'Tis the Season to Spend, Spend, and Spend

The holidays are usually the only time of the year I do mass amounts of shopping, and the shopping is not even for myself. Each year that passes seem to become more and more stressful but I do have a good time browsing  through the current styles that I've been missing out on for the whole year..and getting tempted to buy a bunch of things for myself! It's so easy to get sucked into current trends and material things. BUT instead of splurging on these types of things, I know where my money will ultimately go! After the gift-buying fiasco ends, I will be going back to spoiling my flock. I have to say that I genuinely love buying things for them because I hate the idea that they are bored or restless, especially the Caiques who get especially antsy and have so much energy that I find it hard to keep up with them. The solution is to stock up their cages with tons of new toys and experiment with LOTS of new food items! I've created a "wish list" of things that my parrots will be receiving in 2011:

-The "Atom" from Mother Pluckin Bird Toys (Such a creative name for a bird store!)
This can be hung from the ceiling and will provide great exercise for the birds to climb, swing, and play on. It is pricey but I've been told that it is a "must-have" for any parrot (and parrot owner, hehe).

-A Java Tree Playstand made of Java Wood. These would look great in my future bird room and can provide an extra place of fun for the parrots to hang out on!

-A metal playstand for more general playing and hanging out on. Seriously, a bird cannot have enough places to play on! Trust me. I particularly like this playstand because it has a lot of rings for hanging various toys onto!

-The "Wingdow Seat" -- a very nice and sturdy perch that goes up on any window and allows parrots to watch outdoor activities from a safe place. Also pricey, but I know how much my parrots love sitting at the window and staring at the sky and trees, so this will give them the perfect place to do this without getting too cold from any drafts. They sit at the window now and when I go to pick them up, their little feet are ice cold! Poor babies, this will have to be fixed =)

There are many more things on my list but these are the "major" investments. One reason I do not want to buy too many things right away, especially the really big things, is because I am running out of space! All of my parrots are sharing a small bedroom with me and they have already taken up so much space. The only space I have left to myself are my twin bed and closet! My boyfriend and I hope to have a place someday with an extra room just for the birds, which will become the aviary/bird room. We talk about plans on how it will look like and I always get super excited! For now, though, we have to work with the limited space we have and try to keep our birds as happy as possible with the smaller things.

Caiques' cage

Caiques' play area

Money Does Not Equate to Happiness

Last night, my boyfriend and I got into a discussion about money and our spending habits, particularly since it's almost Christmas and I've been spending too much money on gifts. Our goal is to pay off all the money we've spent with the start of 2011 coming up and become better at saving instead of spending! Well, this led me into thinking about how much money I have spent so far on the parrots! I do not know the exact numerical amount (and I am actually glad NOT knowing, because I would scare myself with the truth), but let's just say with all the money my boyfriend and I have spent so far on the birds and their care/supplies, the total could've bought me a nice, new car, or perhaps a small house? (I'm slightly kidding). I don't like to make a huge fuss over the price of things and I am in no way complaining that my parrots "cost too much" because the happiness they bring me could never have a price-tag attached to it. But when I think about it, I think the money I spend on my parrots could become equivalent to how much money I will be spending on my future human child (or at least comes somewhat close)!

Love at first nibble

I am not exaggerating. At first thought (for a novice parrot owner-to-be), having a parrot doesn't seem like such a hard ordeal at all. How hard could it be to take care of a small, feathered animal that sits in a cage all day and eats seeds, right? WRONG! Believe me when I say, the instant I brought my first parrot (Gingey) into my home, my entire life changed (for the better, though). I admit I was not 100% prepared and I had not done adequate research in the beginning. Seeds, it turns out, is a horrible staple food for parrots and is the equivalent of humans eating a Big Mac from McDonald's everyday. Parrots need a base diet of high-quality pellets (I feed my birds "Roudybush" and "Zupreem Fruit") and fresh fruits, vegetables, whole-grain rice, pasta, beans, nuts, greens, etc. Luckily, there are very great mixed blends out there, which are excellent quality and smell wonderful as well (parrot blends from 'My Birdsafe Store'). On top of having a base staple of pellets and dried mixes, I prepare on a bi-weekly basis a "7-Layer Salad" (sometimes monthly if I am being a bad, lazy mama) using this recipe: 7 Layer Salad Recipe, which is great because it lasts long and can be fed daily for about a week or two (that way I don't have to chop up fruits and veggies every morning/night)! When I don't have the salad available, the birds will get a bean and rice mash for their breakfast (Volkman's Soak & Simmer Mash) that I buy in bulk and cook the night before feeding. These are just a FEW of the dietary aspects that are basic necessities for optimal avian health. Diet is extremely important and correlates to a healthy, long life (as well as neurological soundness, aka, happy parrots)!

Amazing blends from "My Birdsafe Store" by the pound

The cages were the next crazy purchases. I never put much thought into a bird's captive living quarters and I quickly learned that "bigger is better" when it comes to parrot cages. There are, however, multiple other factors that go into choosing a good cage. They have to be properly "powder-coated" so that the birds cannot get metal poisoning from chewing the cage bars (birds will chew EVERYTHING). Next, birds use more horizontal space rather than vertical, so a wider cage is better than a taller one (did not know this at first, hence, needed to upgrade). The cages' bar spacing is also an important factor to consider and they should not be too wide that a bird may get his head stuck and caught in between them (especially with my Caiques, who are very rambunctious and zoom around in their cages all day). To top it off, the smallest of my cages weigh about 110 pounds (give or take a few), so putting these monsters together was no easy feat!

 I can't forget to mention all the toys, full-spectrum lighting, perches, and playstands that are necessary for a happy, healthy parrot! Parrots are highly intelligent animals and in the wild, they spend all their days flying, foraging, climbing, bathing, preening, and feeding, amonst other things. Therefore, since our captive parrots have all their basic needs provided to them (on a silver platter, might I add), they need to have plenty of things to keep them entertained so they do not become bored. A bored parrot may start plucking/destructing its own feathers (called feather plucking), become an excessive screamer (on top of already being loud with its normal, routine flock-calling and daily vocalizations), develop bad habits such as biting, becoming fearful, and being overly destructive. With all this in mind, I try to provide as many toys and activities for my parrots as financially possible. There are enough toys so that I can rotate them between each of the parrots' cages every few weeks so that they do not become bored with them. There are java tree playstands and climbing nets available outside of their cages (they spend about 70% of their time outside of their cage), along with a variety of perches, toys, and hanging thing-a-ma-jigs everywhere for them to swing, climb, and play on. They also need sunlight, either real or artificial, and since I cannot have an outdoor aviary, my parrots get their daily dose of sunlight (important for Vitamin D production) from a Full-Spectrum light bulb (read more about the importance of full-spectrum lighting here).

We want more toys, please!

These are just some of the basics of parrot-care and I am always learning new things everyday! I'm sure I've left out some things but this was just a little glimpse of my life with my parrots, inspired by my suffering bank account. Yes, it might seem crazy to an outsider/non parrot owner, but at the end of the day, I know everything I do for them is well worth it and I would not have it any other way. I want to continue providing my parrots the most enriching environment possible with the best diet I can prepare everyday. What I get in return is priceless and I do feel blessed to have this chance in sharing my life with these amazing animals, because it definitely is not for everyone! My wallet might suffer here and there (okay, it may suffer a LOT at times) but this is what I chose and this is the commitment I bear in deciding to allow these creatures into my life. Life has surely changed for me in many ways (both good and some bad) because of them, but I know it has made my life that much deeper.

The Caiques meet Santa!

...And my dream is to expand my flock even more! =)

Whirlwind Mornings!

When I graduated college and began my new office job, I knew it would be easy to adjust and get used to a daily routine of waking up early and leaving for work on time. I was right. For the first few months I woke up an hour before I had to be in the office and left promplty 15 minutes before my required arrival time.

Of course, that did not last long.

Now, if I am not awake by a certain time, the parrots begin their complaining, crying, and squawking so that I have no choice but to roll out of bed. My body hates me on some mornings, especially when it is still dark outside my window and way, way earlier than I would like to be awakened! Alarm clocks are now irrelevant in the bedroom because my parrots make enough ruckus to frustrate my entire household. More craziness ensues as I open each of their cages and they burst out of there like torpedoes gone haywire, which is followed by a good 15 to 20 minutes of morning flock screaming (in the wild, flocks of parrots 'scream' in unison first thing in the morning to let others know that they have made it through the night and are still alive...and they do this again in the evening to let others know they have made it through the day..I must say, it is horrendous music to my ears).

How could anyone resist our cuteness?!

I suppose I should not complain, since I end up feeling extremely productive by the time I am through these new morning rituals. Now my mornings consist of taking out all of their food bowls, throwing out any leftover foods, washing & drying them, and refilling with new foods, cleaning up the food & poop mixture they leave every day, vacuuming, cooking, bathing the birds, all the while enjoying their ever consistent screeching (but I would not have it any other way).

Fresh foods are a necessity, so most mornings I am in the kitchen cooking and chopping up fresh vegetables and fruits (did I mention I share my room with swarms of fruit flies sometimes?)  Then of course the bottoms of all their cages need to be cleaned out since they do not actually eat everything in their food bowls. A favorite activity of theirs is throwing flinging food around and painting anything within a four foot radius, which means more cleaning for me! I never imagined I would be scrubbing dried fruit off my drywalls, although sometimes I contemplate tye-dye walls as a new interior design idea.

Parrots also need to take frequent baths, especially when they are molting (growing in new feathers in the form of "pins" which is the equivalent to new teeth growing in, so it is very uncomfortable and itchy). They join me in the shower most mornings and I will stand there with all parrots sitting on my arms and fingers until they are drenched to the skin, all the while screaming because they are having a great time and they want me to know it! Then I take a short shower because by then they have used up most of the warm water, and we all dry off as I finish up dressing for work. Drying my hair and applying makeup have lost importance (who has time for that anyway? Air-drying is best!)

Gotta stay nice and clean!

It is incredible how quickly the floors become COVERED in pieces of nuts, wood, vegetables, pellets, you name it! Vacuuming is should be a daily thing but with the limited time I have in the mornings, it has become more of a weekly thing. I know, I am becoming lazy (no excuses but it IS quite hard getting up hours earlier during winter mornings). So I will be vacuuming, replacing spoiled newspapers on the bottoms of the cages, making sure the birds' food bowls have enough variety (I have so many containers -- each with different kinds of food in them), and making sure everything gets put away in airtight containers (to keep all the bugs out)! If I am lucky I will have about 5 minutes to get to work, which means I am always running late -- this is largely due to the fact the birds do not enjoy returning to their cages so I've had to become creative in bribing them with "extra" special  food. Otherwise, I have to prepare myself for a nice beating of my fingers from their razor sharp beaks, but I don't blame them! How DARE I put them back in their cage when they should be allowed to have full reign over the entire bedroom, right?!
I always feel guilty leaving my parrots in their cages as I leave for work. If I could have it my way, I wouldn't have to work and I could stay at home with them all the time and let them play out of their cages all day (a girl can dream, right?) But if I didn't work I couldn't provide them with their insane amount of toys! This is why it is so important to make sure they have LOTS of activities to entertain themselves with in their cages. Parrots love to chew and play so I make sure to provide them with a huge variety of toys made of all types of woods, shreddable things, rope, leather, stainless steel and plastics. I love buying and making new toys for them -- especially because they don't need fancy things! The Caiques have a wonderful time playing with a ball of paper towel and will spend hours chewing apart wooden popsicle sticks strung together with some rope. One of my favorite things to do is watch them interact with one another and play with their toys! It has to be one of the top 5 cutest things of all time!

let's see how quickly I can destroy this

Gingey and Donnie

My first parrot was Gingey, a male Black Headed Caique. I didn't think that I would ever own a parrot and the most experience I ever had with them was giving head rubs to my sister's Cockatiels (who lived with us in college). Besides that, the only knowledge I had about parrots were that some of them could talk, they were repetitively loud (or at least frequent in their screeching), flung their food around, and could fly if allowed to.

Fast forward a few months later and I am out of college, sitting at a desk in a new job, and very bored. I began browsing around on the Internet and for some reason or another ended up on a site about parrots. Now, I had always had a special place in my heart for birds because my dad had raised a couple growing up and always spoke highly of them. They always captivated me with their intelligence and beauty. I went to an aviary with my sister a few times to pick up supplies for her birds and I always found myself drawn  to all the cute baby parrots there. So, I brought up the idea of getting a parrot to my boyfriend and of course it was not automatically welcomed with open arms. It was a brand new concept, adding a parrot into our lives, and we both knew so little.

We visited the local aviary (DJ Feathers Aviary) and decided on a Black Headed Caique because we read that they were very energetic, playful, and clown-like. He was adorable with his big brown eyes looking intensely into mine. We named him "Gingey". We quickly became aware that we had not brought home just a parrot, but he was actually a little feathered-puppy with the mind of a human toddler (with a knife attached to its face). Numerous bites, scratches, and bruises later, we went back to the aviary for more! We brought home Gingey's clutchmate and named him "Donnie" who happened to be of a much crankier temperment and would screech with displeasure if we tried to stop him from chewing up all our clothes (or flesh).

brotherly love

It has been a little over 6 months now and I cannot imagine my life without them. There are days when I love them dearly while other days I absolutely hate them and want to throw them and their cage out the window (although that would actually be physically impossible, mind you, since the cage weighs more than I do).

It was a whole different world living with parrots. They were unlike dogs, who love their human family members unconditionally and forgive all wrongs almost instantly. Gingey and Donnie on the other hand, demanded that we "earn" their trust and refused to hand it over to us for free. We bribed them with hundreds of dollars worth of toys, playstands, and of course, food and treats! They constantly test our love and patience by screaming at the top of their lungs (sometimes right into our ears) and one thing we've learned about parrots is to never "react" or yell back when they are screaming (as this only excites them and will encourage the behavior..so what is a girl to do??) But I have to say, with all the added chaos and bleeding of the ear drums, I find tons of amusement in their little antics! I tell them to be quiet with a stern "No!" and they will pause for a few seconds, staring at me like I have just morphed into the Devil himself, then nonchalantly begin their fits of noise once again. I say this is amusing because sometimes it truly feels like they are laughing at me, and of course if they are laughing at me, the only thing I can do is laugh back (or with them, I suppose)!

I didn't do it!

Every day is an adventure. My Gingey and Donnie are very moody, unpredictable, but loyal. They could outsmart me in ways I never thought was possible and they have shown me how intelligent and underestimated these wonderful creatures are. I realized I've learned so much more from them than they've learned from me (I don't have much to offer anyways, as I am still young and unwise), and I am very thankful that we can continue this relationship for the rest of my life, since they will most likely outlive me (parrots live for a VERY long time, up to 80 years in some species! Yikes!)

You can pet me only if I let you