Betrisher
Well-known member
- Jun 3, 2013
- 4,253
- 177
- Parrots
- Dominic: Galah(RIP: 1981-2018); The Lovies: Four Blue Masked Lovebirds; Barney and Madge (The Beaks): Alexandrines; Miss Rosetta Stone: Little Corella
At last! The Beaks' new cage is set up and ready for them to move in. They had a brief visit this evening and seemed to approve of their spacious new residence. The cage is about six feet tall, seven feet wide and three feet deep. The bar spacing is about an inch and is vertical on the sides and horizontal on the front and back. There are currently two dowel perches, but I have plans for proper eucalyptus and callistemon perches very soon.
The scathingly brilliant thing about this cage is that it has a secret portal that leads through the wall of our house and into the kitchen. (Thank you, Hunn - you clever hubby, you!) Following the recent theft of our lovebirds, we were too frightened to simply lock the cage with padlocks. So, all the possible exits are bolted up tight and the only way in or out is through the blast gate built by Kim, my husband. It's made from acrylic and opens via a guillotine-like setup attached to a pulley overhead (you can't see it unless you know it's there). Once the gate is open, it fits over a tunnel (made from two coffee cans) which leads into my kitchen. On the kitchen side, the door shuts with - well - the lid of the coffee tin!
It has taken a while to teach the Beaks to 'tunnel' through the coffee tins. One was easy, but adding the second was quite a leap of faith and they were afraid of it at first. When we asked them to tunnel for real this afternoon, they took about half an hour to settle down enough to even think about it. I needn't have worried, though. The prospect of sunflower seeds on the other side brought first Barney and then Madge out into Parrotdise. They loved it! They checked out their new toys and flew from perch to perch. They had a good old look at the Lovebirds' apartment, which is opposite Parrotdise and then - they went home. All on their own. They knew it was dinner time so they simply tunneled back into the kitchen and went for their food.
I'm so happy!
Tomorrow, I will add more toys, proper perches and then the Beaks. They can spend all day in Parrotdise and then sleep back inside for now. Eventually, Dominic will be having their pre-loved apartment (it's much nicer than the awful old one he came in) and will also move outside to be with the rest of our Phloque.
Here are some pics of today's events:
Barney ventures forth:
Barney has arrived!
(See the cargo net we made from sisal rope and wooden beads?)
Madge coming in again
The object in the foreground is the perch that leads from their old cage to the Coffee Tin Portal.
Left side of Parrotdise
(I learned how to do eyesplicing on the rope ends - makes things a lot easier)
Right side of Parrotdise
Cheap kiddie toys from an OpShop
Ellie looks through the blast gate.
Although she certainly does have a nose like two potatoes, the red thing is actually the perch seen in an earlier pic.
The scathingly brilliant thing about this cage is that it has a secret portal that leads through the wall of our house and into the kitchen. (Thank you, Hunn - you clever hubby, you!) Following the recent theft of our lovebirds, we were too frightened to simply lock the cage with padlocks. So, all the possible exits are bolted up tight and the only way in or out is through the blast gate built by Kim, my husband. It's made from acrylic and opens via a guillotine-like setup attached to a pulley overhead (you can't see it unless you know it's there). Once the gate is open, it fits over a tunnel (made from two coffee cans) which leads into my kitchen. On the kitchen side, the door shuts with - well - the lid of the coffee tin!
It has taken a while to teach the Beaks to 'tunnel' through the coffee tins. One was easy, but adding the second was quite a leap of faith and they were afraid of it at first. When we asked them to tunnel for real this afternoon, they took about half an hour to settle down enough to even think about it. I needn't have worried, though. The prospect of sunflower seeds on the other side brought first Barney and then Madge out into Parrotdise. They loved it! They checked out their new toys and flew from perch to perch. They had a good old look at the Lovebirds' apartment, which is opposite Parrotdise and then - they went home. All on their own. They knew it was dinner time so they simply tunneled back into the kitchen and went for their food.
I'm so happy!
Tomorrow, I will add more toys, proper perches and then the Beaks. They can spend all day in Parrotdise and then sleep back inside for now. Eventually, Dominic will be having their pre-loved apartment (it's much nicer than the awful old one he came in) and will also move outside to be with the rest of our Phloque.
Here are some pics of today's events:
Barney ventures forth:
Barney has arrived!
(See the cargo net we made from sisal rope and wooden beads?)
Madge coming in again
The object in the foreground is the perch that leads from their old cage to the Coffee Tin Portal.
Left side of Parrotdise
(I learned how to do eyesplicing on the rope ends - makes things a lot easier)
Right side of Parrotdise
Cheap kiddie toys from an OpShop
Ellie looks through the blast gate.
Although she certainly does have a nose like two potatoes, the red thing is actually the perch seen in an earlier pic.
