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Emmy

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Blog Entries posted by Emmy

  1. Emmy
    6th October 2014

    As I am just starting this 'BLOG' and haven't done anything like this before please excuse all the mistakes I will be making.

    To begin with I'm going to use some of the posts I have already posted on the main forum (to practise )

    I think you may already have read this earlier post about Bimbo my hand reared cockatiel with the overshot beak. (already having problems tried to download a picture of Bimbo but Bimbo seems to have 'flown away' )

    Well I had spoken to my vet about the problem with Bimbo's beak and what could be done, but he is not an avian vet and asked me to send him some photos of Bimbo's beak and he would contact an avian vet to find out what could be done.

    Great!! So I emailed 4 photo's of Bimbo showing the deformed beak at various stages of Bimbo's growth.

    I know the vet wont be able to deal with this for a week because he is off on holiday.

    That night I posted the email I was having a good look at Bimbo's beak when I had him out for his feed and I was shocked to find that its bottom beak wasn't fully attached to its neck and I could see its throat through the back of its beak .

    Panic stations!!

    Another quick email to the vet to let him know about my latest discovery.

    Because of finding this I decided to examine ALL my cockatiels and discovered they all had this 'deformity' (my conclusion )

    Then suddenly it dawned: the cockatiels weren't related so this must be how cockatiels beaks are meant to be!

    To make sure I asked a friend who has parrots and she informed me all parrot type birds have this hole at the back of their beak and you can see their throat through it. OHHH!!

    Another quick email to the vet to own up to my ignorance --

    Well after all is said and done where cockatiels are concerned I've still got my 'L' plates on

    This is the reason I wished I could delete a sent email

    Now to discover where I've sent Bimbo to on the web! Just maybe when I click 'publish' Bimbo may decide to come back (lol)
  2. Emmy

    Finding A Vet For Bimbo

    By Emmy,

    In the previous post, I mentioned the 'vets' I am registered with but sadly because they are not Avian vets they couldn't do anything to help Bimbo. They did recommend an avian vet but it was too far away for me to get there
    .
    The pervious photo I posted of Bimbo was taken on the 26th July this year and you can see quite clearly then that the Bimbo's beak needed to be sorted. Now its beak was much, much worse.
    I kept on trying to find an avian vet and was told by friends of a few other vets (not avian vets) that do treat birds. I made appointments but when they examined Bimbo non of them was prepared to trim Bimbo's beak.

    By September Bimbo's beak was much worse and I had to make sure I cleaned inside its beak to make sure there was no food stuck there. Bimbo soon realised that if it came onto my hand what was going to happen next--fast learner!! and scooted to the other side of the aviary to avoid me. Before this Bimbo was always the first one to come to my hand.

    Then in the middle of September another person I knew who has a parrot said she was taking her parrot to an avian vet (the same avian vet my own vet had recommended) to get its claws done and agreed to take Bimbo too, only problem was she wasn't sure when she would be going.

    So once again I tried the internet and by chance someone recommended a vet ---wait for this---whose practice was only 10 minutes drive from my house who had done marvellous work with some of her birds. (never knew about this vet because after we had moved house I had still kept going to my own vet )

    I immediately phoned and made an appointment for Monday the 3rd November and was so pleased that Bill Wooton the vet agreed to trim Bimbo's beak. I have to take Bimbo back again in 2 weeks to have a check up and the beak may need more work done to it but I don't really mind how often I have to go back with Bimbo.

    I don't know how Bimbo feels after the 'makeover' but I definitely feel better
    (Maybe I should have made an appointment for a 'makeover' for myself too )

    Bimbo is eating well and preening itself. Hope you notice a difference between the before photo (first post) and after photo(this post) of Bimbo.
  3. Emmy
    Guess we have all read about the bother we have when fireworks go off -- not only the birds but with our other pets too.

    Well lucky for me my birds were OK (I left a radio on) but my wee Chihuahua- Rabelou was terrified and instead of hiding he had started running about the living room barking every time he heard a firework go off.

    Last night about 10pm - it had all quietened down . Rabelou was in his bed and seemed settled so I decided I'd have an early night too.

    I was no sooner in my bed when-- listening to the noise Rabelou was creating, you would have thought the fireworks were going off in my kitchen. My thoughts of an early night were quickly disappearing

    I found Rabelou in a frenzy - he was not only barking but jumping all over the place - seemed the higher he could get the louder the barking.

    Just what was he trying to catch? At first I thought it may have been a butterfly as I have had a few recently in the kitchen. No butterfly to be seen.

    By now I was losing my patience and was about to catch Rabelou and lock him in his crate when I noticed him becoming very still and staring up at the curtains!!

    There sitting on my curtain rail was a BIRD.

    Now how on earth did a wild bird get into my kitchen at this time of night??
    The birds I had in the house were all in their cages and this bird was definitely not a cockatiel or a canary!

    Then the 'penny dropped' the only other birds I had in the house were the gouldians in the utility room. The bird that was on the curtain rail was the young gouldian that was just starting to colour up.
    How did it get there!!??

    Now the 'fireworks ' really did start - but I was the 'firework' -- First to catch the dog- and no way was he going to let me do this -- he didn't want to miss the chance of catching the bird before me!!
    I eventually won that battle

    Now to catch the bird-- big problem-- now I couldn't find it it had disappeared!

    I checked the gouldian's cage - the older gouldian was sitting quietly on a perch -- now there was another surprise all the doors were closed- so how did that one escape? I had only recently bought that new breeding cage for them!

    I'll not go into detail of how and when I did catch it because it was a nightmare I wouldn't want to repeat! My thoughts now were - "Guess this wee bird will not survive after all she's been through".

    Once I got her back into the cage I checked the cage again and I finally discovered how she had got out. There was a larger space at one end of the cage front I was surprised she managed to get through that.

    That space has now been covered with a bit of cardboard until I can figure out a way to fix it properly.

    I think I've learned a lesson - next time I buy anything - I'll make sure that a bird with a nice slim body wont be able to escape.
  4. Emmy
    This top photograph of the nest was taken this morning (29thNovember 2014)

    This nest of my Pied BC contained 5 eggs -three of the eggs have hatched, only one more egg is fertile.

    After I downloaded the photograph into my picture folder I candled the photo using the two methods I use.

    Photos:

    1. The above photo cropped to show position of one of the chicks

    2. photo 1. candled using the first sequence I used to candle the eggs

    3. photo 2. cropped to enlarge image.

    4. photo 3. candled using the new sequence.

    5. photo 4. cropped to enlarge image.

    I've found it interesting comparing the two methods used so I thought I'd share it with you.
  5. Emmy

    My New Room??

    By Emmy,

    Sorry I haven't let you know about my  moving  before now, but I'm just getting settled in. 
    My new cage is here and it has been built up and guess where it has been put??!!  In the conservatory - (if you could call it that!), from  what I see it is filled with boxes of all sorts of things to get sorted out -I think it's all the things the other birds use too.  I think the next thing I'll be saying will be:  "This must get done tomorrow"  because 'Mum' has been saying this every day for a while now but nothing seems to change.
    I've still not been allowed  out to fly with Tika yet -I think 'Mum' doesn't trust me! but if I tell the truth it's ME that doesn't trust Tika!
    I think once 'Mum' finally does get things sorted out it will be quite nice in the conservatory, it's nice and light and gets the sun too, and 'Mum' has put in a large fan just in case it gets too hot. 

    As you can see I've been doing a bit of 'sightseeing' and this was as high as I could go - no windows open so I just had to come down again -why? there was 'Mum' standing looking up and she had a custard cream biscuit in one hand and a sugar snap pea in the other - now that was too much of a temptation for me so she did win that time.
    I have lots of nice company in the conservatory, There's Tika and Tiko the Barraband Parrots and 5 cockatiels- one of them is always calling me 'Cheeky Chops' and is constantly asking me for a kiss! I think he must really like my BIG beak.
    I can't find the photo of me in my new cage but I'm sure 'mum' will be taking more photos of me soon (that is when she stops taking photos of the tiny chicks she is feeding just now
    (I think I'm going to be in 'Mum's Bad Book when she discovers I've chewed through not only the new perch she bought for my cage but also the large perch that came with my cage. I'll just have to remind her that I'll need all the proof I can gather for my CV if I want to qualify as a first class demolisher. Just thinking those blinds in the conservatory look good too)
    Bobby