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I would like to share some of the special memories I have of

my feathered angels. They will always remain in my

heart as loving and wonderful friends. For about 10 years

I raised and cared for birds. They lived in my home with me

and my husband and shared a big part of our lives at this time.

It was a great sorrow to me when I had to give most of

them up because I developed what I believe to be an

allergic reaction to the disinfectant that is necessary

to use to keep them clean and free from the many dangerous

bacteria, parasites fungus and virus that can take their lives.

There has been such little research done on the diseases of

birds and although most of us do not have to worry this much

about them because they are not usually crowded together

and thus do not have a tendency to spread disease like they

do when they are in an aviary with a lot of other birds and

new ones coming in very often. When breeding birds it is

necessary to keep their breeding cages very clean and free

of dangerous bacteria and so forth. This was very detrimental

to me and possibly to them as well because much of it is

released into the air and they breathe it in from the steam

coming from the hot water. Although I never experienced any

losses from disease on a large scale, there were of course

losses as there are in any living thing. This was very hard

on me also and I shed many tears when I would have to put

a small bird to sleep due to accident or other causes.

Sometimes this has to be done to protect the rest of the birds

from contamination. But because of this allergic reaction

to the disinfectant I had to quit raising them and sold

many of them to people who would love them and care

for them. I kept a few for quite a few years after this

because I just could not part with them, but finally decided

it was hard on them because we were moving around so much

and they had to spend so much of their time in the cages and

no enough attention. I will always love each of them and miss

them sometimes terribly but have many pictures to remind

me of this special time in our lives. I would like to share some

of these pictures with you and perhaps a little information

about them as we go along. The two cuties on the background

are Hombre, a blue and gold Macaw. he was the first big bird

that we got and was such a sweetie, so good natured and neve

r noisy like some Macaws can be and usually are at different

times during the day. The other one is Chiffon and Mollocan

Cockatoo who was the last of my birds to be sold. I still miss

this one so much. I remember the first time I heard him make

his cockatoo noises. It was in the middle of the night and it scared

me to death. This is very rare for birds to do this after the

lights are out and it is dark. Perhaps he was lonesome and wanted

some company. This only happened though once and he was great

after this. I really lucked out except for the chatter of the budgies

and an occasional Cockatiel complaint I never had a noisy bird.

I kind of thought that the gentle handling was the key to this.

Well at least I told myself this. I used to love to watch Chiffon

throw her crest up and display the beautiful dark salmon

colored feathers that adorned her head. These two birds were

real buddies and always wanted the other one to be close. One

the next few pages I will show other pictures of my babies.

~*Toco Toucan*~

This is our adorable and very comic Toco the Toucan and he

is a Toco Toucan.  He has mostly a fruit diet so his droppings

are very soft and liquid which means he did not have the run

of the house but his home was a very unique perch which he

lovedand nights were spent in a large cage.  These are very

beauitful birds and can be very loving pets.

~*Black Masked and Peach Face Love Birds*~

This is Bandit the Black Masked love bird and Chico the

Peach faced Love bird.  They were the clowns of the clan.

Love birds contrary to their names are not always the

most loving of birds.  I have hand fed some and they

can be a very aggressive little bird that will run clear

across the room to just grab a finger and hang on.  They are

like little clowns that are always entertaining.

~*Minah Bird*~

This is Charlie, The Minah Bird, who is always

charming.  He has this routine that he goes through

each day.  First thing in the morning he starts talking and

making screeching sounds that sound like the tray being

removed from his cage. I am sure that he picked this up

very early in his life.  Then he goes through his talk routine,

which consists of, "Charlie go? " If I say, "no Charlie can't

go."  He says in a very plaintiff voice, "Charlie Go?".  It

can go on for quite a while if you get used to his routine.

Most of the things you say back to him can be very fun for

others to listen to because they are not aware that he has

a set way of saying things at certain times of the day.  

Minah birds are also fruit and pellet eaters which do consist of

fruit and grains and he drinks a tremendous amount of

water.  He always baths his pellets before eating them and

of course this makes for messy droppings too.  Neadless to

say he doesn't spend a lot of time out of his cage either, which

is so sad because all animals need to feel freedom.  So many

times I let him out so that he can explore even if it means

having to follow around after him and clean up.  I really

miss Charlie.  He was so much fun to have around.

~*Orange Winged Amazon*~

This is Toby, but somewhere down the line it got changed

to "Tobird".  He loved his daily bath which consisted of

a spray bottle with warm water.  He always spread his wings

so he could catch every drop and just relished in this.

I loved watching his antics as he turned and spread his

feather wide so that the water would touch his body as

well as his feathers.  He will always be in my heart.  He

loved to take grapes out of my mouth and was so very

gentle.  I never for one minute ever feared getting bitten by

this bird.  He was the gentlest of all of my birds, except for

Nipper.  Tobird never learned to talk very well.  He would

say I love you but mostly you couldn't understand it that

well.  He was special anyway.

~*Female Grey Cockatiel*~

Meet Nipper, my first bird and the joy of my life with

birds.  She was really my baby and my friend.  When we

bought her she had some problems with her feet.  It is

called bumble foot and is an invection of the paddings on their

feet.  She had to have this lanced and I padded her perch

for days until this healed so that she was not in any pain.

I put two perches close together so that she could

lay on them and not have to put a lot of weight on her feet.

But as she learned to trust me it was total trust.  She looked

at me as her mate I am sure.  But then along came Skipper

and although she never mated with him they were great

friends.  I really didn't want to ruin a special pet by breeding

her anyway so I found Skipper a great mate, Pearl, the

beautiful pearl cockatiel and they raised many wonderful

babies to the age that they could be handfed.  For some reason

they would start plucking feathers on the young so I had

to watch closely and then remove them as soon as they

started getting feathers and the long job of feeding them out

was sometimes tiring but always rewarding.  In the above

picture of Nipper she is showing Skipper how to take

his medicine.  He was isolated in a hospital cage and Nipper

really missed him at this time, but I had laid the dropper on

the counter while getting his medicine ready and she thought

he needed instructions I guess.  

~*Nipper and Skipper*~

This is Nipper taking a back in a bowl and Skipper

waiting for his turn.  All birds love to bath if you give

them the chance to.  They are very clean little

"Blessings".  

~*Dick, Nipper, and Tinkerbell*~

The birds all loved Dick.  This is a very unique

picture taken while he was trying to eat.  Nipper

was sitting on his head and Tinkerbell was nibbling

on his eyebrow.  She loved doing this.  I am almost

sure that she was a he however.  But because she seemed to

flutter and stay in one place like Tinkerbell in Peter Pan

we had to name him Tinkerbell anyway.  He was very

friendly.  

~*Brandon and Tinkerbell*~

This is Brandon, my grandson, (He's a lot older now).

and little Tinkerbell.  Tinker is a "Budgie"  short

for Budgerigar which is the official name for them.  Most

people still want to call them love birds because thier habits

of feeing each other is part of a ritual that they go through

previous to breeding.  This is because the female stays on the

nest and the male will feed her and when the chicks are

born then both feed them.  Also they are sometimes called

"parakeets", but actually they are not in the parakeet family

either.  But what ever you call them they are wonderful

little chattering birds that are music to my ears.

I have also raised many canaries and finches, but do not

have any pictures of them because taking pictures through

the bars of a cage does not do any of them justice.  However

they are some of the most gentle of birds and the wonderful

to watch them raise their young although interfering with them

in anyway can cause them to quit the nest and you may have

a tremendous job of handfeeding them ahead of you.  Finches

especially are very hard to hand feed because they are

extremely small and very difficult to feed them a keep them

alive.  There are many dangers in handfeeding. I would never

advise anyone to take this on without first seeing what a full

crop looks like after the parents have fed them.  There are

so many books on the market that give instructions but even

with these it is very hard to know just how much to feed them

without causing an inpacted crop or without starving them to

death.  I am speaking from experience here.  

Raising birds is a very rewarding job but very demanding.

The cages have to be exceptionally clean and dry,  Many

birds are susceptible to yeast (molds) and many die and drop

off of the perch without even appearing sick because most

birds are very adept at hiding an illness.  You learn to be a

droppings watcher and when you lose a bird you always fear

the worst that some "terrible bacteria" has invaded your

aviary.  Most people do not know enough about birds to

even recognize when one is sick.  This takes years of

experience.  So if you are planning on doing this make sure

that you are ready for the dedication that it takes, and the

disappointment that can sometimes come.  You are a mother,

or father, to however many "babies" you are raising.  

~*Please sign my Guestbook before you leave*!

~*Be kind to animals.  They are God's gift to you.*~