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grooming = terrorist attack

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steptoe91(tozie)
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« on: October 23, 2010, 04:05:21 pm »

i had someone tell me once, birds would naturally consider our standard grooming of nails and wings as a terrorist attack. i can attest. it is 100% true. these birds, who never interact and would just as soon kill each other as look at each other, will defend each other on grooming day. when i have marley, skittles will come in the kitchen and attack us. the same with marley if we are grooming skittles. twiggy isnt as bold, she just shrieks and runs back and forth on top of the cage. anyway, today Drew and i decided to groom the birds. skittles' nails are killing me. marley has regained the power of flight and his nails are waaaaay too long. and twiggy has also been experimenting with her fresh new flight feathers (including a few notched ones!). so i get the first aid box and put it in the floor. i get the towels, small for the little ones and big for the big ones. we have already made a plan of attack. the little ones first. so we dont bleed all over them. as i turn to get marley, skittles is scaling the cage to the floor. i go to get him, cause i know he has to be locked up, he leaps to the floor from 2 feet up and hunkers down, holds his wings slightly out making himself look like a large chicken or a small turkey... and runs like hell toward Drew in the kitchen floor! he is on a mission to destroy! Drew is yelling "mom! get your bird! he coming to kill me!!!" i'm laughing hysterically and trying to scoop up the bird. he makes it almost to the kitchen threshold before i can scoop him up and stuff him into his cage. boy! we're off to a good start! so i scoop up marley and take him into the kitchen. place him in the floor and he knows what's up. this is not a stupid animal! i get the towel over him and get a nice secure grip.... now the problem is: marley's little neck is so small its hard to get a good grip on him. he can twist. as i hold, Drew uses the petipaws to trim up the nails. i hate clippers, its too much of a chance you're gonna cut too deep. and that hurts. our goal is to convince them that grooming doesnt hurt, it just sucks. well, his little nails and that big grinder (designed for dogs, not fids) isnt working this time. so we switch holds. i get the clippers, i always use human clippers, less likely of clipping too short. we finish our nail trimming and move on to wings. he still has a blood feather so we have to be careful. i trim them up quickly and he's up and standing on Drew's finger. i notice, i missed a feather on one wing.  slaph he cant be left uneven. Drew says, "maybe he'll let you open his wings." so we talk sweet, tell him how wonderful he is, and slowly stretch out the wing. i reach in with the scissors while Drew distracts him and one quick snip later we're done!  handshappy  yaaaayyyyy!!! one down! no blood yet! (ours either!) i get twiggy, she's gonna be easy, all we have to do is snip a couple flight feathers, she keeps her own nails nice and short. as i reach her cage she lets out this shriek and runs in her cage! <sigh!> so i coax her out, get her to the kitchen... put her on the floor... and she leaps up and flys to her cage! i go running behind her trying to catch her. no luck. so i coax her out again! and we get her into the towel. and a couple quick snips later, she's done.  i want to point out i noticed the notching on her feathers and was tickled pink. (simple things amuse simple minds)  handshappy yaaaaayyyy!! two down!! i turn to skittles. my heart is racing cause the last time we did this, me and Drew both nearly lost digits! but skittles' nails have been killing me. i HAVE to at least take the jagged edge off. i take skittles to the kitchen, talking sweet the whole way. put him on the floor and he knows exactly what's up. he's  on high allert! i quickly throw the towel over him and grab his neck as i've been instructed: tight. he's strong. really really really strong. so i was gonna grind and Drew was gonna hold, but that didnt work out. so we just went with it. i got his little hiney under my arm and held him against my body. if he escapes, i'm dead. cause he's right on me. but this hold worked. we were able to quickly get the sharp edges off his nails. we had to resituate a couple times and by the time we were done he was wiggling loose! so i just released and jumped out of reach, knowing he would go straight for his cage. he leaped in the air and started to fly to his cage!!!  bugeye only he cant aim very well (even tho he has almost all his flight feathers, i think he's missing two secondaries, that's it)... so, anyway,  he was headed straight for ollie!! i put the towel out and deflected him to his cage. whew! three down! i looked at Drew... i  looked at ollie.... i looked back at Drew. He says "NO!! I am NOT messing with that bird!" i began laughing. (cause i agree) "why?" i asked. he says pointing at skittles   "why? because that one is big and mean! he can rip off my finger." and points at ollie, who is quite a bit smaller than skittles, and says "but that one is big and mean... and CRAZY!! ya just dont mess with crazy!"  laugh laffhrd  so 3 outta 4 ain bad. and, tho, ollie's nails are deadly sharp, we just left him be. i slowly went up to skittles to see if he was mad at me. and he reached out and pulled me close with is little foot. then he was on my chest hanging on to my shirt with his wing around my arm and his head in the crook of my neck. just like a little kid, after a nasty shot, cuddling mommy to save him. he stayed that way for nearly 20 minutes as i walked around, talked to Drew, got some soda from the fridge. he just hung on and cuddled. poor little guy. on the other hand, he was pissed at Drew. Drew reached out to try to pet him and got a nice little jab from the sharp beak. go figure.  dknow i was the one holding him, but he's mad at Drew! lol! now its quiet and peaceful. everyone is sitting on a perch, most of them slightly fluffed, looking at me as i type. rough Saturday afternoon. but it's over... for now. unfortunately, marley and twiggy both had a new blood feather coming in, so i have to give them another snip in about a week or so. and marley's nails have been allowed to grow for too long, i need to slowly shape them down a little, they have a tendancy to curl and he gets his little nails caught sometimes, not bad and he never seems to panic, but it makes me nervous.
on a side note, i was really impressed with twiggy's notched feathers. they look identical to yoshi's. of course, its only half the feather but you can clearly see that notching.
i keep marley and twiggy's flight feathers trimmed, cause they tend to want to use them. but the big birds, skittles and ollie, have full flights and dont use them. ollie never. not too sure if he doesnt know how to fly. if he's been in that small cage his whole life, he may have never learned to fly. or maybe he has arthritis in his shoulders? he never flaps. he stretches his wings when he's bathed and when he does that yoga stretch all birds do but that's it. skittles can fly, but not well. he cant aim worth a poo. he's been kept clipped most of his life, i think. i was gonna keep him clipped til the evil vet took all his feathers.  now i just dont have the heart to clip him. idk why.  dknow
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Beth, the crazy lady who lives on the corner

Skittles - scarlet macaw, Marley - black headed caique, Twiggy - quaker parrot, Ollie - yellow naped amazon, Caleb - Moluccan Cockatoo

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