Emerald & Ruby

STORY OF EMERALD & RUBY

A pair instead of just one

We had been looking for a long time to find a wife for Cheeky. An advert appeared in in the Parrot Society UK monthly magazine, and also in the UK Parrot magazine. It stated that a female Cape was for sale. We made arrangements to travel the distance of 110 miles (170 km) one way to Watford in the North of London to look at and maybe get the bird. The date was Saturday 26 February 2000. We took two boxes with us as we also intended to try and find a female Senegal at the same time at one of the many bird outlets enroute. We arrived after some difficulty at the address where the bird was. We met Sylvia and John, the owners and went outside to the flights to inspect the bird. It turned out that they had two pairs and had tried changing the partners around without success, with a view to finding a compatible breeding pair.

There were two pairs of birds in two different flights. The flights measured about 6 foot by 10 foot. (1.8 m x 3 m) There was a large nesting box in each flight at one end with food bowls and water bowl situated at the opposite end for ease of access, and little disruption to breeding pairs. Both pairs, we were informed, were about three years old, and missing feathers as it was the breeding season. We were also informed that the owners intended concentrating on breeding Galahs Cockatoos, and this was evidenced by several flights containing pairs in them. I looked at both pairs and decided on the female bird that I liked the most. The one pair was a feather plucked male and female very denuded of feathers. The other pair was a perfect male (very fearful of strangers) and a feather plucked female, not quite so fearful of strangers. I went inside their home to negotiate a price with the couple. John advised that they were Sylvia's birds and the price was up to her. When I asked the reason for splitting the birds, she advised that both pairs did not appear to be compatible in any way, so she was happy to split them up. She gave me a price, and then I asked her what price she would let me have the pair for. She gave me a very reasonable figure, considering the worth of the birds, but also taking into consideration their poor feather state. John said he would go out and catch them, so I brought both boxes in from the car and gave them to him. He was gone quite a while, and when he returned, had two growling, very upset Capes in two separate boxes. They were put on the floor in a quiet area while we were treated to a cup of tea and arranged payment for both birds. As I had only intended getting one bird, I was a bit short on the cash, and Sylvia agreed to accept a cheque for the balance. We finished our tea and I lifted the growling male up. He was obviously very frightened and distressed, so I avoided looking at him for too long, and put him on the table. I picked up the female and blood ran from the box. She was bleeding quite badly. It appeared that the blood was coming from her vent area, and Sylvia held her in a towel and put some powder on, which she said would stop the bleeding. It took some time before this settled. Sylvia offered to replace her with the other female from the other pair. I felt that the stress the poor birds had been put through was really more than they should have to endure, and as the bleeding seemed to be subsiding, said I would rather keep her, as she was my preference, but with the proviso that if anything happened to her she would replace her with the other female. Sylvia agreed and we took both growling Capes out to the car and started on our way back to our home in Kent. As we had spent more than we anticipated on one more bird than we had intended getting, we decided to forgo the Senegal. Unfortunately for Cheeky, this was not to be his wife. She was already spoken for, even though Sylvia had said that they were not compatible.

When we arrived home, we had a cage designated for other birds and decided that it was best suited to these two. It already had a pair of Mealy Rosellas in it. They had only a few days before had the cage purchased especially for them. These birds are known to be very territorial and vicious, so we were really unsure about putting the Capes in with them. It did however seem very unfair to take them out and put them back in their smaller cage they had been in just days before when we purchased them. We decided to give it a try, despite knowing that each may attack the other. Fate had a hand in this one. The two pairs seemed to get on very well together. They even sat next to each other on the perch without showing any aggression toward each other.

I would not recommend this being done by anyone else as all birds ideally need to be known generally to be compatible before including different breeds in the same cage. Even then, it is not always guaranteed to work. There were several days of monitoring before we could be happy that this combination did in fact work.

We are very conscious that the situation may change when the breeding urge approaches, so monitor this continually, even now, every day.

EMERALD

Emerald was a very frightened bird, who backed into the corner of the cage as far away as possible every time anyone approached. This was always accompanied by severe growling and an open beak with every approach. It did not seem to make any difference who approached, the reaction was always the same. Covering the cage at night brought further growling. We also had to accept that they had been in an outside, protected aviary and that they were not used to so much movement close by.

It took several months of patience and love to get Emerald to stop his growling. He took even longer to accept anyone approaching the cage without shrinking as far as possible into a corner, and still does this sometimes.

Each night when we let the birds out for their turns at flying and quality time, these four got their door opened when it was their turn. Each time, only the Mealy Rosellas would go out and have their turn. Sometimes putting themselves to bed, and other times needing a helping hand with a towel around them.

However, neither Emerald, nor Ruby would venture out, despite the door being left open. One day, Emerald stood by the door and overbalanced, landing on the floor. He would not let me get close and growled continuously when I approached him. I eventually managed to catch him by putting the lights out and cornering him. He growled even more now. The light was put back on and the towelling removed from his head. He still growled, but made no move to bite or nip. I stoked his beak and head, amid growling but no biting. He appeared very stressed, so I held him close, talking all the time and put him back into the cage. He seemed to regress after this incident and pulled every last feather from his body, leaving only white down feathers. He now retreated to the corner and would not allow anyone near again. We had to start all over again.

Eventually, Emerald grew all his feathers back and looked very beautiful. He had calmed down and used to allow me to get within six inches (150 mm) of him. There was no longer any growling now. My daughter Corrine, decided that as he looked so beautiful, she would like a photo of him. He allowed her to put the camera in the cage and did not seem to worry about the flash. The next day, it was too late. The damage was done. It had obviously been too stressful for him and all his breast feathers and the smaller feathers on his wings had been removed. Poor boy!

Now every time he gets stressed, first thing to happen is, out come the feathers on his breast and wings. Fortunately, he does not damage any of the flight feathers.

He also thinks that winter is white with snow , so he should match it, and pulls only his breast feathers out at this time. We think that this is to do with the central heating system, as he does not seem to pull as many out when he is spritzed each day.

During 2003 he has settled quite well and will allow me to put my fingers near him for a beak scratch without biting.

Toys and Games

He just loves wooden toys, and will dismantle them in less than a day. His favourite is untying knots. We took a chain and tied knots in several places to prevent the plastic balls falling off. Within fifteen minutes, he had untied all three knots and removed all the balls from the chain. We made some rope toys up with all sorts of wooden bits for chewing, tying knots at the location of each piece. We then tied a treble knot in the top of each end of the rope where it attached to the cage. Clever boy, he had untied one end and was busy removing the wooden pieces within fifteen minutes of putting the new toy up. There was no damage to the rope, and we were able to re-use it and put all the pieces back for play on another day. He is really smart that way. It is also a continuous job supplying him with wooden toys, and he will accept anything in the way of a toy.

Mimicry Actions, & Calls

Emerald is fairly quiet normally. He will usually only make a noise when first waking and just before going to bed. He has a repertoire of calls which follow each other. They sound something like "Chirrrrrp, cheeeep, cheeeep, chirrrrp, chirrupp, chirrupp".

He tries to say hello, but cannot quite get his beak around it. He is getting better with practice though.

Foods & Eating

He is not very keen on fruit or veg and usually ignores the bowl. He will sometimes take something out and eat it. He loves nuts and seeds though. We have yet to try food in the form of games, but will one day give that a try to see if we can persuade him to eat more fruit.

Winter Antics

It seems like every time winter approaches, Emerald starts to de-feather his body. We thought at first that he was bored, but even despite toys and time out, he removes just about all his feathers. Winter of 2001 arrived and by early January 2002, Emerald only had a few main flight feathers left. The rest of his body was covered in white down. We have sprayed him, bathed him, left the heating system on low, given him extra nutrients, given him loads of toys, and still he removes his feathers. We have had him looked at, and the stress only makes him pick more, so have accepted the Vet's word that he has no mites. Skin irritation is not ruled out, as we have decided that if a human can get a rash from the central heating system, then so too is it possible that a bird could experience the same problem. There are no obvious signs, and bathing does not help. It is also possible that he has a reaction to the excess of chemicals in the water at winter time, as the UK Water Boards are notorious for putting extra chemicals in the water. As we have no access to unpolluted water, we are unable to follow up on this aspect.

We had hoped that he would eventually grow out of this. As at winter of 2003, he hasn't, so looks like we are stuck with it. It is now something that we are unable to get him out of. He removes any breast feathers as soon as they appear. His wings and most of his back, along with his head are left alone.

RUBY

We decided on our way home after buying the birds that a vet visit was in order. We made an appointment with our Avian vet and were informed by her that she could not see any visible problem, but that Ruby could have got an injury internally from a piece of wire or something in the cage when she was being caught. Without doing an internal examination, which would require the bird being put under anaesthetic, she could not confirm this. In view of the stress the bird had already been through, we decided against this avenue, but agreed that she would be brought back immediately if the bleeding continued. We were given an anti-biotic to combat infection.

Ruby was still very tender when put into the cage. There was also still some blood coming from her vent area. She was also very nervous in the new cage, but not as nervous as Emerald. She went to the water bowl and drank some water and then settled down on the perch.

The next day all bleeding had ceased, but we had to give her the anti-biotic by beak. This exercise was stressful for Ruby and us. Unfortunately the bleeding started again when she dived down to the bottom of the cage. I took hold of her in a small towel, cleaned the area with water and gave her the medicine. She was a lot calmer than I had thought she would be, and after doing the necessary, opened the towel which I had round her. She sat on my lap without getting agitated. The bleeding now seemed to have stopped. I left her to do her own thing and she climbed up the side of her cage and sat at the top, quite content. After she had had a good bit of time out, I approached her and put the towel around her again. She was not happy with this action at all, although there was no growling or nipping. This process went on for three more days, without bleeding this time. I was able to approach the side of the cage and stroke her breast, whereas Emerald was gone and in the corner at the slightest approach.

Ruby goes exploring

It took several months for Ruby to settle down completely after the episodes out with the towel. One evening, when the door was open, she overbalanced and crashed to the floor. Fortunately the door was close to the floor and she was able to break her fall with what wing feathers she had. There was no injury. I left her to her own devices, and she climbed up to the top of her cage. She also took the bold step of visiting our Pionus parrots, who welcomed her without any upsets. When it was time to close them all up for the night, I took hold of her with the towel and stroked her head and beak and then put her back in her cage.

It was to be a very long time before she braved another trip out of her cage. It was in fact 04 February 20001 when there was a lot of chirping and squawking going on. I went through to see what all the commotion was, to find both Emerald and Ruby on the top of the cage. They had a marvellous evening out. They climbed up and down, went back in the cage and came out several times, climbed on the room divider an generally had a whale of a time. When they had had enough, they climbed back into the cage and called to let me know that they were in bed. Even the Mealy Rosellas had put themselves to bed, so it was just a matter of closing the door.

Ruby gets her own personality

Since her first outing at her own leisure, she has come out several time. She has also got a lot more confidence too. Emerald always used to bully her, and he was forever chewing the feathers on her wings. She has now got the upper hand. She raises her beak and picks at him if he tries to bully her. If he goes for her feathers, she actually turns on him and nips him. The bullying by him has now almost disappeared and they really get on well together.

The photo above was taken just before she started defending herself against Emerald's bullying. Under the CAPES PICTURES on the picture menu, will be found some photos showing her in her beautiful colours. You will see from the pictures there how she has got to look better and better as the months have progressed. There are still a few tatty feathers on her, but these are slowly being replaced by new feathers, which are remaining intact.

Only time will tell if her and Emerald settle down as a true breeding pair. Their relationship is certainly a lot better and calmer now than it has ever been.

Playing games

Ruby enjoys playing with the same toys as Emerald, although she is no good at undoing knots the way he does. Her favourite game is to unhook the seed bowl once she has finished eating and send it crashing to the floor. As the cages are cleaned and have new lining put down every second day, there is little chance of infection. Obviously if fruit is dropped or thrown to the base, then we have to be diligent as infection could occur very quickly in such a case. Fruit is either lifted from the bottom or a new base lining put on if this does happen. She also enjoys climbing up and down the sides of the cage and swinging from the roof of the cage. If Emerald gets in her way, she gives him a gentle nip to persuade him out of the way.

Mimicry Actions, & Calls

Ruby uses the same sort of sounds as Emerald in her calls. She too is not very vocal. She is still nervous and does not tend to copy any specific sounds.

Foods & Eating

Ruby loves the odd bit of fruit and really enjoys her nuts. She, like Emerald, will not accept food offered by hand.

Thank you for reading the story of Emerald and Ruby. Please do read the stories of my other birds.

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