Huey

STORY OF HUEY

On Friday 21 April 2000, we saw an advert in our local weekly paper advertising several different Pionus babies for sale. On phoning, the man advised that he had only one Blue Headed left, so I asked him if he would be prepared to keep it until Saturday morning when we would travel the 85 miles (137 km) to Hove to collect it. He said that he had another person interested in the bird, and if I phoned before leaving, he could confirm that it was still available. When phoning the next day, the bird was still available and I said I would pay cash for it. I was asked to bring my own carrier, which I did.

We arrived at Hove, near Brighton on the Sussex coast, and found the house without a problem. We were taken to the back yard where the seller had constructed a new indoor aviary. He had several other birds there, and I really felt quite sorry for them. Although they had the appropriate lighting and also large enough flights, they had no access to sunshine, and the only people they would see was when they were fed or inspected. I suppose if you are a breeder, then that may be what you want, but it is not something I would enforce on my birds. They all get indirect sunshine daily and are placed outside when the weather permits and the sun is not too hot.

Anyway, back to Huey. The seller placed Huey inside the carrier, and assured me that the bird was a male. I was looking for a male, but really wanted a companion for Bluey, so the sex was not a problem. We saw mother and father, before they too were sold on as the owner was changing over to African Greys. More profitable to a breeder, but a lot more work. We were advised that he was nine months old.

Huey gets a name

Strange reasoning when I think about it now, but the bird looked like a Huey, and the name went well with Bluey, so Huey was what our new baby was to be called.

Settling in and making friends

We visited my sister in the nearby town of Brighton, so Huey's trip home was delayed by about two hours. He was taken indoors, so there was no chance of him dehydrating or getting hot in the car. Huey did not like anyone looking in on him. He growled, huffed, puffed and wheezed much better. A Pionus, I would mention now, when stressed, sounds like it has asthma. Anyone not knowing this would think they have a very sick bird, but having done my homework on the Net, I had read this on several sites. Thanks to those sites for their very helpful advice.

It was quite late when we got back home, but Huey showed no signs of being thirsty. He had been given a container of water at our stop and a bit of seed in the carrier, so wasn't without.

I let him out of his container and he managed to escape before getting into the cage. Now the fun was on. We had been told that his wings weren't cut, but he could not fly. At nine months old, I would have expected that he could fly. Anyway, when trying to catch him with the usual fleece we used, he was gone. He hid at the back of the furniture as far away as possible in the most inaccessible place. After moving several things, I was able to get at him. I was taken aback by what happened next, as I had never experienced this response ever before. Huey sprang at me with his head down, growling and "barking" with beak open and ready to bite. Then he scuttled back out of reach. Each time I went to get him, I was greeted with the same response. Eventually, I very slowly got closer and closer, until I was within a few inches of him. He was now obviously very stressed as he was wheezing like a serious asthmatic. I was able to enclose him in the four layers of fleece, but boy could he bite! After putting him in the cage, I inspected my damages. There was a serious indentation on my thumb and two fingers, and they would have been down to the bone, had I not had protection from the fleece.

As I did not want to chance any problems with him settling, or possibly rejecting Bluey, or her him, I placed him straight in with Bluey. Something which is not advisable normally to do, due to possibility of infection, etc,. Bluey went straight up towards him and he backed away until he was against the bars. We expected trouble, but Bluey immediately started to preen him. He almost instantly settled in. Success!

Over time, Huey has allowed me to pat him and ruffle his feathers without biting or running away. He is now a really lovely bird and almost everyone can stroke him, unless of course Bluey objects. She will then either bite the handler, or Huey. She then stands and squawks at him.

Bluey and Huey are now inseparable.

Eating likes & dislikes

Huey does not really appear to have anything he dislikes. It may not be his favourite at the time, and he will then drop it. Normally he will take anything you give him by hand or in his food bowl. He is not a "guts" as most of his species are supposed to be. His most favourite is fresh sweet corn or maize and dried bananas and raisins.

Games and interests

Huey loves playing with bells and chains. He also enjoys chewing on ropes and strings and removing toys from them. He does not fly around much as he tends to pull the feathers out of his left wing as soon as they get long. We have sat and watched him as he picks and pulls at the feathers until he has them out. He doesn't touch any other feathers, and it is not a nervous thing either. It doesn't affect him getting around and he is a well balanced bird, so we haven't done anything about it.

Huey has had his first moult and looked really nice when he had finished loosing all his "baby" feathers. You can now see that he is a Blue headed. He is not as brightly coloured as Huey, as you will see if you look at the pictures of him. We still refer to him as a male, and have not confirmed the sex because he and Bluey are so compatible.

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

Sad news indeed

Huey died on the morning of Thursday 12 June 2003 at the Vets surgery. We noticed the one evening that he was all fluffed up and Bluey was trying to feed him and hold him up with her claw. The next morning he really looked bad, so I made arrangements to see our Vet that morning. He looked at Huey and decided that he looked as though he had a virus and would need to do some tests. He said Huey was dehydrated and while trying to hydrate Huey, he sadly died. The autopsy proved that he had aspergillosis, which he must have hidden for a very long time. Fortunately this could not be passed on to any of our other "babies".

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