One of my birds died rather suddenly overnight. Was going to take her to the vet when it opened this morning after noticing bad signs last night, but she’d been dead for a few hours when I woke up.
She was Thor, and the other bird, Loki, her mate, is currently very loudly singing a bunch of, presumably, death songs.
Liam named them without knowing their sex. The fact that Thor and Loki have been enthusiastically fucking each other in a cage in my room for a number of years would no doubt be pleasing to many readers of slash fiction.
It’s darkly funny that Thor is the one who died, because she was the one who sorta liked me, in that she would tolerate me helping her out when she was sick or egg-laying with only a few light bites.
Now me and Loki have to become friends, because birds do not do well alone. My fingers are gonna suffer.
He is probably pissed off at me, because from his perspective, last time Thor was sick, I magically fixed her by putting her in an ice cream container for a day. This time I did not.
Instead I put her in a cardboard box and took her away after she’d been dead in there with him for probably a few hours. That last part is good, in a way, because that gave him time to know she’s dead, so he can grieve properly. Cockatiels are smart enough to grieve.
I have had a lot of cockatiels and I have practically never seen one with its feathers in such poor condition. Is it sick? Why does it look like that? How old are they? Is that the remaining or dead bird?
That is Thor a while ago, when I was a much worse and more irresponsible bird owner. She had indeed been sick, because the cage was a mess, and I had fed them rather badly. I’ve been doing better lately, but, well, not enough, it looks like.
so you were and probably still are abusing animals via neglect. find loki a better home with someone who gives a shit.
Man this is just about the most tactless way to say this. Jesus christ, if you’re this socially maladapted then just stick to saying positive things so at least you don’t drive someone to suicide. Goddamn.
Fuck off with this shit! This person is grieving a loss and you think it’s appropriate to insult them?
Something is seriously wrong with you. Get a grip!
They clearly died of neglect based on the evidence of what OP wrote. I would still approach this with caution and be respectful without calling them out for their abuse of an animal. Cockatiels are very fragile animals and can even die of heartbreak if the owner changes. OP admitting to neglect says something about their character.
My main gripe is: if you cannot take care of an animal properly to the point where one dies, (the other bird might have died for other reasons than neglect but OP mentioned they were neglectful so I assume that is why the other bird died.) then you should give the bird to a shelter or find an owner. I cannot speak for every shelter but the one near me, a humane society, has birds on their desk that someone donated and they get top care and donations all the time from various sources. Based on this picture, the other bird is suffering and should be taken care of better. The cages need to be cleaned every one to two days, and it’s feathers are also in bad condition.
I am by no means talking down to OP just showing concern for an animal in need. I hate to see animals suffer.
I quite agree.