Good news!

I come with good news today!

As you might know (if you read my introduction) that Milo is a rescue tiel who came to us with no tail, a plucked neck and shabby feathers. He is a little sweetie at heart, his experience made him quite shy but fiesty inside!

Well a couple of days ago I noticed a feather growing out his tail feathers and it has gotten very long without being phrayed or messed up. I am so happy because the rest of his tail is just of broken feathers and dust from where the breeder kept them, in what I would imagine, poor conditions!

Milo seems to be keeping this one neat and tidy, preening it everyday so I am happy about that!

Also today, the tiels where in my room. They come into my room to play on the play area that I made for them that slots inbetween Charlie and the budgies cage.
However, Charlie and Milo were sitting around, preening when suddenly Coco, my YF2 light green greywing budgie started to chase them around the room. It was so funny and I caught it on camera.
Coco took a fancy to Milo the most and was trying to peck his beak and kiss him!
I even got a few photos - take a look.

Hmmmmm yummy

Today was the birds healthy day. I gave them some veggies submerges in water.

Everyone thinks I am mad when I put vegtables in a dish of water but my birds HATE misting so I can't get them to bath any other way so when they see the vegtables in the dish that they love they always go into bath (even if the vagtables are in their way).

Today was brocolli. My birds LOVE brocolli. My bird who most loves it is Jack who will go nuts over a tiny speck of it. He is the most keen on brocolli but the least keen on baths. The most keen on baths is Coco or willow who jumps head first into water.

FACT: Did you know budgies can not swim. They will drown unlike most birds who can swim!

There are certain vegtables and fruit that my birds like such as:

*Sweetcorn
*Curly kale
*Brocolli
*Green beans
*Apples
*Carrots

My birds favirote is kurly kale out of this group. It is organic and fresh. The best combination for your bird! If you want to see more foods that are safe for your bird (scroll to the bottom of the page to view safe foods for birds.)

I would highly reccommend the way I bath my birds as I know many don't like to be mist sprayed so I tend to fill this shallow dish and they love it and they also get vitamins and minerals too so its a win all round!

PICTURE TIME!

And now for the bath photos

Night fright

The birds had a night fright a couple of nights ago! I always hate it when it happens because it can so easily cause damage when the birds hit the bars or toys/perches positioned in their cage!
Luckily no blood feathers of injuries were aquired this time, I am sort of lucky when it comes to night frights because my birds have never broken a blood feather or injured themselves before.
Night frights can be preventable though. There are two things I can think of at the top of my head that can lower the risk of a bird having a night fright and that is.

* Leave a small opening in the cages cover or leave the cage uncovered so then they have more light then they would have covered up and this will allow them to see most of their surroundings at night which can lower the risk of a night fright as they are able to see their is no danger in their surroundings.

* Leave a night light on in the bird room. This is of similar pricable. It just allows the bird to see it's surroundings at night so it will lower the risk of a night fright.

Although most books and people tell you NOT to let your bird out of the cage when it is having a night fright I seem to always ignore that rule as I am so scared my birds are hurt and just want to check them before I leave them again to make sure they are not hurt. It is so nerve tickling! However the books are right, if you let your bird out into the light when it is having a night fright can cause them shock and because they are ajusted to the dark, the light scares them and they bash into things so wait until the night fright is over before handling your birds!

Charlie, my cockatiel did pick up a minor injuury which chipped a small bit of his cere away so it bleed but only minor. The picture below shows a small bit of blood on his cere although he is fine now :)

Cage play area

I have been fidling with the birds cage set up for a while now and have come to discover that attching toys to the side of a birds cage can be useful when creating a play gym for the birds. Play gyms can benefit a bird in some many ways by giving them:

*Excercise
*Outside the cage time
*Can help to file down a birds claws and beak
*It can help fight fatness in a bird (which can cause heart and liver problems)

Unlike the very expensive Java perch gyms, just connecting toys onto the side of one cage to another can be a cheap and effective way to start a play gym with your birds. I know many people who do it,that say it is very helpful. With this type of gym it can easily be:

*Changed
*Things can be added and taken away easily
*It can be made into any size you want (not like small gyms you can buy)
*It is not as expensive as some gyms
*It can be personalised

Some things you can put on the gyms could be:

*Java tree perches/wooden perches
*Rope perches
*Wooden toys
*Shredder toys
*Ladders
*Swings
*Plastic toys
*Plastic chains
*Foot toys

Play gyms can tackle illness too! Illness such as:

*Plucking
*Stress
*Bordom
*Fatness

"This is not a substitute for medicine or a cure for illness though so make sure an avain bird checks your bird over before you do these techniques."

For other ideas viset: www.24parrot.com - a UK bird store which does an amazing range of bird supplies.

Here is my play area for my birds. The cage to the right is Charlie's (cockatiel) and the cage on the left is the budgies.

Foraging day!

Today was the task for Milo and Charlie's beaks as they got digging into a lovely pile of foraging goodies. Milo, being a rescue tiel, was plucked by a budgie he was living with so needs stimulation to help draw his mind from the bald patch on his neck and head. Both tiels got stuck in and I have a little foraging dish you could try at home.

You will need:

- 1 dish (large)
- Sliced carrots
- Dried pasta/Cooked pasta
- Folded pieces of card
- Broccoli

These are the things I used with in my foraging dish which worked very well. Each item is good for the birds (non-toxic) and is healthy for them like the broccoli and carrots.

Place everything into a dish and put it infront of your tiel, being a naturally curious bird, tiels are known to investigate things first time round without fear and that is exactly what mine did. If you are having trouble getting your bird to forage. Play with the items in the dish yourself. Tiels love it when their owners get involved and going by example, they usually follow what we are doing, even if it is foraging!

Fruits and vegtables work well with birds because they are colourful and help give your birds the vitamins and minerals they need. Anything with colour is interesting to a bird and treats also encourage them to get involved so I would highly reccomend trying a foraging dish.

As you can see, coloured paper was a hit with Milo. He was very involved in the action. Foraging with vegtables and fruit is not onloy healthy but can encourage them to do other things such as, take a bath for example. So it really does help!

NOTE: For larger parrots, it is better to use larger foraging items to prevent choking and to make the dish more suitable and fun for the bird.

Hope this helps.

Hello!

Hello and welcome to my birdie blog for all you lovers of our feathered friends.

My name is Amberlea and I own six birds of my own at the moment (two cockatiels and four budgies).

I do hope you shall stick around for the tips and tricks I tell you along the way and please feel free to follow my blog any time you want!

Ok now an introduction from my birds.

This is Charlie, a normal grey pearl pied split cockatiel. Charlie is the friendliest bird out the flock and is very tame. He will happily sit on my shoulder, head or arm with no fuss. Charlie is a lover of cuddles, kisses and scratches and loves to watch TV with you or sleep with you in bed most days. He is very photogenic and enjoys nothing but having his photo taken while having a little scratch on the head. Charlie does everything with me, has a shower, gets dressed and brushes his teeth with me! He knows sixteen tricks all together, whistles/says hello on some occasions and he also plays games which are hide and seek and tug of war. He is such a tame Bird!

This is Milo, a normal grey pearl cockatiel. Milo is a rescue tiel and came to us with no tail at first! Once he had settled in after a warm weLcome from him at the pet shop (he litrally said hello to us in the shop!) he settled in nicely and is now fully tame. Milo walks up to the cage door to be ready to jump on your hand and snuggles up with you in bed while watching tv. He enjoys cuddles and scratches (BUT NOT KISSES!) and he is very friendly while you do this.

This is Oscar, a yellow face type two sky blue spangle budgie. Oscar is very tame and loves to give you kisses on the lips when he jumps onto your arm. He will sit on your shoulder or arm (or even head!) and happily talk or head bob to you and shows his affection ever so well. Oscar does give the occasional scratch but not really now and does love to nibble your hair on certain days! He is the leader of the budgie flock!

This is Jack, a yellow face type one grey budgie. Jack had french molt sadly so can't fly very well and needs a helping hand. Although he is the least tame out of the whole flock he does give kisses and sit on your shoulder, head or arm! He does nibble you hair but gets very nervous most the time and flys off but with encouragement he can be VERY curious.

This is Willow, a sky blue recessive pied budgie. Willow is a very cheeky monkey and is glued to your arm most the time. Willow is the one giving most the hair nibbles and kisses and loves to head bob to your nose or finger. He is very photogenic and loves to perch on your arm, head or shoulder. Willow is the most agressive out the flock!

This is Coco, a yellow face type two light green greywing budgie. Coco loves to give hair nibbles but not kisses and is a very curious and funny budgie. Coco is the most tame budgie and loves to be the first into everything, if he does not get beaten by Oscar! Coco hops onto your finger and is very friendly about everything. Coco is a little gem!

This is Talola, a sky blue dominant pied budgie. Talola sadly passed last year of a respitory infection after battleing with it for over two months! She was very brave but not tame like the others and very shy. R.I.P my angel!

So that is my flock! I hope you shall stick around for more updates on my birds!