Roger Roo's Breeding Journal

[Lewis]

hi cathrine what mutation is rogeroo and what does he produce

[Catherine]

Roger Roo is a reverse pied. The only grey feathers he has are on his left side and some light ones near his cheek patch. The dark wing feathers you can see on his left side are implants. Someone trimmed his wings without my permission. Roger has a disability and must have all his flight feathers intact. He originally had 8 feathers implanted but now has only two to grow out.
His mate is a grey pearl pied. Their chicks so far have included two normal greys, two light pieds (so light that they appear to be normal greys), four dirty face pieds and one heavy pied.

[vankarhi]

lovely pics and I must say the Roger Roo is just stunning. What is his disability? I notice you are in Brisbane too how did he have implants done. I have not heard of this before ...... but that doesn't mean anything ;D

[Catherine]

Thank you. Roger suffered a vicious wing trim at the hands of his breeder. He could not land safely. The story of his trauma is on his website rogerockercockatiel.webs.com/theroochronicles.htm
Basically, it was Adrian Gallagher who did the wing implants. They worked and he learned to fly in the end. However, his tail is paralysed leading to problems with preening, flying straight and mating. Each of his chicks is a miracle.
I never dreamed that I would have to get him a second implant. The flight feather of another bird is cemented into the stub of a trimmed feather and it stays there until the stub is moulted.
There is also a thread here www.totallytiels.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=328 which gives lots of details about implants.

[vankarhi]

Thank you for the links it made interesting reading ;D

[Catherine]

You are welcome. Wing implants can be a life-saving procedure. There are lots of birds which fall and injure themselves as the result of a bad wing trim. Rather than waiting for the flight feathers to regrow and risk the bird being maimed, an implant will solve the problem instantly.

[vankarhi]

Well you learn something every day hey. I had never heard of wing implants......and you are a lovely person to going to such lengths for Roger Roo........many people wouldn't.

[meandem]

I've never heard of it either, I thought I must have led a sheltered life! I love learning about something new!

[Catherine]

Thank you. Roger Roo is very special to me (as you've probably gathered from his website). I would do everything necessary to improve his quality of life.

If he did not invent it (I've never enquired), Adrian Gallagher would have to be a pioneer in doing the implants. They would not be necessary if people were not so confident about wing trims and would take the trouble to learn how to do them properly.

Back on the subject of Roger Roo's quality of life: Aimee contributed hugely to improving it. He used to be bullied by my other tiels because he was little and fragile. He was also dirty and it was hard to clean him because his tail hurt. She has supported him until he has learned to be a patriarch and defend the food and his cage for his chicks. She has made him bathe (I've seen her push his head in the water) and she cleans his poor tail and vent area.

[vankarhi]

Well that is love for ya isn't it. Not even I would go that far for my husband lol

[Catherine]

It is love, all right. I have learned so much from this pair.

[meandem]

And we have all learned with you, it has been an absolute pleasure

[robert]

Thanks so much for your concern for the little birds.I was very impressed with you getting Rogerroo a wing implant.
from Robert and Precious

[Catherine]

Two of the chicks flew today! That enabled me to get a photo of Aimee being a good Mummy.

[meandem]

And what a good mummy she is. That is a classic photo. You must be so pleased with their progress!

[vankarhi]

that is a lovely pic. You know Catherine, you have the best of both worlds there. You are able to have them inside breeding but they do all the hard work and you can still handle them. That is a perfect world to me. ;D

[Catherine]

Thank you. I do have it good. When the chicks are about 2 weeks old, I give them each a tiny daily feed. (Not much because the parents keep their crops full.) I do it so that they learn asap that my hands are good. They get lots of cuddles, too and always sit on my lap to watch the news. I have no need to do any intervention with this pair.
Now that the chicks are flying or moving about the cage, they are shying away from me because they are seeing me from an unfamiliar perspective. However, as soon as I hold them and make my chk chk noise (no 'boom'), they settle at once because being handled is familiar.

[meandem]

Jan 9, 2010 16:23:55 GMT 10 Catherine said:

However, as soon as I hold them and make my chk chk noise (no 'boom'), they settle at once because being handled is familiar.

I cracked up when I read this! ;D

[vankarhi]

yeah it brought a smile to my face also. ;D

[Catherine]

The two older chicks are enjoying the high life ...

while the two younger ones wait in their wings (so to speak).