Malikah

Thanks for the reply Jill. That makes sense. Now I have to figure out how to get him to bathe on his own. He totally hates it when I mist him. I also can't figure out why he molts so much. About every 3 months. He has only had natural light hours since I got him. I'm pretty sure he's 5 years old and is an English American cross.

That looks almost excatly like Kito's sleeping cage. Just so you know, it's not the sturdiest cage in the world.

I was thinking about the same thing. Is this one too small? http://birdieboutique.com/patrcacof2.html

Rocky is at the age where he/she is like a teenager - trying to become more independent and assertive. It's really important to pick your "battles" wisely, let him decide the things that he can. It's important for his self esteem and will make him a better parrot when he's an adult. Two rules that are non-negotiable - step up when asked, no biting without a reason. If he is scaring your wife on purpose, you should calmly pick him up put him on a stand or in a cage and turn your back or walk away for a minute or three (it all depends on the bird). She needs to show as little reaction as possible no matter how scared she is. Kito is the same age and really only wants to be handled by me. Her favorite treat is a banana slice, so the only person who gives them to her is our young teenage son Neil. She will bite and not step up for him unless he has some sort of treat. But, the other day she landed on his shoulder on purpose and was good. He was a little scared, but just calmly walked to the room I was in and I rescued him. She got lots of treats and praises for that!

Happy 1/2 Hatchday Issac!

Wishing you and your new friend all the best. Eventually he'll think you are lovely as well.

Warning - this is going to be a long winded. I had a female parakeet (Snowy) who would never eat the bean/grain/veggie mix, fresh fruit and veggies, and birdie bread that my Jenday used to eat (along with pellets) so after Jolly passed away I quit offering it. Last year I inherited a sad little male parakeet (Charlie) who only had one perch, one toy, and only ate seed. It didn't take long to realize that he and Snowy really wanted to be in the same cage together. I spent most of the last year trying to switch him to the zupreem pellets that Snowy ate to no avail and she started eating mostly seed. Argh! Once Kito got old enough to start weaning foods I tried again to offer fresh foods to the parakeets but they wouldn't touch it. For months. Snowy passed away in March from a suspected oviduct tumor after 3 different bouts (a few weeks apart) of what looked like egg binding without an egg - which she recovered from after spending a day or 2 in the brooder. I couldn't save her the fourth time. Poor Charlie, I moved his cage into Kito's room so he wouldn't be lonely. Now that Kito is his new love he has suddenly decided to eat real food. Yeah! It seems he is hardly touching the seed anymore - probably because he is stuffing himself full of fresh delicious food now that he has discovered it isn't dangerous. I haven't noticed hin eating any of the pellets yet. Does anyone else have parakeets that eat the same food as their larger parrots? I'm assuming this is healthier for them as well. Any suggestions on getting him to eat pellets other than keep trying?

Oh, that's how we sanitized the moldy horse halters. I suppose rope being so thick you couldn't rinse the bleach out good enough. Sunlight is a natural sanitizer, but if there are mold spores it is best to just toss it. Start saving Tricky, and I hope you find the tray for the travel cage.

I think you should throw away the frayed one because Jacques could get injured. I would soak the other one in a cup of bleach to a gallon of water for about 10 minutes and then rinse rinse rinse it. Let it dry in the sun for a few hours until completely dry. If it still smells like bleach rinse it a few more times and dry in the sun again. I would think it would be as safe as any other rope perch.

It could be helpful even for someone with a weaned baby just to remind you to keep weighing consistently and to jot down anything from bath schedules to developmental notes. Kito's says "I think it's starting to snow in here" for today. Thursday she will be exactly 8 months old.

Attached is the weight chart that I use in case anyone else might find it useful. The first page is for if you want to keep track of every feeding. I've been keeping the filled in ones and some day I might start scrapbooking and make a baby book out of them. Weight Chart .zip

Thanks Jill, I did my best. I didn't rescue her personally, I just fell in love with those sweet eyes when she was on the rescue's website. It was a heartbreaking experience to go there and pick her up. They were so sweet to me, I felt like such a ninny for crying. I had no idea that birds would mutilate themselves. The cockatoos just broke my heart. I'm sorry I seem to have hijacked this thread. Back on the subject of poo, I should be getting my red palm oil in the mail in a day or two. Thanks for the warning!

Yeah! Thank you for the update. Luckily for me those were all a couple years apart. I know there are experienced breeders here who can give you far better advice than I. All I can say is from what I have read if Amigo is going to get sick statistically it's this second or third week when it will show up. Watch carefully for any changes, and take baby to the vet immediately if there is the slightest question in your mind. Best wishes and please keep us posted! Jayd, I'm sorry if I took offense when you meant none, and if I sounded like a total beeeach in my reply which I did not intend. That's the biggest problem with message boards, you can't put across your tone of "voice" or facial expressions. I'll p.m. you.

Jayd, you can think what you like about me and my situation, but you really don't know me. My uncle (who encouraged me on this journey) is a breeder of parakeets, cockatiels, and love birds. He has many years of handraising experience and lives 15 minutes away. The breeder who sold Kito to me was in no way unscrupulous, he knew my uncle and knew he would help me. My sister-in-law has hand raised over 100 love birds and lives 2 doors down. I have successfully raised 3 baby robins who were only 2 days old when a cat ate one of their parents and the other never returned. The baby starling was a little older, and the 5 barn swallow chicks were starting to pin feather. I didn't get Kito on a whim. There were months of planning, studying, asking questions, investments, etc. involved. I am a highly intelligent, educated, meticulous person. I hardly slept for the first 3 weeks. Don't try to tell me I was just lucky. I agree the breeder who sold them the bird was unscrupulous. Very bad Karma to her! This person already has the bird. They stated that they have experienced help living with them. Shouldn't we be here for them with encouragement and advice? I offered what little I could.

She was the sweetest little old pterodactyl. :*)

This is Kito at 20 days old the day I brought her home. She was an only chick so she was extra fat and healthy. Her eyes were completely open. She was the first parrot chick I raised, but I had some experience with wild bird chicks. As long as you have experienced help and are very very meticulous about everything - feeding times, temperature, consistency, cleanliness, brooder temps, humidity, cleanliness, etc., etc., etc., you should do great. I weighed Kito before every feeding for the first 2 weeks! I've got some helpful files - weight charts, important brooding notes, etc. if you'd like them. Congratulations on your new baby!

Funny! My Brother-in-law came over for lunch today and Kito had an upside down out and out brawl with her bell toy just to entertain him.

Jolly my rescue Jenday (r.i.p.) used to poop on me all the time too. She would only eat zupreem fruit flavored pellets and those stained! Poor little thing, her cagemate severely plucked her for years.

That's good to know. Kito does that too, have another bomb when I get home from work.

Kito almost always does it after a bath. The first time I thought she had gotten water in her ears.

I guess I worded my question badly. I was trying to ask if anyone had experience of a bird who was stressed out or had physical problems from holding it in. Mostly I was wondering because Kito prefers not to poop in her sleeping cage nor her big daytime cage. I have noticed that she poops a LOT more often while she's out and about, on the t-stand, or playing on her playgym. I pray nobody would EVER punish their fid in any way other than calmly ending an interaction for a minute or two.

I think the only way it would cause your fid to worry about holding it in is if you punished them somehow for having accidents. That's just my opinion, I don't have any experience to back it up. Does anyone have experience to the contrary?

I wanted to be a veterinarian as long as I can remember. I started college with that goal in mind but slowly came to the conclusion that I was too much of a softie for the job. I had a good paying office job before our son was born. Hated it, and no amount of money is worth being miserable. For the last 13 years I've worked at the barn where I board my horse and I love my job.

Q. What natural fiber is stronger and more elastic than kevlar? A. Hub McCann

Kito doesn't like to poop in her cages, so every time I take her out I go right to the garbage can and tell her to hurry up and she goes. Then she gets a sunflower seed. She still poops whenever she wants the rest of the time so I have to watch her closely. If I catch the signal right away I can usually tell her to wait and interrupt her long enough to get to a garbage. Occasionally I end up with a handful of poop. That probably grosses out some people but, once you have been a mom, a little bird poop is nothing. Plus it's a lot easier to wash my hands than try to clean the carpet, or the couch, or . . . .