#alec-bings

[neornithes]

alec-bings TELL ME NOTHING, SPOILERS. my liveblogged hysterical reactions will be much more fun if I'm unspoiled

[flockdynamics]

1. I bought some Harrison's online since I was getting him a flight suit anyhow and it had prime shipping on amazon :)

2. BIRD MASH: small handful cooked beans, 1/2 serving red mill 10 grain cereal mix, 1/2 carrot, hunk of broccoli, giant leaf kale, giant leaf collard greens, handfull frozen veg (carrots, peas, corn) BLENDED TILL IT’S ALL CHOPPED but not MUSH :D

Oh I like the sound of that mash! So it IS like chop, just a bit more blended. I haven’t made a fresh batch of chop in a really long time (I’ve been going through the stuff I have so slowly because I’ve been doing all fresh fruits & veggies), so maybe I’ll try something like that next…

[pepperandpals]

(The people who run DJ Feathers Aviary had / have 2 hand-reared finches who come when they're called) (so that's nifty)

Wow that is pretty nifty. I haven’t heard of many people who hand-rear finches.

[flockdynamics]

Alec/reptar I see your messages but I can't answer them now because I'm at work on mobile and it won't let me copy and paste things into one response :( so I'll answer them after work tonight, when I can get on the real computer

[findingcolleen]

My parents got engaged @ a bar when my dad said "uhh so we're gonna get married right" & my mom said "I guess so" & then they told the bartender (dad's brother) & he said "pffFFT YEAH RIGHT". 25ish years later they are still the opposite of romantic

that was beautiful. especially the doubting brother

[flockdynamics]

I've heard the switching favorites thing (where a bird suddenly decides to lurve someone else @ maturity) is more likely in species like cockatoos and Congo Grey's with longer weaning times who spend their first yearish in a "nanny tree"

I would agree with that—it’s definitely more common in the bigger birds, and I’ve even talked to people who think that birds like greys shouldn’t be sold as young as they are (just weaned) because of their slow maturation rate. Some of them naturally leave the small group they’re with when they’re really young (the nanny tree) once they hit sexual maturity (around 18 months or so for greys), so being in a home setting can be confusing with that natural instinct—instinctively they may look for someone new to be their “adult” companion.

But again, birds are very adaptable and this is by no means a guarantee or always a problem, just something that can happen that people getting young birds should watch out for!

[flockdynamics]

The front of the store is all supplies. Birdie bread mix, good pellets, toys toys toys (even BIG ROPE TOYS for giant birds like big rope nets), some cages but not many & some nice stands / travel cages. Pionus have a very specific cry like laughing

They also have a special little room up front for boarding birds while their owners vacation and special hand sanitizer dispensers for before & after you handle the birds. It’s cool. I met a guy who wrote an article for bird talk there once.”

Haha you know I’ve written lots of articles for Bird Talk, right? :) I’ll definitely have to go now though! I’ll have to put aside like a whole day pretty much, and I’ll probably spend way too much money, but it’ll be worth it….

[flockdynamics]

Yup! The people there are nice. Lotsa birds. The macaws are kinda rough looking because they are bbys and they have a Cockatoo with a plucking problem who will waddle over to you and say "Helloooooo" all flirty.

(The birds the owners keep all seem to have some hard luck stories. Like an female Eclectus who is missing a large part of her beak and a Quaker with Far Too Much Beak) The macaws come out for a lot of the day and chill on giant tree stands… And the effing pionus bbys NEVER STOP MAKING THAT SOUND THEY MAKE like I’ve heard they get quiet with age?? But I don’t believe it yet

I’ll have to check it out sometime, it sounds like fun! Is it a regular store too, can you buy supplies and stuff?

And haha, adult pionuses are actually very quiet! They’re one of the quietest and mellowest families of parrot, in my experience (I love them, I would totally get a pionus). But almost any baby parrot makes an awful crying noise when they think you have food (which is pretty much any time they see people, if they’re hand-raised). I mean my god, have you ever heard a clutch of baby cockatiels?? They cry SO MUCH, but they don’t make anything even like that noise once they get older!