A Match Made in Heaven Part 2

Still remember Elmo, the Blue-Masked Mutation lovebird which I also called Bibi? In earlier post I was determined that Elmo is a female because it acted out like a female lovebird in mating mode when it is around me. Especially if I pat its back. It would bend its body, spread its wings and lifted up its tail! Until one day... Elmo tried to mate my hand like a male lovebird!!! Now I admit that what experts had said is really true that all those early signs can be very...misleading!

Since the day I brought Olive home, I have tried to make her and Elmo friends.  Elmo hang out with Baby Blue and Goldie almost every day under my supervision but of course they have a huge gap because they're not the same species. 

So I wanted Elmo to have a same-species buddy.

Different from Elmo, since the beginning I was certain that Olive is a female. She is a Dutch-blue-mutation peach-faced lovebird. Beside the fact that they are different sex but they didn't seem to be attracted to each other. They even fought every time they played together. It's mostly Elmo who attacked her. I think Elmo was just being territorial.

Exploring new nest

So, I decided to match them. I moved them into one big cage which I used for the budgies and I housed the budgies into a new smaller cage fit for their size. I moved them in with great anticipation. Thank God they can get along pretty well. After sometime, I introduced them to a nest. I did this because Olive would always prey upon the budgies' nest and always tried to enter their cage and harass the keets. I knew it's mating season and she wanted a nest. 

Look how cute they were as they were exploring their new nest!

After sometime, they started to mate and Olive laid 4 eggs. She laid her first egg outside the nest. Coincidentally I was not home and by the time I was back, my mom reported that the egg was broken. And when I checked I saw a hole on the egg which probably caused by Elmo or Olive. Maybe they tried to move the egg, thus, accidentally 

broke the egg.

After a couple of days, she laid her second egg and so on. Then after about 26 days, her first egg was hatched and 5 days later the second chick was hatched. The third egg never hatched. It may not be fertilized so I removed it.

Today, the first chick is about 16 days old and the youngest is around 12 days old. I introduced them to hand-feeding today but only partially in the afternoon since the mother still feeding them. And I do not separate them from the parents. I don't want to encourage the parents to mate again by doing so.

Oh one thing that bothers me is the information I got from the internet saying that they are actually not the same species and thus should never be matched, as their offspring may be sterile and will have lots of health problems. I wished I knew this since the beginning but it's just waaaaayy ... too late! I can only wish for the best for these chicks! 

It looks like they inherrited the looks of their mother and probably the color too. Well, let's see how it turns out when they're fully grown! :-)

New Addition to the Flock

Please meet the new member of the flock, Olive, the Peach-faced,Dutch Blue Mutation, Lovebird.The birdshop owner who sold Olive to me said that it was about 5 months old. That simply means it takes longer to tame it.

As you can see, Olive has no ring on its eyes, but it does have eyelids and cute, big black eyes.

It loves to sleep inside a towel too..

Don't you agree it's charming? Well yeah,except that it's quite aggressive that in the first week it had bitten Elmo's toe twice, Goldie's thrice and Baby Blue's once. It bit Baby Blue's toe until it bled a couple of days ago, and just last night, near bed time it bit Goldie's toe until it bled too, even when it was locked out of their cage.

Wondering why it behaves this way...

I've been noticing that it has been preying upon the two keets and always trying to find an opening into their cage. One time I saw it perched on Godie's nest box inside the cage and as usual, Goldie defended its property.

Wondering, if it was being territorial, I mean, I wonder if Olive wants the nest box. Could it be possible when it hasn't even reached maturity??

Party Time

One thing my birds anticipate every day is the 'out-of-the-cage time', where they can hop on the laundry rack I use as their perches. I usually let them out for the whole afternoon so they can play together, or just get together. 

During this time, I feed them with corn and veggies like: carrot, broccoli, bok choy, peas, green beans and homegrown kale and swiss chard. Sometimes I give them some apples, pears or pumpkin, depends on what I have in the fridge. It takes a little time to introduce them to fresh veggies and fruit, since they were only accustomed to seeds feed when they were still in the nursery.

But thank God, now they seem to enjoy every thing I serve them everyday. 

 This is Goldie, a female parakeet, Baby Blue's new partner. She is not very tame yet since I haven't really spent time taming her. I put her in the same cage with Baby Blue since the first day I brought her home and they soon bonded. I am fine with that because they are a good match as Goldie also has similar characters with Baby Blue. Usually female parakeets are more fierce, especially if they're not tame yet. They can bite very hardly when offended/disturbed, but Goldie is different. She is quite gentle. If I insert my hand into the cage, she is not offensive, she just flies frantically all over the  cage trying to avoid to get too close to my hand, until I calm her down and persuade her to stand on my finger. I have won her trust though, but because I don't train her regularly, so it's like starting all over again after sometime. 

This is an old picture of Snowy and Baby Blue which I stumbled upon in my files. One day, I put a box inside their cage, hoping that they would be happy to sleep inside as it would be warmer there. Apparently, they had been traumatized with boxes and darkness because earlier they were put inside a box with small holes acted as ventilation by the seller. And when I put them inside the box to try it they were hysterical! Baby Blue would howl and scream, while Snowy, would frantically struggle his head against my hand trying to escape from the box. To calm them down I cut the the roof off, but still they refuse to sleep there, so finally I had to remove it from the cage for good. 

That's why it's very important to remember this one rule when handling birds. From the very beginning, try your best to avoid additional stresses on your future bird pets. At the time you buy them from a store or nursery, make sure you provide a small cage or a small wooden box with wire netting on both sides to transport them to their new home, so they can see around and are not locked in a dark room. This will prevent them from a long-term trauma and reduce a lot of stress, especially after being separated from their 

fellow cage-mates.

Try to be sympathetic to them as it is not easy to be separated from their familiar environment and friends/partners and be transferred into a new home, a new environment and to be with new friends/partners.

My New Babies Part 2

After Barney passed, I always wanted to buy another Lovebird. But because I had no experience keeping birds as pets before, I decided to buy a keet which is cheaper than a Lovie. I guess, I was giving a shot with the keet and planned to see how it went.

I never imagined how much joy a bird could bring into my life. Baby Blue is a really good, friendly and entertaining bird. I always make sure that he is well-fed, his water changed every morning, cage cleaned several times a day, and shower with baby shampoo once a week and play with him several times a day. Still, I can't see him spaced out in his cage, lonely, after Snowy's gone.

 So, one day I went to a bird store away from home and scored the cutest and most timid Lovebird among others in the cage.

Last time, Baby Blue and Snowy was put into a box with small holes when I bought them, and ever since they were traumatic with darkness. They will freeze and quack unceasingly every time 

I put them into a sleeping box or under a blanket 

or cup them in my palms. 

So this time, I decided to buy a small cage which is usually used for cicadas. It's a small wooden box with iron screen on both sides, enough for one or two birds. At least they can look out of the box, and wouldn't be traumatic.

The man who sold the Lovebird said that it's a male and still young, about 2 or 3 months. I just accept what he said since it's not easy to distinguish a Lovebird age, because once they're weaned in about 2 months, they will look like an adult lovebird. So you can't really tell their age anymore unless the breeder reveal it. At least you can observe its eye ring, if the ring is narrow, then it's a young bird.

All I want is a young bird, so I can train them to stand on my finger and hopefully to talk...

Another problem was distinguishing whether it is a male or female. It's also not easy to know the sex of lovebirds since they look the same. I found from the internet several characteristic that differentiate male to female Lovies, one of it is that female Lovies usually have bigger bodies. Another characteristic we can observe is that the tails end of male Lovie crosses while the female's tails are straight on. Finally, when they reach the age of 1 year old, female Lovies tend to stuff her underside with pieces of newspaper that she tear off from the bottom of her cage or else she'll be busy building a nest.

If we don't want to bother observing all these, we can just take them to the vet to have a DNA test. Fast and Easy. But since we don't really have avian vet in my town, I only have the earlier option.

Despite the unknown sex, I named it Elmo because his eyes ring reminded me of Elmo. I also called him 'Bibi' in case it's a female.  So I tried to make him familiar with these names. I know it's a bit crazy.  Well, anyway, Elmo is also an addition of joy at home. He's really cute. Despite Lovies love to be cuddled, Elmo who is still a baby loves to sleep inside a fluffy towel. 

Look at how cute he is while sleeping!

The next problem is that I don't really know what variety of Lovebirds he belongs to. We don't really have certificate for the bird we buy from the bird store. So I search through the Internet, and found that he might be a Blue Masked Lovebird, though he might also be a mix-breed.

Anyway, Elmo is not so easy to tame. It seems that he's a bit traumatic to be hand-handled. Every time I insert my hand into the cage to train him to stand on my finger he will fly frantically with his wings flapping against the iron bars and finally fall down to the bottom of the cage. It's sometimes frustrating trying to earn his trust. Since he loves the towel, I usually cover my hand with the towel when I try to persuade him to come down to my hand, so I can put him to sleep.

At playing time, I usually takes both Baby Blue and Elmo out of the cage and let them play outside. I let them perch on the aluminium rack for hanging clothes. Elmo and Baby Blue has been good friends though at times they fight over food and Elmo's mischief. Elmo likes to elbowed Baby Blue down from the perch and sometimes biting on Baby Blue's claws where he will mostly get his head pecked in return. What a funny bird!

Goodbye Barney...

On Monday, 

the weather had been bleak and the sky grey all day... 
It was as gloomy as my feeling... my mood...
My newly-found lovebird was dying...

Last Thursday, 

I heard my helper called out my name... 
to my surprise she pointed at a small red-headed yellow lovebird perched on the iron trellis of my kitchen window. 
It didn't fly away when my brother approaced and tried to catch it, instead, it frantically flew to the ceiling of the bathroom before it manuvered into my room, and there my brother 
managed to catch it.

At first, we thought it belonged to the bird shop next door. 
It's not unusual for us to help them catch escaped birds that flew into our house through my brother's workshop on the first floor. Somehow in my heart I knew that we're destined to meet...
and it was such a surprise to find that it wasn't belonged to them!

Soon, we gave him a new house and I named him Barney... We don't know wether it's a male or female but I just decided that it's a him, and feel that the name really fitted him.
 We don't know how old he was either. 
It's not easy to determine the sex of lovebirds, it usually requires a DNA test.. And after lovebirds have reached the age of 6 mo-1 yo, it will be difficult to tell its age. 
According to the information I read on the internet, Barney is a Lutino Fischer Lovebird originated from Africa. 

When we first found him, he looked fine except that he's not very active. I, who don't have any experience with birds before, found it just normal, considering the new environment and that it might be exhausted and hungry while in the escape.

It ate often and it also slept often!

I have always thought that lovebirds must be kept in pairs, if not it will died of loneliness, so I thought his inactiveness must be related to boredom. Once in a while I saw him biting the iron trellis of his cage and screeched, trying to escape it.

Then I started to find that the lower eyelid of his right eyes was swollen like a small blister. And sometimes his right eye was shut while the left was open. And he slept more often with fluffed-up feathers that made him look untidy.

 Look at how cute he was when sleeping! When I shot him with my camera, he could sense the traffic enforcement light on my camera beeping and he would make a cute peep on me! But just for a while and it would continue his sleep. He liked to tuck his head on his back or inside his wing. And sometimes he went into a deep sleep that he once almost lost his balance on the perch. Then I often found him oozing out on a spot at the corner so he might have a better balance. What a smart bird! 

Barney has brought such a joy into my life though it's for a very short time. I had started to build a friendship with it by talking to him and singing him a lullaby. After a couple of days, he looked more relaxed and no longer scared when I open his cage's door and inserted my hand to changed the newspaper I laid at the bottom of his cage, though he still tried to climb up in order to avoid me.

Last Sunday, he became weaker. He slept all the time, even when he perched on his food box. He would chew the mixed seeds for a while and slept! Many times I had to wake him up by calling his name, but he seemed to be in a deep sleep state that he couldn't really hear me. We started to think that he's an old, sick bird. Maybe his owner had purposedly set him free... 

Poor Barney...

I was so happy that he found us!

I bought an eyedrop for his eyes from our neighbor's bird shop. I applied it on his eyes twice on Sunday. 
And I started to notice that his feces was watery.

On Monday noon, I heard my brother say that Barney's dying...

I rushed to his cage and saw him staggered at the bottom of his cage. He looked struggling...and almost fell....

I kept calling his name...and I could see him trying to open his eyes...but he was too weak already...

He lay there until he was really gone...

I had my brother burried him at the front yard.

Had I learnt all his symptoms earlier, I might still have had a chance to save him...

I still feel the pain...

Barney, thank you for coming into my life, though 

only for a short moment...

I knew from the beginning that you're a gift

 from God.

I'm really happy to have you and to take care of you.

You have given such a joy into my life.

I love you.

And will always remember you.