Current mood:	chipper
Current music:	mood in honor of my first budgie

hi, I'm new!
My name is Diana and I had to cover my birds for the night because they have been fighting all day, so it's bedtime for them!

I've had a total of 6 parakeets since 1994, and 3 of them have passed since then.


Of the three that have passed, Periwinkle we believe caught a chill on Halloween (despite the fact we moved the cage away from the door). He was an odd bird who became overweight to the point there he couldn't fly, and would not use the cuttlebone, so his beak grew incredibly long and began to poke him in the chest. He did last a good 5 years though, and being that we don't know how old he was when we got him, it could have just been his time anyway.

Chipper, our first-(Periwinkle being our second), was such an amazing bird! He was hand-trained and super friendly. He would come over to anyone who said hello, loved to take showers in the sink, and would often eat cereal with my brother (he would perch at the end of the bowl and peck at a corn flake while my brother ate). We were all rather surprised when one day he thought it would be a good idea to BATHE in the milk as well, and jumped right in! He also liked Chips and cheese doodles, and recognized the sound of a rustling bag. Upon hearing the rustling, he would immediately head in the direction of the sound and hover over the bag until you gave him a bite... I miss the little guy. We had him about 8 years when he passed. It was the most heart breaking thing, he lasted a whole week with what the vet guessed was pneumonia. His tiny breaths sounded congested and watery. The vet told us there wasn't much we could do, and we watched for the hole week as he just stood there hunched and shivering...

Austin was found one chilly spring morning in 2000 in our back yard. I had already left for school, and my mom was about to leave for work when she noticed something bright green and yellow in the middle of the driveway. I came home that day, with a new friend of my own, and felt like an idiot when I introduced my other two birds, but had no clue who the other one was! My mom told me he was eating dirt when she went out to get him, and was so exhausted he couldn't even fly away when she approached. She put him in a spare cage we had, gave him food and water, and he promptly took a bath and went to sleep! (Austin was our 5th bird) We had him a good two years when early one morning he didn't look so good, and he went out quick and peacefully before noon that same day.

Now for the three brats I still live with!
Star:

We got Star was Periwinkle's replacement so Chipper, who was still alive, wouldn't get lonely. She was our first female. She has been the boss of the cage since then. She has a slight fungus on her cere, which the doc gave us medicine for. it went away but we think it's coming back again. She is my favorite right now. We've had her since... 98 I believe so she's already kinda old, or getting there. She has a habit of landing on heads when you take her out. She'll hop right on top! Her name is Star for a reason you can't see, but there is a white star-shaped patch on the back of her head.

Houdini is so funny!

When Chipper died, we didn't want Star to get lonely so he was our 4th. He got his name because, when we first got him, we wanted to keep him in a separate cage at first, in case either of them were sick, or wouldn't get along. We put the cages near each other though so they could still see each other and get acquainted. Well, my mom was ironing right by them, and she left to get more water for the iron. As she left, she checked on both of them. She was gone for not more than 30 seconds when she came back, checked on them again, and Houdini was gone! We looked everywhere until we spotted him right on top of Star's cage. We also figured out he must have squeezed through a tiny space where the bars were spread a bit more far apart than the rest. To this day it still amazes us though, because the space was barely noticeable! So because of this he has been named after the great escape artist! Houdini has been a subordinate in the parakeet heirarchy since he entered the household, poor little guy... We got him in 1999. While Star is short and round, Houdini is tall and skinny

And finally, Stumpy:

We never really gave her a real name. My neighbor also has parakeets, and one of them laid and egg, and it hatched! While Al, our neighbor, had no intention of breeding the birds, it happened anyway. While caring for the baby, he gave it a bed of cotton. Bad idea. the gotton got wet and stuck to the baby's barely feathered body. He's not 100% sure, but as he pulled the cotton off the baby, he believes he ripped it's foot off, because he started to see blood, but didn't figure out where it was coming from until later, when he saw the baby missing a foot! It got a little infected and turned black, but he used a q-tip to put triple anti-biotic ointment on the leg, and it healed beautifully! Before Stumpy even matured enough to determine its sex, he gave it to us. After a few months the cere turned brown (female, making her our second girl out of 6.) We've had her for less than a year, and pity her not, because she came in and immediately battled Star for the dominant position. She gets around the cage better than the two not maimed. There is still plenty of rivalry between the girls and they squabble all the time. All I know is, they also love to pick on Houdini, he is bottom rank. Men can be such wimps!