It's so quiet around here without Pistol. And Fatty isn't acting 100% himself. They were best friends. I didn't let them play together outside of the cage, but they would hang out together with bars between. If Fatty or Pistol were out in my room, chances are they would be on the cage of the other and each would be right in the others face chatting, bobbing, and regurging.
I showed Fatty Pistol's body. I tried to shield him from seeing just how horrific it was, but I felt he needed to see his friend and say goodbye before I placed him in a box in the freezer. We will build a casket and bury him somewhere nice once we move. Fatty knew it was Pistol and that something was very very wrong. He was focused in on the body, but didn't chatter or come to the bars, and you could see it in his face when it hit him what had happened. His head feathers poofed in a way I've never seen before and the energy sort of drained out of him. It was heartbreaking.
He is still eating and drinking and is right now chewing a toy, but is doing so silently and has been much, much quieter since it happened. How much grieving is normal? When do I become worried he is sick or depressed? How much of this is projection, do you think?
Alex seems fine, but then he doesn't really like other birds so that doesn't surprise me.
