Re-organization of the playareas

I have three out-of-the-cage playareas for the birds in my home. (Well, four if you count the shower perch, but I will not be talking about the shower perch today). Over the last few weeks I did an extensive overhaul- cleaning, reorganizing, and generally making-more-awesome.

The biggest and most used in the main living room play area. This is mostly for the two caiques, as they need the space and exercise more than the other two, and also because they are very naughty and need to be in the same room with me at all times when out of their cage so I can keep an eye on them!

I did a basic cleaning and renovation of this play area, it looks great and the caiques were very happy for the change.

The kitchen basket is a small play area, mostly used by Violet the cockatiel. She likes to hang out here while I cook and wash dishes, etc. The other birds do occasionally hang out here, especially Perry, but they tend to get bored and start looking for trouble. My renovation of this playarea was a bit more drastic than the first playarea. Originally, I just had the basket hanging here. I wanted to bump it up a bit, so I added in a nice gnarly chunk of grapevine, to make another level for climbing and play!

The third playarea has had the most drastic changes. This is the area over the tops of the big cages in the bedroom. The bigger birds generally only hang out here when I am the room to watch them. This is primarily due to the caiques being naughty and not staying put- they think their mission in life is to climb down the cages and get to the floor. Since I have dogs and cats, this is unacceptable! So, they are only allowed to play on top of their cages supervised. Perry, on the other hand, can safely hang out here, and won't try to climb down. However, he would get a little bored, and I wanted to have another play space worthy of the caiques' hyperactivity as well. So I do a major rehaul of this area! Since I don't use the grates on the bottoms of the big bird cages, I decided to put that grate to another use! I hung it over the cages (I stole this awesome idea from a friend!). It's such a simple concept, but what a huge change! You can now place toys on the new shelf, and hang toys below. The birds are really starting to enjoy it! Perry spends most of his evenings playing here now, and the caiques have a new area to come play sometimes- it's nice to have a change of pace!



My very own website!

I finally set up a website for my toys! It is not fancy, and I am already looking at alternatives, but at least it showcases my toys and lets people order them. If you would like to buy toys from the site, you email me with what you would like and your address, and I figure out your total and paypal you an invoice. Easy!

https://sites.google.com/site/pollyoopiepettoys/

Please check it out!  :)

Banana oat cookies

I tried a new recipe last week: Banana Oat Cookies! These were very simple to make- mashed bananas, applesauce, dried oats, flax seed, chopped nuts (I used pine nuts this time). Mix together well,  form into little balls and bake. They come out, soft but dense, and my bigger birds really like them! These will definately be made again.

1 and 1/2 cups mashed banana (organic is best)

1 tsp cinnnamon

3 c raw quick cook oats

1/2 c chopped nuts

1/4 c applesauce (organic is best)

Pumpkin Bread

I admit I don't feed as much bird bread as many people I know seem to. Not because I don't like it, but I just can't seem to keep the freezer stocked with it. My birds do get other baked-type goodies, though, so don't worry about them missing out! :)

This batch of bread turned out so beautifully, I may try to keep making this so we can always have some in the freezer. I started with a natural cornbread mix from the health food store. I mixed in egg, water, canned pumpkin, frozen corn, chopped fresh parsley and blueberries, and red palm oil.

All three of my "bigger" birds LOVED it!

I mixed some in with Violet the cockatiel's special seed mix for dinner, I'm hoping she might accidentally eat some and like it......

Think outside the box for foraging!

This is a dishwashing basket, sold in the baby section of grocery stores, target, etc for cleaning pacifiers, etc. Today I filled it with: carrot, pepper, raspberries, tangarine, bird bread muffins, cabbage, parsley, brussel sprouts, and pellets wrapped in paper.

It's a bit big for my little guys, and would probably work better with amazons, greys, etc. But the caiques still have fun, and manage to get some goodies out!

Sweet Potato Mash Balls

I found this recipe on a forum I frequent, and this has now become a constant staple in my household!

http://video.about.com/birds/Sweet-Potato-Mash-for-Birds.htm

It's a very simple recipe. Boil a mixture of chopped, peeled sweet potato, carrot, butternut squash, pumpkin, etc in just enough water to cover. When veggies are soft enough to mash, use a slotted spoon to pull them out and set aside for mashing. Add enough water to the leftover cooking water to equal 2 cups, and bring to boil. Add 1 cup quinoa and cover, cook until soft. Remove cover and let cooking liquid cook out. Mix in with the mashed vegetables. Add in some chopped greens (I prefer cilantro, or kale, etc). I also like to mix in flax seed, chia seed, organic coconut flakes.

Roll into little balls. In a seperate bowl, add dry flaked oatmeal. Roll the little balls in the oatmeal, and then you are set! These freeze great!

Green for Halloween!

Quinoa, lentils, fresh carrots and spinach, and frozen peas and corn. Cooked with ginger, red palm oil and lots of avi-greens supplement. Looks really gross, but the birds liked it!

For one dinner for the caiques, I cooked the base part of a butternut squash, and stuffed it with some of this mash, with a seed mix, organic coconut flakes, and pomegranite seeds. Yum!