Jaz
10Years Old or Older
Congo African Grey Parrot
Jaz came to live with us when her previous owner got into a relationship and could no-longer keep her due to her attacking the family dog. We had always wanted an African Grey Parrot and now we have Jaz. She came to us known as 'Jasper' this is because everyone thought she was male! With some research we started to think she was female, mainly based on the tail and the fact she is in love with my dad and only really likes men also helped us indicate she is female. We are unsure of her age because she has had several owners, her very first died therefore his widow had to re home her, she then ended up in an old folks home, then a rescue and then to her previous owner before coming to us. We hope that this is her last stop and we have many years yet with her.
As I have previously mentioned she totally loves my dad, as soon as she arrived she took to him. In the evenings she likes nothing more than to snuggle on his chest while he strokes the back of her neck. I can't say if she likes my mum or brother because they don't tend to spend much time with her, but I am always around her, talking to her, letting her out and giving her treats and I'm the one who has been attacked a few times! We aren't sure if she was trying to 'protect' me but the first 'attack' she pretended to get onto my shoulder but bit my cheek instead, next she 'attacked' my hair-towel and then again 'attacked' me when I was holding a rolled up newspaper. Her beak isn't the smallest in the bird world! and does bruise me, luckily I haven't bled or anything too serious but I still love her.
She enjoys chewing up wooden toys and perches as well as strolling around the floor, rather than flying! She has a wide vocabulary, whistles and sounds which have us all in giggles. Her newest saying is "Go away" which I said to her when she was 'stalking' me on the sofa. Every so often she will get fixed on saying something, for example at the moment she enjoys saying "Bye, Yeah Bye" especially when someone is putting on their shoes or coat, perfect timing!
Unfortunately Jaz isn't friendly with any of the other birds we have here, so she can only come out while the others are in their cage, and when the others are flying around the top of her cage needs to be covered as she tries to bite them and pluck out their feathers! Such a grumpy girl! I guess it's because she has never been around other birds before and doesn't want them landing on her cage.
If you have any questions about Jaz or African Greys, feel free to ask!
Lucky
Age Unknown
Cockatiel
Lucky came to us after my Uncle found him in the streets, unable to fly or get away. We got a phone call from my nan asking if we could go and collect him, and so we did. We named him Lucky because he was lucky to be alive and to have been found by my uncle. He came to us with a swollen, bruised wing which soon healed up nicely after some rest, he also had a couple of feathers missing which grew back shortly after arriving. Really, we are the lucky ones, he is such a friendly cockatiel, we couldn't have gotten better! He will sometimes sit on your arm/shoulder but prefers to sit on a stick where he has better grip. He loves to sing to us and the other birds, he has his own little song (he must of picked the sound off from somewhere).
He currently lives with 2 budgies and 2 canaries in a huge indoor aviary cage where he enjoys his time, resting and relaxing in between out of cage time. Every day we try and let the birds out for a fly around to stretch and exercise their wings, its a little busy at first when they are all flying around but they soon settle down and start playing. Lucky is such a sweet little cockatiel, he has brought even more happiness to us. I am kind of glad no-one owned up to be his owners as I would have been sad to have seen him go. I hope we have many more years with him yet!
If you'd like to know more or have any questions, do ask!
Oddball
5Months Old
Budgie
Oddball is son of Sunny and Violet (who I will introduce you to in the aviary birds post) he was 1 of 5 of their first clutch who I hand reared. Right from the start he seemed special, at first he wouldn't take to hand feeding and knew he was going to be trouble! But as soon as he took to it and saw me as mum, we were inseparable. Oddball hatched on the 29th March 2011 and I started hand feeding him at the age of 3 weeks. Oddball always stood out as he was always the one who loved to sit on us when it came to play time, outside of the nursery cage. Up until his first moult we thought he was in fact a she! This is because his cere (nose) had black marks on it therefore I couldn't tell his gender properly until he started to mature and I found out he was male which hasn't changed our love for him.
Everyday Oddball and the other indoor birds are allowed time out of their cage to exercise and play for a couple of hours. I don't believe in clipping wings as birds are birds, they are meant to have wings and to be able to fly, I'm not against it if its for the safety of the bird or the owner has a real reason to clipping, I just wouldn't clip my own birds unless their health was at risk. Sorry, I went off topic then! Anyway, Oddball is a real sweetie and I am loving having him around, we enjoy our little 'kisses' and I love it when he chats to me and when he tries to get as close as possible to me or whoever is passing him when he is in his cage. He is currently the friendliest budgie I own and I hope to have him in my life for a long time.
If you have any questions on budgies or Oddball, just ask!
Everyday Oddball and the other indoor birds are allowed time out of their cage to exercise and play for a couple of hours. I don't believe in clipping wings as birds are birds, they are meant to have wings and to be able to fly, I'm not against it if its for the safety of the bird or the owner has a real reason to clipping, I just wouldn't clip my own birds unless their health was at risk. Sorry, I went off topic then! Anyway, Oddball is a real sweetie and I am loving having him around, we enjoy our little 'kisses' and I love it when he chats to me and when he tries to get as close as possible to me or whoever is passing him when he is in his cage. He is currently the friendliest budgie I own and I hope to have him in my life for a long time.
If you have any questions on budgies or Oddball, just ask!
Ollie
2Months Old
Budgie
Ollie is Oddball's sibling but from Sunny and Violet's second clutch, making him younger than Oddball. Ollie is still a baby at the age of 2 months old and still has some growing to do. At the moment he seems to have drifted away from us and isn't as tame as Oddball, but with time he will become confident again and will start interacting with us more. Again, Ollie is 1 of 5 out of the second clutch, I also hand raised him and his 4 sisters, yes this poor guy had to put up with 4 females! I started hand feeding him at 3 weeks old when his older cousin Coconut ventured into their nest box and decided to pick on two of his sisters, therefore I had to bring them all in so that she couldn't peck them again. I can gladly say that they are all fully weaned, three of his sisters are now out in the aviary and the fourth is waiting for her new owner to buy a cage and accessories ready for when she goes to live with her.
There's not much to tell you yet, as we are still getting to know him, but I will be editing these introductions as things change in life. He currently lives indoors with Oddball, Lucky, Quasi, Modo and Hetty the canaries.
If you'd like to know more or have any questions, feel free to contact me.
Quasi
4Months Old
Canary
Quasi is one of the canaries we have hand raised this year (2011) and she is one of the most friendliest canaries we have ever had. We decided to hand rear Quasi when the outside temperature dropped and her siblings started to die. Her name is Quasi, named after Quasimodo from the Disney film he Hunchback of Notre-Dame because she managed to get herself tuck in her seed pot for around 2 seconds before my mum got her out and she must of damaged her neck/spine as her head now sits to the side and my dad said she looks like she has a hunched back... which is where the name came from! and it stuck! At first we thought she was male, but because she has yet to sing (the only way we can sex canaries) we decided she is female.
Quasi is a funny little bird. She loves nothing more than to nibble and peck us! Whether its our fingers/nails or our ears/earrings if its there, she will nibble it! We have never had a canary like her. She is one special girl. She lives with the cockatiel, budgies and two other canaries during the day but of a night we have to take her out and put her into a travel cage, where she can only sit on a seed pot, where she rests her head on the pot and sleeps. (because of her neck/spine) its adorable! Without her current sleeping arrangement she wasn't getting much sleep with her head keep falling off the perch she never had much energy and every time it was playtime outside of the cage she would come to us and sleep, by resting her head on us.
We love her dearly and we are glad her disability hasn't stopped her doing what she wants. Other than a strange looking neck she is every part a bird and acts like a bird. She completely loves humans! She would rather be with a human than another bird if she had her way! But we can only take so much ear nibbling.
If you would like to know more about canaries or Quasi in particular, just ask.
Quasi is a funny little bird. She loves nothing more than to nibble and peck us! Whether its our fingers/nails or our ears/earrings if its there, she will nibble it! We have never had a canary like her. She is one special girl. She lives with the cockatiel, budgies and two other canaries during the day but of a night we have to take her out and put her into a travel cage, where she can only sit on a seed pot, where she rests her head on the pot and sleeps. (because of her neck/spine) its adorable! Without her current sleeping arrangement she wasn't getting much sleep with her head keep falling off the perch she never had much energy and every time it was playtime outside of the cage she would come to us and sleep, by resting her head on us.
We love her dearly and we are glad her disability hasn't stopped her doing what she wants. Other than a strange looking neck she is every part a bird and acts like a bird. She completely loves humans! She would rather be with a human than another bird if she had her way! But we can only take so much ear nibbling.
If you would like to know more about canaries or Quasi in particular, just ask.
Modo
3Months Old
Canary
Modo is second canary chick we have had this year (2011) We started hand raising her when he mum wasn't feeding her properly and was only interesting in sitting on the chick rather than keeping her fed. Modo isn't as friendly as Quasi, but she too likes to peck and nibble us and will come and sit on us if Quasi is sitting with us, otherwise she likes to explore the room. A couple of days ago we did try and put Modo out in the aviary, she was out there for 2 days and did not look happy as she was constantly wanting our attention by flying backwards and forwards whenever we were out there and she would come up to the bars and nibble our fingers through the bars so we decided to bring her back in. As soon as she was back with her friends she was the happiest canary Ive seen! She started to chirp loud as if to say "I'm back!" it was a lovely sight to see.
Hetty
Age Unknown
Canary
I currently have no photos of Hetty. She used to live in the aviary however due to the others constantly picking on her by plucking and pecking at her head we simply couldn't let it continue and decided to bring her indoors. We did try and put her back out but the same happened again so she is going to be a permanent resident indoors. We are now in the process of getting to know her and seeing if she will become friendly and tame, but it will be a long process, I will keep you all updated on her.
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