by Wolf » Fri Mar 04, 2016 11:11 pm
Good, I am so glad that they are now both much happier. I apologise for reading things wrong, it just appeared to me that having babies was really important to you and I wanted to try and understand why.
Now instead of trying to use sunflower seeds for a treat , I would get some sprig type millet to use as it is easier to use when working through the cage bars and will also place a little distance between your fingers and the bird. Since the bird is scared enough that it is biting this could prove very helpful in winning their trust without risking getting bitten by either of them.
Parrots are generally not very aggressive birds although they will fight to the death in defense of their nesting area and eggs or babies. They will also defend their mates. But other than this they are very gentle birds who only bite in self defense. They are much too fragile to do otherwise and flight is their preferred manner od defending themselves from predators and this is why the evolved to live in flocks as it is very hard for a predator to grab one bird out of the air when you have 20 more of them flying all about you as well. The bird who is caring for the nest and the eggs is just doing what nature calls for her to do and that is to protect the nest and the eggs that are in it. Once she loses interest in the eggs because they are not hatching, you will be able to remove both the nest box and the eggs and she will be much easier to work with.
Have you given any thought to names for them? Names are very important to them, Maybe even something as simple as Lucy and Lady Bird since they are most likely sisters. They really won't care what you name them as long as you give them their very own name. If you can't think of what to name them perhaps you can get suggestions from your friends or even from your mom. There will come a time when you will want them to know their names such as when you want to call one of them to come to you but don't want both of them. Or it could be very useful if you decide to teach them to fly to you through an obstacle course of from around a corner. I think that you can see how useful it is to have your own name. They are very much like humans in this respect.
I, myself am now faced with a situation that is remarkably similar to the one that you have with your two girls although mine will actually be the harder one to deal with effectively. I will share it with you if you would like, if not then just disregard the remainder of this reply.
About two years ago I got a female Celestial parrotlet who, I was told was about 5 years old, but turned out to ne 10 years old. She was plucking due to not getting enough attention. I promised that I would try to provide her with a mate. I Call her Keeta.
It took about a year and I finally got her a beautiful 5 year old male Celestial parrotlet who is a turquoise mutation, he was a retired breeder bird. My biggest concern was that she would reject him. He is not handleable due to the differences in the way that breeder birds are treated from how companion birds are treated. It may be possible to gain his trust but sometimes it is not possible. I never intended to raise any babies so it was planned that I would always replace the real eggs with dummy eggs. But this is not going to be an issue as he has after several months of living together started to abuse her and because I was afraid that he would kill her I have had to separate them. I gave them time apart but next to each other and waited until their was once again romantic interest between them and she accepted him right away but he proved once again to be too mean to leave them in the same cage and they are once again separated, but next to each other. His name is Rajah.
I was going to allow them to live together more as aviary type birds and let them just be happy with each other without much interference from me. This would have kept Rajah much more stress free since it would not matter if I did not play with him and she would not need me to give her the attention that she expected from me because she would have a real mate to give her the attention without her resorting to plucking her feathers out. I would have been a pretty much ideal situation for them and me. Not a happening thing. I will have to re hand tame Keeta and show her that I can still be trusted and I will have the nearly impossible task of winning Rajah's trust and developing a bond with him.
Our situations are similar due to the birds in each of our possession are themselves very similar species of parrots although the parrotlet is the more aggressive of the two species. And then there is the difference that yours are still young birds whom you just need to win the trust of and develop a bond with. My two parrotlets are such that the male has never trusted nor bonded with any human and my female has been betrayed at least once by her human, and poor Keeta may view my attempt at giving her a mate as my betraying her trust as well so I will have to start all over with her to gain her trust once again,
We both must take two similar species of parrots who may feel that their trust was betrayed and regain their trust so that bonding with us can happen, but my birds are also much older.
she still bites me when I am not holding treats though. But I think we are going well. And I am excited about working better with her once the other girl ' Boy' is gone. 'He' has always been the more aggressive one of the two.
