My pet birds

At the end of the year 2015, I would like to write about my pet birds as I did so for the past years.  I have two male budgerigars and one female cockatiel now.

I would like to express "who" instead of "which" here because my pet birds are like my family members.

Tsuru chan is a 12-year-old budgerigar who was born in June 2002.  One month earlier, I broke up with my boyfriend whom I used to be with for a year and a half.  We always went out almost every day after work although we did not live in the same apartment.  Maybe I became too dependent on him thus our separation made me feel depressed.  It was one of my toughest times as I was already 37 years old and I wanted to find a lifetime partner.  I think I was experiencing what is called midlife crisis.  Back then I was wondering what to do next in my life.  I needed a companion but I was not ready for another boyfriend to stay with me.

I went to the small pet shop in front of the Nakano Sun Plaza, which was a 30-minute walk from my apartment in Sugunami, Tokyo.   I chose to buy the cutest one among five or six chicks and named him Tsuru chan.

Tsuru chan

I got him when he was only a month old because I would like to tame a bird.

At that time I had as many as 10 pet birds, but Tsuru chan became my best friend among them.  The male budgerigar was so smart that he memorized phrases like "Oichiino?" which means "Is it yummy?," and "Kawaiino?" which means "Am I cute?"   Talking to him has become pleasurable and it helped me not thinking about my ex-boyfriend anymore.   

I moved to Chiba four months later, that was on Sept. 2002.  Within two years of my stay in Chiba, I came to know my husband and decided to move to Hyogo, which is 4 hours by the Shinkansen to get married.  During those years, Tsuru chan has been with me all the time.  We shared a lot of happy and sad memories together. 

Summary of my history at that time:

I broke up with my boyfriend in May 2002.

I found Tsuru chan in a pet shop in Tokyo in June 2002.

I moved to Chiba on Sept. 2002.

I moved to Hyogo on Dec. 2004.

When I lived in Tokyo, I had as many as 10 pet birds.  Back then, I had chances to see a veteran veterinarian who specialized in birds.  She suggested that budgerigar's life span is likely to be 7 to 8 years in general and the best thing we can do for old birds is to use pet heaters to keep their body warm. 

Nowadays, the 12-year-old budgie is getting rather weak so I put the pet heater last October.

I still believe in her advice so I put the heater for Tsuru chan.

The orange pet heater has a 100 watt bulb inside.

Budgerigar's life span is said to be 7 to 8 years, so the 12-year-old Tsuru chan was born to be a strong bird.  However, I noticed that one of his legs cannot move properly. 

The photo was taken on Jan. 14, 2014

I usually clean the birds' cages every morning.  I check my birds' condition at the same time.  In addition to that, I regularly scale their weights on Monday mornings.  When he was young, Tsuru chan used to weigh more than 45 grams which means a little bit heavy for budgerigar.  However he has lost much weight these days, and he has  been only 31 grams since last Nov.  I have been worrying about him these days.

* * * * *

After coming here in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, I learned that there were plenty of veterinarians who are good at dogs and cats, but none for birds in our city.  However, I was still lucky to have found one in Kobe which is the capital city of Hyogo Prefecture.

At this time I decided not to go to the bird clinic for Tsuru chan because of the long trip from our place to the vet's clinic in Kobe.  It would deteriorate the old bird's condition easily.

Below is the long trip to the bird clinic in Kobe from our place.

* Home to the nearest station, Shirahama station - walk 20 minutes

* Train comes only once in 15 minutes

* Shirahama station to Akashi station of Sanyo Electric Railway Line - 45-minute train ride

* Take a Japan Railway Line train at Akashi station - 10 minutes

* Akashi to Rokko - 30-minute train ride

* Rokko to the birds' clinic - walk 15 minutes

* Waiting at the birds' clinic - maybe another 15 minutes

If I post some questions about my bird's condition on the Internet, some people would reply "go to the clinic as soon as possible."    But that's not true to every case.  For my birds, the travel would be very stressful to maintain their conditions well enough.  From my experiences, my birds became completely tired after coming back home even they are placed in small cages during the trip.  For Budgies, life is threatening under 30 grams. 

I studied some books written by animal doctors who are birds' specialists, and I decided to take care of them at home rather than going to the hospitals. 

Temperature difference of more than 5 degrees would be tough for old birds or sick birds.  Lower temperature leads them to have less appetite.

I usually clean the cages quickly, but this time I wanted to upload some pictures at the end of 2015, so it took me longer than usual to clean the cages.

The yellow cage on top is for Pearl chan, the Cockatiel.

The lower left is the one for Tsuru chan while

the lower right is for P chan.

* * * * * * * * * * *

P chan is the young budgie that my husband bought in a pet shop in our neigborhood.  He came home in Sept. 2012.  The 3 year-old bird is looking at his face on the mirror all the time.   He weighs about 38 grams these days and he is very active.

P chan's and Tsuru chan's cages are next to each other. 

He has been in a good condition the whole year of 2015.  

* * * * * * * * * *

Pearl chan is the only cockatiel in our house.  She was born in July 2006, so she is 8 years old now.  Life expectancy of cockatiel is said to be 15 to 20 years so she is likely to be a middle aged now.

She acts like a princess.  She thinks that I am the other half.  She doesn't get along with my husband even she came to our place more than 7 years ago, and she sees my husband almost every day. 

Budgerigars are about 20 centimeters long while cockatiels are about 30 centimeters long, so Pearl chan is much bigger than P chan and Tsuru chan.  However, she gets very scared when the budgies try to bite her tail.

Pearl chan is the typical cockatiel whose characteristics is timid and coward.

She has been in a good condition this 2015.  

I am really hoping that all my birds will be well in the year 2016.  If Tsuru chan has to go, I really hope that he will go by sleeping peacefully. 

(Additional writing on Jan. 4, 2016.)
Tsuru chan passed away at 12:30 p.m. on Jan 4, 2016.  It was a Monday morning that I usually weigh my birds. 

I was surprised to find that Tsuru chan weighed only 28 grams at 9:30 a.m.   When I picked up the bird, Tsuru chan was still alive but very weak.  

Then, I cleaned the cages and sat down in front of the cages until Tsuru chan died at 12:30 p.m.  I attended to him for the last 2 hours.  I felt it was too painful to watch him moving right and left wings open while his legs cannot move.  He even moved upside down.  His legs on top and wings down.   I told him that I thanked him for the long years with me.  I continued and said, "You really lived long enough, so you can rest now.  You can go now."

Thirty minutes after Tsuru chan passed away, I asked my husband to dig a hole for him.  We buried him with lots of his favorite canary seeds in our garden.  I hope he is now sleeping peacefully in heaven.