Good home wanted for a cockatiel!

Subject: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 11:04 AM

Hello,

My name is Dini (as in Houdini - don't ask!). I have hijacked my uncle Dave's compter to tell of my sorry plight.

I am a Cockatiel of the Lutino(sp?) variety. I originaly belonged to Mrs Gnomes mum but she got poorly and couldn't keep me. I went to another house where I got picked on by a grumpy grey cockatiel called Spike.

I am very handsome, with lovely yellow and white plumage and rosy red cheeks. Be careful if you put your hand in my cage though coz I am very nervous and might bite! I could get used to the right person with a little TLC though:-> (smiley beak!)

I now reside at the home of the Gnome but there is a nasty little stripey beast with big teeth and claws that wants to eat me. I need to escape!

Uncle Dave is away most of next week but he says if there is anyone who wants to mind me with view to a long term relationship he will take me to their house if it is not too far away. Don't let him send me to America though coz I don't trust the post....

Email him on [e-mail] or ring him on 07771 957616 if you would like to meet me.

Go on, who's a pretty boy then....

Dini.

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: catspaw49
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 11:20 AM

We just love our 'Tiels and we too have plenty of cats. Were we in England we'd be happy to have you.

Maddy (gray normal) and Bineybird (albino) are both hand trained and they live in a room where we can shut the door and keep the cats out. When they are in their cage, they are safely protected with twist ties on all the openings. PHOTOS may still be online here

C'mon now....let's either talk Dave into keeping him or find a good English home. Tiels are wonderful birds to have, very personable with beautiful voices and pretty clean. They have distinctive and individual personalities..........and if we had NO cats, we'd have a housefull!!!

Seriously Dave, it's not hard to protect him by taking a few precautions and they really are great birds!!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 03:46 PM

Dini here again

Don't know what 'catspaw' means but it sounds nasty...;) Thanks anyway, 'spaw

I think I could get on with the stripey thing eventualy but uncle Dave keeps playing some stuff on his music box that is driving me nuts! Dunno who it is by but it keeps going "keeps me searchin' for a heart of gold" and "the needle and the damage done". I think if I don't get out of here soon I will have to scream...

The other trouble is that DtG says he doesn't really have the room. I think he will miss me when I'm gone though. Although he is minding that grouch, Spike and my friend Nancy the Skink (Skink a'Nancy gerrit??? eh?) for my ex-owner as well. Dunno how he does it. He must be a Really great guy:-)

Tweet, tweet

Dini

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: SINSULL
Date: 10 Jun 01 - 10:02 AM

No takers, yet? I have four of the stripey things here. No place for a bird. And the last package via the Post Office took two months - shipped Buffalo to NYC. Wise bird - stay on your side of the pond.

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: SINSULL
Date: 11 Jun 01 - 09:11 AM

Just a thought - you could put the bird up for auction. You get what you pay for so...a bidded bird might be more attractive than a freebie. The last refugee bird i took in turned out to be a demented seagull. We actually had to place it in a home for demented birds. It claimed to be a dove but that was a ploy.

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 12 Jun 01 - 04:15 AM

well ... I have one stripey thing, and the masked blotchy avenger who tastes have moved onto wabbits. We now have the blotchy one fitted with big bell to warn wabbits, feathery things to watch out.

I know my aunt would love another 'tiel' but she doesnt' trust my uncle with birds anymore as he sucked her last one up the hoover tube... whilst she was away visiting my cousin, he decided to take the lazy option for cleaning the bottom of tweeties (silly name) cage, by sticking the hoover into the bottom of the cage...

Tweety being a bit of a grouch hissed at the pipe a couple of times and then ooooooooooofuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrclompshhhhhhhhh.... there he was.... legs a kimbo - waving at my uncle from the tube.

Now before all you bird lovers start shouting, tweety survived, never really forgiving my uncle minus a few feathers...

Despite all that tweety is now no more... old age... My aunt would say yes, but then I am sure she'd take one look at my uncle and say NO! There'll never be another tweety... sob.. sigh... sob...

Sorry! Dini... I reckon you should stay with Dave, petition for a seperate cage from the Grouch... the Gnome might buy you a smashing new pad, complete with en suite, where you can sneer and jibe at 'grouch' and ne nee ner neee ner him!

Ella

:)

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 12 Jun 01 - 04:22 AM

Send it to the Bernard Matthews bird care centre and mini-drumsticks emporium, Norfolk. (sorry, bad taste, echoes of Python or Goodies, I'll slink away, sorry, sorry...)
RtS ("Albatross, on a stick..."

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: wdyat12
Date: 12 Jun 01 - 10:06 AM

Dini,

I know you have a way with words, but can you write music and sing? These may be very usefull skills to advertise if you're looking for a new gig.

wdyat12

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: Noreen
Date: 12 Jun 01 - 11:25 AM

That's a thought.. do you like singing, Dini, and concertina playing? If you do, we could get on well...

Noreen

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: Noreen
Date: 12 Jun 01 - 01:38 PM

Daughter Catherine says: "Yes please," Dave...

Noreen

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Jun 01 - 03:21 PM

Hey Noreen............Cockatiels are wonderful singers and have a wide variety of songs and noises they make. Maddy is especially vocl and will call to me when I'm a room away and we whistle back and forth. Some of it is more parrot sounding and some of it is very songbird like.

Sorry Noreen, but I just love 'Tiels!!! In many ways the perfect bird, especially if hand trained. Ours love to be out but Bineybird spends most of her time out on a shoulder.....almost likes to cuddle a bit. Maddy is all over and thinks the computer, cage top, and our bodies, are just big "Cockatiel Playgrounds."

Spaw (pulling for you Dini)

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 Jun 01 - 08:33 AM

DtG is darn souf 'till Saturday and then in Yorkshire 'till Sunday. I seem to have three potential takers now. Hope he doesn't cut me up...:-( I'll try to keep you posted while he is away.

Dini

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: SINSULL
Date: 13 Jun 01 - 08:38 AM

Good. 'Cause I think I just figured out why my new kitten is eating us out of house and home. Anyone want/need a kitten? I am told the father is a Persian.

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: WyoWoman
Date: 13 Jun 01 - 11:00 PM

I had the sweetest 'tiel a few years ago: Bird Dot Com. When I was mad at him, I'd call him Bird Dot Commie, but that was infrequent. I taught him "Louie, Louie," "William Tell Overture," "Four Seasons" (ok, only the first few notes of William Tell and the first few Notes of "Spring" in the Four Seasons. Still ... ) and several others, which he would begin to whistle enthusiastically at the crack of dawn. Nice on weekdays because it beat even National Public Radio as a wake-up call. On weekends, it got old.

He also loved to take warm showers with me and would perch on my shoulder looking like a drowned rat and singing his wee lil heart out. I miss Birdie Dot and when I get moved into permanent digs I might actually get another. I have a cat and had two dogs at the time and, though I didn't let Bird Dot out when they were all in the room, eventually the carnivores quit licking their chops whenever they looked at the Feathered One. Yes, twist ties on the door of the cage are excellent insurance agents ...

ww

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: Sorcha
Date: 13 Jun 01 - 11:15 PM

Sins, WHY is the kitten eating you out of house and home? Does it have worms???? Or, does it want a 'tiel friend?

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Jun 01 - 11:21 PM

We've had a least one 'tiel at a time, sometimes two, over the past 20 years. Always with a houseful of cats and twist ties on the cage. The first cage I made out of broadcloth wire. I walked into a pet store, heard a beautiful "wolf" whistle and fell in love with Pretty Bird. I hung bells on the outside of his cage, which discouraged the cats and let me know if they were trying to get to him.

I added a zebra finch, which I later found out the experts say you should never do and from then on PB had to have a finch or he'd get sad. He would sit on the lower rung, while Mr. Finch would climb up on the top one, bend over and preen PB's crest for him. It was adorable. PB and Mr. F road in the belly of the airplane with five of the cats and the dog when we moved to New England from Wyoming.

When we finally got flush enough for a storebought cage, it was the saddest day. The food cups in the new cage had hoods on them to keep the seeds from spilling out. I went to uncover his cage a few mornings later and he was dead on the bottom of the cage. It looked as though he'd hit his head on the cup hood, or gotten it stuck and struggled or something. We got rid of those cups with the next 'tiel.

That one was a female who didn't whistle near as much or as prettily as the male ones, but when we were given a male by a piano teacher who said he was too loud for her lessons, she found lots to sing about. She was a very happy bird!

Now, we just have one, another rescue. He does sing very well, esp. to Edna Ritchie's tape with her singing and playing dulcimer.

There is an old couple here who are licensed bird rescuers. Every year, in addition to all of the wild birds they take care of, they also have a few lost or abandoned domestic types. One time when I visited they had about 20 'tiels wandering around their living room. They told me one of them had been brought in by a couple on a motorcylce. They were riding cross-country and stopped at Independence Rock, which is way out in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, as they started back down the highway, there was this little cockatiel strutting down the middle of the road! They picked it up and it road to town inside the woman's leather jacket. Pretty cool bird.

Good luck, Dini, sounds like you've got some great offers. I know that 'tiels are one of the cleanest, sweetest birds one can have and whoever gets you will be lucky.

kat

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Jun 01 - 11:37 PM

Funny about the showers..........Both Maddy and Biney LOVE the shower, but their reaction is different then WW's bird. These two go into some sort of trance-like condition and just really zone out! We have a shower head that has a "mist" setting (also very romantic) and the damn 'Tiels would sit with you til the hot water is gone! They have their heads slightly down and forward and just stare straight ahead, swallowing occasionally......It's funnier than hell.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: Sorcha
Date: 14 Jun 01 - 12:06 AM

You should have seen the duck when it was a duck-ling in the shower with Bubba.......that was funny too! Can't catch him now.

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: catspaw49
Date: 14 Jun 01 - 12:17 AM

So the duck won't take a shower with Bubba anymore huh? So doesn't this make you wonder about Bubba just a bit?

Spaw

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: JenEllen
Date: 14 Jun 01 - 12:28 AM

When I was in school yet, my roommate had a gorgeous Amazon parrot. The damn thing LOVED the showers. Shelly'd take her in to bathe with her (I could never bring myself to do it..) But, everytime someone left the bathroom wrapped in a towel, the bird would give this great big "who-HOO" wolf-whistle. We'd thank her for the compliment, and move on. She also loved playing in the hose-spray and 'helping' to wash the car.

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: Deni
Date: 14 Jun 01 - 05:58 AM

The first posting on this thread made me laugh my head off, there it goes, rolling down the stairs. The downside is, I now want a cockatiel, very much. 6 months ago, I felt like this but bought a dog instead. But the feeling doesn't go away....

Drat. Deni

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 14 Jun 01 - 06:30 AM

Dave... u are barking! lol

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 14 Jun 01 - 08:51 AM

I sound like a telephone occasionaly, and sometinmes a fire engine, but I NEVER bark.

Mind you I could try it - mught scare the stripey thing away...:-)

Dini

Subject: RE: Good home wanted for a cockatiel!
From: SINSULL
Date: 14 Jun 01 - 09:08 AM

Sorcha - I believe she is eating for six or seven. We will visit the vet this weekend and find out for sure. Ever see a cat with a curly tail? Very strange. And she gets insulted if I try to straighten it.