Minerva
New member
- Jul 21, 2016
- 20
- 6
Hello everyone!
As the title says, I became a bird owner by accident a few days ago. While I was dumping my mare's water tub out behind her stall on Tuesday morning (she has a stall with an outdoor pen attached), a little brightly-colored thing landed in the pen along with the usual flock of sparrows that gather when I clean. They like to pick through horse manure and it was trying to copy them. It looked like, well, like a little parroty thing.
My mare was turned out, thankfully, so with a couple of tries I managed to herd/startle the fugitive into her stall and close the outer door so it was trapped inside. It then led me on a merry chase around and around the stall before I was able to trap it under the empty water tub. It was obliging enough to not bite the living s--t out of me when I removed it to stick it in the makeshift carrier I made out of an egg crate and an empty produce bag, which I appreciated.
My barn is largely isolated, but I decided to drop by the only neighbor I know (and have ridden with) on my way home to show her and see if she knew anyone missing a little parroty thing. I was glad I did because she told me that it had most likely escaped from a bird farm a few miles away. Apparently there are a pair of brothers with a small farm that raise all sorts of birds-from ducks and chickens and quail to finches and peacocks and parrots- to sell at local markets and swap meets, and she had bought her chickens from them. I asked her if I should take it back to them but she said "Eh, I wouldn't," and explained that it isn't a nice place, very overcrowded and rather dirty. So I took it home with me. I will go looking for the farm next week and see if I can offer the brothers some money for the bird, since I'm keeping it.
Some Googling revealed that the "little red-faced parroty thing" is a peach-faced lovebird, though obviously not with a literal peachy face. I had a street gang of parakeets when I was younger (no really, there were seven of them and they were total thugs) so I know a bit about caring for birds. I have been refreshing my memory and learning some more on Google, which led me here.
I bought it some supplies and have it sitting next to my desk in my office. Right now it is sleeping on the little play structure I got for the top of its cage. It was veeeeery active yesterday and I let it come out to run around this morning, but it is napping a lot now. Hopefully that is normal. I don't know how old it is, obviously. Perhaps it is young? Or maybe it was up too late? I don't know how long birds need to sleep. It seemed like my gang of parakeets were up at all hours.
Unfortunately due to my high ceilings (15-25 feet in each room) and the ceiling fans I had to clip its wings straight away. Lots of ways for a little bird to off itself with the combination of high ceilings, high windows, hard floors, and fans.
Here are some pictures!
Napping in the sun this morning. Please excuse the dust on the window/sill/curtains. I live in the desert and have to open the house up at night to cool it off, and with the drought the dust is just intolerable.
Isn't it precious? I am hoping I can get it hand tame. It gets very indignant at me when I get my hands near it but doesn't really seem afraid, just miffed. It did let me help it get back up to the cage earlier. I guess I need to choose a name and guess a gender on it. I think I'll go with a girl. I mean, if I call it a girl and it never lays an egg it could just be a girl that doesn't lay eggs, but if I give it a boy name and then it lays eggs I'm screwed.
It seems a little thin to me... does it look thin in the pictures? I can't imagine there was anything for it to eat with our climate and the time of year. Perhaps flying around and not finding any food is why it is tired.
Anyway, sorry for the long introduction! My little bird has quite a story already.
As the title says, I became a bird owner by accident a few days ago. While I was dumping my mare's water tub out behind her stall on Tuesday morning (she has a stall with an outdoor pen attached), a little brightly-colored thing landed in the pen along with the usual flock of sparrows that gather when I clean. They like to pick through horse manure and it was trying to copy them. It looked like, well, like a little parroty thing.
My mare was turned out, thankfully, so with a couple of tries I managed to herd/startle the fugitive into her stall and close the outer door so it was trapped inside. It then led me on a merry chase around and around the stall before I was able to trap it under the empty water tub. It was obliging enough to not bite the living s--t out of me when I removed it to stick it in the makeshift carrier I made out of an egg crate and an empty produce bag, which I appreciated.
My barn is largely isolated, but I decided to drop by the only neighbor I know (and have ridden with) on my way home to show her and see if she knew anyone missing a little parroty thing. I was glad I did because she told me that it had most likely escaped from a bird farm a few miles away. Apparently there are a pair of brothers with a small farm that raise all sorts of birds-from ducks and chickens and quail to finches and peacocks and parrots- to sell at local markets and swap meets, and she had bought her chickens from them. I asked her if I should take it back to them but she said "Eh, I wouldn't," and explained that it isn't a nice place, very overcrowded and rather dirty. So I took it home with me. I will go looking for the farm next week and see if I can offer the brothers some money for the bird, since I'm keeping it.
Some Googling revealed that the "little red-faced parroty thing" is a peach-faced lovebird, though obviously not with a literal peachy face. I had a street gang of parakeets when I was younger (no really, there were seven of them and they were total thugs) so I know a bit about caring for birds. I have been refreshing my memory and learning some more on Google, which led me here.
I bought it some supplies and have it sitting next to my desk in my office. Right now it is sleeping on the little play structure I got for the top of its cage. It was veeeeery active yesterday and I let it come out to run around this morning, but it is napping a lot now. Hopefully that is normal. I don't know how old it is, obviously. Perhaps it is young? Or maybe it was up too late? I don't know how long birds need to sleep. It seemed like my gang of parakeets were up at all hours.
Unfortunately due to my high ceilings (15-25 feet in each room) and the ceiling fans I had to clip its wings straight away. Lots of ways for a little bird to off itself with the combination of high ceilings, high windows, hard floors, and fans.
Here are some pictures!
Napping in the sun this morning. Please excuse the dust on the window/sill/curtains. I live in the desert and have to open the house up at night to cool it off, and with the drought the dust is just intolerable.
Isn't it precious? I am hoping I can get it hand tame. It gets very indignant at me when I get my hands near it but doesn't really seem afraid, just miffed. It did let me help it get back up to the cage earlier. I guess I need to choose a name and guess a gender on it. I think I'll go with a girl. I mean, if I call it a girl and it never lays an egg it could just be a girl that doesn't lay eggs, but if I give it a boy name and then it lays eggs I'm screwed.
It seems a little thin to me... does it look thin in the pictures? I can't imagine there was anything for it to eat with our climate and the time of year. Perhaps flying around and not finding any food is why it is tired.
Anyway, sorry for the long introduction! My little bird has quite a story already.
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