Daisy's Den

This is a typical shot of a Cockatoo. Naomi has made a number of toys for the parrots, including the one shown here from strips of leather. Needless to say, Daisy is well impressed with it. Unfortunately, toys don't last long with Daisy, who delights in destroying them in double-quick time.

Daisy has firmly bonded to Naomi almost from the word go, and loves to come up for a cuddle at every opportunity. She'll happily sit there and get her neck stroked for hours on end if we let her. We're trying to make her a bit more independent, however, so this gets restricted a bit.

Daisy loves her time outside. Unfortunately this means we have to clip her wings (and Gus' too), something not immediately apparent here. We've found that the best method of clipping wings is to cut lengthways up the inside of each feather. This is as effective as any other method in restricting flight, but has two advantages over other methods: Firstly the bird retains the ability to do long preening strokes because the full length of the feather is still there, and secondly the bird appears unclipped until it spreads it wings, and looks better cosmetically.

...You put your left foot in, your left foot out..... One of the first tricks Daisy learned was dancing on command. Now, for the proper inducement, such as a pine nut, she'll bob and weave and erect her crest, displaying her full beauty.

Daisy loves her apple tree outside. Trouble is she loves it (and the bamboo support) just a bit too much, and although we only planted it fairly recently, it's already considerably the worse for wear. ...Mind you, it cost only half what an average "parrot toy" bought in a shop would cost!