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Parrot Rescue Diaries

Parrot Rescue Centre > Diaries > Parrot Rescue Diaries | You are here

Parrot Rescue Diaries

My Exciting Week!

August 20th, 2011
My Exciting Week!

Well, goodness me, where do I start? On friday 12th August, I made what could have been the biggest mistake of my life. I managed to fiddle about with the latch on my cage and let myself out. I thought I’d have a quick flight across the kitchen as usual, but imagine my surprise when the back door didn’t stop me going outside as it usually does!!

I gave myself such a fright that I actually poo’ed myself mid flight and that’s not like me at all. I usually have more manners and only poo on the work top in the kitchen!

Well, I soared up and up and up until I was so high up that I completely forgot which direction I’d come from! I landed in a large tree and hid myself deep inside the branches. I was terrified!! I could hear my owner calling me, but I couldn’t move, I was petrified! I know she went out looking for me until long after dark that night because I could still her calling me. I dare not call back to her because there were some huge black and white birds in the tree with me and they didn’t look that friendly to me. I said hello to them, but they didn’t answer me? I eventually fell asleep, but in the morning, I tried leaving the tree, but there was all this water pouring out of the sky. I’ve had some lovely showers in the past, but this time I got really, really wet!!!

I stayed in the tree again for the next two nights, but on monday morning, two of those black and white birds got really rowdy and were arguing over some shiny things that one of them had brought back to the tree so I decided it was time for me to leave. I could see my cage in the garden of my house, but my owners dogs were out there nearly all day barking so I daren’t go down. I flew around for a while then ended up on a large area of grass where little people were hitting a ball with a long flat stick thing. I thought it looked fun so I flew down to join in. I kept flying back and forth back to the trees and then back to this young lads shoulder. He seemed friendly because when I said ‘Hello’ he said ‘hello’ back. I’d been flying back and forth and was really enjoying the mayhem I was causing when suddenly I was grabbed and put into a brown box and taken off to a cage that was outside? There was another bird in the one next to me who must have been a bit daft because they said ‘hello’ to me so many times over and over and over again? How weird.

I was starting to get a bit hungry but all they had for me to eat was sunflowers seeds and my owner keeps telling me that they aren’t very good for me? I liked them though and ate loads of them. I miss my pellet food though. I stayed there one night and then very early the next day, my owner came for me! Yaaay!! I’m going home!! She put me back in the box again and then we went in a funny car thing. When we got indoors, she put me back in my own safe, toy filled cage and I told her I loved her very, very much and I was sorry that I’d flown away. She must have misunderstood me though because she said ‘why do you want a bag of chips Bailey?’ Funny aren’t they humans they never seem to understand what we’re saying? I’m enjoying being back home. I’ve had loads of treats and loads of cuddles too which is lovely. I don’t think I’ll venture out that far again. It was exciting, a bit scary too,

but boy its great to be home!!


Just Penny!

August 17th, 2011
Just Penny!

Penny is still pulling her feathers, but I’ve resigned myself to the fact that she might never leave her feathers alone. Maybe the more we try the more we stress them out, so as long as she’s not mutilating herself, she can nip the ends off her feathers if she wants to.

Penny seems to love my partner Darryl, she lets him tickle her head and get close to her so that’s really good, he spends quite a bit of time with her talking and tickling her head. She doesn’t like me at all, but that’s ok at least she has one of us that she is learning to trust. I’ll just carry on doing the things I do, mucking out, feeding, generally keeping her clean and tidy and not getting the rewards hahaha. I can’t help but love her though, she is a fiesty little thing but she’s Penny and she’s here to stay.

She is eating pellets and chop with no bother now, she’s had no rubbish foods since she came here and although I can see an improvement in her feathers, she is still clipping the ends of them. On her right wing, there was a nice flight feather on it’s way but I noticed yesterday that it’s gone! She has loads of toys and I’ve seen her preening them today so maybe, just maybe it will give her feathers a much needed rest if she can preen toys instead.


Our New Friend Fred!

August 1st, 2011
Our New Friend Fred!

We went to meet the lovely Paula and Rick just over two weeks ago to pick up our gorgeous new friend Fred. It seemed like everything was against us at the time because I don’t drive, couldn’t find a lift and had literally just moved in to my new house, had no internet and my phone was playing up. Luckily at the last minute I found someone to take myself and Chris to Reading. Unfortunately Paula and Rick were stuck in horrendous traffic on the way to meet us and the person driving us was having a panic because she thought she was going to miss her holiday flight. Luckily, before she decided to drive away (which we were not impressed with) I got a text and we spotted Rick driving in to the car park.

Can you fit a 5ft parrot cage in a Ford Fiesta? Yes you can! “Where there’s a will there’s a way”

The first time I saw Fred I was in awe. I’ve always wanted a Timneh and he was perfect, even more gorgeous than his photos. Once we had managed to get everything in to the car we set off and made it home relatively quick. Poor thing must have been on the road for so long.

We got home and left Fred in the travel cage for about an hour to settle in. After that we set up his cage and put him in. We left him alone for the rest of the night as he was yawning a lot and must have been knackered.

The next day I made Fred and Riddle some mash (including pellets) and Fred happily ate it all. I put it in a buffet ball which he seemed to love and play with a lot. When I took the buffet ball out for cleaning, I had an idea. Using a spoon, I put some pellets on to the cage mounted plate and he instantly started eating them from the spoon, then from the plate. I had already ordered a big bag of Tidymix but was incredibly happy that in such a short time Fred is now on pellets. He still gets Tidymix as a treat but seems to prefer Harrisons.

We opened Fred’s cage and he climbed out, had a fly around and went straight back in. We have left his cage open a lot but he isn’t that eager to come out yet and when he does he doesn’t stay out for long.

Fred\'s \"high four\"!

It took him a week to start talking, before that we had only heard little kissing noises but now he talks and says “hello” in all different ways as well as “go away” “you’re a manky bird” “good boy” and others in a cute old man voice! He whistles and makes other interesting sound effects. He has copied some of Riddle’s sayings now and between rooms they repeat things back and talk to each other a lot. It’s really lovely to watch/listen to, and amazing because you couldn’t get more different with these birds. They are total opposites.

As we speak, Fred is climbing all over the outside of his cage. He flew over briefly but quickly went back to base. He’s a really great flyer and doesn’t seem too shy of new things. He has all the toys and food we’ve given him. He doesn’t care if you put your hand in his cage to change toys and even takes food from your hand. I am able to touch his feet and beak but he lets you know when you’re too close by shuffling away. I don’t want to jinx anything but so far, I’ve had no bites as it’s very easy to read his body language.

I absolutely love him and am so glad he’s a part of our flock. He has really symbolised the settling in to our new home as we’ve all gone through a similar experience at the same time.

A huge thank you from myself, Chris and Riddle to AGPC for giving us the opportunity to re-home such a wonderful creature.


Angus Moves House!

July 29th, 2011

As Angus and Gary seemed to be getting on so well, we thought we would risk buying a cage for them to share. The cage we chose has a divider, so that we could begin with them separate and work up from there. In no time at all they seemed to be getting on well, so we removed the divider for short periods while we could supervise. It went really well and they now spend most of the day together in one big space, sharing toys food and playtime. We have still to get to the stage where we can trust them together when we are out – but so far so good, we are pleased it’s gone so well.

As well as a new house he has a new name – he calls himself ‘An-goose’ we have no idea where that came from but it’s very funny and Gary calls him it too. He’s also perfected the ‘bomb’ and the coronation street theme tune, converted to pellets and almost grown his clipped feathers out.


Lady – Update

July 28th, 2011
Lady - Update

Lady is doing very well, all 3 birds will be having another blood work done at the end of September, this will check their livers to see if they have improved since the last test. I have stripped their diets right back, they now just have pellets, parrot mash, fruit and veg, and I have been giving increased doses of milk thistle, so I’m hoping to see some improvement. If not, then Lady will be x-rayed and endoscoped.

Lady has been her usual happy self, chewing and playing, wanting cuddles and fuss, she’s shown no signs of any illness or distress, well except for the plucking of course.
The reason I had their blood work done in the first place was to check for any problems, because with parrots, you never can tell!!!
I cannot stress enough the importance of an annual bloodwork and health check!!!


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