Milestone Aviary

21/07/2024

21/07/2024

Jakob hanging out in a tree on her first few release days and she is definitely contemplating if she should come down to me or not. I would keep Charlie her bonded quaker friend caged close by as it was clear to me Jakob, who used to be caged alone in her previous home, didn't want to lose Charlie.

20/07/2024

I don't chop their fruit and vegetables into tiny pieces like a lot of people. I figure wild birds don't get their food chopped up into minuscule pieces and they seem to enjoy biting into apples and throwing strawberry everywhere. They paint the walls with strawberries inside and the mess looks like a bloody crime scene every time. I LOVE IT!

20/07/2024

I think it's important to take your birds into the sunshine regularly and to walk around the block with them in carriers so they get to know their surrounding incase any mishaps and they want to come home. I used to allow Jakob and charlie to fly outside when they were mine. But I cheated and bypassed training. Instead I only allow one out at a time because I know they won't wonder far from eachother. I admit I think that's a pretty fuct up method but it worked for the while I had them. I feared if I let them both out they'd lead eachother astray and get lost. So I'd release one and keep the other as hostage. I'd like to learn how to recall train.

20/07/2024

It's good to have an outdoor cage to give your birds the sun they need and also to get to know their surroundings so they can find their way home if ever a mishap.

20/07/2024

Some of the birds I've had the pleasure if living with.

20/07/2024

Excuse my annoying voice. I can't control it.

20/07/2024

This was called a rat cage at Pet Stock. It made for a good travel cage when we had to flee.

20/07/2024

It's not very clear to see but here are a few cage revamps I've done over time. There's a nack to setting up bird cages. My unsolicited advice Is to add the top perches first and guage where they will perch and where their s**ts gonna land and where ever you think that is do not crowd that area underneath with toys or perches. Scatter them around. Be strategic and think "where they sit they s**t."
I also recomend you clean your birds cage at the end of every day and put any uneaten food into storage containers, this will prevent you from getting a mouse or rat problem.

20/07/2024

(The cage Charlie is in is a travel cage for weekend stays at places not her home.)

Here's an example of the ruckus a quaker parrot will bring into your home. Charlie isn't often loud but when she is I hoped for patient neighbours.
"Hoped" past tense.

20/07/2024

Always a staple in the bathroom. They want to go everywhere with you so if you're thinking about adopting little flying animals be prepared to put in a lot of your time attention and affection.

20/07/2024

Four poster beds make for excellent bird stands.

20/07/2024

Friday nights get a bit rowdy on Jeremie's Tavern dance floor. They are very rarely this Loud.

20/07/2024

I do not recommend ever allowing your bird to a deep container of water like this unattended. What went on here was I had to hold a couple of fish in there for a few hours and it had a lid on bit Jayde was really determined to get that lid off and go in so I thought, I'm here, I'm watching, if it goes bad I've got her. She was badgering me to take the lid off. They never cease to amaze me with how well they communicate what they want from me and I accommodate wherever I possibly can.

20/07/2024

Two 3 month old baby green cheek conures learning their way around the log. I think it's obvious they're hesitant and wary. I hadn't had them long.

Some unsolicited Bird Keeping tips

Cheap plastic kitty litter trays retail about $6 from the reject shop or other stores alike and I believe They are the best sized baths and forage trays for small/medium birds like conures and quakers. Probably a bit big for cockateils and budgies, plant pot saucers are good for them 😘
Changing up play areas around the home
helps keep my birds in good spirits. Sometimes I set up a big play station on the dining room table as you can see here but only like once a week as I lived in a share house and respect other peoples space. So most of the time we spent in my room where my 4 poster bed worked as a great bird stand that I decked out with ladders logs and climbing equipment and I'd just put a drop sheet over my bed to catch any s**t from the birds that weren't toilet trained yet. I rarely cage my birds. I'm lucky to be away from the home for 6 hours a week so they're only caged for approx 6 hours a week. I understand not everyone has that time for their birds and honestly I'm glad, i dont wish whats lead me to this life on anybody.. So I hope you can be ok with some of my unorthodox ways.
If you read this fair thank you. I appreciate you.

20/07/2024

I got this basket from big w in the home goods section. It's a great forage tunnel
I think it was about $10

20/07/2024

This tent from Wish is a winner. I think it's advertised for rats. Also available on Amazon

20/07/2024

Some unsolicited Bird Keeping tips

Cheap plastic kitty litter trays retail about $6 from the reject shop or other stores alike and I believe They are the best sized baths for small/medium birds like conures and quakers. Probably a bit big for cockateils and budgies, plant pot saucers are good for them 😘
Changing up play areas around the home
helps keep my birds in good spirits. Sometimes I set up a big play station on the dining room table as you can see here but only like once a week as I live in a share house. When I get my own place that'll be every day. But my point is it doesn't have to be everyday that you allow your birds to take over your dining table. It's a lot of mess to clean up after they've rampaged through and had their fun. I think birds are one of the messiest companions.

20/07/2024

Some unsolicited Bird Keeping Advice

Cheap plastic kitty litter trays from the reject shop retail at about $6 and, in my opinion the best sized baths for small/medium parrots. Conures and quakers. Probably too big for cockateils and budgies but for them I'd use a shallow pot plant saucer. A large one they can really get into. You'll never tire of seeing them having fun. I promise.

10/07/2023

Playing good night games with Charlie....

25/06/2023

Charlie's facial expression when coming in for a landing compared to when she's just chilling..

25/06/2023

Charlie... 2 and a half years...

22/06/2023

Cage free Charlie...

14/05/2023

I'm not fat. I'm fluffy.
Charlie the Quaker parrot

06/05/2023

New tent arrived from Wish and it's a winner

06/05/2023

Charlie, escaping freedom...
Birds gone so wrong it's right

28/04/2023

Hi, my name is Tash & This is long-winded
but hopefully some will read it.
Thank you
I'm wondering if there are any people in this group who may have disibilities that their green cheek conures help them with? I have 2 rehabilitation green cheeks that were caged crazed in solitude for years and I thought I was helping them but no. I don't have a clue what I'm doing bit their happy so im doing ok... first is Jayde, a 4 year old Turquoise Female who was hand raised then left caged in a laundry alone for 2 years, she became extremely timid, still has high anxiety and I've been rehabilitating her for about a year. But we're getting along In that time I've have 3 episodes of deep grief each months apart and the first of these 3 episodes I was actually praying for comforting as I couldn't calm myself & I am a half assed prayer, im not saying it was divine intervention by a god bit certainly by a birds spirit YES... look... im a dog person, all my life, dogs and i only knew comfort from them since i was a child, but for the first time in my 40 years alive, i had no dog and I don't look for comfort from people. I struggle woth communication so most the time im alone. Anyway, i was in my room laying down and I swear the bird FELT THIS THROUGH SEVERAL WALLS. she was caged in the living area other end of the house and she just started screaming, unusual for her & hadnt had her long so, I went to check and she wanted to be with me, thats still rare, she wasn't mucking around this day, not like usual, still I wasn't sure if she picked up on my grief at that time but I hoped so because that very terrified bird suddenly asking to comfort me so I took her to my room with me and she laid in my upper chest on her tummy under my hand and i felt instant relief and I was left processing what happened, did she feel me spiritually...or was it just coincidence... Until the same grief got me a second time than a 3rd over this past year and each time She did the same thing. She felt my grief. I believe it to the point of fear like how much do we owe these animals we cage at anytime ever..
The next story isn't as hard to believe.
My 2nd rehabilitation GCC has great empathy and concern for me after building a bond over 2 years, if I have a schizophrenic episode where im pacing and muttering to voices that aren't real this amazing bird will literally yell, clear as she can to me "Stop it!" Then I look to her as it snaps me right out of it that she spoke at all as its rare and after that she'll pace her perch for a few seconds shaking her head and muttering, mimicking me and than says "Stop it." Again and that's all. I stop and she stops.. its not her new trick she's proper telling me off. Thankfully... most amazing part is this bird stopped me from one certain behaviour I thought I could not control. I used to seriously struggle til suicidal when first diagnosed with schizophrenia. I wish that Was my only ailment. I was runover by a 4WD and a have a few other things going on NOT THAT IM COMPLAINING OR SEEKING PITY. Im improving all the time, now this last bit is pretty unbelievable, i used to pace my room smashing my ears as hard as i could repeatedly the voices drove me INSANE and id repeadtedly punch myself in the head with closed fists til my ears rang and both sides of my skull would get quite swollen and it'd hurt to lay my head on a pillow, it happened A LOT and The LAST TIME I had an episode like this It stopped when I'd put my head right through a cupboard door. I didn't know I was capable of such self harm. Anyway I wasn't even aware this bird was in the room, I was so unwell, and it wasn't til the next day after she spent a night processing this odd behaviour for a human she'd wittnessed, it mustve scared her as she decided to pace the length of my desk angry, shaking her head and muttering angrily like I'd been and them she started smashing her face on the desk HARD and then her head on the wall behind the desk. It didnt fo for long dont stress as it pained me to see what I'd taught her. I didn't realise she wasn't just mimicking like I thought she'd repeat this at random and I felt like utter trash for doing that to her. I stopped her head and face smashing within 10 seconds of course by scooping her up and even though she was biting me i just held her & I cried so much. But she didn't EVER DO IT AGAIN.. maybe she was telling me off for hurting myself and scaring her that I'll give up on her like her previous owners or die. I dunno! these stories are true. I've had birds all my life but until a trauma lead to my developing paranoid schizophrenic, prone to sychosis did I begin to stay in my home & actually COEXIST with my birds. I started rehabilitating them by locking myself in a house with them til we all got along. I isolate a lot & I still rarely go out, but I do have 3 NDIS Support workers who see me throughout the week. We spend some of my support sessions just having them handling the birds in order to socialise them as I'm on my own, no kids no partner and they will likely outlive me, so the birds i have next of kin & im preparing them for life without me best i can.
those are my hard to believe stories.
Anyone else have similar happenings? I'd love to know.
Thank you for your time. That's a lot to read.

28/04/2023

Jayde is 4 years old. I've had her a year and she is the most emotionally damaged bird I've ever handled but today she went swimming in the big pool for the first time. She's been kicking goals with flight and landing since her wings grew back and she's a little bit psychic as some are. She really blows my mind with how much empathy she has in times of intense grief. I have another rehabilitation green cheek conure named Jakob and she also has some very special understanding for me after having her 2 years. She is about 3 years and another cage crazed neglected bird. When I think about where they came from and how Cooped up they felt I cry. I take them in because they seem to be the only beings I can relate to and understand where they're coming from when they have episodes as I have isolated and rarely left home for too many years but these days are a bit better I get out more having NDIS support workers 3 days a week. I am disabled physically and am plagued with serious mental illness due to trauma, thats all I'm prepared to tell you and the birds are the only medicine that works for me. Thank the Lord Jesus Christ, without them there would be no me. I am 41 years old today and due to physical disibillity I never had the 2 children I dreamed of nor the husband. I am at a place where I am happy to stay alone which is helpful with getting by.. I'm hoping to connect with other people who have disibilities, mental illness or drug addiction who isolate with birds, especially green cheek conures.
Thank you for your time.