Greetings and Salutations

[Bearbride]

Hello!

I'm Janine, Mom to Suni, a 3 year old Green Cheek Conure, Luna a 5 year old male chinchilla and Zhin a 1 year old female chin. I was a teacher for 10+ years while my husband installed artificial (Astroturf) turf all over the country and now we own our own business and have just finished our second season.

My life right now sort of revolves around learning to manage the paperwork, finances, rules and regs of the business, we are BAREFOOT TURF, taking care of the house and yard (loving gardening and learning it too) and staying on top of keeping the critters happy and healthy which can sometimes get a bit overwhelming... well, all of it is a bit overwhelming to be honest. Starting a new life and business at 50 has been interesting and challenging for us all.

Suni is quite the adventure herself and we are working our way through a bit of a rough patch at the moment; the research of which has ultimately led me here. As I write this, I am bandaged and Neosporined over most of my hands and apparently am missing a small patch on/in my left ear (I wasn't really using it anyway)!

Please know that when I say "working through it" that is just what I mean. We got her at about 10-11 weeks old and she is our child for life. Hers and ours. But the more I learn the more I realize that it is very much like raising children with all the attendant growth spurts and phases and we are all working together to make it a success. Well, she's just being herself and we're pretty much working out what that means. Anyway, she's been raised on Zupreem and some seed and Nutri-balls but I've just ordered a new diet for her from The Bird Safe Store so she'll be getting Harrisons and some "mommy cooks it for me" meals from here on out.

Turns out, I'll be ordering virtually everything for the critters online as I can no longer walk in and/or out of the local "Pet" whichever without wanting to rescue any GCC's or Chins I see in them. I just can't bear seeing them like that so I don't think I'm going to anymore.

Well, I've talked more than enough for one introduction and am going to go read what others have to say... but thank you all for being here.

 

[SharonC]

Hi Janine! Welcome!!! I used to be a teacher too, and I'm just about your age. I find birds very much like children too...but birds go to bed without having the brushing teeth struggle! LOL!

 

[Bearbride]

Thanks for the welcome Sharon. And as we live north of Seattle... I've been dancing in the rain for most of my life!http://www.parrotforums.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

[Spiritbird]

A mighty big welcome to you and your family. I like it when you say your fid is your child for life. There are so many companion birds out there that are sold or surrendered to others. They are lots of care and attention and money. However, they are well worth it if I must say. Looking forward to chatting with you. Sorry about your hands. Were they bird bites?

 

[Bearbride]

Yeah, she's been digging into my hands pretty badly for the last few weeks. I went to meet my husband in Santa Fe in August as we had a crew working down there. So I left her and Luna with a good friend that has a cat, a rabbit and a couple of pomeranians (she, her daughter and husband are all very pet friendly). After I got back, I adopted another chin from a family who was leaving the country and couldn't keep her. So Suni had a really tough late summer/fall. But as I am learning, it can take them a while to react to changes and that their reactions can be pretty brutal.

So I'm researching, gradually changing her diet (to be as healthy as possible) trying to be more sensitive to her moods and supportive of her choices. And I think I'm going to try target training as I can't get her to step up onto me at all anymore without biting. She's dug chunks of skin out of my fingers and twice bitten my face. There are some scars on my hands that I don't think will ever disappear completely.

Anyway, I'm searching Amazon for good resource books and my husband is helping me work with her. She's only 3 so we have plenty of time to get this fixed and our eyes are on that prize!

In the meanwhile, I'm just glad to be here learning and sharing!