Kirby’s Capers

[ravvlet]

Sammy is very offended by bugs:

 

[MykaMom]

I decided to move stuff about Kirby here since it’s more species appropriate and his heart murmur is being addressed. Also, I find it’s really useful to have a lot about what he’s eating or how he’s doing; and I am bad about remembering to write stuff down unless I have some level of accountability…

Today is chop day; I never seem to remember to get beans but I assume that’s ok since he eats pellets!

Today we did:
Mini sweet peppers
Orange bell pepper
Anaheim pepper
Rainbow chard
Baby red/green Swiss chard
Tat soi
Arugula
Spinach
Broccoli & carrot slaw
Cooked beets
Raw yellow squash
Blackberries
Rolled oats (uncooked; they seem to get soft on their own when I reheat from frozen)

View attachment 35768
I always buy too much or not enough; today looks like it’s a too much day. I try to avoid single use plastics so I usually freeze it in bins and then “chop” out what I need each day.

Overall he seems a bit happier than yesterday; the antibiotics will hopefully really be kicking in this week.

I have 2 specific ice cube trays just for Myka's chop. I take out one cube at a time.

 

[ravvlet]

Oh, that’s a good idea. I might use it when they’re at boarding while we’re out of town next month @MykaMom ! Thanks! Last time I had a million of those little plastic sauce containers in a ziplock baggie, lol!

 

[ravvlet]

Oh my GOODNESS, the Kirb is driving me up a wall today! I dunno what’s gotten into him, as he definitely HAD FOOD LEFT IN HIS BOWL, but it’s bed time and his highness marched down to the floor of his cage to shred the paper in the tray. He’s never done that before! What a punk.

He’s finally going back up to his night time perch so I’m hoping the antics are done. I wonder if he knows I’m too paranoid to do a lights out on him while he’s down there because I’m worried he won’t get back to his perch.

Otherwise he seems fine. He’s gained another 10g and is right where the vet wanted him to be.

Oh, there he goes again. Come on little buddy, it’s like he senses I have somewhere to be early in the AM.

 

[ravvlet]

 

[ravvlet]

 

[ravvlet]

I think I forgot to post these here, but here are a couple of videos I uploaded of Sammy just doing random things:

 

[MykaMom]

Oh my GOODNESS, the Kirb is driving me up a wall today! I dunno what’s gotten into him, as he definitely HAD FOOD LEFT IN HIS BOWL, but it’s bed time and his highness marched down to the floor of his cage to shred the paper in the tray. He’s never done that before! What a punk.

He’s finally going back up to his night time perch so I’m hoping the antics are done. I wonder if he knows I’m too paranoid to do a lights out on him while he’s down there because I’m worried he won’t get back to his perch.

Otherwise he seems fine. He’s gained another 10g and is right where the vet wanted him to be.

Oh, there he goes again. Come on little buddy, it’s like he senses I have somewhere to be early in the AM.

He knows it's bedtime. You are being punked by a bird!

Myka knows the 'lights out' ritual and throws a tantrum almost every time. But once my overnight o2 concentrator turns on, he stops and climbs onto his night perch. Even after the light is off. He knows the way, lol.

 

[ravvlet]

More random videos of Sammy and Kirby going about their day:

As a bonus, here’s a photo to His Highness, about to take a nap because I’m sitting next to him. With both kids home during the summer, I find myself sneaking into my office at all hours to catch a nap. Kirby doesn’t mind, and seems to like to get as close to me and cozy as possible so he can snooze too.

 

[ravvlet]

I got my two a present today, although they don’t know it!

One of my friends recently got one of these hydroponic grow beds for herbs, and I kept thinking how cool it would be to grow some organic herbs for my two. Well, Amazon had one on sale & it arrived today! As you can see, I’m growing cilantro, dill, oregano, arugula, lemon balm, and parsley. The bird room doubles as my office so I picked things that were faintly aromatic too, because I like the scent (and I assume that naturally growing/not concentrated herb smells are fine?).

I checked to make sure these were parrot safe before buying - I actually had wanted to order a 12 type assortment pack and grow a different plant in each slot, but every single one I could find included chives, which are NOT parrot safe!

The light isn’t actually blue mind you, that’s just my phone getting confused as all get out when it was trying to focus so the text on the labels were legible. It’s got a little fan in the hood & the water tank below has a pump to keep the water flowing. I am using the plant food Aerogarden puts out (in partnership with MiracleGro), because there isn’t really any soil so all their nutrients come from the water. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find an organic plant food made for these kits - the dosing is based on how many “pods” the unit supports.

I look forward to seeing these things grow!

 

[ravvlet]

Learned a valuable lesson today - Kirby does NOT like nitrile exam gloves, haha.

I’m treating two cats for ringworm and I foolishly thought I’d save time by wearing the glove downstairs, giving his highness breakfast, and then afterward giving the cats their topical ointment with the glove on.

Not so fast, me! The minute he saw the glove - not even on the hand I was using to put his chop bowl in - he went on the mega offensive. I yanked my arm out of there so fast I caught my elbow on the door lock and took off a chunk of skin! In retrospect it would probably have been less painful to let him bite me.

He wouldn’t settle down unless I hid the hand with the glove behind my back and even then he was guarded. He never gets feisty with me so it was a bit of a surprise - and I’ll admit when I sliced my elbow I hopped around and let out a few choice words, which didn’t seem to impress him much, haha.

I guess it’s nice to see he’s still got it in him! He’s such a lazy boy otherwise, until he gets a wild feather up his butt and decides to fly across the room and get stuck on furniture.

 

[ravvlet]

Saw this comic and decided to edit my two in, as it’s a rather accurate portrayal, lol.

 

[ravvlet]

Just got done with Kirby’s annual.

Weight is perfect! Nares are perfect. Right wing all flight feathers are in and perfect. Left wing, outermost primary has about 2-3Cm of shredding, we think he got it caught in something. Missing a couple feathers on that wing probably due to molt. Masses have not changed in size and body condition is ideal.

She said this is the best he’s looked since she started overseeing his care! What an incredible relief. Gotta say, it’s the first vet appointment where I get to go home worry free!

He is still having blood work and a fecal done, as usual, but fingers and toes crossed that those come back all clear!

 

[ravvlet]

Kirby’s blood work and fecal came back!

The great news: totally normal blood work. Liver looks great, which means he’s made a full recovery from fatty liver!

The good news: his fecal is showing healthy bacteria finally - for the first time possibly ever.

The not as great news: he has a mild overgrowth of e-coli again, so we are doing a two week dose of antibiotics, as well as more stringent and frequent disinfecting of his cage.

I figure I’ll start deep cleaning and disinfecting every other week now. I wipe down daily and change papers daily but the disinfectant is much more thorough- I just can’t have him in the room when I do it so it’s normally done outside.

Additionally, Benebac stopped making their powder for birds, so we will be giving him a new probiotic - and the vet wants him on it for the foreseeable future. That’s fine with me; it would be fantastic if his gut flora could finally normalize so we aren’t dealing with out of balance bacteria so often!

 

[onamom]

I’m so late to this thread but I just wanted to say I adore listening to those fun Amazon noises in your videos! I’ve always been somewhat fascinated by Amazons and could listen to them all day. Gotta love a good laser noise.

 

[ravvlet]

I’m so late to this thread but I just wanted to say I adore listening to those fun Amazon noises in your videos! I’ve always been somewhat fascinated by Amazons and could listen to them all day. Gotta love a good laser noise.

Her laser and fax/dial up modem noises are fantastic. But sometimes she will randomly shout HELLO into complete silence out of nowhere and it scares the crap out of me every time!

Kirby’s weird bird barking is much easier to work through by comparison - I just talk nonsense to him until he’s satisfied and he settles back down!

 

[ravvlet]

Sammy and Kirby went to have their nails trimmed and their beaks looked at (vet said both had mild hyper keratosis and recommended we have them done).

Kirby was a perfect angel as usual - he let the groomer cuddle him and hilariously gave her a defensive warning nip when her yellow nape got jealous of how much attention she was lavishing upon him. Afterwards he came and hung out with me, said hello to other people there for appointments, and was generally a gentleman…

And then it was Sammy’s turn. Oh, boy. We found out today (or rather, confirmed) that her highness does not like towels - and I don’t mean the usual dislike. I mean she knocked this lady’s glasses off, apparently bit her hand and scratched her a couple times. I felt so bad - I was out with Kirby and Esme was in the room with them. She also has decided she hates her step up perches but also won’t step up on hands.

Whew. I don’t know what to do with this gal! When I confided the fact that I’ve been feeling really lost with what to do with, for, or about Sammy to the groomer, she offered to take her, which was a surprise after the hard time she gave her - but apparently she has other yellow napes at home. We took her contact info just in case, and because at the end of the appointment she did manage to do everything we needed done, so there’s that.

Meanwhile, they had a young female eclectus who decided Kirby and I were the best thing since sliced bread. She kept begging to come out until one of the folks there let her out and had her step up on my hand. She was very charming, but also very $4,000, which I don’t have, haha.

Sammy and Kirby are home now and acting like nothing happened. I’m relieved that Sammy didn’t have any lasting hard feelings - I’ve never seen her go that off before. It was bad enough that one of the folks helping out suggested we ask her vet about Lupron injections! I was like, surprised. I mean, yes, she doesn’t step up and she loathes her step up perches, but we manage? I guess maybe I’m only seeing my side of it because we’ve been muddling along.

 

[ravvlet]

Kirby, king of the kitchen table​

Hey all, I’ve been meaning to update but I am hesitant to talk about it. We decided after a year of working with her, an urgent care visit with our kid, and having to keep her out of the main house and away from the other pets (including Kirby) to screen for a good home for Sammy, where there were not other kids and where her people were experienced with amazons.

I worry this is not going to be a popular decision and I am sorry if I disappoint anyone here. We could have done better, certainly, we we definitely overwhelmed, and she is a fantastic bird. She seems very happy with her new owner (who himself is a very experienced Amazon person), and has already made friends with the other resident yellow nape. In some ways we really miss her, and in others it is a relief - not because of the biting or my fears with handling her; but the guilt that she wasn’t really as part of our family as Kirby is.

Here’s a photo of her in her new home, with her new buddy:

Don’t worry - that’s Sammy in the background; the plucked looking yellow nape in the foreground is Baby, another Amazon who had hormonal issues and was a resident of our local parrot store for a year as they looked for a new home. Sammy met Baby while they were boarding when we were in LA, and she seems to remember them well!

Sammy as ever strikes a gorgeous profile! She’s so sweet with her new person, it’s clear whatever energy he has is something that is quite complimentary to hers, as she is already stepping up and doing other things we really struggled to get her to do. I am so happy for her and I know she’s happier too.

The moment I realized I was head underwater with this bird was actually when we brought her in for grooming. The grooming tech was an Amazon owner herself, with her own yellow nape there with her. Sammy decided she didn’t take a shine to her and the minute her guard went down she attacked her face. It was pretty alarming for us - we knew she was fiesty, but she’d never flown at anyone before like that. Thankfully the groomer was wearing glasses and wasn’t seriously hurt.

She always had many many hours of our time, toys, fresh veg, and pellets, and she got attention when she asked for it, but she never really bonded with anyone like Kirby did with me. Her new owner has kept in touch and has reported and provided videos of her with him and it’s clear she’s so much more comfortable and confident in her new home!

So, for the time being, our very good boy Kirby is back to being an only bird. We explored adopting through a rescue, but I think it was too soon for me and the bird we were applying for was a little too much for us, so we are back to square one. I am not sure what we will end up doing next, but I think we need to take a moment and really consider what the next move for us is, and if adding another feathered family member is the correct call.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I decided to move stuff about Kirby here since it’s more species appropriate and his heart murmur is being addressed. Also, I find it’s really useful to have a lot about what he’s eating or how he’s doing; and I am bad about remembering to write stuff down unless I have some level of accountability…

Today is chop day; I never seem to remember to get beans but I assume that’s ok since he eats pellets!

Today we did:
Mini sweet peppers
Orange bell pepper
Anaheim pepper
Rainbow chard
Baby red/green Swiss chard
Tat soi
Arugula
Spinach
Broccoli & carrot slaw
Cooked beets
Raw yellow squash
Blackberries
Rolled oats (uncooked; they seem to get soft on their own when I reheat from frozen)

View attachment 35768
I always buy too much or not enough; today looks like it’s a too much day. I try to avoid single use plastics so I usually freeze it in bins and then “chop” out what I need each day.

Overall he seems a bit happier than yesterday; the antibiotics will hopefully really be kicking in this week.

Try freezing in icecube trays. Easy to pop out as many as you need every day.