A blog about my beautiful budgies.
Some time ago I mentioned that Atilla’s poop would be good for use in a Rorschach Test. We now have a budgie-fied version of that test. From your budgie’s reaction to each blot, you should be able to examine its personality characteristics and emotional functioning.
If you are conducting the test, you should be aware that factors other than your budgie’s comment on the content, are also important. For example, how long does it take your budgie to respond? Does your budgie focus on a specific area of the blot? In fact… does your budgie focus at all?
I think you will agree that this test could throw up many insights about your budgie. Here are the eight images. Note: Be sure to go through the blots in the presented sequence as otherwise the results will be inconclusive.
Good: Millet
Bad: Wind blowing millet away
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Good: Millet
Bad: Millet spontaneously combusting
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Good: Millet
Bad: Genetically modified millet
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Good: Millet
Bad: Millet that has been trodden on
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Good: Millet
Bad: Half chewed millet
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Good: Millet
Bad: Locked up millet
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Good: Millet
Bad: Millet failing to sing
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Good: Millet
Bad: Millet disappearing into black hole
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Strangely, when I went through this test with both Cagney & Bezukhov, I found that they both had an unnatural &, frankly, an obsessive interest in millet. There was a slight difference between them in that Cagney also showed up as being a bit “bad”, whereas Bezukhov showed more “sensitive” tendencies.
Since young Thomas has emerged from the Ferplast, we have been playing a rather complicated game of musical cages.
Initially, I let Thomas roam about on his own, without the others to distract him. He generally settled on either the Manor where the toyboys tried to woo him or on Phinny’s cage where Phinny generally ignored him.
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After awhile, I let Phineas out. He seemed a bit put out that Cagney was showing interest in this new, young whippersnapper. Whilst he was civil to Thomas, once any serious flirting got underway between Thomas & Cagney through the cage bars, he was not quite so magnanimous.
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Letting out Cagney & Bezukhov & therefore having all 4 out at the same time proved a little chaotic. Thomas, being new to being out, was getting stressed at all the comings & goings. He tried to eat seed in the Manor but Cagney kept trying to kiss him. Not to mention Phineas trying to stop Cagney from kissing Thomas. At one point, Thomas was in the Manor alone, so I quickly locked him in to give him time to collect his thoughts & also to eat some seed in peace.
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After that episode, I tried letting Thomas, Cagney & Bezukhov out, but not Phineas. Phinny would go crazy in his cage watching Cagney flirt with Thomas.
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Another time, Cagney & Bezukhov were in the Ferplast with Thomas but when Thomas came out I locked both Cagney & Bezukhov in, once again, to give Thomas some breathing space.
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Like I say, it has all been rather complicated. There must be a formula for success that is already in existence. I need to do some research….
Happy birthday to the one & only Norman Bezukhov!
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We love you lots!
xxx
The Ferplast is a very nice cage. A good size & roomy; especially for just one bird, in this case, Thomas.
It is possible it is too nice as it has taken Thomas 3 weeks to leave it & venture into the big, wide world (lounge).
We have, of course, been trying to tempt Thomas to come out. Food was the obvious choice: millet and/or fresh seeded grass. Many times Thomas sat in the open doorway eating his treat. Many times Thomas sat on the open door itself, eating his treat, but still turned his back & retreated to the safety of the Ferplast.
It is possible he was intimidated by the others & in fact Cagney & Bezukhov were very quick to go in to visit Thomas rather than wait for him to come out. This meant a lot of the enticing was done whilst the others were locked up. I particularly wanted him to come out on his own as I feared the others would be too excited & chase him, making Thomas panic & possibly crash land somewhere & either hurt himself or put himself off of coming out again!
To see him finally choose to come out was a lovely moment.
He proved himself to be quite the thinker, taking his time before moving forward with his next step/jump/fly. He carefully climbed from his open doorway to the top of his cage. Then he jumped across to Phinny’s cage & slowly & cautiously made his way across. After some deliberation, he then made his final leap onto the Manor & greeted Cagney & Bezukhov.
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Fortunately, on this occasion, the blood spilt was mine! (Not fortunately for me of course, but I would rather “take the bullet” than any feathered kid.)
Phineas can sometimes get a bit over-excited & starts to bite. I am still seeking a cure for this, but in the meantime, when he is in biting mood, I try to remove my thumb from the equation.
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The wound was quite bad but to be fair to Phinny, there was probably a little broken skin already & he pounced on that & was able to do maximum damage. It would not stop bleeding so I resorted to putting a plaster on it which Phineas kept trying to pull off!
Yes, there has been another toe incident. Who was the victim? Phineas. Again.
Who was the perpetrator? The jury is still out on that one. All I can say is that Phinny runs around a lot on top of the ferplast & dangles his toes through the cage bars a lot. This must appear tempting to whoever is underneath. In this case, I suspect either Cagney or Thomas.
Though the wound looked quite red, Phinny recovered quickly & spent a little time afterwards cleaning it up himself.
(Click on photos to enlarge)
After all of the frenzied wing-flapping that I posted about earlier, I decided a cold shower was in order. I was very much tempted to throw a bucket of cold water over them all, but settled for a gentle spray with tepid water.
At the time, Cagney & Bezukhov were visiting Thomas in the ferplast. As far as I know, Thomas has never had a bath or misting so I was not sure how he would react. Phineas was prowling around on top of the cage.
I prepared the ferplast by removing one of the bottom trays & also removing a couple of toys with mirrors (they rust so easily). I sprayed over one side of the cage so any objectors could just move to the far side & stay dry. The objector on this occasion was Cagney. However, both Bezukhov & Thomas were happy to get wet. I noticed Thomas rubbing himself across the bars to soak up the water droplets. Hmm… this boy appears to like water & getting wet. A good sign.
Meanwhile, Phineas was running around on top of the cage, getting wet in the process.
(Click on photos to enlarge)
After their cold shower, I cleaned up the cage, returned the toys & watched Phineas, Bezukhov & Thomas dry off & get fluffy again.
Yet more wild, seeded grass has arrived. 🙂
This time it was from The Sausages.
We were most impressed with their packing & parcelling abilities but we do suspect that their human slave rosebudgie actually harvested the grass. It was very generous of the sausages to share their grass. For anyone who is not familiar with how sausages look, here are the handsome boyz, Ian & Marshall:
The Sausages
You can see more of da Boyz here, on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYLjBa5Qj1o
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Thank you for the yummy grass, Sausages!
Recent goings-on have reminded me of an episode of Frasier. Bear with me whilst I explain…
For those who are interested, it is The Ski Lodge, Season 5, Episode 14.
Summary: Roz wins a weekend at a ski lodge, and trades it to Frasier. So Frasier decides to take the whole family to the ski lodge including Daphne and her friend Annie, a swimsuit model. Once there, they meet Guy, a gay ski instructor, who has an eye for Niles. After dinner, and much butter rum, a bedroom farce ensues, where Frasier chases after Annie, who chases after Niles, who pursues Daphne, who has fallen for Guy, who obviously thinks Niles is gay.
The ultimate reveal is that no-one was after the right person, and no-one at all was after Frasier.
Frasier: Oh, wait, wait, wait! Wait, everybody! [everyone stops and
looks at him] Let me see if I've got this straight. All the
lust coursing through this lodge tonight, all the hormones
virtually ricocheting off the walls, and no one... was chasing
me?
~~~
Translate this to what has been going on here & we have something very, very similar:
Cagney chases Thomas who has an eye for Bezukhov. Bezukhov fancies Thomas. Thomas is keeping his options open & flirts with both Cagney & Bezukhov. Phineas has the hots for Cagney. Cagney & Bezukhov are mates & flirt with each other.
Phinny: Oh, wait, wait, wait! Wait, everybody! [everyone stops and
looks at him] Let me see if I've got this straight. All the
lust coursing through the Ferplast today, all the hormones
virtually ricocheting off the cage bars, toys and perches, and
no one... is chasing me?
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Puddings & Toyboys 
