Adopting Birds from the Humane Society

Back in January 2020, I saw Bijou, a lone little society finch, posted on the Ottawa Humane Society website. Having grown up with a flock of birds back in Mexico, I was curious to try it once more, but I was skeptical. Despite that, I obsessively looked at the profile daily, until Bijou had an adoption pending note. I thought, "I guess it wasn't meant to be", so I moved on.

A few days later, I checked again (of course) and Bijou was still up there - the adoption had fallen through. I felt like that was a sign, so I went to go see her. Obviously, I fell in love and adopted her on the spot (impulse control, 0).

Her story made me sad. The previous owners were moving and they had no desire to bring her along for the ride. Frankly, I was quite unimpressed...as abandonment places a huge strain on our already struggling shelters. However, I also recognize that there are often valid reasons for rehoming an animal, and should shelters pass judgement, it would lead people to dump their animals, which is even worse.

Bringing her home, I instantly faced two challenges that I had to tackle right away:

1. Allison, my greyhound, was obsessed with Bijou - not in a good way. I underestimated the intensity of her prey drive. She had never paid attention to birds outside, nor at the pet store, so I was blindsided. For the first two weeks, I had to put Bijou in a separate room and close the door. Right away, I felt like I had made a huge mistake, but I didn't want to give up. Sooo, I spent the next few weeks slowly desensitizing Allison. Effectively, I kept them totally separate, and then slowly reintroduced (open door, with a closed babygate, then an open babygate, etc). I rewarded Allison for calm, non-prey-drive behaviour. It took couple of months of consistent work, but we're out of the woods now.

2. Even though Bijou had been housed alone for a while now, she seemed stressed. Being a society finch, she really needed a friend, and sadly, finding a lone finch in the middle of January, from a reputable breeder/rescue, proved difficult. So I did something I would seldom recommend: I went to PetSmart, and bought a single finch, Opal. They sold her to me, no questions asked, which surprised me, as these should always be housed in at least a pair. Anyways, after introducing them and watching them figure themselves out, I was so happy to see them pair up and take care of each other.

Opal preening Bijou

Regrettably, only 2 months later, Bijou passed away. I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but tragically, birds often hide signs of sickness, to avoid predation. Thus, for inexperienced keepers (e.g. me), they can die suddenly. Outside of my sadness, I had another problem: Opal was now alone, and she was a lot more vocal about it than Bijou had ever been. She incessantly kept calling out, and calling out, and calling out. I desperately wanted to get her a friend, but I was worried that Bijou might have passed from a transmittable disease, so I waited a week to make sure Opal was healthy. Frankly, I probably should have waited a month, but her emotional distress was too much for me to handle. So, I was, yet again, forced to go to PetSmart to buy yet another, single female society finch. I chose Amber, as she was the one who reminded me the most of Bijou. Opal and Amber bonded instantly, and the constant calls for help stopped. Thank god.

Opal and Amber

As my appreciation for Opal and Amber grew, I started dreaming of an aviary : a large cage where I could house multiple finches together. However, since I had the luxury of time, I didn't go to PetSmart (finally). I decided to regularly browse the OHS website and monitor it for any finches up for adoption. Fast forward all the way to November 2020, a gloster canary (Dora) and a zebra finch (Boots) went up for adoption, as a pair. I was quite confused, since usually, zebra finches can be temperamental and easily bully the more soft-tempered canaries. Regardless, I made an appointment (due to COVID) and I went to visit them. They had been found in an abandoned apartment. They were sick, and their cage was infested with cockroaches. Thankfully, the OHS nursed them back to health, gave them anti-parasite medication, and prepped them up for adoption!

Dora and Boots

So, to nobody's surprise, I took them home that day. Particularly because of their background, I quarantined them in a totally different part of the house. I quickly noticed a few quirks:

• Dora was the bully in this relationship...and she still is today. It's a weird dynamic, Boots absolutely loves her. She tolerates him as long as he doesn't try to cuddle or get close to her food.

• Both Dora and Boots were quite nervous in the medium sized cage.

• Both Dora and Boots were clearly missing some toes, likely from overcrowding or from getting their feet stuck in something.

To reduce their anxiety, I went ahead and bought them a tall flight cage. My goal was to eventually move Opal and Amber in, so I was excited to be one step closer to my aviary dream! But of course, life had other plans. Once the quarantine period was over, I tried to introduce them by placing the cages side-by-side. Interestingly, Opal and Amber were the ones who were not into this arrangement. I was forced to put up a visual barrier between them and boom...my aviary plans were out of reach. So, of course, I bought a second flight cage and...I now have double the amount of cleaning to do! Honestly though, seeing them thrive is extremely rewarding. I love their daily chirps...although I could skip Boots' "singing" (it's like a tiny laser gun).

Aaaand, that's the bulk of the adoption story. I could end this post here, but since I have your attention, I'd like to share some additional information, specifically on diet, husbandry and veterinary care.

Diet and Husbandry

Plant/Bird/Dog Room

I feed my birds a variety of food : seeds, pellets and fresh produce/protein. Specifically, I give them a mix of Hagen's Finch Seed, Hagen's Canary Seed, and Zupreem FruitBlend Flavor. In a best case scenario, I would feed primarily pellets, but they came as seed eaters and transitioning them to a pellet only diet has proved a challenge. To mitigate the high fat/low nutrient content of the seed mixes, I add a multivitamin powder (Nekton S) to their water, daily (on my vet's advice, of course!). In terms of fresh produce, I primarily feed bok choy, dandelion and other greens. Once a week, I offer scrambled eggs with crushed shell - this has proven to be useful for Amber, as she is a chronic egg layer and requires a higher calcium diet. For lighting, I replaced the lights in their room with UVB bulbs and added full spectrum lamps. This a win/win scenario, since I have many of my tropical plants in their room over the winter. It's one of my favourite spots in my home.

Veterinary Care

Frankly, until Dora got sick last year, I had never really considered that birds, much like dogs and cats, should go to the vet on a yearly basis. Finches can live up to 8 years (if not more), and canaries, all the way to 15 years. The trick is, most veterinary clinics will not take in birds, mainly because their physiology is very different to dogs and cats. We are incredibly lucky to have amazing avian vets in Ottawa, at Lynwood Animal Hospital. I have been impressed with their knowledge and their initiative to educate me. Plus, they'll do complementary nail trims with every visit. If I suck at cutting my own dog's nails, can you imagine the damage I'd do to those tiny little feet?

Conclusion

If you made it this far, thank you for reading all the way to the end. I hope this post gave you some insight towards what keeping birds may take. Feel free to post comments, questions, or any information I may have missed.

PS: Did you know that January is "Adopt a Rescued Bird" month? You have a few days left!