Sugarbunnie Loft

Had an exciting day - drove up to Sacramento to meet Dave Mott and see his gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!!! Classic Old Frills. He has a beautiful home, beautiful property, and wonderful set up for his birds. His lofts were clean and roomy, his birds all very happy, healthy, clean and WOW. Just lovely! Dave is working on Blondinette marked COFs and they are stunners. I am going to be excitedly counting the days until I get one of my own from him. So pretty - the cheek patches on some remind me of the old Turbiteens you don't see ever. Really was just so impressed with Dave and his birds, and am thrilled to announce the addition of "Jules": a darling Sulfur Laced Satinette COF, soon to be Sylvie's new beau. Yay!

Went to lunch in Davis after, and got to hear all about the Tour De Cluck from my best friend Marie. Got home in the evening, set Jules up in his little quarantine cage, fed the birds and realized Tommy (young Berliner Kurze) had hitched a ride out of the loft into the house clinging to the back of my sweater! We settled down on the sofa with the dogs for some TV and relaxing, he crawled around exploring before settling down under my chin to play with a piece of popcorn and have his ears rubbed. Totally passed out and woke up an hour later, he was fast asleep too! So cute. Just makes me love those little Berliners - they are so dainty and calm, and really just seem to love attention.

Will be updating the site this weekend with new pics of Jules, Tommy, Fletcher, The Twins, Stella, and 370 (our new Lou Coletta Racer!).

Rough weekend here at Sugarbunnie. Vaccinated all the residents and babies on 2/27/10 against PMV/Salbac/E. coli which was great, but sadly received a reminder of why some people choose not to vaccinate. The life of a bird is a fragile thing, and even in the hands of the most experienced hobbyist something can go wrong. We lost our darling little Heppner Berliner, "Bernard", on Saturday morning. The poor little angel passed away a few minutes after he was vaccinated, while I held him gently and watched helplessly. It was heartbreaking, but there was nothing that could be done. It looked as though he bled under the skin where the injection site was, which likely means an artery was pricked by the needle - even though my friend who was vaccinating the birds has been doing it for decades, and I don't think there is a more experienced steady hand out there. We felt terrible, and Bernard's little Jacky hen, "Ava", is so miserable - waiting and waiting for Bernard to "come home". I loved Bernard so much, he loved this bell toy in the loft and my mornings have been filled with the sound of his ceremonious ringing for the last year, as he announced each new day. He was adorable. I know he had a wonderful life with us at Sugarbunnie, and he will be missed incredibly. I have two of his children in the nest right now, and Ava laid an egg last night which I will slip under another pair. I will definitely keep one of his children to continue the bloodline. It's possible Johnny Ajluni has Bernard's parents, we're going to look into it. But of course nothing can replace this sweet little guy.

I still wholeheartedly believe in vaccinating, but want to take the opportunity to remind everyone that it does pose a risk. If you have a bird as a house pet that will not come in contact with other pigeons ever, you may want to think carefully on whether or not to vaccinate. It is hard to lose a beloved pet - and the vaccines are most suitable for birds likely to be in close proximity or contact with other birds.

Alas, with breeding season under way our last 2009 babies and first babies of 2010 are already off to their new forever homes. It's so difficult to part with the babies - I get SO attached to each one. On the other hand, when I know that the birds are going to an excellent home where they will be well cared for, it makes me really happy. I put so much work and love into every little life, it's a pleasure to get to share them with someone. To anyone who questions whether or not it the extra time and energy I put into my pigeons is "worth it" - ask the people lucky enough to have one of my healthy, glowing, confident, curious, happy birds. I am certain they will agree it is totally worth it. I ask that everyone remember that they are caring for living, feeling, wonderful beings who deserve a clean place to roost, quality feed, fresh water, clean air, and a kind gentle hand. I hope that the information and photos contained on this website help raise the bar for all hobbyists, let's all strive to do right by our birds, keeping them healthy and happy.

Things are off to a spectacular start for 2010 - We've got 4 babies banded today (2 Berliners and 2 Ancients), and 2 new Budas just hatched in the night. The late 2009 group, "Isabella", "Babie", and "Flash", are all weaned and looking for new forever homes. We miiiiight be keeping Babie though, he is one perfect super show quality Berliner - need to find him a mate though!

Poultry and Pigeon show in Stockton this weekend, will probably be heading up there with Johnny Ajluni, Russ Angulo, and Lou Coletta on Saturday. Should be fun little event. Wish I was showing but haven't done my vaccines yet. Babie would have been great to show... Holly too. Ah, well. Nationals are in San Diego next year so maybe then.

Will check back in a few days to report on the new Budas! I love those little guys, they are always the most difficult babies to part with.

So.. those 2 babies I thought were Ancients - update is definitely in order. Only one survived (I expected as much, that other one was way too small and not thriving), and I was beginning to think he was one bad looking Ancient. Then I realized - no crest, long boots, long neck... This is a BERLINER!! (That's what I get for not marking the eggs I was moving around!) By far my toughest birds to breed, I am so happy I ended up with a baby. Especially since my only other Berliner baby this year (Mickey) was eaten by a hawk! Looks like this guy is a silver, he's doing great and should be weaned in a week. The Budapests have been champion parents, and I've been handfeeding just once a day. Will be pulling him indoors for this week to make sure he bonds well and is super tame.
On an unrelated note - we now have our very own Security System in the form of one very large 80 pound (and growing) German Shepherd Dog! "Arlo" is an amazing guy and we are so happy to have him on Team Sugarbunnie. Please visit Westside German Shepherd Rescue in LA and consider adopting or making a donation!

Hi everybody! Well, things are calming down in the loft. Jupiter, Gigante, Jack and Piper have all gone to an incredible new home in NY. We know they are going to be well loved and happy!! (But of course, we were sad to see them go!!)
Sylvie is now looking for a new boyfriend, and we're hoping to pick one up at the Pageant of Pigeons later this month.
Brooklyn has finally discovered he's a pigeon and has paired up with Brutus! (Who has turned out to be a hen!!) Of course, Brook is also pestering Sylvie and any other single hen he can find. We're just glad he's finally figured out his species. He's still sweet as ever though.
What else, oh! Those Ancients have another pair of babies!! I used a pair of their "bad eggs" as dummies because I was short on wooden eggs and they had sat for like 3 or 4 days without heat. Thought I was OK. Just by chance they ended up back under the Ancients, went to toss em and YEP! Babies! They're doing well. Gave them to the Budapests today (always happy to welcome babies) because they're almost two weeks now and the parents are starting to get lazy. I've been hand-feeding since Day 2, that's Ancients for ya though.
That's it for now. Loft feels nice and empty with 4 birds gone! Still need to find homes for the dun Ancient baby. Thinking about showing the yellow at Pageant...

All 6 babies are doing great!!! I originally thought the smaller Frill wasn't going to make it. But I didn't give up hope and she is doing fabulous now! And what a neat color! Don't quite know how to describe it, but I'll post pics this weekend. The two ancient babies are dilutes, a dun and a yellow, so Johnny says they're both hens. Cool! I named the yellow "Holly", keeping her. She is tiny and precious! We'll see how the dun turns out, she has a fabulous crest, but a little mismarked. The larger Satinette Frill baby seems to be a boy, he's awfully cute too! As for the Westie/Frill Mutts? I'm so enamored with them. Glossy black, huge, gorgeous. "Jupiter" and "El Gigante" - not sure of the sex yet, though I almost think Jupe is a hen and the other a boy. I'll likely keep them, unless I find a spectacular home for them. I think about Grover and Nesbit a lot, the two Budapests I sold. Wonder how they are doing, if they're happy and well cared for...

On July 31st I went back East to visit the fam. Decided to hire a bonafide bird sitter to care for the birds while I was away (instead of a dog sitter or bribing friends to do it). I went through everything with her, she seemed to get it. I mean, how hard is it really to go in and change the food and water every day? Her rates were good, $25 a day. It was worth it to know the birds would be well cared for... Except they weren't. Came home to bone dry water cups and empty food cups. Bone dry! She was supposed to come every day - maybe she did, but she didn't seem to do anything while she was here. I've never seen my birds act more starved and dehydrated. Poor things. Anyway, lesson learned - I'm only ever hiring somebody if someone I know personally has used and recommends them. I mean really, even if you check references, who knows who the people are that you're calling? It was a horrible experience. People, do not hire Squawk and Howl of Oakland, CA. 


That said, this past week I went to Oaxaca. Totally freaking out about the birds. Ended up bringing 4 of the 6 Oops! Babies down to Johnny Ajluni's in San Jose - he did a phenomenal job and I even learned a few things! The babies look great. The rest of the flock and the 2 West/Frill Mutts fell under the care of my lifesaver of a landlord. I left her a chart - and people, I think this is they key thing I learned here - leave a chart. Each day of the week across the top, and each task (no matter how obvious) down the side. Then little boxes to be checked off for each task on each day, heck I even tied a pencil to a string and taped it next to the list! "Empty & Refill NestBox Food Cups", "Empty & Refill NestBox Water Cups", "Lock Loft", etc. I felt annoying leaving such an overly simplified list, but you know what might be obvious to me can be easy to overlook for someone not used to doing it everyday. Needless to say I came home to happy, well fed, hydrated, healthy birds. 

Ohhh, these babies are too cute. Check the Nursery Page for some photos of the HUGE Westie/Frill cross and the yellow Ancient pup! Sooo cute! The Westie/Frills are giant and doing fabulous. The Ancients are coming along nice too, looks like we have a yellow and a black... with some white and grey? Hard to figure him out! The COF babies - well, we have one going strong and looking good, the other not so good. I've been having to handfeed him but left him in the loft with his sibling. He's just had a rough time. He's the one that got all scratched up by Jack. He's just not progressing like the others - but we'll see what happens. I'm going to Mexico on Friday, so I'll be pulling the COF and Ancient babies (I think the Westie/Frills are going to be fine on their own) and bringing them to my friend Johnny's to handfeed. Thank goodness! I almost cancelled my trip because I didn't want to leave them unattended! No more Oops! babies! Too stressful on me and the birds!

Just a quick update on the babies before I go to sleep. The 2 ancient pups (looks like 2 mags, a red/white and a black/white! I might have to keep them!!) are doing great with their Budapest foster parents. Keeping my fingers crossed they feed them through to weaning. The Muttlies (Westie/Frill crosses) are doing fantastic and are so big that Duchess can't fit in the bowl with them! Both appear to be solid black and have medium length beaks I think. Lastly, the Frill babies. I think Jack (the Blondinette Dad) has spread himself too thin, he keeps going in to feed the Muttlies - and the Frill babies end up relying on mommy Satinette, Sylvie, for all their meals. When Jack does finally go into his own box, he seems more interested in mating with Sylvie than parenting his second litter. One of the babies got injured in the scuffle - some scrapes in his head and a really bad laceration of the skin on his thigh. I bandaged it up tonight and have had Jack locked out of the nestbox since this morning. Sylvie is going to have to do it on her own, with me helping with feeding of course. I hope Scrapes makes it, the other baby looks good. I can't quite tell what the babies are going to look like - probably mismarked, but we'll see. They are super cute anyway! Hope I don't have to call Squab Protective Services on Jack...