parrots. He agreed lots of bird info out these conflicts and can overwhelming but was glad we were doing our research.  The exam was $35, $58 for the blood tests, $25 for the cultures for a grand total of $118 plus $6 for pellet food. I feel better for having gone and will be glad to get the test results. What is the price of peace of mind?

My favorite moments were listening to BeBe's heart beat. The vet had offered the stethoscope for me to listen. His little heart beats FAST! And my other favorite moments were realizing I was the thing that calmed and reassured his. He was happiest on my finger or listening to me sing.

H & I went to one of the local pet stores and went a little bird shopping crazy. It was fun we bought some climbing toys, a peacock feathers, grass and millet spray treats, another perch made of dried cactus, and looked at other various items for contemplation for later or trying to make them ourselves.

4-9-03 Mostly he's been very occasionally beeping but this morning I heard quite a bit of noise then silence and then a few beeps. I waited a bit and got up and greeted his and then finger perched his while I made my morning tea and sang to his.  I've gotta brainstorm more songs. So, far it's been Patsy Cline "Walking" and the theme song from the musical Annie *chuckles*. I think we'll play some CD's. I dyed my hair today a semi-permanent red and finger perched BeBe very briefly of course he ran up my arm and bumped his head ever so lightly against mine and now has two tiny spots of red on his head. Hopefully, these will wear off and not cause his any problems other than making me feel like a bad bird Mommie. He seems to have gotten brave enough to really explore his cage. I've seen his fed himself several times now. I've introduced his to his swing which seems a bit scary still but he's getting better. I've seen his slip off his perches a few times but quickly recovers.

Cute moment: I sang along to the CD and BeBe got very loud chattering back at me. Hopefully that's a good thing and he doesn't think I'm too off key. *laughs*

4-10-03 Normal routines this morning. He seems to be more giving of kisses and getting better about letting me touch his. He however did not seem to like the housecleaning. He did finger perch nicely for the housekeeper. BeBe also seemed a little distressed about me leaving his this afternoon. I work out of the home on Mondays and Thursdays and he was frantic when I made movements like I was going to leave. He pressed himself into the highest corner of the cage and did summersaults while attached to the bars and beeped at me. I did hold his quite a bit on my lunch--even let his sit on my arm and preen my arm hairs while I typed on the computer. But there's a big difference I suppose being alone most of the day with just three periods of attention morning, afternoon, and evening. He's quite grumpy when he's tired and will give a warning head lunge, squawk a bit and then bite. He likes to be left in peace when it's night time.

4-11-03 This afternoon I'm meeting the pet sitter www.hometurfpets.com to go over care for the animals while we're gone this weekend.  I'm waiting till he arrives to clean his cage so I can show him our routine. We handfed BeBe some organic salad greens which he was very excited about and is still eating. We clipped some to the side of his cage which is what he's still going after. I talked to the vet last night and his tests came back good. He needs more calcium and less millet, his cholesterol was a bit high and his calcium a bit low. He said leafy veggies and dark green veggies would fix this.  I'm so glad he likes what we've given his thus far.  Our organic delivery starts Tuesday by www.pioneerorganics.com.

4-14-03 We returned yesterday evening from our trip to Port Angeles to find everyone doing alright. BeBe ate quite a bit of food fresh organic greens and his millet & grass spray while we sat and talked to his. I realize I probably should of left better instructions for the pet sitter about his schedule and routines. This morning I was nipped at some not sure why. I've started reading The Beak Book by Sally Blanchard. It offered some great insight into parrot behavior and training. After trying some distraction and better listening to his body language we had a very nice visit during my lunch. He preened my arm as he sat on it and was interested in being on my shoulder. He preened a few curls and rubbed himself on me a bit. There was also rubbing when I approached the cage. If I left the cage [to make my lunch and lunch for the dog] he flew to the corner of the cage nearest to me and beeped while turning upside down.  I keep thinking there's a lot to learn and that he wants to be with me constantly. Well, we'll see tomorrow when I'm home more again. Just those two days a week that I'm gone during the day.

4-16-03 We started an additional list of what we're teaching BeBe check it out birdguidance. Things are going pretty well with the veggies although I don't think BeBe ate any of the pellet food yesterday afternoon.

4-30-03 We've been working on our training/guidance stuff more. Things are going pretty well. The pottie training seems to be working, BeBe makes a loud call when he has to go poo. And most often, we seem to understand this and move him to an appropriate perch. He has been flock calling sometimes in the morning and when separated. I'm not sure how to ease his separation and how to encourage him to self-soothe. Just the same stuff we've been doing make sure he has his basic needs food, water, clean cage, toys, treats, and interesting things to do and play with. We've been trying to not encourage the calling and we praise him for pretty songs and noises and try to ignore flock calls unless he needs something. Of course, he'd disagree he seems to think he needs to be in physical contact with us constantly. We're also really really working on not letting him on our shoulder unless we put him there. It's become his favorite perch and we don't want our arm to be a run way for him to get there. He also needs to know he can't get territorial or protective of it. Lots to do and teach every day! We have had lots of success with sprinkly showers and even an in shower experience. The blow dryer however is still a bit scary but he likes the warm air [we set it on low.]

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