Eliza
02-23-2007, 07:42 PM
... that I found while wasting time on-line this eve.
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060506/love.shtml
Is it me or was this article poorly researched :confused:
-e-
ETA:
Adding text in case the link doesn't work:
First comes love, then come babies
Lovebirds hatch unexpected chicks in rare 'magical' event
By Paul Huggins
DAILY Staff Writer
phuggins@decaturdaily.com · 340-2395
Mr. Winkle's wife threw a tantrum when he left home abruptly Thursday night.
When he returned 10 minutes later, she greeted him with grief and torment, as though he'd been out all night drinking with the boys.
But who can blame her? After all, Peri, as she's called, became a surprise mother 10 days ago — under circumstances far from ideal. Forgive her for being stressed.
And forgive her owner, Chriscina Crutch, for being excited and acting as though the recent hatchlings of lovebirds were babies she carried for a nine-month term.
This blessed event is more than simply the first time Crutch has seen her pets produce offspring. It's close to being a miracle, if you ask Dr. Jan Strother of the North Alabama Cat and Bird Veterinarian Clinic.
Lovebirds, diminutive parrots easily confused as parakeets, almost never reproduce in a home bird cage, especially when they are as young as Peri and Winkle. They're sort of like teenagers who had a baby on their own in the ghetto.
"You have to have the mood just right, the lighting just right, all sorts of things that you don't find in a typical cage at home," said Dr. Strother. "This is really phenomenal that it's happened."
What makes it doubly amazing to her is that the birds are barely more than a year old, which is a rare age to have chicks, especially in less than perfect conditions. And still more amazing is that the youngsters, even under the duress of not having a decent nest, have been perfect parents, she said.
"They won't even become nesty if you don't provide a little hut for them or a little box or nesting thing," Dr. Strother said. "But lo and behold, (Peri) just picked up some paper from the bottom of the cage and made her own nest."
And there's yet another surprise.
When Crutch, a 1996 Austin High School graduate and 3M engineer, bought the birds in Chicago in March 2005, the pet store told her she had two females.
Dr. Strother suspected they were male and female when she gave them their first check-up last year, but she never did a blood test to confirm. Peri put the question to rest a month ago when she laid the first egg.
Peri laid 11 eggs but instinctively culled five to make her nest more manageable.
The first egg hatched April 28, the second on the 29th, the third on May 1 and fourth Wednesday. The second chick died the day after it hatched. Peri continues to incubate two more eggs in the nest.
The births mean a new lifestyle for Crutch and her mother, Racine Crutch.
Crutch rises at 6 a.m. to replace the birds' water and food. She bakes them special corn muffins filled with mixed vegetables and prepares small pieces of fruit, lettuce and boiled eggs. Racine Crutch comes by at 7:30 a.m. for another check, and her daughter returns home on her lunch break for yet another check.
They hand-feed Winkle, who chews and softens the food before passing it to Peri to feed to the chicks.
Chriscina Crutch, 27, said the experience has been a good scheduling lesson for motherhood some day. Her mom said she already feels like a grandmother.
"I can't wait to show my pictures," Racine Crutch said.
Hand-fed lovebirds can sell for more than $200, but Chriscina Crutch said she isn't ready to sell, becoming more attached to them each day.
Talking the talk
The Crutches have one reason not to be surprised by the unlikely offspring. Peri and Winkle already have defied the odds by talking.
Debra Morgan, owner of The Nature's Chest bird store, said because they're parrots, lovebirds have the capability to talk, but for some unknown reason, few ever do.
"From my experience in over 20 years of dealing with parrots, probably 5 percent of lovebirds will ever talk," she said.
Peri and Winkle regularly speak phrases such as "Pretty bird," "Come here," and "Do you hear me talking to you?" — all words they picked up from Chriscina Crutch.
"They recognize their names," Crutch said. "And they listen to everything you say. They're really attentive as though they are trying to figure out what you're trying to say."
The birds are a special mutation of a species called peach-faced lovebirds, which are native to West Africa. In the 1960s, breeders in Holland developed the hybrid that Crutch owns, called Dutch Blues.
Lovebirds typically mate for life. Crutch said Peri and Winkle, named for their colorful forehead swaths, like to snuggle and hide together. Considering their attachment, it's no wonder Peri gets flustered when Winkle leaves the cage briefly.
Dr. Strother said lovebirds usually get so much special attention from their owners that they are ill-equipped to be parents.
"My experience with pampered birds is they fail miserably as parents because they're used to being spoiled," she said.
That's another reason why Peri and Winkle are so amazing, Dr. Strother added. They had to be coddled in order to feel safe enough to mate, but they have taken such good care of their chicks that they don't appear to be spoiled.
"Whatever they did," she said, "it was definitely a magical, romantic situation for the birds."
THE DECATUR DAILY
201 First Ave. S.E.
P.O. Box 2213
Decatur, AL 35609
(256) 353-4612
webmaster@decaturdaily.com
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060506/love.shtml
Is it me or was this article poorly researched :confused:
-e-
ETA:
Adding text in case the link doesn't work:
First comes love, then come babies
Lovebirds hatch unexpected chicks in rare 'magical' event
By Paul Huggins
DAILY Staff Writer
phuggins@decaturdaily.com · 340-2395
Mr. Winkle's wife threw a tantrum when he left home abruptly Thursday night.
When he returned 10 minutes later, she greeted him with grief and torment, as though he'd been out all night drinking with the boys.
But who can blame her? After all, Peri, as she's called, became a surprise mother 10 days ago — under circumstances far from ideal. Forgive her for being stressed.
And forgive her owner, Chriscina Crutch, for being excited and acting as though the recent hatchlings of lovebirds were babies she carried for a nine-month term.
This blessed event is more than simply the first time Crutch has seen her pets produce offspring. It's close to being a miracle, if you ask Dr. Jan Strother of the North Alabama Cat and Bird Veterinarian Clinic.
Lovebirds, diminutive parrots easily confused as parakeets, almost never reproduce in a home bird cage, especially when they are as young as Peri and Winkle. They're sort of like teenagers who had a baby on their own in the ghetto.
"You have to have the mood just right, the lighting just right, all sorts of things that you don't find in a typical cage at home," said Dr. Strother. "This is really phenomenal that it's happened."
What makes it doubly amazing to her is that the birds are barely more than a year old, which is a rare age to have chicks, especially in less than perfect conditions. And still more amazing is that the youngsters, even under the duress of not having a decent nest, have been perfect parents, she said.
"They won't even become nesty if you don't provide a little hut for them or a little box or nesting thing," Dr. Strother said. "But lo and behold, (Peri) just picked up some paper from the bottom of the cage and made her own nest."
And there's yet another surprise.
When Crutch, a 1996 Austin High School graduate and 3M engineer, bought the birds in Chicago in March 2005, the pet store told her she had two females.
Dr. Strother suspected they were male and female when she gave them their first check-up last year, but she never did a blood test to confirm. Peri put the question to rest a month ago when she laid the first egg.
Peri laid 11 eggs but instinctively culled five to make her nest more manageable.
The first egg hatched April 28, the second on the 29th, the third on May 1 and fourth Wednesday. The second chick died the day after it hatched. Peri continues to incubate two more eggs in the nest.
The births mean a new lifestyle for Crutch and her mother, Racine Crutch.
Crutch rises at 6 a.m. to replace the birds' water and food. She bakes them special corn muffins filled with mixed vegetables and prepares small pieces of fruit, lettuce and boiled eggs. Racine Crutch comes by at 7:30 a.m. for another check, and her daughter returns home on her lunch break for yet another check.
They hand-feed Winkle, who chews and softens the food before passing it to Peri to feed to the chicks.
Chriscina Crutch, 27, said the experience has been a good scheduling lesson for motherhood some day. Her mom said she already feels like a grandmother.
"I can't wait to show my pictures," Racine Crutch said.
Hand-fed lovebirds can sell for more than $200, but Chriscina Crutch said she isn't ready to sell, becoming more attached to them each day.
Talking the talk
The Crutches have one reason not to be surprised by the unlikely offspring. Peri and Winkle already have defied the odds by talking.
Debra Morgan, owner of The Nature's Chest bird store, said because they're parrots, lovebirds have the capability to talk, but for some unknown reason, few ever do.
"From my experience in over 20 years of dealing with parrots, probably 5 percent of lovebirds will ever talk," she said.
Peri and Winkle regularly speak phrases such as "Pretty bird," "Come here," and "Do you hear me talking to you?" — all words they picked up from Chriscina Crutch.
"They recognize their names," Crutch said. "And they listen to everything you say. They're really attentive as though they are trying to figure out what you're trying to say."
The birds are a special mutation of a species called peach-faced lovebirds, which are native to West Africa. In the 1960s, breeders in Holland developed the hybrid that Crutch owns, called Dutch Blues.
Lovebirds typically mate for life. Crutch said Peri and Winkle, named for their colorful forehead swaths, like to snuggle and hide together. Considering their attachment, it's no wonder Peri gets flustered when Winkle leaves the cage briefly.
Dr. Strother said lovebirds usually get so much special attention from their owners that they are ill-equipped to be parents.
"My experience with pampered birds is they fail miserably as parents because they're used to being spoiled," she said.
That's another reason why Peri and Winkle are so amazing, Dr. Strother added. They had to be coddled in order to feel safe enough to mate, but they have taken such good care of their chicks that they don't appear to be spoiled.
"Whatever they did," she said, "it was definitely a magical, romantic situation for the birds."
THE DECATUR DAILY
201 First Ave. S.E.
P.O. Box 2213
Decatur, AL 35609
(256) 353-4612
webmaster@decaturdaily.com