Rogue

STORY OF ROGUE

It was early 1997, and we had been away on holiday in Cornwall and had a bit of cash left over. As we were passing a house in the farming area of Hadlow displaying a "Birds For Sale" sign, we decided to stop in and see what they had. We were struck by three baby GMR's from two clutches. They had just got all their feathers and were lovely birds, so decided on two that we liked. The lady selling them knew that they were unrelated as she said that the single baby of the other pair was not as brightly coloured as the two from the second pair. She asked whether we did not want the other brightly coloured bird, and we declined as we liked the nature of the small bird. As luck would have it, they were of the opposite sex.

They soon settled into their new home. It was a cage inherited from our old Percy who had died some time back from old age. It was large enough to allow them freedom of movement, and they were also let out to fly around the house. We had a very large kitchen, and all the birds were housed at the one end. Our home was an old house , over 100 years old on two acres of land, so all the rooms were extremely spacious, allowing the birds plenty of space to fly. Normally we would not keep the birds in the kitchen, but the size of this kitchen, coupled with the two large windows and two doors allowed plenty of ventilation.

On Wednesday 25 June 2001, Rogue showed signs of wanting to nest, so we made a trip to Safari and purchased the appropriate size nesting box for her, filling the base with appropriate nesting material. She immediately went to nest, arranging the material the way she wanted it. Jacque was very agitated and for several days after, was running up and down, displaying with his tail and feathers, and looking totally lost.

Three weeks on and Rogue only came out the box at certain times, and then only briefly. As it was her first attempt, we had not disturbed her to see whether she had any eggs or how many. We assumed she did have some as Jacque went in several times a day to feed her.

On Thursday 05 July 2001, Aileen thought she heard the sounds of babies from the box. We could not be sure as the other birds, as usual, make too much din to be able to hear little voices. If she had been successful, then it will not be long before the sounds are obvious.

It was not so, Aileen had obviously heard one of the other birds making sweet sounds, and on the weekend we became worried as she had not set foot outside the box for three days. I braved the decision and opened the inspection hatch. There was a happy "smiling" Rogue. We could not see under her as she staid put, so have no idea how many eggs she had, or even for that matter if she has any.

It was almost to the day that the eggs should have hatched that Rogue emerged and staid out of the nest. On inspection, there was no sign of eggs, shells or any liquid stain if she had broken the eggs. We could only assume that being her first year, she was practicing.

Oh well, there is always next year, or any of the years after that!

Rogue allowed me to touch her without moving away in December 2000. She had been bitten by one of the birds having their time out, as I had not closed everyone else over with their blankets. I took her out to check if there was any damage, as she was sitting on one leg, in obvious pain. I caught her up in the towel, checked that there were no breakages or cuts on her leg, which there weren't. She obviously had a very bruised joint. I comforted her and carried her back through to put her in her cage, As soon as I opened the toweling, she turned round and nipped all over my right hand before climbing back on to the perch. I put my "smarting" hand in and she allowed me to stroke her. I tried with the other hand and she was still placid. I made a point of checking up on her several times the next day as she was still on one leg. She allowed me to stoke her each time without any problems. After about three days, her leg seemed to be very much better and she was back to walking on both and standing on both. She is not as keen to be stroked, but no longer shies away as she used to before.

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

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