Well, Bonnie has certainly made herself at home in
my office her den!
Gone..
* My drinking glass (I'm not keen on all the floating bits)
* My water jug (a nice perching spot)
* My dracena (Christmas present for office, was getting nibbled)
* My artificial flower/light decoration (twigs far too hard to resist)
Replaced with ...
* Sports drinking bottle
* Homemade T-perch for window ledge, from ash branch, and jar with sand/decorative stones (which she manages to pick up and throw?)
* Homemade "tree" from several ash branches, about 5 ft high, 4 footish, corner feature with dangling branch for swing, homemade coconut shell swing/treat pot and a branch reaching across window.
My desk has become a budgie playground with her toys - chopped up straws, bootie (smallest toy ever, sent in biggest bag, at least two ft square!), and any bits and pieces I'm trying to get her interested in.
We've established a routine of her being let out and having a good exercise when I start work, then a little treat n training time, then I go about my day while she goes about hers. She's a very nosey bird and spends a lot of time watching out the window and seems to have turned into a bit of a "guard bird". When we had some chaps working in the front garden, she became quite agitated, hopping from one to the other of her window branches and squawking at them.
Her training is going really well, excellent at step ups and hopping from hand to hand, getting the turn around, but she cheats and flies to other hand instead, kisses (peck on nose), and even high fives (raises one claw to touch finger).
She'll sit on my head or shoulders and nibble at my glasses, not quite sure of the fascination unless she can see her reflection), then works her way across, climbing over my face and sitting on my nose! She'll sit on my head and decide my eyebrows need a darn good chop. Last weekend, feeling quite bruised and sore faced, I decided enough of that, so when she does that now, I just drop my head forward and she gets off.
She'll sit between my hands on the desk and play with her straws, trying to get them to stay on my keyboard, she'll chomp her way though my note paper (good job a have most of a square block full) and throw my pen around. When I try to use "her" pen to write on said note paper, she jabs at the paper and mumbles in budgie disgust!
Getting her back in the cage, for a while did prove tricky. She'd fly up to the roller blind where we can't reach her and stay put. We'd jiggle the blind by tugging on the cord until she came down, but every time we'd get her close to the cage, she'd go back to her window spot. Realising that the window was the fasciation, I starting closing the blinds shortly before finishing work. With that done, it didn't take quite so long to persuade her in. Now, I just close the blind when I finish, turn off the radio and start saying "night night Bonnie". Either she'll fly straight to the cage, or I ask her to step up and walk over towards the cage and she'll take herself the rest of the way. In cage. Job done. Millet treat.
What we haven't mastered (who's idea was a white budgie), is getting her in a bath. She has water sitting on top of the cage (which she goes to first thing when she's let out and has two or three drinks, even though she has plenty of water in her water pot in the cage). She will not however, get in. I spray her now and then, but that doesn't seem to get the dust she must pick up off that top rail from her head or tail.
Also, cannot stroke her! She'll do all we ask of her, all the tricks we've taught her, climb all over me playing with me, but I cannot give her a neck or head rub.
Thanks for reading my essay.
Any ideas on either of the above much appreciated.
