Interesting day, been busy...

[Monica]

On the 2nd, I took my large white cage that Noel and Casey were previously living in a couple months ago, cleaned it, brought it into my room, and set it up with toys, perches, food dishes, etc. I transferred my bourkes and budgies from their large silver cage, to the white cage, and after cleaning out the silver cage, placed it outside.

On the 3rd, I woke up late (will have to make it up to my birds for that), did a few things, and then around 3pm cleaned the silver cage and let it dry untill about 5. I brought the cage in, had some dinner, and then moved the cage to the backyard, and set it up with fresh elm branches that were rinced off. I also placed one normal cage perch inside, as well as food and water dishes. I placed the bourkes and budgies in the cage around 7:40pm, though I wanted to get them out there at 5pm.

A few minutes before 9pm, I went with my mother to 7/11, and brought Bullet along. I took him to the skate park, and let him run around and on the kids playgyms. There were 4 people there, one of which is a friend, and two others that I know. One of them asked me if a bike that was there was mine, as she wanted to take it home with her so that she could use it. I told her I didn't, but I believed I knew who's it was. I made a few phone calls to confirm the owner. The owner of the bike (another friend of mine that I don't talk to much) said that he'd come down to the skatepark to help me out, and I decided to meet him on the way. At this time, it was around 9:30pm. We took different paths, so missed eachother, so I ended up carrying the bike to his house (he owns a nice mountain bike...) and meeting him there. Got home about 10:09pm (though was suppose to be home by atleast 9:45pm).

Anyway, now back to the birds. My main reason for placing them outside in the evening is so that they wont be outside during the middle of the day when its extremely hot. I also plan to bring them inside in the morning before 11am, so that way they will get a bit of sun when the sun rises, and when it sets. When I checked on them at 10:15pm, they were doing fine, and the temperature was around 70 degrees F.

On the fourth, after I bring them inside, I plan on rearranging the cage again, and maybe taking the elm branches out, and putting some other perching in there, so it will be suitable for Noel and Casey. If Noel wants to, I'll let her stay outside overnight in the cage, and will bring her in in the morning. If she doesn't like the idea of staying outside in the cage, well, I'll just bring Noel and Casey back inside, and let the bourkes and budgies outside the next night. I'm also doing this as I have yet to get an aviary built for them (low on cash at the moment) and I've been wanting to let the bourkes and budgies be outside for over 5 hours. I'm only hoping it doesn't cause too much stress on Cosmo (he is getting old in age, now around 9yrs), the mother bourke (she is afterall atleast 12 years old), and her daughter (the one that is around 6 months of age). Smurf, I don't worry about him as he's young, and the other two bourkes are young and tame.

[Monica]

Oh, and forgot to mention, recently checked on them a couple mins ago, the temperature went down a few degrees, but they are still doing fine, and it's past time for bed.

[Monica]

Checked on the bourkes and budgies at 6am. Temperature was a bit over 50 degrees F, and they are chirping, specially the budgies trying to talk to the wild birds, and hanging on the side of the cage to try to possibly get to them. They are enjoying their time outside, though when I went to walk back inside, I noticed a wasp nest a bit too large, and right next to the door on the roof of the porch. I have to get rid of any wasp or bee nests around the outside of our house as my mother is allergic to stings, and getting rid of the nests hopefully keeps them from coming near the doors, or even possibly coming inside. Took care of it, for the most part, just need to now discourage them from building again in that area.

[Monica]

I don't believe that WNV is here in the area, of course I wouldn't doubt if it was here within the next few months. I am aware of that, and other problems that could happen. With night creatures, the only ones that I know of around here that are predators would be the barn owls, coyotes, and well bats, just to add. We have had no problems with coyotes, and it's even possibly for mountain lions to be in the area, but not in a very close proximity, like the coyotes. I'm not fearing animals, but rather humans/kids in the area, and maybe a mistake of my own while transfering. As for the mosquitos, we usually have them around dusk, which is when I notice them most, and well, in comparison to Florida, we do not have very many mosquitos in the area as there is nota lot of water source, and its very dry and hot during the day.

The top of the cage provides shade, as its a full top, and not a wiretop. Here is an image of most of the cage a while back before I switched the them to the white cage.




Anyway, I brought them inside around 11:30am as it goes from nice and cool to hot and it starts at 11. I really don't want them out there in the heat, and it's quite easy for them to adjust to the temperature outside during the evening as it gets slightly cooler outside than it is in my room, and I have both of my windows opened 24/7 for airflow and fresh air. If I were to use the cage that they are now using inside the house, then they wouldn't get any shade from the cage itself, and since the glass sides (seed gaurds at bottom) broke, they'd have a chance to escape from the bottom sides. The white cage is missing a door, however, I used part of some wire fencing to cover the hole so no escapes.

[Crebain]

Nice cage!

I also worry about the outdoors overnight issue. Snakes, spiders, and who-knows-what-all could be looking for a caged snack.

[Monica]

I took Noel and Casey outside on the 4th, but Noel didnt like they idea, so they wont be staying outside (unless I can get an aviary built, which she may still not like that...), and I was out shopping on the 5th so wasn't able to put the bourkes and budgies out then. Now the 6th going to the 7th, and I haven't even bothered trying to put Noel and Casey out though I should have put the bourkes and budgies as they do enjoy it.... I worry about them as well being outside, but they need to get some direct sunlight that they are not able to get inside my room.... The older birds especially need it for their health. Just wish I could get an aviary built for them soon as I had hoped for...

[Monica]

Jodi, you are right about that, though I would like for them to be able to spend more than 5 hours outside (starts to get warm around 11), which is why I prefer to put them outside in the evening (preferably before 7, say around 5) when it's cooling off but it's still fairly warm. It doesn't go below 70 degrees F until around 9-10pm, and the coldest it might get is a bit above 50 degrees F.

Josie, I'm sorry to say but the cage was free... Most of the birds' toys, a couple food dishes, one cage, and Casey were the only things that costed me money (and food of course), however I can't really quite understand how I got Casey as supposedly I bought her and yet she was a gift to me, though I never knew she excisted when I bought her untill maybe 5 hours later.... That silver cage, plus the white cage (and two smaller breeding cages) I got for free with 3 bourkes and a turq. These two large cages I guess to be around 10 or so years old, so I doubt you'd be able to find any cages exactly like them, as I've been searching myself for a few years now. I've been able to find similar cages, but none the same...

The silver cage is made by HOEI (made in Japan), to give you an idea. I haven't looked at any Japanese sights for cages (don't read Japanese...) so one might be lucky if they are able to find any like the silver cage in Japan as I doubt one would be able to find another HOEI cage like this one here in the USA.

The white cage, I have absolutely no clue who it is made by. The bourkes and budgies are in it right now, though here is a picture of it quite a while ago with Noel and Casey...




It use to have legs, however, after bringing the cage to our house (our old one in Cali), the legs got slightly messed up (and to say the least, it fell off the back of a truck on the trip over and lost a door, surprisingly it's still in good shape considering what happened), the legs were not quite as sturdy as they use to be (has to do with inside of the legs) so I ended up getting rid of them.

[Monica]

I put the bourkes and budgies outside tonight around 7, as when I got back home (nearly 6) from a friends house to check on the critters, someone arrived at our house to check out our kitchen. It turns out that something is leaking, though he said he doesn't believe it's our dishwasher, and that it must be something underneath the house. This created mold growing on the drywall and what my mother said as mushrooms too (or to say some type of fungus).

Well, I had to leave and take Bullet for his walk, so I walked up to the elementry school, then to his last house to visit with my friend, and so that Bullet himself could see his mother and people he knew. A couple mins after I got there, they left to go to another house, and I brought Bullet along (of course). We had a bit of fun, Bullet pulled one of my friends on his skateboard, after we got to the other house, had to go down to 7/11 to get someone and ride back up to the house, etc. Well, my mother calls me around 8:30pm and tells me that she wants me home, and that she had gotten something.

I go home to see what is up and what she is kinda excited about, and after she is done talking to someone on the phone she shows me her new digital camera that she bought, that instead of using floppy disks, the pics are moved using a USB cable, so it's smaller. When I got home though I smelled amonia, or bleech, something I guess being used on the mold... I go outside to look at something and to check on the birds, but I smelled gas, or BBQ liquid...... I didn't like the smell of it so I brought the birds in at about 8:55pm... I wanted to let them wake up with the sun and the wild birds singing, which they can't here as greatly while inside my room even with both of my windows opened....