Hi group, we were thinking of getting a budgie. I miss their busy little natures and chatter, and we were thinking one would be company for Muffin.At his previous home, he did have a budgie companion for a while, but it might have been a while ago.

We still have Jill's old cage, so quarantining would not be a problem. Muffin lives in an EFC and it would be my hope that a budgie could live in the same cage with him. If not, again, not a problem. I was wondering if there were any cautions about budgies and tiels living together. My co-worker's budgie and tiel live together quite peacefully. Muffin is male, and 7-8 years old. Should I get a male budgie? Any other advice?

In case you're interested, CNN has a nice article listing the "dirty dozen" fruits and vegetables that tend to retain more pesticides due to their skin texture (and therefore you definitely should buy organic if you're going to give them to your beebs), and the "clean fifteen" that don't retain as much pesticide (and therefore you are more likely to get away with not buying organic - though note that you shouldn't feed a parrot avocado and reports are mixed on onions).

X-posted to parrot_lovers

It's rumorofrain who usually does the Friday Five, but I had two questions occur to me recently so I figured I'd post them.

1) How has having a parrot(s) changed your relationships with the humans in your life?

2) How does your bird(s) react to their reflection in a mirror? Does s/he attack it, try to preen it, show off for it like a rival or a mate, or ignore it entirely? Does your bird(s) react the same way when meeting a new bird (like at the boarder's, the vet's, or when you've brought a new bird home in the past)?

If you clip your bird's nails earlier in the day, or if the boarder uses a dremel on her nails, and you/they hit the quick and need to use styptic powder or something else to stop the bleeding, don't take your bird in the shower with you an hour or two later. If you do take her in the shower with you, you'll get to test out your response time to a bleeding emergency.

So I saw that the boarder needed to use styptic powder on Kappa's nails, and then I forgot about it. Since I'd been away for a bit I figured I'd take Kappa in the shower with me when we got home for some bonding time. Just when I got my hair full of conditioner, I realized the curtain was bloody, Kappa's shower perch was bloody, and there was more blood coming from Kappa, and I don't even know where it's coming from. I turned off the water, ran to the bathroom door and yelled for my boyfriend. "T$! I need your help! Kappa's bleeding! Bring the emergency kit, it's under her cage!" Very soon he runs in with the kit while I'm trying to restrain Kappa, dripping water all over the floor, she keeps squirming out of my hand and the towel as I fumble to find the Q-tips and styptic powder, but with a little help from T$ I manage to get out a Q-tip and it takes a few dabs and a couple Q-tips to get enough styptic powder on her foot for the nail to stop bleeding. Once I think she's okay, I have Kappa step from one hand to the other so I can check if she's still bleeding, and once I'm convinced she isn't I ask T$ to take her back to her cage so I can quickly finish my shower. Before he does so, he asks if there was a lot of blood, and I move aside the curtain to show the entire 5" perch covered with blood, and a streak on the wall from where it was touching the curtain that was around 4" long.

After I rinsed off I checked on Kappa again, and she seems okay, though favoring that foot. I'm surprised she doesn't want any water after that much blood loss, it may very well be that it was less than it looked b/c the water was spreading it out. Kappa gladly took an almond sliver and she's behaving normally, not groggy or anything other than keeping her weight off that foot.

The lessons I've learned from this are (1) don't shower with Kappa if I or the boarder hit the quick earlier in the same day. (2) I'm so glad I live with my boyfriend and not a non-romantic roommate! We live on the first floor and my curtains are thin, so even had I lived alone I would've balked at streaking across the house to get the emergency kit, so it could've taken longer for me to respond if I'd had to wrap myself in a towel. I'm not sure there's a good solution to that part of the problem other than losing my modesty, but at least things worked well this time. (3) Maybe I should've just shoved her entire foot into the styptic powder, but then again I worry about contamination of the styptic powder if I did that - would I have to throw it all out? Should I just get styptic sticks? And (4) I asked T$ afterwards if he was able to get to the emergency kit easily - it was under her cage, but far in the back behind things I use more frequently. On his recommendation I've moved it to a shelf next to her cage instead.

Hello, long time no talk! Life has been fun and interesting. My birds are all doing fine. Jackjack my Amazon is stellar. Sadie, my Blue and Gold, after her regular vet visit needs to trim a few grams. Shes still in the 'healthy' weight range, but she likes her nutri berries too much. :p Tiels are forever happy and content. :3

Now... Onward to news that I can use some advice/help on. Now, bare in mind I work as a Parrot Handler and never take a bird situation lightly, which is why I'm even torn typing this, but let's press on. About eleven months ago I rescued a baby blue and gold macaw. She was around four months old and the people I got her from had stopped hanfeeding her (saying she's done.) and ket her in essentially a chicken coop with a pail (that you use to mkae sand castles) as her water bowl, and her perches where pvc...things... and her 'toys' where strung together by a car bungie. Needless to say I spent the money I didn't have and bought this bird from them. Handfed her for another three months till she was 'properly' weaned. Took her to the vet, she was underweight and malnurished. Even her 'mussy baby feathers' (as I call most fledging feathers) looked horrible.

Needless to say she's doing better, but we still have a few issues. Some I fully admit it's my 'neglegance' and others are developmental issues from not being properly handled early on I believe.

We're still having 'step-up' issues. I've trained upward to fifty birds to step up and I've never had an issue. Rosie, she just dosen't get it. She dosne't bite, but shyies from the hand when by her feet. She's alwasy done this, and it's my neglegance by not working more with her on it, thinking she'd kind of grow out of it. So yes, my fault completly. I do operant conditioning on all my animals and 'eventually' she'll get up on the arm when coaxed enough, but even daily repition, it's like starting from scratch. I've tried other approaches, but I feel flabberghuasted she dosen't respond. So I feel I'm failing her there.

And not only that baths... baths are an....experience.... She never liked them. But her first owner put her in an dog crate and sprayed a hose on her. Yeah, you can see where I'm going with this. Misting is out of the question, since squirt bottles where also used on her. Showers, I can't do here without freaking her out. I live in a small place with a stand up shower and she dosne't like inclosed places, even me going in with her dosne't help and even letting her in the bathroom to get the mositure is an ordeal. I've been taking it slow, even tried runnign sink water and a 'bird bath' at the bottom of her cage.

I guess what I'm getting at is she has issues I don't feel I'm addressing, even knowing what I do. I feel honestly, that if it was just her and I, she'd be alot further along, but I can't and refuse to neglect my other animals. She defintly gets the most time, but I still don't feel it's enough.

I'm to the point and it breaks my heart to say this that I'm contemplating on rehoming her. I swore to myself I wouldn't give up on her. And I'm not giving up on her, but I'm not blind and I feel she'd do better with a home where she was either the main bird or a home where she could get the time she deserves. I haven't convinced myself, nor will I let her go to just anyone. But I feel I should entertain the idea and see/hope someone will respond that might be her perfect suited home. If someone has any ideas on how I should continue or even feel they might be candidates let me know.

I'm just not sure how I should continue.

My two caique parrots have been wearing their Aviator harnesses for about three years. They don't love the process of having the harnesses put on them, but they don't actively fight it either. For a while now I've been wanting to change that, to make it a happier experience for them. Lately I actually set about making a training plan and putting it into action.

In the past I'd started this process by encouraging them to approach and beak-target the harness voluntarily. This was to combat their behavior of flying away upon seeing the harnesses.

The next step of training was to get them very comfortable with the head loop. To do this, I started out by making a large loop out of the harness material and shaping the behavior of putting their heads through the loop.

Once they were comfortable with that, I gradually made the loop smaller and smaller until I could transition to using the actual head loop of the harness, which is very small (especially for a big, bulky caique head!).

Within five days, I had both birds (who had previously flown away from the harness, and occasionally bitten my partner when he tried to harness them) voluntarily seeking out the harness, finding the head loop, and putting their own heads through it! I was shocked at the rate of progress we made.

To illustrate the process, I made a video of some of my training steps:



(x-posted to parrots101, caiques, and clickertraining)

1. What is your parrot afraid of?

2. Can you think of any reasons (genetic/biological, negative associations, etc) for your parrot's fears?

3. Have you done anything to help your parrot overcome his or her fears? If so, what? If not, why not?

4. Is there anything you expected your parrot to be afraid of that he or she is not?

5. If your parrot was a famous monster, which one would he or she be?

It's getting warm again and here in Texas we are already getting some balmy 70-degree days. We have allowed our Conure, Phoenix, to grow out her flight feathers. Obviously this means no fans. So to keep A/C costs down I'd like to utilize the windows for fresh air and to hopefully cool down the house some. However, I've heard my fair share of stories of birds getting out of open windows.

Should I reinforce them somehow to keep her from getting out or forget about opening them altogether? Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance!

1. Have you ever traveled with your bird? Why or why not? If so, how long was the trip? Was it by car, airplane, or another type of transportation?

2. How did you prepare for travel with your bird?

3. How did your bird do during travel? What was her/his behavior like?

4. Did you learn anything from the experience? Is there anything you wish you'd known beforehand?

5. If you could take your parrot(s) on a trip (and money was no object, and parrots were allowed there), where would you take your bird(s)?

Some of you know me as "eterri" but for those not familiar with me or what's going on, a brief synopsis: 

Nearly two years ago, I had to give up all of my pets (several birds included) due to my husband deciding on a whim that he wanted to "live for himself" leaving me with very little time to get things together, hardly any money, and no place to live.  Thanks to some amazing people (from this community, even) they were taken to safe places and well taken care of. But I never saw them again and all my efforts to get them back have failed. It was hard enough getting my own life back on track, let alone trying to quickly put together a home and situation that allowed birds again. It was only six months ago that I finally found a better paying job and a living situation to support myself and not long after that happened, I emailed Pika and Pixel's foster to see if it might be possible to get them home.

It turns out that she has been having very serious health issues and either way, she cannot keep them. I know that they will be ok no matter what (she has gone above and beyond for them all this time) and if they don't come home they will be going to a reputable rescue, but I would much rather just have them home, obviously. :( I've said goodbye to so many things the past couple of years that it would be nice to finally see these two again. I had these two the longest out of my entire flock. If you guys remember, they were two of the original "P" birds. :) 

These two have to stay together and are bonded in a crazy way, as you can see from an old video below.

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Trip Details: 
They are being fostered in Richmond, VA. This trip must be made the first weekend in February and so far it looks like this (I apologize that I don't have time/distance details yet but this is all tentative):

Richmond, VA to Charlottesville, VA:  filled

Charlottesville, VA to Lewisport, WV:  NEEDED!!!

Lewisport, WV to Charleston, WV: most likely filled

Charleston, WV to Grayson, KY: most likely filled

This is NOT set in stone so if you're anywhere near these areas and could help if the route were changed a bit, please let me know.  I am located in Owensboro, KY and will be doing the Grayson to Owensboro leg but if need be I can try to drive farther. It's the first part of the trip that I'm most worried about and if we can get that little part to come together, Pika and Pixel WILL be coming home.

Please share this with anyone you know who might be able to help. As mentioned, there isn't a lot of time left to get this together and we are SO CLOSE to making this happen. If you can help in any way please try. I can't put to words how much it would mean to me to FINALLY have some of what I consider my family back. 

1. Do you believe that keeping parrots in same-species or similar-species pairs or groups is important for a parrot's mental health? Why or why not?

2. Have you ever kept a pair or group of same-species or similar-species parrots? If so, for how long? How did it work out?

3. What factors would convince you to house a pair or group of parrots together?

4. What factors would convince you NOT to house a pair or group of parrots together?

5. Do you think parrots of different species can be safely kept together? Would you feel comfortable doing so, and in what circumstances? Why or why not?

Happy New Year to everyone who uses the Gregorian calendar!

Flighted vs. Clipped:

1. Are your parrots flighted, or clipped?

2. If flighted, has your bird ever been clipped? If clipped, has your bird ever been flighted? If so, was your bird's behavior or "personality" different?

3. Do you think it's safer to keep a bird clipped than flighted? Why or why not?

4. Some people think flight is essential for a parrot's physical and mental health. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why?

5. If your bird is flighted, is there anything that would convince you to clip her/him? If your bird is clipped, is there anything that would convince you to grow out her/his wings?

the following posting is a craigslist ad i have been posting for the pst 5 months in San diego CA. I worked at Our Feathered Friends a local parrot store, and witnessed neglect, abuse, and many deaths of parrots. The owners, do not care about these animals, and only care about the money they earn. I have reported to the humane society with little reaction, please read more: I worked at our feathered Friends for a short 3 months. I was happy at first and believed that I was working at the best bird store in San Diego,  but as my training went by I witnessed disgusting, cruel, negligent and inhumane acts. I had been informed by the owners and other employees to relocate sick and injured birds to the upstairs holding room, this room is not supposed to be shown to the public, and inst even mentioned to the public. I personally saw at least 10 birds die in this room, none of them had seen a vet, and were being given DOXYCYCLINE HYDROCHLORIDE mixed in their water. These birds were and are still being kept, just down the hall of where customers board their birds.

All of this became too much to take when I discovered a dead Jenday conure, in the break room freezer, and learned that the owner had taken it in from a tenant of her building who had found it near their house the bird was left in the holding room for at least a week. The same day I found the Jenday the coworkers were talking about an Umbrella cockatoo upstairs that was injured with a broken leg, Sharron (the owner of the store) claimed she would have a vet come in and check on it, two days of work went by, and i never saw a single vet come into the building, Employees had informed me that the problem wasn't that serious. I attempted to communicate with Sharron Petrarca, the owner my concern for these animals, but she was hardly ever there, and and when she was she was always too busy to talk. I had to do something to stop this from happening, so I called the humane society and a few other people who could help. I sent some pictures I began taking with my cell phone while I was alone in the holding room and break room. i sent the officer an email including what was going on along with some pictures i took. 1 Week later the humane society came to investigate, the officer did not look in the freezer where the dead bird was still at. The officer claimed they wanted to protect my confidentiality. During the investigation of the store the officer pointed out a few things that were not compliant with current regulations, including: A sick Indian Ringneck that wouldn't even eat or drink, and a cockatiel cage that was extremely over crowded, Im talking about at least 12 cockatiels in a 14' x 14' cage. the Ringneck was brought upstairs into the holding room, because Sharron (the owner) did not answer the phone.  A few hours later the parrot died. the cockatiels were never moved from what I saw.

These are the pictures I took once again for those who have not seen them. http://picasaweb.google.com/DarrellHolbrooks/OurFeatheredFriends?feat=directlink

this is the stores website: http://www.ourfeatheredfriends.com/

On December 15th 2009 I received information that nothing in either of the owners stores have changed.I feel that San Diego is not hearing my voice, please help me save the animals, which are still alive before it is too late. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me Darrellholbrooks@gmail.com

1. How many toys are in your parrot's cage right now? (If you're not home, just guess.)

2. What types of toys do you give your parrot? (e.g. Shredding, preening, destructible, indestructible, athletic, foraging...)

3. What is your parrot's favorite type of toy? Favorite specific toy?

4. How active is your parrot at playing with toys? That is, how much does he/she seem to enjoy toys?

5. Does your parrot get excited about new toys, or does it take a while for him/her to adjust to them?

Bonus question 6: What are your favorite places to buy toys? Share the love with other parrot folks!

Sorry I missed last week, folks! Here are this week's questions:

1. What types of perches do you provide for your parrot? (e.g. Natural branch, rope, cement/"nail trimmer", dowel...)

2. Which type of perch does your parrot like to spend the most time on?

3. Do you rearrange your bird's perches? If so, how often?

4. How do you clean your perches?

5. Have you ever made your own perches? If so, what material(s) did you use, and how did you prepare them for use?

I made a sizable order of toys and other supplies from the Perch Store on the 28th of September. The money was taken from my account, but I have yet to receive my package. Since then I've made numerous attempts to contact the Perch Store, by both email and phone. I have received no replies to my emails or my messages. Their mailbox has been full every time I tried to call for the last few weeks, making it impossible to leave new messages.

I've been told that there were people here who have had similar problems with the Perch Store, so I'm posting here to get some insight into the experiences of others. How/did you manage to get this thing resolved?

I've shopped at the Perch Store for years, because they have the best selection of the best products, so I was hesitant to say anything in public that might effect their business. But if this is the way their customer service is going to work then the customers' should know.

(I'm ~veryunseemly, btw. I've had a change of screen names since I last posted here.)

I commented elsewhere that I had done a Loud Day / Passover homage earlier this year and people expressed interest in it, so I thought I'd repost it here. This is not intended to offend anyone, and if it does I can take it down. The medium was Kappa's Twitter account, so the parts I included (I didn't include every step of the seder) were necessarily shortened slightly, and I've put them in chronological order here so they're easier to read.


Welcome to Loud Day! We celebrate this day by being loud!
Why is this day different? On all other days we may either chirp or yell; on this day we must yell. 12:44 PM Jun 7th from web
On all other days we may perch or fly; today we fly like a free bird. Freebird! 12:54 PM Jun 7th from web
Today we dip pellets into water, because they taste better that way. I guess we do it every day, don't we? 1:00 PM Jun 7th from web
If my egg was laid but didn't hatch, it would have been enough. 1:06 PM Jun 7th from web
If my egg hatched but I didn't fledge, it would've been enough. 1:07 PM Jun 7th from web
If I fledged but wasn't bought, it would have been enough. 1:08 PM Jun 7th from web
If I was bought but didn't find a forever home, it would have been enough. 1:09 PM Jun 7th from web
If I found a forever home but didn't have mana (organic pellets and homecooked veggies), it would have been enough. 1:09 PM Jun 7th from web
If I had mana but didn't get head scratches daily, it would have been enough. 1:11 PM Jun 7th from web
Next time in the Amazon! 1:12 PM Jun 7th from web

1. What kind of cage do you have (and what type of parrot is in it)? How big is it? If you can, give a link.

2. What is the minimum cage size you'd find acceptable for a bird of your parrot's species?

3. What shape of cage do you think is best for your parrot's species? (e.g. Tall and narrow, wide and short, dome top, etc)

4. Do you think there's such a thing as a cage that's too big for your parrot's species?

5. Does your bird use its entire cage?

1. Do you consider your bird's feathers in good condition? If not, why not? (Plucked, stress bars, broken or beaten-up, etc.)

2. Do you do anything to improve your bird's feather condition? If so, what?

3. Has your bird ever grown any strange feathers? (e.g. misshapen, differently colored) What were they like and what did you do about them?

4. Has your bird ever plucked or barbered its feathers? Did you determine the cause? What did you do to try to stop the plucking/barbering?

5. Do you keep any of your bird's molted feathers? If so, what do you do with them?

Hello. I am the new owner of a lovebird. I did a lot of resarch online before purchasing and I hope to take good care of my new bird. My mother had a Barrabands Parrakeet that died a couple of months ago, but as sad as that was I really love birds, and small pets and I wanted something hardy. According to the websites Lovebirds are all of the above. Of course I picked the worst one at the pet store- I had actaully gone in to look for a tortoise but peeked in the bird room and saw this bedraggled plucked bald bird and I thought I had to rescue it. Apparently the other lovebirds it was being kept with didn't like it and it had to be seperated before the other three lovebirds could kill it. And yes, I know buying pets from pet stores is bad but I just couldn't leave it there.

I am trying to keep it warm, especially becuase of it's naked areas, and have a ceramic space heater and a radiator at my disposal.

My apologies for the long introductory post!

I'd like to hear opinions about lovebirds from other lovebird owners. How are their health issues? How do you 'tame' them- mine isn't aggrssive but I would like to get to the point were it will perch on my finger and perhaps be able to be let out of the cage. Maybe even come when called.

1. What treats do you feed your parrot?

2. How often do you feed treats? (i.e. How many treats per day? Per week?)

3. How do you deliver your treats? (e.g. Put in food bowl, feed by hand, use during training)

4. Are there any treats that you were surprised that your parrot liked? Didn't like?

5. Are there any treats that you consider inappropriate for your parrot? Which ones, and why?

Since tomorrow is Halloween in the US, this week's questions are Halloween/ themed. :)

1. What is the scariest experience you've had as a parrot owner?

2. If your parrots could dress in Halloween costumes, what would they dress up as?

3. Think up a Halloween costume (other than pirate!) that incorporates your parrot.

4. What is your parrot's favorite trick?

5. What is your parrot's favorite treat?

Sorry for the long radio silence, y'all! I bought a house and work got crazy, and those things kind of ate my life for a while there. I'm back now, and will try to be a better mod.

I just re-joined an online caique community I used to frequent, and have been really disappointed in the level of knowledge and advice being passed around. I'm curious about other people's experiences with this, so this Friday's 5 are about community.

1. Do you know other parrot people "offline"? How did you meet them?

2. Do you belong to any bird clubs or organizations? If not, would you like to?

3. What online parrot communities (other than this one) do you belong to? Which one(s) do you like best?

4. What is the best piece of parrot-keeping advice you've ever gotten?

5. What is the worst piece of parrot-keeping advice you've gotten? How did you discover it was bad advice?

My caiques were being particularly meltingly cute today, and I had to share!

It's getting on towards Northern Hemisphere winter, and people are coming out of the woodworks asking about space heaters. Since I answer this question so frequently, I decided to just make a website answering it. :)

Feel free to give the link to others.

X-posted