MissK's Photos

[MissK]

Here are some of those photos I said I would get around to. Let me know if I forgot something.
Those of you who thought I would never post photos....well, I know who you are!


So that you know who you're looking at, meet the Family:
Rocky is the green Indian Ringneck, a boy, not quite 12 years old.
Riff Raff is Budgie #1, rather a periwinkle blue/grey, with greywing mutation, a girl, one year old.
Dr. Scott is Budgie #2, possibly a dilute greywing in the green series, a boy, not quite one year old.
Magenta is Budgie #3, an albino, maybe 5 months old. EDIT: As of April 2014, Magenta is confirmed a boy.
Frankie is Budgie #4, a type 2 yellowface, I think, maybe 5 months old. EDIT: As of April 2014, Frankie is confirmed a boy.
EDIT: Janet is Budgie #5, a typical bright blue, adult female of unknown age, comes with us in April 2014.
Remendado is an old yellow Hartz type Canary, a boy, quite a few years old by now.
Sunshine is a multicoloured "green" American Singer Canary, a boy, several years old, belonging to my Mother. He stays with us from time to time.
EDIT: Lynnie (until further notice) is an olive mutation Lineolated Parakeet, suspected to be male, probably almost 3 years old, come with us in May 2014. Lynnie is afraid of the camera, so may be some time till we get a decent photo.
And who could forget Rocky's pal, MR. FROGGIE!? Sorry Mr. Froggie is out of focus; I think he was drinking....

There may also be a photo of some old mutts that wandered into my house when I wasn't looking......


Rocky

[/url
Budgies: Dr. Scott, Magenta, Frankie, Riff Raff

][URL=http://s1302.photobucket.com/user/RubyA ... 1.jpg.html]
Remendado


Sunshine


Lynnie


Mr. Froggie


The Girls

[MissK]

These are the parrot cages. Scroll right for the entire photo. Note that while these cages have a divider, it is not used.
EDIT: When the Budgies got feisty in the Spring, I did put in the divider to split the boys from the girls. Don't want babies! As of May 2014 I have three boys on one side and two girls on the other side. I'm sad they have to be split into smaller accommodations, but it beats reproduction.

[AlphaWolf]

MissK, Yay I finally know how rocky looks like. What a lovely flock you have there! Your canary reminds me so much of my old mango (first bird and love ) Give a treat to Rocky for me

[AlphaWolf]

Oh my now you made me green with envy! :runs away to beat the wall with forehead:

[MissK]

Not too late to buy that flight cage.....

[Donovan]

one bird is so much work for me...
feeding, training, cleaning up after, spending time with, etc..

i can't imagine having multiples.... although I have suspected that a second bird would help keep bird #1 company and actually put less demand on me.

[MissK]

Can anybody spot the upside-down Ringneck?
How about half an Albino?

[MissK]

I found that having matching cages side by side made cleanup so much easier. I just pulled the divider in the Budgie cage, since two of them just came here recently and they were in the getting-acquainted phase, so it had been like three cages in line. All the seed dishes are in the same spot inside three doors there, and all the Budgie waters are in the same spot around different doors.

The Canaries are in the next room, since it turns out they don't want to live with parrots. Their cages aren't hard, but they are not as easy as those flight cages.

I have papers cut to size and stacked in a basket on the floor. It makes changing them kind of grab-and-go, assembly line. Very sweet.

[InTheAir]

I love your family photos! Those cages look great. So does the floor, is that because those dogs clean up under the bird cages?

[MissK]

Could beeeeeeeee!

[MissK]

My cages came with these somewhat mediocre seed dishes. I use stainless steel coop cups instead, so these were just lying around until today. We had a lovely snow, first real snow of the year. I discovered I could raise the window screen and hook these dishes onto part of the outside of the frame.

[MissK]

Some (long) time ago I drilled some plexiglass and mounted it on the back of some of my cages to keep the wall clean(er). There was a request for a photo. Here it is. In one view I'm holding it away from the cage to make it obvious how it goes on. The other shows how I backed out the screw that holds the cage together and used it to also hold on the plexiglass. Sneaky!

Interested parties please note that material was quick to crack, so if you drill, be careful. I used a hacksaw blade and a potholder to cut it to size. I strongly recommend using appropriate tools instead.

[MissK]

Here are some random things I built for birds......

This is simply beads on jute. He plays with it on the perch until he tosses it down and plays with it on the floor. To the right, twigs on jute.


That is a wooden tube with holes in it from the rodent section. I hung it and tied beads on it. It's been mostly de-beaded at this point. Also some leather square I cut for interest.


Here is the stick thing. It has wood bits threaded on it and a bead on the end. It hangs. The wood bits can twirl or slide. On the right is some octopus style bead thing. I do a lot of those. Beside that is an oatmeal canister with a homemade cargo net inside. It took him a long time to warm up to that and he mostly only wants to chew it. If you see the vertical cord in the center of the picture and follow it down to the bottom, that is his long swing perch.


Here is a right to left inside view of Rocky's cage. At the far end is the shower curtain ring, ah, curtain. Note the ladder of short perches to the right, the home-grown grape vines, and the seashells. He loves those.


Here is a left to right view inside the same cage.


This last one is actually in the Budgie cage, but it's a common theme for me.

[Kimma]

I knew you'd do the photos one day

I did make my shower curtain ring net the same as you, so your written instructions were perfect. Unfortunately Crash stuck his head through one of them almost immediately and seemed like he was stuck. I don't know if he really was stuck, but I took it out anyway. The shower curtain rings I have are smaller than yours, so I can see how yours would be better. I've never seen the type you use before - they must be an american thing.

[MissK]

Aw, that's too bad! These are the cheapest rings, big and ugly, but at least they're nice for Rocky.

[ranechild]

I don't know why I sometimes can't see photos... in this case I can't see any of yours. hmm.

[MissK]

Hmm! This is a lucky spot, since you've seen it all in person, but this is a problem that needs resolution!

I hosted my photos on Photobucket. Could the source have anything to do with it?

[Doodlebug]

Lovely to see your Purdy flock and bootiful dogs in glorious techno colour MissK.

Their housing situation and playthings are cool

[ranechild]

That's it MissK... Photobucket is blocked at work
But yes, I can say with all certainty that Rocky and the Budgies and the Canary and the Dogs are all very lucky to have MissK!!!

[MissK]

Thank you!

I think *I'M* the lucky one.

[electronegative]

I remember you saying Rocky was... either a rescue or just an older rehomed bird? Do you have any idea how old he is now?

[MissK]

Assuming his neck ring started to appear between 1 and 2 years of age, Rocky will be 12 on his next Birthday, which I assume is in the first few months of the year. I was fortunate in that the granddaughter of the "original" owner knew how old she was when the bird came, and was able to describe how the neck ring was just starting at that time and how she saw it develop. I say "original" owner in quotes because the man bought the bird from a "bird farm" in Pennsylvania, but the leg band says Utah.

He is an "older rehomed bird." His situation, while far from ideal, was also far from the abuse people associate with "rescue" birds. The worst thing I can say about his previous treatment is that his cage was far too small and with only one perch and one toy (which he didn't use), he ate only seed except for the occasional tiny bit of pear, and he was not let out of the cage for years. The family bore him no ill will, taught him to say his name, and used to let him out before the "original" owner died, several years prior. They did the right thing in offering him for sale so that he could find a more involved owner.

[electronegative]

I love that parrots can live so long, if you take care of them properly.

Do you know how likely it is that the leg band has an incorrect year on it? Peaches' says 96, but the previous owner said she bought the bird two years ago as a "baby," and described how she grew a bit bigger and her eyes were all black until several months later the whites started showing. I thought it might be a breeder ID number or something, but didn't find any info on that.

[MissK]

Peaches' leg band might misrepresent the year of hatch, or that could be some other number unrelated to the year. The information on the band will be whatever the person who ordered the band wanted it to say. If you search leg band here you may find a post that discloses various info you might find on the band. Rocky's band hasn't got a year - I wish it did.

I used to have a Canary with a wrong year on his band, stating he was a year older than he was. In this case, I was in contact with the breeder a year before he was born so I know it was the wrong year. I suspect that if a breeder has an excess of one year and an insufficiency (or slight need) to buy a fresh year's band, they may just use an old one. The sequential numbering would still work, and they might disregard the year since their own records would indicate the accurate information.

This is just my theory. For instance, if I had two pairs of purple headed punch parrots and they each produced 5 young per year, my minimum order of 100 leg bands would last me a decade. The name and figure are just illustrative here. Of course, I hope *I* would be smart enough to not order a year on my bands.

[electronegative]

Yeah, I did search for leg band but didn't find anything useful specifically for what's printed on hers. I'm glad she was not born in '96 though! Perhaps I'll need to try to find what pet shop she came from and call them...

There's pretty much no way to tell how old an IRN is once it's fully grown, right?

[MissK]

Maybe you can make a new thread and post the information on the band so we can all take a shot at it.

I'm going to have to be scarce here for a little while. My wireless keyboard is crapping out and I have so much to do with the approaching holiday, a keyboard is going to be last priority!

[electronegative]

I'll do that, thanks.

I fell asleep with Peaches sitting on my pillow yesterday and she chewed through my phone charger cord. Rude!

Happy holidays, MissK!

[Little Buttercup]

Awwwwwwww........MissK, finally get to see all those awesome pics!! And lovely cages too! I could spot the upside down ringneck, but could'nt spot a missk, was looking everywhere. I thought i'll find missk in one of those photos

Ash

[MissK]

Hahaha! She's on the other side of the camera.

[Greenpitbul1113]

Rocky is handsome and is like wearing his smokin in this first photo. I admire the order of the cages and surely it seems that you have spent long hours in creating these beautiful ornaments inside the cages. The budgies can coexist with Rocky at the same cage?

[MissK]

Thank you.

If you look closely, you can see this is actually two identical cages placed end-to-end. They have some perches so they can all be close, but two cage walls separate the Budgies from the Ringneck. It must be so for safety.

[warbuckle]

Beautiful pics, hard to believe someone has almost as many birds as the wife n I...........lol

regards

Will

[MissK]

Thank you.

Heh. I think you'll find a few here with more birds! But, as I like to tell my friends, *MOST* of them are smaller than your hand.

[MissK]

I've been on a little vacation here at the zoo I call home, and was able to get a few things done, like hauling out the ole camera again. With the understanding that my camera is fairly old, I thought one or two of the photos I got were stunning. Could be it's my bird that's stunning, or maybe I'm just a little stunned, myself. Regardless, here are Rocky's "glossy 8x10's".....

[MissK]

Here's another shot that shows his tree and one showing how gravity need not apply. I'm hoping to expand that little tub of plants into a long window box.

[Mitchan]

Gorgeous bird and nice cages! Looks like a very fun tree too

[MissK]

Thanks. I'm really happy with the way it's good for him to go branch-to-branch without returning to the main trunk. It's amazing how far he can stretch sometimes.

[Little Buttercup]

Awwww..... Rocky really likes that tree. And I love your cages.

What type plants you have there in that little tub?

Ash

[MissK]

Ash, there is a little Dracaena of some sort, itsy bitsy Ponytail Palms, African Violet, and Sansevieria. I believe they are all fine for nibbling, though I don't encourage it. There are some Spider Plants in the bathroom that are planning to emigrate one day as well. For what it's worth, I have a bag of organic potting soil (!!remarkable...) hanging around for the day I'm inspired to plant them up.

[IRNYoshi]

I love the first picture! Rocky is same color as YOSHI.
Wow! Is nice to see your pets. I can tell the dogs are well behaved.

[MissK]

Thanks. Yoshi must be gorgeous. Don't let those mutts fool you! Like the little girl with the curl, they are sometimes very, very good, and sometimes very, very naughty. Almost always good, though, and certainly always sweet. Very spoiled. You probably could have guessed.

[MissK]

I rearranged the cages over the past week. Things were getting pretty cluttered in there. This is the current configuration. To follow the plants, check my houseplants thread.
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... =3&t=16897

[AJPeter]

Reminds me of the reptile house in London Zoo, all those stick insects/

[ellieelectrons]

Loving the tree gym MissK.

Ellie.

[MissK]

Thanks!
That play tree has all my favourite play tree features -- Free, Easy, Not In The Way! Being the nature girl I am, I think it's beautiful, too!
Rocky learned some new ways of parrot locomotion on that tree.

[MissK]

I added a photo of the new bird, Lynnie the Lineolated Parakeet, to the first post. Here is another photo of Lynnie and a shot of the cage that until yesterday was Rocky's spare cage. Rocky will have to make do with the sleep cage when he travels to the kitchen and laundry room, etc, now. Lynnie needs it more. Note that Lynnie has a nice Parlor Palm plant. S/he does show some inclination to nibble it, so we'll just have to see how long it lasts. I hope to put up more photos of this little sweetness as s/he gets more comfortable with me and my camera.

[Donovan]

that cage is very familiar... in fact mr bell lives in that same cage... albeit a different setup, but hey.. great cage.. he likes it too.. he doesn't argue about having to go into it at night..

the cage has a nice design.. i like the doors and the dimensions, etc. and it's really easy to clean. (at least in my case)

but putting it together it proved to barely hold together... like.. a good bump and it might collapse... mine is held together at the seams by zip ties because I didn't really have much faith in the cage to stay perfectly together.

[MissK]

Ditto. I remember us talking about this cage. I really like it, since I also used zip ties. I particularly like the depth since it gives me room to put that plant in there without using up all the floor.

[Donovan]

I came up with zip ties on my own.. apparently you did to and so many others must also have come up with this.. maybe zip ties should just come with the hardware for that cage.

You ever find yourself shoulder deep in that cage trying to hang up a toy or fix a perch?

[MissK]

Yeah, it's a challenge to get stuff at the back since my bolt on perches have to be touched inside and outside the cage at the same time! I use a lot of twine.