Aren’t My Birdies Beautiful!

Wet everything we have...all done - Photo Theresa Sjoquist

My two cockatiels, Jupiter and Chickie, were obviously getting desperate when they took it in turns to have a bath in their drinking water, which is contained in a tiny square plastic box.  Since I’d seen them do this a couple of times, I decided to give them some water they could bathe in more […]

Cockatiel Love Frolics

Jupiter - Photo Theresa Sjoquist

Oh dear…well as I suspected, I appear to have psychologically damaged my cockatiels by forbidding mating in my presence.  Don’t get me wrong – I allowed them to mate in my presence for about six weeks, and it went from a couple of times a day, to every three minutes for a couple of hours […]

A Week to Recover

Have you ever been outwitted by a cockatiel? Years ago, I kept hand-reared, tame cockatiels which make great companions, though somewhat mischievous. They made cute little bite marks in any pieces of paper I was remiss enough to leave around, and joyfully nipped all the leaves off my Madonna Lilies if I left them within […]

Not Doing It Right

Photo Theresa Sjoquist

I have a couple of young cockatiels, under six months old.  It turns out that the boy is a girl and the girl, a boy.  I have no issue with that – they’re both the lovliest little birds and very affectionate. I found out I had their gender wrong when I noticed that the boy […]

Biggest Canine Head – Dogue de Bordeaux

English Staffordshire Bull Terriers - left to right, Luna, Ice, and Mig - Dogue de Bordeaux background

“We still breed Staffies,” says David Graham, “but we were keen to have big dogs and settled on the Dogue de Bordeaux. The Dogue is a large French bred Mastiff, now an uncommon breed. They’re recognised for their huge head, the largest in dogdom in relation to body size.” David and Vanessa moved from Auckland […]