Frank is a new avian friend of mine. There is no other way of expressing Frank’s disposition than to be frank about it.
Frank is a beautiful, gentle white sulphur-crested Triton cockatoo in his early 20s, with probably another 40 years more to go.
Frank came to me, as most other birds do, looking for a new home. Situations change in 20 years. I know tears were shed and memories not forgotten, but Frank now resides here in my Bird House, keeping company with Beta, a blue and gold macaw.
But that is not where the story is going to end. I have every intention of finding mates for both of these birds. It is my hope to have them end up in a breeding situation.
It is the only way that we can stop birds of their kind from being caught and caged from the wild. Though time-consuming, over quite a long demanding period, it is not hard to hand-feed these birds from day one. They do not learn fear, make amazing pets, can be taught to talk, and love to cuddle. They make exceptional companion birds.
You have possibly grasped the idea by now that my lifetime hobby of raising singing canaries has expanded a little. The unrefuted fact is it has expanded a lot. I now find myself in the position of finding homes for birds of all kinds, colour, and gender. It is what I do, and do best.
Having had years of experience raising and hand-feeding these birds has paved the rocky path of experience that I once trundled. It is a cost recovery, self-sustaining operation that works, and works well.
So there you have it, folks. If you have, or know someone who has a bird that needs a good home, give me a call, ’cause right now I am looking for a male blue and gold macaw and a female Triton cockatoo. Also needed is one male blue peacock.
This past week has been a fun and interesting time for me. In addition to having the first young canaries fledge from the nest, I have another eight pair cuddling five blue eggs each in the tiny nests that they have woven from the white cotton string supplied in two-inch lengths.
They hatch in 14 days and start popping out of the nest, having grown as large as their parents 16 days thereafter. Then, while Dad continues to poke feed into their hungry, gaping mouths, Mom starts all over again.
In addition to all of that, I set 30 mixed bantam breed eggs in my incubator, turning each egg three times daily, then as the clock ticked the hours approaching the 21st day, the eggs started talking to me. At first it was a barely heard tap, tap, tap, but when I lifted the lid on the incubator they had the audacity of telling me I was cheap, cheap, cheap.
A total of 23 of the 30 hatched – not a bad batch for this early in the season.
I’m going to show them that I am not so cheap; I’ll feed them well and have them ready to win a few ribbons for me at the country fairs by the time the rural route leaves turn colour in the fall.
Take care, ’cause we care.
barrie@barriehopkins.ca
519-986-4105