Meet Chica [birp]
This is Chica, my um, little sister(?)
She’s 20 — I am not. Our Mom passed in November and our Dad is very ill and unable to care for her so she moved down south to live with me about 3 weeks ago. Mom raised her from little peepdom.
She knew me from visiting but I had never handled her before. She had always been very bonded to Mom. Mom fought cancer for about 7 years before leaving in November 2025 and Dad has LBD.
My parents always had several birds. With the exception of Chica, all were taken in as rescues (another CAG, GSC Cockatoo, conure, several cockatiels, bourkes, finches, parakeets etc). When Mom passed, Chica and Cody (a rescued 28 year old Bare Eyed Cockatoo) were the only two left. My parents stopped taking birds in when their health began to decline.
Chica and Cody had a lot of alone time over the last decade and other than their cages occupying the same room, never interacted. They would compete for attention. Chica always looked annoyed because Cody could be (was very) loud and obnoxious. And Cody would do her pterodactyl impressions and smash things in her cage if Chica was impressing the humans with her repertoire of words, sounds and songs.
I promised Mom I would take both girls but in my assessment, Cody (and Chica) really needed individual time and attention. Chica was Mom’s baby so if I was only keep one of them, it would be her. So I went about finding Cody something she always wanted — a human to call her own.
I’m happy to say that Cody now lives with Jim, a lifelong bird guardian and within 24 hours was sitting on his shoulder (something I had never seen her do).
I thought Chica would take longer to get adjusted to the big move and lifestyle change. She had begun plucking from stress after Mom passed. Thankfully when I got her home, much to my surprise (and relief) seemed to take to me almost immediately. (The feeling is mutual)
I was a vet tech for the four-legged furry and sometimes slithery creatures for around 20 years, and have had smaller birds throughout my life, but CAGs are very new to me. So I just started by trying to empathize with her. I let her lead and set the pace and I continue to read as much as I can on CAG specific needs.
I work at home, so I put her cage in my office so she’s not alone.
I saw that she seemed to eat her new veggie chop better when I ate some and shared it — Yknow to make sure it wasn’t poisonous 🤣 — and then read that they like to eat with us. So we have two meals together each day. Her cage is open for most of the day. On day 3, she insisted on participating in a zoom meeting.
I let her explore when I am watching. She loves breaking down boxes (lol). She has a head massage appointment at 7 pm every evening before bed. And she goes to sleep around 8pm.
We’ve been through a lot of the same trauma so I think we’re uniquely qualified to help each other. She keeps me laughing all day and gives me purpose and I am her loyal servant. 😉