THE NEWEST ADDITION

So sorry for the lack of updates, but as you can see from the heading, I have been busy bringing in another bird to our flock.  His name is Frosty and he is a Goffin Cockatoo.  It was another case of being in the right place at the right time.  Frosty was meant to be a part of my life.  The same way Timmy came in to my life, Frosty followed suit.  It was a nice sunny morning and I made a spur of the moment decision to go and take inventory of my bird toys at Bird Hut.  Engrossed in my endeavors of getting the count right of my toys, I missed the dark beady eyes that were following me from the corner.  That is, until he started to make a noise like a baby goat.  I looked over, and this is what met my gaze.........

This is Frosty.  He is 12 years old and was dropped off at Bird Hut by an elderly woman unable to care for him anymore.  He was being fed a diet of cockatiel seed and was showing signs of malnutrition.  I immediately fell in love and the rest is history.  Yes, Frosty is another feather picker.  These special birds seem to be my calling in life.  I feel the hand of the Lord upon me to care for as many of these fragile, yet highly intelligent creatures, that is possible.

 

The care Frosty received at Bird Hut the short time he was there, proved that he can grow beautiful new feathers.  As you can see from he picture below, he loves showing off his lovely wingspan.  It is my hope that after some months of good solid nutrition, Frosty's feather condition will improve.  He is now all moved in to the bird room and loving his new life.  I feel immensely blessed to have this little scamp in my life.  He is cuddly and loves to talk and sing.

Now that Frosty has taken up my work space, I have had to move everything out of the bird room except for, well....the birds!  Now our family room is quickly becoming the entire headquarters, office work and all, of ZeeksBeak.  There will be pictures to follow of the transformation.  I welcome you all to journey with me and the boys through this exciting transition!

Blessings to all,

Michelle

CHOP INGREDIENTS

On this beautiful first day of summer in the Pacific Northwest, I took advantage of the sunshine and went to pick some fresh produce from the garden.

This will be a great addition to the chop I make for my birds.  I learned how to make chop from a great lady, Patricia Sund over at Parrot Nation.  You can find her chop recipe and all other kind of bird related articles over there on her blog.

In fact, my garden was basically planted to give my birds and rabbit fresh produce free from any kind of pesticide or other modified chemicals.  Pure water and sunshine is all I need to grow a great garden for me and my animals.

Now....I just have to figure out how to break the news to Zoey that this basket of greens is not all for her.  Wish me luck.

Introducing......

I must admit I have had a challenging time getting my small home business launched.  I have never been a person that finds the business aspect very thrilling.  You might even go as far as to say I am quite illiterate when it comes to technical business items.  However, I am very creative and find the process of designing toys and making them, very thrilling.  But, as my sister so cleverly phrased, I must put on my "big girl" pants and rise to the challenge set before me.  So the first thing on my list was to get a logo that really spoke to my heart.

I finally made a decision and grabbed a hold of this cute picture, as it just echoes the look of my African grey parrot, Timothy.  I couldn't have illustrated a better image for my business myself and feel this was just the icon I needed to get me off and running.  Timothy approves and claims that the artist used him for the model.  Shhhh.....don't tell him, but he has quite an ego.  So instead of crushing his little self esteem, I just let him believe that, yes....he is indeed a star!

So, with my "big girl" pants on and many prayers sent upward, I will be putting this logo on business cards, toy cards and, of course, on my Etsy shop banner.  So do visit again, and together we will journey through all things bird.  Hey, if it has a beak....you just might see it on these pages.  Have a blessed day everyone!

MEMORIAL DAY 2012

                                     To all who have served: Past, Present and Future.  Thank you.

BOBBLE HEAD MONDAY

We finally have some sunshine here in the Pacific Northwest and, to celebrate, my boys decided to give me some great goofy faced pictures which actually make them look like bobble heads!  I figure, what better way to start the week than with a little humor.

Not having many body feathers helps the illusion of an extra large head.  If you can't laugh at your shortcomings....what is a bird to do?

Happy Monday everyone.  Hope your Easter rocked.  I celebrated the risen Lord!  No one has to live in darkness when the light of the world is alive and strong!

SHOWER POWER, HEALING MIST

Lately I have been giving Timothy a shower twice a day...sometimes three.  The difference in him is remarkable.  Not only are his feather growing and darkening up, but his mood is lighter, calmer and more jovial.

As you can see, he enjoys every moment of his showers.  In this picture he has the nictictating membrane (what is known as the "third eyelid" in birds) up over his eye.  He loves his face being misted and dips his head to catch any spray from the bottle he can.

I love this picture because you can see the mist.  Again, he is relaxed and very calm.

Sometimes in African grey parrots, they will sport a lone red feather somewhere on their body.  Timothy has said red feather on his left wing.  Mom about fainted when she saw this and thought is was a blood feather.  Poor mom, she is so worried that Timothy will break a blood feather when I am not home to tend to him.  Fear not, mom....our God is in control!

HOW IT SHOULD BE

This is my most popular toy I make.  I named it Peanut Butter & Jellyfish because it just looks like something from the bottom of the ocean.  This is a photo of it in a brand new state.

And this is a photo of what it should look like after it has been preened to death.  I have to have one of these toys in Timothy's cage at all times.  He works on it every day and never tires of playing with the long cotton fibers.  When a toy ends up looking like this, I am pleased.  As all the energy put into preening this toy, is that much less time Timmy spends on picking his feathers.

Again: new and pretty.

Used and loved.

All this equals one happy parrot that is beginning to let his feathers grow.  I can't claim this toy will cure a feather picker, but it sure does help ease the plucking/picking obsession of my boy.  And for that I say, "thank you" to my God, who sees even the tiniest sparrow fall.