New Project

the vet comes to M&B

Finally, I got the girls vetted. Phew! And they did so well! that's what the vet said anyway.

I would have liked to have had them totally prepared for a vet visit...but that will not be the case for  years with these two. So Dr Bowles and her tech JC came and had to towel them in order to do the exam. She exclaimed that they were very calm and quiet--so she said they must have been towelled without to much trauma before.

Their funny necks are probably, as reported, the result of an incubation error. DrB said that even very large and well-run bird farms cannot do as good a job at incubations as the bird parents do and that neck problems are one of the anomalies that show up.

DrB said that neither bird is likely to have learned to fly at the appropriate time as a juvenile, so they may never fly well. Miracle has no flight feathers on her left side and may never get them back, so DrB trimmed the other side so at least she wont be off balance.

Neither bird has molted in over a year. DrB took blood sample from their neck veins (Yikes)...but really they did great) and will know if there is something medically that is causing them not to molt or causing Blessing to pick. She also took fecal samples and will do sexing.

When it was all over, the girls were really fine--not perfectly calm but better than when I put the stupid foam rubber on the floor!!!

One little difficulty is that DrB did trim their nails which were very long and very sharp, but until they get them shaped up again, they are a little clumsy and this is especially trying for Miracle who has been very shy about climbing around on the vines and then today fell.

But my total response is that I am very relieved to have this done and maybe someday they will be exemplars of the Good Bird video on vetting.

The girls "branch" out

Well, progress is slow in grey-land, and that's the way we like it. Right now as I write, it is a little after 9 am, breakfast has been eaten and fruit shredded; preening done; naptime. Blessing is in the cage, her usual perch when she is not out exploring branches. Miracle is on top of the cage facing out toward the living room. Miracle still will not go much past the cage. Blessing spends a good bit of time inside the cage but is the one to venture out and she will perch and remain on some of the furthest branches--lured there by pine cones or almonds wrapped in paper.

I work with them once maybe twice a day. Their interest in training varies and is not reliable. And I haven't been able to push them very much. Blessing will now allow me to touch her beak (in preparation for scratching her head--dreaming on!) and will lift her foot rather than have me touch it...so we work with that. Miracle is so skittish but has maybe gotten the idea that I want to touch the top of her beak....and 1 out of 5 times that works. I probably need to write up a plan so that I can see what I might be leaving out--and send it to lee.

I am still worried about their feather condition: when Blessing opens her wings it looks like moths have eaten out parts of all her long feathers. I know that she has not lost any of these feathers in over a year and same with most of Miracles....Lorita has done more molting in the last year than both greys put together.

What we are working on now

The girls seem to enjoy my company especially to try out new things. We now have 4 1x96 boings; the gym made of tortured pvc; and wandering forked grapevine that is about 1 1/2 inches in dia. Some of these perches are attached to the cage and to the beams in one way or another. Miracle is not too interested in venturing out but Blessing is up for any new perch...but really only for eating the almonds I have tied to the perch wrapped in paper.

I have found that I can sometimes point out a path for them to take and then they are able to take it. What is interesting is that sometimes they are willing to take guidance and other times not...but is it because they don't understand or that they are exerting their autonomy.

I have my chair arranged across from their cage with a boing passing directly overhead. Blessing has on two occasions come just far enough so that she can see my face and what I am doing and then hangs out there for a while. The other day she got stuck on some chain and I offered her the pvc gym to climb onto and she did and then I ferried her to the cage.

The cage has not had a door on it for about a month. Usually when at rest, Blessing is inside and MIracle outside. This morning Miracle was nipping at Blessing for some reason and forcing her to take a different route out of the cage. Wonder what that was about.

Lots to learn

I just looked up a book "The Souls of Animals" and began to reflect on the different animals that have touched my life--even saved my life at times. I wish I could go back and be as honoring of them as they were of me.

So that brings me to the girls MnB--what am I missing about them what am i getting about them?

One thing is that when I come into the room and sit and get busy with something they begin to preen. If I meditate they sit still. If I leave and am still in the house they call out to me...sometime shrilly, which probably is not fun for any of us. yet they still don't trust me much....yes more than this time last year when I first met them, but still not very much. And at the same time we are all trying. I wonder how much I trust them????

The observable is that Blessing is venturing out considerably....onto the long sisal boing, onto the 7 ft long grape vine that is suspended from the ceiling. Miracle will not come out that far...surprising since she was the only one who would come out of the cage initially. It is clear that Blessing is pleased with herself....some of her feathers are growing back. She has flown several times over to Lorita's cage (4ft) I think to get the cracker on top of the cage that I was feeding Lorita a bit at a time.

I have been doing the following things with training: tracking with a chop stick, clicker and treats; having them come to my hand and tap it with their beak, click, treat; turning around (miracle only--still a compulsive movement with her but much less); touching blessings toes, click, treat. She is now raising her foot, click, treat. Yesterday, while I was doing the foot thing with Blessing, Miracle spontaneously raised her foot!!!

and the beat goes on....

I am sitting here right now--needing to go to sheila's workshop--watching blessing decide the best way to get back from loritas cage to her own. she flew there about 1/2 hr ago and I have made her a bridge from a boing and added her gym toy but she is testing it and is not
convinced that she likes it very much. I feel that I should stay until she gets over because she is my feather picker and whatever adds to that--scarey things---I want to avoid.

I may try offering her the bottom part of the gym again....

I noticed today that the papers outside the cage which I changed in the middle of the week are a complete mess while those in the cage are not and I changed those last weekend. They are spending more and more time outside the cage and I plan to make the whole room a bird room so they can go anywhere they want anytime.

Training is good but oh so very very slow....they give a toenail and take it all back when they get full of goodies. And I am reading books and gleaning here a tip there a tip.

If money comes through for ins. payments I will buy them an outdoor aviary to be set up right outside this room.

MnB sticking necks out ;~)

In their very grey-way, which is to say only as much as they have to to get a treat....

That having been said, they are definitely a big hop from where they were last year.

This week I put a pot saucer (12" in dia) on top of their cage with sanitized sand....then I placed wrapped nuts in the sand...they got all of those...then I put in unwrapped unshelled nuts in....they buried some in the sand along with beads....I don't know how much investigation Blessing did but for sure Miracle got them all.

I keep reading that I should only give one or two nuts a day...but right now they need to get big goodies or they will do nothing at all.  During training sessions I try to give the most minimal amount of biscuit or cracker with almond butter.

Targeting is going fine ...but they are not willing to go much further in their reaching than right where they are standing. So progress there is slow....

In fact "progress is slow" is our watchword!

I have a little tv table next to the cage where I cut up my treats and have my stick and clicker...yesterday I "caught" miracle going down the side of the cage to raid the goodie table...and it is funny because I have never ever scolded them for anything but I can tell
by the way she scurries back up that somehow she must figure the table is off limits to birds. Maybe it is a matter of territoriality--and she sees that as my territory?

I decided to try palm oil again in their morning food because I read somewhere that it is good for feather pickers....they are taking to it ok but I think I still need to put a little pb in it.

I'm not sure what is going on with Blessings feather picking...maybe at a standstill...but she is still bothering her neck because it continues to be bright pink....her chest and back are growing pack....but will she pluck them again.  She does have lots of moments of shaking in fear (?)....today I brought my nordic trak closer to the door and she was so visibly shaken that I pushed it back,

Right now it is very late but they are both preening. They almost always preen when I am in the room sitting and typing.

Also they sometimes do more exploring when I am in the room.

I want to build them an outdoor aviary and have been looking up info on that...on the other hand how likely will they be to go in it???