I'm a bird enthusiast from Malta and since a toddler, I have always been close to birds such as finches and the like. Growing up, an interest in parrots sparked and now have the following housed in an aviary outside among other non-parrot birds:
parrotlet is the only parrot housed within our home, his wings not clipped he has become a cheerful buddy whose made my laptop's keyboard his playground.
Another parrot may join the in-house family... who knows!
Welcome to the forum. I can't say that I am sure where Malta is located, but will look it up/ Please tell us more about your birds and include photos if you can, we love pictures and stories about the relationships that our birds develop with us. We will be happy share with you what we have learned from and about our parrot friends and are looking forward to learning more from you as well.
Let me start by thanking you all for your warm welcome - I feel I did the right thing to add this forum to the list of 'aviary'-electronic connections; forget that senseless phrase, I meant Facebook! (I do enjoy writing so expect a long post - not to put you off, I started the welcome thread with only three lines )
So, Malta is at the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, however, the international postal address declares Malta, Europe, so we'll stick to that. We're the stepping stone between the Ancient continent (where life originated) and the Old continent (as Europe is commonly referred to by the inhabitants of the New continent). Sorry, I led myself astray!
Pizu, the parrotlet, is our family's mascot. His role in our household is to eat millet, sunflower seeds, cuttlebone (to make sure his complimentary bites are sharp to the point of tears), munching (but not devouring) the toilet paper roll (!!!) and cuddles overload not to mention pottying galore!. His pictures are in the following link - not to bother resizing the photos once again!
At the time of writing, he made a bottle's plastic cap his wrestling partner doubling as a makeshift dumbbell. I feel that the more I let him explore the untidiness of my computer desk, the more toys he secures. I thought it a fine idea to film him while playing so, well, without further ado.... (I just filmed them now from my mobile, please do not expect high definition!):
I do not film the others as they are in an aviary and far from hand-friendly. Still, lately I had the particular idea of installing a cheap camera to record their childish pranks on one another for later enjoyment because man do they troll each other!!!
Hope you enjoyed this long (probably tedious) read. I'll stop here.... it's cuddles time....
I am sure that the budgie and the rosella both push the two cockatiels around a lot. This may not be in their best interests if that is so, because there is no way that they can defend themselves from a rosella, even a single budgie is more than a match for the cockatiels. I am not there to be able to watch their interactions, but I thought that you should at least know this. Even your parrotlet is more than a match for the other birds in your aviary with the possible exception of the rosella, I am not sure about that one. By the way, have you had Pizu DNA sex tested? I ask because I have a female parrotlet that is a Celestial( Pacific) and Lucinda hybrid as well as a turquoise mutation male Celestial parrotlet, but the lack of the deep cobalt blue on your parrotlets rump and on the wings suggest to me that he may be a she. My parrotlets both love their fruits and vegetables, although I do have to chop them up very small for them. and if yours is not accustomed to eating them you may have to teach it about these foods.
I can get rather long winded myself and you can't really share much detail without using a few words.
On the contrary, the guy/gal who gets pushed around is funnily enough the Rosella. We think of his character as of a docile nature which is quite uncommon (I have researched a lot about them). The male cockatiel is rather bossy, as a matter of fact, he is usually the culprit! Well, I'm sure you're speaking from your experience but still does not relate to the behaviour of our birds. Our philosophy at home is that all animals (winged or not), in spite of known common traits and behaviour patterns set down by scientists/experts/etc, still have their own unique character which might make them deviants to what is normally thought of as 'common behaviour'.
As for the budgie, she's quite simple and seems to be on a love/hate relationship with the Rosella. However, the quietest of the flock is the lady cockatiel. She never accepts any seeds from our hands unlike boy-c and the R. In spite of his bossy nature, the male cockatiel is the only one that accepts treats when our hands are within the aviary - I can tell you that he is very inquisitive. The Rosella is a little bit more reserved, he eats treats only if offered from outside the cage.
I feel that I am no match for the parrotlet myself, let alone all our other birds. I have read and now confirm that I wouldn't be happy to be forced to share the same cage with him. Yikes! He is a male, alright. Those photos from Facebook neither show his rump nor the feathers from underneath. Their colour is dark blue.
At the end of the day, a he or a she really makes no difference, I am happy with what I have bites and all!
You are correct that the pictures did not show the blue on the rump or the wings which is why I asked if he had been DNA tested. The blue on the wing coverts is visible part of the time on most of them, however it does depend on how they are carrying their wings. Another reason that I asked about it is that my female looks like a male for the most part, this is based on he coloration, and the problem was that the actual colors did not match very well for her to be either a male or a female, so I researched for about a year trying to learn more and figure out what was up with her, Finally after having her DNA sex tested and while waiting for the results I found the Lucinda parrotlet and more importantly, I learned that prior to the bans on importation of these birds into the USA in the 1970's There were a lot of both the Celestial ( I love that name for them) and the Lucinda and that due to the close coloration that many of them were bred cross species creating the hybrid parrot that I have who's coloration is close but not a match for either the male or the female Celestial parrotlet.
My parrotlets are also very aggressive little birds that bite disproportionatly hard for their size and I have learned that they seem to communicate even with each other by biting some, they really can't help it that they have a little buzzsaw on the end of their face that requires them to bite first and then usually to bite again and let you ask the questions afterwards. But after the first bite or two which can also be done quite gently they turn about and are usually rather affectionate and mine at least enjoy getting their heads scratched. Well at least the female does, as the male is a retired breeder and is not yet ready to trust anyone just yet.
I never discount that there are personality differences in many of our birds that are even greater in scope than the differences between the species and although cockatiels are generally more reserved and extremely gentle birds it is not unusual for there to be a more outgoing one of either sex or even a more aggressive type bird being much more gentle than many of the others of its species. So their is always a lot of variation possible either due to species or individual personalities. Still this is a forum and we get a large number of people that have birds who have no knowledge of them, having in most cases taken the word of a breeder or a saleperson at a pet store who either don't have the knowledge ( sales people) or don't care enough to help educate the person about the birds as they are just after the sale. So many of them have no idea as to what to do once they have the bird or what they can expect as the bird matures. As a result of this, I figure that it is better to give them some idea of the birds that they mention and try to prevent some of the mistakes that could easily lead to one or more of the birds being injured or killed by another bird. This is not meant to say that you don't know or that you have not done your homework so to speak. It is just better, in my opinion to ask about these things right from the start, just as an in case to try and help the birds. Even if they are getting along now it is good to know the general personalities of the species as they like us tend to change as we grow older.
It is wonderful that they are getting along, however, I would really not have expected the rosella to be as laid back as you have said. Just shows the difference that their individual personalities can and does make. It sound like you have a great thing going with your birds and we really do love to hear stories about them and we also love pictures and just like on many other forums we sometimes just don't get around to taking enough pictures of them to share, probably mostly because we get to involved with enjoying them and just miss the best shots of them.
Our family has been keeping an aviary for over thirty years at least in the current household. Some of the finches are almost as old as I am. I was gradually captivated by these winged creatures when in my childhood I used to willfully watch, learn and eventually help my father build our own cages. All custom made! I believe that many bird enthusiasts build their own cages so as to have a complete homemade house where to place their feathery companions and also to nurture the notion of satisfaction that, 'Yeah, I built their house m'self!.' We fall in this category.
Our current av. has a stainless steel frame commonly used for shelving (without the shelves) and netted using chicken wire from our dismantled cages. We polish the nets into tiptop shape to remove any bacterial future-sprouting disease. It is a tedious task but well worth the effort employed as to my knowledge seldom has a bird in our home died from sickness or disease.
We are talking on a father and son who are keen on keeping birds but with little professional knowledge. We learn from what we read and explore. I never asked but I believe that in his childhood home they had a much bigger aviary and knowledge was transcended to him as he did to me.
I have been longing on buying a cheap action camera or even a cheaper dash cam (because of its wide angle) to install within the aviary. This helps ease my irritation when watching video and photographs taken from outside a cage. That chicken wire is a tedious eyesore. In all honesty, we have been keeping birds for so long without ever having a picture as a keepsake that with today's cheaply available gadgets it's almost an obligation to have something permanently fitted. Now, more than ever, I'm extra-keen on purchasing one. Imagine a live cam!!!
You have convinced me on sexing the parrotlet just to be sure. Or I could try photographing the rump (little man is quite fidgety constantly picking on this and that but I can manage). The underwings might be a little difficult. Don't want to irritate him and earn a bite! I'm obviously exaggerating but he's too cute not to believe he's all matcho. Alas, to us, it looks male-ish! Thing is I have to look for one who does DNA tests on birds. This is why eclectus parrots are better! Their gender is readily apparent. If you've seen my signature, a female eclectus is on my wishlist.
If the blue that is on his rump is like that of a cobalt blue then it is indeed a male, with my female, she came to me with a plucking issue that we are still working on resolving so it was very hard to get other than one or two feathers from the rump. The blue that is sometimes there or on her coverts in not really a cobalt color, it seems to be more of a turquoise color. It is just so fleeting as to be hard to photograph for reference or to see more than just a glimpse of it. I was just sharing with you the reasons for my question and not trying to convince you. However you can order the DNA test kits online and for about half of what a vet will charge you. It just takes a few fresh feathers. In many ways it really doesn't matter which sex it is unless you plan on getting him a mate so that he has someone like himself to play with and talk to. From what I have learned through my own parrotlets, you are probably better not getting him a mate as they are rather touchy about conditions when they are mated. If interested in more about mine, here is a link to what I have posted about them. viewtopic.php?f=25&t=14369
I am having to rebuild my cats outside pen so while I am doing that I plan on building them an aviary so that I can get them outside more often. It will most likely be made of a galvanized mesh that I will cover with an epoxy type paint due to its durability and hardness, which should compare with powder coating the mesh. We will see.
I'm so glad you hinted at my most burning question. It's already posted on Facebook and (since I was waiting for the right time when to post about it) now I feel ready to ask about it. May I invite the readers of the thread to also contribute their advice and comments, too.
So, the question is this: I have in mind to add another parrot in the house (it's not intended for the aviary). The preference is between a caique or a rainbow lorikeet. My mind, however, is distraught on whether to let the parrotlet socialise with the newcomer. My plan is to have them shelter in different cages but on my return from errands or work to open both cages and interact with both of them at the same time.
As we all know, parrotlets are territorial and fighters by nature and I neither want to endanger it nor the other. In the meantime, the suggestions I received were to first open up the cage for one, play and socialise and close back in. Open the other. This until both birds are familiar with each other. Sort of a slow introduction. Cautiously, I let them near each other to finally have them play and fiddle around on the same playing ground (a.k.a. my laptop keyboard and the immediate surroundings).
However, what is your take on this?
For your reference, following is the Facebook thread I referenced before:
parrotlet is the only parrot housed within our home, his wings not clipped he has become a cheerful buddy whose made my laptop's keyboard his playground.
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