Can you imagine living with 13 guests, aside from your brothers and sisters? A Lakewood family is raising over a dozen beautiful birds from egg to adulthood.
Photos: Tali Weldler
The first thing we notice when we enter the Lieberman house is the noise. It’s loud — we can hear chirps and whistles from the front door. The friendly Lieberman kids show us all the way to the back where a surprise awaits us: The little playroom off the kitchen has no toys lying around — instead, it has two cages filled with colorful parakeets!
The Lieberman kids know the routine: The door has to be closed first so no birds escape, then they can open the cages to introduce us to their feathered friends. And what a lot of friends they have!
Visitor Eliyahu Appel skips and jumps with delight as Yanky Lieberman opens the larger cage and coaxes a bird into his hands. His two-year-old sister is less excited — she shrinks back and cries as another parakeet zooms over to sit on Mommy’s shoulder. But the Lieberman kids are clearly very comfortable with the birds. Even ten-month-old Esti crawls right over and doesn’t seem the least bit fazed by the flapping, feathery creatures.
Four-year-old Yanky is a pro with the parakeets, and he and 11-year-old Yitzchok Tzvi demonstrate the proper grip needed to hold them — firm enough to keep them safe and calm, but gentle, to avoid squeezing delicate parakeet bones.
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