Both of mine are free all day too. Happy never leaves her cage except to play on top where her gym is, or unless I put her down on the floor for some walking exercise. Rainbow has the same set up. But I do have to make sure that both are locked in at night and when I go out, for their own protection. Neither of them have ever destroyed anything other then their toys. Happy can fly, but chooses not to. Rainbow has a broken wing from the time she was a baby, which is why I have to monitor her, and make sure she is secure when I am not around. Both would be happy to hang out on my shoulder all day if I let them too. Both were also hand-fed babies. Rainbow loves to have her head scratched and hide under my hair when she is on my shoulder. She also loves to lay on her back in my hand. Happy does some tricks, playing dead on command is the funniest. When I come home, I love to hear her say "Hello Mom" and at night when she wants to get covered she calls, "mom, night, night!" To cute!
Years ago when I bred birds, keets and the english were my favorites. Most of the ones that I kept for pets lived long lives. Tweety-Bird was a Lutino-red eye and a good talker, lived to 12.6 yrs. He was the only bird that was free 24-7 and I never worried about him. He use to sit on my headboard in the morning and wake me up with his call, and by saying his name. I trained all my pet birds to never poop on me or the floor. Even the keets learned how to respect humans, just like they do each other. I doubt that the keets will bother the new pup. Keets are curious about things by nature, so if anything, they will probably want to check the pup out. But they are not attack birds so I wouldn't be concerned about them in that respect. I'm curious about one thing...why won't you allow them to visit you in the living room? You could always set up a small playpen in their for them too. ♥ Peggy & The Girls ♥ -----Original Message----- From: Jacqueline Crawley-Ewing <[email protected]> To: Chihuahuas <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, Nov 16, 2010 7:27 am Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] We are getting a Pup - not a rescue this time One of the reasons we got Budgies was to allow them out time. Other birds were too destructive & need more supervision. In our case the draw bridge doors work fine as they are platforms.So both are released from their big cage in the morning. They love their cage & play inside & out of it a lot + we have 3 other areas for them to hang out - their gym, the reading lamp & drape rod in the studio and the hibiscus tree in my son's room. Bow was hand fed and very tame. He would like nothing better than to sit on my shoulder all day or on my knee when I'm reading. Rio is less friendly but he wants to be number 1 so he tries to outdo Bow. He never tries to visit us in the living room but I had to install a drape in the hall to stop Bow. Bow is clever - I hope he doesn't mess with the pup too much. I hope this adoption goes well. I'm nervous right now - waiting. From: Peggy & The Girls <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tue, November 16, 2010 12:17:05 AM Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] We are getting a Pup - not a rescue this time LOL, that's funny too.. You can put the dog bolt type of locks on his cage (like the type that's on a dog leash) so he can't lift the doors up or push out. Rainbow has them all over his cage. I have always been concerned with a bird guillotine itself with those drop down doors. I use the boat clips on the macaws cage for her toys. They work great. ♥ Peggy & The Girls ♥ ♥ Peggy & The Girls ♥ -----Original Message----- From: Jacqueline Crawley-Ewing <[email protected]> To: Chihuahuas <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, Nov 15, 2010 8:05 pm Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] We are getting a Pup - not a rescue this time One of our Budgies is a bit of an escape artist - he is keen to fly to the front of the apartment. Today I envisioned him getting a ride on the pup to get under the curtain in the hall. LOL He has made it through on people's backs a number of times. So we are still very careful about open doors to outside. My son is afraid the birds will be neglected when I get the pup. I said they could baby-sit her when she naps in her crate. From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, November 15, 2010 5:05:40 PM Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] We are getting a Pup - not a rescue this time Not all birds like puppies. LOL My red bellied parrot, Beau, will dive bomb Emiliano every chance he gets, screeching at the top of his voice! And when he sees him walk into the room where his cage is, he will yell at him "Liliano, get in the den" (he can't say Emiliano). Gloria In a message dated 11/15/2010 2:57:22 P.M. Central Standard Time, [email protected] writes: Hi Jacqueline! My jaw dropped to! That foster lady should come to my house and see all the good fun my birds and dogs have together, that would change her mind! Their is nothing sweeter then seeing my Yellow Collar Mini Macaw hanging off the bottom wire of her cage and calling Princess and Gigi over with a seed in her beak as an offering. Then when she drops it, Princess stands on her hind legs and kisses Happy's beak and then Happy sticks out her tongue to kiss her back! It's adorable and amazing at the same time! When I had my male maltese RIP, Happy use to ride on his back and they would play and interact on the floor all the time. Princess won't tolerate Happy trying to climb on her, instead she will bark at Happy when she tries and Happy backs off and understands. So CONGRATS on your new Sweetie! If I remember correctly I did say that I tried the grass tray system and it was too much work, since you have to wash 3 things instead of just picking up the regular wee wee pad and disposing it. Washing out pee from anything is not my thing anyway, Lol!, I would rather just dispose of it. I recently picked up 50 disposable pads from Petsmart for $15.00, and they are excellent. The pee is dry on the pad within an hour, and no paw prints on the floor either, so I only have to change it once a day. That comes out to only 30 cents per pad. Some one else said that they get pads at Walgreens 50/$10.00, I will try them next and see if they are just as good. Here's a hint for when she has an accident on any type of material, like her bed etc. Use a 1/3 cup of vinegar in the next to last rinse cycle. It works much better then all of those expensive deodorizers that they advertise and absolutely no type of smell at all. The vinegar works on other smells to, completely breaking it down to nothing. I like the name you picked, it is original and sweet. I also thought of Munchkin and Blaze and Gidget, and Cricket-if she is a lively one. Well lots of luck, and I'm sure we will see more pictures. She is absolutely adorable! ♥ Peggy & The Girls ♥ -----Original Message----- From: jacehomeart <[email protected]> To: Chihuahuas <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, Nov 15, 2010 8:07 am Subject: [Chihuahuas] We are getting a Pup - not a rescue this time Yes the rescue try went flat. We were rejected because we have birds. My disappointment was deep and heavy. They didn't even come over for the house visit - just an email. That was one rescue. The Chi Recue was friendlier but they didn't have one that filled our requirements. I know I could wait until the Chi Rescue gets one I want. The point is I have time right now to train and settle a new dog. I started looking at ads. I was looking at 1 year olds - after a few phone calls and no follow-up photos sent my way I spotted a pup. - hope these photos show up.... [IMG]http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m33/lakerbird/Pup/PICT0002.jpg[/\ IMG] [IMG]http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m33/lakerbird/Pup/PICT0004ed.jpg\ [/IMG] [IMG]http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m33/lakerbird/Pup/PICT0003.jpg[/\ IMG] She is on Iams right now. She is 11 weeks old & still 2lbs 12oz. She is getting her last shots this week & I pick her up on Saturday. Questions How to start a Raw diet when she gets home? Could I start a Dry-raw diet? Has anyone used the washable 'grass' pee-pad? Am I nuts? - please be gentle....LOL Jacqueline
