Parrot/Bird Question for Kenny

[lovedogs]

Kenny: Thanks for such a well-though out post. So important that you know all of these details and can give advice to others thinking about getting a bird. It's obvious how much you love your feathered friends--thanks for all of the knowledge!

And hugs/kisses to Bibi! What an adorable birdie!

 

[YadaYadaYada]

I have been looking for a picture of our white bellied Caique, Beaker. We adopted Beaker from a woman who had a baby and was moving back in 2011. At least that was the story. Unfortunately we found out that Beaker was not fond of children when our second son was born in 2014. My older one never interacted with him much so it was never an issue but he lunged from his cage and bit my four month old son on his pinky finger. We ended up finding him a really nice home but I'm pretty sure this was why he was given up in the first place.

These guys are very comical and lots of fun and they HOP! He would also beep, they are not big talkers but he would "boop" on command. I miss the little guy but I know he has a good life with no kids in his new home.

 

[kenny]

I have been looking for a picture of our white bellied Caique, Beaker. We adopted Beaker from a woman who had a baby and was moving back in 2011. At least that was the story. Unfortunately we found out that Beaker was not fond of children when our second son was born in 2014. My older one never interacted with him much so it was never an issue but he lunged from his cage and bit my four month old son on his pinky finger. We ended up finding him a really nice home but I'm pretty sure this was why he was given up in the first place.

These guys are very comical and lots of fun and they HOP! He would also beep, they are not big talkers but he would "boop" on command. I miss the little guy but I know he has a good life with no kids in his new home.

Beautiful bird.
I was curious about Caiques and came across this nice video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVdGO5Go7XU

Yeah, birds are not as predictable and controllable as dogs.
I've read about many parrots selecting and bonding with one person in the family (often NOT the person who wanted to get the bird) and treating the others as enemies or rivals.

My ex (a Senegal Parrot) was bonded to me and my SO never touched him for years.
Then one day he picked up the bird and ... presto-chango ... from then on the bird was obsessed with him and would bite me if all 3 of us were in the same room.
That sucked.

When I was alone with the bird we got along fine.

 

[redwood66]

I understand that kenny. My Grey loved only me but the Goffin was infatuated with DH.

 

[Dancing Fire]

We have a 22 yrs old Blue Front Amazon. We don't know anything about taking care of birds, but he/she.. looks healthy and loves to eat spaghetti.

 

[redwood66]

We have a 22 yrs old Blue Front Amazon. We don't know anything about taking care of birds, but he/she.. looks healthy and loves to eat spaghetti.

We need pics DF. We need pics of all the birdies!!!!!

 

[sonnyjane]

Here's my buddy Bibi, a Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure.
We don't know the gender so just I flipped a coin.
If he ever gives us an egg I'll call Bibi a she.

You gotta send blood to a lab to learn the gender of this kind of bird.
I don't bother because I don't care.

Kenny, at the zoo we used to sex with feathers. Is that a possibility for you?

 

[kenny]

Here's my buddy Bibi, a Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure.
We don't know the gender so just I flipped a coin.
If he ever gives us an egg I'll call Bibi a she.

You gotta send blood to a lab to learn the gender of this kind of bird.
I don't bother because I don't care.

Kenny, at the zoo we used to sex with feathers. Is that a possibility for you?

Yes, I can send a feather to the lab.
I assumed they found microscopic amounts of blood on the base of the feather.

Perhaps I'm wrong; Perhaps they get DNA from the feather material itself.
Either way, I just don't care about gender enough to bother.
Bibi is not in a breeding program so knowing gender isn't important for that.

But, thanks.

 

[sonnyjane]

Here's my buddy Bibi, a Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure.
We don't know the gender so just I flipped a coin.
If he ever gives us an egg I'll call Bibi a she.

You gotta send blood to a lab to learn the gender of this kind of bird.
I don't bother because I don't care.

Kenny, at the zoo we used to sex with feathers. Is that a possibility for you?

Yes, I can send a feather to the lab.
I assumed they found microscopic amounts of blood on the base of the feather.

Perhaps I'm wrong; Perhaps they get DNA from the feather material itself.
Either way, I just don't care about gender enough to bother.
Bibi is not in a breeding program so knowing gender isn't important for that.

But, thanks.

It's from the feather itself, doesn't have to be blood on it, but not worth the trouble/expense if you don't mind either way. Many times we would sex based on the fluids left in the eggshell after the bird hatched, but obviously you have to have them from the very beginning to do that

 

[Dancing Fire]

We have a 22 yrs old Blue Front Amazon. We don't know anything about taking care of birds, but he/she.. looks healthy and loves to eat spaghetti.

We need pics DF. We need pics of all the birdies!!!!!

I posted this pic many times on PS. This was like when he was 1 yr old. He shows no sign of ageing in the past 21 yrs. ..

 

[Rockdiamond]

Thanks Kenny!
My experience in the trade was so long ago- at that time sunflower seed was the main ingredient in most parrot/macaw food mixes.
When we got Peety ( a Parrolet) the shop told us to feed pellets. Other than millet spray, Peety won't eat seeds. She does love a lot of other foods.
Does anyone buy their food online?

Sonnyjane- your pics are amazing! I've never seen a Black Palm in person. SO cool that you worked in a zoo.

DF_ that's such a nice bird!

 

[sonnyjane]

Thanks Kenny!
My experience in the trade was so long ago- at that time sunflower seed was the main ingredient in most parrot/macaw food mixes.
When we got Peety ( a Parrolet) the shop told us to feed pellets. Other than millet spray, Peety won't eat seeds. She does love a lot of other foods.
Does anyone buy their food online?

Yes, you can order food online, easy breezy!

The challenge is that different types of parrots eat different types of foods in the wild, so there is not a one-size-fits-all diet for birds. Our cockatoos got Harrison's pellet (forget who mentioned it here) and a lot of seeds, b/c in the wild they are natural seed foragers. Our macaws and Amazons got Zupreem and fruit/veggies. Hyacinths have more fatty diets, so they would get some Brazil nuts to munch on whereas that would be a bit too much for the scarlets. Our keas (a type of parrot that is known to eat sheep!) ate Scenic jungle mix and insects. As Kenny mentioned, it's easy for bird owners to fall into giving too many seeds or nuts to their birds because that's what they love the most, but treats should be used sparingly for training.

 

[kenny]

If I was a pet I'd insist on an all-cheesecake diet.

 

[redwood66]

Thanks Kenny!
My experience in the trade was so long ago- at that time sunflower seed was the main ingredient in most parrot/macaw food mixes.
When we got Peety ( a Parrolet) the shop told us to feed pellets. Other than millet spray, Peety won't eat seeds. She does love a lot of other foods.
Does anyone buy their food online?

Yes, you can order food online, easy breezy!

The challenge is that different types of parrots eat different types of foods in the wild, so there is not a one-size-fits-all diet for birds. Our cockatoos got Harrison's pellet (forget who mentioned it here) and a lot of seeds, b/c in the wild they are natural seed foragers. Our macaws and Amazons got Zupreem and fruit/veggies. Hyacinths have more fatty diets, so they would get some Brazil nuts to munch on whereas that would be a bit too much for the scarlets. Our keas (a type of parrot that is known to eat sheep!) ate Scenic jungle mix and insects. As Kenny mentioned, it's easy for bird owners to fall into giving too many seeds or nuts to their birds because that's what they love the most, but treats should be used sparingly for training.

Yes! It was me. Harrison's is absolutely the best and they have different sizes for all size birds. My parrots were so healthy. Well until Max passed which was a shock to me.

http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/

 

[kenny]

I started Bibi out on Zupreem and later learned about Harrison.
I tried to switch him over.
I offered it for months but he never warmed up to it.
And Harrison is organic with an expiration date so it's not like I could keep it around till he ate it.
I gave up.

I also buy online at Amazon.
I'd speculate it may be fresher than what's sitting on the shelf at the local pet shop or Vet.

Hey, how does your bird take a bath?
Mine does it in his water dish when I'm not looking.
I'll walk into the room and he's all wet.

Do you actually give him a dedicated dish/bowl for bath time?

 

[redwood66]

I put mine in the sink covering the drain so their feet did not get caught but water still drain out. They liked the spray function on the faucet!

 

[lyra]

Thanks so much Kenny, (and everyone of course). So much great information here. I wish I had a good friend who had birds. I'd visit often!

Maybe one day I could have something small, not a parrot. A budgie or canary maybe. I taught our cockatiel how to whistle Bridge on the River Kwai. My husband said I was tone deaf, and so was the bird because of it.

Sonnyjane, how wonderful it would be to be able to work around animals and birds. That would be a dream job to me. I do like to just observe as well. It would be fascinating.

Thanks for all the bird pics too. They are all lovely. This thread really made me smile.

 

[Rockdiamond]

I started Bibi out on Zupreem and later learned about Harrison.
I tried to switch him over.
I offered it for months but he never warmed up to it.
And Harrison is organic with an expiration date so it's not like I could keep it around till he ate it.
I gave up.

I also buy online at Amazon.
I'd speculate it may be fresher than what's sitting on the shelf at the local pet shop or Vet.

Hey, how does your bird take a bath?
Mine does it in his water dish when I'm not looking.
I'll walk into the room and he's all wet.

Do you actually give him a dedicated dish/bowl for bath time?

Thank you Kenny! I've ordered a bag of Harrison's from Amazon.
Bath- My birds have always loved taking a shower with me.
I put them up on the curtain rod and after watching me in the spray, they've been very happy to come down and join the showertime fun.
With Boo, my dearly departed lovebird, I could also bathe him ( her?) by simply cup my hands under the faucet with luke warm water flowing slowly, and Boo would hop into my cupped hands and have a go at it.

 

[sonnyjane]

I started Bibi out on Zupreem and later learned about Harrison.
I tried to switch him over.
I offered it for months but he never warmed up to it.
And Harrison is organic with an expiration date so it's not like I could keep it around till he ate it.
I gave up.

Thank you Kenny! I've ordered a bag of Harrison's from Amazon.

Since you ordered some Harrison's, know that you may very well experience something similar to what Kenny did when he tried to switch. Harrison's is "health food" compared to a lot of other foods, even compared to Zupreem which is still a good, balanced food - trust me, I've eaten them both as a test! Our cockatoos started out on Harrison's so they only ate it and wouldn't touch anything else, but when we tried to switch our macaws to it, they didn't like it at first. It's kind of like a kid eating veggies - if they're hungry enough, they will eat it, but don't be surprised if your bird turns his nose up at it in the beginning. Of course do a mix with different ratios phasing it in more and more. Also, we stored our Harrison's in the freezer and then let it sit out on the table for a bit before serving. This helped with shelf life.

 

[kenny]

As an aside ...

Zupreem pellet food ain't cheap, and Harrison is through the roof.

Bibi takes one pellet in his beak (the pellets Zupreem recommends for Conures are the size of a huge human 'horse' pill), walks over to the side of his table, stands on one foot and holds his prize in the other foot/hand as he munches away at the hard pellet.
It would probably take him a full minute to finish one whole pellet.
That is, if he'd ever FINISH one friggin pellet!

But when Bibi takes that first loud crunchy bite our dogs run into the room.
They sit beneath Bibi and wait.
They stare a hole in the head of anyone with food.

I got sick of feeding the dogs billion-dollar parrot food, so I now soak a few pellets in water five minutes before serving.
They are so soft that Bibi can't even hold a pellet in his beak or foot/hand so he just eats them right out of the dish. YES!
My vet says this is fine as long as I only moisten what would be eaten within a short time so bacteria can't grow.

The dogs are pissed.

 

[december-fire]

This is a great thread! The birds are all so beautiful, and its wonderful reading the wealth of information here!

A pet of any kind is a serious responsibility, and its so important to be realistic about taking on such a commitment.


Kenny, your poor abused dogs! They're starving and neglected now that Bibi has joined the family.