What a Day! :-/

The birds I ordered from Singing Wings Aviary arrived today. It wasn't the aviary's fault, but the post office really dropped the ball! They managed to lose the package somewhere between Nashville and Chattanooga, but after many frantic phone calls, they finally located the box. Apparently it had been put on a truck in Nashville rather than a plane, and with a 105 degree heat index, they sure didn't need to be sitting in the back of a stifling hot truck. Finally the box turned up at the Chattanooga post office, and a gentleman from the Ringgold post office was kind enough to make a special trip to get the birds and bring them to my door.

Thankfully 3 of the 4 birds were no worse for the wear. The fourth bird managed to injure a blood feather somewhere along the way, and she had blood all over her. I pulled the blood feather (which basically acts like a straw, draining her blood right out of her) to close the hole and stop the bleeding. She didn't like that very much, and I felt horrible about it, but it had to be done. :-( She then took a bath and got herself cleaned up. She seems to be fine now. WHEW.

Although I'm happy with the birds themselves, and that I was able to get some that aren't available locally, I'm not sure I'll use the post office to ship any more birds in the future. It was significantly cheaper than having them shipped through an airline ($45 vs $130+), but talk about stressful! :-/

Here's a picture of the injured birdie, before the feather was pulled. Poor little thing! :-( I'll get photos of the others ASAP. :-)