Tips for our new friend...

[peanutsnewhome]

We had an unfortunate and sudden death this week of our lovebird. She was sweet, playful, and it was quite fast. She showed no signs of being ill right up until she just simply dropped over.

My daughter insisted on replacing her. She's 11 and a half and I wanted her to spend more time researching. She started emailing people from Craigslist and ended up adopting a peach fronted conure. So far I see a few problems. Though she's adorable in her own way.

1) Her feathers on her back are ruffled. She doesn't seem to be picking them off. She seems to be chewing them or over cleaning. I don't see any mites on her. But she hasn't let us get too close yet.

2) They had her on a primarily sunflower seed diet. I understand all about that and why it's bad. We've been having fun offering her all kinds of food all day. She's been tasting and spitting most of it out.

3) She will ride on a pillow or stuffed animal. But she's deathly afraid of fingers. If she sees fingers anywhere near her, she'll bite. She doesn't step up, obviously. But I did get her to step up on command with a towel draped over my hand so she doesn't see the fingers.

So...essentially, I'm just looking for similar stories, especially successful stories. I'd like to see her feathers grow in normal. She seems healthy over all, that I can see. She can fly 8-10 feet even with her wings clipped.

How fast can I cut back on her sunflower seeds without hurting her?

She was home alone all day long with dogs for noise and that is it. My daughter homeschools. So she let her out all day on her cage right next to her. I don't think much homeschooling was taking place. I did tell her to keep her busy so she wouldn't chew on herself as much.

Any other ideas for her feather problem if it's not from boredom?

Thanks

Suzi

[pennyandrocky]

other causes for chewing are vitamin deficiancy or being taken from parents to soon for handfeeding they don't lear to preen properly.my cockatoo is a feather chewer but not as bad as when we adopted her 10 months ago so there is hope.take away the seeds it won't harm her may make her mad but she'll get over it give them as treats.to get her to eat fruits and veggies eat them in front of her most birds eat in flocks so they'll want what your having.

[peanutsnewhome]

Thanks. I do know they like to eat what we are eating. Since my 11 year old just about never stops snacking, shouldn't be a problem LOL!

I have read in the past that birds will starve themselves to death if they just don't see what we are feeding them as food. Is that not true?

[pennyandrocky]

i never had that happen i've had to change almost all my birds diets when i first got them except a lorikeet it amazes me how many people think parrots only eat seed and nuts.it makes it hard to get them to eat pellots but there are tricks like fruit juice on pellets or baking them into birdy bread if you go into the nutrition section you'll find alot of recipes.

[Aurora and I]

My bird was just like that, he feathers around her beak and head were ruffled, and she didn't look too great. She is scared of hands but would step up onto a perch (after some training) She wouldn't come out of her cage without some engorgement. She was on a seed diet. The biggest problem was that she is TERRIFIED of my hands.
Now this isn't exactly a success story, but it's on it's way to being one.

Solving the hands Issue:
I started teaching her to accept treats from my hand. This involved many hours of me waiting for her to take the treat. After she learned this I clicker conditioned her. I clicked then gave her the treat, she caught on fast. Target training came next, and she realized that beak+target=treat. After this I worked on getting her on a handheld parch. She caught on eventually. By this time she was still not very happy about her outside of cage time, so I taught her the turn around trick inside her cage. She's a pro now!
Now she comes out of her cage to come see me, and she turns around on command, but we are working on the hands becoming her friends. To do this I target her close to my hand, click but don't give a treat, target closer, then I present the trick over my finger so that she has to step up to get it. She has jumped onto my hand many times now, but we are still working on it.
Converting diet:
My Bird was on a seed diet, as is your bird. This is one of the most unhealthy diets that a bird can have. To convert my bird I first bought the highest quality pellets that I could find, "Harrison's". She wouldn't touch them. So I tried many different things, but only one worked and it was a combination of two of the things that I tried. I had to moisten the pellets with juice, and then press her treats into the pellets. This way she tasted the pellets, and then she started to nibble on them. Later she would not eat unless her pellets were softened by juice, so I broke them into small pieces. Then gradually made them bigger and bigger. She's now on a full pellet diet, and has fresh veggies every morning and evening.

Regrading the feathers, my bird's feathers became nice after she was converted to a new diet.

I hope this helped, and Good luck!

[peanutsnewhome]

Awww.. It sounds like your bird has come a long way.

[Aurora and I]

ya, and I hope yours does too.

[liz]

They are afraid of hands because someone before you grabbed her out of her cage or just grabbed her rather then asking her to step up.

Myrtle was afraid of hands so I didn't touch her with my hands. She liked faces so we talked face to face until I could kiss her. She is now all over touchable. I started by going in low with one finger wiggling while saying tickle tickle. She would let me touch her feet because my hand was below her and I only touch with one wiggle finger while teaching her the word tickle.

Now Myrtle comes to me and asks for tickle tickle. I can tickle anywhere. Sometimes she is so in to it that she will lay on her back and I use two hands for tickle tickle while she is saying it. It is sort of like tickling a toddler.