Ohh, the Winter Wind!

Had a fair amount of snow here this winter, not ever an accumulation over a few inches, but it has snowed fairly often. And gotten quite cold, not into the twenties many days, I think I even had a day or two with a wind chill below zero- which is something for me, so if you are in Minnesota, don't laugh! Having not been here but a year and a half, I can't say whether it is very normal for here. Then again, it probably isn't, since climate change has insured no one gets the weather quite as expected.

The parrots do not seem to mind the winter if you ignore the fact they do not get outside that often. I do not keep my house that warm in the winter, and even the "free as air" (ehem) set in their brief feather attire have not shown any sign of caring. The only ones that do have a problem is the ekkies, and that seems to be related to how dry it is rather than the temperature. It is hard every year when the plucking gets worse, not that I can blame them. My lungs do not care for really dry air either. I hang wet towels and boil water for moisture, but really need to look into a new humidifier, since the plastic-whatever used to make my old one has broken down over the years and I am now not entirely sure of how safe it is now. I wonder if anyone makes a glass/metal one????

The past month has been fairly monotonous, lots of knitting and cleaning and parrot cleaning. Yes, they get separate categories, although I should probably change it to dog cleaning and parrot cleaning, since Alasdair creates most of the rest of the mess. In between, though, I have gotten some nice pictures!

 And the Chickies!! 

Chester- the Good, the Bad, the Unknown

Awww, Chester on a good day. My little buddy!

Chester is my little buddy. So sweet, so empathetic, rather cautious but always eager to see what's up and hang out with me. On the other hand, sometimes Chester has bad days. Days were he does not wish to cooperative on any level, and should he actually decide to, say, step-up, you should put him down as soon as possible. From experience, I can safely say he will NOT be satisfied on your hand for much longer than 3.5 seconds. His Maori yell, as I call it, is usually used extensively during these days, most often accompanied by beak charging and/or banging. Sometimes these bad days last for weeks or even a month or two. Sometimes not. Hard to say.

I would like to point out, though, that both of my ekkies are extremely polite about biting. Chester screams, beak bangs, even beak bangs with his beak open, and occasionally does a quick dose of beak pressure, but I have only once, ONCE! ever been actually bitten. That would be the day Clementine came home. Clearly  he knew something was up, though he obviously had not been anyway near her at that point- and I have to wonder is he thinks he overreacted, since he is know friends with her. Anyway. Chester really amazes me with how polite he is. If he does not want you, he will lean so far back he hangs upside down from his perch, or fly off with such force and speed he inevitably rams into something (not good), but he just does not favor biting.

I am not complaining- who likes being bitten? As is only polite on my part, I do my best to avoid irritating him any further than he already is with..... well, whatever it is that irritates him during these times. This means during his bad days I may never pick him up (though I always give the option), instead I just offer the occasionally treat (sometimes even that he does not want) and open his cage door so he can come out to play on his cage if he so chooses. Talk to him, but not too close. Just let him be, and give him what I can.

When Chester is having a good day, he can be very sweet. Not to everyone, but to me and a few other select people he has learned over time to trust. After many weeks of not sweet, he has become sweet again this December. I am thinking of it as an early Christmas gift. So nice to have back my friendly feathered beaver! And as a last note, speaking of feathers: his improve each year- month by month there are ups and downs, but year by year they are better and better. He is quite green now, and I am still holding out hope for a fully green boy in the future, at least for part of the year. Already many of these pictures look fully green, since it his just his lower belly where down still shows. So he is what I call "Facebook fully-feathered." And that is better than nothing!

Chester: a bird with a mission.

To the top!

The view! Ah, the view!

Such a lovely place to fluff and relax.

My work is done.

The Lean-n-Greens

So after those last two violin-music-ending-with-big-crescendo posts, I move on to the Ambassadors of Cuteness, the quakers. Alternately, they are my fighter pilots, but as they have been very polite lately I will let them be the former today. Frank even serenaded me with a lovely song while I cleaned his cage yesterday-although the lyrics were not entirely translatable being more like mumbling to music. Cute, though!

Miss Lola is doing pretty well. Yes, she is showing her age, but she has not lost her personality, just some of her energy and more of her feathers. Overall though she is doing well. Still adorable. And very protective of Frank. As you can see, she does not even like the paparazzi getting to him without her protection. Or possibly she just likes being in every shot, hard to say.

She is always happy to see me or anyone else, and comes to the front of the cage, or to the closest point on whatever cage top or gym she is on, to see you. Her favorite "game" has always been kissing and nodding. Which, for those of you perhaps not familiar with this, means you move your head exactly like a bobble doll, simultaneously turning it from side to side as well as making little kissing noises. And Miss Lola is exceedingly good at getting almost anyone to join her in this little dance. Possibly the attraction for her is that she makes a bunch of humans look really ridiculous. Again hard to say.

I have also been looking after my Mom's Nanday occasionally, which works out quite well since he is good friends with the quakers. He also considerably raises the volume in the room, even taking in to account the quakers normal raucous playing. But he is a sweet fellow, and only Chester really minds having him here to visit. But Chester is like that.

So overall, all is well with the South American parrots!

Linus is a new man! (er, parrot)

When I got Linus back several years ago, he had liver damage, his preen gland was malfunctioning, and he had started plucking. He also was extremely anxious. Since then, he has improved, thanks in no small part to his adopted mother Ava, but he still was a very anxious fellow. Rarely did he look relaxed- if ever I saw a parrot with an anxiety disorder, it was him. After Ava passed away this past Spring, I moved Linus into my bedroom, away from the other parrots. That helped, certainly, since I was with him a fair amount, he was in a very calm environment, but more importantly (as I did spend a lot of time with him in the bird room, too) he was with me when I was relaxing and/or sleeping, and relaxation is catchy. A bit like yawning, I suppose. But still he was extremely jumpy almost all the time.

(Just a note, this picture was not taken when he was upset-

that would not be the time to shove a camera in his face.

It does show how I often found him, though.)

This summer I did another round of herbal treatments for his liver, and this time, instead of just helping his liver, they also almost totally stopped the anxiety. Really,  about a two weeks in I noticed some improvement, and a week later it was very obvious to everyone. His panic attack moments are quite rare now, and he is now showing more of his personality, playing, eating better, and demanding attention! Instead of thrashing around when I put the food dish in (even though he has outside access doors and was in other ways semi-tame) he would just wait for me to finish, and dive in. No more slamming into the bars when the door to the room opened. And plenty of time spent relaxed, with his cheek feathers fluffed out, his crest at "half mast", and singing softly. Or loudly. He does love making noise. Seriously a lot of noise.

Now, when he is afraid of something, or wary, instead of becoming what can only be described as hysterical, he visibly makes a decision to abort, by leaning back, backing away slowly, or as a last resort flying off, or even occasionally stand his ground and hiss.

I am really amazed at his progress, up until now I just wondered if he would ever be relaxed and happy, let alone really tame. I suppose his amygdala (part of the brain that handles stress response) finally decided he was healthy enough to calm down! I have felt rather guilty about him for quite a long time, since he came back in fact; as it would be for any parrot caretaker, it was upsetting for me not to be able to help him more. I could rarely even take him to another room, or even outside in a carrier, something he did very much seem to enjoy, as he loves sitting in the sun. I really had to catch him on a very good day to do much with him. And living with that can be hard, you have to remind yourself often you are not a failure, and just keep trying everyday. While Linus might have seemed like a"difficult" parrot, much too hard for a first time caretaker, in actuality, anxiety aside, he was quite easy to tame and make friends with. That is why I say what you need most when taking on a rehome is patience and some good parrot books to help you through, not necessarily a degree in parrot wrangling. 

He is even brave enough to admit his well-loved 

cage cover is bright pink with monkey faces. 

And after all that, I now have a little buddy- happy, calm, and a (sometimes annoying) attention hog!

Miss Claudia with a bit less

Two things: one, don't worry, the white rope is much to big to choke her,

and Two, Claudia loves her platform from 

Things for Wings you see in the background! It has really helped her chronic foot issues.

When I adopted Miss Claudia she was fully feathered, and beautifully so. Since her case of asper 2 years ago, though, which started an intense bout of plucking, her plumage has taken quite a beating. At times she has had all of her feathers save for those on her neck, which she keeps bare, and at times she has been much closer to nude. Right now she is somewhere in the middle. it is a bit harder than, say, Chester, who goes through similar ups and downs (he is doing fairly well now, incidentally) as he started plucking long before I got him. Despite her current appearance, though, I really feel pretty good about Claudia right now, mostly because she seems to feel really good herself!

Claudia has never been very healthy, and was quite thin when I got her, having been force weaned and not in a home that noticed the problem, rather, they just assumed she was boring and stand-offish. Likely owing to those problems, while she is confident in many ways, she is also quite a fragile bird, so it takes quite a long time after an "incident" or illness to get her back on track: playing, foraging, exploring and flying- even eating enough on her own. So I admit I was always a bit worried she was a "good candidate", if there is such a thing, for plucking or feather destruction, and just hoped I could prevent it. Not that I thought about that too often, since a happy and healthy Claudia could easily be confused with a caique on growth hormones that fell in a paint pot. Seriously. Compare that to when she is not doing well, and just sits, or sits and begs, very little else. And with an apparently weak immune system, she can get sick rather easily.

This past Spring, she was doing pretty well, then this summer she took a down turn, and late summer starting plucking again. However, I think the plucking may have stopped again now, or at least very much slowed, but more importantly, she is eating well, everything and a lot of it, and is playful, friendly, game for just about anything, and back to her toy-destructive self. So I am thrilled!

One of the ways I encourage her to get back to playing is through foraging. I know she likes simple chippable items and things easily shredded, at least when she is in the mood to play. Right now, I could hang a toy on the moon and she would fly up there just to show it who is boss. When she is not interested, though, I make sure all of her toys are as enticing as I can, and place them almost in her way by her favorite perching spots. I also make sure all of them have a way to hide or place treats in/on them. Once she is reliably getting the treats, I starting hiding them in the toys more thoroughly, making them harder to reach. Eventually, as is the case now, she remembers how much fun destroying a toy "just because" is, and will go to town destroying them, even dropping some of the treat in the process. In fact, just taking out one of the treat containers is enough to get her to go to her toys and start destroying. And as anyone with parrots can tell you, very little is as satisfactory as coming into the room to find piles of wood chips and shreds of toys lining the cage bottom!

Currently, Claudia's favorite toy, for foraging and otherwise, is this coconut head by Planet Pleasures. You can slip nuts in the holes the ropes come out of, although by now several of the holes have no ropes in them, or even coconut fiber around them to dig through. Pretty soon, there will be nothing but a shell left!

Oh, and just to note, I did finish my to-do list from the other day! Yay!

Sunny day, chasing the clouds away...........

 Give them a bath if it is hot, even on humid days it is quite cooling.

Trust me, I am from the humid south. It is. However, if you 

see any signs of discomfort, get them inside immediately!! 

Getting outside is important for parrots- they really need the Vit. D. In fact, for some species like African Greys, getting outside regularly can be the difference between seizures and all the trouble with calcium deficiencies, and a happy, healthy parrot. Vit D plays an integral role in healthy body functioning; you need vit D. to properly absorb calcium (so not enough vit. D means not enough calcium), which affects magnesium, and phosphorous, etc. etc. Vit. D is also is an important hormone, which helps boost your mood and do all the wonderful things those happy hormones do. Further, as it naturally is not good for bacteria and other nasties, it can help external skin issues. If you do not have enough vit. D, you cannot expect a healthy, happy, stable parrot. In basic layman's terms, sunshine is even better than it feels!

Clementine, your thoughts?

Wait......... ugh....

 just a minute........

 getting .... umm......this..... feather......

You can get vit. D from pellets and other fortified foods, but there is some debate over how well the body can use those synthetic sources; personally, I think you need some form of Vit. D, but the best form, if you can get it, is naturally from the sun. As someone that does not feed pellets, I make sure to get my parrots outside year round. In the winter, this is not overly often, but since I am in the south, there are usually a few days a month when the weather is in the upper 40s/50s, sunny and not really windy so they can go out. They rest of the year I try to get them out all the time, several times a week if possible. Vit. D can be stored in the liver for 20-30 days, so there is some leeway on this.

Claudia says:

What do you think? Should I peroxide???

Yes, I do hope to have an aviary soon, but up until now, I have done this just like most folks have to: with carriers and harnesses. If your parrot is not harness trained, no worries, a carrier is fine. If your parrot will not go in a carrier, you have a huge problem, one that would need a post of its own, and you need to address that problem. What if there was an emergency, not to mention vet visits; all parrots should accept carriers with little fuss, and it is not that hard to train should you have a phobic one; Barbara Heidenrich has a lot of advice on this.

Chester says:

Ummmm..., nah, I like the red.

Lastly, a warning- NEVER take a parrot outside unless in a safe and secure carrier or in a proper harness; falconers use jesses, those are not safe with parrots!!! Even well clipped birds, can, will, and have gotten away; all it takes is one good bit of wind, and they can be surprised in to taking off, and once off, as they are unable to fly, they will be unable to come back to you.

Peek-a-boo!

I don't know why I like this picture.......

must be all the shades of green!

So make some time, get a carrier, and get out in the sun! Good for you as well, and with some good reading material and a nice drink (I like lemonade and ice tea, what 'bout you?) what could be better? Just watch for hawks!

Linus came back

For political correctness, I will simply say that Linus left the home I adopted him out to, and ended up in one which was not the best for him. This past weekend, fortunately, I got him back, much worse for the wear, poor little guy. When he left me, Linus had finally started to really gain confidence. He was adopted by a very nice family, and I know he was very happy there, but things happen. I am glad I was at least able to correct them, and I hope none of my birds will ever have to go through this again.

Skipping ahead now, Linus is back here. He is a mere shadow of what he was when he left here. He is thinner than when I got him, and far, far more mentally stressed and panicky. His feathers are dark and greasy, and he had some green discharge from his cere. His feet, which had been arthritic when I got him, but had improved with a good diet and a cushioned platform to sleep on at night, are bright red, very inflamed, and obviously painful. He has also started plucking. He has pulled all of the feathers on his legs, under his wings, and quite a few on his back and upper wings. All over his body, although he has no other bare spots, he has pulled out down feathers, so that he has only a thin covering of contour feathers left. If these move even a little, you see bare skin, very inflamed, and in places, bloody, bare skin. Fortunately, his plucking has not gone as far as a bare chest or anything, but was enough to get him back here. I am hoping he will stop now, and can grow back in all his beautiful feathers.

As I said, his mental state is pitiful, too. Not only does he go into a blind fright, spastic state if his cage is touched, or if you move too quickly, or appear to be thinking about touching his cage, he is obviously fearful almost all the time. After adding back a comfy platform and hiding places in his cage, he did relax some, but he still seems very upset, scared, confused, and depressed. And yes, that is anthropomorphizing, but sometimes, it is necessary, so please forgive me!

Before he left, he was quite the singer (talker, yeller, whistler) and could imitate absolutely everything he heard. He never stopped talking, whistling, singing, and imitating, in fact. He had even begun to speak in context, and always called for me by name when I left the room. Since he has been here after his "adventure" he has never sung, whistled, or spoke. Not once. Every now and then, he will start the tiel contact/fright call when he is panicking, but other than that, nothing. It is so sad.

As to food, he is iffy on how much he will eat. He is eating millet,some lettuce, but he only eats little bits of his other seed and fresh food. I am hoping that will improve, as it already has. He refused to eat almost anything for the first few days.

Although he is not really handlable, I did manage to get him in the shower. He loved that. Absolutely loved that. He had been here 2 days, and I finally decided I just needed to get him cleaned off fully. I am glad I decided to, for while he did not play or spread his wings, he did run from one side of the shower perch to the other, to sit in the full spray of the water. He sat there, seemingly in bliss, with his eyes closed, occasionally turning his head or body to get a different part in the direct spray. After many minutes, he moved out of the full spray, and I turned off the shower. It was after that shower and cage renovation that he seemed finally to let down his guard a tiny bit, and relax some in his cage.

Needless to say, he is not going anywhere.

Schroeder, preparing to go home

I have had Schroeder for about 5 months now. When I got him, he had extremely dry skin and feathers, to the point it sounded like someone crushing paper every time he ruffled his feathers. Because of this, he had a slight feather barbering problem on his chest. He also was not tame, with an overgrown beak, and was extremely underweight. He was very afraid of humans, especially hands, and spent most of his time sitting in the back of his cage, never playing with anything.

I do not know much of his history. The owner I got him from had rehomed many birds, taking on more than she could handle. She was therefore rehoming most of them, including Schroeder. I know nothing of his history other than that. I can say, though from his phobia of older, skinny men, and shaky males voices, that obviously someone fitting that description had abused him in the past.

After he adjusted to me, while he was still in quarantine, I started taming him. The first step was getting him to take his favorite treat, almonds, from my hand, coming forward to the front of the cage to get them. Then, I started letting him out of the cage, and giving him almond slivers. After that, I started placing the almond sliver on my (covered with sweatshirt) arm, and having him take them off. I moved the almond farther and farther down my arm, so he had to eventually put one foot, and then both, and then walk down my arm to get to his treat. After he would readily do that, I started moving my arm, very slightly, while he was on it. Once that was no biggy for him, I tried moving it more and more, until I could get him on my arm, and pull my arm away and then put him back in his cage (where there was another treat, besides the one he already had gotten, waiting in his dish). After that, I started taking him from his cage to playgyms around the house, and later just taking him around with me.

He has gotten pretty tame doing this, and absolutely loves attention. He just can't get enough. If you are slow enough, and can get your hand up to his head, he also loves head scritches, and will relax so far he falls over (and then wakes up quite upset!) He is also getting used to riding around the house on my arm or shoulder. I am now trying to get him stick trained, as well, using the same technique.

I tried various different toys to get him to play, all different kinds and sizes. The one that finally broke the ice was very simple, as they usually are, just an old fashioned clothespin, the kind with no spring. He loves those, and after he got used to playing with that, he started playing hard with bells, plastic chain, other wood, his planet pleasure toys (a huge favorite) and of course other foot toys. Between all the chewing he now does, and his almond shells, his beak is now a much better length!

To help his dry skin and barbering, I made sure he got some seed and grains every day, for the essential fatty acids, as well as baths. Fortunately, he loves being sprayed with a fine mist.

About 2 months ago, I listed him on Petfinder. After a month, I heard from Schroeder's soon to be new Mommy. I have been talking to her since then. As she is up near D.C., I suggested Phoenix Landing, since that would make it easier for her. Although she was very happy to see them, and immediately filled out a volunteer application, she had always wanted a Pionus, and really wanted to adopt Schroeder. She was very excited about the seminars, though, (who wouldn't be? They are so well done, very informative, and tons of fun) and has gone to two so far. She had her home visit this weekend, so after she gets everything all set up for him there, Schroeder will be going home! I will really miss him, he is such a special bird, but I know he will be very happy in his new home, getting spoiled.

Who doesn't love that look?

Ok, where is the almond??

Schroeder, waiting for me to finish snapping shots and play with him.

Yaz, Nanday Conure

And Mister Yaz Man, the last addition to this feathered family. He is such a sweet little conure, with relatively few behavior problems, other than the very obvious plucking issue. He also has learned to yell for attention, but that is slowly getting much better.

Yaz came from a lady where he was the only bird. He had lived with them for many years, and was always out with them, getting attention. Until they brought home a dog and cat, that is. After that, Yaz was put on the back burner. He slowly got less and less attention, and spent more and more time in his tiny cage, with little to do. He is terrified of cats, so I can only assume the cat in that household hunted him. After ten years of Yaz living there, and after Yaz had plucked all the feathers on his chest down past his vent and his legs, as well as all of those under his wings, and many on the top of his wings and around his neck, they decided to rehome him. After I saw how unhappy he looked, very quiet and subdued, he just had to come home to live with us.

He has always been very tame, after given a couple of weeks to get to know us. He is very sweet, and his plucking is getting much better. He plucks very little now, so we are simply waiting to see which feathers will grow in. He loves playing and dancing. In fact, one of his favorite things to do is to dance around with you, turning and waving, while making snapping noises. He has also learned to accept our other birds, though he is still definitely a people bonded bird. Really, I don't think I will ever regret bringing him home.

The Yaz Man, enjoying some window watching.

Getting a little closer to the window, gotta
keep an eye one everything out there.

Yaz, making sure my fingers are very clean.

Chester, Solomn Island Eclectus

When I got Chester, I really thought he would never be a very "tame" bird, and would certainly never want human attention. He hated other birds, with a great passion, and was terrified of people, and spent all of his time sitting listlessly in his cage. He did not like being looked at, or having anyone near him. When you were in the room with him, he would not do anything. He of course would never take treats. His feathers, the ones he had not plucked, were very dark and greasy, and very unhealthy looking. When I later saw him open his wing, it was pitiful to see the bones under his bare skin, with the occasional fatty deposit. His joints were all huge and swollen, and rather yellow. He had a great deal of trouble balancing, and slept with his head tipped forward, resting on the cage bars. He also had a nervous, and constant, habit of flipping his head upside down, repeatedly, over and over. I suppose this is how he dealt with living in that little cage for so many years.

I do not know a great deal of his history, perhaps a bit more than I know with some rescues, but I have been able to read between the lines by observing his behavior. For instance, he was never quiet at night. I had him in a almost totally dark room, that was very quiet, and yet he always came alive at night. It would wake me up, and I would come stand outside the door, listening to him move around, yelling, chattering, playing with the two new toys I had managed to introduce to him. I have heard of other birds that are known to have been kept in basement or closets for long periods of time, and they also did not seem to care about darkness, or know the difference between day and night. I assume at sometime he was kept in a dark area for a while, likely a closet, as he has shown a great fear of closets.

Chester was caught loose when he flew into a lady's yard in Pennsylvania. As that lady did not want him, she gave him to her neighbors. I am not sure whether they already had a bird at that time or whether Chester was their first. They kept him for 7 years before moving down to Va. They had several excuses for wanting to get rid of him, but I believe the most accurate was that he was loud, and hated the wife.

When I got him, he was in a little 18" by 18" cage, with one very dirty concrete perch and one old wooden toy. He had been fed only sunflower seeds and some chopped "dried fruit bird treats" (the fruit part is still up for consideration.) According to the couple, they were a "bird haven" and had rescued Chester and their two other birds (that they kept) from some other horrible life. It is funny how perceptions differ.

Anyway, Chester was, as I said before, not tame at all. He was totally cage bound, as well. For the first week, I simply spent hours sitting in the room, far away from him, on the floor with my back to him. The second week, after a major break through when he actually ate his breakfast with me in the room, I started leaving the cage door open. It took another week before he considered coming out of the cage. Once he came out on top, and really seemed more comfortable having me in the room, I started slowly sitting closer and closer to the cage. The third break through was when he started taking treats off my shoulder, which was followed in a couple of days with his starting occasionally to accept treats from my hand. He soon started calling for me, as well, and would run out of his cage whenever I came into the room. He still never left his cage, always keeping at least one foot holding onto some part of it. He would try to get as close as possible to my head and face, as that was the only part of me he did not seem overly afraid of.

This continued until the end of quarantine, when I moved him into my bedroom right next to my bed. Then I started to get real progress. He slowly overcame his fear of me and of leaving his cage, and would venture onto the bed as I was lying there. The first time he ventured onto my chest was really remarkable, and from there the progress was amazing. After having him sit on me, I tried sitting up with him on my shoulder and putting him immediately on his cage and giving him treats and praise, and then I stayed sitting a little longer before putting him back on his cage. Then I tried standing before going to the cage, then walking away from the cage and then back, etc., until I could go out of the room and take him to other places in the house. This took a very long time, but it was really worth it. Sometime during all this, he learned to say my name, Meg, and would call it over and over after I left him.

Despite all the breakthroughs, he still had a total hatred of all other birds. Claudia, as she had been around other birds her whole life, was actually very excited hearing another ekkie in the house. I tried slowly giving Chester glimpses of her, and then longer and longer ones, and then finally bringing her into the room with him when he was downstairs. She was very good throughout all of this, and seemed to care less that he was screaming at her and doing his very best imitation of an angry gorilla. She continued to go about whatever else she wanted to do with no concern of him. I hated to put them both, well all three of us, through that, but I knew I could not find a home for him with someone that had enough experience to handle him, unless he learned to at least tolerate other birds. He was, at this point, extremely protective of me, and would even go after another person if I seemed at all upset.

I finally decided to just try a risk, and brought Claudia into my bedroom and put her on a chair next to the bed. She was very interested in him, as usual, and began pinning and ruffling her feathers. He also began his usual yelling and territorial pacing. After several day of this, in longer and longer intervals with lots of calming spray the whole time, Claudia flew onto the bed. I was right there, and immediately threw a pillow in between them and picked her up. Chester seemed stunned to think she would go onto his bed. After she flew onto the bed twice more, he calmed down and I could see he was really pretty afraid of her. After she started doing a nesting dance, and doing her best to get his attention, he began to look interested. He would run over to me, look at her, and walk closer and closer to her, before running back to me. She tried several times to get him to feed her, but when she finally got him to accept some food from her, that was it. From then on, he was in love, as was she.

They now have a great time together all day, feeding, preening, foraging, playing together. They both demand plenty of time with me, though, so I consider it the best of both worlds. Chester still has very distinct ideas about putting an end to all the other birds in the room. Fortunately, though I have watched them all closely for any sign that they are stressed with this fact, they seem to care less about him. In fact, I could swear they mock him. I am careful not to let them out together, needless to say.

Chester has progressed even more, and now loves to get on my shoulder/chest, right under my neck, and lie down, with his wings stretched out, and the back of his head rubbing back and forth on my neck. He is even learning to step-up, not only on my shoulder from anywhere, which he already learned, but onto my arm, after watching Claudia do it so many times. Really, he is an incredibly sweet bird, even with all his funny quirks. His plucking is getting better, in fact, is almost gone. I am hoping with the good diet I have finally gotten him on he will soon grow in many new feathers, as he has already gotten a few new ones.

Chester, on his concrete perch (cleaned as well as I could)
he is so attached to it still, I had to put it in his new cage,
at least for a little while.

Chester enjoying the view out the window.

Chester having some relax time with me.

He has never quite lost his repetitive habit of flipping

his head, but it is much better.

Little Miss Lola

Lola was brought into a chain petstore, on a lady's shoulder, without even a cage or any favorite items. According to the lady, she had had her for eight years, but did not have enough time for her any more, and so Lola had started plucking.

I put Lola in quarantine, and immediately noticed several things. One, her balance was horrible, so bad she stayed in a horizontal position. She was loosing weight, and had a head tremor. Her feathers were extremely dark and greasy, along with her plucking problem on her chest and under wings. She also had seizures, which are not fun at all for either of us. During these seizures, her left side would go completely limp, and she would jerk all over before collapsing. Although showers did help the feathers, somewhat, the rest needed something more, obviously.

She was diagnosed with heavy metal poisoning. As I did not want to put her through chelation immediately, having been through it myself and knowing how awful it is, I decided to try alternative liver support and aloe detox. After about two weeks of this, Lola was already bit better, and I continued it for another 4 weeks. After that was over, I put her on high doses of probiotics to build up her system. The difference these supplements made, along with a healthy diet, sunlight, and exercise, was amazing.

I also got her over to a very healthy diet, which was not very hard, as she was willing to try almost anything. She also soon learned to love toys, though she did not move around much, and tended to stay in one place. She could not fly, so as I waited for her wings to grow out and her strength to return, I slowly worked on getting her a little bit more exercise every day.

After quarantine, I introduced her to Frank. He was immediately interested in her, as she was in him. However, after she found out that he would not answer her calls, and did not know how to act around other birds, she began to get annoyed. I put their cages next to each other, and left it at that for a while. They soon began to enjoy being together, and talked to each other all day. I let them out on the playgym together frequently, when I was there to supervise. Slowly, very slowly, they became friends, in their own way. Eventually, as they wanted to share a cage, I put them together in a flight cage.

Lola is now a much happier bird, as is Frank. They spend all day playing hard, (so hard, in fact, I am replacing toys daily as they are destroyed) as well as yelling their opinions to the world, in human and quaker. Lola is also becoming a very good flyer, though she still has a bit to go.

She no longer plucks, so we are now just waiting for the feathers to come in. The first few feathers came in black, and caused a lot of swelling and pain (and were removed by her, along with some mutilating, another long story), so the follicles were obviously damaged. However, she is getting better with continuing detoxing every few months, and has feathers growing in almost everywhere except for one small area that may never get any, I don't know.

Lola loves attention from people, and is now so bonded to Frank, they both insist on being in the same room all the time. Her favorite activity with a person is, and I think always will be, cooking. She loves sitting on your shoulder as you mix things up, and just gets so excited with each new item you add, and so disappointed when I take her back to her cage (I don't let her in the kitchen if I am heating something on the stove or am opening the oven, so she has to leave before I start that.)

I know I have been incredibly lucky getting my birds to accept mates, and though it has certainly taken a lot of work to get them to that point, it is completely worth it to see how happy they become.

Lola, being her chatty little self.

A little relaxation time never hurt anyone, right?

Playing on the little bird gym,
and getting some special treats out of the foraging bowl.

Lola, in her own "urban" jungle.