Birds
Through the years, several birds have found their way into the family. The first was Napoleon. A mexican white foreheaded parrot. He's very moody and demanding when it comes to his food. He likes his breakfast early and fresh. In the morning he eats mostly fruit, and it depends on what is fresh and available at the market. He loves apples, guavas, fresh corn, grapes, and bananas. For lunch he eats a bit of everything: pasta, rice, some hamburger, cooked chicken bones, boiled eggs, tortillas... anything. Then, at 6 pm, it's time to go to bed and he starts yelling like a mad man to get his dinner (seeds like sunflower, peanuts, nuts, etc) and get his cage inside to get covered and go to sleep. e doves. Chicken came to my life as a surprise. I was at work and I was already known as the "animal lady" (I think that when I lead the entire sales crew out of the building to prevent a little deer baby from being taken by construction workers to end up in their dinner plates gave them that idea). So in February 2004 there was a huge storm, and the following morning, the gardner gave one of the people at the sales department this little white winged dove chick, that he had found on the grass, all wet and cold, to be given to me. I immediatly put it under my shirt to keep it warm (BIG mistake, doves poop all day long!) and started searching the net about food. On my lunch break I sent someone out to buy bird seeds and started trying to figure out how to get them seeds in that beek... lots of work, but I finally managed! Within one week everyone at the sales department asked me if I was getting him ready to be stuffed at Thanks Giving because of how big he was getting! Chicken is still with me, and is MY dove. I tried to release him 4 times, and he always flew back to my head and started to fluff my hair, and lay to sleep on my head, as he used to do when he was a baby. Chicken still demands that every day I go to him and we cuddle. He's a darling and very sweet and gentle. He's not afraid of people or dogs, so I'm glad he chose to stay. Through the years I've raised about a dozen other doves. Since Chicken came to the house, his coo has attracted more doves, and they have nested here, and some of the chicks have fallen off the nests. Some have left, others I've kept (the ones that were not afraid of people or dogs), and some of the ones that have left have even returned with their chicks, and I've raised a couple of those, that fell off their nests too. The parakeets: Pericles and Aspacia. Oh... what the heck! That's just what was missing. More birds. And just when I thought I was done with my feather family, a new permanent addition came to the house: Chon, the pigeon. I was about to get my car in the garage when I saw Chon on the driveway. He didn't move. Darn! Another one!- I thought. This is the third injured pigeon that comes to the house. The first, Pancha, I found next to our statue of St. Fancis (that's why I called her Pancha, that's what we call the Francisca's here in Mexico). She was badly injured. A cat got her and she had a thread around her feet and she had a very bad infection. I took her in so she would not die in the sun all hot. An hour later, she wasn't dead. 3 hours later, she wasn't dead. Oh, poop! Now I had a half dead pigeon in my hands... great! She stunk of infection, BAD! So I gave her some water and she drank. DARN... she is not dying for sure now. I didn't know what to do and I knew the vet would not do a thing for her... maybe wring her neck if anything... so I waited to see if she made it til the next day... she did. She had eaten by then and my sister helped me wash her wounds. We got into a large trash bag that we used as "scrubs" and we wore huge plastic gloves and we covered our hair. It was the most disgusting thing I've ever done. Pus EVERYWHERE! Under the wings, on the breast, on the feet... she wasn't a bird, she was a feathered pus bag! So, disinfecting baths 3 times a day, followed by antibiotic ointment, lots of nutritious food, and 2 weeks later, Pancha was flapping her wings ready to go. Off she went after one more week of good nourishment and excercise to get her strong. We still see her every now and then as she rests in a building in front of the house at nights. Pancho, the second pigeon wasn't as badly injured, but he too magically appeared by the St. Francis statue. He took only a week to recover and want to fly off. But Chon is different. It's been a month and his broken wing is still not working. I'm afraid it never will. So I made him a new permanent home and he is very happy, eating well, and getting perkier every day. He's also getting friendlier, as now he will let me pet him and he won't get into panic mode when I start cleaning his cage. He's getting a bit territorial too. Since he can't fly at all I made him a ramp and put a board so he has a place to go up to and he can move about more. He loved it! I just joined a forum: They have been very helpful with tips and it's a good community. If you're into birds you might want to try it. All kinds of birds, not just pigeons, parrots, doves or parakeets. I'm getting very good advice and tips there on food, vitamins and health care of the birds. |