Chico is Gone

We couldn't handle such an aggressive bird :( But we took him to Tree Top and they are working with him and trying to find him a good home.

The bite is healing well, but will probably leave a scar. A small price to pay to find Chico a kind and loving home :)

Happy holidays!

How To Stuff A Parrot

Ingredients:
1 Turkey
Corn Pudding...Read More
Green Beans
Stuffing
Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes with Gravy
Cranberry Sauce
Hot rolls
Relish tray
Pumpkin Pie
Whipped Cream
Hot Coffee

Get up early in the morning & have a cup of coffee. It’s going to be a long day so place your parrot on a perch nearby to keep you company while you prepare the meal.

Remove parrot from kitchen counter back to perch. Prepare stuffing, remove parrot from edge of stuffing bowl. Stuff turkey & place it in the roasting pan, remove parrot from edge of pan. Have another cup of coffee to steady your nerves. Remove parrot’s head from turkey cavity and re-stuff voided area. Prepare relish tray, remember to make twice as much so that you’ll have a regular size serving after the parrot has eaten his fill.

Remove parrot from kitchen counter. Prepare cranberry sauce, discard berries accidentally flung to the floor. Peel potatoes, remove parrot from edge of potato bowl. Arrange sweet potatoes in a pan & cover with brown sugar & mini marshmallows, remove parrot from edge of pan & replace missing marshmallows.

Brew another pot of coffee. While it is brewing, clean up the torn filter and old coffee grounds from around the pot. Pry coffee bean from parrot beak. Have another cup of coffee & remove parrot from kitchen counter.

When time to serve the meal: Place roasted turkey on a large platter, cover beak marks with strategically placed sprigs of parsley. Put mashed potatoes into serving bowl, rewhip at last minute to conceal bite marks and talon prints. Place pan of sweet potatoes on sideboard, forget presentation, as there’s no way to hide the areas of missing marshmallow. Put rolls in decorative basket, remove parrot from side of basket along with beaked rolls, and serve what’s left. Set a stick of butter out on the counter to soften, think better and return it to the refrigerator. Wipe down counter to remove mashed potato talon tracks.

Remove parrot from kitchen counter & carve the pie into serving slices. Wipe whipped cream off parrot’s beak & place large dollops of remaining cream on pie slices. Whole slices are then served to guests, beaked-out portions should be reserved for host & hostess.

Place parrot inside cage & lock the door. Sit down to a nice relaxing dinner with your family - accompanied by plaintive cries of “WANT DINNER!” from the other room.


~Posted from Heather's iPhone

Chico attack

No real story this time. He was doing so good and then decided he wanted arm for dinner. It looked worse last night when he did it, and seems to be healing nice and quick thank goodness.

~Posted from Heather's iPhone

Chico did it!

HE STEPPED UP!!!!!!! I am soooo excited!!!!! Izabo flew by and scared him and he jumped off his cage. He is so terrified of the stick that he wouldn't step up and kept running away from Toney with it. I offered my hand and he stepped right up without hesitation or aggression! :D We think his "attacks" now may be his way of showing affection since he hasn't actually bit me, just flown and clung to my shirt. He did it again, and this time I didn't put him down immediately and he climbed to my arm and sat there (not shoulder, forearm).

Best snack ever!

Plain check cereal + ranch dressing mixed with popcorn cheese = delicious

Plus the birds can have the plain chex!

~Posted from Heather's iPhone

Rant

I am so tired of seeing so many people unaware of the time and care
that fids require. I can't even count how many times I have been at a
pet store playing with the birds and someone mistakes me for an
employee and starts asking basic questions. After they find out they
have to take care of them and can't just keep them in a pretty cage
all the time, they tend to walk away and go look at puppies and other
furry pets. It's infuriating really.

With that said, I am adding a few more pages to our web site on basic
bird care and such so I can direct them to that rather than relying on
google. The first page will be a list of basic facts: Things to
consider before buying a bird.

~Posted from Heather's iPhone

Cairo's feet

The blood work results came back. Slightly elevated white blood cell count but everything else is good. So it's a minor inflamation and we are getting a cream ordered for him since the vet didn't have it in stock. I'm making him forage a bit more each day until everything is in foraging toys. Hopefully that will keep him busy enough to not chew on his toes. We also scrubbed their bedroom and cages and such from top to bottom this past Saturday. You wouldn't believe how much dust can collect on the baseboards in a short period of time lol. Hopefully our baby boy will get better quickly, and we will keep everyone posted :)


~Posted from Heather's iPhone

Chico time!

Some more info on Chico and his cage after closer inspection:
His toenails are overgrown
His feet are raw on the bottom from being on the same round perch for 12 years
The perch was covered in about 6 months worth of poo (now spotless)
The cage isn't much larger than cairo's travel cage
The cage is rusty
He has 3 toys-a rusty bell and a old piece of lava rock and a chunk of something
He has been fed seed from walmart
His tail is broken in spots and very ratty from the tiny cage

When he woke up this morning he made all kinds of coos and happy noises (he was silent last night after being dropped off). I think we are keeping him even if we can't touch him ever. I know with us he will be cared for, and I jus don't trust other people to give him the care he deserves after such a rotten life.


~Posted from Heather's iPhone

Welcome home Chico

Our newest flock member is Chico and he is a 17 year old DYH Amazon. His toenails are waaay to long and his beak looks a bit odd. Overall he looks healthy and we will be making a vet appointment asap since none are open Sunday


~Posted from Heather's iPhone

We sure did it this time...

When we moved into our house, our neighbor saw the birds and mentioned
his mom has a DYH Amazon. After talking to him for a bit, we
discovered the Zon has lived in a cage eating seed it's whole life!
Jokingly (kinda) we told him we would take the bird if she didn't want
him. A year later (like 5 min ago) our neighbors wife asked if we
still wanted the Zon.

Wow.

So long story short, we are bringing in a fourt fid if only long
enough to find a suitable loving patient home. If we can find the
space though I think he/she may become a permanant resident of our zoo.


~Posted from Heather's iPhone

More birdy foot problems

Well, Cairo is picking at his feet again. And now there is also a discolored bump on top of a toe and raw looking spots on the bottoms. The big worry is that it seem to be both feet this time instead of just the right one. We've been keeping the humidifier on since it fixed it last time, but no such luck this time. I have made an appointment for 9AM with our local avian vet tomorrow, so we shall see how it goes.

In other parrot related news, zeke let me mess with his feet yesterday :) which is a first. He's progressing well, I rarely need to step him up with a stick now. Zeke is also more used to the stroller and only freaks out going over bumpy ground.

Izzy is fine, nothing really new with her. She's getting a bit clearer with her speach, and said "Cairo" (we think) for the first time this morning. She still doesn't like her veggies too much, but we are trying.


~Posted from Heather's iPhone

Amazon agression

Cairo has become increasingly agressive since we let his wings grow. It's like he thinks he's boss of the house. He tried to attack Toney and I on multiple occasions, often 3-4 times in an hour :(

He is now clipped.

He's already turning back into my sweet little cuddle bug that I fell in love with :) it was almost instant! Like " Oh, I can't fly anymore...guess mom is in charge. Ok, I want snuggles...NOW! mmmmm"

We also got Zekes wings trimmed just in case, and Izzy still flys free 'cause she's a sweetie no matter what.

~Posted from Heather's iPhone

Cheap bird toys

We bought some Chinese take out boxes from "the container store". They are between .49-1.09 and we just filled then with toys, food, & treats :)

~Posted from Heather's iPhone