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[churchill63]

hi everyone i have a parrotlet that I rescued from a local cat a few weeks ago I took him to the vet straight away and they gave him/her the all clear. Notices were put up in the local area but nobody has come forward to collect hin, so I am giving him a good home.Do you have any tips on training him,care of him and anything else that would be of help to me.
Thank you in antisipation Steve

[Wolf]

Do you have any experience or knowledge of parrots? Sorry , but I just have no idea as to where to start. Perhaps you have some specific questions?

[churchill63]

Hi wolf never had a parrot before I have his food sorted it's just a case of how do you start training them, should I give them fruit or veg and any special needs they may have
Thanks

[Wolf]

Does it have a band on its leg ? If so look to see if it has a two digit number turned sideways, that is the year it was hatched, normally.
I am not up on the color mutations but I would say that it may be a pied mutation. Also it is likely that they only way to know its sex is to have it DNA tested, It makes a difference in some of its behaviors and in its diet.
Like all parrots it needs the same lighting schedule as the wild birds outside. We call it a solar light schedule and it means that the bird needs to receive the light from the twilight periods of dawn and dusk to keep its internal clock in tune with the seasons so that you don't end up with a bird that is hormonal all year long. The bird should be getting up around sunrise and going to sleep by dark.
Your bird needs to be on a low protein diet again to help control the hormones but also to prevent several diseases. I feed mine a fresh raw vegetable, a fresh raw leafy green and a fruit each day and I give enough to last all day long. I also feed it a cooked food that I make at home that we call gloop, I also give it about an hour after the fresh foods and enough to last all day long. here is a link for gloop viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13666
I would give this bird a cage at least 24 inches cubed and on a stand so that the upper perch, where the bird sleeps is about eye level, with a bar spacing of 3/8 to 1/2 inch. I would place the cage near a window but not in front of it and against a wall so the bird feels safe from at least one direction.
To begin with I would spend a lot of time talking and singing and telling it what a great bird it is and then several times a day take 15 minutes to start earning the birds trust by enter the room the bird is in and stopping to observe the birds posture, how it holds it feathers and so forth. I would observe the bird from the corner of my eyes instead of straight on as that reminds them of a predator. Now I would begin talking to the bird to help reassure it that all is fine and when the bird seems relaxed, feathers not held tightly to its body, maybe standing on one foot, then I would start to approach the cage and stop and take one step back whenever it starts acting nervous approaching only when the bid appears to be relaxed. when you make it to the cage, it may take several sessions, then start offering a treat, spray millet should work, through the bars of the cage Work on this until the bird will take the millet from you through the cage bars in a calm manner.
You must win the birds trust before you can start any training, and this will get you started on that.

[churchill63]

Cheers Wolf great post will take on board what you say thanks so much

Steve

[liz]

Welcome to the forum and thank you so much for your compassion for the little bird. I was given my first cockatiel with no instructions. No computers back in those days. I had to use trial and error with her teaching me.
Absorb as much as you can from the forum. You can usually use search to get info on specific things.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum! Please change the perches asap. The dowels are ALL bad (no bounce and the same diameter all around which is no good for their toes and feet) but, on top of that, that one is WAAAAAY too wide for his feet. Please use natural tree branches (from untreated and non-toxic wood trees) and of different diameters but choose the roosting one (the one where he will sleep which needs to be at the cage's highest point and in the back) to be of a diameter that would allow his toes to go around it but without the claws from the front toes and the ones from the back toes touching. And don't worry about making them all parallel to the floor, some crooked ones are good, too (trees branches are not all perfectly parallel to the ground).

His plumage seems a bit rough but I guess that been out on the street did not help it any...

[Hookturn]

Welcome. And good on you for taking in this little guy!