Well, let's say 5 months ago, we got a baby lovebird.
We named it Tiko, and it instantly became best friends with my wife.
It went everywhere with her, and at night, she'd wrap it up in a little
flannel blanket, and snuggle him in bed.
In the morning, he would follow her to the kitchen, have breakfast,
and sit on her, or near her.
We left his cage door open, and he basically used the cage to eat and poop. Didn't spend much time in there, but it was there if he wanted it.
A few times we went away for the day, we'd come home and he'd be in the cage, so I guess when we left he didn't like being out in the open as much.
Every morning, when the kids left for school, he'd stand at the corner of the table by the door, and make funny noises to them. When they'd be coming home, when he heard the door he'd immediately run to them and cuddle and visit.
Every evening you'd see him sitting with our son watching TV, or playing barbies with our daughter.
My wife would take tiko, shove him in her boobs, and take him shopping. He loved it. In fact, he would jump in on his own. He would also go in pockets, or anywhere to cuddle. If anyone thinks any of this sounds cruel, I assure you I've seen a few pet birds, and this was the friggen happiest bird I have ever seen. He brought so much love and happiness to everyone. It's hard to explain, but we've had pets before, and none came close to the complexity, attitude, and love of this little lovebird.
About 3 months ago, he started really "burrowing" once in a while. He had a blanket in his cage, and he'd burrow under it. He'd burrow under our blankets in the bed, anything he could find, he would go under it, thinking he's sneaky and nobody could see him. I don't know if this was an age or hormone trait, or a playful action, but he was burrowing lots.
Unfortunately, our daughter accidentally jumped on a blanket one day, and instantly killed him. My wife cried uncontrollably for 3 days. Our whole family felt ripped apart, and there was nothing we could do about it.
Yes, if he would have been in the cage, he'd still be alive. I realise that.... but in a way I feel like thats saying "if we never leave our house, we'll be safe"... while true, leads to a very limited lifestyle.
The reason tiko was so great, is purely because we let him live in the house, and treated him like a family member. I feel that even though his life was short, it was good. He lived better than many birds, was loved much, and loved us back too.
We got another lovebird, but it was not as tame, and tries to bite the crap out of anyone who goes near the cage.
She's older, and doesn't seem to want any touching.
We kept her though, a beautiful bird, but just short on expectations.
2 days ago, we bought a hand raised cockatiel baby. Brought it home, cuddled it, everything was good. Still eating formula from the dropper 3 times a day. She didn't want to eat, so we kept trying, and trying, and trying. Little bit by little bit, she started eating. I wasn't too concerned, I know when birds go to a new home, they can take a few days before they relax and eat properly. But anyways, by last night, she was gobbling food from the dropper, and eating millet spray pretty good. I tried to put her in a cage last night, because I wanted to train her with the cage, so she'd learn that theres always food and water in there. She didn't want any piece of it, as soon as I tried putting her in, she freaked out and flapped her wings, and avoided at all costs me putting her in.
I finally tried harder, and once inside the cage, she just banged around almost hurting herself. So I took her out, we brought her to bed, and she went to sleep.
This morning, my wife was feeding her on the kitchen table, and when the kids got picked up for school, she just looked at the door, got up, and flew away. I don't know how well 8 week old cockatiels are supposed to be able to fly, but she took off. Made a few circles around the neighbors house, and hit the ground.
My wife found her after 20 minutes, and approached her, but I think the crunching snow (yes snow, and it's supposed to snow more tonight) scared her... she took off again, flew down the street, and we can't find her.
Nobody saw exactly where she went, and we've been looking for hours and hours. It's cold out, ground mostly snow covered, lots of half frozen puddles.
I can't believe she can fly that good with clipped wings. I expected maybe she would be able to "flutter" down or maybe maintain altitude, but she flies like a rocket ship. BUT, she gets tired fast it looks like.
We've been looking for hours, but no signs yet. We've covered a 3 block radius. I feel like if we can't find her inside that, theres no point, as she could be anywhere.
It is so much work looking through yards and everything.
Any suggestions? We tried walking around playing a cockatiel flock call, didn't do anything. We looked through peoples yards, under scrap piles, truck boxes, trees, rooftops....
It's supposed to get pretty cold tonight, and snow. I think if we can't find her soon, theres no way she'll last the night.
We named it Tiko, and it instantly became best friends with my wife.
It went everywhere with her, and at night, she'd wrap it up in a little
flannel blanket, and snuggle him in bed.
In the morning, he would follow her to the kitchen, have breakfast,
and sit on her, or near her.
We left his cage door open, and he basically used the cage to eat and poop. Didn't spend much time in there, but it was there if he wanted it.
A few times we went away for the day, we'd come home and he'd be in the cage, so I guess when we left he didn't like being out in the open as much.
Every morning, when the kids left for school, he'd stand at the corner of the table by the door, and make funny noises to them. When they'd be coming home, when he heard the door he'd immediately run to them and cuddle and visit.
Every evening you'd see him sitting with our son watching TV, or playing barbies with our daughter.
My wife would take tiko, shove him in her boobs, and take him shopping. He loved it. In fact, he would jump in on his own. He would also go in pockets, or anywhere to cuddle. If anyone thinks any of this sounds cruel, I assure you I've seen a few pet birds, and this was the friggen happiest bird I have ever seen. He brought so much love and happiness to everyone. It's hard to explain, but we've had pets before, and none came close to the complexity, attitude, and love of this little lovebird.
About 3 months ago, he started really "burrowing" once in a while. He had a blanket in his cage, and he'd burrow under it. He'd burrow under our blankets in the bed, anything he could find, he would go under it, thinking he's sneaky and nobody could see him. I don't know if this was an age or hormone trait, or a playful action, but he was burrowing lots.
Unfortunately, our daughter accidentally jumped on a blanket one day, and instantly killed him. My wife cried uncontrollably for 3 days. Our whole family felt ripped apart, and there was nothing we could do about it.
Yes, if he would have been in the cage, he'd still be alive. I realise that.... but in a way I feel like thats saying "if we never leave our house, we'll be safe"... while true, leads to a very limited lifestyle.
The reason tiko was so great, is purely because we let him live in the house, and treated him like a family member. I feel that even though his life was short, it was good. He lived better than many birds, was loved much, and loved us back too.
We got another lovebird, but it was not as tame, and tries to bite the crap out of anyone who goes near the cage.
She's older, and doesn't seem to want any touching.
We kept her though, a beautiful bird, but just short on expectations.
2 days ago, we bought a hand raised cockatiel baby. Brought it home, cuddled it, everything was good. Still eating formula from the dropper 3 times a day. She didn't want to eat, so we kept trying, and trying, and trying. Little bit by little bit, she started eating. I wasn't too concerned, I know when birds go to a new home, they can take a few days before they relax and eat properly. But anyways, by last night, she was gobbling food from the dropper, and eating millet spray pretty good. I tried to put her in a cage last night, because I wanted to train her with the cage, so she'd learn that theres always food and water in there. She didn't want any piece of it, as soon as I tried putting her in, she freaked out and flapped her wings, and avoided at all costs me putting her in.
I finally tried harder, and once inside the cage, she just banged around almost hurting herself. So I took her out, we brought her to bed, and she went to sleep.
This morning, my wife was feeding her on the kitchen table, and when the kids got picked up for school, she just looked at the door, got up, and flew away. I don't know how well 8 week old cockatiels are supposed to be able to fly, but she took off. Made a few circles around the neighbors house, and hit the ground.
My wife found her after 20 minutes, and approached her, but I think the crunching snow (yes snow, and it's supposed to snow more tonight) scared her... she took off again, flew down the street, and we can't find her.
Nobody saw exactly where she went, and we've been looking for hours and hours. It's cold out, ground mostly snow covered, lots of half frozen puddles.
I can't believe she can fly that good with clipped wings. I expected maybe she would be able to "flutter" down or maybe maintain altitude, but she flies like a rocket ship. BUT, she gets tired fast it looks like.
We've been looking for hours, but no signs yet. We've covered a 3 block radius. I feel like if we can't find her inside that, theres no point, as she could be anywhere.
It is so much work looking through yards and everything.
Any suggestions? We tried walking around playing a cockatiel flock call, didn't do anything. We looked through peoples yards, under scrap piles, truck boxes, trees, rooftops....
It's supposed to get pretty cold tonight, and snow. I think if we can't find her soon, theres no way she'll last the night.