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Psycho_Puppy posted:Just a note for anyone who is planning to travel with their birds. We just moved from Georgia to Virginia. We placed my African Grey and my Senegal into small travel cages (modified pet carriers). We made sure we fed them well the night before and only offered water during the trip. When we arrived at our destination, their big cages were the first thing unloaded. We placed them into their new room and fed them immediately even though it was about 1 AM. They slept through the night and picked up the next day with no problems. We moved from Chicago to Denver with our umbrella and he loved it. The worst part actually was having to stay at a friend's house for two days just outside of Chicago where we had already packed up the big cage. We did the best we could to make the travel cage (which is actually fairly spacious) work, but ended up holding him for most of those days. He also really hates eating in the little cage for some reason, so we held the bowl of corn/oatmeal/peas while he ate  On the actual roadtrip, we had him situated so that the cage was elevated and occupied an entire window in the middle bench of a Suburban. Dude was happy as could be to watch the countryside go by and hang out with the flock. Driver sat up front, dogs were behind him, and he only screamed once, and that was until he remembered there was actually food inside the cage. He adjusted flawlessly to the new place. Until we put up a new chandelier in the entry hall, he's been giving that thing the stinkeye for nearly 6 weeks now. I guess I don't really have experience with other birds, but I guess I was surprised how easy the transition was for Teeka. Here, have a bonus picture of bird watching me post. Yes, cage is dirty, changing after I finish working (and posting). And I have to keep him caged in the office because we don't have a stand that fits in here yet. 
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Jan 22, 2013 22:03
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Has anyone heard about the Gabriel Foundation in CO? I'm finally getting settled and looking for some volunteer work and it would be fun to take one afternoon a week or something and go play with more birds, but these guys are super-focused on adoption and list their animals on a bunch of sites and stuff, so I am a little cautious. It does seem like a great place for the birds, though.
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Jan 23, 2013 16:02
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unprofessional posted:Lots of rescues are nuts and run by nuts who believe nobody can take care of the animals as well as them, but if they're down to earth folks, it'll be an awesome experience. It seems like an impressive facility. If I don't go skiing this weekend, I might stop by for a tour. My real concern is that it isn't like a secondhand bird mill, but I think a visit will probably clear that up.
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Jan 23, 2013 16:19
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Frozenfries posted:Here's Ruby inspecting our balcony door and posing for the camera. I've always thought Eclectuses looked a little funny, but she is gorgeous.
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Jan 24, 2013 04:04
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SaNChEzZ posted:Ugh, was playing stompy robot game with goons, using Mumble and it got quiet. I was like, "hey guys, where are you going etc, whats going on etc." And probably looking smug as gently caress too. I like the look of deep satisfaction birds get after destroying your valuables. Probably has saved my bird's life a few times.
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Jan 25, 2013 01:31
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Pookah posted:I love all of your pictures but this one is amazing... I just can't stop laughing at it. Please don't ban me, it needed this. 
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Jan 25, 2013 15:59
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Zomodok posted:
Dat ruffle is everything right with birds. But on the second count, I would warn you that 2 months is waaaaaaaay different than 2 years.
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Jan 28, 2013 04:26
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Battle Pigeon posted:Ohtori definitely isn't, he just gets furious if anything. Without the towel, he's fine. Steve, maybe. If anyone has links/descriptions of an effective bird burrito I'd be happy to try it out again so I can file their nails by myself. Maybe they're just panting from exertion?
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Jan 28, 2013 19:49
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Ah, to own a bird that both fits in your shirt and that wouldn't give the world's worst titty twister.
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Jan 29, 2013 00:58
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Wozbo posted:The last one looks like he could be a bottle opener. You know, I wonder if I could train my bird to open bottles now that you mention it. Especially an umbrella, since they have two pronounced prongs on their lower beak. And then I could go to Budweiser or Coors and make a million for putting my retard bird in a Super Bowl commercial.
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Jan 30, 2013 15:28
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My cockatoo is massively in love with my mom. She can't handle him for more than 5 minutes before he starts courting her, which hilariously involves smacking her as hard as he can with his beak and regurgitating food all over whatever she's wearing. I'm talking leaning back as far as he can go and then a full on, high-speed headbutt straight into her arm--he has literally left bruises from this. He'll proceed to actual sexin' if she doesn't put him down. All I have to do is make sure not to pet his body basically past his legs. But everything else is a-okay, bird is completely fine being manhandled.
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Jan 31, 2013 17:38
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Battle Pigeon posted:I wonder if you could teach a bird to dance of it's own accord? Ohtori doesn't dance or bob or anything, he doesn't even visibly react to different kinds of music and background noise. Oh man, my cockatoo loves dancing. He will just bob up and down with his whole body and get that crest out there for maximum metal headbang effect. He loves to dance to electronic, mostly likes rock, and is always ready to sing a duet if it's classical or opera. He seriously has the most amazing vibrato. Must record this. Pip pip pip posted:Conure snuggle time is the best Man, I need to get a picture of Teeka getting his roost on. That bird just lives for cuddles, all he wants to do is be plopped in your lap and roost up for a few hours. And then bite you out of nowhere when he wants to go back to his cage, but it's not a hard bite and we're training him away from that behavior.
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Feb 7, 2013 15:36
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So in the past few months my 'too has developed a weird pattern. Usually a little before 5pm, he starts screaming and basically won't stop. So we throw in his corn, cover him, and he shuts up and eats dinner. Later on we'll swap out the corn or peas or whatever veggies we gave him for pellets and he sleeps through the night. When we uncover him in the morning, he's happy and a normal bird. I guess I just find it weird that my bird only spend something like 10 hours a day uncovered since we open him up for biz around 7am. I'd love to have him be more active in the evenings, but the screaming just does not stop unless he is covered, and in case you weren't aware, cockatoos are pretty goddamn loud. In the past we've tried for two weeks to incrementally move his cover time to something like 6pm, but bird brain will just not have any of it. We keep his area well-lit and he doesn't exhibit any nesting behavior. The bird seems pretty normal and happy, as far as I can tell. He's in good shape (although could use more muscle), plays with toys, is plenty talkative, very cuddly, and overall this is probably the best behavior he's had in a long while. Is my bird just a lazy teenager that likes to sleep a lot or just lounge in bed?
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Feb 8, 2013 17:23
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alucinor posted:I think I've read that wild 'toos tend to start congregating in the roosting area a couple hours before dark. They scream "HEY EVERYBODY GET BACK HERE IT'S ALMOST BEDTIME". They preen and socialize till shortly before sunset then everybody goes quiet. So it's probably innate behavior. Yeah, that's what I figured. I figure there's no harm in abruptly shortening yelling o'clock. Good to know it's normal for my great white idiot and his ilk. e: Here thread, enjoy.  Only at half 'stache because oh god is that a camera!? Eejit fucked around with this message at 20:42 on Feb 8, 2013 |
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Feb 8, 2013 20:40
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H110Hawk posted:Visited Jerry today, and his wonderful assistant who helped us out on her day off. Meet our new pet Mindo! (Or as we're referring to him with our parents: their new grand child.) What is this guy, he looks awesome! Also that picture his an incredible amount of, "what are you lookin' at," going on, I love it.
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Feb 10, 2013 00:10
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H110Hawk posted:
Seriously, I love that bird. What kind of noises does he make / how loud is he? Also, how is his bite?
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Feb 11, 2013 05:24
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H110Hawk posted:Yup! Hand raised. Fruit loops would likely be fatal as they are fortified with iron. He also can't swallow them really. They don't chew their food at all, just kinda use their beak like chopsticks, bang it around until it's the size they want, then toss it back. We'll try to get a video of it. Ahhhhhhhh adorable In case anyone is wondering, that is not how cockatoos "play" with hands.
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Feb 12, 2013 06:10
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So cute! Look at those fluffed up feathers, that's the sign of a content bird.
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Feb 17, 2013 06:46
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H110Hawk posted:Asleep in his birdy hut! Try darkening the room first for 30 minutes, then cover him up.
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Feb 23, 2013 05:46
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Deadly Chlorine posted:I think so, I know a few people who have trained their greys to lie on their backs and they still do it as adults. The birds I've seen that are REALLY against lying down like that are cockatoos. Cockatoos will not have any of that poo poo. It really depends, I know a guy's grey who after puberty would pin his eyes whenever anyone's hands got within 10cm of him, and another one that occasionally plucks but will put her head down all the time when someone comes near so she can get scritches. My cockatoo doesn't like it, but he's okay with it for a bit. If I'm holding him on one hand, I can cup his wings with my other and flip him upside down for a bit and he doesn't mind. But he also likes to Mission Impossible upside-down walk along the ceiling of his cage. We also have him trained for his nails where we lay him on his back on a pillow and one person uses a towel to control his wings (and also sorta throttle his scrawny little neck to keep him from interfering with the dremmel) and he just chills out and enjoys the pedicure for the five minutes it takes.
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Feb 25, 2013 17:01
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Yeah, they have a lot of those feathers, I have to imagine that if birds were the dominant species with 9-5's and houses in the suburbs that almost no work would ever get done because between eating, making GBS threads, and preening there would be no time to file TPS reports.
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Feb 25, 2013 20:42
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Deadly Chlorine posted:I used to twisty tie Sunny's cage but he loving learnt how to twist them open and got his head stuck when the door came down for about 2 minutes, so I freaked out and used clothespins to clamp the doors shut, and he seems to not have enough strength to open those, so that's good. I also have to padlock his cage shut, jesus loving christ I thought this was a thing that people did with cockatoos, not conures. I absolutely love this picture. In terms of cage locks, we use those carabiners you can get at the hardware store that screw shut. Our goddamn cockatoo is indeed quite the escape artist, but he has yet to figure these out. We had to install them after one late evening where we came home to an eviscerated lounge chair, a pool of stuffing strewn across the floor, and Teeka sitting in his cage with the front door just barely open. Yes, the bird was both smart enough to escape to assassinate the chair and then did a pretty convincing job of trying to cover up the fact that he could get out of the cage. I'm sure it's just a matter of time until it happens again. In terms of your conure, how long has she been exhibiting this behavior? It could be that her spring hormones are kicking in. I know that our boy can get a little hypersexual during the spring, but usually he calms down after a week or two.
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Feb 27, 2013 19:57
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CrazyLittle posted:My brother's goffin's cockatoo knows how to undo the screw-lock chain links that attach his toys to the top of his cage. I wonder if the spring loaded carabiner would present more of a challenge or not. Ours aren't even spring loaded, they're more like what you're describing. The way the cage is, it's impossible to rotate the screw lock part inside the bars. Not that I doubt the bird will eventually figure out how to undo them somehow. The creature has years to plot, much like a diabolical supervillain, so it's only a matter of time.
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Feb 28, 2013 00:28
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Mad Hamish posted:Frankie figured out how to do this after watching me rearrange toys in her cage for a while. Now there are no toys in her cage at all because five seconds after you hang it up she's got it on the floor and then poops on it. I think your bird would have an awesome time at Holi.
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Feb 28, 2013 15:33
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Amaya posted:
Am I too late for Birdception? I saw a derpatiel and thought, hey, I can supersize that.  What am I looking at exactly?  You think this is a game!? (drat bird would not raise his crest without blocking out the whole screen.) Also he is going through a molt like crazy. Spent probably 45 minutes just picking away at cuticles. Probably going to shower him again tomorrow just to help him out.
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Mar 2, 2013 22:58
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Thank you guys, he is a Good Bird. I do feel a little bad having recently learned that Umbrellas are considered vulnerable on the red list, but I was in 4th grade when we got him so it's not like I could have known or said anything. And now I have a great bird, so I can't complain! Also, I love these pictures recently. I was not quite aware how cute conures are and Pookah's grey is just, I dunno, maniacal-looking. It's awesome.Battle Pigeon posted:It's never too late! Thanks for sharing, he's awesome. Molting you say? It must be really satisfying helping to preen a larger bird, and crack their feather casings. Yesssss, most people will never know the joy of preening 5 inches of feather casing off a U2's crest. He had one today that was basically fully-grown but the cuticle hadn't broken and it was super-satisfying. It's basically like popping bubble wrap to relieve stress, if the bubble wrap laid it's head on your arm, snuggled in, and made contented little noises as a way of saying thanks.
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Mar 2, 2013 23:35
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Battle Pigeon posted:She will sleep eventually, she has no other option but to learn and get used to it. Maybe she's just upset at her routine/life setup changing? Meh, Teeka rips up his cover and his cage bars. We have like 5 of them in the garage for when he inevitably chews through another one (that he may or may not be sitting on at the time). Seems like pretty normal bird stuff. They are engines of destruction, take away their sexual outlets and it will only further fuel the fires of annihilation burning within them. Marshmallow Blue posted:Alrighty folks,Ive lurked this whole thread, And even posted a bit. But now its time to reveal... MARU the Cockatiel. Named after the internet cat that goes in boxes (thanks to the fiance...) I believe Maru disagrees with your assessment. That's a good looking 'tiel though!
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Mar 5, 2013 03:46
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DarkHorse posted:Can't keep a good SQUAWK down! You should be ashamed for trying to suppress a noble bird warrior So does that chassis have ECM or what. The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Pet Island > Bird Crazies Online (PYF Parrit, Don't J4Bird)
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Mar 5, 2013 15:20
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Agent 00Wombat posted:Ok so Jack is my new sun conure. And he'll let me take him out if his cage, feed him by hand, ride around on my shoulder, won't bite me, and is generally a pretty good bird aside from some cage territorial issues. But when Wizard of Smart comes home Jack changes into this raging rear end in a top hat towards me. He bites and attacks, he drew blood tonight. The other night he climbed my shirt to bite me in the face. I'd really love some advice on how to break these behaviors, because if they continue we'll have to re-rehome him which I really don't want to do. I want to work with him and love him but I can't if he attacks me every time Wizard comes home. Any advice? Does he do this and then attempt to go to Wizard? Also, have you guys tried coordinating so that you can have Jack off of you when he comes in, and then trying to handle Jack after Wizard is already in the house? Also does he do this on sight or sound, and will he do this for anyone entering or does he just do it for Wizard? Sorry your bird is playing the miserable Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde game, that's always annoying. As we learned from the League of Extraordinary Gentleman, you just need to hire Sean Connery to talk in a funny voice while Jekyll and Hyde become amiable headmates in Captain Nemo's white whale submarine and then team up to kill Nazis. Enigma posted:That kind of sounds like what my GCC, Bruce, would do whenever my mother-in-law, Cathy, visited. She's very boisterous, and I think he hates that. When she was over, he get to where I couldn't even handle him, but in kind of a nervous aggressive way. Like, while chomping on me, he never took his eye off her. My only guess is that maybe Jack is doing something similar? As Bruce got more and more used to seeing Cathy, he stopped being quite as bad. She still is at the bottom of his list of favorite people and he can be nippy, but he's not inconsolable anymore. If Jack isn't acclimated to Wizard, that may have something to do with it. e: That reminds me, another question: can Wizard handle Jack?
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Mar 8, 2013 15:26
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Joe Don Baker posted:Back when my brother and I were still at home, the Grey would call for my brother in my mom's voice. He tricked my brother quite a few times, getting him to run down the stairs and ask mom what she needed. Hannah would just laugh. My parents have a cat they adopted and Hannah would imitate my parents and call the cat over. He'd laugh when the cat did respond and run over. I'm pretty sure Hannah actually considered the cat to be a pet. That's drat hilarious. Seems like he considered most of you guys to be pets, not just the cat My cockatoo loves destroying paper towel or toilet paper cardboard tubes. He also likes to take a chunk out of a wood toy and whittle it down to a toothpick that he just works back and forth in his beak. Birds are so strange.
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Mar 8, 2013 16:23
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Bioshuffle posted:Where can I find a comprehensive guide to taming the winged beasts? Don't forget that flight feathers grow back. You're not permanently grounding them nor does clipping their wings totally eliminate their aerial maneuverability. View it as putting training wheels on a bike; eventually you take the training wheels off.
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Mar 8, 2013 23:45
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Would I be better off clipping them and separating them?
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WorldWarWonderful posted:They're worse, because children eventually learn to stop making GBS threads in their food. Or screaming at the top of their lungs when they want attention, food, or bedtime!
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Mar 9, 2013 00:59
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You don't want to burn your nonstick pans. Usually this isn't an issue, but try to avoid scratching the nonstick surface, especially by not using metal spatulas or the like. We use nonstick as well, but we're careful to make sure there are no such issues.
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Mar 9, 2013 05:03
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You actually shouldn't be feeding your birds apple seeds because they do in fact have arsenic in them, although the occasional accidental seed is fine. PS You shouldn't eat apple seeds either. There are actually quite a few things that are toxic to birds because they are so small that we wouldn't even think about. Being well-informed is part of your responsibility as a bird owner, and I'd start here: http://www.avianweb.com/toxicfoods.html, as most of their stuff looks correct based on other stuff I've read. There are other various household things that are dangerous to birds, such as burning Teflon, that you should be aware of as well. Most of these will be in a parrot care book that you can get at a library.
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Mar 9, 2013 17:28
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DarkHorse posted:Just about every member of Cacatuidae I've met, regardless of species, has been super cuddly as a baby. The hell comes after they've passed through adolescence and turn from silent cuddle sluts into shrieking (dear god are they loud) and biting terrors, though they still tend to require a lot of attention and affection. As a cockatoo owner, this is all good stuff. But it's also worth noting that cockatoos can be good pets. My umbrella loves nothing more than to sit in my lap for hours and snuggle, but that doesn't stop him from occasionally biting me with that big ol' beak or for screaming for an hour straight (and it carries outdoors at least a mile, I have tested this). Also consider that several species are on the red list as vulnerable or endangered. I guess the short of it is that if you know you can care for a cockatoo, go for it as they can be really rewarding and amazing companions. But the care commitment on a day to day basis is enormous and it doesn't decline over the 30-70 year lifespan of the bird.
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Mar 10, 2013 04:40
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Mr Wind Up Bird posted:I've been thinking about getting a conure for a while now and while it's certainly not going to happen any time soon, I am kind of concerned about my living arrangement at the moment. Right now, any pet I get will be spending most of the time down in a basement. It's a pretty nice basement, but there isn't very much natural light. Is that a problem? Would a parrot even care? I just don't want to get something that would be miserable and crazy. If you're worried about that, you can get a full spectrum light for your bird, like what you get for people who have seasonal affective disorder. I'd check with your avian vet to determine how much time your bird should get under the light. I know some bird supply vendors already carry bird-specific models, mostly ones that are easy to attach to cages or play stands or whathaveyou.
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Mar 12, 2013 00:00
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H110Hawk posted:Hrm, how much time? We've been using ours as a little "sun" - it's on when he's supposed to be awake. Is that bad? Yeah, you should not have them exposed all day. It's not a big deal and something you can sort out with a phone call to your vet. I don't use one, so I don't know, and I'd be far more willing to trust someone with a vet degree over google.
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Mar 12, 2013 04:20
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Woah you can do a blood test to determine the sex of your bird? Our boy is 15, has obviously never laid an egg, and has black eyes (female umbrella cockatoos tend to go reddish) so we just assume he's male, but we were always told sexing a bird was some sort of invasive surgery. drat 
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Mar 12, 2013 05:38
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Battle Pigeon posted:
No, those aren't stress bars. Stress bars or stress lines are very distinct breaks in the barb, generally they look like fault lines. I'm not quite sure what causes the bars of varying transparency, but my 'too sometimes has feathers like that as well. It's not a big deal, it's possible that it just grew a little funny or something, but that looks like a pretty normal feather from a member of Cacatuidae to me.
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Mar 22, 2013 17:44
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Steve is eating Ohtori's pellets. They're Nutribird tropical, so generally at least 1cm long, though there are different shapes and sizes. Each is bigger than his beak anyway. I had no idea he even had the strength to break them. He's never tried them before, I've never offered because of the size/hardness, I had no idea he even recognised them as a food-there's some in one of the bowls on their stand, and apparently it just clicked in his little birdy head. Pellet shrapnel went everywhere. 
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| # ¿ May 8, 2024 06:57 |
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Battle Pigeon posted:I've seen a stress bar in Ohtori once, and Steve used to have some, but since he's a lutino I didn't know if that would affect how they would show up-as in, if they're only black broken lines, or if they could be faint like this too. If it's normal, then awesome. Hopefully that's the case-I worry a bit about his diet, since he still primarily eats seeds, though he's gotten a lot better about eating other things since we first had him. Yeah, it also might be that it is a natural thing for feathers but because most birds don't have so many white feathers most people don't notice. My bird is almost completely white so it just looked normal to me. Also that's really impressive. I think Greys have a reputation as the best talkers because of clarity, but 1700 words is crazy.
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Mar 22, 2013 19:58
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