Flash

STORY OF FLASH

We went back to Safari Select on more than one occasion, hoping to see a mate for Thunder. Each time we thought we had a success, it turned out that they were juvenile males. They all look the same before first moult and apparently even experienced aviculturists have difficulty telling them apart.

We had been across on two separate occasions and had noticed that there was a pair of Barrabands in one of the cages. The male was very rough, bordering on vicious, and always attacking the female. We noticed that she had, over the two weeks, started to defend herself and was standing up well to the male. It was Saturday 19 February 2000, and I decided that I would approach the Manager of Safari and see if I could get her. He informed me that he was not interested in splitting up pairs. I explained that I had been waiting a while since loosing Lightning and had seen this bird being attacked several times by the male, and suggested he come and see for himself. He did just that, and we were witness to a rather vicious attack by the male on her. He said that he would not normally separate pairs, but under the circumstances it was obvious that the two did not get along. He took one of his nets, made up a box and caught her for us. I thanked him very much, as I just knew that she would be happy in our family. He warned me before we left that we may experience the same problems with our bird as this mating had done, and he would be happy to exchange her when another female became available if this were the case. I thanked him very much and we took her home.

Flash gets her name

We had rather lengthy discussions on the way home and decided that the only name that went with Thunder was Flash, so Flash it was.

Flash settles down

We put Flash into quarantine next to the cage with Thunder, and they both showed interest in each other, so after the quarantine period was over, we released her into the cage with Thunder and the pair of Sun Conures, Sun and Moon. It soon became apparent that the Sun Conures did not appreciate the new comer. They both went in to attack her and I quickly got the towel to catch her and remove her.

What happened next really amazed us. Before I was able to approach the cage, Flash turned on Sun, the female and gave her a sharp nip before getting out of her way. Moon then chased her and as he went in for the nip, Flash turned on him and gave him several sharp nips and waited for a response. Moon backed off and squawked. Sun came back in for another nip and was bitten in several places. She backed off and both Conures looked on tending their "wounds". These "wounds" were not anything of great concern, so we stood by and observed what would happen next.

Thunder slowly approached and pecked at Flash. She retaliated with a very sharp nip and much noise. He stood back and answered her back. There were several exchanges of words and a few more attempts by him to nip her, with the same response. He then backed off too.

All seemed to have settled, so we decided we would keep watch and take appropriate action if it became necessary. Thunder was used to getting his own way at the seed bowl, but Flash had other ideas. She sent him off with a few sharp nips and had her fill before allowing anyone else to get near the bowl.

When it came to bedding down for the night, Flash chose her "spot" and defended it from any approach. We were confident that she had shown her "pecking order" she wanted and the others fell in with it.

It was not long before the other three occupants had completely accepted Flash. She was actually a very gentle bird at heart, but living with the previous male had taught her to stand up for herself.

Flash shows her personality

Flash had soon settled down well in her environment. When let out for her turn at flying around and exercising, we noticed that she really enjoyed using all the toys hanging from the ceiling. Her most favourite being flying on to the swing and swinging back and forth. If she landed on the top of Cheeky's cage and he showed his displeasure, she would make a point of flying off and "crash landing" just to annoy him. She also flies over the top of our heads and "dive bombs" those who react to her. She is a real sweet bird and has such a gentle personality. She loves investigating new things, no matter what they are. She is not frightened very easily either.

When we first got her, she would cry like a baby when I caught her to put her to bed. Now she takes it all in her stride. There is no fuss when catching her or Thunder when it is bed time.

A nest box for the pair

We decided that it was time to place nesting boxes in the cages for the pairs. Flash spent several days investigating the box, without any signs of wanting to go to nest. We are not worried about this as wee feel that she will nest when, or even if, she is ready. This unfortunately had a down side to it. Flash and Thunder shared the cage with Sun and Moon. They chose the nest box on the right hand side of the cage, and all seemed to be going well until Sunday 15 July 2001. Flash had decided a few days before, that she fancied trying out the other box, so she had been using the nest box on the left hand side of the cage. Well on Sunday morning at 09:40 when we had an incident between Flash and Sun. Sun bit the front flange and toenail completely off Flash's left foot. There was a hang of a din going on in the cage and we found Moon and Sun having a go at Flash as she climbed out of "her" nest box. It was on closer investigation that we found an egg in the box, which explained everything. I moved the egg from Flash's box to Sun's box. Sun insisted on settling down in Flash's box, so I moved both eggs to Flash's box. All of this after treating poor old Flash and stopping the blood flow. Flash was very dubious of using what was Sun's box and had been nursing a very sore foot. Ideally, we should have given her medicine at least twice a day, but as she always gets stressed very quickly, we limited this to once a day. Her foot healed very well without any infection.

We went to Select Garden & Pet at our earliest opportunity and bought a new cage large enough to accommodate Flash & Thunder. There was a great deal of re-shuffling of homes to find the best position for each, and once decided upon, the new cage was erected and placed in its new location. The nest box for Flash was removed from Sun & Moon's cage and placed in Flash & Thunder's. We then caught them one at a time and put them into their new home. As expected, they took a while to settle, but when they did, were back to normal.

We assume that they do not like the position of the nest box as, six months on, they have not been near it. We shall wait until nesting time and see if there is any interest. If not, then we shall try a different position for the box and see how that goes.

This story will be updated as things progress.

We hope you have enjoyed the story of Flash and will go on to read the stories of all our birds.

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