A Sunday Morning Surprise

I love having Bantam hens around the farm.  They are SO cute!  We have a Bantam (meaning SMALLER) hen on the farm currently - her name is Molly!  She's VERY cute!  She came to live with us back in the fall.  She found a friend in Reuben the rooster.  He's a very handsome guy and easy to get along with.

The only BAD thing about Bantam hens is this.....



Molly the Banty hen and one of her brand new babies


I looked out the laundry room window this morning to see Molly with EIGHT of these!!!!!  It certainly WAS a Sunday morning surprise!!!!!

Rueben the Rooster

We've had Rueben the rooster for almost two years now.  He was an SPCA seizure and I adopted him from them when I was in picking up some budgies for Greyhaven.  He had been tied BY HIS FOOT (!!!!!) and seized in a cruelty investigation.  They treated his foot and I adopted him when his foot was well again.
 

Well, Rueben now has a thing called Bumblefoot.  It's a relatively common occurence in chickens/roosters caused by staphylococcus bacteria.  If the bird gets an open sore in the foot, the bacteria can enter and cause the infection which can include redness and swelling with pus and can be very painful for the animal.  Rueben has been hiding up at the far end of the pen for a couple of days.  He was fighting with Roscoe, one of the other roosters last week, and was knocked down in the pecking order.  I suspect it was because his foot was sore.



Rueben the rooster

I have now isolated Rueben in a large cage in the barn away from the other chickens.  I have treated his foot with some (believe it or not) Preparation H to reduce the swelling.  Tomorrow I will head to Langley to get some antibiotics and proper treatment cream for him.  I have done some research on this condition which, in 20+ years of poultry keeping I've never seen, although I HAVE heard of it in parrots. Poor Rueben.  Hopefully he will be back in action soon.  When we put his food and water in his cage tonight, he seemed very thirsty.  Good thing we noticed him up at the far end (it's over 100 feet long and the weeds are very long right now).  So, he has nice clean water and fresh food now, and a safe, clean place to sleep tonight.  It's always a bit stressful treating the outside animals because we don't see them all the time like the inside animals.  Rueben is used to being handled and fussed over, however, and he's a very good patient, thank goodness.  When I picked him up at the SPCA, the girls there had grown very attached to him.


I have to be very careful in treating Bumblefoot.  The staph or other bacteria that cause the abscess can infect humans.  Best to wear gloves in case of any open sores or nicks on your hands.  It also can be transmitted to the inside birds.
 
Hopefully Rueben will be back to his old self in no time. I'll keep you updated!



Shower With a Friend?

Today I showered with two friends. Now, before you go thinking that I'm some weirdo, let me explain.  Birds need showers.  Humans need showers.  I have two shower perches in my shower so that I can take one or two birds into the shower with me to get their showers.  This helps to (ahem) "kill two birds with one stone" - if you'll pardon the pun!  :-)  It's pretty easy to just put each bird on a perch and go about having my shower.  I don't have any RECENT shower photos (only the birds, only the birds, don't worry!!! LOL), but I have a couple of old ones that I'll post.

The last three days, I've showered with 6 birds - today it was two African Greys, yesterday it was two Quakers, and the day before that, it was three Quakers.  Bella & Bobby share a perch.  My cockatiel, Cheek, does NOT like to shower nor does Elmo, another Quaker.  Elmo will sit on the top rail, though, and tell us all how it's done!! He looks so tough up there, but if I go to pick him up and put him in the water, he's bound and bent to get away - he's such a cutie-pie!

Here are the pics I promised.  They are a few years old, but at least you can get a feel for showering birds.

Maya in the shower

Maya again

Bobby (middle) & Bella and Maya in behind BEFORE getting wet!

Maya & Theodore

Most of the birds enjoy their showers.  Maya actually squawks if you hog the water - LOL!  She likes a nice, solid spray of water and turns back and forth.  Theodore doesn't really care for his showers - he keeps his feathers tight to his body and the water rolls off so he looks like he hasn't had a shower when we're finished.  Abby has no tummy feathers (she's a plucker), so she gets wet whether or not she wants to. 

So, save water - shower with a friend today!!

Another Kitchen Helper

Speaking of kitchen helpers.......today I was getting supper ready, and I looked down to see my little Maya.....

You REALLY need to be careful when you have little feathered ones wanting to join you to "help".  Sometimes it's easy to not hear them coming across the floor - especially the smaller ones. Two of my birds are flighted (Bella & Elmo) for specific reasons, so they can get to me by flying if they wish.  I try to make it a habit to always look down before I move away from the sink......  Many times I see this when I look down......

Accidents can happen so quickly, so it's always a good idea to check and see if anyone has come to visit me at the sink.

Kitchen Helper

I was busy in the kitchen today.  I was cleaning up some dishes and getting the birds' breakfasts ready.  Abby wanted to help me.  It's not always a good thing having an African Grey help you in the kitchen.  I requires lots of "stuff".....

Stuff helps to distract said African Grey from chewing the coffee maker and the wires.  Notice all the plastic cups, measuring cups, empty milk containers, cardboard? These are the distraction materials.  Other parrot owners will surely agree.  Of course, as good as my intentions were, somebody was not impressed.....

I think Abby was onto my scheme of trying to keep her occupied with the "stuff" while she was "helping" me.  She also did NOT like me taking her photo......

At least she didn't chew the coffee maker ......

.....but MAN, she was NOT impressed with me!!! 

Thanks to my sweet Abby for the being my great kitchen helper today!!  I sure had a lot of "stuff" to clean up when we were finished!!

My 15 Seconds of Fame!

Last Tuesday saw me getting up very early in preparation for a photographer coming out from the Vancouver Sun newspaper to do a story on losing pet birds.  I had had a very quick telephone interview with the reporter the day before and, although the story didn't really go the direction I wanted it to, it did get some people's attention on keeping a closer eye on their birds in the summer.



The story was initiated by a wonderful man who, along with his lovely wife and daughter, have lost their beloved cockatiel "Charlie" in downtown Vancouver.  Charlie has been missing for almost two months.  It breaks my heart that we cannot find Charlie.  The Delain family have offered a large reward for Charlie.  It's not often that I get to meet face-to-face with people who I post lost birds for.  I did have the honour of meeting this couple and their daughter and what a blessing for me.  WONDERFUL people who truly care about their bird and about other people.  In the time that they have lost Charlie, they have taken in another cockatiel to foster that we are as yet, unable to find the owner of. 



Audrey and Maya (with her collar on) (Photo: Ward Perrin, PNG)



I must say that the photographer was wonderful.  He is an animal lover and spent time talking with my kids and paying attention to all the animals.  A genuine, caring man.  The reporter - well, you could tell she was in a hurry and the order had come from higher up.  The passion just wasn't there.  So it goes when one speaks with the Press.

Here are the URL's....

For the story look here.  Here are more photos.  And a short video is here. 

You will notice that Bella & Bobby have very long beaks.  They have now been trimmed again.  They have had health issues in the past that cause their beaks and nails to grow faster than normal and need trimming every 3-4 months.  Ths pics were taken several days before they were trimmed.  If left too long, it can affect birds so that they cannot eat properly.  It takes regularly-scheduled vet visits to keep them managed.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think of the story and photos and video!
Blessings to all! Have a great weekend.