Welcome Back
A sad post today, followers of mine on Twitter will have heard me mentiontion Minty being poorley. After a couple of months fighting a digestion problem, I’m sorry to say that when I came down on Tuesday (7th June) morning, I discovered that Minty had passed away over night.
R.I.P Minty 2006 - 2011
Minty came to live with us on 6 June 2006, with his sister Sky who he was absolutely devoted to, Harry and Kingfisher Blue. The others have passed some while ago now, and Minty has been sharing the big cage with Tiny, who joined us in 2007 and since last November Robin.
Minty’s claim to fame was that he was a tail man! If anyone sat near him they would get their tail preened, with or without their permission. Minty would grab the ends of their tails with his beak, hold the end of their tail with one foot and ever so gently preen it. You would often hear shreaks of horror from the others as they were being preened against their will. But you never saw a more gentle loving bird. Even if everyone had ratty tails where Minty had been preening them. He was inseparable from Sky and would feed and preen her all day long. Sky would mix it up with the others and Minty would be right behind her. In 2009 when Sky passed Minty lost the plot, he went very forlorn and hasn’t been the same since. We got Robin as a partner bird but Minty never took to him, and when Harry passed last year, Robin and Tiny became close and now preen each other.
If you are wondering about the Angel Wings reference at the top of the picture, it’s because ever since he was little, when he got hot Minty would sit holding his wings open, to cool down. From the back he looked like an Angel. Hense the nick name Angel Wings.
Luckily you won’t see a dip in service as I have a good few posts written ahead of time, in case of computer failures, but I’m going awol for a bit to recover.
Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon
Billie x
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So sorry to hear your sad news Billie. Just hate times like this as it strikes so deeply.
Do hope none of your other birds pine at the loss.
Big hugs
Lynn xx
Thanks Lynn
After years of keeping birds, I have discovered a way to help them over the loss and not to pine. When Sky died, (she had a fall, we rushed her to the vet but she died on route). I put the body in the cage, the other birds came down to her to look. At first they called quietly to her, then flew around calling loudly to see if she would join in, then came back down to look again. After a few rounds of this they went back to the top of the cage and never called for her again. It took less than an hour. I guess that’s what would happen in the wild, they would encourage a poorley one, then eventually have to fly on to the next place without them. Minty never got over her loss, but didn’t call for her.
I couldn’t put Minty in the cage with the others as he had been ill. So I put him on top of the little cage, near them and within sight. The same thing happend as had done with Sky, they came, called gently, bombed around calling loudly, then came back to look. After a while they got on with their day. They have been settled and contented and not called for him once.
Not being morbid or weird. It is sad to watch, but we don’t have the words they would understand to tell them what happened. This way, they can see whats happend and react as they normally would if they were in the wild. Its much better than wisking the body away so they ‘don’t see and get upset’. I used to do that but it was heartbreaking when partner birds would call and call for weeks if not longer. I would recommend others in this situation to let the flock see the fallen collegue, they have their own ways of reacting, but it does help them over what’s happend.
hugs
Billie :(
I understand doing that Billie and don’t think it weird at all as we have done that with our cats, dog and the horse. When Cherry was down and had died we let Katie (our dog) go out and sniff and accept the situation. When our cat died Katie checked out his body and came to terms with it but when our other cats disappeared – sadly we found that they had been shot – Katie wandered around for days after looking for them. Animals of all sorts need to come to terms with what has happened. They probably come to terms better than we do.
Hugs
Lynn x
So sorry to hear of your loss, Billie. I loved the photo on your blog and the color was just spectacular! I have never owned a bird, but I just lost my faithful friend 3 weeks ago…we all grieve at the loss.
Hi Gina
Thanks x
I just saw your lovely furbaby too, what a sweetie he was. I’m sorry for your loss too. Thinking of you
Billie
Billie –
I’m so sorry to hear about Minty. I know how you love your babies. My heart goes out to you. He was such a beautiful looking budgie. Please know I am thinking of you.
I am really sorry to be so late with my condolences, I’ve been sick the last few weeks and have done very little with the web and now that I’m back at work, its just crazy.
Elaine
Hello. I was passing by & read your story about Minty. He sounds like he was a lovely, gentle soul, even if he did have a tail fetish. :) He looks so gorgeous in the photo too. I am very sorry for your loss.
Hi Onesweetiepea
Thanks so much for your visit and kind words. Yes Minty sure did have a thing for tails, it was hysterical to watch. Still miss him loads. I have two more budgies who have closely bonded since his passing and they are being very adorable, preening each other and cuddling up.
Best wishes
Billie