Sherbert's Stories

I decided to make a new thread specifically dedicated to my Bourke's Parakeet, Sherbert. If you would like to read about her 1st month with me, please refer to "New Bird Owner" in the Budgie forum.

Let's get this started with a little update from the previous thread. It's been about a week since her New Bird Wellness exam where she got a clean bill of health despite her "dropped stone" wing clip. She seems to be doing alright, maybe a bit hormonal though? Since finding out Sherbert was female, I've tended to equate some of her behaviors to being female possibly reaching sexual maturity. The shop where I got her wasn't very helpful in determining her age. They put her between 6 months and a year. From my reading, I've learnt that most female bourkies reach sexual maturity at approximately a year. I've noticed her doing some things I would consider possible mating behavior, but I could be projecting. She's my only bird, so no actual mate for her right now. Would it be a good idea to get one for her in the future, or might this cause more issues? I say in the future since I have no current plans on getting her a mate, or any interest in having to deal with babies. I know I'm not ready.

She seems to like her new cage with all new perches. It's set up in a way to help her move around without the need to try and fly despite being a "flight cage" due to her current bad clip job. She's already fallen off perches a few times while trying to make daring leaps and suffered the consequence of several broken blood feathers and a broken tail feather or two. his was before I added more perches and hopefully made it easier to navigate. I wonder if I should switch her back to her original cage, but it's incredibly smaller and I feel bad even considering sticking her in a smaller cage. Even if it's just until her flight/landing feathers grow in properly.

She's such a cute little bird. I absolutely adore her. Her little twitters make me smile every time. She's not a fan of water unless its on her terms, which means she gets misted with a water bottle. I don't think she's ever really too thrilled about it. But its a necessity when she's a messy little bird eating her fruits and veggies, getting food stuck all around her head. I honestly, never knew birds had such personalities before I got her. The joy she brings is immeasurable.

Very cool, I dont think we have a Bourke's on thhe board , at least not an active one. That means lots of pictures and stories and videos!
Sherbert the birdbert! I love the name.

Sherbert is so beautiful, and I'm glad her vet visit went well! Birds are amazing - I can relate to the feeling about how much personality they have.

I can't really speak to the pros or cons of adding another bird in the future - mine were rehomed to me as a pair and are "double-trouble" sometimes

I think you are on the right track with her cage. If it were me I'd just keep an eye on how she's traveling through it - add extra stuff to bridge gaps and deter "daring leaps" until her feathers grow back. You always have her old cage as a backup plan if it's really needed.

I absolutely love the twitters, chirps and songs that they sing - I'm jealous! I assure you that my conures (particularly my sun) make no noise that resembles a twitter or chirp :25:

So, today, I made the difficult decision to move Miss Sherbert to her old cage. It seemed no matter how I set up her new cage, she was determined to try and fly. This resulted in the twisting/breaking of some her few remaining tail feathers. It saddens me to see her in a smaller cage, but I just have to tell myself it's for the best. I'm hoping for a speedy recovery.

Day 2 of the smaller cage and we're both going crazy? So, its been over 48 hours since I switched Sherbert to her old cage. It's smaller, but not too small I hope. 30" x 18" x 18", but I feel as though Miss Sherbert might be going a little stir crazy. She does this pacing thing back and forth on the floor on the cage and I want to let her out, but I fear for her safety. She still drops like a rock if she tries to fly and somehow she twisted a couple more tail feathers while in the small cage, so I don't want to risk anything. She has maybe 2 tail feathers left. Getting really close to a full duck butt. I just hope, once those flight feathers grow in, it gives her tail feathers a chance to return to their former glory. On a lighter note, her favorite thing now is to sit in her food bowls, whether she's eating or not. I think its adorable. She'll step up for me when she wants to. It's a work in progress. We like to play peek-a-boo when she's in her food bowl or behind her water dish, or at least that's what I think we're doing. I might just be a crazy bird person now.

A Light in the Tunnel

So, it happened. Princess Sherbert (as my housemates are calling her) twisted/broke the few remaining tail feathers she had. She might have one left, or it might be twisted and waiting to be pulled out. This leads me to my next change of her cage that I completed. It appears as though she was twisting or breaking tail feathers when she was trying to sit in her food bowls. I was using 10oz stainless steel bird cups for food and it appears she was possibly using them to start nesting behavior. Sitting in the food dishes and getting somewhat territorial over them. We switched to the trough style dishes that came with her larger flight cage. This seemed to eliminate the food sitting as I'll call it. A glimmer of hope appeared in the form of pin/blood feathers forming on her wings. She also has quite a few pin feathers around her head/neck area. She's still very hesitant to let me help rub some of the sheathes off og the pin feathers, and I don't want to traumatize her more with an attempt to rub her head if she doesn't want me too. Despite our difficulties with everything so far, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Every day as a bird owner I learn something new and my love for Sherbert grows.

It's been a mellow couple days since my last update on Sherbert. We're still working on stepping up and not being afraid of hands. Oddly though, it seems she developed a dislike for anything out of the ordinary. It's been a bit since I offered her millet, approximately a week or so and when I tried to offer it again she hissed at it. Well, as much of a hiss that Bourke's are capable of. Which isn't much for those of you familiar with Bourkies. After an intense stare off between the millet and herself when I attached it to the side of her cage, she finally came off of her perch and came to gobble up some millet. This lead to a minor scare when I couldn't find her after I looked up at her cage after a few minutes. She was standing directly behind the piece of millet to the point where I couldn't see her when I was looking around her cage. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief when I saw her enjoying her millet in the safety of her cage. On a side note, I came home from work on lunch one day to discover her mostly drenched in water with her. Her water bowl was a sickly brown color despite me changing the water that morning. All the evidence pointed to a secret bird bath while I was gone. I only wish I had been there to see her enjoying a well-needed bath. I was able to snap a quick photo of my wet bird and I'm glad I did. According to my knowledge and reading Bourke's are not very fond of water and therefore, I chalk my photo up to a rare occurence and one that I will treasure.
If anyone has bird fever and wants a low(er) maintenance bird, I highly recommend little Bourkes. My little Sherbert has been a darling and very non-obtrustive when it comes to the soft twittering she does on a daily basis. The one thing I have to mention, if you are looking for a very active bird to spend lots of time with, I don't believe a Bourke would be the right fit for you. My little girl is quite content to nap periodically during the day and spends most of her time dozing off in the afternoon sun. She's not bored by any means though. She has a few toys she'll occasionally tug on and a few wooden blocks she likes to chew, but for the most part, she likes perching on a branch like a little fluff. She's most active before the sun comes up and a few hours as it sets until it's almost pitch black outside. From my reading, this is very typical as the Bourke is also known as the "Sundown Parrot". Perfect for a working body like myself.

PS Enjoy the Photo of my wet lil fluff.

It's been a couple weeks since Sherbert's last update. We're still waiting on her feathers to grow in, so she can be moved out of small condo into her bird mansion(hq flight cage). Her lack of primary flight and landing feathers has also made bonding a bit difficult. I can no longer safely take her out of her cage for fear she might try flying off of somewhere and do some damage to herself. The last time I tried to take her out, she tried to jump up onto my leg and when she flapped and flapped and couldn't make it, she fell backwards and twisted/broke some of her brand new tail feathers. This fact hurts me so much. I want to build a loving relationship with Sherbert and I feel like I'm failing her. She's now grown even more terrified of my hands. When I change the food and water, she'll back away quickly and let out what sounds like a very muffled blood curdling cry, her wings trembling. It breaks my heart every time I hear it.
She seems to be happy otherwise, she usually sits on her perch chirping and twittering away and grinds her beak occasionally. She plays with her toys, chewing blocks or ringing her bell. She's eating healthy, but I want to try some sprouting seed mix. (Any recommendations for a first timer?) She's currently eating Harrison's pellets, a mix of veggies, and batch of chicken pesto pasta the local bird sanctuary sells. One odd thing to point out though, she'll try to eat her poop. Anything that has Not fallen through the grate at the bottom is subject to being eaten. I've read its from a lack of something vitamin/mineral wise in the parrot's diet and therefore the bird will try to get said vitamin or mineral wherever they can. Correct me if I'm wrong please. Sherbert has both a cuttlebone and a mineral block in her cage and she uses both as far as I can tell. Is there any to curb this behavior/find out specifically what she needs?

Anyways, sorry for the super long post. Hope everyone else is well and everyone's fids survived the 4th. It was a rough night for all the animals, and as result the humans, in our household. Be well and flap happy.

Aw sherbet, I love that name. Silver sage has a lot of advice with sprouting and other useful things for health, training and all.