upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

I tried one of the babies, Georgie, yesterday indoors in a cage to see how she would go (calling her "she" for now ) as friends of mine want a pet cockatiel.
I was confident after watching closely, that she wasn't getting fed by the parents anymore (in fact none of them are except for Mango and Pearlie).
She is quite a placid bird and will let you stroke her soft little head
Seeing her in the cage though, at first flapping around and then sitting quietly in a corner and hissing at us when we came near, I went............."I CAN"T DO IT!!!!"
So I put her back in the aviary and have decided to keep her for now!
Shocking, aren't I

Claudia, I go through this every single time I pull chicks to handrear...lol. I would love to say that it gets easier, but I don't think I will ever get past those pangs of guilt. It doesn't help at all when my partner tells whatever pair I took the chicks from "Dont look at me that way....SHE'S the one who stole your babies"!!! I would probably still have every single bird that hatched here if I could afford them all. But ya know....when you get a chance to visit a bird that you bred in it's new home and it's thriving and loved and cherished....you know you've done the right thing.

you're right I know
Perhaps next year I will handrear one or two, just to try it out and then at least they will be used to people a bit more.
I just find it so hard now, she is nearly 8 weeks old and so used to flying around in an aviary I just felt so sorry for her in that small cage (that cage never looked that small to me before )........

I can imagine how hard it would be. I personally could never let one of my babies go, I would always wonder if it went to a safe home, a happy home, a home with lots of attention & love etc.. I don't blame you one bit *hugs*

When Lucille and Linus had their 4 babies. I kept Fresh baby (first born lutino) and Eddie (special care baby). I sold Richie & Joey (two perfect babies)at my bird store. When They got sold right away I felt sick.I wanted to contact the new owner but the shop keeper shrugged her shoulders.Since this was speciality bird store rahter than a petco I am hopeful they went to a nice home.This normal to feel this way.I don't let Linus & lucille have babies anymore (for one thing Lucille is getting pretty old) because I would want to keep all the babies this time

Rosie, you're right. You always do wonder how they are and if they are happy. And I must admit, that I know of some of mine that had very sad ends. But just this past weekend I got a chance to see one of the tiels we bred last year. He is happy, healthy, and spoilt rotten. If he were to have stayed with me he would have never gotten the amount of one-on-one attention that he gets in his new home. The woman who took him is older, and lives alone and he has brought a lot of joy to her life. So, I know it was for the best. I keep by breeding numbers small so that I can be selective about who they go to. If I had 20 chicks at a time I would have to just sell them to whomever had the cash.

I know you two are from OZ but as a momma who has gotten a couple tiels let me say
My first one I killed by accident by following a petstores HORRID advice , I had had parakeets before but teils are a diffrent ball of wax.
My second one was with me for 9 years far to short in my opinion . I charished her for every day realizing that every day may be her last . When she was finally called home I made the worlds hardest decision that to this day does NOT sit right with me I had to make the decision to put her to sleep . I was a wreck for 2 years , then came along Noodle , 2 years to the day !!
He unfortantually did not get a brand new cage but an older one that my BCC had and chewed to shreds , I had it repowder coated , all new toys , when I could not find a perfect swing , I made one ! I cook for all 3 of our guys atleast 3 times aweek , they are never in thier cage and they get direct momma and popa time... I was told by the owner of our petstore that I should take another bird that has been there forever , I cant but I give him attention too...I know the breeder does ask about her bappies she sells and I know the LPS has told her many times about Noodles momma ..They felt safe letting me take him home I have seen the returned rejects and those who are miscared for and thier are far too many but I can assure you thier are good homes too.. I dont want to sound braggy but I do make sure our guys want for NOTHING , toys , food and vet care , if they seem cold I crank the heat to 90 to make sure I take the chill out for them . I make sure that they all get something when we travel it can get expensive but thats what happenes when you have kids ..The most important thing I can think that I do is that I give them as much me time as I can every day if I happen to be going out for the day it may only be 30 seconds out but when I get home LOOK OUT !! Momma missed her bappies and needs to say hello to one and all.... So rest assured that many do go to good homes and tho the new parents may not do everything just so or just like you the bappies will settle in and get use to their new home and find it is "their way of life" and probably wouldnt change it for the world

Sadilyn,
You are EXACLTY the sort of person I hope all of my babies go to. Your birds are obviously a priority in your life....as they should be. I know exactly how you feel about having to make the decision to have a beloved pet put to sleep. I've seen lots of animals and birds put down as part of my wildlife work. I decided from the start that if I was going to do that sort of thing that I was going to be right there by each and every one of their sides as the needle went in. It's always hard, and I always cry. But, I will never get over the grief I feel for having to make the decision to have my beloved Pepsi put to sleep two years ago. Even though the vet basically gave me no other option. He was a 15 year old Lorikeet who was diagnosed with diabetes and even though I was prepared to do whatever it took to keep him going the vet assured me that the only right choice was to put him to sleep. I will always wonder if that was the right decision. And not a day goes by that I don't think about him.

Patty thank you for those words I just wonder if I am worthy of these little miricles or not . When Neeko died I was not allowed to be with her because I was so distraught and I vomited all over the vet and the room there was a point that they thought they would need to call an ambulance since I started to have difficulty breathing .. So they did not want me there feeling that I would possibly have a heart attack or an asthma attack that would not be reversable so they felt it was in my best intrest to keep me out . I made them call uc davis and also to vet in NY state I believe it was corning ... they assured me that kidney failure that advanced would not be treatable ..... after a few days of sitting in a catatonic state I ended up calling a help line for counseling for my greif ... I ask the counsler if this was infact the proper decision (they are I think final year vet med students ) told me that no it was not treatable but she wanted to confer with a vet in the ER ... after a short less than 3 minute hold time she came back and confirmed it was not treatable ...
I try to make all decisions based on what is best for our guys and not us .... I had not been on a vacation till this year for over 18 years I had a sitter come in and sit with them ... I figured out the TV and programmed it to noggin a kids network here and made sure to call and talk to them every day ... we were not gone more than 20 minutes and I wanted to go home I saw some beautiful things such as sun rise on the beach and the water ripple under my toes but not a second went buy that I did not think of them .... I required daily emails and phone calls to assure me they were fine .. I left money with the sitter incase of emergency for any of our fids ... and even tho I came home with 3rd degree sun burns they were a sight for sore eyes . My poor guys probably wished I never came back since I held them so tight , I rarely grab them first thing tho I usually greet them and open doors (espc if I am away for more than a full day , and since I had a tumor removed a year ago I had that little bit of experience ) but once they knew it was me every thing else just fell to the side ... I never seem to take a moment for granted with them cause only God knows how long thier job will take to complete ....
When we had a cat that needed rehomed due to biting severly and with no provocation at all it took me 3 months to come to the decison ... and actually even longer since I could not do it but I took the beating and gave her up for some one that she could have what she needed ... as she was obviously not happy here ... The group who took her said that I use to spray her with lysol for punishment . That did happen as an accident while I was disinfecting an area that the litter pan was in I did not see her and hit her in the face .. I took her to a vet and got wacked with a nearly 200 dollar bill of which I would do all over again in the same circumstances ... Yet another cat that was terminal I maxed our 3 credit cards for a grand bill of 4000 bucks and would do it all over again ...
Even when Noodle came into our lives I could not help but wonder why ? And when he reverted to hand feedings again ( I surmise that he was much younger than thought) the vet urged us not to hand feed ... I obviously ignored that and so glad that I abundance weened him now we have a bond that NO one can usunder .... I have lost boyfriends and friends cause they will ALWAYS BE NUMBER ONE in my heart and in my life ... No one can ever undermine the love I have for our guys NO ONE
PS I have so many bins and bins of toys and toy making parts (yes I recycle the parts and redye the wood ) I would have it NO other way ... including the bins in the basement of toys and toy making parts

I completely understand how you feel! Mine...even the breeders who would really prefer to be left to their own devices are as precious to me as if they were my human children. And I am the same....I fret and worry when I am away from home. Recently hubby said to me that if we got rid of my Lorikeets we could actually go away for a weekend. He didn't realise that instead of enticing me to get rid of them it actually made me more determined than ever to keep them....lol!!!

Your mention of recycling toys is very timely! Hubby just recently replaced all of our nestboxes. 16 in total. And was left with all these round pieces of wood approx 2 inches in diameter. That were the outcuts from the holes. I was looking at them and thinking that I could use those to fashion a few toys for the bigger birds like the Galah and Eckys. They are obviously made from a safe wood since they are scraps from nestboxes, but are very hard....so we get at least a few clutches out of them before the adults turn them into toothpicks.... Getting to the point. They would look pretty boring if they are just the piney sort of colour of the wood and I was wondering what would be the best way to give them a bit of colour? I was thinking about food dye, but am not sure how well it would work on such dense wood. Another thought was cordial. It's basically like kool-aid in a concentrated liquid. If that makes sense. I would really appreciate your input.

Thanks!!!!

Patty
I just use food coloring ... I place it in a plastic cup and make it very very dense add a bit of water as well I place them in it over nite then bake them at 250 for 1/2 an hour then the colors come out as a bit of a wash the darker you want it the longer you will want to set it in the liquid .. I have actually already placed the food coloring on the pieces I wanted to dye ... However my pieces are much smaller than those you have but it would work the same ... the baking only "sets" the color and permantly "stains" them . I also place the wood into boiling water for about 5 minutes prior to staining this opens the pours but watch fingers as the pieces will be hot once they have been boiled place directly into your dye ... if you are leary about uisng those colors to dye they do make toy dyes for bird toys that costs about 6 dollars (american ) 13 pounds I think for you ? Also protect your work space as it will get stained if you have a stainless steel sink just sit them in thier over nite . And wear OLD clothing since this stuff will undoubtly splatter if you are in your favorite outfit
My theory is that any thing old can become new again ....if it is plastic pieces that are chewed you can sand them with a dremel and use a lighter to smooth them out or you can leave them rough for texture if you use the lighter have some water in a bucket and do this out side the water stops the heating process but the oder is pootinky so use caution
if you need more wood parts you should beable to find wood at a local craft shop as well as untreated leather by the spool ( I spend 3 bucks for a spool of 100 feet of leather cotton rope here is about 13 cents a foot .... I also look at our dollar stores for cheep plastics that I can use as well as in the rodent section of our petstore for wood parts .... any thing that is plastic and wood gets the eye ball of potential ....
I have also heard of clothing dyes but I am not sure if that is safe or not , I have never really looked into it .. but probably should
I will try to get some pics of our toy making and a remade and homade toy for you to get some ideas
Making toys was my salvation after surgery and during treatments .. and now I just find it calming all the way around . Noodle seems to LOVE his mommy made toys
But we are so stocked now that we just use the old to make new again just buy pulling the old parts and keeping the good stuffs off it I have a new toy in just a matter of hours

I recommend a good read "tell me where it hurts" by Dr. Nick Trout. It is about a vet and his experiences at Angel memorial hospital (A big animal hospital in BOSTON!) It has funny parts and sad parts but he talks about people's relationships with their pets.
You can probably get it online at Barnes & noble or amazon. I thought I was obsessive & nuts over my birds but I realize that I am pretty normal after reading this book. People who have never had pets wouldn't understand.
As far as recycling bird toys, I do that all the time. My tiels fav toys involve colorful drinking straws and natural twine. I have to rethread new straws every two weeks because they just chew them up! I avoid cheap plastics at the dollar stores because God knows if they are safe or not.

True on the dollar store but the same plastic pacifires and such is sold at many other stores as well . We also have a party store that sells stuff like the plastic pacifires as favors for 10 you pay 6 bucks .... If I am in doubt I weed it out ... (meaning I dont buy it ) other things are safe . Just watch for recalls if they are recalled you should pull them ... most stuff is now made in japan or china or some other over seas place so when you look at it is anything in this country really safe any more ?
I can assure you that places that make toys also use cheep stuff so that ther profit index is not hurt

Thanks for the info about toys everyone! Sorry it took me so long to get back and say so. I wouldn't have thought about preboiling or baking afterwards. Makes a lot of sense though!

The food colouring worked a treat on the wood! They are in the oven as I type. Can't wait to get them done so I can start putting the toys together!!! Hubby has an extensive workshop and loves working with wood, so I think I might get him to make some different shapes for me too. Thanks again!!!