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mrscatinthehat

Seussical
YOu know I haven't commented on this as I absolutely fear birds. And they know it. I can feed ducks at the pond but that is about it. easy child had a pet bird and it ate itself to death (I didn't know they would do that). So it wouldn't have a long life expectancy at my house. Hope the nub, I mean finger is feeling better soon.

Beth
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Just out of curiosity - are these birds male? Or this one, at least? because birds CAN tell gender apart and they can sometimes take a set against a particular gender, especially if it's the opposite of the person they bonded with.

At the zoo where difficult child 1 worked for a while, they have a Wedge-Tailed Eagle who they were trying to train (years ago) for public displays (although this training is more important in their day-to-day management). They found that this bird was VERY fussy about who worked with him, what colour food pouch they carried, they had to always wear exactly the same clothes etc. Finally they had to admit defeat and I believe nobody has been inside that cage for years. They throw food in to him and talk to him through the wire. It's a big flight cage, but he was a mentally disturbed bird before they got him - he'd been poached (as in stolen from the nest) as a chick and raised by a clueless idiot who had to get rid of him when he got vicious as he got older.

They did notice that female keepers had more success with him - he would viciously attack any human male. But then he began trying to mate with his female keeper (not good, when it's a Wedgie trying to do this - they are BIG birds) and they shut everything down with him.

Good luck with your parrots - I wish we lived close enough.

Marg
 

Coookie

Active Member
Abbey,

Been keeping track of this thread but haven't commented cause I don't want a bird. :)

Glad to see he is still alive though... :crazy1:

Sorry... :stalker:

Hugs
 

crazymama30

Active Member
I am with Mrs. C. Birds should be free to fly about, not in my home. I had a pt with an African Grey parrot, and that thing hated me!! As soon as I walked in the home he screamed at me, and if I walked by the cage, he would attack the bars violently. Personally I like my bird fried or roasted.
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
The two young ones are both males. My oldest is a female. It might be a gender thing. Who knows. They are also very particular with their food color. Their food looks like fruit loops. One day yellow is the color of the day, next day red, then green. You can always tell because all that color will be gone. I won't refill their dish until they eat it all though. (Too expensive!!) They're pretty stubborn. They'll go a day without eating thinking I'll give them more food, then finally break down and change the color of choice.:tongue:

Crazymom...I agree with you. BUT, when they're already in a pet store, I'd rather have them in my home where they are only caged at night than in that kind of environment. I'd give nothing more than to see them fly freely outdoors. There is no way these guys would survive in the wild.

Abbey
 

Marguerite

Active Member
On the subject of birds in captivity - not sure how it is in your country, but in Australia we're only permitted to keep birds which have been bred in captivity. And even then, we have very strict rules as to size of enclosure, etc. Our budgie (budgerigar) was bred in captivity, plus there are no wild budgies in this part of the country. If they get out, they get killed by a lot of predator birds in the area. In fact, we have to even be careful putting the cage outside, because we have Currawongs (like crows) and Butcher Birds which will reach through the bars after a pet bird.

Our budgie is at the moment perched in my bathroom. She likes it there. We change her seed and water etc when she is out of her cage; she's never been good with being handled. She won't attack, though, not at all. To get her back into her cage - most times she puts herself there, but if we've forgotten her and find her dozing late at night on the curtain rail, she's usually too sleepy to bite. Also too sleepy to fly properly, which looks very funny, like watching a drunk stagger home from the pub.
Generally we can herd her back to the cage and she will go in.

But she doesn't squawk, budgies make a number of sounds but the most common one is a short chirp that sounds like small bells being jingled.

I remember back in my uni student days we went bird banding. This involved arriving at the site just before sunrise, for a day of capture, tag and release. The mist nets were designed for small canary-sized birds and we had to work quickly to get them out of the net and to the desk for measurement and data recording. After finally being given a leg band, we released the birds (away from the nets!) and by about lunchtime we packed up the nets and left.

About halfway through the morning the bloke in charge ran into the data recording area with both hands bleeding, clutching a Crimson Rosella. He'd been right beside the nets when TWO birds had flown into them, the birds so busy arguing with each other that they didn't see the nets. If he'd not been there, the birds would have ripped the nets to pieces and then flown away; he grabbed one in each hand. Then they bit. Powerful beaks! he had to let one go, so he could protect himself and still have at least ONE bird to measure. He was so excited, he didn't seem to care about the blood running everywhere.
That bird got royal treatment - it even got a nectar feed before we released it, it was fascinating watching the brush tongue lapping away. I did wonder if it continued arguing with its mate when they met up again...

Marg
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
That is very much the case. African Greys are on the endangered species list. So, the only way to legally own them is if they are bred in capitivity. All 3 are of that case. Hence, my pet store scenario. I hate to see them there. They literally have the best of life in captivity in our house. I'd love to see them fly out free, but that was not in their fate.:( I do what I can to make their lives good. I've even sacrified a few fingers in the process. :)

Abbey
 
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