Lovebird saga - round two

Well, here we go again. Since Twitters is (very happily enjoying being) in his new home, my sister has declared the experiment a success. Twitters' Momma and her new husband laid a clutch of eggs about a month ago. One of the eggs was fertile and has survived. Little One (temporary name) came to live with me yesterday afternoon to be hand raised. We left this one with Mama a week or so longer than with Twitters so it would have more feathers and be a bit older to start. We are still trying to find the perfect time to bring them in for hand raising that will allow them to know they are birds, but still bond strongly with people. (Twitters was so young when we brought him in, he decided he did not want to fly and won't even try to fly - he is a human and humans walk!) Anyway, here are the pics that were taken while Little One was still with Momma and Daddy. I don't have pics from last night or today yet, but will post them as soon as I get some.

Oh, and we already have a buyer for Little One. Twitters' new mommy's younger brother wants to buy Little One, so the sibling birds will belong to siblings. Kind of cool.

 

AWWW..He's just a little baby Gremilin...How adorable. I honetly can't believe how fast they grow and change. I'm looking forward to reading this thread as the baby grows. Congrads on the new baby..I would so love to do something like this.

 

I so enjoyed your thread about Twitter and watching him grow. It's nice to hear he's doing well with his new mom.
I know I'll enjoy seeing Little One's progress.

 

YA_ HOO!!!!! for the birds too!!!!!!I loved reading all about twitters.....cant wait to read about this one too!!!!! I myself have been owned and loved by parrots for over 30 years...I am currently owned by 11,all of which were hand-raised at one point I owned a pet store and we specialized in hand raised birds,my oldest baby is a 19 year old congo grey..( I have had him since 6 weeks of age)...I am very proud of the fact that he has never -ever eaten commercial bird food Its just great to see other people out there that appriciate these wonderful animals as much as I do!!!! Again catn wait to see the new babies progress....just so ya know I am also a victum of MTS...5 since november....lol

 

Well, as you can see from the two pics, he went from a little pink blob on April 23rd to a miniature version of an adult on May 15th. Oh, and Little One is much larger than Twitters was at this age. I gave Little One a couple of peas last night with dinner - yummy! Little One then insisted on having peas again this morning! Still haven't gotten any pics yet, I will try to remember to do so today. As soon as breakfast is over, Little One nosedives for my sleeve - nice dark hidey hole to take a nap in - 'no Little One, you are supposed to sleep in your bed, not my sleeve!'

 

Awww!!

 

My sister was over tonight, so I had her take a couple of pics while I was feeding Little One / Digger tonight. Yes, we are still trying out names. Baby likes to burrow into my elbow or my hand or my sleeve or where ever possible, so my sister says to try the name Digger. However, after watching baby eat tonight, now she wants a different name. This baby lays its head sideways on my hand when it eats, so she wants to come up with a name that reflects the personality. I've only had baby for three days, so a name has not presented itself yet.

So, in the first pic, baby is going after the dropper of food. In the second pic, baby is going after a piece of a pea that is in my other hand. Baby likes peas and corn.

 

Awwwwwwwww, Makes me want one lol

 

how sweet ! I loved your thread about Twitter too!

Personally, I think the name Little One is adorable, I'd stick with that !

 

Well, Digger/Little One/Whispers is growing by leaps and bounds. Already trying out her(?) wings and spending some time out of her bed in the cage exploring. I may try an excursion outside if it isn't too hot. Otherwise, I'll let her walk around in the house to explore. I'm adding Whispers to the names because when this one talks, it is fairly quiet. The quiet ones are the females, so for now I am going with female on this one. Won't know for sure until she is much older, but that's OK.

 

Babies always have such a innocence about them that I just love. Look at that sweet little face.
Adorable.

 

absolutely sweet. I'm reeeealllly wanting a peachfaced lovedbird !!!!

 

Gremlin, I came across a book called Lovebirds this weekend, by Julie Mancini, and of course I bought it. lol.... your lovebird threads immediately came to mind when I saw it.
What an informative book, and the photos are just beautiful ! She explained the differences between hand-raised birds versus parental-raised, described their behaviors and personalitities, how to train, equipment, food, etc.

They are just darling ! Not that I'm thinking of buying one anytime soon, I am just so fascinated by them.

Looking forward to more progress reports on Little One !

 

Got some pics of Whispers (yes, we have decided on a name - finally!) playing outside. She probably won't get to go outside again for a while. She is starting to fly pretty good - even if it is still mostly down and not up. I don't want to risk her getting too far away and getting hurt or caught by a cat or hiding somewhere I can't get to her. She doesn't seem to mind too much not being outside. Twitters loved going out and playing in the grass and climbing in the apple tree, but Whispers isn't as adventurous. She was more interested in finding places to hide, or running back to me so I could hide her. She did finally try to taste one of the dichondra leaves, but her beak still isn't strong enough to really chew on it.

 

Whispers is still being hand fed most of the time. She will try to nibble at the food and seed I give her, but her beak just isn't strong enough yet to crack the seed or 'chew' anything firm. She still likes peas and corn, and she loves fruity rice crispies. Today I added cooked ramen noodles (no flavorings) and she really chowed down on those. I'll try some plain white rice later today too. I'm not sure how long it will take her to eat all on her own, since she is developing much faster than Twitters did. She already uses her wings much more than Twitters has (or does). She will fly/hop from the perch in her cage to the door and back. She will fly from my hand into her cage when she is done being fed or playing and wants to take a nap. She is exploring the water dish in her cage, and does the bath motions, but she hasn't actually taken a bath yet. She has gotten some water on her face, but not a full bath yet. Her favorite two spots are 1: in the doorway of her cage, and 2: on the perch in front of her water dish.

She met Twitters last night when he came to visit - they are very jealous of each other. Both of them see me as their own property/mama and didn't want to share me with any other bird! They kept trying to chase each other away, but when I held each one individually (with out the other bird around) they both would fall asleep in my hand. Sibling rivalry!

 

how precious! Cute too, that they got jealous.

 

Well, Whispers is growing by leaps and bounds. She loves cooked rice and ramen noodles, and is now starting on popcorn. It took her a while, but she finally figured out how to chew off a piece of the popcorn. Her beak is beginning to get stronger, but she still does not crack seed. She is starting to "beak" the seed though. She'll pick up a seed and kind of roll it around in her beak and then drop it... She still hasn't quite figured out how to take a bath yet, but she still goes through the motions. Anyway, here are a couple of pics of her with her rice at breakfast and then a piece of popcorn this afternoon...

Oh, and the syringe you see to her right - - - was clear full. She ate all her breakfast and was still diving into her rice bowl.

 

Too cute.

 

Whispers flew this morning!!! I was getting her breakfast ready at the kitchen table, and had her cage door open (her cage is on the counter behind me when I'm sitting at the table). I turned towards the cage to get her for her breakfast and said "Come on Whispers, time for breakfast" and she FLEW from her cage door right to my chest. Of course, she then jumped to the table and went after the rice and her formula for breakfast... Now she sitting in her cage playing with her rope toy (and yawning) - maybe she'll take a nap. After all, flying makes you tired!

 

Awww!! That's so cute!

 

Baby bird has a new name. Kiah. It means 'from that beautiful place'. She is growing by leaps and bounds. She can FLY quite well, although her favorite place to fly to is my head or shoulders. When I open her cage, she can't fly to me quick enough. It is fun to watch her. She still is not eating on her own, but then she is only just over a month old...It may take a while before she is eating on her own. She still likes her ramen noodles and cereal and rice and cooked veggies. But then, they are all softer foods so it is easier for her to eat them. She got herself in a pickle yesterday afternoon - she was trying to get out of the cage to fly to me, and ended up in the bottom front corner of her cage - upside down - between the two walls of the cage and her food dish and her bed. She couldn't figure out how to get out of the corner and sure put up a squawking fuss. I was laughing so hard I could hardly pick her up. Boy did she want to cuddle after that! Anyway, here are a couple of pics at feeding time. She knows where the food comes from, and if I set down the syringe when she's not done, she will go for the food. The last pic, she is eating some ramen noodles.

 

She sure is a pretty girl....she is gonna make some new Momma very happy.

 

She is actually going to have a Daddy - The person who is buying her is the brother of the gal who bought Twitters. She is quite the character. She is snoozing in her bed right now - all I have to do is make a little chirp and she will come popping out of her bed - heads up - "what? you ready to play? you gonna feed me again?" Like a said - quite the character.

 

She sounds adorable and looks adorable.
I can't believe how big she's gotten. Love the new name.

 

Kiah is definitely the new name. It is Australian (love birds are native to Australia) and means "from that beautiful place". She is now eating all on her own and flying every chance she gets. She loves to land on my head. Her nickname is boomerang bird. I can toss her away from (gently, of course) and she will fly right back to me. It is good exercise for her wings. It is also way funny to watch. So she is now boomerang bird. Her new daddy has ordered her cage and we are just waiting for it to come. Then she will go to her new home.

She finally took a bath today. There has been a couple of times when she has gotten her face a bit damp, but she hasn't really taken a full bath. I had her in the bathroom with me this afternoon while I was putting stuff away. I thought she might be getting thirsty so I turned on the faucet in the sink. She kept trying to dunk her head under the faucet so I put a washcloth in the bottom of the sink and turned the faucet on fairly strong to fill some water in the bottom of the sink. She jumped right down in there and took a little drink then kept dipping her beak in the water. Finally, she just walked right under the stream of water from the faucet. She was SOAKED from beak tip to tail tip in a matter of seconds ! ! ! She then (of course) proceded to try to dry herself off in my hair. I just wish I had my camera with me - maybe next time.

 

Awww!! That sounds so adorable!! I really want a Lovebird or a Cockatoo (big difference, I know. lolol) But with 13 cats, I think they'd be goners. Well, maybe not the cockatoo, the one I pet sat was quite a nasty thing.

 

Do the cockatoo...awesome as long as u don't spoil it way in the beginning.....that's unfortunitlay what happens to most of them.......with anybird...when u first get it...dont give it anymore attention than you'll be giving it 3 years down the road...people don't realize the damage that showering them with attention does after the NEWNESS wears off....I've owned birds for about 30 years....I am presently owned and loved by 12...I also have 3 persians,and 12 dogs,although I really keep my eye on them(the smaller birds especially)...the cats don't even look at them....good luck!!!!

 

All of my animals are showered with attention.
Only spoiled animals live with me.

 

cute

Makes want to have a bird