Parry, unfortunately, continues to pluck. But after 2 - 3 years of plucking, I doubt just a week and a half in our care would cure that. It helps that Parry is so curious! I got her yet another foraging toy - this one requires here to turn 2 stainless steel "keys" and to pull BOTH out (not at the same time) and it opens up (its in the shape of a see-through treasure chest) and she gets the goodies inside. i left home (to go to work) with just one of the keys "unlocked"....when i got home from work, she managed to actually unlock the other key! amazing. i thought it was more of a possibility that she would break the thing to get at the nuts inside. we really have to keep this gal busy and put more foraging toys up..or just homemade ones as well. making her "work" for her food might also be an option instead of just for treats...i just want to make sure that she does eat something!
i also bought her a large boing. i've placed it outside of her cage just to get her used to it. i think we will rearrange a bit of her cage this weekend so that we can get that boing in - if she uses it, i think it could really release alot of her energy.
i have started doing target training with her and she has been doing great. i thought she would be more nervous about the target (which is a round wooden ball atop a straight wooden stick, slightly thicker than a wooden chopstick) but she touched it the very first try. i think i will continue this through the bars, or have my husband continue with maybe working with a wooden ring outside of the cage...we'll see.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Parry had her first actual shower with us today (she got wet, as you can see). my husband put her on a step stool in the shower and used one of our spray thingies on her (you have to pump in the air and you have a nice steady mist of water for a while). she didn't do much...from what i heard from my husband, she just stood there and took it all in. she didn't go all silly like i thought she would. i think its because it was a new bathroom and its something to get used to.
we've only had her for about a week, but a few days with us, we did have concerns about her health with more than occasional sneezing and some weird bright green poop. i thought it was due to stress, and i think it is. after the first week, her poop has become more normal in color (dark greenish..but of course depending on what she has eaten) and my husband and i have noticed less sneezing - we rarely hear her do this (if any) now when we spend time with her.
my husband has been able to scratch parry's head and under her chin inside and outside of her cage. i think its wonderful that she has gotten used to someone in our home so quickly. from what we see, parry loves the person who has and exhibits a LOT of energy. my husband will act crazy with her - dancing all over the place and singing or whistling - and she would actually dance/bop along with him and make occasional noises. parry also allows my husband to easily transport her on a short stick from/to just about anywhere.
i am taking things slow...she doesn't "ask" to be scratched by me, even when i offer so i don't push the subject. she does still take nuts nicely out of my hand, though, and im completely happy with this interaction we have.
parry has become quite inquisitive lately...she has been pulling out toys out of her green bucket i've given her (i've placed a nut in there as well, and she knows it)..i've put up a coconut foraging toy with a shelled walnut stuck in the bottom of it and she's found and eaten that...she has another foraging toy where she has to lift the top up to get at the treat inside. and she has been nibbling on the wooden and plastic toys hanging around her cage. with all this activity, i hope she has decided to stop (or at least limit) her plucking issue. we should keep up with changing around her toys to keep her mind stimulated.
on saturday morning i fixed up various veggies and fruits - bell peppers, long green beans, slices of raw carrots, grapes, blueberries, bananas - and mixed in some birdie bread. parry seems to really like the green beans (still) and the bell peppers - which she started off with first. my husband cleaned out the breakfast bowls so i couldn't see what else she liked. im thinking about using a birdie kabob in her cage to hang from the top or the side of her cage and just put some fresh veggies on there for her breakfast or dinner and see if she has fun with that...
Friday, March 21, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
my husband has made some major progress with Parry! he has been able to give Parry scratches on her head and under her chin through the cage bars...this started on tuesday.
Parry has not yet given me this honor, but i'm not pressuring anything. a bird this size needs complete respect. she has been happily taking treats very nicely from my hand through the bars. i even opened the cage once to give her a whole walnut and she took the walnut nicely.
I try to sit down with her and talk to her everyday. she likes to eat with company so I have had dinner with her. I ate the same veggies as she did for dinner and I made some "yummy" sounds which made her a little curious, so i let her see me as i dumped a bit of my veggies into her food bowl and she came right over. not sure how much she ate, but she ate some. we bought some long green beans from the farmer's market this past weekend and she just LOVES to take those, snap the top off and bite pieces of it off. with those pieces she opens it up carefully and eats the peas inside while discarding the rest of that piece.
She also showed an interest in tangarines (which we were told she likes).
Because she shows some curiosity, I am going to try to target train her and see where that takes us.
Today my husband - for the first time since she came here - took her out of her cage. he said that the first thing she did was clamor to the top of her cage. Then she moved onto the cage door and started "testing out" (tapping it with her beak) the window near her cage. - we definitely need watch that!
Parry seemed to have been okay with stepping up for him on to his stick (which we also got from his former owner), and my husband tried to take her into the shower. he first put her on the handle-bar of a step stool and tried to take her into the shower, but she stepped back on to the handle bar of the step stool. i told him to try and put a plastic chair that we have into the shower and have her perch there and turn on the shower...i think he is doing that now since i haven't heard from him in about 10 minutes (i guess its going well..?) i'll keep you posted!
Parry has not yet given me this honor, but i'm not pressuring anything. a bird this size needs complete respect. she has been happily taking treats very nicely from my hand through the bars. i even opened the cage once to give her a whole walnut and she took the walnut nicely.
I try to sit down with her and talk to her everyday. she likes to eat with company so I have had dinner with her. I ate the same veggies as she did for dinner and I made some "yummy" sounds which made her a little curious, so i let her see me as i dumped a bit of my veggies into her food bowl and she came right over. not sure how much she ate, but she ate some. we bought some long green beans from the farmer's market this past weekend and she just LOVES to take those, snap the top off and bite pieces of it off. with those pieces she opens it up carefully and eats the peas inside while discarding the rest of that piece.
She also showed an interest in tangarines (which we were told she likes).
Because she shows some curiosity, I am going to try to target train her and see where that takes us.
Today my husband - for the first time since she came here - took her out of her cage. he said that the first thing she did was clamor to the top of her cage. Then she moved onto the cage door and started "testing out" (tapping it with her beak) the window near her cage. - we definitely need watch that!
Parry seemed to have been okay with stepping up for him on to his stick (which we also got from his former owner), and my husband tried to take her into the shower. he first put her on the handle-bar of a step stool and tried to take her into the shower, but she stepped back on to the handle bar of the step stool. i told him to try and put a plastic chair that we have into the shower and have her perch there and turn on the shower...i think he is doing that now since i haven't heard from him in about 10 minutes (i guess its going well..?) i'll keep you posted!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
My husband sat with Parry later today and he started to play the radio a little louder...he also started to move with the music and Parry started vocalize a bit with him as well as move her head side to side or up and down to the music. we have some of this on video which i will post right after this.
we have also been told that Parry does know how to say "hi" or "hello", but not very often. we have not heard any of this yet, but from her short vocalizations (which were not - by any means - loud or ear-piercing) i think she would be able to say some words. Parry's former owners also noted that she usually mumbles a lot, especially if Parry thinks she is alone.
Parry has continually been taking nuts from my fingers through her cage bars very nicely and eats them. i think that is a prety good sign so far, since if a bir does not feel comfortable with someone, they may take the nut but drop it promptly after taking it.
i put a full roll of toilet paper in her cage as something to bite on and she has done some work on that today. i saw a pile of shredded toilet paper on the bottom of her cage. She is also aware of a foraging toy in her cage that is holding a full walnut. its in one of those contraptions where you just lift the top lid and there's the yummy treats. i also have a small plastic bucket in there filled with foot toys and soft balsa pieces and one large walnut.
she has been moving around a bit more in her cage. i think she is a little intimidated on the size of the cage and what all the toys really are. so far she knows where the food and water bowls are and she has ventured to the back of the cage (which is where the toilet paper roll is). i think she is starting to realize that nothing in there is going to hurt or attack her and some of those things are actually fun to play with.
it seems that at times she is testing (or tasting) the cage. she will put her beak and tongue on the cage and kinda stand there - either moving her beak against the cage or just licking it.
she also has already let a tail feather (i believe, or could be a wing feather) go. im just hoping its not a plucking thing and more of it having to do with being in the travel carrier as we transported her home to us.
we fed her some fresh food which consisted of asparagus, english beans (in the pod), grape tomatoes, birdie bread that i made this morning, a 1/4 of a tangarine, banana pieces and a bit of broccoli....but we don't think she touched it much. we'll keep on trying. from what i see, i think she has only eaten seeds and nuts today. at least she is eating something! im happy about that.
we have also been told that Parry does know how to say "hi" or "hello", but not very often. we have not heard any of this yet, but from her short vocalizations (which were not - by any means - loud or ear-piercing) i think she would be able to say some words. Parry's former owners also noted that she usually mumbles a lot, especially if Parry thinks she is alone.
Parry has continually been taking nuts from my fingers through her cage bars very nicely and eats them. i think that is a prety good sign so far, since if a bir does not feel comfortable with someone, they may take the nut but drop it promptly after taking it.
i put a full roll of toilet paper in her cage as something to bite on and she has done some work on that today. i saw a pile of shredded toilet paper on the bottom of her cage. She is also aware of a foraging toy in her cage that is holding a full walnut. its in one of those contraptions where you just lift the top lid and there's the yummy treats. i also have a small plastic bucket in there filled with foot toys and soft balsa pieces and one large walnut.
she has been moving around a bit more in her cage. i think she is a little intimidated on the size of the cage and what all the toys really are. so far she knows where the food and water bowls are and she has ventured to the back of the cage (which is where the toilet paper roll is). i think she is starting to realize that nothing in there is going to hurt or attack her and some of those things are actually fun to play with.
it seems that at times she is testing (or tasting) the cage. she will put her beak and tongue on the cage and kinda stand there - either moving her beak against the cage or just licking it.
she also has already let a tail feather (i believe, or could be a wing feather) go. im just hoping its not a plucking thing and more of it having to do with being in the travel carrier as we transported her home to us.
we fed her some fresh food which consisted of asparagus, english beans (in the pod), grape tomatoes, birdie bread that i made this morning, a 1/4 of a tangarine, banana pieces and a bit of broccoli....but we don't think she touched it much. we'll keep on trying. from what i see, i think she has only eaten seeds and nuts today. at least she is eating something! im happy about that.
Parry came to our home today after a hard split-up between his long time owner. We did allow them to spend as much time as they felt comfortable till moving her to our home since I know that is important for both the bird and the people giving the bird to Mickaboo. This exchange is really is all about the bird and if the people giving the bird to Mickaboo is not fully decided upon surrendering the bird, the bird will pick up on that and possibly retaliate and not take as easily to the foster family as how normally the case would be.
I fully respect the family who surrendered Parry - it is by no means an easy decision, but they had the best interest of the bird at heart. I dedicate this blog to that decision and to the continuation of the happy, healthy life Parry is meant to have for the rest of her life.
A little background on Parry:
What we know of Parry is that she is at least 27 yrs old, and she is indeed a SHE (she has laid eggs in the past!) Her former father had her for those 27 years, and he thinks she was a year or two when he bought her from a south californian pet shop.
Parry is a wild caught bird, possibly from Bolivia. She has been loved during her life and she has loved her favorite male person. Parry has known to take a liking to a few other people she has met along the way (men and women).
She has been known to seek out a warm, dark place somewhere in the home to be nesty and territorial over. Because of this fact, we were easily able to have her walk into the travel carrier on her own. The carrier has a few holes on each side, but the plastic material covered enough that it created a darkened area inside. she went right in and explored. I am thinking we can't keep her in there for too long otherwise she will get very hormonal and nesty, but its good to know that she is okay with that carrier. We will do some travelling around in that cage for sure!
After coming to her quarantine room, we opened up the carrier right in front of the entrance of her cage and she stepped right up to one of the manzanita branches. She has been keeping toward the front of the cage so far, and moving across the front between the water and food bowls (they are on opposite sides of the cage).
We put a stainless steel chain around her door and put a padlock on it because we have been told (and are witnesses to!) that she can open up her cage by manipulating the basic locking features on a typical cage. Also, if a padlock is not completely closed, she can easily open it completely and out she comes!
She has been picking at her food - I have all kinds of things in there just to see what she is interested in (harrisons course, zupreem fruit blend, some nuts/seeds) - and she has also been taking nuts from my fingers (nicely too) as well as from my husband. I hope she continues to be this nice to both of us :-) but i know it is way too early to tell yet since she is in the honeymoon period for the next two weeks at least. so far she has been great. rather quiet. she has been sneezing a bit off and on. I will keep an eye on that.
Parry is plucked on her chest and back area - from what we know she has been plucking for the last 2 years. I am keeping an eye on her and if she is continually plucking. As i write, she is preening herself. so im a little worried. she took a shower yesterday, so we'll hold off on that till next weekend perhaps. (i really dont know how we are going to do that yet..) plus i think she needs a wing and nail trim.
Well, that's it for now. I hope you like her pictures, below.
I fully respect the family who surrendered Parry - it is by no means an easy decision, but they had the best interest of the bird at heart. I dedicate this blog to that decision and to the continuation of the happy, healthy life Parry is meant to have for the rest of her life.
A little background on Parry:
What we know of Parry is that she is at least 27 yrs old, and she is indeed a SHE (she has laid eggs in the past!) Her former father had her for those 27 years, and he thinks she was a year or two when he bought her from a south californian pet shop.
Parry is a wild caught bird, possibly from Bolivia. She has been loved during her life and she has loved her favorite male person. Parry has known to take a liking to a few other people she has met along the way (men and women).
She has been known to seek out a warm, dark place somewhere in the home to be nesty and territorial over. Because of this fact, we were easily able to have her walk into the travel carrier on her own. The carrier has a few holes on each side, but the plastic material covered enough that it created a darkened area inside. she went right in and explored. I am thinking we can't keep her in there for too long otherwise she will get very hormonal and nesty, but its good to know that she is okay with that carrier. We will do some travelling around in that cage for sure!
After coming to her quarantine room, we opened up the carrier right in front of the entrance of her cage and she stepped right up to one of the manzanita branches. She has been keeping toward the front of the cage so far, and moving across the front between the water and food bowls (they are on opposite sides of the cage).
We put a stainless steel chain around her door and put a padlock on it because we have been told (and are witnesses to!) that she can open up her cage by manipulating the basic locking features on a typical cage. Also, if a padlock is not completely closed, she can easily open it completely and out she comes!
She has been picking at her food - I have all kinds of things in there just to see what she is interested in (harrisons course, zupreem fruit blend, some nuts/seeds) - and she has also been taking nuts from my fingers (nicely too) as well as from my husband. I hope she continues to be this nice to both of us :-) but i know it is way too early to tell yet since she is in the honeymoon period for the next two weeks at least. so far she has been great. rather quiet. she has been sneezing a bit off and on. I will keep an eye on that.
Parry is plucked on her chest and back area - from what we know she has been plucking for the last 2 years. I am keeping an eye on her and if she is continually plucking. As i write, she is preening herself. so im a little worried. she took a shower yesterday, so we'll hold off on that till next weekend perhaps. (i really dont know how we are going to do that yet..) plus i think she needs a wing and nail trim.
Well, that's it for now. I hope you like her pictures, below.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)