It was a blustery winters night when I purchased a group of cockatiels from a breeder in New Hampshire.  Most of them were in flights but one cage contained Hannah and two of her babies.  She was a small looking thing and I was not even sure that she was the mother at the time.  She had been separated from her mate "Leo" as he wanted to clutch again and had been picking on her pretty badly.

     I rested the entire lot of them as they had just gotten off clutches for the previous breeder and Hannah stood out.  She was sweet and pretty with her cinnamon pearls.  I relied on Hannah pretty heavy in the beginning letting her clutch and then foster some others for me.  She was a major player in my aviary. Hannah was one of two hens that produced consistently for me and allowed me to have an income while I was caring for my youngest son after his brain injury.

     She had developed what I thought was a bad leg as I noticed she seemed to be hobbling a bit. She had just come out of the resting flight were she had been for a year and a half and had been fine when I put her into the breeder cage with Leo. Hannah and Leo clutched for me and I always got 5 eggs, they always all hatched without a problem.  This was not the case this time.  None of the eggs were fertile.  Leo had  mellowed over the years and had not been picking on her but she definitely had a problem.

     I had just changed her diet and I thought it might be related to the higher protein but it was not.  I put her back on the diet she had been on previously, hoping this would make a difference and moved her into the Living room. Hannah allowed me to scratch her head and wanted to be near me more and more which was odd for  her.  She was always sweet but never would let you touch her. I was amazed that she sat quietly on my chest and allowed me to scratch her head for hours on end. It was clear something was wrong.  I waited till the morning and it was soon clear that  she was unable to perch and was falling to one side.  I immediately took her to my avian vet. It was determined that Hannah had a pituitary tumor. There was really nothing that could be done but prolong the inevitable and she  deserved better than that!

     On 9/27/06 I made the decision to have Hannah put to sleep.  Wrapped in a little towel, I put Hannah on my chest and rubbed her little crest for the last time then handed her over to my vet.  Hannah was anesthetized before being put to sleep so she felt no pain and probably felt better than she had in the last week of her life.  The last thing I said to her was .........."Thank you Hannah...for everything!"

An interesting behavior that I noticed both Hannah and Leo doing was this amazing head flip. They would both flip their heads straight up and then quickly to the side as if they were giving someone the cold shoulder. Even when they were not housed together this behavior would continue.  I have not seen it in my aviary since her death.

     My plans for Hannah for the year were to let her clutch with Leo one more time,  keep these babies for future breeding stock, and then retire her.  Unfortunately I have none of Hannah's offspring.  I have lost the blood line.   I learned a valuable lesson from this. She will be missed and will definitely be remembered! 

The signs of Hannah's Pituitary Tumor were as follows:

1.  I noticed her slightly hobbling with her legs wider apart than usual

2. Two days later her left leg was sliding out from under her

3. Within 24 hours she was having difficulty keeping her balance