Unfortunately Polly has passed away.
She came to live with us on 19th April 2017, with her mate Pete. We think that Polly was around 6 years old.
Unfortunately Pete passed away in November of the same year with some long term health issues. We didn’t know Pete’s age as his previous carer found him outside – well actually he found her!
The year after Pete passed away, I rehomed Lemon and he moved in with Polly. They had regular disagreements about the swings in Polly’s cage. He wanted to sit on the big swing next to her at night and she didn’t want him to. He’d usually sneak on in the dark!
Polly loved to shred cuttlebone and balsa, she also sang really well, not the squeaky song of a lot of hens, but a full blown riot and headbob like the boys.
Eventually, Polly could no longer fly because she had a fatty lump and would plunge to the floor, so I moved her in with Hector. Hectors cage was better equiped for non-flying budgies.
George would feed and preen Polly through the bars. Lucy would sit on the bars outside and sing, sometimes bashing the bars at Polly, Polly would bash back.
I hope Polly enjoyed her time here, it was only 2 and a half years.
I was very upset to see her at the bottom of the cage this morning. She must have passed away in the night, but I didn’t hear anything (the bottom of the cages are padded with towels under the newspapers in case of falls)
We’ll miss you Polly. I like to think of you reunited with your beloved Pete.
Photos of Polly and Pete (she was the opaline sky blue hen)
Lucy loves sweetcorn enough to stand on it and eat it. She reminds me so much of my dearly departed Monty when she does this.
All the budgies enjoy baby sweetcorn!
This is what happens when you raise both hands in the air and startle the budgies.
They group together for safety and create a great photo opportunity.
Polly is cagebound but I was very happy to hear that she had recovered her singing voice today and has been giving delightful renditions of her favourite ditties for most of the day.
Lucy has been squawking at the top of her voice and sitting alongside Polly.
Blithe has been ambling about, just being a Blithe,singing and eating oats.
Lemon and George have been sitting together on the large swing.
At one point I went into the kitchen to wash my hands and George flew to the mirror in the living room, leant over and shouted at me. I guessed that he thought I should bring something out for the budgies, so I washed some dill and he got his wish. Triumphantly tucked into his food, after Lucy had her fill.
And then there were five..
The budgies (Lucy, Polly, Lemon, George and Blithe) were treated to some baby corn to try and cheer them up.
The girls destroyed their pieces very quickly, it’s hard to tell if they ate any of it.
Lemon is looking a little scruffy today because he is moulting.
Hector came to us on 1st January 2011 (with Custard1). He was a beautiful cobalt blue bird, at that time not human friendly.
Eventually he had friendships with Blueboy, Abbie and Blithe. But his longest lasting friendship was with us.
When I was in hospital in 2013 or 2014, my husband struck up a friendship with Hector. From that moment on, Hector would fly over to us.
Hector would sit with me and play with my thumb. Quite often I had to eat dinner one handed and with a spoon, it’s just not possible to use a knife and fork with a bird on your left hand.
I’m so sad that Hector has passed away, at the age of 10 years and 9 months. We loved having him stay with us, he was a wonderful friend. I sat with him all day yesterday offering him water and food. I think he knew that his time had come and would only take an occasional sip of water.
Fly high my fabulous friend. Until we meet again.
X
A few nights ago, I was standing by Hector and Polly’s cage.
A second after Hector had climbed to his perch I noticed that he’d fallen into his metal water bowl head first. I very quickly fished him out. Hector cannot fly and only has the use of one leg. We also think that he has arthritis.
There is no way that he could have got out of the water bowl on his own. I had not foreseen something like this happening, so I am so glad that I was standing there when it happened.
I was so worried that he had drowned or some water had got into his air sacs, but amazingly he was okay.
After I had dried him off in my hands and with some tissues, I put him in a tiny travel cage so that I could make his cage safe. I removed the metal water bowl and replaced it with two small plastic pots that he could not fall into. One for him and one for Polly.
I’m so glad you are okay Hector!
See attached photos, one of Hector in the small cage after I had dried him and one of him today looking handsome 🙂
Hector in tiny cage
Hector today
Since Custard passed away at the end of August, the budgies have been a bit subdued. This time last year there were 10 of them and there are now only 6. Last year we lost Billybob and Sky and this year Basil and Custard. It’s been a very sad time.
Today the budgies had some dill and it’s been a very sunny day so far, so they are very lively.
Lucy took a dive into the dill and claimed it as her own for 10 minutes before she would let any of the boys have any.
Hector and Polly are cagebound due to various issues and it being unsafe to let them out. But they still get the same treats as everyone else.
Here are some photos of them enjoying their dill.
I’m very upset to let you all know that Custard has gone.
I found him, this morning, at the bottom of the cage that he shares with Blithe.
He had a long illness (liver condition) but always seemed to spring back. Yesterday he was playing with Lemon and he ate his nightly small millet ration (I gave him that to keep his weight up)
We’re unsure of his age, seeing as he was found outside and then lived with Jason for a while, but he’d been with us more than 6 years.
We’ll all miss you Custard.
Photo is of George, Custard and Billybob (Billybob passed away last year, George is still with us)
A few weeks ago, Polly moved into Hectors cage.
I had to take this drastic step because Polly fell off her swing a couple of times. The second time it happened, it was in the middle of the night and she could not climb back up. I placed her on one of the perches and found in the morning that she was still there.
On closer inspection, we discovered that she has a fatty lump near her vent, this also makes it near impossible for her to gain enough height to fly back up if she lands on the floor.
Alas, she’s now cagebound. This is sad news. But, she seems to enjoy being in with Hector. For months before, she would cling on to the side of his cage and peer in at him.
I still provide her with daily cuttlebone and balsa to shred. Of course, Hector and Polly also get the same vegetable and millet rations as the others too.
She finds it easier to navigate Hectors cage as the bars are horizontal, it contains rope perches and two shelves to rest on and there is not a big drop. I also put a ladder in, so that she can climb back up if she does fall, but she can gain a tiny bit of height to propel herself up to the lower bars anyway.
Apologies for the quality of the photos but it’s hard to get photos of Polly, she doesn’t like the (budgie eating) camera.
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