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We have a new flock member!

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Re: We have a new flock member!

Postby tacotaco » Thu Aug 26, 2010 9:18 am

PICTURES!!! =) congrats !!
Charlie ~ Nanday Conure
Allegra ~ Gold Capped Conure
Willow ~ Blue fronted Amazon
Autumn ~ Nanday Conure
Kim ~ Me!
Our Blog ~ http://www.lifeistemp.blogspot.com
Our YouTube~ http://www.youtube.com/user/icanpwnUn00b?feature=mhum]
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tacotaco
Poicephalus
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 378
Location: Long Island, NY
Number of Birds Owned: 4
Types of Birds Owned: Nanday Conures (2), Gold Capped Conure, Blue fronted Amazon
Flight: Yes

Re: We have a new flock member!

Postby Rue » Thu Aug 26, 2010 9:28 am

That ended up happening FAST! LOL! Congrats! :thumbsup:
Every parrot has a duty: To reduce the world to toothpicks.
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Rue
Poicephalus
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 498
Location: Canadian Prairies
Number of Birds Owned: 5
Types of Birds Owned: Cockatiels -2 hens
Amazon, Green-cheeked
Pionus. White-capped
African Grey, Red-tailed (CAG)
Flight: Yes

Re: We have a new flock member!

Postby rebeccaturpeinen » Thu Aug 26, 2010 9:55 am

congratulations!!!
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rebeccaturpeinen
Poicephalus
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 468
Location: Denmark
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Crimson Rosella
Flight: Yes

Re: We have a new flock member!

Postby HyperD » Thu Aug 26, 2010 3:07 pm

We're all still waiting for the pics! Stop teasing us like this, it's not fair!
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HyperD
Poicephalus
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 283
Location: England
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: 1 Senegal
Flight: Yes

Re: We have a new flock member!

Postby entrancedbymyGCC » Thu Aug 26, 2010 3:20 pm

Thanks everyone! I really had no particular plan to "join the club" so I'm really amused that my husband went and fell in love with a poicephalus. Bill: "Wow, what's that? He's really cool!", Me, astounded, "THAT is a Cape Parrot!".

We are calling him "Scotty" after "Death Valley Scotty" (Bill just completed the Badwater Ultramarathon Route, so Death Valley themed names were on our mind). His cage is, of course, "Scotty's Castle" and it is somewhat palatial!

Although we were given much warning that he is headstrong, etc. and his breeder referred to Capes as "expert-class psitticines" he has so far demonstrated exemplary behavior. Fortunately I spent some time talking to the woman who works the store M-W. She and this bird got pretty close while he was at the store, but she was also very honest. I felt a bit bad taking him home, she was crying... but at least we know he was lovingly handled at least some of the time. He is really getting comfortable with Bill and will sit on his arm and preen, and he steps up and comes out of the cage fine for me, too. Maybe he's on his best behavior? He seems like a big marshmellow!

He seems to be settling in well enough. I think he's confused by the quietness of his new environment! No macaws screaming all day long. He has eaten and drunk, but not nearly as well as we'd like to see. He's currently on the same diet they had him on, a "special mix" of pellets with some nuts and dried banana chips and spices (whole star anise, cinnamon), a "salad" in the mornings and sprouts in the evening. I think we'd like to evolve both his diet and Scooter's so that they are more similar, at least in the fresh food area. We left the store with a sprouting kit and two bags of sprouting mix among other things.

I have to say that by the time we were in the car heading to the store to complete the purchase I was ready for it to be the nightmare transaction. We almost bowed out because the owner was out of town and "might" be able to accommodate us by being back on the weekend... the woman we had spoken with actually intervened on our behalf when she realized a good home for the bird was about to walk away... and ultimately she even got to do the sale because the owner was stuck in traffic and couldn't get back! This was apparently fairly novel. As far as I can tell, the story with these folks is that they started as backyard hobbyist breeders, left a medical lab career to become professional breeders and opened the store as an outlet. I'm guessing they invested well at some point, because they are SO worried about selling to GOOD homes that they have trouble selling at all. I think they are well intentioned but trying way to hard to control the outcome of a situation they can't really control. So they wind up not selling birds.

That's the story! The snaps I took of Scotty in his Castle last night are fairly horrendous so you may have to wait for photos. I have some really cute ones of Scooter, though, which I may inflict on you.
Scooter :gcc:
Death Valley Scotty :cape:
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entrancedbymyGCC
Cockatoo
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 2106
Location: Southern California aka LALA land
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Green Cheek Conure
(Un)Cape Parrot
Flight: No

Re: We have a new flock member!

Postby Michael » Thu Aug 26, 2010 3:30 pm

So you ended up going with the same cage I have minus the dome top? I'd say it's still big enough but would definitely recommend even more out of cage time in that case. Resist the temptation to over stuff the cage with perches/toys cause sometimes they just need space to flap around. While it may not look it, the wingspan on the Cape is quite extended.

From everything you described so far, he just sounds like a healthy normal Cape Parrot. BTW, "expert class" is complete bullshit (or did you mean they are expert birds? I read that as expert parrot owners required to handle them). While they might be a larger parrot and very expensive, they are more easy going than a Senegal Parrot. Ok, a beginner might lack the confidence to handle one off the bat like they might a Senegal Parrot. But beyond that, the Cape is so much more easy going and less aggressive.

Congratulations. Any you'd better get pictures on here soon before you get shunned off the forum by impatient members!
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Michael
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 6286
Location: New York
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal Parrot, Cape Parrot, Green-Winged Macaw
Flight: Yes

Re: We have a new flock member!

Postby entrancedbymyGCC » Thu Aug 26, 2010 3:45 pm

Michael wrote:So you ended up going with the same cage I have minus the dome top?


I think so -- it's 33"x25" in width and depth. It appears a comfortable size for him and he should get plenty of time outside the cage. We only had so much choice, and this appeared the most suitable among the existing choices. They deal King's cages only and had a subset of the inventory. I wonder if King's sells the parts so you can swap the top out? I just got done ordering the stainless steel cups. What are they thinking with those plastic ones? A bird sized to that cage can barely fit its beak in there! We're going to get some traditional ones to tide him over until the door mount ones get here. We want our petsitter to be able to feed and water him without having to handle him. I think Scooter is probably at her comfort limit for handling. They do board birds they have sold at the store we got him from.

I think he did mean "for expert owners" but I got him into the carrier cage at the shop and I'm no expert! I think people, even some fairly experienced people, are scared of that beak and he's learned some people are scared of him.

OK, OK, I'll work on the photos!!!! At last now I know what can really get a person booted off this board, LOL!
Scooter :gcc:
Death Valley Scotty :cape:
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entrancedbymyGCC
Cockatoo
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 2106
Location: Southern California aka LALA land
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Green Cheek Conure
(Un)Cape Parrot
Flight: No

Re: We have a new flock member!

Postby pchela » Thu Aug 26, 2010 4:08 pm

I bet you'll find that sprouting is super easy and your birds will love them!

Congratulations again! He sounds like a good bird... of course, he will be on his best behavior for now because he's not comfortable yet. When he comes out of his shell, let us know how he does. :mrgreen:
"I bet the sparrow looks at the parrot and thinks, yes, you can talk, but LISTEN TO YOURSELF!" ~ Jack Handy ~ Deep Thoughts
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pchela
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1281
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal -Pippin
Red Belly - Nicholas
Lesser Jardine's - Rupert
Timneh African Grey - Isabeau (Ibby)
Flight: Yes

Re: We have a new flock member!

Postby Michael » Thu Aug 26, 2010 4:29 pm

The plastic cups are ridiculous. What made me even more frustrated (when I talked to the owner himself) is that the "economy" cage for $400 comes with the stainless steel bowls but double the price aluminum cage does not! He told me that I was the first person to complain about the plastic bowls... yeah right.

You need to buy not only the replacement bowls but also the rings for attaching them. All in all, it's about a $100 conversion but mandatory for a Cape, non negotiable. Even then the stainless steel bowls are a bit disappointing as they are even a bit smaller than the ones in Kili's cage. I mean, cmon! This cage is made for a parrot ranging from a Timneh to a good sized Cockatoo!

Another thing... the sliders for closing the food doors. They are good in that the bird cannot manipulate and open them like other latches. The bad thing is that it's really easy not to see if it's closed. Actually you cannot visually tell if it's latched or not at all. To make things worse, it's totally possible to feel like you latched it when really just the tip of the pin goes in the hole but not all the way. I cannot stress this enough, you must close the door, slide the pin, and then wiggle the door to confirm that it is closed every time. To be honest I prefer my latch plus safety clip on Kili's cage because I have visual confirmation of locking the doors and if one fails or is forgotten, at least the second will catch.

Believe it or not, my dome top version actually costs a bit less than your playtop one but the added bonus is greater space inside the cage at no additional cost in space. The cage grows upward rather than out so it doesn't take up any more room. I think you can get Kings to send you the dome in place of the playtop you have. The mounting mechanism goes into the same cage mount at the top and is relatively easy to assemble. I can assure you it's not a cage by design. :lol:

I do think it's a very suitable cage for a Cape Parrot though, whether its the dome or flat version. Good choice :thumbsup:
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Michael
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 6286
Location: New York
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal Parrot, Cape Parrot, Green-Winged Macaw
Flight: Yes

Re: We have a new flock member!

Postby Rue » Thu Aug 26, 2010 5:52 pm

Excellent! I think Scotty is a great name.

Better hurry and get some photos up before we mutiny... ;)
Every parrot has a duty: To reduce the world to toothpicks.
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Rue
Poicephalus
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 498
Location: Canadian Prairies
Number of Birds Owned: 5
Types of Birds Owned: Cockatiels -2 hens
Amazon, Green-cheeked
Pionus. White-capped
African Grey, Red-tailed (CAG)
Flight: Yes

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