Sunflower Valley

A poem dedicated to all animal friends who have passed on and left us behind...


Sunflower Valley


I believe Heaven is a sunflower valley
For hamsters in their forever sleep
Scuttling, playing and feasting beneath the golden flowers
Where no one gets trapped, sick or die.


I believe Heaven is a sunflower valley
For rabbits in their forever sleep
Hopping, playing and feasting across the emerald prairie
Where no one gets abandoned, sick or die.


I believe Heaven is a sunflower valley
For parrots in their forever sleep
Flying, playing and feasting above the sapphire sky
Where no one gets chained, sick or die.


I believe Heaven is a sunflower valley
For dolphins in their forever sleep
Swimming, playing and feasting under the turquoise falls
Where on one gets netted, sick or die.


I believe Heaven is a sunflower valley
For cats in their forever sleep
Climbing, playing and feasting among ruby red cherry trees
Where no ones get euthanized, sick or die.


I believe Heaven is a sunflower valley
For dogs in their forever sleep
Running, playing and feasting among the amber rocks
Where no one gets abused, sick or die.


I believe Heaven is a sunflower valley
Where all kinds of animals befriend each other
Looking down on us...
Cheering for us…
Crying with us…
Waiting for us…


Whenever you see a beautiful rainbow in the sky
Don’t forget your friends long asleep!


At life tiring journey’s end
Good boys and girls see a rainbow bridge
Into an eternal sunflower valley dream
Animals and human friends
Will one day meet!

The Rainbow Beauty of Parrots

Imprisoned Parrots: A Short Film on Mistreatment of Parrots by Humans

A short clip to raise awareness of the abuse and neglect of parrots. The contrasting nature-culture, love-apathy, care-cruelty, etc dialectics are brought forth to illustrate humans' exploitative relationships with these beautiful, intelligent yet innocent sentient beings that we call parrots.

The soundtrack is a Chinese song by Peng Ling, named "Imprisoned Bird". It fits the contexts so perfectly, singing the loss of love, freedom and of neglect, that i decide to use it.

If anyone has any issues with the copyright of the photos used, please email me. Thank you.

Introduction to My Parrot Flock Part 4

Xiao Feng, the Home Jumping Ducorp Cockatoo

Xiao Feng (Little Wind) is a name we gave to this darling female Ducorp cockatoo that has shades of yellow here and there in her white cockatoo feathers. She is a very tame and sweet cockatoo…in fact, too tame. Like many cockatoos, Xiao Feng thrives on attention. Deprivation of which, she is prone to scream for it.There is something special about Xiao Feng and that is her left leg—two toes are missing. According to one of her previous owner, her toes got caught in the towel used to cover her cage for several hours. Because no one noticed and help her out, in her distress and panic, she bit off her own toes in a fruitless attempt to free herself. By the time the accident was known through her incessant screaming, it is already too late and her toes are gone.

And that is the sad stroy of her missing toes. Knowing how nimble cockatoos are with their toes, I'm often sadden when I carress and cuddle her, as those stubs reminded me of her past traumatic episode. Even now, Xiao Feng sometimes experienced nightmares in the middle of the night and will scream in terror, which we believe, is a result of that episode.

On the brighter side, she has this interesting habit of tapping her leg stub against plastic materials to make a tap-tap sound to catch people’s attention. And indeed, as characteristic of all cockatoos, she requires daily out of cage time and quality interactions with her human friends to be happy. Unfortunately, she has been jumping from home to home and according to what we have found out, she has switched 3 owners. We retrieve Xiao Feng from the latest owner who is selling her off in the hope of finding a special someone who can take in stride the demands of a cockatoo and give her a permanent loving home.

The first few days Xiao Feng was at my place is traumatic for me. She tested us all with her screams intermittenly, especially at nigt! With the help of an avian behaviourist, providing a nutritious well balanced diet (pellets, sprouts, vegetables and fruits), ample stimulation (toys and perches), attention and out of cage time, her screams have decreased over time!

With advice from the behaviourist, we also practice both positive and negative reinforcement on Xiao Feng and they have worked their wonders. Xiao feng rarely scream nowadays. We also notice a subtle change in her plummage...where it was once pure white has now be replaced by pink feathers! The yellow suffusing some of ehr wing and tail feathers have also intensified! We attribute these to the high vitamin (especially Vitamin A) diet she is on. Xiao Feng loves her sweet potato, carrot, pumpkin and red capsicum.

After being with us for so long, we feel hard to part with such a lovely and sweet hearted cockatoo that we decided to keep Xiao Feng for good. And so, to this day, Xiao Feng is still with us. The most loving of all my parrot friends. My little darling.

How much is your EQ?

Your EQ is 127

50 or less: Thanks for answering honestly. Now get yourself a shrink, quick! 51-70: When it comes to understanding human emotions, you'd have better luck understanding Chinese. 71-90: You've got more emotional intelligence than the average frat boy. Barely. 91-110: You're average. It's easy to predict how you'll react to things. But anyone could have guessed that. 111-130: You usually have it going on emotionally, but roadblocks tend to land you on your butt. 131-150: You are remarkable when it comes to relating with others. Only the biggest losers get under your skin. 150+: Two possibilities - you've either out "Dr. Phil-ed" Dr. Phil... or you're a dirty liar.

What's Your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)?

Sprouting for Parrots

Sprouts made up about 30% of my flock's diet (the other 30% goes to pellets, 30% fresh veggies and fruits; 10% treats/supplements, etc).

This is a pictorial guide on how I sprout for my parrots.

As for information about sprouting, please refer to this wonderful article written by Carolyn Swicegood:
http://www.landofvos.com/articles/sprouts.html

Step 1: Getting the Right Sprouting Mix

I basically create 2 types of mixes meant for differently sized parrots.

Small sprouts blend is meant for small and medium sized parrots. I also find that my cockatoo loves the small sprouts. Some have said that their greys love small sprouts as well. Therefore, even as this small sprout blend is mixed specifically for small perrots ranging from budgies to conrues and other medium sized parrots, you can use it to for other bigger parrots who love to eat small sprouts.

The diversity and balance of seeds, grains and legumes are complementary so that by feeding a variety, the sprouts blend alone give is capable of complete, all natural nutrients that the parrots require!

If you intend sprouts only as a supplementary food, such a variety is not compulsory. However, if you wish to offer sprouts as a substantial part of their diet in replacement of pellets or other fresh food, then it is very much recommended to offer a variety of sprouts as any single type does not offer all the nutrients the parrots need.

Small Parrot Sprouts Blend
(Herb seeds)
1) Alfalfa
2) Bishop’s weed seeds
3) Fennel
4) Radish seeds

5) Red clover seeds
6) Fenugreek
7) Mustard seeds (yellow, red, and black)
(Grain seeds)
8) Brown rice
9) Wheat (winter)
10) Oat (whole)
11) Rye
12) Millets (yellow)
13) Buckwheat (whole)
14) Quinoa
15) Amaranth
(Oil seeds)
16) Flax seeds
17) Sesame seeds (black, white, brown)

Small Parrot Sprouts Blend (dry)

Big Parrot Sprouts Blend

(Legumes)
1) Mung beans
2) Adzuki beans
3) Pinto beans
4) Black turtle beans
5) Garbanzo (yellow and brown)
6) Green lentils
7) Green peas
(Grains)
8) Corn
9) Rye
10) Wheat
11) Buckwheat
12) Quinoa
13) Millets
(Oil seeds)
14) Sunflower seeds (shelled)
15) Pumpkin seeds (shelled)
16) Sesame seeds (white and black)
(Herb seeds)
17) Radish seeds
18) Red Clover seeds
19) Fenugreek
20) Mustard (yellow, red and black)

Big Parrot Sprouts Blend (dry)

Step 2: Soaking

Wash the sprout mix till the water runs clear. Pick out any damaged seeds as these will not sprout but will decompose instead.

Soak it overnight or for 12 hrs, replacing with clean water as and when possible. You can soak the mix using glass jars, plastic containers, as below.

Plastic containers for soaking the sprouts blends.

Step 3: Rinsing and Germinating

Spread the soaked seeds, grains and beans over a tray or container in a well ventilated location, away from direct sunlight. Rinse several times a day to maintain hygiene as well as to keep them moist but not wet. I also use a grapefruit seed extract organic disinfectant to rinse the mixes. This is perfectly safe organic disinfectant that can kill off bacteria, virus, toxic chemical coatings etc in fruits, vegetables and fresh produce. Using this extract in my rinsing help reduce the probability ofr ancidity or decomposition of the sprouts. It is however, not compulsory as long as you rinse themixes well and regularly.

Allow the mix to germinate over a period of 1 to 2 days, with periodical rinsing as you deem necessary.

Below is a photo of the trays I use for sprouting. They can be stacked up for convenience of several days worth of sprouts.

Step 4: Serve!

The mix can be served even before the sprouts are seen as soaking triggered the germination process, thereby increasing the nutritional values of these grains, seeds and beans. They are however, best served when the sprout can just be discernable poking out of the seeds.

As different types of grains, seeds and legumes germinate at different rates, its impossible to feed a mix where every type of seeds are at their optimum stage of growth.

I usually just feed after 1 day of germination for the large sprouts mix as the bigger seeds then to germinate faster. For the small sprout mix, Iwill sometimes allow them to sprout for 2 days before feeding.

Big Parrot Sprouts after soaking and germinating for a day. See how the seeds are swelling and coming alive!


Day 1 Small Parrot sprouts. See how some of the sprouting teeth are poking out of the seeds. Some of these smaller seeds sprout faster than the bigger seeds.

Two day old small sprouts blend.

2007 New Year Eve Parrot Outing

Belated Happy New Year to all!

On the last day of 2006, I've been kindly invited by some of my parrots friends for a new year mini outing for both birds and humans!

Due to some limitations, I only brought along Bodhi and Baby.

The birds get to enjoy a very nutritious sprouts mix (more on sprouts in a future post!) while we humans get to enjoy a potluck variety of party food. :)

Here are some photos of the birds chilling out at the gathering.

Bodhi picking up a fight with another parrot...again.

Eleonora cockatoo ( a sub specie of medium sulphur cockatoo)

Amber..."unglam" as Nelson puts it. Mouth filled with sprouts. A greedy lady indeed.

Thats all for now, folks.

Wishing all a fulfilling and meaningful year 2007!!!