Birdy Activities
Thursday, March 15th, 2012All is well with the flock. It’s been awhile since I posted last, but the 4 parrots continue to be good boys.
Spring is nearly upon us, so that means hormones begin to show themselves. With careful dietary restrictions, Sam has managed to be a very good boy and he is nearly not hormonal at all, compared to last year when I seemed to have an unending string of months in which I struggled with Sam’s hormones. I find I have to cut out ALL fatty and sweet treats, such as seeds, nuts, apples, and other sweet fruits. He’s safe with a daily raw Sugar Snap pea, bits of raw cauliflower, a piece of raw whole wheat pasta, and tiny bits of “Mary’s Gone Cracker’s” crackers. Fortunately, he likes these treats. But he always looks for nesting areas, nonetheless!
Sam in a Kleenex box
Steve, however, needs lots of small treats as he is more of a forager than a player of toys. I try to keep the treats very small but frequent to keep him interested. Once in a while, he gets to tackle an organic almond in the shell. He generally takes about 3 days to break into the shell, unless he’s really intensely interested. The first one he tried took him only a concentrated 10 minutes. But he takes a more leisurely go at it nowadays:
Steve working on an almond in the shell
And there are days when the vet needs to be seen for various trims. I have “Wingabagos” for 2 birds, and this time it was Sam and Chipper who had the honor during a recent visit. Here they are sitting next to me in the front passenger seat, which Chipper strapped in and Sam tucked in front of him:
to the vet...
Shannon Ryan