Hello and Request for Help :)

[Wolf]

You are doing just fine with Quigley and as long as you keep going in the same manner he will be able to turn this around, you just have to be willing to give him the time he needs for his spirit to heal. Actually it is his mind and heart( emotional heart) that needs to heal. He will be fine. The bulbs that you need are not usually found any place except for online, sometimes the pet stores will carry full spectrum bulbs, but you must be extremely vigilant with them as they will have different specs and can kill or blind your bird if they are wrong. I recently saw the results of some of these bulbs where the bird owner listened to the sale person at a pet store and in the space of a couple of hours had burnt her poor little bird to the bone and they barely managed to save its life. So only use bulbs that match the CRI of 94+ and K Temp Of 5000 to 5500, any others are wrong. I have mine in a floor lamp and only use one bulb, in a ceiling fixture you could probably use all three but best to ask Pajarita as she uses a ceiling fixture.
Reduce our picture to 640 pixels on large side and they should post fine.

[shiraartain]

I'm sure the others will get back to you on it, but the noises you linked seem like flock calls to me. My advice would be to respond with the same word every time he calls out to you. I would wait until someone else confirms this to act on it though, as I got my GCC from a breeder and his flock call is our nickname for him.

[Wolf]

I just had the opportunity to listen to the recordings that you made and I think that he is just calling for you, flock call. I whistle back when my birds do it each bird has their own whistle as each one has their own call. I have four birds and chose a simple one or two note call for each one. A word or phrase will work fine too as long as you use the same word or phrase in response to them each time they call. My birds now use the whistle that I chose so it is quieter than their calls.

[mikella]

Will be back in a bit for a proper reply, but strange question - what do a healthy conure's poops look like from gloop? Quigley's have gone through so many changes from this diet change, adding different foods (he basically only ever ate pellets, rarely apple or grape)... But today it is different, I'm thinking from having more corn possibly. Just want to make sure this is ok for now: it's particle-y looking and watery, like separated kind of. What is normal on gloop? I added a touch of seed (maybe 1/4 tsp) to see if that will help ease it a little.

This morning he dug right into the gloop. Likes quinoa and picked out corn. Usually moves onto the peas once the corn is gone, and doesn't touch the green beans/carrot yet. This morning I did: quinoa, millet, amaranth, mixed wild rices, corn, peas, green bean, carrot (everything is organic... I'm a healthy eater haha). I was going to add chili again but actually forgot, was trying to be quick. He didn't seem to mind I guess! I'll have a good look later and see if he's eaten some of the other grains. He's digging in there as I type.

Going to re-arrange his cage today when husband is home. I'm making him a birdie hut tomorrow have it all planned out and will wash everything today. I just didn't like that one in the store... I'm going to sew one that you can remove the bottom insert and wash the material. I'll post a pic when it's done (and I figure out how to post pics).

Many sites are saying that Ecolume bulb is discontinued. Having a devil of a time. Hmmm...

Will be back later for proper reply.

[Pajarita]

Don't worry about asking too many questions. It doesn't bother me at all... quite the contrary, it makes me feel good that you are so willing to learn and try hard to give him a good life.

The chirping you recorded on the first and third link are contact calls. They are almost the same as flock calls but flock calls are much louder and almost one after the other (there is a sense of urgency that is lacking from the contact calls). I always try to reproduce their contact calls by whistling back -not that I can actually mimic them faithfully, but they still seem to appreciate the effort. The second recording sounded more like content chirping to me than anything else.

You can add all of those things to the gloop but I would go with bigger grains first (oat groats, hulled barley, wheat and kamut kernels) because they are always attracted to them. And don't rush things by adding too many different things before he has been eating what he already gets for several days. Slowly and surely is the way to go with parrots. For dinner, two level tablespoons of seed mix are more than enough (take away whatever is left over when you cover his cage).

I would put full spectrum bulbs in all three sockets, just don't get them with a super high wattage. The fluorescent tubes are another option. The first link you posted with lights is for UV output and nothing else. The second one is not bad although I like the CRI to be higher as colors are very important to them. Full spectrum bulbs or tubes last only 6 months, after that, they start to deteriorate and the light is not as good.

You can do it. Making a parrot trust and love you doesn't really require any special skills (bless their little hearts, they are so very loving and forgiving!) except for the figuring out why they do what they do and how to deal with it, and you have us for that. The rest is just patience, persistence, consistency, love and, last but not least, respect for his needs and wishes. And don't feel bad about been a bit disappointed but don't feel like a failure because he bites you. If bites were an indication of failure, I might as well rehome all my parrots and hang my head in shame The time will come when he will no longer bite but, even when he does it now, it's not you he is biting, it's mankind. Just to give you an idea of what to expect... I open Codee's cage (she and her husband sleep inside the cage, that's all they do in it as even their food and water are out where they spend all their day but they go into it on their own right at dusk to eat their dinner so I leave it there for them with the door open) when light is beginning to show in the sky and she promptly steps on my hand (she is waiting by the door where she goes as soon as she hears the dogs greeting me in the next room) and quickly climbs up my arm to my shoulder, she leans over and kisses me on my cheek (puts her beak on it and makes a kiss sound). I say hello to her and kiss her back, she kisses me again. I rub her head and tell her I love her and she kisses me again - as a matter of fact, she will kiss my cheek every single time I tell her I love her She then rides my shoulder while I do all my chores (medicate, feed and water dogs, indoor cats -I do the ferals on my own, she doesn't go outside, clean litter boxes, change beds, start a load of laundry, clean cages in the living room, dining room and canary room). While I do the canaries, she likes to climb down my arm and go on their cages so she can steal their fruit (I always bring extra so she can have some) and, sometimes, bathe in their bath bowls (she bathes, at least, three times a week on her own). She spends about two hours on my shoulder (she actually walks and climbs all over my chest, arms, back, etc) and, when I am ready to go upstairs to the parrot room, I tell her to step down and she goes to join her husband to eat breakfast with him. She never bites or even nips me, she only screams her flock calls in the evening while waiting for her dinner and is a very relaxed and well-adjusted little bird (she was given up because she screamed and was nippy but her owners had her in a ferret's cage, in the family room, all by herself all day long and, sometimes, they even admitted to forgetting to turn on her light ). This is the behavior of a GCC that is not hormonal all the time, feels content with her life, trusts her human, feels loved and is well-taken care of. And this is what you can expect from Quigley once his mind and heart heals, as Wolf very aptly put it.

[mikella]

Wolf: I will definitely check with you guys first before purchasing the bulbs. Certainly don't want to make a mistake like that. I'm still hunting around... And yes, he needs to heal, and he can have as much time as he needs. He says "I'm sorry" soooo often... it's sad. I don't repeat it to him, I just say "I love you." When he says it it makes me picture his old owner putting her face to the cage and saying "I'm sorry" when she wouldn't take him out (i.e., all the time).

Shiraartain: Thanks for stopping by

Pajarita: Yes, the second recording was his "soft squawk" (what I call it), he seems content when he chirps like this. And THINK I know exactly what you mean by flock call now... It's like a DOUBLE chirp, loud like recording 1 and 3 but double "CHIRP CHIRP, CHIRP CHIRP..." So the single loud chirps I take to mean as "helloooo, I'm here..." I'm glad I'm slowly starting to figure this out, getting more of a feel for him and he to me. I feel much better having a bit of an idea how he is feeling.

Gloop - will pick those things up and give them a try. He doesn't seem to be eating much... (more on that below).

About love/trust - When you said "It's not you he's biting, it's mankind" - That struck a chord with me. I will remember that. Your story about Codee made me melt. One day. It would make me so so happy to see Quigley thriving and adjusted and feeling loved like that.

My questions for now:

1. What does normal healthy poop look like from gloop?
2. Quigley doesn't seem to be eating much... (at all, really). Even when I give him some seeds at night, he eats maybe a teaspoon (a guess, could be little less or more). This ok? During the day I give him little bits of things but he is still only likes a couple things so far, so he's not actually consuming much throughout the day. I leave his gloop and he picks here and there but yesterday ate verrry little of it. Same as today so far.
3. One thing he has been doing is BONKing my cheek with his beak (I'm not sure if it's entirely closed, but it's not a bite, I just feel flat beak). He does it fairly forcefully. It seems like a pent-up energy thing or slight frustration thing to me, but I could be 100% off. What are your thoughts? It makes me a little nervous when he does it and I will usually get him to step up on the T stick.
4. Something I just remembered last night and thought it may actually be important/say something about him - His old owner said that he would soak his pellets in his water. Since she got him. He would soak them and line them up on the edge of his water dish to eat. Does this mean he was maybe improperly weaned..?
5. Improper weaning - what are the consequences of this?

[Pajarita]

Poop: GCCs feces are a bit more 'soft' than other species because they eat a lot of fruit. Gloop and seeds poop looks like the wild birds' poop: feces (little wormy thingy) are dark green (mostly), urates are white or very light cream color and urine is transparent (birds that are fed pellets have brown feces because of the processing of the grains and lack of phytonutrients and tend to be drier -harder?- because of the dryness of the pellets themselves). Their first poop of the day is the 'morning bomb', a very large poop usually softer than it will be the rest of the day.

If he soaked his pellets, he is a smart boy, he was trying to compensate for the unnatural dryness of the food. Unfortunately, not all pellet-fed birds do this to the detriment of their kidneys.

Food intake: as long as he is getting his fill of seeds at dinner time and producing a goodly amount of poop, he is fine. Try adding bigger grains and black lentils, my birds like them much better than the regular brown or the tiny red ones.

Beak bonking: it could be his way of kissing you. When Codee 'kisses' me, she also bumps my cheek with her beak, only she makes a kiss sound at the same time.

Improper weaning: the most common consequence is often baby begging behavior (crouching down, fluttering wings and chirping) when bird is an adult but it could also manifest with eating disorders (extremely picky eaters, anorexia, feeding binging, etc).

[Wolf]

Both my Grey and my Senegal will bop me with their beak to get my attention and then bow their head to ask for a head scratch, usually while I am typing or watching TV. So it could be to get your attention for some reason as well.

[mikella]

Thanks for the answers

Birdie hut is made! Took three hours start to finish (hadn't used my sewing machine in a couple years and was pretty rusty! Haha) It looks good! I padded the bottom (1/8 inch wood slat is inside bottom pocket, padded). It's a little roomier than I was planning but I wanted him to be able to turn around in it ok (that said, the store ones are a touch bigger). I'll see how it goes and can always make adjustments. It's 8 inches deep, 5 inches wide, and 5 inches high - long triangle open on each end, with three loops to hang. Need some carabiner type things; for now I tied it up. Will pick up some tomorrow. I'll take a picture tomorrow in better light. He nudged in a couple times and peeked in. Wonder when he will discover it. I can't wait to see him in it. I hope he loves it. I'll have to watch it closely bc I don't want him picking at any threads. He doesn't seem to pick around at anything in his cage though so it could be just fine. I'll watch it though.

I have a (maybe) silly confession - I'm afraid he might get a nail stuck in the fabric. It's been happening a lot on our clothes. I used a tight cotton... Hopefully will be ok.

It would MELT my heart if he got in it tonight.

Questions:
- how do I know if his nails are overgrown or ok? Any recommendations besides clipping for now?
- his beak seems insanely long. It really doesn't look healthy to me, it's jagged and crumbly in places. The bottom part (as in bottom "lip" of beak) looks rounded and short to me now from flaking. How long might it take for his beak to improve? Is there any need to "trim" or file beaks? (I know if it's interfering with eating, yes, and ppl do it for looks as well... But any other reason? As in, do I need to do anything/have anything done to his beak? I can post a pic, it's just hard to take a pic of it.) Btw, he is getting vitamin A like you had mentioned about Pajarita - sweet potato, squash, cantaloupe.

[Wolf]

The first thing to do if you think that your birds beak and/or nails are overgrown is to schedule a trip to the vet where they will trim them if needed and to make certain that there are no medical reasons causing this to occur.
The primary suspect, medically, for overgrown beaks and toenails is possible liver damage. However many birds also have overgrown beaks for non medical reasons such as the wrong types of perches with which to properly care for their own beak and nails. I like to have several perches with sand embedded on two sides of the perch and smooth on two sides, and place them on different sides of the cage and at different heights as well to encourage the bird to use them. My favorite place for this type of perch is near the food and water bowls. I use natural tree branches for the majority of perches and I leave the bark intact for the bird to chew on. I have found that with this combination of perches that as long as there is no medical cause for the beak and nail to be overgrown that my birds will in time grind down their own beaks and nails and I don't have to do anything other than watch.