New Additions 2022

[April]

Chewie got his new perch today. It was bigger than I thought once I had it in his cage, but he's happy with it. Everyone got new wooden hanging toys today and is hard at work turning them into toothpicks.

@Kassiani - Sandy does not like having her pin feathers worked on. I can usually get a few on the back of her neck but that's about it. She always has at least one tail feather that takes months to fully open up. We usually do it when she gets groomed. That way she can protest all she wants but can't bite anyone over it.

@Toy - I looked at those and realized we have some at work. I'm going to get a few and see how they fit. Christopher is only in her cage at night and doesn't seem to eat or drink much when she's in there. At least she can't pull out the bowls I have in there now. She does that sometimes.

Rubie is still with us. She's a doll, but long term this isn't the best place for her. Her mom is trying to resolve her housing issues, and once that happens I think things will get better for her. This bird is a riot. She taps the back of my head with her beak and says BOOP. She crawled down onto my chest and just when I think she is about to settle down and cuddle she sticks her head into my shirt and grabs some chest hair. It's very rude.

We had 3 greenwing eggs in the incubator. One was discovered to have a hole in it so we pulled it. The other had started developing then stopped and it was removed too. We pulled it on July 7th and there wasn't an embryo visible at the time. I'm guessing it was laid earlier that week, and it should put that hatching date at the end of the month or the first few days of August. I wanted to leave the eggs but we were having work done in the kitchen and they don't like strangers. I didn't want them destroying the eggs out of agitation. I really should put cameras on those nest boxes as I did with the Eclectus. I've given my friend a heads up that when she house sits for us in August there will be a lot of babies to feed.

Here is Chewie stroking a pose on his new perch. Destroying this one will be a chore.

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Ooh look how sassy he looks. He's so unbelievably handsome! Please leave that gorgeous perch alone Chewie it's such a beauty as are you,you need to save this one to enjoy always. The whole forum would cry if you did your crazy wood chipping powers on this one

 

[SumitaSinh]

This bird is a riot. She taps the back of my head with her beak and says BOOP. S

 

[BirdyDarby]

Knowing Chewie, I give that perch perhaps 3 months!

 

[BrianB]

Ruby has headed home, but not with her momma. Ruby was a sweet gift to her and the ones who gave her said they were always available to take her back if life changed for her. I reached out to them to let them know I had Ruby on a temporary basis and on Monday, Ruby's mom asked if they would take her permanently. We arranged for them to pick her up yesterday. She's going to be loved and spoiled, and she's going to have the long-term stability she needs. Her separation anxiety is unbelievable and I suspect she may have been mistreated by another family member in the home. I'll get to see her in a few weeks when she comes in for grooming. We all passed her around at the store and gave her some cuddles before she was packed up into the car and started her journey home.

 

[SumitaSinh]

I love the expression of her eyes

 

[BrianB]

Today, on this edition of Brian's House for Wayward Birds...

Another former coworker from the bird store reached out to me today and asked if I would take her male scarlet macaw. He was a resident at the store when I first started there. He has a slightly crooked beak and no one wanted him. He bonded with her so the owner let her pay for him and allowed him to live at the store until she could move into a larger place. When I started he was about a year old. He stayed at the store for another year and then she was able to take him home. He's a typical scarlet, very in-your-face and demanding, and compliant on his terms. One day, he and I had a throwdown when he went after a smaller bird. He had been lunging at people and once before he had jumped off of his stand and tried to attack a blue-headed pionus. When we saw him getting ready to dive after the pionus again one of the girls grabbed the smaller bird and turned her back towards him. I went to just sweep him out of the air and ended up with his feet in one hand and my other hand around his neck. I put him back on his tree with a stern warning that bad things would happen to him if he tried it again. I had not intended for him to end up in my hands that way, but it really changed his attitude toward me. He stepped up when asked and really stopped being a jerk to everyone. Then he went home...and none of the behavior we expected from him was reinforced. The first time he came back to the store to visit, he bit me, in the same place that Chewie did a few months ago. Fast forward 2 years. She's married, has stepchildren, and an infant daughter. The scarlet bonded really well with her stepdaughter but hasn't done well with all of the changes. Today they reached a breaking point and he went after the baby. He didn't get to her, but the intent was obvious, and now they feel he's a danger to her. He would be around 4, so in addition to the overall stress of moving, her getting married, new people entering the house, and a baby arriving, he's right on the verge of puberty. It's just a bad scene no matter how you look at it.

They've asked me to take him in and possibly pair him with Poppy. I really don't have the space. I can make space, but it will take some work and may be disruptive to my other birds. We have other babies on the way and I'm just not sure what to do. If I don't take him, he will go to the store and be placed up for adoption. I'm glad that is a fallback option because we will be able to make sure he goes to the right home.

 

[howdymjm]

Ruby has headed home, but not with her momma. Ruby was a sweet gift to her and the ones who gave her said they were always available to take her back if life changed for her. I reached out to them to let them know I had Ruby on a temporary basis and on Monday, Ruby's mom asked if they would take her permanently. We arranged for them to pick her up yesterday. She's going to be loved and spoiled, and she's going to have the long-term stability she needs. Her separation anxiety is unbelievable and I suspect she may have been mistreated by another family member in the home. I'll get to see her in a few weeks when she comes in for grooming. We all passed her around at the store and gave her some cuddles before she was packed up into the car and started her journey home.


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good luck, Ruby

 

[BrianB]

Our baby green wing is growing like crazy. He is going to be huge. I say "he" but I don't really know for sure. We're going to do the DNA next week or the week after. Hopefully, before we leave for vacation in August. He has a slightly crooked top beak, but I'm pretty sure we can correct that before he goes home. We've had to separate him from the baby red-fronted macaws because he's so much larger than they are.

Chewie and I got to spend some time together last night. I brought him inside and we sat in a chair for a while. He was very well behaved and didn't show any signs of aggression at all. We walked past Christopher on her stand and there was no reaction. I'm convinced that the bite was from me trying to take him from the other guy. He could have just screamed and I would have gotten the message. After we had our time together I brought Poppy inside and let them hang out on the floor. She was very well behaved and they only had one little squabble. Their nails are very sharp so that's going to be an adventure when the time comes.

We made the choice to not take the other scarlet macaw that was offered to us. We just don't have the room, and the disruption he would cause would be huge. I was talking with his owner the other day. Not only has he gone after her infant daughter, but he's given her a few really bad bites. Chewie got my arm, but he bit her on the neck. I have some mixed feelings about him. Some of his behavior is from her not setting boundaries with him and reinforcing what kind of behavior she expected. One of the things he used to do was jump onto her head, latch his claws into her hair, hang off the back of her head and flap his wings like crazy while screaming. That's not something I would ever let a bird do. He's now a resident at the store and I think we've got a good couple to adopt him.

One last thing and then I have birds to feed before I go to work. Here's a picture of Sandy sharing a piece of my banana walnut bread on Saturday morning.

 

[Tyrion]

Love your pics

 

[BrianB]

We took 4 baby red-fronted macaws, the baby green wing, and the little Citron Cockatoo to get DNA testing done yesterday. I can't wait to get the results back. This morning as I was making my rounds through the house to check on everyone I stopped by the incubator to refill the water reservoir. The chick is starting to pip so we should have a chick hatch sometime soon. We had to help the last one hatch so I hope this one has an easier time. I bumped up the humidity a little too since the last time the inner membrane dried on the chick's head maybe the slightly higher humidity will prevent that from happening with this one.

 

[BirdyDarby]

So exciting!!

 

[BrianB]

We have a baby. Just like the other one, this one couldn't get out of the shell by itself. This one was different though. When I noticed the shell had started to crack I candled the egg and it was clear that this little one was not ready to hatch. It looked to be at least a week away from hatching so I wasn't sure why the egg had cracked but it was obviously done from the inside out. I bumped the humidity up in the incubator to make sure it didn't get dried out and stuck as the last one did. Two days passed and the egg did a lot of rocking back and forth and some chirping, but no progress. When I came home from work this evening we made the decision to help this little one out of the shell. I think the little one still needed more development, but what's done is done. I slowly picked the shell away, and again there was some dried membrane around the head. Some of it was like dried leather. I had to moisten it to get it off. We'll see how this goes. I'm far more concerned about this one than I was about the last one. We'll just take it slow and see what happens.

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

Aww… for sure wishing this wee one God’s blessings … there’s already an angel helping (you) … can’t wait to see life progress!

 

[BrianB]

This little one is having a slow start, but growing. We're up to 25 grams from 20 grams at hatching, and now taking a whole 1ml at each feeding. I checked the parent's nest box and while they act like they are still in the breeding season, I haven't seen or heard them breeding and there are no eggs. The harlequins seem agitated with each other at the moment and haven't shown any interest in breeding. I have a visual barrier between cages and the one between their cage and the one with BooBoo and Natcho in it came down a few days ago. It was only down for a few hours before I fixed it, but Victor has been agitated ever since. Hopefully, they settle and give us another harlequin before the end of the year. The red-fronted macaws are on 3 eggs so there will be another clutch of babies around the end of the month.

 

[BirdyDarby]

This little one is having a slow start, but growing. We're up to 25 grams from 20 grams at hatching, and now taking a whole 1ml at each feeding. I checked the parent's nest box and while they act like they are still in the breeding season, I haven't seen or heard them breeding and there are no eggs. The harlequins seem agitated with each other at the moment and haven't shown any interest in breeding. I have a visual barrier between cages and the one between their cage and the one with BooBoo and Natcho in it came down a few days ago. It was only down for a few hours before I fixed it, but Victor has been agitated ever since. Hopefully, they settle and give us another harlequin before the end of the year. The red-fronted macaws are on 3 eggs so there will be another clutch of babies around the end of the month.

View attachment 411350

If anyone can get this chick up onto it's feet (literally and figuratively), its definitely you! Its a shame some of this year's eggs have had some troubles, but not every clutch can be perfect. Red-fronted macaws are total goobers, I'm surprised I don't see more people breeding them. One of the red-fronts at the rescue has started to fall in love with me, he's a total dear.

 

[BrianB]

If anyone can get this chick up onto it's feet (literally and figuratively), its definitely you! Its a shame some of this year's eggs have had some troubles, but not every clutch can be perfect. Red-fronted macaws are total goobers, I'm surprised I don't see more people breeding them. One of the red-fronts at the rescue has started to fall in love with me, he's a total dear.

It's been a strange year for babies that's for sure, and we're both feeling slightly overwhelmed. I don't give the green wings any supplemental calcium but their eggs have been really dense this year. We haven't had issues with a chick hatching in the past. They do eat a ton of veggies, but I can't think of anything in there that is really high in calcium. The harlequins are the ones we're worried about because they sit and hatch their babies, but they won't feed them. We had planned to pull their eggs just as a matter of course. If we hadn't pulled the green wing eggs, the chicks would not have been able to hatch. The red-fronted are great parents so I don't have to worry about them. Little birds that make up for their size with very bird personalities.

 

[BrianB]

This is the green wing that hatched on June 16th. Seven weeks old now I guess. DNA is pending so we'll see what we have. This one has a huge crop and I've been holding off feedings to let it empty more. I have one unhappy baby when that happens. The beak is slightly crooked but I don't think it will be an issue. I've been putting slight pressure on it when I feed and I don't think it's going to get any worse. Such a huge difference in 7 weeks from the newly hatched sibling I posted earlier.

 

[rocky'smom]

What chunky little monkey

 

[April]

This is the green wing that hatched on June 16th. Seven weeks old now I guess. DNA is pending so we'll see what we have. This one has a huge crop and I've been holding off feedings to let it empty more. I have one unhappy baby when that happens. The beak is slightly crooked but I don't think it will be an issue. I've been putting slight pressure on it when I feed and I don't think it's going to get any worse. Such a huge difference in 7 weeks from the newly hatched sibling I posted earlier.

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Oh my god that face!!! Oh how I could just snuggle him all day!

 

[BrianB]

What chunky little monkey

Chunky Monkey was Freya's nickname. You can definitely tell they are siblings.