My Meyers Sunny

[seagoatdeb]

Sounds like everything is progressing fantastically well! But I don't think you have to worry about him becoming nippy. Of all my birds, the only one that would, when hormonal, get a little rough (and you couldn't even call his pecks actual nips) is Sweetpea, the male Senegal which hated all humanity for years and years and which attacked me mercilessly for over 3 years. I think that once they find their place in the 'flock' and feel content with their life, all types of aggression disappear because it's really not in their nature to be rough or even mean.

I think you are right, my daughters Meyers can get nippy and he does hold grudges. But he may be affected by the new addition of the Sengal female. Additions take some time for everyone to adjust.

[Pajarita]

Indeed they do, and up to two years, in my personal experience!

[seagoatdeb]

yeah in my daughers case her Meyers was the oldest of his clutch and very well socialized, the GGC was a baby as well, and the two parrots bonded. The Meyers was the king of the parrot flock, the conure was faster, but the Meyers was stonger and he is a big Meyers and could use his body weight, to push the conure, when needed. Her Meyers is not afraid of people at all, when a new person comes in the house, he has to be on them immediately, and seems to want to make sure he has a realtionship with everyone. Then the Senegal enters and she has been neglected and has foot sores from the hardwood perches in her tiny cage she had been kept in. So it is a big adjustment for them all.

In my case, I added a baby into my house with Gaugan, and that was my best chance for Gaugan to accept another parrot easier. My Meyers has a very good personality to get along with Gaugan, she is a moody parrot that always feels she must be the top parrot in her flock. Sunny just wants to get along, and he is a small Meyers and he has learned to adapt to older and bigger parrots even before i got him. So far so good anyway......lol

[Pajarita]

Well, in my personal experience, the 'so far so good' is about the best we can do with parrots because no matter how long we've had them, they always manage to surprise us with a completely out of character behavior every now and then.

[seagoatdeb]

yep that is so true

[seagoatdeb]

Right now Gaugan is wanting a lot of mushy time with me,, and she is limiting how much time she preens Sunny and flocks with him. I actually saw him with a look of hurt feelings in his eyes when she chased him off her cage one day, but he is getting use to her and starting to "get" her most subtle body postures.

We are quite the little flock with Gaugan determining what kind of a relationship we have with her....lol....She will preen Sunny, and she will let him feed her, but she will not let him preen her. So Gaugan gets all her preening from my daughter, my hubby and me. Sunny loves to preen me, so he has one place to preen another being. They like to both hang out together on me in the evenings, and Gaugan and i take turns preening Sunny, and i preen Gagaun. In the early day Sunny is too hyper to just hang around for a long time, but he is mellow later in the day.

[Pajarita]

Yes, Isis Redbelly is also pretty 'mushy', too - it's that time of the year

[seagoatdeb]

Just an update on sunny, and he is coming along very nicely. He is a cautious parrot, and is not afraid of people anymore, he is good with new people as long as they pet only his upper beak and speak sweetly to him and blink. He is a very steady good natured parrot. He is not moody. I have not detected any real "jealousy". if Gaugan is on me he wants to be there too, and he is happy to have either Gaugan or I preen him. He likes to flock with Gaugan and follows her if she leaves the room. I have two rooms set up with hanging play areas, and I can see both areas from my lazy boy recliner.

The two Pois get along very well now. Sunny has learned that Gaugan is moody and he now takes that in his stride, for a while i could see he looked hurt when she rejected him. Sunny is doing courtship dances for both Gaugan and I right now. Gaugan is unimpressed. Sunny eats everything, i havent found a food he dislikes yet. He is very acrobatic, and loves to play. He is a very active parrot. Sunnys beak and foot size are the same as Gaugans, even though he is smaller. Gaguan and Sunny beak each other and they feel the same beak size. Sunny will sometimes feed Gaugan, and Gagaun will preen Sunny. Gaugan will not let Sunny preen her.

I have not had a Meyers before and it has been very interesting to see the difference between Sunny and my daughters male Meyers. My daughter male Meyers is two months younger but seeems like he looks older than mine. Most of that may be due to the fact that her Meyers is large and weighs the same as Gaugan my Redbelly. Her Meyers has a small beak and black feet, My Meyers has a large beak and large pink with grey mottlling feet and he is a small Meyers. So he looks younger somehow. Both of the Meyers have yellow spots on their head. They are very very different in personalities.

My daughters Meyers is moody and when he is out of sorts you can see it. He wants everyone to have a relationship with him and he is frustrated in my daughters rescue Senegal, because she refuses to have anything to do with him, Sunny, just wants to flock with everyone and will do whatever it takes to fit in. He gets determined but his mood is very steady. Sunny is very vocal and makes very cute sounds, and has learned a few words and phrases, mostly from Gaugan. Sunny will be 13 months on June 10, 2016. Sunny may get more agressive next year with his terrilbe twos, but I have seen good indications he is an easy going guy.

[Pajarita]

Seems like everything is going very smoothly. Interesting how the two Meyers differ in size and temperament... The different temperaments can be explained by individual personalities but the beak and feet could indicate a different subspecies -have you done any research on that, Seagoatdeb?

[seagoatdeb]

Seems like everything is going very smoothly. Interesting how the two Meyers differ in size and temperament... The different temperaments can be explained by individual personalities but the beak and feet could indicate a different subspecies -have you done any research on that, Seagoatdeb?

There are 6 different sub species of Meyers and they mainly describe only the body colouring in all the research I did. Differences in foot cololour was not covered. As for the beak size, in wild pics there are many Meyers with large beaks and many with small within the same species. The beak size makes a big difference though, both Gaugan and Sunny can open nuts and chew blocks that are a little harder for my daughters, Senegal and Meyers who have smaller beaks, and their bite is stonger if you get bit....lol...

I have never got bit by Gaugan but others have. Sunny did bit me when i first got him, but not as hard as he could have, although he did draw blood on a couple of ocassions. In Sunnys case, biting me was a good sign in the beginnning, since he would freeze or run away from anyone else. I was the first person he trusted, but he now has some limited trust for others. He has come a long way to be the steady parrot he is today. Both Gaugan and Sunny have different ways of telling me they want out of their cage in the morning. Gaugan starts calling "Hey Gaugie" "Peekaboo" and Sunny starts to run back and forth in his cage excitedly, making peeps and cockatiel chirps. Both my pois talk cockatiel to each other, they were both around cockatiels.