armchairangel

Thanks guys!! I usually tell them to knock it off very sternly and it seems to help. I'll continue to be sure things stay okay and nobody gets hurt. Heh... I wonder what Baby would do if Cupid moved in with her if things get bad.

By hacking I mean using their beak to hit at the other one, like they're attacking. They usually go at each others faces. Yesterday, Cupid was leaning backwards, turned sideways with his beak wide open fending her off. They sit next to each other and go at it silently, kind of back and forth. I haven't seen them chase each other when they do this either. Maybe it does sound more like play?

don't be surprised if you do catch him upside down like a bat! *L* Baby loves being an upside down bird, though I guess I've never seen her sleep that way. *L*

Cupid and Psyche have done some hacking at each other recently, but they don't make noise when they do it. Nobody has bled yet and it usually doesn't last very long. Are they just playing, boxing with each other like we do with Baby? Or are they fighting? I've always thought that when animals fight, they make noise. Is this the same for budgies?

Or if they like to imitate and they live with a warbly male long enough. *L* Baby warbles just like Cupid now and she'll sit and sing forever too! Or at least it *feels* like forever *(Laughing out loud)*

Baby gets a mix of her seeds and pellets (we have Lafebers right now, i'm thinking about switching to Harrisons, but they actually eat this stuff, so I'm not sure) and chunks of birdie bread. The recipe is on here. Cupid and Psyche have pellets available for them all the time and I give them seeds and veggies each morning. The veggies are what I have on hand - I usually do a leafy sort, swiss chard, spinach, bok choy, cilantro, parsley, and to make it simple, I have a bag of frozen mixed veggies (peas, corn, carrots, green beans, lima beans) that I thaw out by the handful. I'll by the greens and use it till it goes bad and then try something else. I used to just give the veggies in the morning and give them little packets of seeds to forage for in the afternoon. I need to get back to doing that again. They all have plain water and cuttlebone and I have seeds, pellets and a treat mix (they don't touch it! *L*) on their playgyms for them to forage when they're out. I use millet as a training tool for the shy monsters.

Ohh I have tears in my eyes for you and Bo... Its so difficult having a sick pet and having to make the choice between treatment and goodbye. He had a wonderful long life - he's so beautiful and looks really happy in his pictures. I love your idea of letting him fly free...

Baby still doesn't look like she's really comfortable being around them, however a lot of the time out of her cage, she spends on top of their cage. Psyche hasn't been so actively bugging her anymore either. I noticed last night that Baby has turned into a Cupid mimic, singing like he does for long periods of time. *L* So maybe she's getting more used to them, even liking them in a way. We've kind of limited their contact for a while now to avoid conflict. Maybe we can start letting them be together more.

OMG How hilarious! What in the world is he doing? *(Laughing out loud)* The door was wide open, so its not like he couldn't get out.... or is he just not quite bright enough to know? *(Laughing out loud)*

Yeah, when Baby was under the weather, we thought it was just because she's so old and that she'd die soon anyway. Then we realized that we should see if there was anything we could do to keep her comfortable till she goes and we brought her in. She had a treatable condition and within days she was better than she had ever been! She is, however, more fluffy when she's resting. I mean like she fluffs more than Cupid and Psyche do. She's not fluffy all the time, just when she's napping. And she naps a little more often/longer than she used to. However, she's still pretty active and vocal and happy.

Wow.. they're all beautiful! You have such a great variety!

Yeah, she does look the most like the greywing. And the yellow factor 2 means?

My thoughts EXACTLY!! *(Laughing out loud)*

There are already a lot of good ideas here. Perserverence is key and be creative too. One thing I've done is sprinkled a few seeds on top of the veggies. They'll go after the seeds and then learn the veggies are food too and they're nothing to be afraid of.

Has the itching and flaking started since she started the medication? If so, perhaps its a reaction from it. I'd call the vet and ask about it. It might be necessary to change meds or discontinue them. However, you're almost done, so maybe she can just stick it out too. I'd call the vet and see what he recommends, vitamins, probiotics, stuff people have mentioned. It might be a very normal and expected thing and he could have some other suggestions to alleviate her symptoms. If its something that has been more ongoing, I'd call and have it checked out too. It could be any number of things.

yeah, her face is pretty bright yellow, but the rest of her is pale green and gray. i'm not sure what I can do about the close-ups, but here's a link to bigger pictures. http://www.flickr.com/photos/armchairdeity...57594333776911/ She's rather ruffled looking in the one I have featured, but you can move through the set and find some other good ones.

Actually, they all spend time on top of the cages with birds inside and they've gotten over the nippy toe thing. Baby spends hours on top of their cage and they don't care and when they're on Baby's cage, she mostly ignores them. So i'm not worried about the on top of cage behavior.

We've had to shut Baby's cage when we let the other two out because they go straight inside and make themselves at home on a very regular basis. I don't quite understand why they'd go right into another cage when they just left theirs. Could it be a case of I want what she has? We're trying to discourage this cuz Baby still doesn't act like she's too happy with the intrusions. She seems kind of quiet and scowly in a corner, but soemtimes she'll go over to them and we can't quite tell if she's trying to play or is mad and hacking at them. She'll reach out and touch their side with her beak rather tentatively and then a few moments later she'll hack at them. She never makes any noise when she does this. Maybe if she truly was mad there wouldn't be any question and there would be blood and feathers everywhere. What do you think?

We've been trying to decide what Baby actually is. Greywing, or dilute? I think at one point we read about lacewings and thought it might describe her too. What do you think? I was trying to find some good tail shots because it sounds like the tail might be the determining factor in some cases. Her poor little tail is so wonky and ratty right now you can't help but laugh at it. *L* She lost her long tail feathers and I can't help but wonder if the crooked one was the one that was giving her problems cuz shortly after her anitibiotics, it came out, all funky. *L* Her long tail feathers are gray, but the shorter ones are colored. Would this mean she's dilute and not a greywing afterall?

Oohhhh! The poor little guy!! He (she?) sure looks cute though! Almost like someone ruffled his head and mussed up his hair. *L* Once the feathers grow in fully it will be gorgous! Courageous names..... right now all I'm thinking is Hercules or Gladiator, but those probably aren't suitable. What about simply Courage? Survivor, Strength... ummm I'm not being very creative right now. One thing I like to do when naming animals is go to baby naming websites and sometimes you can search for names that mean a certain thing. Or use words from a different language that mean something. Like what are the words for courage or strength in Japanese for instance.

Ozzies puffball head reminds me of Elvis.. *(Laughing out loud)* Or like he's scowling, cuz the feathers cover part of his eyes. Its so funny!

Some of the members' birds have become bitey and irrational and crabby when they become hormonal, which is kind of like them going through adolecence. I don't know how old these babies are, so maybe its not time for that yet, but perhaps coincidentally your friend's bird entered the bitey hormonal stage right when he went back home. If that's the case, it sounds like (from what i've read in others' posts) they grow out of it. Hopefully others will reply with more knowledgeable advice. One thing she can do (as tough as it is) is not acknowledge the biting. Perhaps the little guy is lonely for fellow birds too. How long was he at your house?

So I've been working on having Cupid and Psyche eat millet from my hand before letting them out of their cage. Slowly, Psyche has become more enthusiastic about it, a couple of days ago coming down to my hand and then getting close enough for her body to touch my hand. Yesterday she put a foot on my finger and momentarily, both. Today, she figured out that hands AREN'T as scary as they seem, and on a second round, actually HOPPED onto my hand! She needs Cupid to be there munching away to give her the courage, but she's learning quickly! Cupid, on the other hand, was climbing up and down my arm and all around my hand. Its so exciting to have them both be willing to sit on my hand finally!!! Jared took a bunch of pics, so I'll get them up when he's done editing and putting them on the web. I'm not sure how willing they'll be without the millet, but its a great start!

Baby likes stringy toys, things she can preen, and she also likes things with bells. Cupid and Psyche aren't too into their toys. Maybe its because they have each other, or maybe we just don't have the right things in there for them. They have a beaded stringy thing that I've hung up so it creates a swing and Psyche likes to sit on that and sometimes Cupid sings to the bell or plays with the plastic rings.

Oh that sounds like it was so much fun! I'm glad that Chucky was such a good girl!! I can't wait to see the pics....