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Battle Pigeon posted:Are you covering her cage at night? Oh yes, without a doubt. I am nearly at "remove hair from head" stage. Over three years and her behavior came out of nowhere. She is at least ten and the vet admits, "Could be a good deal older but it's hard to tell."
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Nov 12, 2012 21:39
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| # ? May 20, 2024 12:29 |
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So how does the light get in? Are you sure that it is? I cover Steve's cage with black towels, and Ohtori has this big blanket/cover that was cheap from Ikea. As a human you can see some light through it but since they've got poor night vision it doesn't matter for him. Once they're covered I can have the lights in the room on and they don't know or care. The noise though, maybe that is bothering her. Could you put on some white noise, something to block it out perhaps?
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Nov 12, 2012 22:49
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Battle Pigeon posted:So how does the light get in? Are you sure that it is? I cover Steve's cage with black towels, and Ohtori has this big blanket/cover that was cheap from Ikea. As a human you can see some light through it but since they've got poor night vision it doesn't matter for him. Once they're covered I can have the lights in the room on and they don't know or care. That's certainly worth a try. It was like some demon snuck in one night and flipped the, "LAY EGGS?! YES!" switch on her. And nothing has changed! Funny egg story - I have let her sit on eggs for a week, I have stolen them immediately, no success. The other day, I removed her two most recent eggs. She was in the cage, eating, and watching me very  . Well, once I took the eggs and closed her cage door, I heard a "Peep." Then I see her jump to the floor of her cage, put her head about an eight of the inch of the bottom of her cage, and proceed to grid scan the cage, calmly, for about two hours. It's like she though, "Welp, eggs went away. Couldn't have involved The Food Bringer sticking his hand where they were...maybe they turned to the size of grains of sand? SCAN!" Cockatiels... 
Captain Log fucked around with this message at 23:43 on Nov 12, 2012 |
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Nov 12, 2012 23:41
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Could there be some kind of, I don't know, age-related hormonal imbalance? I seriously have no idea, but some kind of medical thing?
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Nov 12, 2012 23:57
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Andrias Scheuchzeri posted:Could there be some kind of, I don't know, age-related hormonal imbalance? I seriously have no idea, but some kind of medical thing? Vet didn't think so, but I didn't want to have him take blood without a drat good reason seeing as how cockatiels roughly have three drops of blood. He said, head to toe, the only issue was a couple of "stressed feathers" (whateverthefuck that is) and slightly dry feet.
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Nov 13, 2012 01:06
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Stressed feathers = feathers with stress bars on them, maybe? Or just a few ratty looking feathers? It's only been a few days so far of removing the Happy Hut during the day and putting it back when covering him up, but Ohtori actually sat in my hand for preening and pets a few times today and yesterday. Usually he just bites or hops out and will only settle/allow preening if he's lying on his back in my left hand. I don't know if it's linked or not, but maybe? So far he isn't attempting to mate with anything else in the absence of his hut, and as far as I could hear he's only done it once after being covered up. I'm guessing that should have an effect on his behaviour too. Though he did try and chase Steve earlier, (Steve was waddling after 'Tori while offering his best heart wings, 'Tori was shuffling backwards, they ended up doing this in a tight circle), apparently attempting to back up on to him...
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Nov 13, 2012 01:34
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Captain Log posted:... it isn't as dark as I wish it was, even with blinds closed, lights off, and cage covered. Yep. You should find material that doesn't let much light in. Dark denim works well.
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Nov 13, 2012 01:40
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I recall hearing about someone filling the bottom of their ladytiel's cage with random dollar store crap like plastic eggs. Whenever she climbed down to start laying everything would shift around and she wouldn't be able to settle down and get comfortable. "Welp, no good place to lay eggs, better stop making them." I can't remember if I read that in the first Bird Crazies thread or not, but it stuck with me as a creative solution when the light cycle isn't working.
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Nov 13, 2012 01:43
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Yeah, you want to trip the genetic switches that tell the bird's body "This is not a good time to have babies." The light cycle is a big part of that, since circadian rhythms can signal that winter is approaching, and an unstable environment will make the bird cautious about trying to raise young. Moving things around a lot seems to help, as might Scary Ned's suggestion.
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Nov 13, 2012 02:00
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I let my birds sit on the eggs until they get sick of it. Since my lovebird pair can't be handled and get their interaction with me during free-flight time, I don't experience hormonal behaviors beyond "WHAT'S THAT YOU'RE DOING DOWN THERE? STOP THAT. STOP TOUCHING MY THINGS!" when I clean, that might not be the solution you're looking for, but hey. vv
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Nov 13, 2012 02:06
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I think the bird is jealous that I don't live in the drat cage with her and might be trying to say, "LOOK! IMMA GOOD MOMMA!" Her hormonal insane reaction to anything when she is on her eggs is scary. But if I stick my hand in there, the gives no fucks. Alright, I'm going to find a better cage cover and buy some better curtains for the living room. This didn't start until my noisy neighbors that I hope get evicted soon. But with denim and similar things, I worry about breathability of the fabric. Is that an issue? Edit - And she had a stress bar, but her last molt was when I moved from Nashville to Kansas. It made sense, she didn't eat much for a few days. Captain Log fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Nov 13, 2012 |
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Nov 13, 2012 03:18
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Captain Log posted:But with denim and similar things, I worry about breathability of the fabric. Is that an issue? I also have this question. I gets pretty cold in my apartment and I want to make a new, warmer cage cover for my conure. I was thinking flannel but my grandma suggested something thinner lest there isn't enough air flow.
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Nov 13, 2012 06:21
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As long as it isn't sealed with elastic or something it should be fine. Have you never slept with your head under a blanket when it's cold? That's a much smaller space:required air volume, so with an entire cage full of air and plenty of gaps at the bottom it shouldn't be a problem.
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Nov 13, 2012 13:27
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The more important thing is that it isn't fleece or something which tend to have stray threads, since if their toenails get trapped in a thread it might be very dangerous.
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Nov 13, 2012 14:25
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Amadeus just ignored the bread, cheese, and vegetables in my sandwich to greedily devour bites of ham, making rapturous little sounds all the while. Ohtori's no longer the only pork-loving conure. Birds are weird.
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Nov 13, 2012 20:41
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They say human flesh tastes like pork. Those conures are just warming up.
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Nov 13, 2012 21:02
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A year ago today, after about seven hours in a little cage in a box travelling across the country in sub-zero temperatures and not complaining once, this little beast arrived home.   He demanded our food the first time he saw it, and has done so ever since. (How crappy that cage setup looks now)
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Nov 13, 2012 22:02
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Andrias Scheuchzeri posted:They say human flesh tastes like pork. Those conures are just warming up. Charlie has repeatedly tried running off with bacon, bratwurst, and other pork products. 
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Nov 14, 2012 00:07
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Piper is joining in the current group-molt. Each white feather on the cage floor fills me with glee. I'm hoping he'll look slightly less ratty, though at 25 he probably still won't grow flight feathers.
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Nov 14, 2012 04:35
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Does anyone have any advice for getting a cockatiel to eat veggies? Gandalf transitioned to Harrison's like a champ, but he regards plant matter with suspicion. I've tried mincing veggies into his food, eating them in front of him and making a huge deal about it, putting them in his favorite toys, etc.
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Nov 14, 2012 06:26
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SodapopBlues posted:Does anyone have any advice for getting a cockatiel to eat veggies? Gandalf transitioned to Harrison's like a champ, but he regards plant matter with suspicion. I've tried mincing veggies into his food, eating them in front of him and making a huge deal about it, putting them in his favorite toys, etc. The bird store near us does a really finely diced mix of veggies with a little seed. Our 'tiel wouldn't touch anything green until we introduced her to the mix, and now she's like a crackhead for the veggies. If you cant get them from a bird store, maybe cutting the vegetables with a touch of seed might ease the transition.
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Nov 14, 2012 06:49
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With Mickey and new foods, I have to take a nibble and then let him have it out of my mouth before he'll trust it on it's own. v v I dunno. Birds.
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Nov 14, 2012 09:19
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We just kept offering things to Steve, and one day he started nibbling like he'd always been doing it. He's still rather picky about things and some days won't touch his veggie bowl at all, but it's just a matter of patience and persistance. Possibly with bribery mixed in.
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Nov 14, 2012 14:20
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My cockatiel, Cheeky, refused to eat anything other than millet and pellets until that day I brought him out with all the lovebirds and other birds on that stand, and he started eating long beans and sweet peas when he saw them doing so as well. So peer pressure, I guess?  Pretty sure conures will eat anything though, I think if I died in my house alone he would eat my entire corpse eventually
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Nov 14, 2012 15:00
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If I eat it, it is sweet sweet ambrosia until otherwise notified.
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Nov 14, 2012 16:16
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SodapopBlues posted:Does anyone have any advice for getting a cockatiel to eat veggies? Gandalf transitioned to Harrison's like a champ, but he regards plant matter with suspicion. I've tried mincing veggies into his food, eating them in front of him and making a huge deal about it, putting them in his favorite toys, etc. Have you tried carrots? My first budgie would never touch any vegetable unless it was a carrot, which she would immediately shred to pieces. Now she has her flock buddy who is way more adventurous than her and after seeing him eat everything put in front of him she will eat anything. I could never get her to touch anything but carrots up until that point. Now if I tie anything with a bit of string and dangle it in the cage they will fight for it.
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Nov 14, 2012 17:02
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Novolo has been awfully puffy lately, and she weighs in at is 52 grams today. I looked back in the last thread, and she was 60 grams right after we got her. I'm a bad bird owner and I haven't been weighing her regularly, so I don't know if this is recent or not. I'm super worried though, so we will be taking her in to the vet for a checkup soon. She's still active and chipper, just.. puffy. Edit: appointment is at 4:30 tomorrow. Pile of Kittens fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Nov 14, 2012 |
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Nov 14, 2012 18:51
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Can birds have seasonal allergies like a human? Ritz has been sneezing in the morning while he's still covered for the past couple days, but his nose looks fine, no discharge or anything. It's not an alarming amount, just a bit more than normal. It's been very dry lately, maybe his little nose is irritated? Also, he's mid molt and constantly preening, so maybe he got some feather flake up his nose, who knows. If it continues, I'm going to make an appt. to take him to the vet for a checkup.
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Nov 14, 2012 19:13
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I'm starting to think that's why Zippy has been sneezing, because she only does it during/after she's been preening (and she's mid-molt). In other news, we should find out from DNA test if Zippy is actually a "she" today.
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Nov 14, 2012 19:33
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Apparently my spuddy buddy Steve likes raw ginger. I was slicing some up for making tea, and he waddled right over and grabbed a piece even though he'd never tried it before. He was sneezing and shaking his head after every bite but kept coming back, and ate the whole thing.Pile of Kittens posted:Novolo has been awfully puffy lately, and she weighs in at is 52 grams today. I looked back in the last thread, and she was 60 grams right after we got her. I'm a bad bird owner and I haven't been weighing her regularly, so I don't know if this is recent or not. I'm super worried though, so we will be taking her in to the vet for a checkup soon. She's still active and chipper, just.. puffy. Wow, that seems so light and small. I hope she's okay and it's nothing serious.
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Nov 14, 2012 21:53
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Yeah, I'm not going into work today so I can sit at home and warm her up in my lap and coddle her. It doesn't help that my housemate is in labor right now, so I'm a ball of nerves.
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Nov 14, 2012 22:54
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Does she eat well and enough? Has she been as active as usual lately?
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Nov 14, 2012 23:22
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Keep her very warm, heat is the best thing for a sick bird. When my parrotlet was sick she seemed to recover best on the days when her cage was kept above 90 degrees.
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Nov 14, 2012 23:52
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Uuuugh, gently caress, I think her crop is swollen. It feels like a little puffy balloon, and I can't feel her keel at all. And her feet are cool if I don't keep her warm on me. I've been keeping her snuggled in my lap or under my shirt, but I'll definitely crank up the temperature and tell my boyfriend to Deal With It. She has actually been just as active as usual, though she quiets down when I put her in my lap, probably because she's enjoying being warm enough. eta: Yeah, we've got her on Zupreem pellets, but they changed the shape a little (it got smaller and the banana-shaped ones are pointier) and maybe she's not eating as much? I've been offering her millet and apple a few times today and she's eaten her fill each time. Guys, I am so terrified I'm going to lose her. I don't think I can take losing another bird. In other news, my housemate delivered uneventfully, and we are now +1 baby. Pile of Kittens fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Nov 15, 2012 |
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Nov 15, 2012 03:05
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Oh man, while googling things in sheer terror, I did get a laugh out of one urban homesteader's treatment for sour crop.quote:Sour crop can be the side effect of the first 2 problem, food in the crop starting to ferment and turn sour.... this comes with a ripe smell coming out of the chicken. Withhold pellet/ hard food, feed yoghurt and water, for myself I "rinse" the chicken by pumping water into the crop, hold the bird upside down and squeeze the water out (repeat 3-4 times). Think I should try that with Novolo?
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Nov 15, 2012 03:17
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Oh no, Kittens. My thoughts are with you and Novolo, stay strong.
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Nov 15, 2012 04:22
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So I've got a pair of Quakers/Monks, named Amigo and Ozzie. I've had Amigo for over ten years now, and he is the sweetest, friendliest bird I've ever seen. If he wants attention he'll run up to you and either sidle up and cuddle, or give you a little nip while saying "Good booooy." Ozzie, though... we got Ozzie a few years ago from an owner who didn't want her anymore, and could not have been more obviously unsuited to owning a bird. Ozzie is incredibly badly behaved, and loud. Sometimes she'll go into screaming fits, and when I go to check on what's bothering her, she'll start repeating "shut the gently caress up" over and over. After the two of them got used to each other, I put them in the same cage since he seemed to be a good influence on her, and to a point I was right. She's quieter and slightly friendlier if I can get her away from the cage, but she seems to be having the opposite effect on him. Where he used to just nip for attention, now sometimes he'll bite down hard to the point of drawing blood. I've been able to reverse most of this effect on him, but I just don't know what to do with her. I've tried leaving the room when she starts shrieking in case it was an attention thing, but that didn't stop her, and she's still aggressive and territorial. The best I know to do is just to handle her to get her used to me, but that's not done much of anything for her behavior. At least she's not taking bits of skin off of me at least?
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Nov 15, 2012 10:09
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RaspberryCommie posted:I've been able to reverse most of this effect on him, but I just don't know what to do with her. I've tried leaving the room when she starts shrieking in case it was an attention thing, but that didn't stop her, and she's still aggressive and territorial. The best I know to do is just to handle her to get her used to me, but that's not done much of anything for her behavior. At least she's not taking bits of skin off of me at least? You say it didn't stop her-did you ever, at any point, go back into the room while she was still screaming? Even if it was, say, two hours later and oh god you can't take this anymore I just want to grab something near the bird cage and can't wait anymore? When Ohtori came home, he would scream nonstop and I would have to wait for half an hour, an hour, multiple hours before he quietened down enough that I could go in and not have him think his screaming worked. In a tiny apartment with four rooms, that really sucked, especially since he's kept in the room where the computers and fun stuff is. When she shrieks, the best thing to do is ignore her, as hard as that can be. Does she have enough toys and things to do in her cage? Does she yell at any particular time, or when you do anything in particular? Does she have anything that could be used as a nesty place? You might want to look into mimimising hormonal behaviours if you haven't already-for example, does she get 12 hours of darkness each day? Does she see Amigo as a mate? If she's getting pissy about you handling her, it may be better to take a step back-she could be biting because you're forcing her (in her eyes) to interact when she doesn't want to, and biting is an attempt to stop that. Will she step up on a perch? You could also look into clicker training and target training-you could teach her to go to a spot without having to handle her, for example, and it may be easier for you to shape her behaviour that way.
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Nov 15, 2012 18:03
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We all made it through the night, and I learned that I rather love being in an 85 degree room all night. Reminds me of Burning Man, I guess. This morning I asked my boyfriend if we could just keep our room this temperature all the time, and he just glared at me. Novolo is looking less puffy, but is also quieter than usual (but still clambering around and begging for my granola). Our appointment is at 4:30. I'm considering skipping class so I can continue shoving millet at her. I'll be damned, she's back up to 60 grams. She's refusing to eat her pellets, though... Pile of Kittens fucked around with this message at 18:53 on Nov 15, 2012 |
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Nov 15, 2012 18:49
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As long as she's eating something, that's good. Anything else she loves you could try to stuff in her while she's willing? Maybe try soaking the pellets in fruit juice or a bit of water?
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Nov 15, 2012 19:01
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