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Sometimes I wonder if cockatiels are extra confused when dealing with humans because we don't have a crest.
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Jun 27, 2014 00:51
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TaurusTorus posted:I need you guys's help, my cockatiel absolutely refuses to take baths. He hates the sink, kitchen or bathroom, he runs away from any water dish I set out for him, I'm considering a spray bottle, but I'd rather not force a bath he's going to hate on him. How do you get a bird to enjoy baths? Mine hated all sorts of baths until we started taking showers together. He'll stand on the shower curtain rack and I palm the spray his way and he (sometimes) gets really into it. He just moves away from the spray if he doesn't want a shower, but usually once every other week he's up for it.
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Jun 27, 2014 00:56
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It sounds like so many of you guys just let your birds kinda hang out wherever you are all the time. How do you deal with them making GBS threads everywhere? I mean sure you could watch them like a hawk and clean up when they go but I feel like given enough time there will be poop everywhere.
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Jun 27, 2014 02:31
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Pura vida amigos.  
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Jun 27, 2014 02:34
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Boop usually hangs around me specifically when she's out. I keep a tube of disinfectant wipes around to keep things clean.
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Jun 27, 2014 02:35
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Awwww.  ScienceAndMusic posted:It sounds like so many of you guys just let your birds kinda hang out wherever you are all the time. How do you deal with them making GBS threads everywhere? I mean sure you could watch them like a hawk and clean up when they go but I feel like given enough time there will be poop everywhere. They tend to poo in certain areas, or hang out in spots where there's newspaper underneath them (top of cages/window stand/perches hanging from ceiling) but otherwise yeah just clean up after them with a paper towel as and when they go.
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Jun 27, 2014 03:01
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My cockatiels usually just hang out on top of their cage so their poop just winds up there. With Charlie I know when he's about to poop and hold him over a trash can. Also, for whatever reason parrot poop isn't nearly as big as pigeons and other birds that poop on your car.
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Jun 27, 2014 03:33
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Lenswork posted:Pura vida amigos. !!!! You're there! And you have internet access! Start posting to instagram!
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Jun 27, 2014 05:00
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Kenshin posted:!!!! So, hopefully, I'll be up in the Seattle area for a week or two for new job training. I would love to meet your birdies!
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Jun 27, 2014 07:11
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Kenshin posted:!!!! I honestly don't think I can. There is a tight schedule here every day, I barely have time to keep up with figuring out what I need to do. Besides, the best moments are impossible to capture- like holding a bowl of carao and sunflower seeds in one hand while reaching inbetween a dozen wild macaws with the other hand in an attempt to feed the greedy critters lunch. It's 5am, I have get up and cut fruit now.
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Jun 27, 2014 12:48
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Wizard of Smart posted:So, hopefully, I'll be up in the Seattle area for a week or two for new job training. I would love to meet your birdies! Just pm me, we'll schedule a hangout time
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Jun 27, 2014 15:59
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ScienceAndMusic posted:It sounds like so many of you guys just let your birds kinda hang out wherever you are all the time. How do you deal with them making GBS threads everywhere? I mean sure you could watch them like a hawk and clean up when they go but I feel like given enough time there will be poop everywhere. poo poo happens. Serious answer is that a) towels under preferred sites and b) easy cleanup on linoleum and c) tolerance of poop goes up quite a bit all make it work out. For whatever reason with Pearl the poop tends to clean up easy. If any gets on the carpet as long as I get it up right away it won't stain, and the towels wash out just fine. It also doesn't smell, of course, which is probably the biggest reason the situation is tolerable. Some people around here have a lot better success with potty-training (i.e. teaching the bird a cue word, and giving the bird regular bathroom breaks) than I necessarily have. Pearl knows "Need to poo-poo" and can even say it, but she doesn't feel it always applies to her. I have gone to work with poop on me. I am no longer ashamed. ETA: FYI Pearl is pooping at work right now. We have fire alarm testing in our building so I've taken her in with me.
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Jun 27, 2014 16:46
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ScienceAndMusic posted:It sounds like so many of you guys just let your birds kinda hang out wherever you are all the time. How do you deal with them making GBS threads everywhere? I mean sure you could watch them like a hawk and clean up when they go but I feel like given enough time there will be poop everywhere. You can also train them not to do that, if Ritz is out with us and he has to poop, he flies to his cage, poops, then comes back if he wants to. The same goes as with training for anything else, lots of positive reinforcement. If you can see the body language forseeing the flow, quickly take bird to the cage, tell him "Poop!" and when he does (because he has to go) make a huge deal about it, YAYYY GOOD POOP! etc. It may be hard to tell with a budgie, but I'm not sure, never owned one myself 
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Jun 27, 2014 17:05
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It's also worth mentioning that parrot poop doesn't stink, doesn't stain, and cleans up easily with nothing but hot water. As far as poop goes it's very tame.
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Jun 27, 2014 17:48
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Lenswork posted:I honestly don't think I can. There is a tight schedule here every day, I barely have time to keep up with figuring out what I need to do. Besides, the best moments are impossible to capture- like holding a bowl of carao and sunflower seeds in one hand while reaching inbetween a dozen wild macaws with the other hand in an attempt to feed the greedy critters lunch. Understood. I hope you will have some free time to do photography though! I'm guessing you've got more experience dealing with that many macaws than many of the other short-term volunteers. Question: do macaws in Costa Rica need to visit clay licks like macaws (and so many other animals) in the Amazon, or is the food in Costa Rica easier for them to digest? If so, since you're feeding them a lot of the same food they'd get in the wild, does the place have an artificial clay lick? Agent355 posted:It's also worth mentioning that parrot poop doesn't stink, doesn't stain, and cleans up easily with nothing but hot water.  Speaking of which, I'm going to rent a steam cleaner this weekend... Kenshin fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Jun 27, 2014 |
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Jun 27, 2014 17:56
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ScienceAndMusic posted:It sounds like so many of you guys just let your birds kinda hang out wherever you are all the time. How do you deal with them making GBS threads everywhere? I mean sure you could watch them like a hawk and clean up when they go but I feel like given enough time there will be poop everywhere. I just keep a roll of toilet paper in the living room. Budgie poops are seriously easily to deal with. It should stick to the absorbent paper so you can lift it up without smushing it into your carpet or whatever. Inspecting the poops is also a good part of keeping tabs on your budgie's health. Be sure to watch for changes.
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Jun 27, 2014 19:56
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Kenshin posted:
I don't know where the wild macaws get their clay. Even the captive birds in the breeding aviaries get wild food we havest from the jungle. The captive birds receive a rice and bean mix in the morning with a clay substitute and other ingredients to aid digestion.
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Jun 27, 2014 20:58
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greypearl posted:poo poo happens. Yeah, I think you just acquire a higher than normal tolerance for poop and poop-clean up if you have a bird or two around the place. Potty-training has not worked even a little bit on our Pookie, (14 years old last march) but I think that might have something to do with her natural confusion about being told off for doing a "poo" in the wrong place where her bloody name is Pookie AKA Pookles AKA Poo. Apropos of nothing in particular, the weather here has been excellent for the last week or so, which had the unintentional side-effect of reducing Pookie's daily cuddle time. This happened because when it is warm and sunny here, she is either outside in her little travelling/sleeping cage (no cuddles) or inside in her big cage (no cuddles) because the doors and windows are left open so much it is just not safe for her to be wombling around as she normally would. Anyway, she got annoyed about this yesterday and insisted on sitting on my kneee for several hours getting cuddled all over, even under her wings which is very unusual. She go sot relaxed that her legs basically disappeared and she ended up lying on my leg looking sort of like a duck
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Jun 27, 2014 21:27
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I can tell when my bird is going to go, hold her over the floor (wood) and always keep a tissue handy for instant clean up. Not a big deal at all.
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Jun 28, 2014 14:55
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My solution is living in apartments that aren't carpeted and trying to own furniture that isn't white or absorbent. I have a white chair with a fabric covering and it's super disgusting, but it's their chair. They like sitting on it, and I'm assuming it's because the back and arms are nicely rounded. And that they've already shredded most of the seams. It's getting replaced soon though because it's seriously super gross and there's no way of cleaning it. It's a sacrificial chair.
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Jun 28, 2014 15:08
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Any tips or tricks for introducing a new puppy to my lovebirds? I have 2 lovebirds who hang out in the living room. I used to leave the cage door open so they could hang out around the cage, but I've been keeping the cage doors closed (but not locked) as a precautionary measure and only letting them out of the cage when the puppy is put away in a different room. There seems to be 2 schools of thought on this, one being that dogs should never interact with the birds or even be in the same room (which means I would have to move my lovebirds since they're in the living room), and another being that you should introduce them to the birds early on under supervision so the dog recognizes the birds as friend and not foe. I've been letting the puppy hang out while I feed the birds treats through the cage, and she wags her tail instead of adopting that "hunting" stance, which I'm taking to be a good sign. However, I'm terrified that if I leave the two alone I'll come home to 2 dead birds. Even more, the breed I have apparently has a "high prey drive". Then again, people say pit bulls are vicious but I've never met sweeter dogs in my life. Also, as for bird poop- it sounds gross, but I just wait until it dries and scrape it off with an expired credit card and vacuum over it all. A spritz of your favorite bird safe carpet cleaner and you're set!
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Jun 28, 2014 15:24
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Pookah posted:Yeah, I think you just acquire a higher than normal tolerance for poop and poop-clean up if you have a bird or two around the place. Potty-training has not worked even a little bit on our Pookie, (14 years old last march) but I think that might have something to do with her natural confusion about being told off for doing a "poo" in the wrong place where her bloody name is Pookie AKA Pookles AKA Poo. Sometimes I call Pearl as Pearlie-poo, so maybe we both need a new word-- caca perhaps? I love under the wing cuddles, sometimes I kiss Pearl under the wing and I do it so much that she just lifts it up in resignation. However, I don't do it on her right wing, so if my husband wants to laugh at us he tells me to kiss that side, and we both don't quite know what to do. Muttonchips, when I moved in with my (now) husband, we merged my African grey containing life with his Jack Russell containing life (a twelve year old female, no less) in a one bedroom condo. When they first saw each other, Pearl let out a death growl that she now saves for all dogs, but I had never heard anything like it before (nor had Bella). Up until Bella passed away, they tolerated each other. We had two times when Bella started to chase/jump after Pearl-- the first I was actually very glad happened, because I gave Bella a very firm "no" and she pretty much left Pearl alone after that-- except for the time Pearl almost landed on her, and Pearl just flew away. We supervised very closely (the small place was actually an advantage in this regard), but yes, we were taking a risk. I didn't see how we could manage the situation otherwise and give both animals the love they needed. Our situations are a bit different-- Pearl is bigger than your lovebirds (and I'm going to guess she's more aggressive), Bella was somewhat of a known quantity for me (she liked and respected me a lot, so I felt very strongly I could command her away from Pearl), and your living space may allow for them to be kept separate. I think if I were in your shoes, I would introduce them at the very least. Weird situations can happen-- if something gets left open and your lovebirds get out, for instance, it would be nice if both dog and birds knew how to react to each other. I am not sure how concerned I would be about a reputation for high prey drive-- this often goes hand in hand with the dog breed being very trainable. I do have to say that even from the beginning I never feared leaving Pearl (caged) alone with Bella, except I thought there might be a lot of barking. From your statement about coming home to dead birds, I'm wondering if you might be able to purchase a sturdier cage or locate it in a better place? I don't think most dogs are going to be able to get at a bird in a cage the way that cats or rodents could. Finally, from a less clinical perspective, it really meant a lot that our animals got to know each other. We had to make the sudden decision to put Bella down, and I'll never forget that when we were about to take Bella out on her last trip around town, we held Pearl up to her and Pearl gave her a kiss on her side. Pearl, I think, understood in the days afterwards what had happened-- she was a bit quieter. Occasionally she'll still say Bella's name.
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Jun 28, 2014 16:19
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Muttonchips posted:Any tips or tricks for introducing a new puppy to my lovebirds? We fostered staffys for a year or so while we had our lori, and didn't have too many problems. We certainly never left them alone in a room together until we were sure nothing was going to happen, and even then it would only be for a moment or two. We would put the bird on our shoulder and get the dog to sit, and slowly approach, letting them get used to each other. If the dog showed too much interest or licked it's lips then rebuke and stand away and start again. Eventually I think the dog realises that the bird is part of its family and isn't to be touched. A couple of staffys ended up being terrorised by the jerk bird. Dog would lay down on the floor and get pats, then the bird would sneak up and bite it's tail. Dog sort of sighs and huffs and gets up and moves to the other side of the room. Wait 5 minutes. Repeat.
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Jun 29, 2014 07:10
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Those are some great tips- thank you! I actually had a nightmare about my lovebirds escaping and my dog attacking them. The puppy is slowly becoming used to things around the house and I imagine as it gets more comfortable it'll play around more. The puppy actually jumped up on the cage today! It's one of those tall wire cages with the doors that slide open. I've heard that negative reinforcement is an outdated technique, but I pushed her away and gave a firm no. I don't think she knows what she did wrong. I guess I should take this to the puppy/training thread though. For now, I'm only allowing her in the living room under supervision. The high prey-drive combined with the puppy x-factor is telling I should tread carefully. My lovebirds usually have free reign of the bird cage area, so I've been trying to let them out when the pup is napping. Ideally, I would like to leave the doors open all the time again, but I can't risk it right now. Thanks for the help!
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Jun 29, 2014 16:24
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So I've just noticed my bird has started sleeping on the armrest of my chair when I tuck it under the desk. I try to make sure he gets 12ish hours of sleep every night, does this mean he's not getting enough? Or does he just love tucking his head into his shoulder and sitting silently?
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Jun 29, 2014 23:16
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TaurusTorus posted:So I've just noticed my bird has started sleeping on the armrest of my chair when I tuck it under the desk. I try to make sure he gets 12ish hours of sleep every night, does this mean he's not getting enough? Or does he just love tucking his head into his shoulder and sitting silently? The second one. it's 12 hours of darkness, not 12 hours of sleep.
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Jun 29, 2014 23:38
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Birds are basically composed of 25% feathers, 70% sleep, and 5% spite.
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Jun 30, 2014 02:46
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To be fair, if I lived the life that I gave my bird, I'd also sleep for like 10 hours every night and take two or three naps during the day as well.
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Jun 30, 2014 03:58
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Agent355 posted:Birds are basically composed of 25% feathers, 70% sleep, and 5% spite. Where does the poop figure in to this equation?
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Jun 30, 2014 04:25
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The poop is the spyware running silently in the background
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Jun 30, 2014 04:43
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Jun 30, 2014 07:46
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 Portrait of Scout from the Kickstarter campaign I linked to earlier. Got it for my wife for her birthday today. She loves it!
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Jun 30, 2014 08:20
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Another Inko style situation on the local ads-a "Alexandrian type" (ie. Alexandrian parrot) parrot being sold, "tame and good learner", needs more time, $40... and the photo is of a grumpy looking Quaker mikerock posted:
Ohh I'm jealous, that's amazing! She has great artwork.
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Jun 30, 2014 09:49
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I think my cockatiel smells like Wafflecrisp cereal. Is that a parent with chicks, or two different types of birds? mikerock posted:
I also got my deck of cards recently. It's cute.
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Jun 30, 2014 16:25
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Carfax Report posted:Is that a parent with chicks, or two different types of birds? Based on the sheer fuzziness of the little birds, I think it's the first option.
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Jun 30, 2014 16:43
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I'm convinced baby birds look cuter as they grow because there's less and less of a need for their parents to barf up food for them so they don't need to looks as ugly.
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Jun 30, 2014 16:46
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Carfax Report posted:Is that a parent with chicks, or two different types of birds? Its a prototype carrier with two interceptors.
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Jun 30, 2014 16:50
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Hey bird crazies. I have a gcc and his nose makes faint whistle noises when he breathes heavily. I took him to the vet about this issue about a year or so ago and he found nothing wrong. It still weirds me out though, even though bird seems to be fine so far. Can someone her put my mind to rest? Is the whistling normal? Is my bird just gross at breathing? Is this the sign of an untreated, really terrible illness?
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Jul 1, 2014 04:04
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Our GCC had red irritation above her eyes. Many treatments and no results until we switched to scent free fabric softener and started using an air filter in the room she lives in.
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Jul 1, 2014 04:15
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Brick Shipment posted:Hey bird crazies. I have a gcc and his nose makes faint whistle noises when he breathes heavily. I took him to the vet about this issue about a year or so ago and he found nothing wrong. It still weirds me out though, even though bird seems to be fine so far. He is a chronic nare whistler because he has chronic bird boogers. That's a serious answer. Mine does that too at times. It's the same thing as human nose whistling aka gross breathing. I guess keep an eye out for unusual discharge, lethargy or change in behavior, unusual poops, and the other usual signs of a sick bird. But otherwise relax haha
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Jul 1, 2014 04:20
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