Introducing Bonnie & Clyde - New Rosy Bourkes!

Well, the inevitable happened and MBS, also known as "multiple bird syndrome" caught up with me. I knew it would happen, but didn't think I would give in quite as quickly as it did! I really loved everything I had read about Bourke parakeets, and when I saw an ad for them semi-locally, I just had to jump on it! So after a drive one state away, I came home with a young unrelated pair of "Rainbow" Rosy Bourkes!

From what I understand, rainbow is just a term for extra colorful Rosy. Mine having a ton of extra yellow, that the typical Rosy would not have. They also both have a 50% chance of carrying fallow, which basically means if in fact they both are carriers, they could produce fallow babies. My pair was parent raised and not hand fed, so they are not tame. I am ok with this though since I am hoping to breed them and hand-feed the babies.

So far my experience with them has been limited since they are new but here are some things I have read which I took into account when setting up their cage (a HQ Flight Cage).

• Bourke Parakeets do not climb like some other parakeets by using their beak. They fly from place to place. This means they should not have a clutered cage, but lots of flying room. An absolute minimum cage should be 30"x18"x18". I decided on much bigger for mine. Their wings should also never be clipped for this reason.
• Bourkes are not heavy chewers, and are not huge on playing with toys. They do however appreciate swings, preening toys, easy to shred toys, and some like bells. Softer materials like paper rope, cork, and smaller pieces of balsa wood may also be appreciated.
• Bourkes are prone to night frights so are more comfortable without a cover, or being partially covered, and provided with a night light. 

Bourkes are Grass Parakeets which means they like to be on the ground for foraging, therefore their wire should either be removed, or covered with paper so that they don't hurt their feet on the cage floor. The paper should also be cleaned daily since they come in direct contact with it.

So far, I have been mainly just been trying to give Bonnie & Clyde their space, and let them settle in. They are very shy and flighty due to being parent raised. They do seem to like when I sit by the cage and talk to them, and have even started to chirp and sing with me in the room. Their voices are soooo sweet and melodic! So much more pleasant in my opinion than Budgies even! I am so glad to have added them to our flock and can't wait to get to know them better! 

PS- Sorry the pictures are not very good. I took them with my cell phone when the room was dimmer so that they wouldn't be too spooked. I will try to get better ones soon! 

I Got A Woody Bird Toy order!!

First off, when I heard the name of this company....I Got A Woody, I knew I would love them! So on to the website I went, and I was sooooo impressed! Their toys are all safe, great materials, and they have such an awesome variety! So of course, as I am a compulsive bird toy shopper, I placed an order!

I know Opie loves balsa wood, but he didn't have any cork toys, and I had a feeling he would like it since it is easy to shred like balsa. He really is a destructive little bugger ;) So I shopped their selection by size and ordered the following:

Sprite - Vine stars and balls, balsa cubes, and beads.
Tiny Tease - Colorful balsa slats, beads, and cork.
Cork Bark and Mahogany Cluster - pretty self explanatory.
Peakaboo Perch - Perch with hole to climb though, ladder, and toy all in one!

Right after placing the order I was notified that the current turnaround time was about three weeks, well two weeks later I got a shipment notification, and just over $10 in credit for shipping since the estimate was higher than the actual cost! The order arrived 2 days later and I am in LOVE! The toys are so awesome, I was gifted two freebie foot toys (thank you IGAW!!), and the Peekaboo Perch is LITERALLY to die for!!! I think I may have to put it on the outside of Opie's cage since he has soooo many toys now, but it will be awesome for out of cage time! All in all I couldn't be happier with my order and will be back for sure!

Oliver's Garden Bird Toys Order Arrived!!!

The wait is over!! My first Oliver's Garden order is in! I ordered the "Baby Anchor" in blue, the "UCrappy Small" in camo,  the "Home Tweet Home", and the "Jimmy Halfa Lobster". The toys are AMAZING, the customer service couldn't be nicer, Susan (the owner) send me some foot toys as a gift, and I will be a repeat customer for sure! I am already planning my next order! Somehow I missed the rope products so I for sure will need some of those!

PS- The lobster is too big for Opie, but I just couldn't resist as a gift for my father's Blue Front Amazon.  My dad is a huge lobster lover and it was just too cute! Who could resist those antennas!!

Sprouts

Since I really want to offer a healthy and varied diet, I decided to try sprouts! They are very similar to what many birds would be foraging for in the wild, and are very healthy for them nutritionally. After shopping around, I ordered a bag of Lil Bird Sprout Mix from Sprout People which is a mix specifically for smaller birds with 27 (YES 27) different varieties of certified organic seeds! 

I have tons of mason jars around here already, so ordered a BPA free sprouting lid off of Amazon (here) to fit a wide mouth jar to be my sprouter. Once everything came in I followed the very detailed instructions from Sprout People which you can read here. The only thing I did a bit differently is add one or two drops of GSE aka Grapefruit Seed Extract to the water for the initial soak. GSE is a natural disinfectant which is bird safe. *Look for a post on GSE soon!

Anyways, everything went perfectly, and in a few days I had some beautiful sprouts! At first Opie wouldn't touch them, but like with all new foods, he was willing to try them IF and only IF I hand fed him. Once he tried them he was hooked though! I have been offering them about every other day, usually as a topping to his chop. I couldn't be happier with the seeds from Sprout People and will surely buy them again when my pound runs out! 

HQ Flight Cage

After a TON of research and reading reviews, I decided on a "big boy" cage for Opie. I chose the HQ Flight Cage in black and ordered it from Amazon.com. The dimensions are 32x21x60" and it cost $134 when I bought it with free shipping! I got the cage in just 3 days and was sooooo excited to open it and put it together!! I was a bit nervous, since I read the instructions were pretty shoddy,  but it really wasn't that bad at all and took about 30 mins total.

I honestly LOVE this cage! It is very sturdy, has a great finish, and is the perfect size IMO. The bar spacing is 1/2 inch (on center) which is perfect for Parrotlets. The cart is very nice, and the cage sits securely in it. The locks are perfect, and so much easier than the drop pin ones. Below are a list of things I love and a few slight things I wish were better about the cage.

Pros:
-Sturdy, great quality, lovely finis.
-Secure and easy to use locks.
-Perfect bar spacing with plenty of room for flying and toys.
-Great price (especially for the quality and size).
-Comes with two wooden dowel style perches, and two plastic trough feeders.
-Pan is plastic, so no rusting.
-Grate is easily removed for cleaning (slides out like pan).

Cons:
-Would prefer one large centrally placed door to two smaller ones.
-Directions for assembly could be clearer.
-I would prefer there be a locking mechanism so the tray & grate couldn't be so easily slid out.
-I personally am not a fan of the plastic feeders that come with (would prefer metal).

Once the cage was all set up, I brought it upstairs and set it next to Opie's cage. I thought I would just leave it there for him to get used to, but he flew right in to inspect it! He seemed to approve, so I started moving his perches and toys in, and he went to town flying around and playing! Since he had been in this cage he is sooooo much more active, and truly uses every inch of the cage! I am so happy with this purchase and highly recommend it for all of the Bitty Birdies out there! :)

First Week with Opie :)

It is crazy how fast a week has flown by! Opie and I have been doing a lot of bonding and have come a long way! "Step Up" is now mastered, and we are getting much better with "Gentle Beak" also! Opie will let me give him scritches in his cage, and will happily come to me and step up in his cage, but as soon as I try to remove him, he gets nervous. He will happily sit on his play stand (if there is millet attached), for about 5-10 mins, then flys back to his cage. He will sit on me for a few minutes at a time, before trying to fly back to his cage.

I was given some great advice a few days ago, which was to work with him in the bathroom. It is a safe room (once the mirror is covered), and there are little places to fly, or distractions. He also can not see his cage, so there is no temptation to fly back to it. We have had two sessions in there and did really well! Opie learned about my shoulder, and really seems to like to snuggle into my neck now :)

Another thing I am happy to report, is that he is doing really well with trying new foods, and eating in general for that matter! He is no longer only munching on millet, but mainly eating his seed (Volkman's Parrotlet Mix), and pellets (Roudybush crumbles) which are mixed in. He is also willing to at least taste any food I offer him as long as I hand feed it to him. He really seems to like his chop, especially the broccoli, carrots, and quinoa. He also LOVES his birdy bread, so that is mainly offered as a treat. He seemed to like the diced apples the best as far as fruit goes, but did also try banana, strawberries, and grapes. I am really hoping he will be a good eater! I offer 3 meals of fresh foods/day and only leave them in the cage for an hour or so each. The seed/pellet mix is available all day, and the millet only when out of the cage as incentive.

All in all I am so happy with the progress we have made! I can't wait to continue to bond and become better friends with my little Bitty Birdy! I will end with a cute picture, because who doesn't like a cute picture! :)

OPIE IS HOME!!!!

Ok sorry this is a few days late, but I was so excited finally bringing Opie home and helping him to settle in, that this post got delayed! I will try to summarize the past few days in one post! Bear with me though the excitement! ;)

Sunday- I went to the breeders to go pick Opie up at 2:00. We hung out and chatted for a while and I finally got to meet Opie! He wasn't so sure of me at first, and was pretty flighty. The breeder had just clipped his wings that morning, so not sure how much of that had to do with it or not. Opie did pretty well for stepping up, but mainly just wanted to sit on his cage. When it was time to go he went right into the carrier I had set up for him. This was the carrier I got him. I swapped out the perch for a natural one (thought it would be easier to grip and the one that came with slid around a bit). I also added a toy, and a spray of millet. He immediately began snacking on the millet, so I knew he wasn't too stressed! In fact, Opie snacked the whole way home in the car! Once we got home, I put him in his new cage, and gave him the afternoon to settle in. Before bed I hand fed Opie some chop (which he ate some of) and a dried raspberry which he loved!

Monday- In the morning I offered Opie some chopped up grapes, sprouts, and topped them with a few pieces of organic bee pollen granules. He would only try what I offered by hand, but did try the grapes, and LOVED the sprouts! I tried to have him step up, but he bit me so we just practiced a technique called "gentle beak" for a while and he calmed right down. I hand fed him a Nutriberry which he loved as a reward.

At lunch time I swapped out his fresh foods, for a new bowl which included some birdy bread, and chop. Still Opie will only eat what I hand feed him. The only thing he has eaten on his own is his millet spray. At this time Opie was more than happy to come out for a few minutes, and even let me give him some scritches!

After dinner, I let Opie out, and he was happy to step up for me. He did fly around the room a bit, but each time he did, once he landed he was more than happy to step up for me. I brought him over to his play stand which he went right on. He hung out on his play sand for quite a while! I just sat next to him and talked to him. Before bed he ate another dried raspberry and let me give him some scritches again!

Today (Tues)- This morning Opie had a breakfast of cooked oatmeal and mashed up bananas which he went crazy for! I had to eat some too, but he was more than willing to try once I had! Even from the bowl this time!! After breakfast we spent a lot of time out. Him on his play stand while I answered emails. After about a hour, he decided he wanted his cage and flew over. He took a nap for a while, then later I let him out again.

This time I just opened the door and he flew over after a while. Not directly to me, but towards my chair (right by his cage). We have now been hanging out the whole time I typed this! He has enjoyed some more scritches and has gotten really vocal for the first time! I love his chatter!

I am already so smitten by this little guy it isn't even funny! I can't wait to continue to bond with him! He is a bit flighty, but with patience (and short training intervals - he will start looking like he is going to take off when he is done), I think we will be great friends!!!