reeb
New member
I hope to document some of my parrots' stories in this new thread. I love reading others' stories, and so i've decided to share some of mine.
This was Felix on the day I first found him - Christmas eve, 2014. He flew down onto the deck at our holiday home, more than likely looking for food - he was so skinny.
All we had were sunflower seeds, and we quickly threw some in a dish and filled another with water, to put on the ground, hoping that he would come and eat and drink. He ate and ate, and had clearly not had food for a long time. We made a makeshift cage out of two wire baskets, and after a lot of patience we managed to get him to climb in. He was TERRIFIED, and had clearly had little human interaction.
We were in a small holiday town, with no pet store. I have no idea where he flew from, but it could have been very far away. We rushed to the supermarket on Christmas eve (can you imagine) and bought the only pet bird seed we could find (that awful plain millet seed), as well as some veggies for him. I also made him some makeshift toys out of some stuff I had at home. We had never had birds, but I was determined to help this little guy out.
We made missing bird posters and stuck them up all over the town, but by the time it came for us to leave, no one had claimed him. I was 17 at the time, and although my parents didn't want a bird, I wanted to bring him home with us. So, my mom and I drove to the nearest town with an actual pet shop (about 45 minutes away) and bought him a cage, some toys, and some proper food. The next obstacle though, was that we needed to drive 12 HOURS back to our regular home in the city. With 2 dogs (that want to eat birds) and a budgie, this was one hell of an effort. But, we made it home, and the next thing I started thinking about was that little Felix needed a friend.
Initially, I contacted a breeder who had a couple of babies that would be available in a month. I booked one (but ended up taking two in the end haha) but I knew Felix needed a cage buddy ASAP. So I went to my local pet store and picked up my second budgie. I named him Marmaduke, or Duke, for short. He ended up being a daddy to a few of my future birds, and is still, definitely, the boss of the flock - and also, a total casanova.
My two little boys got upgraded to a brand new flight cage, and Felix finally began to seem like a happy little chappy. Unfortunately, as my flock grew Felix began to be bullied quite badly, so I made the tough decision to rehome him about a year and a half ago.
The plan was then to get the new babies in February 2015....
BUT, my mom (now as obsessed with them as I was) went to our local pet store for dog supplies and saw two baby show budgies in a little shoe box. They were so young that they were still being hand fed. So, next thing I knew my mom called me and told me that we had two baby budgies on their way home and we need to hand feed them and initially I was like... "MOM WHAT ARE YOU DOING WE ARE TOO INEXPERIENCED", but the moment I saw these sweethearts I fell in love, just like she did - and well, as irresponsible as it may have been, we were thrown into the deep-end and had to hand feed our first batch of babies! These two boys (Mango and Kiwi) are still going strong today, so clearly we didn't do too bad of a job!
Here they are, a few days after we brought them home:
Here they are as adults:
I mentioned the pair of babies I was getting from the breeder a couple of times. Well, these two gorgeous girls arrived about a month later. I named them Lotus and Orchid - and sadly, at the end of 2016 before we moved houses, both girls escaped, despite being very docile and tame and our being so careful and fastidious about keeping our birds safe. We have no idea how, and we think it may have been the careless action of someone who regularly visits our house -we never wanted to point fingers. I cried and cried and cried - because, not only did I lose my two girls, but I also lost the mother of some of my other birds - but that, my friends, is a story for another day. Here my girls are. I still miss them after all this time, and I wish every day for them to have experienced the aviary that the rest of their flock now live in.
The next member of the flock was another little hand reared show budgie. We named him Malachite, and he has so much personality.
The day i fetched him from the store, I noticed a lovely blue show budgie sitting in a cage with a bunch of "wild" budgies... yet he came towards me as I came closer, and for the first time ever, I felt a bird choose me. I told my mom that he NEEDED to come with us too. It was absolutely necessary in my mind. I named him Topaz. Sadly, my precious boy would be the first bird that I would lose. He passed away in 2016 from a very sudden illness. I was broken after his death. That's a story for another time though. Rest in peace, my sweet.
Although it's on a sad note, I guess that's where I'll wrap things up for today.
I now have 23 birds, with plenty of stories to share about them. 20 of them live in a large outdoor aviary, and 3 live inside with me.
Part 1: The first members of the flock
This was Felix on the day I first found him - Christmas eve, 2014. He flew down onto the deck at our holiday home, more than likely looking for food - he was so skinny.
All we had were sunflower seeds, and we quickly threw some in a dish and filled another with water, to put on the ground, hoping that he would come and eat and drink. He ate and ate, and had clearly not had food for a long time. We made a makeshift cage out of two wire baskets, and after a lot of patience we managed to get him to climb in. He was TERRIFIED, and had clearly had little human interaction.
We were in a small holiday town, with no pet store. I have no idea where he flew from, but it could have been very far away. We rushed to the supermarket on Christmas eve (can you imagine) and bought the only pet bird seed we could find (that awful plain millet seed), as well as some veggies for him. I also made him some makeshift toys out of some stuff I had at home. We had never had birds, but I was determined to help this little guy out.
We made missing bird posters and stuck them up all over the town, but by the time it came for us to leave, no one had claimed him. I was 17 at the time, and although my parents didn't want a bird, I wanted to bring him home with us. So, my mom and I drove to the nearest town with an actual pet shop (about 45 minutes away) and bought him a cage, some toys, and some proper food. The next obstacle though, was that we needed to drive 12 HOURS back to our regular home in the city. With 2 dogs (that want to eat birds) and a budgie, this was one hell of an effort. But, we made it home, and the next thing I started thinking about was that little Felix needed a friend.
Initially, I contacted a breeder who had a couple of babies that would be available in a month. I booked one (but ended up taking two in the end haha) but I knew Felix needed a cage buddy ASAP. So I went to my local pet store and picked up my second budgie. I named him Marmaduke, or Duke, for short. He ended up being a daddy to a few of my future birds, and is still, definitely, the boss of the flock - and also, a total casanova.
My two little boys got upgraded to a brand new flight cage, and Felix finally began to seem like a happy little chappy. Unfortunately, as my flock grew Felix began to be bullied quite badly, so I made the tough decision to rehome him about a year and a half ago.
The plan was then to get the new babies in February 2015....
BUT, my mom (now as obsessed with them as I was) went to our local pet store for dog supplies and saw two baby show budgies in a little shoe box. They were so young that they were still being hand fed. So, next thing I knew my mom called me and told me that we had two baby budgies on their way home and we need to hand feed them and initially I was like... "MOM WHAT ARE YOU DOING WE ARE TOO INEXPERIENCED", but the moment I saw these sweethearts I fell in love, just like she did - and well, as irresponsible as it may have been, we were thrown into the deep-end and had to hand feed our first batch of babies! These two boys (Mango and Kiwi) are still going strong today, so clearly we didn't do too bad of a job!
Here they are, a few days after we brought them home:
Here they are as adults:
I mentioned the pair of babies I was getting from the breeder a couple of times. Well, these two gorgeous girls arrived about a month later. I named them Lotus and Orchid - and sadly, at the end of 2016 before we moved houses, both girls escaped, despite being very docile and tame and our being so careful and fastidious about keeping our birds safe. We have no idea how, and we think it may have been the careless action of someone who regularly visits our house -we never wanted to point fingers. I cried and cried and cried - because, not only did I lose my two girls, but I also lost the mother of some of my other birds - but that, my friends, is a story for another day. Here my girls are. I still miss them after all this time, and I wish every day for them to have experienced the aviary that the rest of their flock now live in.
The next member of the flock was another little hand reared show budgie. We named him Malachite, and he has so much personality.
The day i fetched him from the store, I noticed a lovely blue show budgie sitting in a cage with a bunch of "wild" budgies... yet he came towards me as I came closer, and for the first time ever, I felt a bird choose me. I told my mom that he NEEDED to come with us too. It was absolutely necessary in my mind. I named him Topaz. Sadly, my precious boy would be the first bird that I would lose. He passed away in 2016 from a very sudden illness. I was broken after his death. That's a story for another time though. Rest in peace, my sweet.
Although it's on a sad note, I guess that's where I'll wrap things up for today.
I now have 23 birds, with plenty of stories to share about them. 20 of them live in a large outdoor aviary, and 3 live inside with me.
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