upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

I'm been gone for awhile because I used to be able to view UAS at work, but we changed a lot of IS programs, and I can't see you at work anymore.
I hope everyone is well and your birds are slowly moving away from spring hormones and onto a more relaxed personality. lol For those of you who make their own toys, I have a new site that just hit the airwaves 2 days ago. The prices are reasonable and there a lot of parts you can't find anywhere on the web. I think there might be some wholesale available eventually and I think there's going to be a toy making contest either this month or next. It's called, www.makeyourownbirdtoys.com and I hope you check it out when you get a chance.

My little Beaker will be 8 years old next month and I can't believe it. I still see Sally Blanchard and even took care of 'Spike le Bec' for about a month last summer. Forget thinking you know about all there is to know about caiques. lololol What an eye-opener! It gave new meaning to the words 'body language'. Overall though, it was a great experience and I'd do it again in a moment if Sally needs me. Thank goodness I have her 'Companion Parrot Handbook'!

I'm going to make a dedicated effort to get on-line every few days so I can keep up with all your news.

See you all soon.
Andrea

Hi Andrea - I don't check this out as much anymore since the activity has slowed down so much. I really wish it would pick up abit. I miss our old friends and chatting about our birds.

I will check out that site.

Hey guys

I agree it has really slowed down and I miss all the stories very much. I will always check in on all of you. Cisco is great. A rowdy 2 year old and the joy of our life !!!!!!!!

Freddy

Hi Linda & Freddy,
It seems like a lot of the forums, including UAS, seem to slow down as we get into the 'school's out for summer' mode. Families are busy and I think it takes them away from the computer more than other times of year.

I'm glad to see you both here though! Beaker is doing well although we've been battleing a skin hypersensitivity issue since about January. First I removed ALL wheat/gluten products, which was especially difficult as fresh sprouts and grains do contain a fair amount of these things. That was hard on me, trying to find other good things to fill in, as well as hard on all my birds as they've always enjoyed their grains. That didn't seem to make any difference so now I'm trying to eliminate just broccoli. I know that seems weird and it's such a crap shoot trying to find the 'culprit' in all the foods my flock get, but I had to start somewhere. I mean, it could be carrots, squash, brussels sprouts... anything! I just picked broccoli out of the blue. I have to leave the selected food out for at least 3 months to see if there is any change. He is getting an anti-histamine every other day and that seems to have helped somewhat, but I'd really like to eliminate this problem. It doesn't make him pluck his feathers, but he will pinch them off, sometimes down to the skin. It's been very frustrating, needless to say. Because he has such splotchy spaces with his tail and on his wings, I've let his flights grow out, thinking it would help with his balance and 'psyche'. Of course, on the flip side of that, having his flights grown out has given him the 'extra attitude' that's usually at a minimum when he's clipped. *sigh* Oh well, he's my baby and we'll work on it until, hopefully, I can track down the problem 'irritant'. My avian vet did a skin biopsy, which is how we determined it was likely a food issue.

He'll be 8 years old next month and I can't believe how fast the time has gone.

Talk to you all soon!
Andrea

Hi Andrea,

I'm sorry to hear about Beaker - it is so hard to try to figure these things out sometimes.

Last winter Chili didn't pick his feathers as bad as the past years. I was thinking things might get better, but he waited til early spring and is still doing it. Normally by this time of the year he would be fully feathered again. I found a huge pile again this morning under the perch he was on. He just turned 10 this year.

Hi, Andrea. I hate to even read about feather problems because I have been blessed that Yankee has never messed with his feathers. I remember some wonderful pictures of Beaker and so many other caiques when I was creating my slide show about caiques. I hope that you find the problem quickly, 3 months seems like such a long time to test each substance.

Hi Andrea,

I am sorry to hear about Beaker's problems Poor little guy. I so wish we knew more about birds but there is just so much unknown!

Let us know what you figure out - I am sure we can all learn from it. Jamie's skin was so irritated from October till January - it was just awful! We did every possible test but they all came back fine. I also had Jamie on very basic diet just to eliminate any food alergies. The conclusion was "hormonal issues" which I was not really convinced about. However, it did stop by itself so it was probably true. Two things that did help Jamie: Omega 3-6-9 with Aspirin (to reduce the dry skin and itchy feeling) and the basic - more sleep. The collar also helped. I was reluctant to do it but it stopped the vicious circle - the more Jamie touched her skin, the more irritated her skin was...

Anyway, let us know how it goes... And by the way, you are SO lucky you get to talk to Sally Blanchard! I met her once at a seminar and I just loved her!


Kate


Kate

Yes, my BHC Maile has had a bad spring AGAIN too. Hetr tummy is all gray fluff after
snipping off the white feathers once and then twice. They are coming back in and
I hope they stay. She also was more nippy lately. Bird vets can never find a cause.
We had her collar off for the winter, but now it's back on for some of the time.

It's good to hear from all of you and how your birds are doing.

Linda: Sorry to hear about Chili. It's just so frustrating isn't it? Beaker has been doing fairly well, compared to the last 5 months or so, but I see he's snipped off some feathers on his shoulders this weekend. He still has more fuzz than he's had for awhile.

Jan: You're correct, even the most cutting-edge and dedicated avian vets aren't able to nail down some of these 'afflictions'. Now that Beaker has done slightly better this past month, I may try to give him a slight clip. He's sooooooooooo bitey with full flights!!

Kate: I have to remember than technically, it is still Spring in their minds, and I'm sure some of Beaker's attitude is from that, although he's never really been terribly hormonal. All the birds get pretty consistent sleep time and they have covered cages and it's quiet, but I'd almost be happy if it were only that. Yes, if you get a chance to ever see Sally again, you'll have to be sure to tell her I'm on this forum. She's just started a new on-line Companion Parrot Quarterly which will be her magazine on-line, as well as a chat forum I believe. It's called Companion Parrot Connection and you can probably find it with Google. She's beginning to do more speaking and traveling again and that's a real plus for bird owners. Sally's 30+ years of common sense information about caring for a parrot will always be the most logical and no-nonsense way to love and respect your bird. She's just a wonderful 'flock leader' and speaker.

Cathy: I know it does seem like a long time doesn't it. I will have to say if I'm not sure about a certain food, or it looks like Beaker is still picking, I wait for about 3 months. At this point, if in about 6 weeks I don't see him getting any worse, I go ahead and put that 'absent food' back into the diet. We're eliminating sweet potato and broccoli right now *sigh*

Freddy: I'm so glad to hear Cisco is doing well! It's pretty hard to think of your life before him isn't it? They are such amazing and almost indescribeable creatures of the earth. I still remember when you were 1. going to get him soon 2. got him and changed his name 3. now love him to pieces and help newbies on this forum provide a good quality of life for their birds.

We're expecting a heat wave this week (after about 2 straight weeks of tornados and storms). It's Colorado, if you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes!!
Hugs all,
Andrea
Beaker, Skyler, Harper & Piper

Hey Andrea

Hows the boy doing with his allergies? Hope he's well. Cisco is, at this moment "entertaining" us with his songs. OMG he is so untalented its funny. Of course we tell him how great he is and he just gets louder. He is a model Caique and we cant hardly imagine a household with out him. Hope all is well

Freddy

Hi All:

Happy 4th of July to everyone. After about a month of non-stop rain here in No. Jersey we are looking forward to a bright sunny day! I like to take my Jessie outside in her cage on nice warm days. She loves the fresh air and the sunshine after being indoors for a long winter and cold spring. So taday she gets to go out on our back deck and see the sky and talk to the wild birds and humming birds. We are having a few people over today for a BBQ. Last summer I gave Jessie a piece of hamburger and I was surprised by how much she enjoyed it. Take care and have a wonderful holiday..
Karen and Jessie