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Breed: African Lovebirds Temperament: active, noisy Maintenance: low Cost: $25-$200 Lifespan: 10-15 years Recommended for: anyone History Lovebirds acquired their name because of their fondness for sitting in pairs while preening each other’s feathers. African...
Breed: Australian Finches Temperament: Active, independent Maintenance: Low Lifespan: 5-7 years Cost: $15 (Zebra pair); $70 (Gouldian pair) Recommended for: Novice to experienced birdkeepers History The Australian Finch belongs to the family of birds known as...
Cochin Chickens Breed: Cochins (pronounced ‘coach-ins’) Temperament: docile, gentle Cost: $150.00 Maintenance: low-medium Lifespan: 8-10 years Recommended for: breeders and families History Cochins (pronounced ‘coach-ins’) are thought to have...
Breed: Cockatiel Temperament: usually affectionate, individuals can vary Cost: from $20-$100 for pets, more for show quality Lifespan: 15 years Recommended for: beginners and families Maintenance: medium Appearance Cockatiels are small to medium sized native parrots...
Even though there are some concerns about feeding native birds, there is no scientific evidence that it causes any harm. In fact, home owners assist in the survival of native birds by offering them food, water and shelter, protecting their nesting sites and growing...
Jack the Corella Update We revisited Jack the Corella and his owner and trainer, Ida Gallop. As well as being an excellent talker Jack has many amazing tricks in his repertoire, including riding on a dustpan, rolling over, and going to the toilet on command. If you...
Dog Mat Rita Hill created a soft, fleecy mat for her dog. Sparky needed a medium-sized mat, but it’s easy to change the dimensions to suit the size of your own pooch. Dog Bed Sizes (includes 3cm seam allowance) Small 76cm x 56cm Medium 76cm x 106cm Large 96cm x...
Jamieson the Trick Horse Horse trainer Steve Jefferys wrote to Burke’s Backyard to tell us about his black stallion, Jamieson. Jamieson, aka ‘Spud’, is a 7 year old Australian Stock Horse. He has a huge repertoire of tricks including: counting...
Fostering Cubs Fiona Fearon and Rob Zammit are hand-rearing two tiger cubs. When only a few days old, the tiny Bengal tiger cubs were rejected by their mother. It is thought that a period of very heavy rain caused the mother to abandon her cubs to concentrate on her...
This week, by popular demand, we showed Misty the Rainbow Lorikeet doing more amazing tricks. (See last week’s road test for more information on lorikeets – click here.) If you have a pet as clever as Misty, why not write in and tell us about it? Send your...