Terrific Seminar Coming Up

Don't miss the chance to participate and mingle with other bird people and spend the day learning new and exciting ways to interact with your parrot.
 
Sarah Rodenberg, the owner of Rodies in Clayton, is providing this fabulous opportunity!

Barbara Heidenreich, a renowned speaker and bird trainer (Good Bird.Com),  will spend the entire day discussing parrot training and interacting with your parrot based on positive reinforcement. 

You will learn a lot and be revitalized to improve your relationship with your bird.

This event will take place at Rodies, a wonderful bird store, in Clayton at 8863 Marsh Creek Road on Saturday November 5th from 9am to 4pm.

It will be fun and there will be lots of raffle prizes from exciting gift baskets to beautiful bird cages.  You'll receive a participant's gift bag just for coming!  This alone is worth a lot!

The proceeds of this event will go to Sarah's Bird Education for Kids project that brings kids into the world of parrots in many creative ways.

The cost is $125 and includes a BBQ lunch and all the day's festivities and the excitement of learning how to better relate to your bird. 

Space is limited so call today 925 672 4600 or email Sarah  Sarah@rodiesfeed.com to reserve your seat!

Bird Toy Making Center

 One of most difficult things to keep organized is all the bird toy making items.   I like to be able to quickly put together a toy.  I had various parts all stored in miscellaneous containers and, needless to say, it looked very messy.  Plus, I had to open the tops of each container to get to the parts.

One or two trips to The Container Store in Walnut Creek solved my organization problem.  I now have a great Toy Making Center with open bins to pick and pull the desired parts. 

I have certain favorites that I try to keep stocked.  Pony beads, fuse beads, sunshine wheels, leather pieces, plastic chain, loofah pieces, and lots and lots of wood blocks and corrugated cardboard.

 I can cut a piece of Pauly Rope, grab a pair of shoelaces, or use a skewer and create a custom toy masterpiece for any bird. 

Every bird home should have such a place!  What fun!

Joshua Gets Away With It

Joshua gets away with murder.  Josh gets regular visits from Hermann and they enjoy each other so much!  I don't have the heart to regulate the activity.  Joshua spends every moment with Hermann in total joy.  The precocious parrot kept trying to get at Hermann's eye glasses.  (These guys will make up their own games.)  Hermann decided to bring an old pair of glasses for Joshua to "play with".  Is this a good idea?  Probably not.  But watching how much fun they are both having, makes it impossible to intervene.  They truly have a lovely rapport.  Josh will just about do anything for Hermann.  This is just one example of how engaging and interactive our parrots can be. 

Fear of New Toys

Burd can't resist the millet.

This last week I made some new toys for the visiting birds.  When I place one in Burd's cage, he seemed reluctant to touch it.  I certainly don't want to stress anybody out!  This toy is a string of tiny fuse beads and pony beads with a block of balsa wood in the middle.  Balsa wood is usually well received!  It's so soft and chewy!  In order to get Burd to get closer to the "scary" toy, I clipped a piece of spray millet to the toy.  It took two seconds for Burd to approach! 

Making Toys Last

Sometimes it's difficult to make toys last.  After all, the best toys are the ones that our birds like to destroy!  However, it gets frustrating if the shredible toy gets attacked at the hanging loop first and ends up at the bottom of the birdcage where the poop is.  One solution is to protect the hanging portion of the toy with a buffer.  For this fun shredible toy, I used a section of luffa!  The birds love chewing on this interesting texture so it actually adds a lot of interest to the toy.  One can get creative with ways to hide the vulnerable parts of the good toys.  Paper tubes, straws, and stacked pony beads are some other solutions.