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My birds just love platforms; definitely the best addition I've made to the cage. LoLo decided to zonk out on the wooden one -- it was absurdly adorable. 
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Dec 17, 2023 21:44
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LoLo, you're too cute for words 
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Dec 17, 2023 22:42
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bee posted:I've had to re-install the hammock twice now because Tux chewed through the seagrass around the carabiner, causing the hammock to fall and Tux went tumbling down with it. For a clever bird he sure is silly sometimes. At least for now he's switched to chewing on the middle part instead of the end. Sometimes I really think the universe is actually a simulation. Last week, this exact same scenario happened with me. I have a big hefty seagrass playmat hung up in the cage, and my girls go crazy chewing it. I've never had issues with it in the time I've had it. Last week though, Wasabi managed to chew through all the attachment points, all I heard was a very loud thud and when I rushed to their room, it had fallen to the bottom of the cage and I was so worried one of them would be crushed underneath it. Thankfully, Wasabi was on top at the time so she just flitted away. Someone recently posted on Reddit about how their bird broke their leg, or hurt their wing, I can't remember exactly, and it was due to the same reason. Chewing through a toy, toy fell, but unfortunately in their case their bird was wrapped up in it or couldn't get away in time. So now, I attach the seagrass mat with a silly amount of attachment points and I check it every now and then to see if I need to relocate the attachments. It's one of those things that you just wouldn't consider or think about until it happened to you, so just a heads up for everyone.
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Dec 18, 2023 11:19
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pro tip you can buy leather strings and weave them through the ends when the birds go ham on ur mats. sometimes we just tie up the end to the bars. big borbs will be able to beak through them i'm sure but our little guys don't or can't
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Dec 18, 2023 13:58
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Does anyone have a suggestion for a bird safe coffee maker? I just ordered a new one and it arrived with no way to turn off the carafe heater at the bottom which I'm positive is nonstick. I don't need a big fancy machine, and the keurig/nespresso stuff has been a huge headache. Just want something I can toss ground beans into w/o stressing that something is going to poison my birbs.
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Dec 18, 2023 18:36
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How hot is this bottom plate getting? It's likely not going to get anywhere near hot enough to volatize anything poisonous. Teflon only releases harmful fumes starting around 545 degrees Fahrenheit. I'd wait and see what other folks have to say, though.
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Dec 18, 2023 18:48
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Plant MONSTER. posted:How hot is this bottom plate getting? It's likely not going to get anywhere near hot enough to volatize anything poisonous. Teflon only releases harmful fumes starting around 545 degrees Fahrenheit. I'd wait and see what other folks have to say, though. Thats what I was thinking, I was thinking I might keep it at low and I'm gonna unplug it once its done brewing but I get super anxious for obvious reasons about this being dangerous for them.
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Dec 18, 2023 18:54
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faantastic posted:Thats what I was thinking, I was thinking I might keep it at low and I'm gonna unplug it once its done brewing but I get super anxious for obvious reasons about this being dangerous for them. I gotta agree with Plant MONSTER and say it's most probably a non-issue. That being said, for the first few times, I'd run it in a separate, closed off room away from the birds. Let it run for an hour or so each time, just in case there's any residues from manufacturing that wanna give off any funk. PS: I regularly use nonstick pans for cooking in my apartment, the kitchen is the room beside the bird room. I keep extraction fan on and never overheat pans to the point of smoking. I've not had a scare in the almost two years I've been doing this and my girls are as fit as fiddles. Any high heat applications, I'll whip out my stainless steel pan.
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Dec 18, 2023 19:09
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Qubee posted:I gotta agree with Plant MONSTER and say it's most probably a non-issue. That being said, for the first few times, I'd run it in a separate, closed off room away from the birds. Let it run for an hour or so each time, just in case there's any residues from manufacturing that wanna give off any funk. Yeah I've swapped all of my cookware to stainless but coffee maker was the only thing I had prior to the birds that never registered as a replacement part. I text the vet and they were like 'uhhh.. no ones ever asked that before' and google doesn't come up with any horror stories, not that I really want to test it. Might return and just go keurig route with custom pods but may wait to see if anyone can give a thumbs up/down.
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Dec 18, 2023 19:15
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Do you have a rangehood or extraction fan? I would run it whenever you're using the coffee maker just to be on the safe side. It's probably overkill but it can't hurt!
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Dec 18, 2023 19:57
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bee posted:Do you have a rangehood or extraction fan? I would run it whenever you're using the coffee maker just to be on the safe side. It's probably overkill but it can't hurt! I do, however after talking with customer support and not being super confident with their response I've decided to just refund it and purchase a keurig. Better to have bleh coffee and happy birds than the constant anxiety from wondering if there could be an issue. TY for being such a great thread to lurk / post questions in every few years.
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Dec 18, 2023 20:16
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FWIW, I'm about to buy a drip coffee machine. I am absolutely bonkers about my girls, and would never risk their health or wellbeing. That being said, the kitchen is a strictly no-go zone and the door is kept firmly shut 90% of the time. When I get this machine, I plan on wiping it down thoroughly with a damp cloth to remove any manufacturing oil residue and running it for a few hours with the door shut and it placed beneath the extraction fan that will be turned on. I do not see this causing an issue at all, even though it will have nonstick coatings. To reach my birds, the fumes from this machine would have to waft towards the other end of my kitchen, under the door, down the hallway, and to my bird's room (or the living room when they're out with me, which is even farther), it seems like a herculean task, especially when the fumes are going to be relatively minor. I bought a Ninja Foodi last year and it's all nonstick and made a big old stink during it's first few uses. Again, door was kept closed, fan on, no issues. I don't even think the temperatures for offgassing teflon are even close to being reached. I was living with family who had zero regard for the wellbeing of my birds during their first year of life. The layout of the home was basically a central large living room where all the gatherings would happen (just Middle Eastern things) and then we had our bedrooms connected to the edges of the living room. The kitchen was also connected to the living room and it was a straight shot directly opposite my bedroom. People would chain smoke right outside my bedroom for hours at a time during gatherings, and I would shove towels against the bottom of my bedroom door to keep the fumes from getting in (to no avail). Family members would regularly use nonstick pans at absurd heat levels to sear steak, chicken, whatever. I was always stressed about teflon fumes and my birds dying. I'd crack the bedroom window open, constantly play a game of cat and mouse where I would close the kitchen door and someone would leave it open. There was no extraction fan. All this to say, my birds were thankfully okay, and there were some pretty stressful moments where nonstick pans would smoke out the entire kitchen. I've since moved out and my new place has the kitchen beside the bird room, but I sleep easy because I don't cook like a dummy despite regularly using nonstick pans. I just use them the way they're intended to be used and never risk overheating and offgassing. TLDR; I truly think that the apprehension and fear of using nonstick products need not apply to the conscientious bird owner using some common sense. The horror stories we hear are from people ignorant of the risks and blasting their teflon pans with heat, or being unaware of products that actually have teflon in them and reach a high enough temp to pose a risk (I think I read a story once about someone's curling iron causing their parrot to die?). Having teflon pans is a danger if you do not live alone, as family members may not be as vigilant as you are and humans can sometimes slip up and make mistakes. I live alone, so no one except me will ever use my pans, and when family visits, I now tell them that all but the stainless steel pans are off limits.  The best girl doing some foraging after a long day of whistling, flock calling and being a general menace to society. 
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Dec 18, 2023 21:14
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also: you could invest in a pour over setup. or get a coffeemaker that doesn't heat the bottom of the carafe, and/or uses a thermal carafe instead.
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Dec 18, 2023 22:07
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Ooh a foraging box sounds fun. Maybe I'll make one for my birbs and see if they take to it.
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Dec 20, 2023 03:18
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  I didn't see any pidgeons on my read through but I wanted to talk about my new friend here. Her name is Arlo. She's a wedding pidgeon. Probably released for a ceremony with a pair. She was injured in the wild though so while she can fly for short distances around my house the vet doesn't think she'll ever be able to return to the wild. I tried to speak with some local shelters and wildlife rehab groups when I found her back in September. The wildlife people said they would euthanize her because she is invasive. The rescues wouldn't take her because they called her a wild animal even though pidgeons aren't native really to anywhere in North America. So faced with a catch 22 I just kept her and she is an amazing little buddy. She is only in the cage to sleep and has full run of the house the rest of the day. Her absolute favorite thing is just to ride on my shoulder and coo at me while I do chores. If anyone is looking for a begginer bird these are very low maintenance and they make almost no loud or shrill noises.
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Dec 20, 2023 05:06
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Mrfreezewarning posted:
We definitely need more pigeons ITT Wedding pigeons (aka "release doves") are just domestic pigeons bred to be white and small, so the rescues were talking out of their rear end. Arlo's a stray, not a wild bird. Parrots are much more "wild" than a domestic pigeon.
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Dec 20, 2023 20:31
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It's amazing how big of personality these birds have. Tonight when I tried to put her to bed she kept flying away from my hands. No fear sounds or trying to peck me. It was just like she was saying "noooooooo I don't want to go to bed! You can't make me!!!".
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Dec 21, 2023 03:44
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https://youtube.com/shorts/VlqiVvLENPk?si=XHrzKO0DPN9u0k9H Tux just keeps learning new ways to be cheeky and cute as heck
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Dec 21, 2023 03:44
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Mrfreezewarning posted:It's amazing how big of personality these birds have. Tonight when I tried to put her to bed she kept flying away from my hands. No fear sounds or trying to peck me. It was just like she was saying "noooooooo I don't want to go to bed! You can't make me!!!". While I've always kept small parrots, I have to agree. It's amazing how much personality and utter doofus'ry birds can exhibit. I'm so glad you made a feathered friend. 
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Dec 21, 2023 14:31
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 I decided to try pea sprouts... Holy crap Buffalo likes them!
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Dec 21, 2023 18:00
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Plant MONSTER. posted:
thats great! pea sprouts are getting common enough they're easier to buy these days but fwiw sprouting generally is pretty easy and the birds loved them! though there are some effects: normally alex is, like me, a disney bird princess and smells like honey or fruit. on sprouts though he goes ape for the fenugreek and just smelled like fenugreek all the time lol (it's fine)
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Dec 21, 2023 18:18
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Dec 23, 2023 02:45
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Oh my goodness hiiiii
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Dec 23, 2023 05:30
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Dec 28, 2023 16:13
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I fear for both birds. That budgie can easily rend that Palmcatoo into ribbons. 
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Dec 28, 2023 16:33
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God I love budgies, 5 pounds of bird in 1 ounce of body
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Dec 28, 2023 19:46
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Kitfox88 posted:God I love budgies, 5 pounds of bird in 1 ounce of body A deep scratch has been gouged into the tip of my nose. My fingers are marked with bites. More like 50 pounds of bird in a 1 ounce body. Chick has an egg in the oven I think, and man oh man has it turned her into a ferocious creature with a sole focus on violence and rage. Like deep down, the bird that loves me is still there. She just wants to be near me. But the hormone-brain is making her a monumental jerk to be around. She'll sidle up incrementally to my ear and the warbling will become a deeper droning and her eyes are pinpricks and I know it means a bite is coming.
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Dec 28, 2023 20:30
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Qubee posted:A deep scratch has been gouged into the tip of my nose. My fingers are marked with bites. More like 50 pounds of bird in a 1 ounce body. Chick has an egg in the oven I think, and man oh man has it turned her into a ferocious creature with a sole focus on violence and rage. Like deep down, the bird that loves me is still there. She just wants to be near me. But the hormone-brain is making her a monumental jerk to be around. She'll sidle up incrementally to my ear and the warbling will become a deeper droning and her eyes are pinpricks and I know it means a bite is coming. Picturing your av but a budgie c/d
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Dec 28, 2023 20:42
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Qubee posted:A deep scratch has been gouged into the tip of my nose. My fingers are marked with bites. More like 50 pounds of bird in a 1 ounce body. Chick has an egg in the oven I think, and man oh man has it turned her into a ferocious creature with a sole focus on violence and rage. Like deep down, the bird that loves me is still there. She just wants to be near me. But the hormone-brain is making her a monumental jerk to be around. She'll sidle up incrementally to my ear and the warbling will become a deeper droning and her eyes are pinpricks and I know it means a bite is coming. I have been there so hard, except my extremely hormonal bird was Pookie the African Grey. She bit the absolute poo poo out of me before she got a hormone implant, then she doubly bit the poo poo out of me while the implant was fighting with her natural hormone profile. The week after she got the implant was absolutely insane, she was a boggle-eyed lunatic for the whole time. I could see her eyes go weird, and say to her 'please don't bite me, we're friends remember?" and she'd momentarily come back to normal, but seconds later she'd just go absolutely psycho again. She's been absolutely fine and calm ever since, but gently caress if that week wasn't the worst thing ever.
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Dec 28, 2023 20:58
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Pookah posted:I have been there so hard, except my extremely hormonal bird was Pookie the African Grey. It's like looking in a mirror. Except you were dealing with an African Grey, which is terrifying??? Boggle-eyed nails it, Chick will have a ruffled head with all her feathers raised like a wolf with it's hackles up, and her eyes are just hormone-vacant as she stares angrily at me. If I could get them both hormone implants, I would. It would increase their quality of life tenfold. When they're hormonal, they just bicker and argue and make each other as miserable as possible. When they're both hormonally calm, they're a lot happier.
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Dec 28, 2023 23:30
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When she has eggs (and then hatchlings), Piglet the magpie seethes with anger any time she sees her helper get some food from me, even though said helper is feeding Piglet's own chicks.
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Dec 28, 2023 23:41
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Having three girlbudgies is...weird. ChitChit and Aumy are bonded and get their swerve on together; ChitChit is the super sweet submissive one but takes the boy role in these matters since Aumy can't work out what to do once she's standing on ChitChit's back, lol. When they're hormonal together, they get reeeal into peering into dark recesses for potential nesting spots and they'll compete for high-up perching places. They get SUPER interested in my hair and clothing -- bc "ooh soft things for nest!!", I think. It's the only time they want to sit on me for any length of time. ;_; I love them so.
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Dec 29, 2023 00:18
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Do non-pet birds go in this thread? Like, backyard birds? This is a kookaburra on my fence.  edit: I found the other thread for outside birds. Thanks anyway. huh fucked around with this message at 10:39 on Dec 29, 2023 |
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Dec 29, 2023 10:37
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Qubee posted:It's like looking in a mirror. Except you were dealing with an African Grey, which is terrifying??? Boggle-eyed nails it, Chick will have a ruffled head with all her feathers raised like a wolf with it's hackles up, and her eyes are just hormone-vacant as she stares angrily at me. It's really was an awful time  I knew that if I got too scared to have her on my hand, I'd really struggle to ever do so in the future, so I just kept chancing it, getting bitten a lot and waiting for things to get better, which they absolutely did.It's been over 10 years since the implant wore off and she's been fine ever since  Edit: I can't even imagine how teeny weeny a budgie hormone implant would be
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Dec 29, 2023 10:40
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huh posted:Do non-pet birds go in this thread? Like, backyard birds? This is also that thread!! We love every bird!!!
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Dec 29, 2023 14:46
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Pookah posted:It's really was an awful time Glad to hear things have been calmer since then. I have no clue how powerful or painful a grey's bite is but I imagine it's nothing to joke about considering the size of the bird. I'd be too fearful lmao I can shrug off or ignore bites from the budgies, but they still really bloody hurt. Especially when they do that sadistic scissoring action with their beak where they'll clamp down on a piece of skin and then shear back and forth until blood is drawn, but they'll be pitbull mode where they refuse to let go. The pain is enough to bring tears to the eye. As horny as they can get now, I feel like the worst of it is past, thankfully. The hormone craziness was at it's peak around the time they were a year and a half old. It reached a point where I was barely able to interact with them and out of exasperation, I'd just keep them in their room for a majority of the day as they refused to play nice. I probably would have lawyered up and tried for an eviction if I had a grey parrot.
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Dec 29, 2023 15:28
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Childhood female budgie Tony was a nibbler but she never drew blood... But oh my GOD it was so funny when she'd pull on my mom's earrings! She was such a funny budgie. She knew how to escape her cage if she wanted to perch on someone really bad. I think I was afraid of her even though she was originally my pet. And then I had Mayo who was very curious but she'd only bite if she was grasped, which only happened once or twice out of necessity.
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Dec 29, 2023 17:17
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Qubee posted:Glad to hear things have been calmer since then. I have no clue how powerful or painful a grey's bite is but I imagine it's nothing to joke about considering the size of the bird. I'd be too fearful lmao I can only compare it to budgie, red-rumped parakeet and cockatiel bites 1. Cockatiel - about as painful as putting a clothes peg on your finger. 0/10 2. Budgie - intense and very sharp. 3/10 3. Red Rumped Parakeet - Like a budgie, but more so. 5/10 4. African Grey - multifaceted. You get a stab injury from the top beak and a slice/bruise injury from the lower one. There can also be some chewing, or letting go and instantly biting again. 8/10 (I do not go for 10/10 because I absolutely know cockatoo bites (you get three stab wounds because the lower beak has 2 pointy bits!), and Macaw bites (just look at the size of that thing) have got to be much worse Birds absolutely go through puberty and become extremely obnoxious, like all teens. edit: Plastic Pal posted:My birds just love platforms; definitely the best addition I've made to the cage. LoLo decided to zonk out on the wooden one -- it was absurdly adorable. 
Pookah fucked around with this message at 19:24 on Dec 29, 2023 |
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Dec 29, 2023 19:21
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https://streamable.com/15uyuc I recorded a little nature documentary of a dinosaur foraging the harsh and unforgiving jungles of Pangaea. PS: the cages are absolute overkill, I know. They're remnants of a time where I wasn't able to leave the girls free flighted all day. When I was unemployed and at home constantly, I just had a regular-sized cage because I was always home to let them out to fly and play with me. Once I got a fulltime job, I couldn't concentrate at work cause I felt rotten knowing they were closed up in a cage and feeling stressed. So I splurged with the last of the money I had (this was the first week I'd began work) and got them two mammoth cages as you can bolt them into a single large flight cage. Fast forward and bird puberty struck and our nation was shook to it's core, so I separated the cages into two distinct prisons because these idiots wouldn't stop fighting one another. Once I moved out into my own place, the feathered goofballs got a dedicated bird room and were allowed to fly free 24/7. Funnily enough, the bickering still happens, but now that they've got tonnes of space, it never devolves into actual horrific fighting or blood being drawn like it would back when they were caged together. One will always back down and fly away. So no more needing to lock individual birds up thankfully and everyone is happy.
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Dec 29, 2023 19:51
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| # ? May 27, 2024 12:08 |
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I adore seeing little birds being treated with care and respect they deserve. So many people seem to think that because a budgie can be bought for very little money, they aren't of any real value Those sweet babies are so lucky to have someone who loves and values them as much as you do
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Dec 29, 2023 20:04
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