New TAG

[Trueeast]

Well to make a long story short we had a deposit on a Timneh from another breeder but the babies didn't make it due to equipment failure. Naturally we were both pretty upset but I began looking for another breeder that I could at least get on a list for a baby. The first breeder was a 9 hour drive one way, luckily I found a local breeder that seems to take very good care of their animals and only one hour away. The babies were too far along to put a deposit down but the breeder said we could come by and visit and check them out. So me and my girlfriend took the ride on Sunday and instantly fell in love with a beautiful little girl Timneh. When you scratch her neck she bows her head, hopefully this will help transition her because I would love to be able to do what Michael does when he scratches His birds. Not only was the bird awesome but so were the breeders they gave us all the food that the little lady was taking readily so we can start switching diets, she even gave us a few types of weaning pellets in case she was feeling needy. Car ride home went well and she seems to be settled in well, even eating new foods! Today is her first day home alone since I need to be at work, but I'm sure she is doing just fine. Today when I get home we are going to try and start on some target training if we can keep her attention.

[Trueeast]

And I forgot to introduce myself lol my name is Ray and our new little lady is named Gandalf(my gf is a huge LOTR nerd so it helped convince her )

[Wolf]

Welcome to the forum. Did I read this correctly, You purchased and brought home an unweaned baby? Also you are planning to start target training or other training and your bird is not even weaned.

If I read this all right, you are in serious need of help to avert an even larger bird disaster. If I got this right do not start training on this bird at this time as there will be enough time later. You need to start of by concentrating on raising and taming this bird by spending lots and lots of time with it.
It needs soft food this early on.
I truly hope that Pajarita or some of the other members with experience with this type of situation sees this to advise you on how best to proceed. There is a post on unweaned parrots that you need to read as well it will be found at the top of the health, nutrition and diet section.

Wish you and yours well

[Trueeast]

No no she's weaned she actually loves her roudybush. This is my first parrot so I wouldn't even consider getting an unweaned baby. I'm nervous enough as it is anytime I hear her messing around in the cage a run and check on here haha.

[Wolf]

No no she's weaned she actually loves her roudybush. This is my first parrot so I wouldn't even consider getting an unweaned baby. I'm nervous enough as it is anytime I hear her messing around in the cage a run and check on here haha.

Thank you for correcting me on this I was a bit concerned. I just came from reading your other post, noting that she is 13 weeks old and thought I would include the birds age in this one so no one else would err on this important point, I hope that you don't mind.

[Trueeast]

No problem after doing my research I've come across a few sketchy breeders. Around here everyone seems pretty straightforward, I appreciate people making sure conditions and age are appropriate.

[Pajarita]

Well, for one thing, at 3 months of age, she is not really completely weaned so you definitely need to provide her with a couple of soft foods as well as 'grown-up' food and make sure you start her on all kinds of fruits, veggies and leafy greens so she gets used to eating healthy food and not just pellets.

I would also wait on the target training. No animal should be trained as a baby, it's very easy to flood them and can backfire big time.

[Trueeast]

Ok I'll hold off on the training right now. She's getting her pellets in her cage and I feed her weening pellets in the AM before work and when I get home around 3. Then she gets fruits and veggies while shes out in the afternoon/evening. The breeder had her mostly eating seeds instead of hard pellets so I'm trying to monitor that, luckily she seems to enjoy roudybush.I'm just going to focus on keeping her weight up and socializing.

[Pajarita]

Please do some research on your own because although almost everybody swears by pellets, we are now beginning to understand that dead, dry as a bone food is not what you would call the best diet for an animal that has evolved to consume food with a water content of 85 to 95% and full of phytonutrients (live enzymes, antioxidants, etc). Parrots eat twice a day, early in the am (when they are hungriest) and in the evening (when sun is setting) and the best time to feed them the healthier food is in the morning but, in order for her to eat enough of it, the pellets need to be absent in her cage after her dinner.