Return of the Finch Chronicles

Yes, it's true. The Finch Chronicles are back.

For those of you just tuning in, last year I purchased three adorable little finches, Thelma, Louise, and Brad (couldn't remember Brad Pitt's character in the movie...). They began to lay eggs... I was ecstatic, thinking I was going to have adorable baby finches. I did daily updates in a series of emails titled "The Finch Chronicles". Things then turned sour, and there were broken eggs, plucked birds, and much mayhem.

Now, they're back.

I decided to begin eating healthy, so last night I bought some fruits and veggies and lettuce at the store. I made myself a little salad with my spicy Italian sausage and buttered noodles (ok, so not THAT healthy... baby steps, right?). Well, birds love lettuce, so I stuck a nice big leaf in there for the three musketeers. All hell broke loose. All three birds hit the deck (and when I say hit the deck, I mean panicked, jumped off the perch and fell to the bottom of the cage). This was accompanied by squawking, chirping, and, I swear, the equivalent of a bird scream. So what do I do? I leave it in there. They'll get used to it, right? As it turns out, I was right, this morning the three of them were fighting over who got to eat it.

So I walk away from the cage, eat my dinner and am getting ready for bed. I cover the cage every night (apparently they're very much like little kids - unless the "lights are out" they don't stop talking), and before I did it last night, I peeked in. Now, let me preface this with the fact that the only bird that gets plucked is Louise. She's the light gray one. She seems very submissive and doesn't seem to stand up for herself. I've even purchased bitter spray which is made specifically for this situation. To no avail. So there has been some minor plucking as of late, but nothing super serious. Well, last night, I kid you not, she looked like an Indian squaw. I'm not sure if it was the lettuce incident or if it was Thelma and Brad, but for some reason, she had one feather standing straight up on the back of her head. It was hilarious. I couldn't get her to stay still long enough to take a picture... I would have totally posted that!

Well, that's it for this edition of the Finch Chronicles! Tune in for more later!