when do the wings come in?

[Wolf]

Sounds like a solar schedule to me. One last question still with the solar schedule. Is she exposed to the twilight periods of dawn and dusk without interference of artificial lights?
One question on food, what are cuties?

[patti]

i live in los angeles, so lights have a way of finding their way in, but most are far away. she gets a nice dose of dusk every day, but morning she hasnt been getting for the last 3 weeks. my mom is sleeping in lily's space and keeps the blinds shut till she wakes. mom leaves in a few days though.

[Wolf]

We may be getting somewhere as it takes both twilight periods as one starts the daily count and the other stops the count just like an on and off switch. Also the light from the city at night may be part of this equation as they also tend to throw the birds internal clock off causing it to be free running.

[liz]

Sounds like a solar schedule to me. One last question still with the solar schedule. Is she exposed to the twilight periods of dawn and dusk without interference of artificial lights?
One question on food, what are cuties?

Kid size little oranges that are easy to peel.

[Wolf]

So they are sort of like tangerines?

[patti]

yes, they taste like tangerines too. but the wedges are so small they are perfect size for a conure. we have them here in cali pretty much year round, lily loves them.

i have a short video of lily in her sleepy hut and it is so cute it is worth the effort to try and figure out how to post it for you all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRvRh9JGQeg

Cool. I could add additional covering besides just the layer of fleece.

[liz]

That is sooooo cute. Rambo chose his own little nite nite cage. Myrtle would not go in a closed in area even if I took the door off. She would sleep perched on her tree. Winter came and all I could think to give her was a paper bag. After she was asleep I balanced a bag, with a TP type opening, on the twigs above her. The bag wore out and I could find another one that suited her so I changed it to a 3 sided cardboard box. I loved how she peeked out.

[Pajarita]

No eggplant, please! Eggplants belong to the nightshade family, same as tomatoes and potatoes BUT the big difference between them is that the toxin in tomatoes and potatoes is mainly in the 'green parts' (that's why people don't eat the leaves and don't use green potatoes) while, in eggplants, is in the fruit itself. The young fruits (which are the ones everybody buys because they look 'nicer', they are firm and shiny and evenly skinned) have a higher concentration of it and, although people are resistant to it (especially if they are prepared right which means soaking in salty water for hours and rinsing twice, peeling the skin and cooking very thoroughly), parrots are not. The very common and widely used statement that parrots can eat anything we eat is 100% wrong! Don't follow it, do your own research and find out for sure.

And, yes, her peeking out of her little hut is the CUTEST thing but, be careful with giving a hormonal bird a nest. It can backfire.

Once momma leaves, try exposing her to both dawn and dusk because there are always 24 hours between dusk and dusk so it doesn't really work to set the internal clock properly - and make sure she is getting no light whatsoever through the windows at night (there are black-out draperies that work great as cage covers).

[patti]

OMG, thanks so much for the info on eggplant. i did look it up but got the wrong info - that the toxin was just in the leaves - and so i thought it was safe! i guess this is part of the learning process, though: learning how to sift intelligently through all the stuff you find on the internet. poor birdie.

and lily thanks you for the kudos. I told lily that you all said she was cute and, in response, she did something cute.

she loves her house so much that i dread having to take it away from her. i wonder, though, if by "backfire" you mean that i might end up with a vent stuck up in my face? because that happened. we play peek a boo every day. she goes in the tent and chirps and clucks around in circles while i am saying "Where's lily? Where's lily? Wherever could she be?" until she pops her head out triumphantly and i say "There she is!!!!" then reach to stroke her beak and she goes wretches away and goes back inside and we start all over again. Its lots of fun and can go on forever and ever. i have been careful to play the game with head touches only so as not to make her all randy. in the video, she was trying to get me to come over and play it with her. so cute.

but then one time during the game she gets quiet and doesnot come out so i go looking for her.. pull the curtain away and... vent in the face!!! it was very deliberate. also cute, but very inappropriate. we tried to have a talk about the birds, the bees, and the humans, but she wasn't listening because she was too busy trying to crawl down my cleavage. sigh.

i am on the lookout for "moody princess bitey bird" though, should she surface in the midst of all this.

but i am happy to say that she has light at dawn again now and everything is back to normal. thanks so much for helping me with that - i never would have guessed that. no more feathers lost save just one here and there, and no more sexy bird. wow! they sure are sensitive creatures! just a few weeks without dawn probably made her think that the days were 3 hours longer, since her last day with dawn was the day we flew back, and she had dusk that day on west coast time. thats amazing.

[Pajarita]

Good job! Making mistakes and under-researching is what we all go through with birds. The information out there is often wrong... sometimes it's because it's outdated and sometimes it's because the people giving it did not dig deep enough. But, the one constant you will find with good bird keepers is that they learn from their mistakes and are always willing to listen and check out the 'new' information without rejecting it outright so kudos to you!