Little Bits II (Continued)

When I arrived at the bird show, I immediately noticed that about 1/3 of the vendor tables were vacant. I looked all around the large room, but I could not see one vendor who was selling Engish Budgerigars. Most of the vacant vendor tables had been rented by vendors along the Gulf Coast, from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The vendors from Arkansas, and Georgia were also absent. There was not one English Budgerigar in the entire room!

I did not want to go home empty handed, so I looked around and saw this cute little green and yellow female parakeet. The vendor, whose name was Charles McDonald, told me that she was about 3 months old. She was so cute and spunky, that I just had to buy her! I named her "Little Bits II," after "Little Bits I," one of Miss Buddy's and Jinxie's babies who died in the egg, sometime in October of 1996, even before hatching.

I brought her home to show Jeanne, who was not at all happy about the situation. Jeanne wanted a green and yellow female English Budgerigar, not a green and yellow female parakeet. Jeanne did not get her Green &Yellow Female English Budgierigar until 4/21/2007, when Jeanne bought Miss Sally.

After a few days of isolation, we put Litel Bits II with the flock. Knowning that female parakeets do not breed until they are at least 6 to 9 months of age, we thought that it was safe to allow her to be with the flock.

Well, it didn't take very long for one of our boys, "Big Bird," to mate with her, and she laid four eggs, all of which hatched. So we found out that the vendo either didn't know her true age or that he misled us as to how old that Little Bits II really was. Jeanne named the first hatchling, who hatched on 12/14/2005,Amani Lynn. We named the second hatchling, who hatched on 12/15.2005, Adam. He (or maybe it was a female) died one day later on 12/16/2005.
We named the third hatchling, who hatched on 12/16/2005, Jeanne Marie, after Jeanne, because Jeanne thougth that Jeanne Marie was a femaie. She wasn't! Jeanne Marie is a male. We named the fourth and last hatchling, who hatched on 12/19/2005, Anne Marie, after Jeanne's mother. Anne Marie is an Albino White Female, just like her great grandmother, Miss Marie, our second Albino White Female and the daughter of Miss Buddy and Jinxie I.

Like our Miss Buddy, who was very "laid back" when it came to our picking up her babies, Little Bits also allowed Jeanne and me to reach into the nest box and to pick her or her babies out of the nest box. But one day, Jeanne took her "name sake," Jeanne Marie, out of the nest box. When Jeanne tried to put Jeanne Marie back into the nest box, Little Bits apparently thought that Jeanne Marie was an intruder who was going to harm her other two hatchlings. Little Bits attacked Jeanne Marie and almost bit Jeanne Marie's leg off!  Jeanne immeditately rescued Jeanne Marie and treated Jeanne Maries leg, which by this time was very red and swollen. Jeanne was able to save Jenne Marie's leg, but it is slightly crooked, and it always will be. We did not scold Little Bits, because we knew that she was only trying to protect her other two babies. She did not know that the bird which Jeanne was trying to put back into the nest box was her thrid baby.

TO RETURN TO "Jeanne Marie II's story, in "Our B.I.R.D.S. Chapter 4,
CLICK HERE!

(Little Bits II's story is continued on the upper right column.)

      This is the Genealogy of Amani Lynn, Adam, Jeanne Marie and. Anne Marie: (We know nothing about the pedigree of Little Bits II, except that she carried the recessive gene for Albinoism.)

Parents: Big Bird & Little Bits II

Big Bird's Parents: Candi & Teal

Candi's Parents: Marie & Dana  
           Brent (Marie was an 
           Albino, so both Buddy and
           Jinxie I had to have had
           the recessive gene.)      

Marie's Parents: Jinxie I & Buddy
                         (We know
                          nothing about
                          either Jinxie's
                          or Buddy's 
                          genealogy.)

**********************************************

One of Little Bits' favorite toys was the fleece insulted blue triangular "tent" which Jeanne hung from the inside top of Little Bits' cage. She would not sleep in that tent, but rather she would tug on one end of it for hours at a time, lkie she was playing a solitary game of "Tug O' War." I would often stick my hand into her cage and pull on the other end of the tent, so that I could join in her game. Sometimes, she would accept my hand on her tent, but more often than not, she would let me know that tent was hers, and I was not welcome to join in her game.

Bill Cosby, the famous comedian, told a story about the youngest of his four daughters, who made it clear that whatever was in her immediate vicinity, was hers! Littel Bits adapted the same philosophy.

I have written a lengthly story about Little Bits II, as well as her Eulogy. To read more about Little Bits II and her Eulogy, CLICK HERE!

On the night of 8/29/2007, after playing with Little Bits, I put her back into her cage and she climbed upon the wooden perch which was closest to the door of her cage. I covered her cage for the night and went to bed. When I awoke the next morning and uncovered her cage, she was exactly where I had put her, but she was dead. It broke my heart to lose my bird and one of my best friends. She was one of only about two or three birds which I myself had purchase and which I personally had named. I still miss her terribly!

Date of Death: 8/30/2007.

Written 3/3/2010.

TO READ "Amani Lynn's Story,"
CLICK HERE!