Wednesday, January 7, 2009

My camera still isn't letting me have my pictures

And although that piece of news is not really related to anything, it annoys me no end!

So instead of going on for hours about my evil camera (which I could, at this point, believe me!) I thought perhaps I would give some updates.

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Claudia, after laying her third egg, sat on the two she still had for several days, and then rolled one out to the middle of the cage, left the other in the nest, and proceeded to almost (emphasis on that word) totally ignore them. I tried moving the one egg still in the "nest" out a few inches from it, just to see if she would then leave it alone, but no. She rolled it back into the nest, and began sitting on it dutifully. A few days later, she rolled the egg in the middle of the cage back into her nest and began sitting on that one as well! I have candled them all by now, and none are fertile, so I am safe there. I just now have to wait until she is done. Since the last egg was laid on Dec. 29, counting 30 days or so from there would give us all about two more weeks to go. I know Chester can't wait for that day to come!

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The two budgies I am fostering are doing amazing. They both are taming up wonderfully!

Oscar, the yellow one, though he is still easily frightened, and still has a lingering fear of hands, has come to love head scritches and back rubs. Really! He is such a sweet little budgie.

Luna, the blue one, is also doing really well. One night, I accidentally left the cage door improperly latched, so when Luna jumped on it sometime between when I put them to bed and when I fed them, it swung open and presumably flung her into the room. By the next morning, she had crawled out of the room into the hallway, where I found her sitting on the floor. Surprisingly, with a little coaxing, she got up on my covered hand, and stayed on it for a while, before climbing up to my shoulder and snuggling in my hair. Since then, she will happily jump out onto my hand and go riding around the house, either on my arm or shoulder.

I hope to list them soon, to find them a wonderful permanent home. The one thing they are still having trouble with is switching their diet, stubborn little guys. For a week or so, they were actually eating my mash, but then, when I ran out of that mash and mixed up a new one, they refused it. I am not sure what about the new one they greatly dislike, but it is certainly something! The only other things I have had luck with so far are grits (but not the shredded veggies in them) and sprouts. I really like to switch the diet before rehoming them, so that is really all I am waiting for.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never heard of that under the sweater taming technique before. Ooooo, you make me want to get budgies again!

Meg said...

It is one way, but not overly useful with some parrots, and, like I said, it can even make it worse. However, it is worth a try if your bird is not too untame, and is not afraid of a towel (or sweater, in my case!)

http://www.landofvos.com/faqs/faqs4.html

Mary said...

Good luck with the diet switch. My budgies have always been the hardest in that regard! Switching the caiques to a good diet was as easy as putting the new stuff in their bowls. But with budgies, it's work! If only people really understood how wonderful tame budgies are, there would be a waiting list for them!