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Frozen Pizza Party
Dec 13, 2005



Dem baby derps.

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H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

SaNChEzZ posted:

Also, I've got this growth, should I get it checked out?



Seems to be a variation on this strange growth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXzNI7KFNkY&hd=1

Frozen Pizza Party
Dec 13, 2005

H110Hawk posted:

Seems to be a variation on this strange growth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXzNI7KFNkY&hd=1

Awesome, that beak...bill... wanna rub it.

Deadly Chlorine
Nov 8, 2009

The accumulated filth of all the dog poop and hairballs will foam up about their waists and all the catladies and dog crazies will look up and shout "Save us!"
... and I'll look down and whisper
"No."

H110Hawk posted:

Seems to be a variation on this strange growth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXzNI7KFNkY&hd=1
Oh my god I didn't know toucans were this cuddly, I thought this was only a conure sort of thing. :3: Oh my god aaag the adorable.


Also, last week I went to another bird outing! Highlights:






By the way, the hawkhead was an rear end in a top hat and would actively go for people's feet when he was on the floor. :gonk:



It's at a location called Aviatrix that just opened up locally with government funding. :3: It's so people can teach their birds free flight and stuff in the small aviary.

Here's the entire set from that day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/89318284@N05/sets/72157632901972929/

LITERALLY A BIRD
Sep 27, 2008

I knew you were trouble
when you flew in


Get out of there, Zippy and Ivan, you're with the wrong Bird Crazy! :3:

Battle Pigeon
Nov 7, 2011

I am dancing potato
give me millet


That Aviatrix thing is awesome, even more so that it's government funded. I couldn't see anything like that happening here for many, many years. Love that Hawkhead photo! And the one of the cockatiel and conure sat next to each other-the cockatiel actually looks really pretty!

Mine on the other hand...





He didn't even bother to open his eyes. For all I know, he never even woke up.

Jose Oquendo
Jun 20, 2004

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a boring movie
So Hannah and I had an actual conversation today. He's learned to say (in my voice), "Come Here!" This also confirms he knows what it means.

Hannah: Come here!
Me: NO!
Hannah: Come here!
Me: NO!
Hannah: Come here!
Me: NO!
Hannah: Come here!
Me: NO!
Hannah: Come here!
Me: NO!
Hannah: Come Here!
Me: NO!

Yes, it actually went on for that long. He now knows what "Come here" and "No" mean. I'm sorta scared.

Pile of Kittens
Apr 23, 2005

Why does everything STILL smell like pussy?

uglynoodles posted:

Iro won't sleep. She just cries and bitches and squawks. She does this weird whistle cry. I don't know how else to describe it but it sounds like conure tears.

I took away her rope toy the other day. Her behaviour has improved massively. I wonder if this whining has anything to do with it?

Oh yeah, the "my tiny bird heart is breaking" slow wheeeeeeek. Novolo does that in the night, or sometimes at seagulls in movies. I just moved away and I miss her awfully.

Deadly Chlorine
Nov 8, 2009

The accumulated filth of all the dog poop and hairballs will foam up about their waists and all the catladies and dog crazies will look up and shout "Save us!"
... and I'll look down and whisper
"No."

Joe Don Baker posted:

So Hannah and I had an actual conversation today. He's learned to say (in my voice), "Come Here!" This also confirms he knows what it means.

Hannah: Come here!
Me: NO!
Hannah: Come here!
Me: NO!
Hannah: Come here!
Me: NO!
Hannah: Come here!
Me: NO!
Hannah: Come here!
Me: NO!
Hannah: Come Here!
Me: NO!

Yes, it actually went on for that long. He now knows what "Come here" and "No" mean. I'm sorta scared.
My god, greys are the most mischiveious talkers ever. I know my friend who has one said that he was just chilling outside with his grey when the grey suddenly started saying "Come here! Come here!" to some people in the distance, then when they came over to pet him he screeched SHUT UP!

Greys. :stare:


@Battle Pigeon: Cockatiels are like that, every morning when I switch on the light Sunny will go crazy until I let him out, while Cheeky is still sleeping soundly on his rope perch. :derptiel: The owner bought both of them at the same time when they were babies, so they're basically living in the same cage and cuddling each other everyday. Same thing with another lovebird/conure pair that another friend has. :3:

The amazon was also adorable as hell, he could sing Happy Birthday and was saying GOOD BOY LOH the entire time there. :3:

Deadly Chlorine fucked around with this message at 08:39 on Mar 8, 2013

Agent 00Wombat
Aug 5, 2012
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?

Enigma
Jun 10, 2003
Raetus Deus Est.

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?

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.

Eejit
Mar 6, 2007

Swiss Army Cockatoo
Cacatua multitoolii

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?

Pookah
Aug 21, 2008

🪶Caw🪶





Joe Don Baker posted:

So Hannah and I had an actual conversation today. He's learned to say (in my voice), "Come Here!" This also confirms he knows what it means.

Hannah: Come here!
Me: NO!
Hannah: Come here!
Me: NO!
Hannah: Come here!
Me: NO!
Hannah: Come here!
Me: NO!
Hannah: Come here!
Me: NO!
Hannah: Come Here!
Me: NO!

Yes, it actually went on for that long. He now knows what "Come here" and "No" mean. I'm sorta scared.

That's awesome!, Pookie hasn't quite gotten to conversational levels of speech but she does know what quite a lot of things mean, as in I can ask her "What does Daisy (the dog) say?" and she'll bark, but I can also say "Call Daisy for me", and she'll do a dog-calling whistle.

Actually , she did something very silly last night. As I've previously mentioned, she will always try to destroy paper bags, ever since I annoyed her by putting her in one last year. I got a nice sturdy clothes shop-type bag yesterday which I tied it to the top of her cage by one of the handles so she could kill it without knocking it to the floor every 2 minutes. She spent the next 10 minutes happily pouncing on it like it was a snake, so I went off to the other side of kitchen to get the dinner going.

All at once there was a loud sliding, rustling sound accompanied by an outraged "WAAAAAAK", and when I rushed over there was a lovely pink paper bag hanging down the side of the cage with the sound of furious struggling going on inside.

That's right, she pounced so enthusiastically that she got right inside and slid the whole thing off the cage.

Silly Pookie :3:.

Jose Oquendo
Jun 20, 2004

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a boring movie
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.

Have you tried giving your Grey pieces of cardboard? Hannah likes chunks of cardboard from tissue boxes. I'll fold it in half and he'll hold it and destroy it. Sometimes I might put it on some sort of hook for toys and he'll go at it. He almost uses it like chewing gum. He'll grab a piece and chew on it and spit it out. He never eats it.

Eejit
Mar 6, 2007

Swiss Army Cockatoo
Cacatua multitoolii

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.

Have you tried giving your Grey pieces of cardboard? Hannah likes chunks of cardboard from tissue boxes. I'll fold it in half and he'll hold it and destroy it. Sometimes I might put it on some sort of hook for toys and he'll go at it. He almost uses it like chewing gum. He'll grab a piece and chew on it and spit it out. He never eats it.

That's drat hilarious. Seems like he considered most of you guys to be pets, not just the cat :3:

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.

Jose Oquendo
Jun 20, 2004

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a boring movie

Eejit posted:

That's drat hilarious. Seems like he considered most of you guys to be pets, not just the cat :3:

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.

I'm sure that Hannah actually thinks he's a human and I'm his big brother. He just never liked my younger brother.

alucinor
May 21, 2003



Taco Defender

Eejit posted:

That's drat hilarious. Seems like he considered most of you guys to be pets, not just the cat :3:

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.

My goffin is NUTS for phone books. Even better, the local company has started printing reduced-size phone books that are only like 8"x7", which are perfectly sized for him. I drill through near the spine, then hang a chain through them with both ends outside the cage so he can't pull it down except by removing every page. :)

Jose Oquendo
Jun 20, 2004

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a boring movie

alucinor posted:

My goffin is NUTS for phone books. Even better, the local company has started printing reduced-size phone books that are only like 8"x7", which are perfectly sized for him. I drill through near the spine, then hang a chain through them with both ends outside the cage so he can't pull it down except by removing every page. :)

That's a brilliant idea. I'm going to do that.

alucinor
May 21, 2003



Taco Defender

Joe Don Baker posted:

That's a brilliant idea. I'm going to do that.

Scope out the local apartment complexes when it's phone book season. They usually just leave a half-pallet of them near the mailroom, and they never all get picked up. I can usually snag 4-5 at a time, plus the ones I get at home and work, so he's never without.

Battle Pigeon
Nov 7, 2011

I am dancing potato
give me millet


Aw, the thread lost its Gold rating. :(

Pookah posted:

Actually , she did something very silly last night. As I've previously mentioned, she will always try to destroy paper bags, ever since I annoyed her by putting her in one last year. I got a nice sturdy clothes shop-type bag yesterday which I tied it to the top of her cage by one of the handles so she could kill it without knocking it to the floor every 2 minutes. She spent the next 10 minutes happily pouncing on it like it was a snake, so I went off to the other side of kitchen to get the dinner going.

All at once there was a loud sliding, rustling sound accompanied by an outraged "WAAAAAAK", and when I rushed over there was a lovely pink paper bag hanging down the side of the cage with the sound of furious struggling going on inside.

That's right, she pounced so enthusiastically that she got right inside and slid the whole thing off the cage.

Silly Pookie :3:.

Oh Pookie. :3: Is she angrier at bags than ever now after that?

Pookah
Aug 21, 2008

🪶Caw🪶





Yep, she's now angry and paranoid.

And yeah, she loves to tear up cardboard - any time I have one of the long cardboard tubes you get in kitchen paper I pierce holes about halfway along it and suspend something like a peanut in its shell or a small sweet, on a thread through the holes. Then I show Pookie that there is something mysterious and probably delicious hidden in the tube.

It takes her about 20 minutes of sustained tearing to get at the treat so it's exercise ending in a tasty reward!

LITERALLY A BIRD
Sep 27, 2008

I knew you were trouble
when you flew in

I absolutely love Amadeus' awkward pidgin English, pun intended. The other day I took him in the shower with me and he wasn't very keen on the idea of bathtime, so he hunched on my hand babbling anxious half-nonsense -- pretty doanpinch! takeyer boy! good bird, good bird! -- until he just gave up at trying to communicate in people-talk and just went SCREEEEE!. Whereupon I felt a little bad and stopped laughing at him and put him on the curtain rod.

This morning I gave him a kiss while he was watching the snow fall outside, and he looked at me all surprised and asked whaayoodu? :3:

Battle Pigeon posted:

Aw, the thread lost its Gold rating. :(

Not on my watch!

Bioshuffle
Feb 10, 2011

No good deed goes unpunished

How tame do my lovebirds need to be before I can let them out of the cage? I've had them for about 2 weeks now. I'm still getting them used to my hand by bribing them with millet, and step up isn't a remote possibility as they freak out and start flying all over the place if my fingers go anywhere near them. The last thing I want to do is hunt my birds down with a towel after I let them out of their cage. I've thought about taking them to my bathroom and letting them out, but what happens if they won't go back to the cage? Towel them and delete weeks of progress? Transferring them from the travel cage to their regular cage was such a traumatic experience I don't care to put them through that again. Should I just wait it out?

Bioshuffle fucked around with this message at 18:59 on Mar 8, 2013

Super-NintendoUser
Jan 16, 2004

COWABUNGERDER COMPADRES
Soiled Meat

Joe Don Baker posted:

I'm sure that Hannah actually thinks he's a human and I'm his big brother. He just never liked my younger brother.

I've always assumed that Hannah doesn't differentiate between birds and humans, and that he views our family as a flock and has to climb the pecking order. Being the youngest sibling, he has to surpass me before he can move up the flock.

Karma Comedian
Feb 2, 2012

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.

It's not this, because Jack pretty much seems to adore me. He heartwings at me and does his excited little high pitched squeak. If I leave the room and Jack is out on top of his cage he usually flies to me in that funny way conures do that seems like they suddenly forgot how to fly as soon as they take off.

Eejit posted:

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.


e: That reminds me, another question: can Wizard handle Jack?

He does try and go to me. If I come home and hes not on Wombat she can't handle him at all. As far as I can tell he doesn't do this if I'm on the phone with her. It seems to be only when I'm in the house.

And yes, I can handle him. I want them to get along because she loves that silly bird.

Karma Comedian fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Mar 8, 2013

Amaya
Aug 5, 2006

Paws up!

Bioshuffle posted:

How tame do my lovebirds need to be before I can let them out of the cage? I've had them for about 2 weeks now. I'm still getting them used to my hand by bribing them with millet, and step up isn't a remote possibility as they freak out and start flying all over the place if my fingers go anywhere near them. The last thing I want to do is hunt my birds down with a towel after I let them out of their cage. I've thought about taking them to my bathroom and letting them out, but what happens if they won't go back to the cage? Towel them and delete weeks of progress? Transferring them from the travel cage to their regular cage was such a traumatic experience I don't care to put them through that again. Should I just wait it out?

Ideally you'll be letting them out of the cage often in order to tame them...? Having two birds together in the same cage also tends to get them to bond to each other. I'm not sure if you posted already? I'm really scatter brained, I'm sorry :( But you need to 1) get their wings clipped so they can't haul rear end all around the house. It'll also make them more dependent on you and thus make you an ally instead of a threat. I would also separate them if you can, see if that helps at all. It's all about patience! Keep it up with the millet and the praise and get them clipped, they'll be much easier to handle :)

Bioshuffle
Feb 10, 2011

No good deed goes unpunished

Amaya posted:

Ideally you'll be letting them out of the cage often in order to tame them...? Having two birds together in the same cage also tends to get them to bond to each other. I'm not sure if you posted already? I'm really scatter brained, I'm sorry :( But you need to 1) get their wings clipped so they can't haul rear end all around the house. It'll also make them more dependent on you and thus make you an ally instead of a threat. I would also separate them if you can, see if that helps at all. It's all about patience! Keep it up with the millet and the praise and get them clipped, they'll be much easier to handle :)
Where can I find a comprehensive guide to taming the winged beasts?

I'd rather not clip the wings. One of the birds came with wings clipped and the other one didn't. Watching the clipped bird flap her wings to no avail while the other one just flies from one perch to the next makes me sad. Besides, if I let them out of the cage, I'd be doing it in a controlled environment so I'm not too worried about anything dangerous like the birds flying into a window. I do have a spare cage, but I'd rather keep the two together (even it means it'll take me longer to tame them) because I'm busy with school and work.

They're my first birds, so I'm trying to learn as much as I can. :shobon: Would I be better off clipping them and separating them?

Eejit
Mar 6, 2007

Swiss Army Cockatoo
Cacatua multitoolii

Bioshuffle posted:

Where can I find a comprehensive guide to taming the winged beasts?

I'd rather not clip the wings. One of the birds came with wings clipped and the other one didn't. Watching the clipped bird flap her wings to no avail while the other one just flies from one perch to the next makes me sad. Besides, if I let them out of the cage, I'd be doing it in a controlled environment so I'm not too worried about anything dangerous like the birds flying into a window. I do have a spare cage, but I'd rather keep the two together (even it means it'll take me longer to tame them) because I'm busy with school and work.

They're my first birds, so I'm trying to learn as much as I can. :shobon: Would I be better off clipping them and separating them?

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.

Amaya
Aug 5, 2006

Paws up!

Bioshuffle posted:

Where can I find a comprehensive guide to taming the winged beasts?

I'd rather not clip the wings. One of the birds came with wings clipped and the other one didn't. Watching the clipped bird flap her wings to no avail while the other one just flies from one perch to the next makes me sad. Besides, if I let them out of the cage, I'd be doing it in a controlled environment so I'm not too worried about anything dangerous like the birds flying into a window. I do have a spare cage, but I'd rather keep the two together (even it means it'll take me longer to tame them) because I'm busy with school and work.

They're my first birds, so I'm trying to learn as much as I can. :shobon: Would I be better off clipping them and separating them?

This thread is a pretty comprehensive guide! I was thinking about making something like that though, like a 'SO YOU HAVE BIRDS, NOW WHAT?' kind of deal for commonly asked questions and such? For people that can't afford/don't want to buy books. We should band together and make one, I think!

Now, on the topic of wing clippage, Eejit is right, their wings grow back and if you get a professional to do it, it's entirely painless for them. Wings are clipped just to make them less proficient at flying, if your other lovebird is completely incapable of flying they might have clipped to short. Like I said, it's not to completely stop them from flying, it's to make them reliant on you. They'll prefer being on your shoulder/hand to being vulnerable on the ground and they won't be able to get to far away/high up places without you!

What would make you more sad? Having birds that have clipped wings for a few months or having birds that won't let you interact with them ever and are confined to their cages? I understand your apprehension, I feel like a monster clipping my birds' wings for when we travel but it's a necessary evil sometimes. In your case though, it's not danger we're worried about, it's essentially taking away the one up they have on you. You're big, but they're fast and mobile.

You really would be better off clipping and separating them until you can get them used to being handled. A pair together in a cage, especially if they're not handle-able, will probably pair up together and exclude you from their birds only club. Separated and clipped they're more likely to want to hang out with you, especially if with you is the only time their buddy can be out!

Now, are they more aggressive or afraid of you? Are they likely to bite or run away?


In other news, I just spent 110 dollars on harnesses and a new (washable, thank god) coozy for Finn and two shower stands. Help. BIRDS ARE NO BETTER THAN CHILDREN.

WorldWarWonderful
Jul 15, 2004
Eh?

Amaya posted:

In other news, I just spent 110 dollars on harnesses and a new (washable, thank god) coozy for Finn and two shower stands. Help. BIRDS ARE NO BETTER THAN CHILDREN.

They're worse, because children eventually learn to stop making GBS threads in their food.

Eejit
Mar 6, 2007

Swiss Army Cockatoo
Cacatua multitoolii

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!

Bioshuffle
Feb 10, 2011

No good deed goes unpunished

Amaya posted:

This thread is a pretty comprehensive guide! I was thinking about making something like that though, like a 'SO YOU HAVE BIRDS, NOW WHAT?' kind of deal for commonly asked questions and such? For people that can't afford/don't want to buy books. We should band together and make one, I think!

Now, on the topic of wing clippage, Eejit is right, their wings grow back and if you get a professional to do it, it's entirely painless for them. Wings are clipped just to make them less proficient at flying, if your other lovebird is completely incapable of flying they might have clipped to short. Like I said, it's not to completely stop them from flying, it's to make them reliant on you. They'll prefer being on your shoulder/hand to being vulnerable on the ground and they won't be able to get to far away/high up places without you!

What would make you more sad? Having birds that have clipped wings for a few months or having birds that won't let you interact with them ever and are confined to their cages? I understand your apprehension, I feel like a monster clipping my birds' wings for when we travel but it's a necessary evil sometimes. In your case though, it's not danger we're worried about, it's essentially taking away the one up they have on you. You're big, but they're fast and mobile.

You really would be better off clipping and separating them until you can get them used to being handled. A pair together in a cage, especially if they're not handle-able, will probably pair up together and exclude you from their birds only club. Separated and clipped they're more likely to want to hang out with you, especially if with you is the only time their buddy can be out!

Now, are they more aggressive or afraid of you? Are they likely to bite or run away?


In other news, I just spent 110 dollars on harnesses and a new (washable, thank god) coozy for Finn and two shower stands. Help. BIRDS ARE NO BETTER THAN CHILDREN.
This makes a lot of sense! Thank you. Thankfully, there is a local pet store which offers free wing clippings. I just have to figure out the best way to transfer the birds into the travel cage. I'm guessing the evil towel is going to make another appearance. While we're on the subject of books, which ones are essential for a first time bird owners? While I figure everything out, I'll keep on feeding them millet and trying to convince them I'm not their enemy.

Besides, the clipped one seems to have no trouble climbing up and down the sides of the cage.

Bioshuffle fucked around with this message at 01:13 on Mar 9, 2013

Battle Pigeon
Nov 7, 2011

I am dancing potato
give me millet


LITERALLY A BIRD posted:

Not on my watch!

Yaaaay, back to Gold again!

A bit annoyed because it finally got warm again here in the last week or so, the snow melted, and the temperatures were reaching even 11C during the day so I was hoping this weekend to take the birds out in their harnesses for a bit. Today it snowed most of the day, it's currently -3C, and is supposed to drop to around -10C at night over the weekend. Not exactly bird walking weather. :saddowns:

Amaya posted:

In other news, I just spent 110 dollars on harnesses and a new (washable, thank god) coozy for Finn and two shower stands. Help. BIRDS ARE NO BETTER THAN CHILDREN.

What harnesses did you get? We had to order pellets from online as the parrot store didn't have them in stock and nowhere else sells them, and we also ended up getting a foraging wheel: http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/birds/cage_accessories/food_water/196888 and this desk playgym/perch thing: http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/birds/cage_accessories/perches/215350 Both are nothing special I guess but since bird toys and accessories are so hard to come by here, and really expensive when you do find them, I'm excited for these-Steve is going to nap on that stand so hard.

Bioshuffle posted:

This makes a lot of sense! Thank you. Thankfully, there is a local pet store which offers free wing clippings. I just have to figure out the best way to transfer the birds into the travel cage. I'm guessing the evil towel is going to make another appearance. While we're on the subject of books, which ones are essential for a first time bird owners? While I figure everything out, I'll keep on feeding them millet and trying to convince them I'm not their enemy.

I would recommend at least these two:

http://www.amazon.com/Parrots-For-Dummies-Nikki-Moustaki/dp/0764583530/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362787732&sr=8-1&keywords=parrots+for+dummies

http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Well-Be...+behaved+parrot

I have the first one and it's actually really good, and a great reference for things in general.

Shark Sandwich
Sep 6, 2010

by R. Guyovich
Guide to a Well-Behaved Parrot is pretty good too though some of the advice reads like middle-aged bird lady advice.

Marshmallow Blue
Apr 25, 2010
Don't cook with Teflon either. It kills your bird so just imagine what it's doing to you. Plus it really sucks to have a feathered friend die in your hands cause someone decided to make pancakes and didnt remember that Teflon was bad.

NPR Journalizard
Feb 14, 2008

When my partner and I kiss each other hello Squirt feels left out, so he has been joining in and making kissy noises, only he was a bit of a jerk today, and made kissy noises then bit me on my lip, and then laughed at me.

Such a jerk bird.

platedlizard
Aug 31, 2012

I like plates and lizards.

Marshmallow Blue posted:

Don't cook with Teflon either. It kills your bird so just imagine what it's doing to you. Plus it really sucks to have a feathered friend die in your hands cause someone decided to make pancakes and didnt remember that Teflon was bad.

I cook with teflon all the time in my studio apartment with my birds less than ten feet from the stove. Been doing it for over a decade now, and never had a problem.

Jose Oquendo
Jun 20, 2004

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a boring movie

Marshmallow Blue posted:

Don't cook with Teflon either. It kills your bird so just imagine what it's doing to you. Plus it really sucks to have a feathered friend die in your hands cause someone decided to make pancakes and didnt remember that Teflon was bad.

Is there any hard science behind this? Everything I can find about teflon in particular links to wacko websites. Stuff about teflon and birds indicates that if teflon wares are used normally then it's a non-issue.

Eejit
Mar 6, 2007

Swiss Army Cockatoo
Cacatua multitoolii

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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platedlizard
Aug 31, 2012

I like plates and lizards.

Joe Don Baker posted:

Is there any hard science behind this? Everything I can find about teflon in particular links to wacko websites. Stuff about teflon and birds indicates that if teflon wares are used normally then it's a non-issue.

I found one paper that was written a long time about about one incident. Apparently some teflon-coated heat lamps were used to warm a barn full of baby chickens and the lamps over-heated, outgassed teflon, and the chicks died. That is literally the only case I've been able to find documented evidence of teflon killing birds. So don't use teflon-coated heat lamps on your baby chickens I guess.

As I said, I've used teflon cookware for over a decade around my birds and have never had a problem from it. And I'm terrible cook who burns stuff all the time.

I've had people tell me not to use the strangest things with birds. Like, don't give my birds fresh apple or plum branches because apple seeds and plum seeds have trace amounts of cyanide in them which makes the fruit and branches toxic somehow. (actually no it doesn't, also what the gently caress). Also, Canada geese poop salmonella so you shouldn't give your birds branches because they might have salmonella on them (uh, when was the last time you saw a goose in a tree??). Again, something I've never had a problem with, and I own a iguana, which, if anything, is a bigger source of salmonella than any hosed-off branches from outside.

The avocado thing is real though, when I worked at a pet bird store at least one customer a year would come in and tell us their bird ate avocado and died immediately afterwards. It did seem to be somewhat inconsistent (ie a Grey would die but an Amazon in the same house who ate the same thing would live).

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