Smoki was our first
hand fed baby purchased from a breeder. Her first night at her new
home was everything we hoped it would be. She was lovable, sweet,
had a great appetite and was very playful.
I prepared her
a monkey biscuit that was sent home by the breeder. She said she
loved them mixed with a little warm water. Remember this was
our first hand fed baby...watching her eat this biscuit from a spoon was
the cutest thing we had ever seen. For such a little thing
she sure had a big appetite. She wanted more after eating the
two she was given, but I decided against it. The last thing
I wanted was her getting sick on us her very first night. Jerry held
and snuggled with her for a few minutes until her bedtime. She went
into her cage, took a drink of water, then found her a comfortable corner
on her perch to rest for the night.
The following
day she was taken to the vet for a thorough checkup. She passed the
immediate tests with flying colors, as well as the lab tests that were
sent off for testing. As all parents, we were very proud of how well
our baby reacted with the doctor. The vet agreed that she was a beautiful
Timneh with a very sweet disposition. She alerted us to the fact
that although they are extremely smart they can also become extremely frustrated
with feather plucking. This usually happens during mating season,
especially if they have become attached to one special person.
After a few days
Jerry and I had a disagreement on Smoki eating her biscuit each night before
going to bed. I wanted to continue feeding her by spoon, while he
suggested that she could eat it from the dish by herself. It was
true she could eat it by herself with no problem, but being our first hand
fed baby and me being a mother. Well do I need to say more ;)
I took over the
feeding process giving Jerry more time to spend with Charlie. As
it was Smoki was wanting to spend more time with me anyhow. She seemed
more comfortable with women. I assumed this was due to her breeder
being a woman. When I took over the feeding she went into what
I call her baby mode, begging and cuddling with each bite. Jerry
said she was my baby. From that day on she literally was my
baby.
She didn't want anything to do with anyone else on a steady basis.
I was flattered with Smoki's attention, but it wasn't suppose to be that
way. She was brought into our home for Jerry. Our first realization
that you don't choose your birds, they choose you, was coming true.
We noticed some
strain in our activities with Smoki being in quarantine. We were
off in different areas of the townhouse doing different things for the
birds. How nice it would be to share it all together in one room.
Those six weeks seemed to last forever. Once we got the final test
results Smoki joined all of the family.
She got to see,
for the first time, which bird was giving off the horrible screams every
night at dusk. Charlie wasn't too sure what to think of this newest
member. "She was much larger than Sydney", Charlie thought as she
checked her out. The two of them soon learned to respect each other
from a distance.
During the next
few weeks Smoki learned to mimic everything from the microwave to the opening
and closing of the doors. At first I was constantly going to the
living room to see who was coming in. Or running to the kitchen
to take things out, of the micro, when they were still cooking, realizing
it was Smoki making the sounds.
She was so much
company with all her sounds. All except one......Charlie....she could
do her perfectly!!! In fact so well that she would do it to get Charlie
in trouble. Then call her a bad girl...with a long shhhhhhhhhhhut
uppppppp following her routine. It was very difficult not to
laugh, but if you did she would just continue until it was no longer cute,
it was irritating, even to Charlie.
It was about
this time that we decided our feathered friends needed bigger cages and
more play area. To give them more play area meant giving us
less.
We were reaching the point of what do we need and what don't we need.
First thing to go were my plants by the sliding glass door in the kitchen.
This was now a part of their play area. Odds and ends on one living
room wall was now a place for their larger cages. They loved it all
so much I didn't really mind giving them the area. Not only did they
love it but it also allowed us easier access to clean their area.
By the time Smoki
was 4 months old there were not many things she couldn't say.
The surprising thing was the fact she seemed to use logic not just repetition
or mimicking.
One day Jacob
came in from school wanting to go to the park. I told him when he
finished his homework. He asked again. This time I said "no"
not until you finish your homework. Before I could finish my
sentence Smoki said "Jacob is a bad boy". Jacob and I were
both shocked at Smoki's reply. I figured it was the word "no" that
was triggering her response. She decided (logically thinking)
if I told Jacob "no" it meant he was being a bad boy. Smoki
assumed that no=bad due to her human teachers.
Since no doesn't = bad I decided to change my strategy
in correcting our babies.
If I used the
word "no" I didn't follow with "bad boy or bad girl". This was not
an easy habit to break for Smoki or myself. They say African Greys
are extremely intelligent forgetting nothing. trust me I know this is true.
Months later she was still saying Jacob is a bad boy if I used the word
"no" associated with Jacob's name or even if I was making a remark to Jacob
with the word "no" in the sentence.
Smoki tolerated
Jerry and Jacob once they picked her up, but as they approached and reached
for her you would think they were killing her. She would let out
with this blood curling scream not stopping until she was actually picked
up. I think this was her way of trying to put fear into their reach.
After awhile she realized this wouldn't work with either of them so she
gave up the screaming when they approached. It was obvious she loved
both of them, but I guess maybe she read too many books that stated African
Greys usually take to only one master. She was just a softy
with a tough exterior.
Charlie and Smoki
started getting along much better on the larger play area. It was
already established Smoki was queen of the pecking order so their time
together was spent quietly admiring each other, from a distance.
At least Smoki wasn't chasing Charlie around the area trying to bite her
tail off anymore.
They played and
sang in harmony. Charlie loved to sing Old McDonald, with her quack
quack part, as Smoki sang Old McDonald shut up Charlie. Together
they were quite a team. They would never admit
to it but I know they missed each other when one was off in another room.
Either that or they were just curious if the other was having more fun
than they were having at the moment. Either way there was never a
dull moment. For that matter there wasn't much time period to be bored.
