Upbeat - news

[ChristaNL]

Good thought (I haven't used a biolaser since 2004 or so - so it never crossed my mind).
Now she is down to bare skin at that site... it is even an option!
Thank you for that idea! :07:

 

[ChristaNL]

Hahahahaha, just one of those crazy things...

I was in the mood for boiled eggs (made by chicken) so the parrots got some.
Japie decided it was lethal and possibly the end of civilisation, so he did not even want to be in the same room with his portion.
Appies loooves the yolk- so started to almost inhale that part.
Sunny (being so much larger) got half an egg-- and was interested: she ate the shell!
(every single little piece, the egg itself... no go)

Her calciumlevels should be just fine (with her diet the way it is), but if she pulls a stunt like this...it makes me wonder!

Anyway- next time she gets to peel all the eggs first




(She does a far neater job than I do)

=


Touchy wings explained: she grew in a set of primaries, the outhermost ones!
(the most vulnerable ones she could grow- with no support from the neighbours / she gnawed those to pieces during the summer)
They are about 1/3 of the mature lenght now.


The smaller side-ones for the tail are still there! Unmolested (sofar).
If she leaves those in peace- she will have 6 mature tailfeathers!

 

[LaManuka]

Oh I do hope Sunny leaves those new feathers alone!

 

[Laurasea]

I second that! Grow unmolested feathers grow, and stay in! Do we ever get to see pictures, of anybody???

 

[ChristaNL]

Oh, cockatielmama made me realise something...
(thank you so much for asking!)

Sunny slowly stopped "spacing out" so much.
I did not even notice it- it went so gradually.


During the day she will still sometimes hang from the ceiling, but in a "cling to the cagebars"-way, just like any normal curious parrot. No more zombie-modus!

She will still dangle from the ceiling of her cage (especially in the evening when she is tired)- but she now uses her tail to add movement!!
(She used to just make tiny wingflaps/twiches with her lowhanging right wing, and just hold on with her beak. Now she has one leg on the ceiling, one on the bars, not too far from the beak.)
She looks like someone doing crunches/sit ups in a half sidewise position.
Instead of spacing out she is making al sorts of noises, sometimes mumbles, sometimes she uses her entire vocabulary! (esp. in the evening).


So much more active: body and brain! :40:

(and I did not even notice till someone made me take a good look! :08

There are still zombie-moments, usually when she should be asleep but preferes not to, late in the evening. (My bad- I make evenings too long.)

-

Her 2 outhermost wingfeathers are doing amazing (touch wood), gradually growing in without any drama at all!
I told myself not to hope for a miracle, but she is doing so great! :51:
The tail is still going strong as well.

-
(Do not tell her yet but...)

In a few weeks she'll be in for a shock: (if everything goes according to plan of course) she gets a larger cage (not as large as I would like, but my house refuses to grow bigger - a very stubborn building! So it is another compromise, but it will give her more elbowroom -> about 2x what she has now. And it comes with some propper macawsized toys that will challenge her to move and balance even more!)

 

[Laurasea]

Fantastic news all around! I definitely hope this is the Turing point for Sunny!!! You have been so amazing for her. so dedicated, and kind.

 

[ChristaNL]

Nothing really earthshattering,. but it seems Sunny is really feeling at home now and getting used to the antics of the greys. She came up with a strategy of her own today and is awfully pleased with herself.

We had a late shower (early afternoon) because of my crazy social life, but both Sunny and Appie really wanted a soak, so they got one. (I needed one to semi-defrost certain bodyparts so no complaints here. )

Sunny was on top of her cage on one side with Appie flapping away on the other.
(I am hoping she will teach Sunny to use those wings a bit more, and after-shower flapping is really populair with her.)
Appie decided she needed even more soaking, so climbed inside and took another quick-wash in Sunnies waterbowl ... she kept alternating between the bowl and one of the perches and no intention of leaving...
so Sunny decided to turn the tables and go chill in Appies cage *al by herself*! :40:

(She climbs on the outside of course but very rarely visits inside the other cages; usually it is just the greys raiding her foodbowl etc.)


She is really climbing about more and also okay with just sit and chill nearby without constant (hands on) attention.
(unfortunately she is a textile-gnawer, so needs supervision all the time.)


The longest tailfeather shows some signs of overpreening, but so far so good! The outhermost wingfeathers are still there and she is actually growing one in the middlesection of each wing as well.



The aviary/cageparts are here \o/ (outside) awaiting deepcleaning... but since it is freezing outside (or as close to freezing as no never mind) it will still be a few days before I can start assembling.
(I have no material to form the bottom of the aviary yet- outside in the garden most people use tiles of course, I am still looking for parrot- as wel as Christa-friendly material to use indoors. I do not want her gnawing away at my vinyl and something easy to clean.)
(Trespa is a great option except for the ridiculous price- one sheet almost doubles the value of the cage ... so if anyone has some ideas ... unfortunately those floorprotectingmats from IKEA are too small)

 

[Jen5200]

An aviary, that will be awesome! I keep dreaming about getting one . Depending on the size, I would consider looking for thin sheets of stainless steel to line the bottom - they could be attached to a sheet of plywood to make it solid and would hopefully be easy to clean. I would just worry if they would be slippery but I suppose most easy-to-clean surfaces would be smooth and have that risk.

 

[LaManuka]

Stainless steel sounds AWESOME!! I wish I could do that in my bird room. I’ve made do with some of those plastic mats like what they put under office chairs but my little guys don’t tend to destroy flooring!

Good to know Sunny’s new feathers are still intact

 

[Rival_of_the_Rickeybird]

May 2019 be graced with many more intact feathers.

 

[Laurasea]

So great the Sunny is exploring! She is just starting to bloom it seems. The Greys sound like they are real treats

 

[ChristaNL]

It the season to be ....


cageswapping!


Sunny may be sick and tired of finding her own drinkingwater african-grey-flavoured of she is (just like greys) having way too much fun manipulating the nipple/steelballwhosname of the drinkingbottles, but there is no more drinking in her own cage..
"Lets pop in at the neighbours and sample whatever they have on tap!:smile035:"
is *the* thing to do nowadays.


So...Sunny keeps disappearing on me - only to pop-up in Appies cage.
Sunny is no longer the ultimate clumsy, cluncking about bird she used to be. She has been watching Appie being the perfect ninjabird- and is now starting to move around almost soundlessly (very inconvenient for me )

meanwhile...

Appie is just all over the place these days, she is back into mountaineering and scales curtains. Japie is deviding his time between his job as a plee-boy (looking outside and commenting on all the neighbours activities) and either 'helping me clean' by shredding the wascloths or discover even more fun and obscure nesting places (he more or less got over his trash-can-obsession ).


Anyway- it is obvious this lady preferes something at her back when chilling out (her cage was just plunked where there was sufficient space - an emergency landing so to speak -, so she lives near a window at the (boring) back of the house). She constantly seeks out the perch that is in front of a wall, next to a cupboard -> so she is looking for something nest-alike as well? (it is the season for it of course) or she is just more comfy with something solid there.


Back to inferior design ... ehm interior design I mean, and see if I can make the available space work a bit better for everyone (and add a drinkingbottle to Sunnies cage of course)

 

[ChristaNL]

A Very Sentimental Moment :52:

(must be the time of the year or something, right? )

Japie was trying out his new birdbath (still not large enough for him to dip his wings in, but he refuses to take a bath outside the cage - and for some reasons he does not want to come with us to take a shower).
So there he was- lying on his stomach, wings spread out, trying to make a good splash.

After watching him have a go at it:
the ladies all went upstairs to get a nice civilized all-over soak in the bathroom.

I decided to try the ridiculous sized birdbath (that lives on the balcony in the summermonths) again for Appie (nOOoOooOooOoOoOoOoooH! Shower plze!) and Sunny (Hmmmm, let me see, let me taste?)


So- here I am, crouched on the bathroomfloor, with a fired up macaw on my forearm. The forearm full lenght submerged in the bath, and the rest of me unwisely close to the beak of an exited macaw.
We did a lot of trustbuilding lately, so I decided to gamble ... and started splashing her with the other hand.

The most amazing and wonderfull thing happened:
she went into "bird wanting to take a bath" instead of "If I can get hold of that finger it will be goners!".
(There were a few moments it could have gone either way, so *relieved*.)


Out went the wings!!!
Up went the feathers on wings and body!!
She even spread out her tailfeathers!!



She was ready to have a blast!
(but not to let go off my arm )
:40: She was actively (and gingerly) moving those outstreched (as far as they could go!) wings, the largest stretch simultaneously on both sides I have ever seen her achieve

and at a certain point draped one of them over my schoulder...








<freeze frame plze>

 

[Laurasea]

That is so special and sweet!!! So much progress!

 

[SilleIN]

I am sorry I haven't read through all of the posts, but I am curious. We wrote together some time ago regarding beta-keratin flakes.

Have you seen any difference?

 

[charmedbyekkie]

I just read the latest update! So happy to hear all your guys' work (both you and Sunny) in her physio is paying off with her able to enjoy a nice bath

 

[ChristaNL]

I am sorry I haven't read through all of the posts, but I am curious. We wrote together some time ago regarding beta-keratin flakes.

Have you seen any difference?

(recap)

Ha Sille,
Oh yes!! :41:

She got everything changed almost at once of course: new adress, larger cage, more company (birds and me) and more challenges, different pellets, a more varied diet, got introduced to nuts (she only ate peanuts as a treat), lots of pain-meds etc., probiotics and your special recommendation.

She gets her special oatmeal (as a porridge) mixed with al the meds, probiotices etc. in the morning and the composition of the feathers is shockingly different!
They used to be stiff (rigid almost) and brittle - so it was like she was wearing sticks instead of feathers- and the hulls of the pinfeathers were almost made out of concrete (very hard, thick and stiff -> very annoying to her and almost impossible to get rid of -> she had one tailfeather growing full lenght without it even flake a tiny bit, more porcupine than macaw).


She only stopped mutilating the tailfeathers when I took over peeling them for her.
She will not let me do the same for the wingfeathers atm so these are touch-and-go.
(But she can reach those far more easily, so less accidental biting the feathery part instead of the hull.)

The difference is really shocking: I never knew the large feathers were so very bendy and supple! :heart: them!! Thank you *so* much for that tip!!

(being a macaw-newbie I never would have noticed this as a real problem- and would not be on the look-out for a solution!)



=
(news)


Recently she started sometimes try-flapping her wings a bit :40: (she wants to go exploring outside...of all places! So like a lot of birds will use her bodyweight to steer me in 'the right' direction and flap wings to convey the emergency.)

It is a pathetic sight: one wing will not unfold completely, but you can see it moving in an almost normal flap. The other one wil sort of make spastic little circles over her head with an almost folded wing. :31:
It breaks my heart everytime I see it, but also makes me even more determined to work with her to regain as much mobility as may be possible.


Today is was very sunny and no wind at all (for an hour or so) so I decided to finish deepcleaning her new cage-parts outside.
She really, really wanted to know what I was doing, so (since I was outside in my sweater and not really cold ) I invited her out...
(It also gave her an opportunity to see the new cage-parts- so it will not be as shocking to her when they (finally) arrive and get assembled inside.)


There she was - on the railing (one floor above everyone else), like a queen vieuwing her subjects (and being terribly noisy) and having a blast! :40:

I moved her inside to Japies favorite look-out-spot for warmth after a bit, but not before she caught some rays and the attention of one of the smaller neighbour-kids, who told her off for making so much noise.

(I still giggle when I think about it- the wee fellow was on one of those roller-board-things clipped behind the stroller where his smaller sibling was reclining. But he certainly knew 'it was not polite' and had no problems expressing it as well... )


She is really warming up to the birdbath- and the same problem I have with the greys: I just cannot find a bath that is macaw-beak-proof yet large enough for her to flap about in.

(She seems like a perfect candidate for hydrotherapie-sessions-- since the bath is the only place sofar she is willing to stretch and move the wings symmetrically and water is perfect for light resistance-training, a soaked wing is heavy!)

Suggestions are always welcome of course

 

[TiredOldMan]

For the bath maybe an extra large dog dish or large animal (think horses or bovines) feed pans.

Just a thought.

 

[Laurasea]

For the bath maybe an extra large dog dish or large animal (think horses or bovines) feed pans.

Just a thought.

That's a great idea!

 

[ChristaNL]

Hmmm, I will try to find one that is at least 50 inches across, the current birdybath is 20+ inches and her wings hang over the sides when she (sort off) stretches them...

(I bought this one with the greys in mind- they should fit, wings and all - but do not want to ... sofar anyway)


Maybe I can get to a animal-supply-store where they sell things for the large animals (bovine/horse etc. sounds promising, great idea!)- but tomorrow is a workday (at least half one anyway) so do not get mad if nothing much happens