jewels2112

Hi again everyone! Since you were all so helpful in the past I decided I would harass you once more. As a refresher: I have an 18 month old CAG (Katie) and a 1yo rescued Sun Conure. My Sun started flying about 6 weeks ago and is now fully flighted and loving life. She had severely damaged beak (neglect suffered at a local pet store) which is finally healing and although she hasn't had a full molt (that I've seen anyway), she has a beautiful set of flight feathers. Katie, on the other hand, still can't fly and it appears that her old cut feathers are still where they were when we got her over a year ago. I'm starting to wonder if they will ever be replaced by flight feathers and if she will ever be able to fly. We exercise every day..she allows me to hold her under her wings and she pretends to fly while I hold her up but on the rare occasion she tries to do it herself she drops like a stone. I was told to give her baths more frequently (which she hates) but it didn't seem to help. Am I worrying over nothing or could something be wrong with her? I really want her to be more mobile. Its just sad to see her have to climb down to the floor to get to me. My next issue is a bit more minor. She hates everyone but me. I know they're typically shy and "one person" birds but is there a way to help her accept the rest of the family? With me she still pants like a baby when we play and she will sit with me for hours and will never bite but the closest she'll get to anyone else here is to sit on their hand and she is very unpredictable when it comes to biting. She's starting to talk up a storm so they are really wanting to interact with her but I have no clue how to make it happen. Any suggestions? And last, but not least, does anyone know of any bird related groups that meet in the Virginia Beach area? I can't seem to find any Thanks again in advance for all your help! -Jo

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forums but so happy to have found you! We have a one year old CAG named Katie and a one year old sun conure named Skittles. We got them around the same time (the conure was a rescue) but they don't have much contact except having cages in the same room. Katie eats well and seems to be pretty happy. She is starting to make noises that could possible be called words and loves to wolf whistle (wanted to kill my hubby for teaching her that!) and make other noises. Our problem is that all of a sudden she is damaging her feathers. Her chest has no feathers anymore, just down. Occasionally she will damage some of her back feathers but she hasn't pulled any out. I've found that wetting her down has helped some so she is getting quite a few baths these days, but I would like to find a better solution. She doesn't appear to be nervous or anything, just bored, yet she really doesn't seem to play with many of her toys, even when we switch them out. Does anyone have any cheap suggestions for things she can chew or other ways to keep her busy when we can't play with her? Our next problem..we're not sure how often we should be playing one on one with her? The only thing she ever seems to want to do is fly to my shoulder, which I know not to let her do. If I put her on a table she will constantly try to get to my arm to climb up and won't do anything else. I'm not sure how to get her to enjoy interacting in other ways. Last, but not least, I know that she was fully flighted before we got her and the breeder slowly started clipping back her wings until she could no longer fly but shouldn't she have grown new flight feathers in by now? She shows no signs of that at all and she will drop like a stone if she ever attempts to fly. How often do they typically molt and/or grow new flight feathers? Should we be concerned? She hasn't been to the vet for about 6 months but should I bring her back in? Thanks in advance for your advice! I look forward to getting to know all of you in the near future! Jo