Navre and Friends in Boston

[Pajarita]

They are! And such EXCELLENT eaters! I am always in awe of how good they eat even though Isis, the female, ate only raw nuts, green beans and dried papaya for years! But they are also very naughty - much, much more than the senegals. At least mine are - they are always stealing things and, when you tell them to drop whatever it is they have, they take off carrying it in their beak to some high up place where I cannot reach them so they can destroy it 'in peace' - and they take things that can be dangerous to them, like pens! They LOVE to chew pens! I have to keep my eye on both of them all the time because of their penchant for thievery

[Navre]

We might have a GCC coming in. It's a turquoise just like Ocean. Still trying to find out if it's a confirmed Male. Trying to decide if it's the right time to introduce a new bird, given the problems Nicky is having.

[Pajarita]

Well, in reality, if you think about it, the solution is just a matter of infrastructure and a change in routine because all you would have to do is to separate Nicky and Ocean. I don't think that Nicky does well with other birds around -at least, not right now- so if you put Ocean in one room and Nicky in another and they don't ever see each other, in time, you could introduce a male to Ocean. I realize that the arrangement is a pain in the neck and that it means that you will have to divide your attention between the two rooms (which I can tell you from personal experience, it's an even bigger pain in the neck because you end up with no time for anything else) but it will work to both their satisfaction. And, when and if Ocean bonds with the male, it will satisfy her needs for constant attention which will, in turn, free some of your time to spend alone with Nicky.

[Navre]

My big fear is that I take him and then he doesn't bond with Ocean. Then I have another bird and another cage I don't really have the space for.

[Pajarita]

Yes, that is always a possibility. I've never had any problem with getting little birds to bond with one another and even the medium size ones eventually do BUT it can take years... The other thing you can consider which helps with the lack of room is breeder cages like this one:http://www.ebay.com/itm/bird-cage-large-double-stack-/182557133374?hash=item2a8140ca3e:g:3lIAAOSwNnRYfUVi

I don't like them because one of the birds ends up practically on the floor but If the birds use them only for sleeping, I guess it's not too bad and both take up the space of a single one.

[Navre]

We have stackers at the rescue that are going to be sold, given away, or thrown out, soon. They're dark and terrible. We had a triple stacker and one that was like 4 cubes. I always felt bad for the birds not on the top.

[Pajarita]

Yes, I don't like that kind of cage at all. I know of a rescuer that used to use them [I don't know if she still does but, given the fact that she thought she was better than anybody else, I would assume nothing has changed]. She had three-cage stacks against the walls of two of the rooms where she kept the medium size birds. I once accused her of 'warehousing' birds... needless to say, she did not take it kindly but I always think that rescues should be held to higher standards than owners because, after all, they are supposed to be ran by knowledgeable and experienced people who love birds... role models, so to speak.

These are the kind of cages that breeders use but, of course, breeders don't love birds, they just exploit them... The cages themselves are not completely useless though because they would be very practical for moving a number of birds at the same time.

[Navre]

We took those cages from the breeder, and had to use them for a while. Luckily, enough birds have found homes that we don't need to do use them anymore.

[Navre]

Awww, poor baby! I don't know how effective the Avicalm is but I still use it because I always think that even if it's the smallest difference, it's still help.

I don't think that more protein is the answer, we always feed more than enough protein in captivity, but I would make sure she is getting 'good' protein. This time of the year, I always doctor their seed/nut dinner with a bit of hemp seed and a bit of insect protein mixed in with their gloop once a week or so. If you can't find whole hemp seed by you, let me know and I'll send you some -I can get it at ABBA. As to insect protein, I use freeze-dried mealworms -fresh could have salmonella and too much fat- https://www.amazon.com/Tasty-Worms-Free ... B00L5PAZEA

You can also use quinoa in the gloop -I get the three colors combined together but any kind is good.
Oh, and add a bit of sesame seed to their diet, too -high in methionine, good for molting!

I'm at Whole Foods now. Do you cook the quinoa? How about the sesame seed?

[Pajarita]

Sorry, I didn't see this posting, John. I never cook the seeds [flax and sesame] but I do the quinoa only I do it separately because it's so much smaller than the other grains that it cooks much faster.