Dutch White Clover: Day 1

I got my Dutch White Clover seeds from urawinr on eBay. (She has them at a great price and was very helpful to me.) After picking some white clovers and offering them to Benu, I decided to frow some of my own. Heck, I am already growing some dandelions (which are barely coming out right now). I need to get chickweed too... but that is for another post.

I am going to keep track of the clover's growth. This should be interesting to watch.

Doing Good

Here is an update on Benu. It has almost been a month since I got him. He doesn't seem to be moulting anymore though, but I can be wrong. He lost 2 flight feathers and grew only 2 new ones back. I thought he should have lost all his flight feathers...

He eats his mash well as you can tell from his face. I see him trying different items. I have just introduced sprouted alfalfa, fenugreek, and clovers. He doesn't seem interested in them yet.

He still needs work on stepping up. He prefers the comfort of his own cage, which I can understand. I should provide an out of cage play area which I can use for his foraging activity on my days off. I think he needs more stimulation than staying in the cage.

Messy Boy

Benu is sure messy when eating his mash. You can see from the picture that he does dig in. I bet he is searching for the sprouted seeds in the mix more than trying out the other stuff in it, but at least he is digging in. With time he will surely realize more of the mix is food as well and enjoy himself even more. Doesn't he look cute.

More Pictures

I have been trying to figure out what color mutation Benu is, but it is still confusing. I thought him to be a gray, but I am reading that grays aren't all that common and most are actually mauve. So either way, he is probably mauve. Keep in mind, the pictures below may not be 100% accurate. The color of the face streak is not accurate and looks more gray blue in real life. His pictures I used flash. So here he is...

Here is his mash I made for him today. I made a ton of it...haha Next time I will do a smaller batch since this one will last a while. The ingrediets are cooked couscous, sprouted wheat, sprouted rye, sprouted barley, sprouted mung, sprouted lentils, sprouted adzuki, sprouted parakeet seed mix, and assorted vegetables (from Beak Appetit Veggie mix). The grains and legumes were sent through the food processor to mash it all together. Doesn't it look yummy?

He has a name...

My little bird is now named. He is called BENU, an egyptian god.

Here are some new pictures of his also. They were taken yesterday. There is one of his current cage set-up, the cage cover I made for his cage, and of him perching on my finger.



I have been working on hand taming him lately. As long as I move my finger slowly in his cage towards him, he will not run. I place my finger against his chest as I ask him to "up up". When I start to move with him on my finger he does panic a little. Most of the time I put him back on another perch, but sometimes I take him out. I need to work on getting him more comfortable about getting out of his cage since he seems to panic a bit on that still.

He has been eating better now. He eats his morning and evening mash a little. He loves his seeds the most, but it has been days since he has had dry seeds. They are all sprouted now. I am working on sprouting some mash for him instead of cooking them. It will take time to figure out when to start sprouts so I can make a batch of mash at a time and freeze the extra for future use. He has been eating Beak Appetit Apple Carrot Harvest for the past few days/nights.

My order from EucProducts in CA came a few days ago. I placed a custom order to get 2 branches, chew sticks, leaves (on sticks), and gum nuts. He worked with me to get me what I wanted. I plan to place orders again in the future.

I like the idea of the cage being more natural instead of filled with lots of plastic colorful unnatural stuff. I plan to turn my birds cage into a huge foraging activity. He will eventually get a play gym too which will be another foraging and exploring area.

Molting?

It looks like my little boy might be molting. Yesterday I thought there was more feathers around than normal. I found one of his flight feathers (cut one). He also has quills on top of his head where new feathers are. So he will be losing his barring. I guesstimate he is 4 months old so now I can decide his birthday. His birthday will be March 1st, 2008.

I was hoping for him to molt later since this means he will be growing new flight feathers. It is rather unfortunate that his current wing cut is horrible. Too many feathers were taken which causes him to just be able to flutter around hopelessly instead of glide. I wanted to hand tame him before he molted so I can let his wing feathers grow out. This way he can learn to fly properly and then give him a better cut. We will have to see how things go.

At least he is eating better. He seems to be eating some of the mash he gets. I offer him more sprouted seeds than dried ones since he takes them that way now. I do need to mince his vegetables up and mix it into his mash better. I plan to go to the health store this week to buy a few more foods for him.

As of yet, he still has no name. It has been very difficult to decide what fits him.

My sprouter

Since I have only 1 budgie, I don't need big costly sprouting kits. I only need to sprout a little at a time, so I used items I had to come up with a solution. I went through a few trials and errors until I got what I am using now.

Materials:
- The Lid portion of the Breyer's YoCrunch Yogurt. The section the candy is kept.
- Plastic mesh cut into a circle to fit inside the lid above. Normal grid is all you need and will keep small budgie seeds inside the container. You can probably use the wider mesh if you want more drainage for bigger items.
- Seeds, legumes, or grains you want to sprout. Larger beans will not fit and only small quantity does fit in this set-up.
- GSE (Grapefruit Seed Extract) **NOTE: I no longer use GSE anymore. I use a little ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar) now.**

To make sprouts I just place the seeds I want to sprout in the lid then cover with the mesh. I hold the mesh down while rinsing (pour water in and pour it back out). When clean, I leave enough water to emerge the seeds and add a drop of GSE (Grapefruit Seed Extract) for soaking. Then go about normal sprouting procedures.

The plus side is, you can use the bottom part of the yogurt cup as pots for growing wheatgrass or other plants. You can even use it with the lid for a mini green house. Nifty.

New little budgie

I have been looking for the perfect budgie for over a month when my eyes finally fell upon my little boy. I have wanted a gray one for a long time and couldn't believe my luck. Since I wanted a boy, I had to check his cere. Twice I confirmed it had some blue near the nostrils. To top things off, he didn't bite when he was caught (twice) and actually perched on my finger (scared of course) while store sales person got a box for him. So my perfect little budgie came home with me.

He spent a long time not moving from the branch I placed him in the cage, but when I stepped out to do grocery shopping, I found him on the other side of the cage at his food dish. I guess he got hungry. There he spent the rest of the night and most of the next day. Near his food dish.

I found him in the morning is another part of his cage near the bottom. And there he will probably be for a while, until I leave the room I suppose. He seems to like to do most of his activity when no one is looking.

He did sing a small song yesterday night when his covers were put on. It was so cute.

Here is a picture of his cage and one of him taken yesterday.