Growing Up Goose
Nov. 18, 2006
Well I guess we should start at the beginning.....
Goose was hatched in Calgary Alberta on Aug. 17, 2006 by his parents. Soon there after they decided he might taste yummy and went straight for the toes. I'm still trying to find out why some captive breeding parrots exhibit this behaviour but thankfully the human was there to pull Goose from the nest and hand raise him before they went too far. He was so small and full of fuzz. The toe wasn't damaged too badly so hope for a full recovery was expected. Over the next few weeks an unusual behavior started to make itself apparent. Goose always seemed to favour one side and rolled over to his back after every feed. This was odd to say the least but as time went on a noticeable spinal curve was appearing. Everything else seemed to be progressing on schedule.....eyes opened, pin feathers started to grow, vocals became louder at feeding time but the spine did not straighten out. I had been watching Goose grow weekly and on Sept. 29, 2006 I started taking pictures of him 
. He captured my heart from then on.
On Oct. 21, 2006 Goose came to live with us. He was 65 days old (just over 9 weeks) and still on 3 feeds per day. First off he needed a name. This was not an easy task. I like to choose names relative to the origin of the bird, kinda like birdy heratige. I spotted the name Ngozi and immediately I liked it. His African name is Ngozi and it translates as Blessing. I'm sure Ngozi will be used when he's into something he shouldn't be, but mostly we call him Silly Goose - Goose for short. His little baby honk sounds just like a Canadian Goose!
He was pretty small and only had a few feathers on his body and he previously lived in an aquarium so his new home was a big improvement! He spent all his time on the cage floor as he had no coordination and forget balance! He was happy with his toys and as he got stronger he started to venture upwards......climbing up the cage bars was natural.....getting down was another story. Poor little bugger would just hang there and make noises until I would scoop him up and plop him back on the bottom just for him to turn around and climb up again!
Oct. 31, 2006 was a milestone for little Goose. This was the 1st day he sat on a perch on his own. 
I went in to visit and there he was just sitting on the perch all proud of himself. I should mention the perch was only 2 1/2" off the cage floor but still! From then on he was on the low perch a few time a day. I had wrapped the perch with a piece of towel to give him a bit more to grip and I guess it was working. By Nov. 13, 2006 he suprised me again and made it to the second perch! This perch is about 7" off the bottom.
Getting up seemed not to be a problem but getting down was challenging and mostly involve him falling over and hanging upside down until he grabbed the side of the cage and climbed down.
Currently Goose is 93 days old. That doesn't sound like very old but for Goose its about when real adventures begins! Today he was a big bird! It's saturday, the big vacumm comes out and the carpet gets a really good cleaning......and the birds all think its time to take a bath! Goose likes living in the bird room now and whatever the other birds do he's curious about too. He kept calling and calling so I gave him a squirt with the water bottle. He was not impressed! I have it on a fine mist and all the birds spread there wings to get soaked. Goose wanted no part of this....I think in time he'll learn to enjoy it.
Dec.17, 2006
Well lots has happened over the last little while. Goose is now 4 months old (122 days old) and doing very well for himself. He now eats fruit and veggies, seeds, millet and pellets on his own. (He prefers his pellets soaked in warm water so guess who is running the show!) He is still on 2 feeds of formula per day but they seem to be shorter and shorter so I think he's finally going to grow up! Getting older has made him more confident in himself as well. He has no problem climbing up to the top of the cage and sitting on the rope perch. Because of his spine problem making the one leg twist outward he looses his balance once in awile and you can hear a thud of him crashing around but he hasn't had any injuries yet. He plays with his toys and loves to chew wood popsicle sticks into toothpicks! He is contented to stay in his cage in the bird room and doesn't cause much fuss but once in awhile he will demand some cuddle time. He is the only bird I've seen that loves to be wrapped in a towel and just sit in my lap. Try and do that with the other birds and they all go balistic thinking its wing or nail trim time!
Dec.28, 2006
Christmas has come and gone and we're all settling back into things. Goose found out what his wings are for and scared the life outta me last week! It was morning feed and paper change time and like always I opened the door to put him on the floor and before I even realized it he was off! Out the bird room and over the gate into the office - with hubby and Mulder right in front of him! Thankfully Mulder was still sluggish as he is not a morning dog and hadn't even moved before hubby grabbed him and I lept over the gate to scoop up Goose. I'm much more cautious now.....the bird room door gets closed before the cage door gets opened!
Feb.17, 2006
Today Goose's is 6 months old.
He is still pretty uncoordinated but he gets by ok. I still hear a thump once in awhile when he falls to the cage floor but he's never worse for wear. I used to be so worried about him because of his keel bone but he's built up some muscle on it and I'm not as worried anymore. You can see in the pictures he has really filled out and his eyes are changing to the adult colour. Goose is starting to play with his toys more and he loves to chew his wood blocks into pieces. His most favorite past time is making soup. He is getting to be quite talented at it. At first any and all the pellets would be transferred to the water bowl. Now he is very particular about the soup he makes. On any given soup making day only a specific colour pellet will be added to the water. Today is yellow soup day. Yesterday was red soup day. Colour is such a big part of his world.
I'm still offering him his evening feed. He eats at least 4 good spoon fulls most nights! I think its more of a habit at this point as he eats well, all his veggies and fruit, his pellets and seeds. After feeding he gets a little cuddle and I think thats what he really likes.
This morning was shower day. All the birds were screaming and carring on so it wasn't hard to figure out what they wanted! Now they are all chattering making noises and talking. Today I heard Goose say his first word!!!!!! Kimba Kimba is the loudest one and hubby and I are always calling her name to make her quiet. It was funny to hear Kya say "Kimba thats enough" followed by Goose yelling "KIMBA!" I'm thinking Goose will quite suddenly become a chatter box. As of late he is making lots of unusual noises and sounds along with garbled sounds that I know are words in practice.