Grumpy bird follow-up

[dskidd]

Joel: How did the molting process end up with Beaker and Bunsen? I've been curious how things have progressed.

Thanks,

Derek

PS Or are they too hammered on tequila to notice all those pin feathers?

 

[Jowelbg]

Joel: How did the molting process end up with Beaker and Bunsen? I've been curious how things have progressed.

Thanks,

Derek

PS Or are they too hammered on tequila to notice all those pin feathers?

Oof... this is going to be a long explanation. I think we had to fix a few things here. I had read a couple places about cage placement. They suggested center of the living area where the parrots can be apart of all the action. B&B just didn't do very well there. I don't understand this, but they're noise averse. The TV drives them crazy. Kitchen noises drive them crazy. I posted a second ago about running water. Caiques definitely have a tendency to get worked up. Our little guys are doing much better with a quiet, out of the way place for their cage. They can still see into the living room, but they're not a part of all the action all the time. We do have a perch in the middle of the living room. They'll spend a couple hours a day, usually in one hour stints, hopping and playing with the perch as their base camp. They do pretty well with that.

The mood has improved greatly.

I'm still not sure what to do about the flight feathers. My reading on this has basically said, we've got to suck it up right now until they get strength built up in their wings, learn to navigate in a closed area, and grow back all their feathers. It's still a regular deal to have one or both with a feather bent out of shape, and I know that can't be comfortable. Beaker in particular gets in a bad mood when one of his feathers are at 90 degrees from spot it's supposed to be in. Beaker will fly about 2 feet and Bunsen is up to 3 right now. I'm pushing them to jump further every day.

So we finally get to the pin feathers! I'm still a little worried about this.

You can see Beaker has a spot where his feathers aren't growing back like they should. It's been like that for about 2 months. That's where my wife still thinks Bunsen gets overly aggressive and plucks at Beaker. I don't think that Beaker is plucking back there. I'm debating on a vet visit, but for now as long as the spot isn't growing, we're in a holding pattern.

That's the latest. Overall, they're doing good. I'm discovering that i'm definitely a worrying parront, though.

-Joel

 

[Jowelbg]

OH! I forgot to mention. It's really hard to take a picture of Beaker's back. He doesn't think that's his best side and always wants to face the camera. This is the result of 10 minutes and about 20 different blurred shots.

 

[dskidd]

That's the latest. Overall, they're doing good. I'm discovering that i'm definitely a worrying parront, though.

-Joel

Many thanks for the update, sir.

That's interesting about cage placement. I've never put E&H in the middle of the action, so I don't know how they'd react. My house is based on an open floor plan, so I have their cages to the side of the dining area. They're as far away from the TV as the room allows (although this isn't something I planned--it just works out that way). Where they are now, they can see everything that goes on in the great room, kitchen, and dining area, and they have a sight line here into my office. I can hear them chattering (right now, they're absolutely quiet). Anyway, this placement seems to work out well.

E&H seem to love noise. For example, It's housecleaning day today, and they love the vacuum cleaner. (I was once doing just a quick clean-up while they were out--to my surprise, they came flying/running/hopping over to the vacuum cleaner immediately...needless to say, all that effort earned them a one-way trip directly back to their respective cages!)

I do have a play station next to the sofa in the living room; like B&B, they seem to treat that as base camp.

Again, I appreciate your thorough response. I'm a worrying parront as well; I think the difference is that B&B are the same age, whereas there's a three-year age gap between E&H. She's definitely head of the flock, and as long as Henry stays in line, they don't do any sort of feather plucking. They just preen each other in the morning. But I do have concerns as to how that relationship and their interactions with both me and each other might change as Henry matures. (I know, I know...using the word "mature" with caiques is an oxymoron!)

Please continue to keep us posted.
Derek

 

[dskidd]

OH! I forgot to mention. It's really hard to take a picture of Beaker's back. He doesn't think that's his best side and always wants to face the camera. This is the result of 10 minutes and about 20 different blurred shots.

LOL...I kinda figured that! There's no way I'd ever get either Eliza or Henry to pose for a photo...at least not without that duct tape I mentioned!

For example, with that Christmas pic I posted, I was just sitting next to the tree, leafing through a catalog. E&H were in their super-secret-no-humans-allowed clubhouse (otherwise known as the laundry room), but let's face it: the sound of pages being turned in a catalog, book or magazine is one of the most powerful caique attractants on the planet. They were all over me in a matter of seconds.

Before they had the chance to completely reduce the LL Bean Christmas catalog down to its component molecules, I said "Okay, come on everyone...up up!"

Usually, when it's "up up" time, they each get on each index finger. For some reason, this particular time, they both climbed up on the same one. So I held them in front of the tree and took about a dozen photos.

Apart from the one I posted, maybe two others were usable!

Derek