I went to a fair yesterday and found the Bourke that I've been seeking for some time, but in addition to him, I fell for a pair of female parrotlets that a woman was almost begging me to take for next to nothing: one is disabled and very tightly bonded to the female she lives with, and people were unwilling to take them since they didn't want the disabled one. (Still working on names for both of them.)
Apparently in a former home she flew into a windowpane and sustained neurological damage. The avian vet said that she was okay otherwise, but that she would never be able to hold her head up properly. (It tilts at various angles, but never moves upright. She rests it on her buddy a lot, which makes for some extra cuteness, as in the photo above.) Someone had brought the birds to this woman, who breeds mostly budgies, in hopes that she could care for them after their owner no longer could.
She told me that she'd had them in an aviary, so I thought that mobility would not be such an issue, but I suspect that for the disabled bird it really is. She does not fly, but climbs quite well. She found the food dish right away and even nibbled a bit on the millet spray feeder that hangs from the ceiling of the cage.
But the cage is the issue. I have a 60" long, 18" deep, 30" high cage that I thought would work, but it seems awfully big and a bit high for the disabled one. (The other almost never leaves her side, so they move almost in tandem.)
This morning when I changed their food and water, the disabled bird wanted to fly away from my hand, but instead fell to the ground. The floor is a non-removable grate. I am concerned about her falling now.
I plan to add some ladders to make climbing easier, and I have some additional manzanita perches that can go in as well.
Other ideas for making the cage safe and accessible? Lower all the perches? A towel on the cage floor? A platform perch or two? A platform going from one cage wall to the other? I have all of this in the house already, but I am wondering if I am really using the wrong cage.
Should I just move the pair to a smaller cage? I do have three 30" x 18" x 18" Prevue cages, but they seem awfully small (half as long) when I look at the birds. However, they are a foot lower, which might be a plus.
Photo of cage is below. It is indeed sitting on top of a bathtub. This little-used bathroom is my quarantine room, and I had never used this rather large cage there before. It took some configuring to make it work so that they could get some natural light and I could still use the room.
Thanks from the birds and from me.