The boys have moved to the aviary. Photos of course!

[HannahandSunny]

Hi everyone,
Thought I would update you all on Percy and Gizmo. 2-3 weeks ago we finally did the aviary up and have moved the boys outside where I knew they’d be happier to have more room to fly and do birdy things.
We cut out a hole in the side and added another window to make it more open for them, which I’m pleased with.
I was quite nervous about how’d they go. But knew they’d be okay considering they must have been aviary raised before I got them. I put them out there in their cage so they could come out in their own time. It took about half an hour before they braved it. Gizmo was singing away within a couple of hours, and Percy was being inquisitive too.
I think they are both really enjoying it, They love screaming to the cockatoos in the morning and night. And it’s lovely to seem them be able to slightly stretch their wings. The goal is, when we move house that they will have a huge aviary, but for now this is a nice upgrade for them.
They have natural branches etc in there. Which I’ll keep adding too. But just got to make sure they have flying space.
It’s been very hot this week so I’ve been putting the hose sprinkler in for a little while for them to enjoy. Gizmo loves it, but Percy still sticky to his reserved, sensible and ‘no-fun’ policy to life :18: I’ve yet to see him play.. bless him!
Partner is busy building me a ‘porch’ for the doorway as I’m so scared that they could escape when I open the door. So I’ll have a door to shut behind me when I open the main door which will be good

 

[Betrisher]

Hey Hannah!

Well done with the aviary! It looks great and the boys look *so* happy (you can tell by the way they're wearing their hats)!

Doesn't it make a huge difference for them to have somewhere they can actually fly? I know my Beakies' personalities got about twice as big when they moved into their apartment and Rosetta uses every square inch of the space in hers.

Hope everything's well with you? How's the heat down your way? We've had an amazingly cool start to summer and it's making me feel nervous.

The Beaks and 'Setta send their best to Percy and Gizmo.

 

[LaManuka]

Well Hannah, if it had to be done, they do look pretty happy in their new digs. You'll probably find Percy's personality will unfold now that they have their room with a view. Hope you can get some shots of Gizmo enjoying himself under the sprinkler, my Fang goes positively barmy when he gets a shower with the mist bottle

 

[saxguy64]

That looks awesome, Hannah! They must be so happy to have lots of space and a big view of the world!

 

[HannahandSunny]

Hey Hannah!

Well done with the aviary! It looks great and the boys look *so* happy (you can tell by the way they're wearing their hats)!

Doesn't it make a huge difference for them to have somewhere they can actually fly? I know my Beakies' personalities got about twice as big when they moved into their apartment and Rosetta uses every square inch of the space in hers.

Hope everything's well with you? How's the heat down your way? We've had an amazingly cool start to summer and it's making me feel nervous.

The Beaks and 'Setta send their best to Percy and Gizmo.

Thanks Trish!
Yes it’s awesome watching them be more active, They always seem to be doing something in the aviary. Makes me much happier and feel less guilty about them being caged. Can’t wait until they can have a huge aviary one day!
Everything is okay with me Thanks, Had a tough time with the animals lately and a sad loss of a great guinea pig. But such is life.. full of ups and downs.
It’s been a cool start to our summer too! But the past few days have been super hot, meant to cool down at the end of the week again. Very strange weather this year. We still have green grass!!
Hope you’re all well? And that the beaks are happy
Percy and Gizmo send positively screechy sqwarks back to Setta and friends

 

[Scott]

So happy to hear from you Hannah. But first, my deepest condolences for the loss of your guinea pig.

Nice job building a wonderful aviary for Gizmo and Percy. Gives them a taste of larger enclosures to come. They look so happy together!

 

[Betrisher]

Aw, Hannah, I'm sorry about your piggy! I hope none of his little friends is grieving or looking for him? Try to remember how lucky you were to have enjoyed such a lovely piggy. Also remember that he was lucky to have enjoyed a happy life with you. I bet he's dancing over the Rainbow Bridge to meet all my dear departed mice. XX

Our weather continues to be mild (fingers crossed) and I think my flock is really enjoying the lovely sunny, breezy days. We've had a few storms, but I don't mind those too much. They blow down the sweet-tasting gum-tips, which I collect for the birds. Oddly, Rosetta seems to be afraid of electrical storms, so I've begun covering her cage if there's a storm at night. It seems to comfort her.

LOL! The lady next door came in one morning to say she'd heard 'Setta 'crying' in the night and just wanted to check that she was OK. How lucky am I? Most neighbours would be somewhat - ah - 'peeved' - at the sound a corella makes, especially at night.

Today, we drove up to Williamtown (site of our local RAAF base) to see if we could see the new F35 Lightning jets doing touch-and-go exercises. Sadly, they're still on Christmas holidays, so we motored on to Raymond Terrace.

While hubby was buying coffee for us, I noticed a rather amazing sight. It was a Flying Fox rookery containing several thousand Grey-headed Flying Foxes! Since it was still daylight, all the wee foxies were still wrapped up tight looking exactly like my Nanna's old string bag. When it gets dark, the whole rookery will erupt into the night and each FF will fly dozens of miles in their search for fruit and nectar. All I could think of was the amount of poo that many FFs would generate. I'd love to have been there to see them take off, but we had to get home for tea, so... Next time, maybe.

Trish

PS. At our old house, we had a few date palms. The FFs would come and gorge on the dates and then poo all over my washing, my car and my dog. FF poo isn't very nice: it has the consistency of melted caramel and is very hard to get off without much swearing.

 

[Flboy]

That is looking really nice! Question on the tree, is that a eucalyptus? Some sites list it as toxic to parrots! In the wild, it may not be a big deal, but captivity is a different story!

EDIT: I now have doubts about eucalyptus being toxic!

 

[Betrisher]

Yep, the tree is indeed Eucalyptus.

Mind you, there are over seven hundred species of eucalpyt, so there may well be ones out there which might disagree with a bird (although I've never heard of any such thing, tbh). I have E. citriodora and E. cladocalyx available in my yard, so that's what I feed.

I dunno what difference there could possibly be in feeding Eucalyptus to wild vs caged birds, though. I mean, it's not like heavy metals where the poisoning is cumulative. If I see the native cockies munching on a branch or gumtips or whatever, I'll grab it for my birds. They *love* breaking open the nuts and winkling out the seeds with their tongues. They trample one another to get to the blossoms, though, because they're utterly loaded with pollen and nectar. Also, the timber is just perfect for a dyed-in-the-wool Aussie parrot to chew on. It comes off in long strips, which they'll chew all the way to the end, leaving a perfectly polished smooth perch behind.

If you can, Flboy, would you see if you can find the reference that says Eucalyptus can be toxic? I'd be interested to read it. I know there are a few outrider Eucalypts that occur in New Guinea, Indonesia and the Philippines. Maybe it's one of these that might be toxic to birds?

PS. Hah! I think I found it! While all parts of the eucalyptus *tree* are safe for birds (and are, indeed, recommended), it's the essential oils that can be toxic. That would stand to reason, of course. The oils occurring naturally in the tree are beneficial, it's only the concentrated stuff marketted in bottles you should avoid. Hope this helps?

Other great native species are callistemon, melaleuca, hakea, grevillea, banksia, leptospermum and corymbia (which used to be called 'eucalyptus', but which now are not, which is a headache). Our parrots are evolved to live on all of these (including eucalyptus).

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Lovely to see a post from you Hannah Awesome looking mansion for Percy and Gizmo! Send a little of your "warmth" this way will ya? It's currently 28f here and way too cold to take Amy out on an adventure.



Jim

 

[SailBoat]

Great Aviary there!!!

Assure that the space between the roof line and the sidewalls have screen material in the openings to keep your Parrots in, and the live stuff outside the Aviary from finding a way in.

Also sorry about your piggy. Never had one, so totally out of my element on caring for them, etc.

Good to see you back on the board good friend.

 

[Flboy]

Yep, the tree is indeed Eucalyptus.

Mind you, there are over seven hundred species of eucalpyt, so there may well be ones out there which might disagree with a bird (although I've never heard of any such thing, tbh). I have E. citriodora and E. cladocalyx available in my yard, so that's what I feed.

I dunno what difference there could possibly be in feeding Eucalyptus to wild vs caged birds, though. I mean, it's not like heavy metals where the poisoning is cumulative. If I see the native cockies munching on a branch or gumtips or whatever, I'll grab it for my birds. They *love* breaking open the nuts and winkling out the seeds with their tongues. They trample one another to get to the blossoms, though, because they're utterly loaded with pollen and nectar. Also, the timber is just perfect for a dyed-in-the-wool Aussie parrot to chew on. It comes off in long strips, which they'll chew all the way to the end, leaving a perfectly polished smooth perch behind.

If you can, Flboy, would you see if you can find the reference that says Eucalyptus can be toxic? I'd be interested to read it. I know there are a few outrider Eucalypts that occur in New Guinea, Indonesia and the Philippines. Maybe it's one of these that might be toxic to birds?

PS. Hah! I think I found it! While all parts of the eucalyptus *tree* are safe for birds (and are, indeed, recommended), it's the essential oils that can be toxic. That would stand to reason, of course. The oils occurring naturally in the tree are beneficial, it's only the concentrated stuff marketted in bottles you should avoid. Hope this helps?

Other great native species are callistemon, melaleuca, hakea, grevillea, banksia, leptospermum and corymbia (which used to be called 'eucalyptus', but which now are not, which is a headache). Our parrots are evolved to live on all of these (including eucalyptus).

Wild vs captive. Many parrots, South America, eat large quantities of clay. This helps them handle toxins!
This was my source for the unsafe listing.
http://beaknwings.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=298&Itemid=432

But— it says ‘allegedly’ ! I agree with you, and other sources!