Why I Can't Give Up on Her

This post is going to be a work in progress...

Why I Can't Give Up on Her
an essay by JenniP

I've had birds before. Back when I was a selfish 19-year-old looking forward to moving out of the home I was currently living in and on to bigger things in Lincoln. As my (now) ex-husband and I were looking at apartments, I asked the landlady if I could bring my cockatoo to live with us. She asked if the bird was loud. I told her the truth, and she said I couldn't bring the cockatoo to live with us. This decision has haunted me for years. I still feel terrible about it, over 6 years later. I always figured I would go back to get her.

While my (now) husband, Jason, and I were shopping over at Earl May Garden Store in Lincoln, Nebraska, we came upon a display of birds. They were well-fed and well-taken care of. One little green cheek conure, in particular, kept bobbing her head up and down as her eyes beckoned for us to take her home. After negotiating our budget for that month, we decided that we could get her, a cage, some toys, and some food and bring everything home. The total came to over $500!

Dizzy became our newest enjoyment. Everything she did, from scratching herself to sitting prettily on her perch. Then the biting came. The first night, she nearly bit through Jason's ear and she gave me several bites on my neck and shoulder. In hindsight, it probably was a bad idea to bring her out of her cage right away and place her on our shoulders. At Jason's insistence, we refrained from petting her that first week. We allowed her to get into our shoulders and fingers and arms, but we did not pet or scritch her head. On the second day, Dizzy nearly plucked out Jason's eye and gave him several more bite marks. Then the screaming started.

We called back to the garden store at least twice asking if we could return her. The gal said we could but asked us to give it a little longer. I knew Jason had had it. I knew I had had it with Jason yelling back at her. I begged him to give it 6 months to see if she would adjust. After all, she was still new and still didn't have the hang of things. Dizzy just needed extra attention and care. She needed someone to love her.

This all happened in November of 2009. It is now August of 2010. Dizzy is a clingy, super-sensitive little girl. She will fly to me, just to poop on me and bite me, and then scream right behind me. If she feels like she's being ignored to long, whether or not we are in the same room, she will scream. If she sees something she does not like, she will scream. She needs to be on or with someone constantly. I enjoy her company and her sweet kisses.

This was why I couldn't give up on her. I saw her, not for the bird she was when we got her, but for the animal she was always meant to be.

Scout's Diet, Part II

Today, I think I may have finally done the impossible. Today will go down in history as a great day. Today, Scout did something that I am so proud of her for doing. She started eating pellets.

I offered some chopped Harrison's pellets wet down with apple juice, and she kinda sorta liked it. But then I offered her one whole pellet (Harrison's High Potency Course) and she ate it! What's more is that she ate several more after that! I was so happy and I praised her.

I have also been following Patricia Sund's blog about her recipe for "Chop" and made a version of my own. Check out her website at www.parrotnation.com. She is just amazing with her three parrots and the chop recipe works like a charm with my finicky eater. This chop recipe has also sparked interest in Dizzy, who doesn't care for most things.

So, now that I have a bird with expensive tastes, it's time to get down to business and start building weight back up on her!

Scout's bath

I gave Scout a successful bath for the first time since we got her. I started out incorrectly, by trying to place her into the sink and filling it with water. Nope, didn't happen. She hated every second of it and tried to crawl INTO my shirt with me. So I placed her on the counter and grabbed the squirt bottle that we usually use to squirt the kitten when she is being naughty (the bottle gets refilled daily). I picked my baby up out of the sink and set her on the counter, then I started misting the air and jumping around and talking REALLY LOUDLY AND EXCITEDLY. "Ha-ha! What great fun this is! My glasses are so misted over that I can't see! Is that you Scout, or a dish towel? What great fun!" And though Scout did not like this initially, she didn't try to get away, which I took as a sign of progress. I even held the bottle down to her level so she could see it and she beaked the nozzle. I squirted her lightly in the mouth and she seemed to actually like that! So, we are at a compromising point. I want to get her used to this before I break out the heavy artillery--a pump-action pressure sprayer.

But first, could you hand me that dish towel? My lenses are still misty.

Scout's food issues

Today, I moved Scout's food dish to the top of her perch. She ate with gusto! Today was the first time in a long time she ate 3 consistent and good meals. This morning she had a stir fry mix containing red peppers, carrots, green beans, and baby corn cobs. This afternoon she had some seed and diced apple. Tonight for supper, she is enjoying steamed baby carrots and steamed apples (leftovers from this afternoon). I'm now going to work on front-loading her with vitamins through food. In her cage, offered at all time, is a dish of 3 different types of pellets (Zupreem fruity, Pretty Bird, and Harrison's) and a container of Cheerios, as well as fresh water. She ate on both. I do give her a bit of seed at night because I don't have her completely transferred over to pellets and vegetables yet. That's coming. When I give her seed, I sprinkle an avian multivitamin and grate some cuttle bone on it. I know seed is not the healthiest food for her, hardly more than a treat, but it is something I am trying to work on changing with her. I've thought a lot about going on ahead and starting to mix a 25% pellet to 75% seed mix and slowly moving it (changing the ratios weekly) to 50-50, then 75-25, then lower, until she doesn't have a choice but to eat the pellets. Another option that I have thought of is grinding up pellets and mixing it with some seed, to make it easier, and then gradually increasing the size of the pellets.

So, by changing up some food and offering it to her in different ways, especially if I microwave it first and warm it up, she may accept new foods a bit better.

Scout's Turn-07/26/2010

A few months ago, I went with Jenni and Jason to Earl May's, because a friend of theirs has connections to find out if I am a girl or a boy. The friend pulled 3 tail feathers--OUCH!! But Jenni said I was good. Last week, I found out that I am a girl bird! Both Dizzy and me are girls!

Jenni's Turn

Tonight I tried a new recipe for Scout. It's a chopped salad, more or less. I combined a green bell pepper, some crushed pellets, some corn, some peas, some green beans, some carrots, some pinto beans, and a whole sweet potato. I shredded everything with my food processor and then mixed it. I scooped the mixture into 2 ice cube trays and froze it. I plan to put it into a gallon-sized freezer bag tomorrow morning to save space. I hope Scout likes it! Because he is a picky eater but likes stuff with bell peppers and real vegetables in it, I thought the mixture would cover the taste of the crushed pellets. He won't eat pellets, either fruit-flavored or regular. He eats almost everything else though.

Unfortunately, Dizzy is even pickier than Scout is! There are about 5 things she will eat: pellets, seeds (including millet spray), hand feeding formula, grapes, blueberries. Sometimes she will eat apple pieces but only if you hand them to her one by one. It's not really time-constructive. Dizzy is also picky about her toys. Actually, she doesn't like toys. She has a cozy hut in her cage that she uses only to cuddle and rub up against. She likes shredding toys sometimes but not always. She will play with her seed sock once in a while. So what does Dizzy have as a distraction during the day? Well, she loves to crawl into the keyboard tray of Jason's computer desk and play back there. She helps type and bites the scroll-ring of the mouse. Not a really big playing bird by herself.

On the subject of toys, Scout loves his. I am going to various websites and getting ideas of toys to make for a fraction of the cost. We ended up giving him the toys we had originally purchased for Dizzy because she won't touch them but he loves them. We got her a wooden birdy abacus with wooden beads. Within a week of the abacus in his cage Scout had chewed through the dowels on the rows. Scout likes toys he can chew, shred, and climb on. What a cool bird.

Dizzy's Turn

Oh what to do, what to do? It's Sunday and neither Jason nor Jenni have the energy to take care of me. Jenni tried to pet me but I wasn't having any of it. I'm itchy and Jason's not doing anything about it!! My pinfeathers are coming in and they are annoying. According to Jason, this is going to happen once a year and there is nothing he can do about it. But I'm Dizzy so I deserve to have it not itch. The itchiness is making me cranky.

Yesterday, Jenni was about to get a few pinfeathers. She gently squeezed the pin together until it popped off. Then she smoothed it out. But after about an hour this started to get on my nerves so I bit her until she stopped.

Jason said I can't eat just millet, that I have to eat some stupid pellets too. I tried, but I like to dip them but sometimes I drop them in the water and make soup. No one likes my soup! I wish we had some blueberries again. I wish I had something to do, someone to see, something good to eat. Right now, the most fun I get is pooping on Jason's shoulder when he doesn't know it Hehehe...