Floor full of water

In amongst the miserable wet & windy weather we have had, there have been sunny moments.  When the sun is shining for a few hours, the room gets nice & warm.  It is a good opportunity to get the spray bottle out & give the boys a misting.

The last couple of times they have had a misting with celery leaves.  As Thomas has not been well, he declined one of the invitations to frolic in the leaves & stayed in the cage, but the other three all took advantage of the offer.

Yesterday, there was another opportunity for them all to have a misting. Cagney was first down to the landing platform & investigate the celery.  This inspired Thomas & he dived into the leaves & got thoroughly wet.  There was no room for the others so they had to temporarily take a back seat.

Thomas sitting this one out

Bedraggled Thomas

Thanks for leading the way, Cagney

Once Thomas had finished, Cagney took over & did the best he could with Phineas barring his way at every turn.

A fluffy & dry Cagney

Cagney preening

A wet Cagney

Bezukhov was desperate for a frolic in the leaves & had intermittent goes, before being put off by the others.

Bezukhov preening

I dry off very quickly!

Handsome Bezukhov

Phineas was the last to have a frolic.  He had got a little wet accompanying Cagney but that was not a proper wash so when Cagney was busy preening, he spent some quality time with the celery & the spray bottle.

Handsome Phineas

A wet Phineas

Phineas sorting out head feathers

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After all of that spraying, I was almost knee deep in water myself!

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Flapping about & getting wet

During the recent hot weather I gave Atilla & the toyboys a few mistings to cool them down.  Atilla will only turn down a misting if the water temperature is not quite to her liking.  The boys are more unpredictable.  Sometimes they join in & have a roll about in whatever leaves there are but other times they will get a single drop of water on them & start preening excessively like they have actually got wet.

I love to watch Atilla flapping about under the water & prancing about in the leaves.  It is difficult to film as I am spraying the water with one hand & have the camera in the other hand.  It is worth the effort though.  Here is Atilla having a flap & getting thoroughly drenched….

Afterwards:

I got wet!

Atilla resting after misting with Bezukhov watching

Bezukhov still checking on Atilla

Bezukhov still making sure Atilla is ok

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

Soggy Cagney

Because of Atilla’s & the Toyboys’ recent moult, I made sure I gave them mistings & this was usually with dill or celery leaves.  Atilla was worst hit by the moult & only refused a misting once & that was without even testing the water temperature (she would normally refuse if the water was a degree or two too cold).

The toyboys have been enjoying the mistings recently, especially Cagney.  He rubs his belly along the leaves & spreads his wings out & makes sure he gets thoroughly wet.  Bezukhov likes to dance in the wet leaves but then he has always liked the feel of food under his feet.