|
Eejit posted:Plus he responds well to food treats (DAT MILLET) so you can very easily clicker train him. At which point it should be very easy to train him to step up without drama/not be defensive/not fear hands. Speaking of, I've been trying every now and then to ease Steve into clicker training, and I think that he's at least worked out click = treat... but it's uncertain, as he never seems to respond to the click otherwise. If he does know that though, we're still having another problem-once the treat is out he's far too excited/single minded. I was trying to start with Wave, like I did with 'Tori, but Steve moves so fast that even if I click at the right time he doesn't seem to care or notice. He's just doing anything he can to get to the Cheerio-hopping straight off fingers, going around them, pacing back and forth, flying away if nothing works fast enough. Are cockatiels just really slow learners? Ideas for getting him to slow down and attempt to work things out?
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2013 22:27
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 18, 2024 02:01 |
|
|
I'm back living with my boyfriend and my bird. Today I was informed that the bird's cage was left open by someone carelessly... the bird got out... and took a walk onto the front porch through the wide-open front door. I am NOT. PLEASED. I am so glad we clipped her weeks ago or she would be long gone. There are five people other than us living here so it's hard to tell who hosed up.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 06:43
|
|
|
Scout being calmed down: She loves scritches so much she wants to show her appreciation with her beak! A short spell under the sheet restores her composure. Her nemesis, the fan:  I was carrying it past the room she was in to set it up in the kitchen and she caught sight of it and LOST HER poo poo. Screaming and carrying on. It was funny and pathetic. A few hours after I tried to give her a bath in the sink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh3ZS1K5Fas I am pretty sure she poops at 0:08
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 08:21
|
|
|
Anyone else have birds who sulk after getting their nails trimmed? I have gotten Baby and Cheeky so used to being held on their backs and having their feet touched that I've done all their nail trimming for over the past year and a half. While both of them will let out an occasional protest squeak or touch a beak to my hand, they do not bite me and begrudgingly endure the process. When I finish and put them on their perches I give them a craisin as a reward. Both of them will then drop it as if to say "I don't want anything from you" but if I put the treats back into the container they will then lean off their perches or look at me as if to say "wait, wait, I didn't mean it!" I can't believe how far Cheeky has come over the past year and a half I've had her. When I used to try and cut her nails I had to towel her and make sure her beak couldn't get to my hands otherwise she'd tear them up. Now I hold her barehanded and the process is done in less than a minute!
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 13:00
|
|
|
EMCF posted:Here is an image of the broken feather, it wasn't really bleeding, but I applied a small amount of flour as a precaution. I likely will give the vet a call, but if anyone has any advice to give me from this image I'm all ears. red/ orange canary's can suffer from feather lumps where the feathers won't grow through properly http://www.avianweb.com/feathercysts.html we adopted a little orange headed canary and he gets them all the time on his wings.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 17:11
|
|
|
If anyone in the Greater Seattle Area is looking to adopt a Cockatiel, the lady I adopted Zippy from last year has a cockatiel she is looking for a new home for: "He was given to me & very sweet but he had to live alone because he's trying to get frisky with the females" For contact info, PM me, the bird is currently living in the North part of Montlake Terrace.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 18:37
|
|
|
I leave a little dish next to Jacques cage to hold the piece of millet spray I'm using to get him out of his cage without complaint. I heard some contented bird noise just now and glanced over, it seems that when I'm not looking he'll sneak out of his cage and pounce on that dish like its a big bowl of crack. But if he hears my chair move he'll jump back up onto the side of the cage and look innocent. Little fucker 
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 18:49
|
|
|
I used to have a little runt budgie who never grew flight feathers, but was the happiest ever. He'd constantly escape his cage, wander around the back yard and run through the grass when one of us spotted him, knowing he wasn't supposed to be out.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 19:10
|
|
|
Munnin The Crab posted:I leave a little dish next to Jacques cage to hold the piece of millet spray I'm using to get him out of his cage without complaint. I heard some contented bird noise just now and glanced over, it seems that when I'm not looking he'll sneak out of his cage and pounce on that dish like its a big bowl of crack. But if he hears my chair move he'll jump back up onto the side of the cage and look innocent. Little fucker You can always tell by the loving giant amount of evidence sitting on the floor. (All those tiny seed hulls)
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 19:44
|
|
|
I spent, like, forty dollars buying Amadeus a load of new toys that all rattle and ring and clank, some to replace his favorites he's destroyed, some brand new. I just finished putting them all in his cage and he ran around attacking them all cheerfully... and then went back to wrestling with his current favorite toy, Half-Eaten Toilet Paper Tube. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 21:06
|
|
|
LITERALLY A BIRD posted:I spent, like, forty dollars buying Amadeus a load of new toys that all rattle and ring and clank, some to replace his favorites he's destroyed, some brand new. I just finished putting them all in his cage and he ran around attacking them all cheerfully... and then went back to wrestling with his current favorite toy, Half-Eaten Toilet Paper Tube. He probably was just telling all the toys who da boss was; then showed them how much he didn't care about their existence.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 21:10
|
|
|
I heard a lot of very strange noise coming from the bird's room the other morning, so I went to check and found this happening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci3rz2ytw3M
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 22:02
|
|
|
Munnin The Crab posted:I leave a little dish next to Jacques cage to hold the piece of millet spray I'm using to get him out of his cage without complaint. I heard some contented bird noise just now and glanced over, it seems that when I'm not looking he'll sneak out of his cage and pounce on that dish like its a big bowl of crack. But if he hears my chair move he'll jump back up onto the side of the cage and look innocent. Little fucker My Beaker is a master of finding where I'm hiding the millet and gorging herself when I'm not looking. She always has floofy happy budgie jowls after too. Only time she looks quite that content. I decided to introduce Cilly to the magic of youtube birds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwXBU39deww He gave exactly 1 poo poo about internet birds - directly into my laptop's speakers.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 22:28
|
|
|
Wizard of Smart posted:I heard a lot of very strange noise coming from the bird's room the other morning, so I went to check and found this happening. Bwa ha ha, conure splash baths are the best.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 22:29
|
|
|
WARNING: APPROACHING CRITICAL FLUFF I'm so angry I didn't get a better picture of how HUGE she looks when she decides its time for a bath. And Loo. 
Tasty_Crayon fucked around with this message at 04:35 on Jul 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 04:32
|
|
|
Grey photo dump incoming.   I love watching him. He gets every single feather.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 04:38
|
|
|
Joe Don Baker posted:Grey photo dump incoming. I love the bit where they go FOOF FOOF FOOF with the side of their head against that tuft of preeny butt-feathers. Edit: It's very hot here at the moment (hottest weather in 7 years, a whopping 29 degrees!) so me and the birds are outside a lot. We also like to eat some ice-cream, but Pookie had a problem with her helping - if she holds it in her fist it melts really quickly so she only gets a little bit. So I've taken to making her the occasional bird-sized ice-cream sandwich, I'll see if I can get some pictures later on today, but you'll all have to ignore her scruffy outdoors cage. Pookah fucked around with this message at 08:36 on Jul 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 08:30
|
|
|
Yeah Hannah LOVES ice cream. Doesn't matter what he's doing. If he hears that bowl and spoon he goes nuts until he gets a glob. I put it in a dish so he can just use his beak to get at it. He also gets brain freeze so he'll start shaking his head after several bites. edit: What you said made me think of this one I got last night. I love watching him fan out his tail feathers. 
Jose Oquendo fucked around with this message at 12:32 on Jul 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 12:19
|
|
|
Joe Don Baker posted:Yeah Hannah LOVES ice cream. Doesn't matter what he's doing. If he hears that bowl and spoon he goes nuts until he gets a glob. I put it in a dish so he can just use his beak to get at it. He also gets brain freeze so he'll start shaking his head after several bites. Pookie does the very same tail wag every time someone picks up the dog to give her a cuddle - she loves that ol dog very much
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 13:31
|
|
|
I filmed Pookie getting her icecream - forgive the crappy (only used for transport and occasional outdoors sitting) cage and my weird voice.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16ahL1kUEZ4
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 15:03
|
|
|
Nice. Maybe it's the lighting but I noticed that Pookie is a bit lighter in color than Hannah, at least in the face area. Is that a male/female thing? The eyes are also a bit different. I love the 'gently caress it' look she gives after dropping the ice cream. Very rarely, and it has to be something he really, really, really loves, but Hannah will climb down to get food he dropped.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 15:10
|
|
|
Joe Don Baker posted:Grey photo dump incoming. Also now Sunny often does this when I put him on my arm:   It's the most adorable thing and I could cuddle him for hours.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 15:15
|
|
|
Joe Don Baker posted:Nice. Maybe it's the lighting but I noticed that Pookie is a bit lighter in color than Hannah, at least in the face area. Is that a male/female thing? The eyes are also a bit different. Yeah it might be - she's quite pale-feathered and overall is pretty small. I think her eyes look kind of odd there because it's unusually hot here at the moment and her eyes always get kind of "egyptian-looking" when she's very warm. Normally she'd climb down after fallen food, but only if it has landed in a poop or something equally disgusting or unwholesome, simply because she is a parrot. The cage is newly cleaned and the ice-cream perfectly safe to eat, so of course she's not interested anymore.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 15:19
|
|
|
What are your guy's feeling on beads? We ordered this toy from MySafeBridStore: http://www.mysafebirdstore.com/product.cgi?group=1075&product=13719 To my surprise, within two days, Mindo had managed to pick one of the pony beads. I was able to get the bead from him, but I was upset because it was the size and color of a berry and a choking hazard. I was just glad I was home and saw Mindo do it. I called MySafeBirdStore to complain and they totally wrote off my worries. I was told that parrots don't swallow things that aren't food, so the bead was not actually a hazard. Is this a difference between parrots and aracaris (we were told by our breeder to carefully examine bell clackers and other small parts of toys, because aracaris might swallow them) or was MySafeBirdStore discounting aside my legitimate worries?
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 17:11
|
|
|
Staryberry posted:What are your guy's feeling on beads? We ordered this toy from MySafeBridStore: Not sure about the beads. But I bought a toy similar to that and my concern was the plastic tubing and my cockatiel eating it. She did just shred the crap out of it but it looks like she didn't eat any of it. however she did almost hang herself using one of those hanging toys that consist of a bunch of fun shaped rings with a bell at the bottom. Like this one (but not that one specifically.) Luckily we were right there to stop it; but we don't buy her those type of toys anymore.  I think if you're worried about the safety of your bird on a product, than your opinion of safe or not should come first and foremost, regardless of what the pet-store says.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 17:25
|
|
|
Yeah I've seen their plastic beads and stuff on there and decided not to order them. Hannah's pretty good about not eating stuff like that and just playing with it, but man, you never know.
Jose Oquendo fucked around with this message at 18:17 on Jul 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 17:58
|
|
|
Yeah, I don't think I'd take any chances there at all.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 18:12
|
|
|
Thank you Marshmallow Blue, Joe Don Baker, and Kenshin. The lady at MySafeBirdStore made me feel like I was being crazy and over reacting. I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who feels this way. It's disappointing to spend $11.00 + shipping on a toy that ends up having hazards, and then get so little response from the vendor.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 18:24
|
|
|
My girlfriend worries about Ritz eating this little rubber porcupine thing that he likes to rip up the spines, but I think parrots in general have the smarts and tongue control to not actually ingest something that isn't food. Aracaris on the other hand, I have no idea how they work anatomically so your concern may very well be valid. Ritz always likes to try ice cream, but then realizes it's cold as gently caress and doesn't really like it. Rinse, repeat every time there's ice cream out. 
Frozen Pizza Party fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Jul 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 18:25
|
|
|
Hannah loves cold stuff. Ice cream, ice pops, those freeze pops you put in the freezer to harden, everything. It's funny because he eventually gets brain freeze and starts shaking his head. He'll put the treat down for a few minutes and then when it wears off he goes back for more. He likes those freeze pops because they are just wide enough for him to hold in his claw.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 18:39
|
|
|
I haven't tried to feed Alexis any frozen treats yet but he does *love* getting drinks of water out of the pint glasses filled with ice water that I pour for myself when I get home from work. He prefers getting drinks of water from my water glasses more than from his own water bowls.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 18:51
|
|
|
Guess who now leaves his cage without protest  . This bird is just a happy little bastard now. He only protests when I stick my hand into his actual cage.Jacques spend the last few hours sleeping on my shoulder, waking up, chirping into my ear and then Attacking my plugs. I didn't mind it at first, but it's starting to hurt now. I've got a feeling this is just going to be kind of a constant thing, they do sparkle after all. If they didn't want to be attacked they wouldn't sparkle. In 5 days he's: -Switched away from a seed diet -Taken his first steps out of the cage in years -Flown (an admittedly short distance) for the first time in years -Gone from wildly attacking my fingers to eagerly running out the door of the cage and waiting for me to give him a finger to step up onto -Almost entirely stopped plucking. (I think the stress of his big move has abated, he was plucking 2-3 contour feathers a night for the first 3 days. In the last 2 days I've only found one downy feather in his cage) -Met a rat, with zero freakouts. -Started trusting me enough to sleep for hours at a time on my shoulder. Things to work on still: I realllly need to trim his... what would be most aptly called talons at this point. Strengthening his wings, although hes doing this on his own a bit already. I'd like to start clicker training him as well. Oh and he still needs a bath, a few spritzes with a spray bottle don't seem to be encouraging any sort of grooming. I'm weirdly proud of him.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 19:00
|
|
|
Awwwww. Sounds like he was just super lonely and needed a loving home. Now that he has one, he's coming out of his shell.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 19:05
|
|
|
Munnin The Crab posted:Things to work on still: I realllly need to trim his... what would be most aptly called talons at this point. 1. Nails I guess? And I would recommend the gritty perches, they can help sand things down. It may be a bit soon to clip the nails. It seems like he still has some, albeit small, looming anxiety. Probably best for the both of you not to go through a clipping yet. 2. This will happen rather naturally as he remains on a good diet and his anxiety levels drop. I wouldn't worry about it at all. 3. Go for it! 4. I'd be careful with this. Tiels especially can get super temperamental around baths. My advice would be to 1) continue spritzing him, it's still helpful, and 2) keep a decent sized water dish in his cage for him to both drink and possibly bathe in. I really wouldn't try anything much more direct than that yet. You've only just got him trusting you in a remarkably short time, go job on that by the way, I wouldn't go getting him near any water dishes outside of his cage quite yet. Get a dish in there and let him get comfortable with it on his terms.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 19:39
|
|
|
Chili posted:1. Nails I guess? And I would recommend the gritty perches, they can help sand things down. It may be a bit soon to clip the nails. It seems like he still has some, albeit small, looming anxiety. Probably best for the both of you not to go through a clipping yet. Gonna have to disagree with #1. Gritty perches can hurt bird's foot padding if they're spending enough time on them to sand down the nails. It's really better to use human nail clippers on small bird nails since they have a crushing action that can help stop bleeding even if you hit the blood vessel (learned this from my vet). You may also just have a local vet or bird store help you with it if you haven't done it before or if the bird doesn't like being held down/still.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 19:43
|
|
|
Kenshin posted:Gonna have to disagree with #1. Gritty perches can hurt bird's foot padding if they're spending enough time on them to sand down the nails. It's really better to use human nail clippers on small bird nails since they have a crushing action that can help stop bleeding even if you hit the blood vessel (learned this from my vet). You may also just have a local vet or bird store help you with it if you haven't done it before or if the bird doesn't like being held down/still. They CAN hurt bird's foot padding, if they're the only perch in the cage. I have one in all of my cages sitting somewhere close to either their food or water so it gets use but isn't used ALL the time. As long as he's monitoring Jacq's feet it'll be a much better fix than trying to towel a stressed out bird and put him through being clipped.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 20:03
|
|
|
Thanks for the advice, yeah I wasn't planning on clipping just yet. I'd like to see some evidence of pinfeather growth before I even try anything traumatizing. The last thing I want to do is stress him out enough to pluck even more. I set him down in a sink with about an inch of water in it, just to see what he'd do. His response was to poop, tweet at his reflection in the mirror, and climb up the faucet. Cockatiels. Edit: talk of perches gave me an idea. I've made a couple for owls and kestrels before. I'll have to see what I can scrounge up to make a bow perch. bonus 27day old kestrel picture I found while looking for the bow perch design  edit2: I really need to learn to look harder. Found it. Fran is a year here. I'm thinking the same design, minus the hoop needed for her leed, and way less weight on the bottom, I made that one for barn owls. 
Diabeesting fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Jul 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 20:07
|
|
|
The concrete perches never seemed to do anything for either of my birds. They're kept in the cage for variety but I have to file their nails myself fairly often anyway. Ohtori just gets picked up and held with his back against my chest as he gets his claws filed, and his face stuffed with nut when he doesn't bite so he learns that it's not all bad. Mr Pending though gets too stressed out when it's nail time, and furious with us afterwards, so he gets toweled with his head covered. I think it was Pookah that suggested pretending you had nothing to do with it, so we do that and it works beautifully-when it's all over we put the towel on the floor and ignore him while he wiggles out himself. When he flies up somewhere, confused, we continue ignoring him until he comes to us or makes a noise and then we're all OH HELLO THERE WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN-and he acts as if nothing ever happened. It would never work on Ohtori but for Steve it's perfect.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 21:13
|
|
|
We use a safety pumice perch. It keeps Mindo's nails nice and filed and it has a smooth tops and rough sides, so it isn't as bad for the pads of his feet. http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Feet-and-Beak-13003/dp/B000WEA1JE/ref=sr_1_3?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1373489143&sr=1-3&keywords=pumice+perch
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 21:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 18, 2024 02:01 |
|
|
Amaya posted:They CAN hurt bird's foot padding, if they're the only perch in the cage. I have one in all of my cages sitting somewhere close to either their food or water so it gets use but isn't used ALL the time. As long as he's monitoring Jacq's feet it'll be a much better fix than trying to towel a stressed out bird and put him through being clipped. Exactly. All of my perches are awesome thick rope perches except for a sandy one in the corner. Also, my tiels' nails are pretty long but it just doesn't really bother me all that much, and they seem happy.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 22:41
|
|