A social Dumpling

Dumpling has been socialising and playing with Roswell. They happily ran back and forth on the perch, played kissy-face and bashed beaks for about five minutes this morning.

Big step for Dumpling (aka Lilek) because he's not the most sociable or tolerant budgie, when we first got him he used to chitter and raise his beak at the other birds if they so much as got within a whisker of him.

Dumpling currently thinks he's a human, we're hoping that this is a step towards the self-realisation that he is in fact a cute feathery little bird and not a large scary human.

Here are the two boys mucking around.

Easter Shennanigans

Monty has been getting very high today, no not in that way - he's been perching in the highest places possible to show that he is still the boss of the house.

Roswell has been putting on his cute puppy dog face every time I point the camera in his direction so it was only fair that I take some photos of him and post at least one to the blog.

I put out a pot of stuff for the budgies to forage through - some apple sticks, millet and some crackers. Not sure that they ate anything but the millet to be honest but at least it gives them something to do!

Snowy had his favourite vegetable today - carrot - I think he just likes smearing it all over his beak and face.

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Second stage of turning our front room into an aviary is complete

Well we're not really turning it into an aviary but it sometimes feels like it. With nine little feathery fiends flying about, it is sometimes easy to forget you're inside!

We have completed work on the second budgie window screen, so now we can open two windows in the front room in the hot weather to get some air-flow going. It was 25 degrees today so we have finished it just in time as I don't think the weather will be cold for quite a while now.

The budgies were intrigued with all of the noise we made, hammering away at staples into the wood and twanging the aviary wire. At one point I looked up to see nine feathery little faces peering down at me.

We were slightly short of wire mesh (at the right length), so had to be inventive and I weaved some together on a lower part of one of the windows, you can inspect my handywork below, no budgies is getting through that!

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It's a lovely sunny warm day today, so I need to make sure the budgies little feathery selves remain cool.  I put out some glass dishes on top of the Summer Palace, filled with water.  There is also a purple trough filled with water inside the cage.

Hector took great delight in dousing himself in water as soon as he saw it.  Snowy and Blueboy both had a look but decided it was best to leave Hector to his bath-time fun, very wise of them I think you will agree.

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• Blue-boy and Hector get comfy new perches (featheredfiends.wordpress.com)


• What it's really like having nine budgies (featheredfiends.wordpress.com)


• Just the two of us, you and I (featheredfiends.wordpress.com)


• Dumpling gets a head scratch and Hector and Blue-boy play (featheredfiends.wordpress.com)


• Hector Preening Blue-Boy (featheredfiends.wordpress.com)

I decided to update the "Let me introduce you to my four feathered fiends" page because, well there are now nine and it's been a while since there were only four, so it only seems fair to include the other five.  I wouldn't want to be accused of favouring one bird over another, no that would not be right!

For the updated page on Monty, Snowy, Roswell, Jerry, Sky, Blueboy, Lilek, Hector and Custard click here:  http://featheredfiends.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/let-me-introduce-you-to-my-four-feathered-fiends/

[caption id="attachment_1435" align="alignnone" width="1024" caption="Nine Naughty birds chomping away"][/caption]

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• Boisterous fiends splashing about and a dumpling being naughty as usual (featheredfiends.wordpress.com)


• Musical Day (featheredfiends.wordpress.com)


• There aint 'alf been some changes (featheredfiends.wordpress.com)

Gimme millet demands Roswell

So I did and he ate it all up. He's a lot heavier than little King Monty, I had to hold my arm out for 10 minutes while Roswell picked away at it.

Can I get him to step on my hand when there is no delicious treat involved though - the answer is a firm NO!

Oh well he's still very cute and it's nice to have him trust me enough to sit on my hand and eat millet :)

All the birdies had bath-time and Parsley earlier. I put lots of parsley in some clear glass dishes and most of the budgies had a massive dunk in the water. Dumpling waded through several times and then delighted in soaking us through by flying over us again and again!

After bath-time I rinsed and then clipped the parsley to ladders and a mug tree so that they could chew on it for a while.

I left them out a blue food dish with water and some plastic balls in it in case they fancied anther dip though, it's a rather warm day today and I don't want them getting overheated, poor little birdies.

Musical Day

Earlier on when "Do you love me" (my sister reliably informs me that this song features in Dirty Dancing [or Dirty Dancer as my dad used
to call it] and took this opportunity to try and force me to watch it with Monty - pah) came on the radio Monty suddenly flew over to me enthusiastically and started dancing up and down my arm.

Then Jerry did his rendition of "It's raining men" with Roswell on backing vocals - whilst asleep!

Right now Blueboy is "Pinging" the bars along to "Mama Mia" by Abba.

My budgies have weird musical tastes.

OUCH - Dumpling just bit my leg, he's singing to my ankle and biting to try to get my attention. He always tries to get my full attention when I am typing, especially blog posts for some reason. Does he know I am writing my budgie blog and think I have not mentioned him enough?

Anyway the fiends had lots of millet today and made their usual mess, most of which I have swept up ready for them to make some more.

Oh dear, Jerry and Roswell are trying to have "guy-time" (not THAT sort!) and Custard doesn't like it so she's flapping at Jerry to make him go away. She's got her way as usual and has followed Roswell to the seed-pots for some dinner.

Some vids from earlier:

NO Don't go out again!

I have been out three times already today - once to the Post Office, then to Mudchute Train Station and then to see the Doctor, each time I got squawked at by Dumpling for leaving. He even tries to climb into my shoe as I am putting it on and flaps his wings at the Velcro as I pull it together.

When I got back from the third trip he had decided that I wasn't allowed to go out again and attached himself firmly to my foot, determined not to let me move!

He is one determined little blighter isn't he!

Who da Pretty Boyz?

It's a nice morning for admiring yourself in the mirror don't you think?

Cornfest!

Just gave the birds some corn, they are madly picking away at it, Monty went completely nuts and his eyes went to tiny pin-points :)

They seem to love the corn more than millet. I don't give them it too often because it's really messy and makes all of their feathers sticky -
not to mention I am going to have to scrub the tiles on top of their cage later on but that's no big problem.