Saturday, March 24, 2007

Chicks, lawn ornament & evil parrot

Chickies in the bathroom! Here's Peeps (named after my first baby zebra finch) and PoopButt, hanging out under a heat lamp next to the toilet. You can se how much smaller Peeps is.

The flock, reunited. Peeps is on the far right and PoopButt is in the center, closest to the front. We were worried the other chicks would pick on Peeps, but not only did PoopButt run interference for her, she also pecks and scolds the bigger chicks at will.


Stella the lawn mower! We hooked two lead ropes to her halter so we could each be on a side, in case she made a break for it, and took her out in the front yard. But once she figured out she could just walk around and eat fresh green grass, she did great!

And Mark doing his avian barnacle impression. If you try to pick him up off his cage, he immediately grabs on to a wire with his beak and grips as tight as he can. D actually slid him up & down the cage wire like that and all he does is grind his beak down tighter. If he's on top of his cage when you try to pick him up, he hunkers down and grips with his feet. You can just about pick up the whole cage using him for a handle. Then he'll just let go and enjoy being held, so I think it's some kind of stubborn parrot game.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice job in getting the chick back to life. Looks like Stella is calming down as well - amazing, what good food can do to bad behavior.

Anonymous said...

Glad to see all the chicks doing well now.

Did Mark see the chicks when they were in the house?

Somehow I think Parrots might like the taste of chicken. I also think adult chickens might like the taste of Parrot. But I'm curious if he saw the chicks, how he reacted from inside the cage--if he reacted at all.

Anonymous said...

Mark very much likes the taste of chicken. We have never tried it the other way though.

Mark will make baby bird noises when shown the peeps, and otherwise doesn't act too excited about them. We took him out to the coop to watch them one night on a check. He just watches them for a bit, then acts like he's ready to go inside.

Anonymous said...

Hm. Made a comment last night but forgot to sign it, now it has disappeared and I'm wondering if maybe some language censor program somewhere didn't like the name of Peep's companion chick.

Anyway, I wondered if the barred rocks chicks have earned 'pet' status with this rocky start and will be spared the stew pot once they age beyond laying.