As the birds started to settle in, Chicken's personality developed more. She's an absolute diva and a bully, so she fluffs up and preens when anyone tells her she's beautiful, but other than that she has no use for humans, and as far as the bullying goes, anytime someone goes for food, she's got to go too and push them out of the way until she has had enough. The only time she's not first for food is if it's a human holding it, in which case she'll stay in the back of the cage thank you very much. A major part of the development of the more assertive part of her personality came from the contribution of my husband. Chicken's beak continued to stay a pearly shade with a blue sheen to it for almost a year, so we figured she was really a boy, and that perhaps the lutino coloring meant the ceres would never go blue. So we figured it was safe to buy another boy bird, and picked up the sweetheart bird I named prairie for his blue and cream feathers like the sky over winter chaff. We hoped Prairie's calm manner would have a soothing effect on Chicken and make her feel like more part of a flock, but she remained a nervous wreck basket case. In the meantime, my letting the birds out of their cage to stretch their wings was making my husband a nervous wreck basket case due to their leaving presents behind. So my husband built an eight foot by three foot aviary for them on a raised cabinet under which we can store our filing cabinets and various wood bits etc. used for the construction. Chicken took to this like a fish to water, and makes great use of the back section of the cage where I hung a screen of toys. With the ability to hide when she chooses, she now chooses to hide much less often, and stays fluffed up most of the time.

This fluffing is an indication that the parakeets are content and feel safe. My husband refers to it as "your parakeet exploded again," in reference to Piglet or "the tennis ball" in reference to Chicken. They are even cuter when they do this, looking rather like a large egg someone covered in feathers. Prairie was a very nice addition to the flock, and while I regretfully ended his two-week quarantine period to add him to the other birds because I was really enjoying our bonding time, he had started crying out to the other birds during their morning ruckus quite pitifully, and I couldn't bear to disappoint him. He was happy as a clam to join the mini-flock, and while it took a week or so for them to get over their "who the heck is this" reaction, eventually all settled in. He picked up a little bit of Chicken's skittishness around people, but is still pretty straightforward about enjoying it when I talk to him.

The disadvantage of keeping them in the aviary and in a group is that they really don't fully bond with me, but they're happier for it overall, so I have to go with it being the best for them. Unfortunately, Chicken's beak at last started changing color, and went a clearly bland dull beige color - she's definitely a girl. She began to pair-bond with Piglet just as Prairie started to grow up, and when they were well-bonded was when Prairie decided that he wanted a girlfriend too, and then the great foofaraw started. Piglet would woo Chicken but never got time alone with her because Prairie kept popping up to pester them, and when Piglet went to get food, Prairie would be bugging Chicken, despite the clear message intended by her frequency of pecking him in the head. Personally, I think Prairie is the more handsome of the two, but maybe Chicken goes for eating machines. I was hoping this would all settle out, but it hasn't, and they spent a great deal of time, effort and worry on the whole love triangle thing.

In other developments, they completely rejected the pellet feed and started spitting it across the cage and refusing to eat. This worried me enough that I eventually caved and we're back on seeds. They still believe fruit is a weapon of Satan, but I taught Prairie to eat brocolli when he was in quarantine and fed it to him without comment or fuss after adding him to the flock, and they followed his lead, so I do have some way to get more nutritious food into the birds. I also have been hanging up lettuce leaves and after showing the little yellow demon "look, you can shred this, see?" she led the others in merry destruction, so lettuce-eating is a happy group function now. I was concerned about how much fat they get from the millet, so I ordered a number of different types of seed that require some work to get to, like foxtail millet, or seeds that come in pods they have to break, and it is both more entertaining for them and varies their diet more, as well as giving them some modest exercise working for their food. Chicken maintains her food supremacy. She is such a lemon-sour bird!

Thanks to Chicken's skittishness, Piglet's hand and stick training was undone, and Prairie follows their lead - them suspicious and him going "really?" So I am rarely hands-on with the birds now, only catching them to trim their claws on occasion or for a vet checkup, but I do talk to them a great deal through the aviary lattice and Prairie in particular seems to enjoy it. I read them chapters of books as well, to which they're happy to respond by chattering endlessly while I'm talking, I guess the tone and pattern of reading aloud is more like their own chatter whereas when I'm talking to them individually they pay a great deal of attention.

Pictures at last - who's the mystery guy on the far left? Read on to the next entry for news! ^_^