A blog about my beautiful budgies.
It was not that long ago (December/January) when Dalai had a problem with uneven wings, due to moulting out some flight feathers. Less than two months later he is going through another moult which has been going on for several weeks. He only needs to have a shake & feathers fall off him. Now he has pin feathers on his head. He has been quite grumpy.
So, how have Perry & Lennie integrated with the existing flock of Bezukhov & Dalai?
The first few weeks of them being out was fraught with tension!
The two camps
They were very much in two separate camps, two tribes. The key problem was, I think, that they just did not seem to ‘talk’ to each other. Every so often, Bezukhov would attempt to communicate with Perry & Lennie through the bars but they would just jump up to the bars & stare at him. Being sensitive this would unnerve him so he would retreat to gather his confidence again. When out, if they approached Bezukhov they would just look at him (again, no chat) & he would not know how to deal with that, so off he would fly. However, they would fly after him, which made him feel like he was being chased, which upset him!
Dalai wanted nothing to do with them. He could be quite ‘jabby’ with his beak & it is fortunate the new boys are quick to get out of his way, otherwise there may have been injuries!
Lennie watching Dalai & Bezukhov
To try & lessen the tension I would try different combinations of who was out, but because of Dalai being quite snarly, he was usually locked in, often with a cover over the cage to protect any dangling toes!
Dalai confirmed that he is very capable of looking after himself. I had seen him peck at Perry/Lennie in the face if they came too close & jump at them & knock them off the perch. One time, on the landing platform, he pulled on Perry’s tail so that Perry was gradually sliding back towards Dalai, no doubt to get a thump, but fortunately I distracted Dalai before any actual harm was done.
In contrast, Bezukhov avoids confrontation. He is certainly capable of standing up for himself (see this post) but it really is a last resort.
So, both tribes were/are very different. To be fair to Dalai, he may have been a little under the weather due to moulting. Both he & Bezukhov may have been intimidated by how fast & quick the blue newbies are. On the other side, Perry & Lennie are two young boys, very enthusiastic & wanting to chew, touch & investigate everything! They have not helped matters by flying directly at someone, including me – there have been several occasion when I got a face full of feathers & claws! They seemed to have difficulty landing on a perch beside Bezukhov or Dalai & not on top of them. These actions were not endearing them to their elders!
Newbies watching Dalai & Bezukhov in the Villa
Even after about 3 weeks of trying to get them together, there still did not appear to be any common ground.
If Bezukhov was in the Villa & Dalai in the manor when the newbies came out, Dalai would try to get to the villa to be with Bezukhov. This would look like a game of Bulldogs, where Dalai would attempt to get past Perry & Lennie without them touching him. The newbies would usually be on the landing platform facing Dalai in the manor. He would make a run for it & I would be ready to close the door behind him when he got inside the villa. It could take up to 4 or 5 attempts before he was successful.
Dalai even went though a phase of having a tantrum each morning, that I am convinced was directed at the newbies. I am sure he was saying, “Jeez, are you two STILL here?“.
Above was a video of Dalai having a morning tantrum. Below is a video of Perry & Lennie spending time in the Villa whilst Bezukhov & Dalai were locked in the Manor:
As previously posted, Perry & Lennie had found the way to come out. Over the following days I noticed they had some difficulty in using the small doorway of the quarantine cage. That particular cage has doors that slide upwards. Being a hoarder (!) I remembered I kept the little doors from the old Ferplast. I used one of these to fashion a small landing platform. I prized open the hooks enough to slide through the bars & used a rope perch to balance it on, held firm with some paper rope. It seemed to work well…..
Interestingly, if Perry came out without Lennie noticing (he may have been chewing on a toy or something), then Lennie seemed to not know how to then come out. After this happened a few times, I noticed that when on the threshold of the doorway, Perry would wait until Lennie was paying attention, & then fly out, knowing that Lennie would follow him. Smart or what?
Some time ago, I posted that I had made the inner pillow for Cagney’s remains (click here for that post). I am pleased to say that I have finally completed the outer sleeve. I am not sure why it took so long but I do know that I dithered over which pictures to use of him. As with the others, I have incorporated some soft velvet, in the form of a little star. He sits with Atilla, Raspy, Thomas & Phineas (outer cover to do), in all his glorious colour.
~
I like to think of them all together over by rainbow bridge.
Sperry Perry & Lennie Dennie are the latest members of the Salt Lick Fan Club:
Has it really only been one year since Dalai joined us?
Dalai came into our home on the 14th March 2016. He was, we believe, around 5 months old at the time, putting his birthday (or hatchday) at sometime in October. As we do not know the exact date that he came into this world, we celebrate the date he came into our lives.
I feel like Dalai has been here for much longer than one year. I guess it is partly because there have been so many changes. Dalai is independent & strong-minded & has coped with all that has happened, from initially being a newbie himself, losing his friend Phineas, dealing with Bezukhov when he was sick, & now having two new blue boys on the block.
Dalai
Happy adoption-day, darling Dalai.
We love you lots!
♥♥♥
Just like last year, this January we had some snow. It was not much & what there was melted quickly. It was Perry & Lennie’s first experience of snow & they went over to the window perches to investigate, as did Bezukhov.
If this isn’t an evil stink eye, I don’t know what is…..
Dalai giving Perry the evil stink eye
At long last, Perry & Lennie were out of their quarantine cage (see previous post)! I say ‘at long last’ but of course from when their little door was opened, it only took them a few days to venture out, unlike Dalai & Thomas who took weeks to pluck up the courage to go through the open door.
Perry & Lennie had no trouble with flying. It is always gratifying to see a budgie, who has been confined, able to stretch their wings & have a good fly & zoom around the room. The blue newbies typically found the highest points to land, such as the curtain rail & the string lights across the window. They also landed on the manor – the first encounter between all four of them without bars between them. It was a bit tense to say the least.
Dalai was clearly uncomfortable & lunged at Perry when he got too close. Bezukhov ran away from Perry. To settle my nerves, I locked Bezukhov & Dalai in the manor as soon as I could. This way, Perry & Lennie could concentrate on getting to know their wider surroundings without causing upset.
About a week after I moved the blue newbies next to the Silver Villa (click here to read that post), I started opening their door for them to come out. To entice them, I tied raffia around the door opening for them to chew on. At times they would come tantalisingly close to the open door:
On the 23rd December 2016, Perry was the first to venture out:
Then he was off, followed closely by Lennie:
That is always the nerve-wracking part, especially when you know they have not previously had an opportunity for a proper fly. They did quite a few laps of the room before landing on the manor, where Bezukhov & Dalai were. That was the cue for more holding of breath. What happened next is in the next post….
Sweetpea pet memorials are beautifully crafted pouches to hold your beloved pet’s ashes.
Click below image to visit website.
Puddings & Toyboys 