A story of FATE

This post is really not mine, but one of our special customers, Willie. He can say it best in his own words. What I can say is that Jeremy and I are thrilled to have been a part of God's plan. You will see what I mean...

FATE: "December 8, 2011 was a terrible day, Logan my Yellow Nape died after 31 years together almost to the day. Needles to say the silence in my heart and in my house was deafening! Coming home and seeing an empty cage was more than I could stand. Not wanting to "recreate" my Logan, by Saturday I was researching Eclectus and in my search I found, or was led by fate to Beakers. On Dec. 11 I made the trek from Bellingham to Beakers and found Ruby a beautiful 4mo old Eclectus. Their philosophy and approach to hand raising birds in a home environment is genus, and I would encourage anyone who is looking for a parrot to give them serious consideration since you won't be disappointed!!!!! Thank you Breakers my house and my heart are once again filled! The memory of Logan is now one of love & laughter as the bond between Ruby and me grows stronger every day!"

Here are a couple of pictures of Willie and Ruby, as she is so appropriately named.


We sure cannot take credit for making this match :-)

Elena
Beaker's co-flock Leader

Check your birds feet for Pododermatitis

Do you offer your bird a good selection of perches to rest their pretty feet on? Here's why I am asking.

In addition to a high quality diet, one of our recommendations to new parents is to outfit their birds cages with a variety of perches to keep their feathered companion's feet in good health. Pododermatitis, or "bumblefoot" as it is more commonly known is a condition of the bottom of the feet defined in varying grades of severity from 1 - 7. (Hari Institute has a great article on Pododermatitis that's worth reading, Grooming and Health Assessment. Besides good nutrition (with sufficient Vitamin A & E) and appropriate perches, lack of exercise, and exposure to cigarette smoke can be the cause of bumblefoot.

In an article on Bumblefoot, Dr. Petra M Burgmann states, "Variety in perch diameter is essential, and can be provided by using natural branches from non-toxic insecticide-free trees. Sandpaper perches are like walking barefoot on a rough gravel road. The new abrasive perches intended to keep the bird's nails short should never be positioned so that they are the perch on which the bird spends the majority of its time. Instead, they should only be located where the bird will use them occasionally, such as where the treat dish is located." (Parrot Life; Volume 1, Number 1; page 46).

Do your birds a favor and check the bottom of their feet. They will thank you for it :-)

Elena

What are Probiotics and WHY should we care?

BACK IN THE DAY, when our food was pure and untainted from chemicals, additives and the like, our guts produced all the good bacteria naturally.... so when we got stressed, our bodies were able to naturally offset any weakening of our immune system.

Well, long gone are those days. And our companion parrots have the same problem as we do with regards to dealing with stress. Even though we TRY to feed our birds an excellent diet of fruits, veggies and the like, we are feeding them foods that have often been chemically altered or fortified with vitamin this and vitamin that (because food processing has killed all the "good" bacteria).

So, we need probiotics!

What are Probiotics?

Probiotics are compounds that are comprised of naturally-occurring intestinal bacteria. They have the ability to reduce the proliferation of infectious, pathogenic gut bacteria. There is a process called competitive exclusion whereby "good" bacteria (probiotics) out-compete potentially harmful organisms in the gut. It is every important to provide our birds avian-specific probiotics for their optimal health and longevity. STRESS (good or bad) weakens the immune system, reducing our ability to resist infections in people and birds. Stress leads to many issues. The safest and most natural way to counteract the effects of stress is to add avian probiotics to our bird's diet. The benefits are MANY - helps with feather plucking, fighting infections, skin and feather conditioning... and on and on!

Here is a GREAT article - learn more on the Value of Probiotics

Elena
Beaker's co-flock leader

Free labor!

We had a wonderful day today - and it's great when our customers get into the action... FREE LABOR! LOL

In the photos you below your see Wayne feeding his family's new addition - baby Scarlet, Titan and patiently standing by Wayne's side was our new addition Gertrude Weinstein (Gerty), Greenwing begging for a handout too. Enjoy!



See you guys in two weeks for one more visit before the big "going home day."

Elena
Beaker's co-flock leader

Sleepwalking baby Greenwing????

OMG (Oh my gosh) what more can I say - It's a startling thing to tip toe into the babies room to get them ready for a feeding and to find that one baby is missing... yes, missing!
Backgrounder - last evening Jeremy and I went to SEATAC to pick up 4 new additions - three 5-6 week old Congo African Greys (CAGs) and a baby Greenwing. After feeding everyone we tucked them into their bins nicely warmed on heating pads and turned out the light. This morning, well I only counted 3! It's a good thing the room is not too big because we found him (we believe his name will be Beaumont)...

God only knows how long baby Beaumont was out of his bed... Did he wake up and take a walk about, or did he climb out and fall to the ground? My guess is the later - It's good thing we have nice kooshy carpet. As you can well imagine Beaumont needed some snuggle time and I was happy to give it.
Aftermath - After snuggle-time with me, I went to put Beaumont back in his bin and it took him (yes, he is a BOY) about 2 seconds to make his way up the side of the large bin and sit on the lip of the bin (hatch date 6/25/2011 - 8 weeks and 3 days old today). At that age, Jeremy and I should have known that he would NOT stay put but - extend some grace please... it's early morning the day after his first midnight feeding... LOL As Jeremy fed Beaumont his morning feeding I prepared a very temporary room for him - a small step up in size until we move him into a big boy cage. Here is Beaumont settling in for a nap in his new digs.
It's always nice when a story has a good ending and we I am happy to say, the end.

Elena
Beaker's co-flock leader

Titan's attempted Escape from the Nursery

Everyone is fledgling and some are trying to FLY the COOP!!!! LOL

Enjoy this short video of Titan, 13 week old Scarlet Macaw, trying to make an attempted escape from Beaker's Parrot Place nursery.

Elena
Beaker's Co-flock Leader

Loki, Sasha and Pepe's sweet song... Happy Trails!

Three baby Eclectus down and one to go. We have been having a blast hand-raising four baby Solomon Island Eclectus - 3 boys and 1 girl. The youngest of the four, Sunny, will be with us for another couple of weeks and then he will be going home to his new family in Auburn.

We sang happy trails to three of our babies in the last week - it's sad to say good yet we are hopeful that our new friends will come to visit us and bring their babies back too - we offer complimentary wing trims and nail clipping to the babies we have hand-raised.

The first to go was Loki....
His new mom and dad are Bryan and Liesel. When we met Bryan and Liesel, they were still deciding the specific species of bird they wanted... and then they met our SI Eclectus, Beaker. Sold - they decided on a baby Beaker. We usually don't run into problems finding sweet babies within our breeder network but everywhere we looked, our breeders were only producing baby girl ekkies.... We waited and waited.... and waited. Eclectus are dimorphic, meaning you can tell male from female by site. However, a breeder cannot tell sex until about three weeks of age when initial feathers start to appear on the head - green for male and red for female. We FINALLY found a baby boy and were able to bring Brian and Liesel the good news.

Here are two pictures - one of Bryan and Loki on visiting day and then a great "go home day" picture of Bryan, Liesel, and Bryan's mom. Happy family!


Then we lost two - to the SAME family...
This was a cute story, a true story, and a story that has happened more than once at Beaker's. Kim came to meet her new baby (a male SI Eclectus). And while Kim was visiting her baby Jerry decided to hold the baby girl SI Eclectus we were hand-raising (available without an owner). Kim and her little guy (picture 1 below) and, Jerry, well he fell in love with the little girl he was holding (picture 2 of female baby). One the second visiting day, Jerry pulled us aside and found out the baby was still available so he decided to take her off the market. LOL (it was love at first sight!).

Kim and Jerry came to visit a couple of more times and they named their babies Sasha and Pepe'. Unfortunately on "go home day" Jerry was not able to make it to Beaker's so I captured a picture of Jeremy with Kim and the two babies (picture 3) and then a picture of the two babies in their transport carrier (the last photo).

We are getting real good at singing this familiar song.... and we look forward to singing it again.... and again... and again until we lose our voices LOL.

Elena
Beaker's Co-flock Leader

Boy they grow fast! Baby Greenwing

Over the past 4 weeks I have captured some video of a baby Greenwing we are hand-raising. I brought three short video clips together so that you could see just how fast these birdies grow. I hope you enjoy the video.

I hope to be more faithful to posting once my consulting gig is up end of June - it has been a very hectic 4 months.

Elena
Beaker's Co-flock Leader

Those Crazy Caiques are back!!!!

One of the things we LOVE is the variety of birds we get to hand-raise. If you want a FUN bird that has the personality, the looks, and a busy... busy and zany attitude in a small package - check out the Caique. We just welcomed 3 baby Black-headed Caiques to our nursery the other day. Here is a brief video. This lot is selling for $895 each if you know someone interested in a sweet companion.

From Bird Channel: There are two species that make up the Pionites genus have more energy than probably any other parrot kept as a pet. Caiques are nonstop. They’ll dangle from your fingers as you walk around the house, throw toys from the top of their playgyms and summersault on the bottom of their cages. They’re clownish, acrobatic and a – in a word – handful!

Scientific Name: Pionites melanocephala
Size: Medium, 9 inches
Native Region: South America
Life Expectancy: 30 years
Noise Level: Medium
Talk/Trick Ability: Fair, likes to play, so benefits from trick training and can mimic sounds.

Having fun, as always!


Elena, Beaker Co-flock Leader

We're having a Galah time!

Hi all,
Jeremy and I are having a GREAT time hand-raising our first Rose-breasted (Galah) Cockatoo. For those of you not familiar. Here is a short video clip of baby Galah the day she arrived to our nursery on April 20th. Baby Galah is 7 weeks old - hatched 3/2/2011.

For those of you not familiar, here is a little bit of info about the Galah Cockatoo, aka, Rose-Breasted Cockatoo (Source: About.com)

Origin and Size: Australia; 12-15 inches in length from the beak to the tip of the tail feathers.
Average Lifespan: up to 70 years in captivity.

Temperament: Affectionate and friendly, the Rose-Breasted Cockatoos have a reputation for being loving pets. They are sensitive birds, however, and require quite a bit of attention and interaction from their owners. Those interested in owning a Rose-Breasted Cockatoo should make sure that they have plenty of free time to spend with their new pet.

Rose Breasted Cockatoos as Pets: Their bold colors and friendly personalities have made Rose-Breasted Cockatoos increasingly popular as pets in recent years. While it can be tempting to rush out and buy a Rose-Breasted Cockatoo, potential owners should know that these are sensitive birds and are not right for everybody. If you want to own a Rose-Breasted Cockatoo, the first thing you should do is make sure that you have enough spare time to spend with it. Rose-Breasted Cockatoos are very social, and they require a lot of interaction in order to maintain their emotional health. Birds that are neglected may resort to screaming and destructive behavior, so it's important that Rose-Breasted Cockatoo owners invest as much time as possible into their pets.

It only took Baby Galah a couple of days to adjust to his new surroundings. His mom and dad came to visit (Jessica and Ray). Here are a couple of photos from their first visit.

And babies grow FAST because today baby Galah took his first real flight around the nursery at just shy of 8 weeks of age. Did I say we are HAVING FUN!!!! :-)

Elena
Beaker's co-flock leader

Our first Baby Cinnamon-Blue Green Cheek Conure

Wow... two posts in a row. I will try to make more of a habit of this.

Yesterday Jeremy made two trips to the airport (50 minutes one way). The first trip was to pick up three babies: a Cinnamon-Blue Green Cheek Conure and two Jenday Conures. Then he turned right around after feeding them their first meal and picked me up at SeaTac following my two week trip in Delaware. Boy do I realize how much I miss home once I walk through the front door.... and my bed never great too :-)

This morning I took a short video of baby Green Cheek for his mom Katie who will not be able to come and visit him right way. I thought you would enjoying see this little guy too. Here is the clip, enjoy!

Elena
Beaker's Co-flock leader

New YouTube video about Beakers Parrot Place

Hi all,
It's been a crazy month (last 30 days) - your bloggest (me) as been out of town more than in town and it's been hard to keep up on all the stuff I love.... parrot stuff, of course. Thank God for my life's love and partner in crime, Jeremy. He leads the "parrot experience" at Beaker's and I manager the "customer experience".... and could do a better job I guess by blogging more often... hah!

To help get the word out about Beaker's Parrot Place and the unique buying experience we offer local Washington area customer's, I just created an "About Beaker's Parrot Place" video and published it to YouTube. I would appreciate you spreading the word about us to other bird lovers, such as yourself.... Thanks and have a great day.Elena

We hope you like our promo piece!

Elena, Beaker's Co-flock Leader

It's been a LONG and winding road by Moe and Zeus

This post is compliments of Moe, Congo African Grey...

Hi, this is Moe... It all began back in May 2010 - Zeus and 1 were hatched. We are Californians by birth. When we were VERY young we went to live with Elena and Jeremy. There were 3 of us - me, Zeus, and another cousin they called Silverback who was the youngest.


Silverback was the first to be adopted by very nice lady; her name is Denise. The second one of us to be adopted was Zeus - he went to a nice home too but things didn't turn out so good for Zeus. Due to unforeseen circumstances Zeus returned to Beaker's and rejoined the flock. On the day we were reunited and Zeus and I saw each other again after a couple of months - we actually did a happy dance with beaking and bobbing and all that. We knew then and there that we should be buddies for life.... little did we know then we would be buddies for life.

Jeremy put us together in a large 40" x 30" dome top cage and we were happy as can be (take a look at the picture). It was then that Jeremy decided that IF the right family came along, who wanted to love us and adopt us as part of their family, he would be willing to sing the "Happy Trails" song to us.

Above (Zeus and me in our new cage)

Above (Zeus hanging around)

Above (Me having a snack)

Well guess what??? That day came and we met Wayne, Audrey and the kids.... WOW!!!! it was great, and they thought so too because we are now part of their family. Take a look at the cool pictures Elena took last Saturday when the family came to take us home. Zeus and I now have 3 new brothers (not shown in the pictures - Eduardo (the oldest - like me), Matthew and Elijah. With so many guys in the family now we hope that Audrey can handle all that testosterone!

WE ARE SO HAPPY!!!!! We know that Jeremy was a little sad when we left but we promise to have Wayne and Audrey bring us back for visits - we need to get our nails and wings trimmed in occasion. Thanks for giving us such a great start Jeremy (and Elena) we'll be in touch.

2 lucky guys!,

Moe (and Zeus)

Singing HAPPY TRAILS again to 2 ekkies!!!!

It's hard to say, if we are being honest, which species of parrots are our favorite to hand-raise. We specialize in the hand-raising process, so we can put any baby bird through our process and produce a sweet loving companion ready for a wonderful life with their adoptive parents - you name it - African Greys, Amazon, Conure, Cockatoo, Eclectus, Macaws and the list goes on and on. We recently sang happy trails to one of our most favorite species - ekkies.

This post is dedicated to Sinatra and Beckett, two male Solomon Island Eclectus who stole our hearts.... I wonder how many times I can say that Here are a few pictures of Sinatra and Beckett and their new family.

Beckett

Beckett as a baby

Beckett's first perch

Proud Parents - Rick, Bonnie and Beckett Scribe

Sinatra

Sinatra as a baby

Sinatra visiting Dylan and London (new family - siblings)

Sinatra on go-home day with his new mom, Sarah!

I must confess, I shed a tear or two (as I often do) when our babies 'fly from the nest - so to speak.' Our joy is knowing that our babies are moving on to a great life with folks who will love them through the highs and the lows (oh yes, there will be the lows) |

Wiping my tears,

Elena
Beaker's Co-flock Leader
Check out our online store Rosie's AvianOutfitters.com

Don't Touch My Eggs!

Breeding is a NEW EXPERIENCE for us. And not one that we planned, or plan to repeat (at this point). With that said, many of you know that Rosie laid her first clutch on Dec 30 / Jan 2 and she is about to have babies..... or maybe not. God only knows if these two eggs are fertile. She has been faithful to rotate them and do what she is instinctual supposed to do (we think). Now we are close to finding out.

Rosie has her own cage and Beaker, his. The nesting box is in Rosie's cage (of course). She and Beaker are not sharing the same cage during this nesting process but we put them together to see what would happen.... See for yourself.

Ooh...la....ha!

Elena and Jeremy
Concerned parents!

Parrot lovers from the get-go

Hi fellow parrot lovers!

Today I am in Delaware (Wilmington) starting a very cool consulting project (my non-parrot life) - and while I was here I reached out to a fellow Parrot Place location to introduce myself and get connection to my parrot passion.... What a wonderful experience I had. Last evening I met Kathy and Karen from K & K Parrot Place. An introductory conversation turned into a fabulous dinner and now a true relationship that I hope lasts for a very long time!!!!!

Meeting new people and getting beyond the superficial is sometimes not easy for me, but having a passion - like parrots - as connective tissue, helps me get beyond the surface stuff. I am so thrilled and thankful to have met Kathy and Karen and look forward to developing a real relationship over time. :-)

Elena

Continuing saga of Rosie and her egg(s)

It's been a few weeks now since our last update about Rosie's first egg laying experience. Well the first egg didn't make it. :-( We put the egg in a home-made nesting box but Rosie broke it within the first couple of days.

Then two weeks later, on Dec 30, she layed another egg..... AND then three days after that (Jan 2) she layed a second egg. She has now been sitting on both eggs for a week to week and a half and both eggs are doing find. :-) At this time we don't know if they are fertile and time will tell. We have not done the candle test on them - we will just wait to see if they hatch at the end of January when she has set on them for 28 days. We won't be peeking in the nesting box - our clue that the babies have hatched will be Rosie's increased consumption of food.

I'll update you later this month!

Elena
Beaker's co-flock leader