Last month, our family, happily welcomed our very first African love birds. I was the one who named them, Olive (a hen) and Powder (cock). Though it's not our first time having birds as pets because last December, we were able to acquire two pairs of parakeets (a breed of love birds) named Sapphire, Blue, Sky, and Aqua.
It's my husband's interest first of having birds in the house. Our two children love them both and so am I. The seller of the birds told us that Olive was grown by hand feeding. And we were able to hand feed her sometimes inside the cage, of course, afraid she might fly away. But unlike Olive, Powder will fly away every time we attempt to give him food.
We gave them bird seeds (canary mix), as their daily food. My husband sometimes gave them malunggay stem with leaves twice a week. They love it and is a good nesting material. As you can see in the picture, Olive was collecting some of them on her wings aside from eating them. They were also given cuttlebone as an important dietary supplement for birds. It is a great source of minerals and calcium, which helps birds with bone formation and blood clotting.
African love birds were believed to have a 10-20 year life span. That means they will be with us for that long year and a part of our daily lives. Olive and Powder were only 5-6 months when we have them. They said that upon reaching 8months, they will begin mating. But they were only 7months when they started to mate. We were all excited to see their future babies and were wondering what color it would be since Olive has its green feather, orange color on her neck with blue and orange on her tail while Powder has a bluish-white color. Their name was based also on their colors.
But before Olive could lay an egg, she was seen dead by me! The moment I saw her hanging on the wind chime with its head inside the loop, being strangled, I was shocked and felt that all my strength was gone. It was mid-morning. I called my husband and he was the one who get Olive.
I was so devastated by that time and was resisting my emotions to overrule. But my eldest son began to cry hard. And I can't stop my tears falling on my eyes. I held her in my hand for the last time. And said goodbye to her.
My husband cannot believed what had happened and was silent for the whole day.
The days follows seems lacking without her presence. And it's almost a week for now but every time I remember her, my heart was in pain.
My son was missing her also and decided to get another female African love bird in replace of Olive.
I know this feeling will soon subside, but her memories will forever be treasured. Goodbye, our Olive!
Love lots,
Jonalyn
(Photos are all mine.)
