Well, my dear bird Cricket has made it 2300 miles across this great country with nary a scratch. After all of my worry about him making it, he was almost a better traveler than I was! There were a few 95+ degree days, but we kept it cool in the car and I kept him as comfortable and “attended to” as possible.
We have become best friends, I and this bird. He spends every morning on my shoulder out on the patio while I drink coffee, playing with my robe zipper, nightgown ribbons/appliques, earlobe, etc. He loves to “hole punch” the corners of my National Geographic pages. He freaks when bumblebees buzz by. He gets excited when cardinals call back and forth and joins in.
He spends a lot of time on my shoulder, and I’m trying, trying, trying to give him breaks so that he can poop in his house and not on me! I’m trying the old “say ‘poop’ when I think he’s getting ready to, and squeal w/ delight & pick him up after he goes” trick, but I’m just not sure that birds learn like dogs do…
I’ve gotten in the habit of “feeding him from my beak” with little bits of whatever I’m eating that’s bird friendly (pasta, tuna, chicken, egg, etc). I think that’s probably gross, but I think it’s darling and mom-like, so shoot me!
He sometimes prefers to have his head scritched even more than being picked up, bowing his head when I offer my finger. I’ve been trying to help him get the keratin off of new feathers he can’t reach (ones around his head/neck), using my fingernails to gently work the keratin from the feathers.
Which brings me to my question: how much molting is too much? I mean, he is molting like a mofo, this little guy- for the last 2 weeks at least. Small feathers, big feathers- tons of feathers! He’d had one other mini-molt since I got him, but dang is he going for it now! Finally he has a new tail feather coming in, so hopefully he’ll get rid of his scraggly baby tail soon.
Which brings me to another question: is perching on the flat-ish surface of the top of his wire cage bad for his feet (and tail?)? He spends 75% of his life on top of his cage. The other 25% is spent on my shoulder or sleeping on a perch inside his cage. I’d love to figure out how to put a branch-style perch on top of his cage- maybe get one of those playgrounds?
I’ve still been giving him pellets mixed with seed, but he just does not eat the pellets, and I’m feeling like I don’t want to spend my money on them if he’s not going to eat them. If I stop with the pellets, should I start with the vita-drops in his water?
Anyway I LOVE my little baby peeper. He is such a dear!
