My Life with Birds

My Life With Birds

By Geoffrey Cook

I first became interested in pet birds through my daughter Jennifer, who has learning difficulties, and lives in her own little flat. Carers suggested she had a budgerigar to keep her company and this was hugely succesful, she soon had Bluey talking up a storm. Come Christmas when she went away for her usual hotel holiday, Bluey was handed over for me to care for and was installed alongside my arm chair. The upshot was that when he was returned to her I felt something was missing and said so when my other daughter Jacky was within earshot.

Jacky at that time worked at Pets at Home and was distressed to hear that a cockatiel which had a club foot was to be put down as unsellable. She thought of me and I was able to take this bird as a sort of rescue so Sunshine a pearl 'tiel arrived with us and was duly housed in the biggest cage I could then afford, in the house and the learning process began. I also adapted things like ladders and perches to make it easier for her with only one grasping foot. Six months after this another cockatiel was found at Pets at Home with a damaged eye, though that transpired to be only an ingrowing feather, and I became the owner of Nimbus a grey male. After some time with the birds in the house and knowing nothing of wing clipping, the damage and problems became rather great and I built my first aviary for them to live outside. A nest box was included to give them shelter and warmth and suddenly there we were with eggs and soon babies and excitedly looking forward to increasing the size of the flock. Sadly over the years and with careless practises on my part, both Sunshine and Nimbus have escaped as have several other birds so I am currently enlarging the aviaries to include better safety areas.

Anyway in my efforts to learn more about bird keeping I happened to spot a local breeding facility, Becks Bird Barn, and called in a few times to gain more knowledge. Little was I to know that I was about to become totally hooked on small birds because there, flying free, were Maccaws and Quakers and during one particular visit, the family pet Quaker came and sat on my shoulder while I visited the various flights. I was hooked and almost immediately I ordered a blue baby and Endee duly joined the family in September 2000. He is a permanent indoor fixture of course and again in the process of learning I found a bird site based in the USA and began to correspond much as we do on Parrot Passions. I learnt a huge amount very quickly especially about keeping a Quaker and made many friends, most especially Linda Carl who remains my dearest friend. I also learned the benefits of hand rearing and once the initial nervousness was overcome I began to enjoy the hand rearing of babies, gradually increased my flock with purchases and gifts and began to sell a few lovely birds. Not that there is much profit in doing this and indeed does not concern me, all I want is the pleasure of rearing and then finding my babies a good home. I am happy to have saved the lives of several very weak babies, Foehn being one of those who is still with us indoors and the learning process with Veterinary and friends' advice is so intruiging especially as I am a keen bird watcher as well.

Now my aviaries had grown larger and there were two, one housing my best breeding pair Too and Frosty and the other houses Penny and four others. The second aviary grew with a larger flight and was looking empty so I bought a pair of Kakariki from Beck's. They are very active little birds and soon I realised disturbing to the 'tiels who were nesting, so a third aviary was created for them and they have an outdor flight adjoining the main aviary. Currently I am rebuilding the flight for Too and Frosty as the original is becoming a little dilapidated though still perfectly safe.

I am looking forward to the spring when all my eight nest boxes will be reopened and the year's breeding program can begin. Hope the birds have read this plan too. So here I am today November 2003, with 11 birds housed in three aviaries and two birds indoors, a plan for extension of one aviary and a trip to USA again next year to meet all my friends there, all of whom are bird people too. Busy busy life.

Visit Geoffrey's website by visiting:

http://www.geoffcook.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index.html