Can you believe it??

Last Holiday season, a good friend and wonderful human being sent a gorgeous gift from her aviary! 

If you are not already familiar with Pandemonium Aviaries, check them out!  They do AWESOME work and have one of the most artistic and beautiful aviaries I have ever visited.  The staff and students that surround the facility/home are amazing and caring...you can truly see that the birds come first!

Okay, okay, but I'm getting ahead of myself BECAUSE the main reason (and to toot PA's horn too!) is to talk about the absolutely beautiful ornament she sent for Holiday season 2011!  Check it out!  Can't you just imagine an entire tree decorated with these and add an elaborate feather topper!  I want one!  But these are another project that is easy to do.  Collect feathers (LOTS and lots of feathers for a really long time!) and purchase jewelry cones, put some hot glue inside the cone...insert feathers and wallaaa...gorgeous ornament or inexpensive gift!

Meet the Flock....Jade!

Hey!
Jade is our newest baby girl!  Jade came to us from Dr. Susan Clubb, she's an absolute sweetheart!  Jade is a Meyers Parrot and she hatched 3/24/12!

Jade's mission at the Learning Center is to meet visitors...what I mean by that is she's a great example of how wonderful of a pet, a bird can be.  She's a nice, non-intimidating size, she's very sweet and friendly.  Jade meets and steps up for most visitors, we especially use her in our education program "what makes a bird a bird"....this program is for our young children and Jade's perfect.

We've been working on socializing Jade with other Education animals and we have a cute little video of some of that in action!  Enjoy!  If you are working on socializing any animals with other animals, you need to supervise closely.  We're always right there and watching the body language between the animals...we're ready to step in at anytime...just in case someone decides to be aggressive!  We're there to swoop in and save the day.

You've already met, Packer...our Senegal Parrot, well Jade is stepping in for Packer.  Packer is getting old (over 20) and she's not as excited about meeting person after person like she was when she was a "spring chicken". Don't get me wrong, Packer is still a big part of education...just a little more on the DL!

Meet the flock- Beni!!

Hello Again!

I'm not sure how many of you follow Barbara Heidenreich and her Good Bird Inc blog, (if you don't...you should!) but if you do/did I wanted to officially introduce you to Beni our Caninde Macaw.  We purchased Beni from Wendy a breeder out of Texas and once weaned he spent a few exciting months with Barbara working on some training.  Below is a video of Jessica working with Beni, she's training him a new behavior where the takes an object and carries it with him as he flies to another location and drops it in a bowl.  I apologize for the video, I must have had way too much coffee! 

Watch Video!

Beni has been a great addition to the Kaytee Learning Center family!  We love him so much and so do visitors!  Since Beni is flighted, he does a great job flying from us to  visitor and it's such a thrill for them to have this beautiful, rare bird land on their arm.  Beni is a GREAT sport and we love him so much....although he loves us all...he LOVES Jessica! :)

Beni in action!

Meet the Flock...Tripp!

Tripp is my own personal bird, he's a male Peach Faced Lovebird!  He's my second Peach Faced lovebird, my first was Beanie and we were together for 16 years. Beanie's photo can actually be found in a lot of our advertising and packaging. So proud!

Beanie!

Tripp lived in my office with me (yes, past tense!) and a typical day for him would start with housekeeping, fresh food and water...all while he sat on my shoulder and we visited.  When he'd get bored he'd set out on his "daily adventures". 

After he left my office each morning he would "bust out" his buddy, which was another lovebird that lives in a large gazebo enclosure. As you can see Tripp and his buddy pretty much thought they owned the place!  You can see them visiting with their friend Sydney the Cockatiel and meandering around on all sorts of adventures, until...

Tripp decided he was going to take a stab at living in the Gazebo!  That's right one day he followed his buddy (now his lover!) right into the Gazebo and he was over me! :(  Ok, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic because he still comes out and visits with me but it's just not like it used to be.  I feel like a Mom who's son just decided to move in with his girlfriend and leave home for the first time.  Sorry, enough of my wallowing because honestly I've never seen Tripp happier!  Those two are always preening one another and snuggling...they are doing what lovebirds love to do and that's a good thing!  Do you have any cute stories of your crazy furry or feathered family? Please Share!

Heart Touching Short Film that should wake us all up!

Hello again!

Someone shared a link with me to a short film.  This film should be viewed by EVERYONE, please repost to help gain awareness.  Before I say anything more, take a moment to watch the film. Click Here to view.

Ok, take a moment to gain your composure because if you're like me this broke my heart and made me ashamed of us, humans.  40% of the Laysan Albatross chicks die each year because they have been fed plastics that their parents picked up while searching for food.  A study showed that 97.5% of all the Laysan Albatross chicks had plastic in their stomachs...97.5%!   It is estimated that around the world 100,000 sea turtles and marine mammals as well as one million sea birds will die from eating plastics.  That's astounding and unbelievably sad.  We all need to go GREEN and take recycling serious.I know this is a bummer/downer post, but sometimes we need those as a wake-up call.  My goal is to spread the word on how terrible our plastic water bottles, plastic shopping bags, etc. are for the environment and the animals that call it home. Please share and think twice before you use or dispose of something plastic.  Thank you.  Pass it on.  If you have recycling, reusing, reducing tips...please share!

Scrub-a-Dub Chin-chillin'

So, we've talked about how cute it is watching a bird enjoy a bath...but it's nothing compared to a Chinchilla getting his "groove on" in his dust bath!  Just like bathing a bird, it's important for a Chinchilla to bathe as well.  These lil' guys need to roll around in their species specific dust to keep their fur clean, dry and oil free.  Check out the video...sorry, you have to turn your head to watch it!

Bathing your chin is a win-win...he gets a healthy coat and you get a few minutes of entertainment.  We make sure our chinchillas bathe 2-3 times a week, be sure their bath stays clean because sometimes they like to multi-task and make their "bath tub" the toilet too.  If you have a Chinchilla and any stories about bath time or anything else that is fun to share...please do!

Meet the herd....Ping & Ling!

Ping and Ling are our education pigs! 

Guests visiting the Learning Center get the opportunity to feed Ping and Ling a healthy snack!  On days we have visitors their diet is limited, so we don't over feed these lil' oinkers!  The squeals and squeaks that guinea pigs let out are some of the most entertaining sounds that come out of an animal and you can count on hearing it every time they hear their timothy hay bag rattle or the treat bag rattle or anything that crinkles even if it's not food or not for them! 

The video above is a sample of what Learning Center guests get to do...feed a lil cavie! If you have a guinea pig story, please share!