~~My Life As Flock Leader~~

[Nakia]

Tozie started  a 'Day In The Life Of' kind of thread so I thought it would be fun letting everyone know what kind of schedule or non schedule we each have everyday with our parrots.  :twirl:

A typical day as flock leader of my varied members of the feathered & non feathered kind is not so typical. On work days it starts the minute I get home somewhere between 7:00 to 7:30 am as soon as I pull into the driveway. I hear the 'Zoo Serenade' begin. Inside birds screaming, dogs barking, outside squirrels making a run for the trees, bunnies making a break for parts unknown! One dog barking out back in anticipation of getting to come back in for the day. If I had close neighbors they would swear someone was being killed in there. :deer:

I put the key in the door and hear bam!! The dogs have knocked the gate between the area they stay in and the front door which is actually my bedroom down. Yep, my bedroom is the entry point to my home.  I wade through a sea of dogs, big ones & little ones. Some look like hairy guinea pigs and others look like shaggy sheep. The screaming and the barking intensifies til I can't take it anymore and all dogs go promptly out the door! As I pass the Catalina boys enclosures I see my sweet Angel hanging by his beak, silly legs sticking straight out exclaiming, "Hello~~Hello!" Now that makes everything I had to endure at work all night go away and makes me happy to be home in my noisy messy house. 

I come into the kitchen area and Sierra is chasing/following me inside her cage screaming EeeWOK!! Then she says, "Ewok want out!" She doesn't really mean she wants out and rarely will get on my hand to come out tho I offer every morning. Serita starts chirping and runs to the cage door to jump on my hand, run up my arm to my neck and wants to stay there til I get her fresh veggies put in her bowl. She then jumps on the bowl and rides it back inside her cage and begins stuffing herself.

The macaw boys are screaming loudly, Ruby Jewel is saying, "Ruby Jewel!" while hanging on her enclosure door and Leyla Belle is sitting on her perch in front of her cage door glaring at me for not letting her out already. :somad: So begins the routine part of my mornings as I first pick Ruby Jewel up & put her on her play perch, then open Leyla Belle's door, push her play perch up to her door and let her climb out by herself. She doesn't like to be held or picked up. Then I go unlock Roscoe's enclosure door and ask him if he wants out. Sometimes he gets on my arm to come out & sometimes he looks at me and exclaims, "Roscoe, stop it. Stop it, Roscoe." then nips my arm.  :pit: If he wants out I take him to his play perch in the living room. And I open Angel's cage and push his play perch up to the door. Most days he just stays inside hanging on the door waiting for me to bring something good to eat.

I let them play a few mins while I check emails and just want to relax. Then some bird gets tired of my 'relaxin' and starts them all to screaming! I take the hint, fix fresh veggies one day with what I call the 'all food' day which is nuts & other extras. They get the all food every other day and on the in between days they get what I call the 'mushy food' day cause that is the cooked stuff I mix with thawed fresh frozen veggies. Once everyone's food & water bowls are back in the enclosures I put everyone back in their homes, finish getting myself ready for bed, look at the clock and it is already 9:00am. Dogs come in & we all go the 'the cave' (I keep it dark in my bedroom) to sleep. I will be back up at 2:00pm and let all that want out on play perches while I get ready for another 12 hr work night. I put everyone back up and leave the house by 3:30pm.

That's as typical as it gets for me. On my off days I am up & down and they are out & in with no real schedule or routine. My flock has a crazy life with Mom disappearing into her cave for a few hours to sleep during the day. They have accepted that is how life is for a feathered kid that manages to be plucked from someplace by this crazy old lady who is their flock leader. Oh and hubby, Jerry does his own thing while all this is going on, but we won't bother with his going to bed as soon as he gets in and doesn't help me~~

[steptoe91(tozie)]

 :bruce:   ya better get ur arse outta bed and help there Jerry! 


yeah    i knew that wouldnt work! lol! its funny how our flocks adapt to whatever lifestyle we lead, isnt it? i mean, if ya ask some of the extremists, both mine and your schedules are TOTALLY inappropriate for parrots. but it works well, everybirdie is happy and healthy... thriving even! so following your start i'll give  ya an idea of my 'average day'...

i actually have TWO routines depending on my work schedule. i have the 'mom opens routine' and the 'mom closes or is off routine'.

open routine...
this also has variation. one day a week i go in around 530am to accept our weekly delivery at work. so i'm up round 4. one thing that never changes and that's breakfast chopped fresh daily for all creatures feathered. so anyway, opening day i get up, get showered and dressed for work. get my coffee and sit. <sigh> yup, everybirdie is still covered, its relatively quiet, and i get the computer up and running, start a movie (i tend to obsess with a particular movie for a couple months at a time). then after bout 20 or 30 mins i hear a quiet 'hello?' come from under skittles' cover. that's my cue that its time to wake up the burdies. skittles is always first and he 'helps' uncover all the other living room cages. then he goes to his play perch and i go to get caleb up. caleb, being a cockatoo, MUST sit with me in the mornings. its his 'hands on time' he sits on my knee as i drink the rest of my coffee. now on truck days, this step is skipped much to his displeasure. then back to his bedroom and i make the yummy birdie breakfast. then its off to work for the day. home in the afternoon between 3 and 5 depending on schedule and any errands i may have to run after work. then all cage doors are opened and i get my cockatoo knee warmer for his obligatory hands-on time while i wander round the net and the boards.... i'll get back to bedtime shortly...

so on close and/or off days, which usually is between 4 and 5 days a week. i get up when summoned by mr.loud cockatoo  as on other days, skittles and i uncover everybirdie. then i get caleb to sit on my knee, only he gets AT LEAST an hour of knee time while i wait for my meds to kick in. then birdie breakfasts are prepared and passed out. they eat while i wander the net some more and as soon as marley finishes breakfast it is time for a game of fetch. he throws, i retrieve.    fortunately, his aim isnt half bad and most of the time the toy comes to me. this game lasts a good 30mins to an hour then he's back to his kitchen window to look outside at the neighbor's velociraptor.    still cant figure out who's it is, but it MUST be there cause marley mimics it REPEATEDLY.    as i sit in my gown skittles asks me 'gotta go? gotta nite nite? gotta byebye?' which translates to 'mom, do you close today or are you off? do you have any errands to run today or are you staying home?' so i respond with either 'yup, momma works nite nite. momma's gotta close today' or 'no momma's off today, i'm gonna stay home with you today' or 'momma's off today but i have to run errands. i wont be gone long tho. i'll be home soon.'  and yeah, he totally GETS it. if i'm off much of my day is clean... rest... clean... rest... i dont seem to have the stamina i had 5 years ago.  :somad:  golly gee but gettin old aint for sissies! 

if i close i go in, and am back home round 1030 or so. i've got everybirdie tucked into his or her cage by 11 and i'm in bed and half asleep by 1130.  then caleb is up at the crack of dawn  for us to start all over again.

i think its important to have a routine they understand, it gives them comfort to know what to expect. but it doesnt have to be a stereotypical routine. i tell my flock what to expect, when to expect me back, etc.

so who's next?

[Sapphire]

I agree, I think it is important to have a routine. Codie is a stickler for routine and if I alter it in any way at all, he is grumpy all day!

I normally get him up between 8.30am and 9am. I give him his breakfast and while he is eating this, I do my chores. I then have my breakfast which is banana on toast and Codie shares this with me. I then get him out and he goes on his stand. He happily plays here all day. If it is a nice sunny day, then I take him in the garden in his travel cage. He absolutely loves it outside 

I put him back in his cage around 4pm while I cook dinner! I won't allow him in the kitchen while I am cooking! He has his dinner at the same time as us. I get him out again around 6pm and he then goes to bed at 9.30pm!

[Debra]

Well, my tiels/budgies usually wake up when we turn the light on during the week days. This is usually around 4:30 in the morning. On weekends, they wake up with the sun. Each night, they go to bed with the sun. Except in the winter when it's dark so early, then we turn the light out at 7 in the evening.

Frankie, Amber, and Lucy all get uncovered during the week at 4:30 and covered each night at 7. On weekends, it's usually around 7 in the morning when Frankie starts hollering "good morning Frankie" which wakes us up. We then get up, uncover everyone, and serve breakfast. Then we get to tend to ourselves. lol