Chenin

I first met Chenin at a dormitory hall at U.C. Davis. She was owned by a young girl who bought her at the beginning of the semester, and was trying to sell her at the end of the semester, when she realized she didn't have a place to take the bird.

I don't know much about Chenin's history, including her age. I suspect she is at least three years old. The girl claimed that Chenin has had a least one clutch, and was a handraised baby, weaned onto pellets. Some time after her relatively good start in life, Chenin ended up in this girl's hands. When I adopted her (as the girl was desperate to get rid of the bird and no longer was asking for money), Chenin was a seed-only bird. She weighed 130 grams, and could barely walk, much less fly. She was missing all her tail feathers, and her wing feathers had been butchered. I noticed that one of her toes was crooked. The girl explained that she had come back to the dorm room one day and had seen that Chenin had somehow broken her foot. Since the girl couldn't afford a vet visit, she just let the bones heal incorrectly.

Chenin has been with me about a year now. I let her wings grow back in, and she fluttered about like Woodstock (in the Peanuts cartoon). Recently, I made the mistake of clipping her again, and she has managed to break all her tail feathers again, so she's another bird who will be a fully-flighted member of my family.

Chenin is a nervous little bird, and I suspect she was teased at some point in her life. She *loves* head scratches (and she has the silkiest, fullest coat of feathers I have ever felt), but she will suddenly whip her head around and bite. She usually jerks around as if she is expecting something to happen while she's getting her head scratch.

Chenin is a beautiful cinnamon pearl, and she is inquisitive and friendly. She likes toothpicks and just about any food. She *loves* shower sprays.

Chenin is the only cockatiel in the aviary who likes to climb around upside down. She will spend countless minutes upside down, making her way across the aviary ceiling, down a wall, under the feeder shelves.... She also likes to hang off the feeder shelves like a bat, completely upside down, with wings outstretched.

The Spector Flock
Merlot - 3 year old normal gray, mother of Beau & Fume	Chablis - 3 year old male pied bonded to Merlot	Chenin - cinnamon pearl hen, bonded to Beau	Beau - 1 year old male pied, bonded to Chenin
Fume - 10 month old pearl hen, bonded to Spector	Froggy - 8 month old yellow- collared macaw	Kenya - 7 month old congo african grey

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Last revised 5/22/97