Hello From Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada

[Camille]

Hello Everyone!

I just joined today. Though im not new to birds. Ive had my first cockatiel for 2 years now. And currently have a flock of 10 and a few other animals in my house. My life is animals and my fiance(The love of my life who shares my passion) and I have alot of rescues.

Now to introduce my flock.

Chiko. My first bird was an adoption. He is around 8 years old now. Chiko was rescued by the woman i got him from and he wasnt handleable at all before she got him. She tried her best to suggest another cockatiel for me as she has babies that she bred herself. But Chiko and I fell in love and i didnt care that he might nip me at first it seemed like we had a bond from the start. And i shouldnt even have been worried about the bitting because its minimal with him. He thinks im his mate and would spend 100% of his time with me if we could. Even though his wings are fully grown(He was clipped when i got him) he refuses to fly. He is my baby and i love him. He is also my most famous cockatiel as during the summer we go everywhere together, to car shows, craft fairs, to the open air concerts every sunday. Hes even made front page of the newspaper before.(Obviously he wears a harness)



Charlie Male the Lutino cockatiel was my first rescue. the top part of his beak was cut off and he was in a smoking house in a tiny round cage which supposedly housed TWO cockatiels before his mate died and they would kick the cage whenever he screamed for his mate who had died. Hes doing alot better since coming into a flock enviroment. We cant handle him but i dont ever expect him to be handleable hes a birds bird. I wont force him to do something hes not comfterable with.



Isabelle the female whitefaced Pearle was an adoption from a breeder friend of mine when i bought a cage from her to put Charlie in As chiko isnt crazy about other birds(Hes better now) and i wanted to get him a friend. They ended up over breeding so they had to be sepperated but I have two wonderfull handfed babies to show for it Rose and Astrid. We had normal male also but he died due to bad food from pets unlimited(Im lucky i didnt lose my whole flock, it was a traumatic experience).



Astrid and Rose(Astrid has the redder cheeks) are two babies i bred and handfed myself. Their little clowns and are insepperable. Their great little guys.

In their traveling cage(I used to have to go babysit and bring them with me so i could give them their evening and morning meal)



Peter is our new rescue. Hes a cinnamon male. he came to us in a tiny round cage with only a mirror as a toy and was being fed finch seed and was in a smoking household. He was a bit thin when we got him he bulked up very fast since weve gotten him.

He is now in with the boys. This was a photo on the first day he arrived here


Popeye the Maroon Bellied Conure. Popeye was an adoption from a friend of mine who got him when his mate died due to egg binding. But she ended up selling her female. So i took him in. Hes very nervous of hands, and his whole belly is plucked. hes been like this since my friend got him. It hasnt gotten any better. Hes quite the character and loves to eat fruit.

This is a Photo taken a few minuts ago. His first time outside the cage. He seems to be enjoying himself.



THe Button Quails.

We got Little wing our silver female from a co-worker of Al's who was downsizing. We fell in love with her right away and recently got her two males(Unnamed as of yet) as cagemates. They get along very well. Little wing doesent lay eggs anymore as she is a very old female.



And a photo of my cages. Dont mind the feathered carpet lol. Molting time cant seem to get ahead of the feathers!!Its very crowded especially with Popeyes cage now in the middl e of the floor but that will have to last as were babysitting a friends 2 cats while their roomate goes through chemo therapy and their cats unlike mine have predatory instincts.


I would just like to announce that as i wrote this lenghthly intro. Peter Flew down onto my bed and when i offered him my hand he actually stepped up onto it and let me put him back into his cage! Im tottally excited about this as this is the first time hes let me touch him.

Well thats my flock!

[bmsweb]

Welcome to the forum! and I must say this is by far the best intro post!! Love the pictures and details about your birds. I'm a big Cockatiel fan as we just got one recently.
Cheers
Paul

[Camille]

Thanks. I love cockatiels as well. Little parrots with big attitudes. I hate when their refered to as Beginner parrots as that inplies that you can easilly just get rid of them when you decide to get a "more advanced bird".

One day I would like a grey, amazon or eclectus(Leaning more towards eclectus as their less prone to picking a favorite person as i would like for my fiance to be able to take part in playing and caring for him or her when the time comes).

But that will have to wait untill after the wedding and after ive built my play area im planning for the cockatiels and Popeye.

And my cage upgrades. I want to get the boys into a cage like the females are in(The large white one) as its longer(Cockatiels like to ground forage and run around on the bottom) and larger. and i might get a third cage exactly like that for Popeye. I like my cages large. I dont like the minimum cage requirement sizes you read on most websites. Bigger is better in my eyes. And as soon as my fiance has upgraded his tegu into a six foot cage(Hes a yearling and is getting close to that point now), im shifting my hermit crabs into the 55 gallon tank(I recently spen 300$ on getting these guys set up as my christmas present. Their awsome guys) and will be putting the button quails into the 30 gal with a boink proof top

Big plans but i cant wait.

[MandyG]

Welcome! I agree, what a great intro post! You have a beautiful flock, especially the Whitefaced Pearle, I've never seen one of those before!

[Camille]

Thank you. I love my birds and they deserve to be introduced properly ^.^

That photo i posted isnt the best photo of her. heres a better one taken this christmas in front of our fake tree.



Ill post some of my youtube videos on here sometime as well

[kimbo]

what a lovely mixture. glad they have you to look after them. what do you feed your hermit crabs? what do you do when they need bigger shells? must take up a lot of time cleaning cages. love your intro. i have one and he keeps me busy enough.

[Camille]

The hermit crabs eat a bit of everything. I have a pile of organic foods plus i feed other fresh foods etc. dandilion root, oak leaves, spirulina, amaranth, Goji Berries, organic blackstrap mollases, organic peanut butter, organic honey, millet, coconut, sunflower seeds, almonds, bloodworms, brine shrimp, chicken, , beef, pork, etc etc etc,

they get something different everyday. they need a big variety.

For the shells i have a pile of shells in a plastic container hanging from their tank that they climb into using a net and cholla wood and they go through the shells and pick new shells. One of our boys just molted and DOUBLED IN SIZE. thankfully he found a perfect shell in the shell shop. all of my guys have changed chells eccept for one. sadly they all chose green turbos so now i cant tell them appart anymore!! lol.

[kimbo]

i know this isnt a parrot ask but have u pics of your crabs with and without shells really curious? but love your birds as well. does a beak grow back or not? poor birdie its horrible when people dont treat them properly.

[Camille]

Usually it can grow back(like a nail) but because it was cut too short it cant. His bottom beak has overgrown to a surten point and works like an inversed beak. The vet refused to trip the bottom as he keeps it the same length it doesent lengthen and he eats perfectly with it.

For the hermit crabs. I dont have any photos of them "Naked"(Thats what its called when they go without shell) because usually if they go without shell its a sign that they are VERY stressed. thankfully none of mine have ever done that. Here are some photos of my guys though.





my crabitat(Its now covered with surranwrap instead of just loose plastic and i keep a steady 80% humidity and 80F temperature.

[kimbo]

your crabs have chosen some nice colour shells they have taste. your birdie is so lucky you came along. why anyone would hurt one like that is beyond me. i personally cant go into chinese restaurants where they have lobsters in tanks or id end up with them alive in my bath tub. ha ha ha.