The Birds, The Birds

I had a plan last week to thoroughly clean the birdcage.  I planned to transfer the parakeets to the extra cage I have, and take the main cage out and squirt it down.  I planned to scrub everything completely.  This winter some of it got away from be a bit.  In the warmer weather I had taken the whole cage, birds and all, out on the deck and cleaned it. I was very careful not to open the cage while outside.  But all the seed and feathers were easier to handle outdoors.

When I opened the cage and tried to catch one of the birds, he flew out into my house.  I am a bad bird owner according to the social media group I used to belong to because I have given up letting these birds fly free in my house.  They fly into walls and the ceiling.  They hide behind things and crawl into cupboards.  I have tried many times to do the free fly thing and I am afraid the blue bird will kill himself flying into things.  He seems to be rather a birdbrain.  Additionally, the blue bird has never returned himself to the cage.  Abu will crawl all over it seeming to look for the door to get in, but will never find it.  Achoo, the yellow parakeet, is the female.  She is less friendly, but smarter.  She can get herself back into the cage and she seems to be very good at finding hiding places.  Neither bird will perch on my finger or a stick I am holding.  Neither will come to me for a treat, even when I sit with my hand in the cage. I am resigned to having untamed birds.

I have looked at the rescue site here locally. I would consider surrendering them to a better life, but the rescue seems to be full at the moment.  They need more bird foster parents because they have too many birds.  This is not a good time to give up the birds for a better life, because it sounds like they wouldn't be getting one.

This made me consider, as we begin to head out of the pandemic, people who adopted birds for companionship during the pandemic are finding that as their lives open up they are just not that committed to their pets.  That is my story.  Soon the same thing may happen with dogs. Maybe someday there will be more than pit bulls to adopt. I plan to hang in there with the birds for a while longer.  I got off the social media page that was filling me with guilt.  These birds are animals, not children.  I am giving them the best life that I can.

Eventually I caught Abu and Achoo in my net and put them back in their cage.  I didn't get the deep cleaning done that I had hoped to do.  But, there should be warm weather again soon and I can wheel them out to the deck and clean what I can. For now, it is me and my birds.