A Great Experience is Coming!

[Alwese]

Today I discovered I am getting low on my Pretty Bird pellets that I also feed my birds. They have a water bowl, a pellet bowl, a nut bowl, and a fruit and vegetable bowl. When I got Kayko he had nothing but pellets ever fed to him and he really didn't even care much for anything else. The other two could care less at the time if they ever saw another pellet, but I kept their bowl full. In time, Clifford especially learned to like pellets in addition to his other food. Kayko learned to open nuts, but I'd always crack them for him to give him a start. Anyway, in Jacksonville we have this really old time feed store in Jacksonville on King street that probably looks exactly the same as it did in 1930. I drove over there to get a 20lb. sack and took Clifford and Kayko with me right into the store. They loved to see them. Origionally I wanted to buy some oats to make up little frozen supplement bags in the freezer to add to their veggie dish with cooked oats, rice and beans. I bought rice yesterday, but I didn't bite on buying oats the only way they sell them; in 50lb bags for $16.50 My freezer and bird room refrigerator is full of nuts for the birds I buy at Christmastime and that much oats would go bad, especially if my little experiment doesn't work and they don't like them at all. They like my oatmeal cookies, but they contain a bunch of sugar that they don't need.
They also got to go over to the farmer's market where the girl even gave me a bunch of grapes for free. Kayko delighted several children there, as I can safely put just him on anyone's arm without fear of being bit. They (and I) have plenty of fruits and vegetables now in the refrigerator. Strawberries are now coming in fresh too.
Back to the 100 birds folks, David never knew exactly how many birds he had so I brought him the results of my inventory. I may have made a few mistakes in the non-macaw species like 'Toos and Amazons and just lumped them together as one. David scrutenizing my inventory gave me a few lessons on bird identification. To me all yellow topped cockatoos were Sulphur Crested; I learned some are Tritons and that there are greater and lesser crested ones too. Forgive me for not being up on my 'Toos and Amazons. It seems there are far more of their species than Macaws. There was one I remember that had a blue ring around the eye. After a little bit when the above pictures age a little bit, I can cancel them out and issue more pictures as I have exceeded my quota. I don't have a clue as to how you all get whole pictures right in the text.... I'm still learning. I took 45 pictures of those birds that day and you'll see them eventually

 

[JerseyWendy]

Your fridge and freezer sound an awful lot like mine.

I can't wait to see more pictures of your adventure, Alwese! I personally don't know all that much about cockatoos, other than they are even louder than my Macs combined. AND they are quite dusty, lol. :54:

Also, it's SO great that you offered your help to David!!!!

 

[Alwese]

OK this is going to erase the previous pictures to make room for more. Since you wanted to see some of the 'Toos here is those first. The first two I think are Umbrella Cockatoos, but I can be wrong as I'm not really up on all my 'Toos. The second pic is of Mark and a 'too. Mark is my neighbor who also was chomping at the bit to see this bird setup. Mark has been to the aviary that my Scarlet came from in Green Cove Springs. He has a lot of good ideas to help improve things and donated a bunch of stuff that I have already delivered over there. I've got him in the lookout mode for more things we can use; like 3/4" plywood, plastic barrels, sheet metal to clad the inside of nest boxes with etc. I passed on his suggestion to David that he needs to have chickens there to eat every bit of seed and food that drops from the cages. Some kind of chicken called a Silky is the bird of choice at other aviaries. Third picture is of a 'Too that had a blue ring around his eye.... I don't know what that one is. His property is kinda long and thin and about 2 acres. The very back is waterfront to salt marsh. Anybody that lives near the water here knows they will be visited by raccoons because of the water. Where the cages are is up on a bluff; much higher elevation so if a major storm hits they would not flood. David told me the reason for setting the cages on PVC pipe or plastic barrels is he is concerned about lightning. We are in an area that gets LOTS of lightning in the summertime, but I never thought about it being a danger to the birds. Last pic is of an Amazon that is particularly talkative... not sure about the exact species here either. Maybe those reading can clue me in. Click on thumbnails to enlarge.

 

[Pinkbirdy]

I know the 2s , 2 umbrella and maybe an Elenora

 

[Pinkbirdy]

I know the 2s , 2 umbrella and maybe an Elenora

I think the Amazons a yellow nape?

 

[Alwese]

Thank You Pinkbirdy as I think I remember David saying the word "Elenora". David has been highly successful in getting birds to breed. Some people put them in a big flight and let them choose their own mate, which frequently produces hybrids. David is a little more for keeping purity of species and sets up pairs by observing the "want to" of birds that want to get along. Things like they feed each other etc. Apparently GETTING macaws to want to breed seems to be the problem as some pairs go for years without doing so. I would run out of patience and want activity now, but he somehow can sit and wait. Alot of pairs will lose a mate and he finds a way to make them want to try again with a new bo. Picking the right mate and having an atmosphere conducive to mating seems to be the major problem. This explains why there are far fewer people raising macaws as breeding is not a certainty. I would want to try cloning or something to hurry it up

 

[faeryphoebe1]

Those Toos are gorgeous! I want a Too so, so badly! However, I am the human version of a Too and I would need an elderly one, lol.

 

[Turquoise]

I love all your hard work in helping your friend out with his birds. Thanks for all the update info & pics, it is exciting getting to live it through you. I'd still love to go see it in person!

To get full size photos on this or most any forum, you have to have a host site like photobucket or image shack to upload your photos from your files in your computer. There are more sites to choose from, these are the two I am familiar with. I use photobucket for mine. After they are uploaded at the host site, it gives you an link you copy. To get them on your post, you add the [IMG] link where you want it in your post & it will show up as the photo you chose.

I know it is confusing & I have to say I still don't know how to just copy & paste the link, then miraculously get it to reappear on here. No, I write the link down on a piece of paper & I type in every bit of the link info for each photo in my post message, but it works just the same for me. LOL

 

[sodakat]

On a PC, roll your cursor over the the link to highlight it, then hold down the Ctrl key and the "C" at the same time. That copies the link and holds it in your computer's memory. To past the link inside the image tags on the forum page, hold the Ctrl key and the "V" key. Logic would say paste would be Ctrl "P" but that is used for print!

 

[Alwese]

OK time for more pictures. As you can see from the first picture, not all matierals are suitable for making macaw nest boxes out of. This was an experiment that apparently failed. In some aviaries I have seen pictures of, they use wooden whiskey barrels suspended from the ceiling in large flights where the breeders are flighted. I suppose you could clad the inside of the barrel with wire mesh, but David didn't care for that idea for some reason. I am turning several large kitchen cabinets made of 3/4" plywood into nest boxes for him I will clad the interior with sheet metal and the opening hole. Personally, with the low cost today of TV monitoring, I would find a way to put TV cameras into the boxes so the nesting birds would not have to be disturbed. David is not a big fan of pulling birds very early on and raising them in a brooder. He has a very nice West German made humidity controlled incubator/brooder that is used in emergencies, but believes the birds are best raised for a time by their parents. He knows which ones have a tendency to damage their babies.
Although he does have some hybrids, he is not a big fan of making hybrids and keeps hybrids with other hybrids. Most of his birds are paired up pure species, but here is a couple pics of some hybrids he has.
I had made this wooden nest box for my boy Doogie (no I am not breeding macaws, I thought Doogie would enjoy it) and later gave it to David but they chewed it up in a heartbeat.
Click on pictures to enlarge.

 

[BeakFace]

Why don't I see any photo's? I do frequent local rescue and try and supply fresh fruit and vegetables often. I do buy large amount of toys for the cockatoos mainly but also the little ones. These birds need all the help any one can give. This rescue has several flights and building more. What a beautiful site to see. I love to volunteer when I can.