Post by dianapalmer on Feb 24, 2014 1:22:58 GMT
Silver has been here for about ten days now! I still have him in the small cage in the dining room. He is quiet, cooperative, and not terribly needy. In the morning, I bring him out into the living room before I uncover the other birds. He sits on my shoulder while I drink my morning tea and read stuff on the computer. I take him back when it is time for the other birds to come out.
He hangs out on top of his cage or in his cage. He likes to play with his bell and with another toy I have that has some beeds, shells, and soft yarn on it. If he is alone for too long he flock calls. Emma and the budgies call back to him. I usually then go out and talk to him a bit or play some music for him.
Once the other birds have had their morning fly about, I bring him back out into the living room. At first, all he would do is fly to the big cage and try to find a way into it. The others are very curious about him, too. I have brought his cage out several times so they could see each other, especially when I am going to be out for a couple of hours.
Friday night I actually relented and let them all out together. That was pretty interesting. Piper immediately went over to Silver and started dancing and singing to him. Silver gave Piper a few open-beak lunges. There were some territorial disputes. All the other birds briefly went into Silver's cage and they all ate out of his food bowls together. It was kind of a get-to-know-you party! Then, the other three left, and Silver sat on his doorstep. I think he might have been protecting his territory, but maybe not.
Since then, he has not been that eager to go over to the other birds. If their cage is closed I can bring him out and he will hang with me instead of flying over there. I guess his curiosity was satisfied. Right now, he is sitting on my shoulder in the living room. The other three birds are sitting on the porch of the big cage looking him over.
I have been working on getting and keeping Silver accustomed to being touched and held in various ways. He will, somewhat reluctantly, let me kiss his breast or stroke it with my finger. I have been able to touch his head a few times. While he doesn't love any of this, he is not moving away as much as he did at first, and I am keeping the touches brief and following them with lots of praise.
Meanwhile, Emma is eagerly flying to my forearm to get sunflower seeds.
Silver is not much smaller than Emma, but he is much more babyish in his movements.
Sometimes after he tries to fly upwards a few times (unsuccessfully) he seems to have some difficulty closing his right wing. I am not sure what that is about and I am trying to keep an eye on it and looking under it whenever I can to see if anything is bothering him. He holds it out just fine and flaps it fine when he flies. But, when he goes to close it he opens and closes it several times as tho something is bothering him or he just can't get the position quite right. It's always the right wing that he does that with. I wonder if that is the same one that had the feather sticking out awkwardly a few days ago (the one I (very gently) pulled out).
He hangs out on top of his cage or in his cage. He likes to play with his bell and with another toy I have that has some beeds, shells, and soft yarn on it. If he is alone for too long he flock calls. Emma and the budgies call back to him. I usually then go out and talk to him a bit or play some music for him.
Once the other birds have had their morning fly about, I bring him back out into the living room. At first, all he would do is fly to the big cage and try to find a way into it. The others are very curious about him, too. I have brought his cage out several times so they could see each other, especially when I am going to be out for a couple of hours.
Friday night I actually relented and let them all out together. That was pretty interesting. Piper immediately went over to Silver and started dancing and singing to him. Silver gave Piper a few open-beak lunges. There were some territorial disputes. All the other birds briefly went into Silver's cage and they all ate out of his food bowls together. It was kind of a get-to-know-you party! Then, the other three left, and Silver sat on his doorstep. I think he might have been protecting his territory, but maybe not.
Since then, he has not been that eager to go over to the other birds. If their cage is closed I can bring him out and he will hang with me instead of flying over there. I guess his curiosity was satisfied. Right now, he is sitting on my shoulder in the living room. The other three birds are sitting on the porch of the big cage looking him over.
I have been working on getting and keeping Silver accustomed to being touched and held in various ways. He will, somewhat reluctantly, let me kiss his breast or stroke it with my finger. I have been able to touch his head a few times. While he doesn't love any of this, he is not moving away as much as he did at first, and I am keeping the touches brief and following them with lots of praise.
Meanwhile, Emma is eagerly flying to my forearm to get sunflower seeds.
Silver is not much smaller than Emma, but he is much more babyish in his movements.
Sometimes after he tries to fly upwards a few times (unsuccessfully) he seems to have some difficulty closing his right wing. I am not sure what that is about and I am trying to keep an eye on it and looking under it whenever I can to see if anything is bothering him. He holds it out just fine and flaps it fine when he flies. But, when he goes to close it he opens and closes it several times as tho something is bothering him or he just can't get the position quite right. It's always the right wing that he does that with. I wonder if that is the same one that had the feather sticking out awkwardly a few days ago (the one I (very gently) pulled out).