Hi from Oklahoma!

[ijennjenn]

Hi there! So happy to have found this forum, I've already learned some helpful info reading others posts and thought I would introduce myself and my flock. We are the Robin's, bird lovers with a bird name LOL. We consist of Myself, my Husband and our 10 year old son Harry. Our first pet just 3 months after we got married was a lovely pearl cockatiel we named PInkey. That's its own story LOL. I saw her at this pet shop, that normally I woukdn't have purchased anything but fish at (Just did not like how they kept the birds there) but as I passed the cockatiel cage a little head pokes up from the bottom and there's a little peep. Now besides my grandmother having a buggie, and babysitting some cockatiels and then another large green parrot as a teen, I hadn't had much contact with birds. I loved them and wanted one but could never convince my Mom to get me one. So this cute little face with pink cheeks peeps at me and I went all mushy. So I walk off and the little tiel hides again in the bottom of the cage. I watch as several others pass and no little head pokes up. So I walked back by and up the little head pops and peeps at me! (I probably reminded it of the woman who breed it, i dunno) So I decide then and there I'm getting this bird. So I tell my husband to walk up the cage, nothing happens, then I said, watch, and walk up. On cue, up pops the little tiel. I told him I had to have it. He says no, but pleeeeease! I said, No he says, we don't need a bird. So then I'm desperate and guilting him into it. But I've already named it, I say. So he calls my bluff, oh really, what's the name? I had to think of something right then and so that's how Pinkey got her name. Anyway, he was resolute, no bird. We left the shop, I was so sad, but I wasn't about to force a bird on my hubby if he really didn't want one. Then the 24th of December, the next day, he calls me at work and says, OK, get the bird. I was so excited as I called the pet shop and asked it they still had the little pearl cockatiel. But they had sold it! I hung up the phone just crushed and started crying, but then had a thought. I called the shop back and asked if the person who bought the bird was a young man with grey hair, why yes it was. YES! Such a mean trick but I knew it was my husband. LOLI was dancing in the office and even my Coworkers were excited for me. So we had to wait till the 26th to pick her up but she has been our constant companion for the last 14 years. She had only just weaned when we bout her and had apparently never been let out of a cage because I had to teach her to fly. She was so scared of flying but once she got the hang of it she did great. She loved ridding on me as I did house work but I had to teach her that doorways are not going to attack, ect. Just very skittish of anything new. We made the mistake of putting one of those twisty rope perches in her cage one day and then I went to set her on it and she lost it. I almost couldn't get her to keep her from hurting herself. So we never did that again! Unfortunately she likes to actually eat paper and stuff, not just chew it but eat it. And she doesn't like toys at all. She mostly just wants to hang out with me, try to pick freckles off and let me preen her.

Then there's Hiro, our newest member to the flock and by far the most stressful for me. By now I've been around just about every type of bird imaginable, my Uncle ran a very large aviary in South Florida. But I've been chronically ill for a while and I get a little gun shy around animals that might bite. And Hiro, being a Brown Headed Parrot, has a much larger beak than Pinkey (she's never bit me). He has the bad habit of using his beak to get his balance or climb you. Boy does it hurt, I never react but it makes me a little timid to handle him. We got him initially from my son but I learned real quick that this parrot is not exactly Harry friendly since my son is more skittish than me, although the it's obvious Hiro likes him. My son has just been scared by Hiro biting him as he climbed up a couple times. I'm working on both of them though. Hiro gives kisses, steps up like a champ, bends his head for scratches, and is easy to get in and out of his cage. He's very intelligent and just needs a little more work, as his previous owners didn't have time for him. Thankfully he is still young (about 1.5 years) oh, and I can't work with his feet yet to clip his nails but he lets be hold his wing out no problem. He has been introduced to everyone who comes over just like I did with Pinkey, but he has such a different personality it's hard for me to read him. I can tell when she is happy, scared, ect. I have a very hard time with him. Don't know if it's just me and how the disease I have has affected my brain or if it's his particular species. I raised cockatiels for a little while so that may be why I understand them better. So that's my only stress, I just can't predict him. Which is silly because he has been totally predictable, he's just not cuddled into my chest and been as lovable as Pinkey is. But I did get her as a baby. He probubly just needs more time and training. Anyway, I'm just venting. It's hard to work with a bird when you are scared of being bit and also tired all the time. I still do enjoy having him though, even his piercing calls that come out of no where! LOL. We got him for my son but he has definitely become the family bird in the same way Pinkey did.

[Wolf]

Welcome to the forum!

I really don't know very much about cockatiels other than the fact that they really can't defend themselves from any of the other species of parrots as they are such mild mannered birds. All of the others including budgies are still much too aggressive for them so if they are with other species of parrots, they tend to get bullied a lot.

While I don't have a brown headed parrot, I do have another of the poicelphalus family, a Senegal female named Kiki. They can be quite the Velcro bird, but still have a bit of independence in their nature. They are a much more aggressive parrot that a cockatiel, and can be rather jealous of their chosen human. Kiki, has to fly to and introduce herself to anyone that comes into the house and is not happy until she has done so.

With how aggressive she can be, I used to be extremely careful about letting her go to strangers ( to her) and would tell them that if she flew to them to just relax and if they were uncomfortable with her to tell me and I would come and get her so that she didn't bite them. I, myself was on the receiving end of her beak for nearly a year when she first came her. She took out on me the abuse that she had received from her previous humans and also went through puberty shortly after she came here. I was covered in bites most of that first year, but she also taught me a lot.

Much of her body language is very similar to that of other parrots, including those of a cockatiel, although I will admit that she does not always warn a person before she decides to take her pound of flesh from them. Perhaps some of the difficulty that you have in reading your Brown headed's body language is that you can count of the cockatiel's crest to give you an additional heads up about their thinking. Or it could be that like Kiki he does not give a warning all of the time.

Although I do a little training, mostly focused on the ins and outs of birds and humans living together, so no actual training sessions at this time, it is not out of the question that I will do more as time passes. I have learned, sometimes at the wrong end of a beak, that the most important thing is trust and even if they decide that you are their human and can do little wrong, it still takes a year before they are fully comfortable with a new home and their place in it. But then all of my birds came to me with some level of abuse, so needed time to get past that before they could fully accept the differences here.

[liz]

Welcome to the forum. Don't hesitate to tell us about your birds. We love the stories.

[seagoatdeb]

I have never had a brown headed, but I have now or have had several poicephalus parrots of the Senegals, Red Bellies, and Meyers. The males are more aggresive than the females, and are also not velcroe like the females can be. They love lots of toys, including foraging toys and pine chews. They generally take their time to like new people. They are smarter than cockatiels and can hold grudges if they have been scared by someone or their feelings hurt by someone. They all love sweet talk. You will have to protect your cockatiels, as often pois will doninate them and could even hurt them. I love Pois and that is the only kind of parrrots I want to have around now, they are just my favorite. I loved cockatiels years back, but I got allergic and asthma to their powder, so no more cockatiels for me. My two pois can go through lots of pine slabs a week, so i get them in bulk. When any of my Pois gets agressive i make a new toy to chew on, it gives them something to take it out on and not on you.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum, Jenn, Hiro, Pinkey, Harry and grey-haired husband!

I don't have any experience with brownheads but, in my limited experience, I think pois tend to be quite Velcro. I don't have that much personal experience because I have only one redbelly and two senegals (had two more in the past) but all of them always were or ended up been Velcro - even the male Senegal that put me through a living hell for 3.5 years and still bites me during breeding season (he is perching on my left knee as I type, the female is on my left shoulder and the redbelly on my head ).

[galeriagila]

Patagonian howdies, and welcome to the Forum!
I hope you have a great experience.

[liz]

In defence of Cockatiels I have to say they are the closest to being the ideal parrot. They are no less intelligent than any other species and have just as much personality. They are loving all the time and "make my day" when they sing as they are waking up.

Unlike most parrots these little beings accept anyone into their flock. They show much compassion. A new cockatiel will be greeted by every one in the flock. It is like they want to make the "new kid on the block" feel welcome.

Because Gimpy cannot walk and had clipped wings he did not leave his cage. They would take turns visiting him in his open door cage. Now that he can fly he is a full fledged member of the flock. I have two platforms added to the tree perch. The other do not use them probably because they know that platforms are the only way Gimpy can join with the flock and sunset.

Sorry about the ranting but I just had to defend them.

[Wolf]

As I said before, I do not have any cockatiels, but it is my understanding that they are very intelligent and probably the easiest of all of the parrots to live and work with although they are often misrepresented along with budgies as being less of a parrot, probably because of their extremely gentle and easy going personalities. But even budgies are much more aggressive than cockatiels, and this is where some of your difficulties are, you are accustomed to cockatiels and their gentleness and every other species of parrot is much more aggressive than you are accustomed to.

The very first thing that my Kiki, Senegal parrot taught me was that parrots bite and bite hard. They bite to get attention or to tell us no when we refuse or don't know how to listen to them and mostly they bite due to fear. Baby birds are different in that most of their bites are not intended to be bites they are more like a child teething or like a puppy who puts everything in its mouth and proceeds to test its taste and firmness and even just to see how much pressure it can take before it breaks of if it is you before you finally react to tell it that it is biting too hard. It is a learning process.

Hiro is a bit older but has probably not gone through puberty as of yet, but depending on his level of socialization may still be beaking as he explores his environment and may need to learn to be a bit gentler when using his beak to climb about.Drs. Foster and Smith has these that you may find useful with Hiro when he is climbing around on your arms http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=24504

You may be able to fashion your own with a dish towel or shop towel wrapped around your arm held in place with hair ties to cushion your arm from his sharp nails and beak. Just a thought that might be useful.

[ijennjenn]

Just wanted to update... so fir some reason I never got any notices that I had replies on this thread so sorry for not responding! Thank you all for the advise!

It's been exactly a year since we got Hiro now. I've have been really up and down in my health in that time and not able to work with him except letting him out and petting him. But with the start if a school (we homeschool) I decided to work with both my birds at least a little every day. I have to go MUCH slower with Hiro than Pinkey, that's for sure, and I have two bites to prove it. Ops. I've learned my lesson. I used to be really good at handling birds but it's like this disease I have has made me all thumbs so I'm learning myself how to hold them properly for things like putting Pinkeys medicine on her skin under her wings. She has been shreeking every time she grooms herself under there and one side appeared to have minor plucking. The vet said it's not too bad at all and gave us Douxo since it seems to be just a little dryness. Watching one of the Parrot Wizard videos was really helpful in showing me how to hold her and I was able to get right under her wing with the med perfectly. I still have a hard time getting her into position at first. Probably because I'm worried about hurting her, but thankfully she isn't a biter and is patient while I learn. Someone mentioned that cocktails are less agreesive, definitely they are to other birds but with humans in my experience it really depends on the bird. I've received nasty bites from cockatiels that were parent raised breeders and I owned a nice tame one that held a grudge every time I'd have to do anything like clip her wings. She'd be perfectly calm and sweet while I worked on her and then as soon as I was done and she was sitting on my hand she would bite the crap out of me. Just once, really hard. That was quite a suprise the first time! Other than that grudge tendency she was just as calm as the rest. I also owned breeding love birds, they had an outside aviary and I loved to sit and watch and listen to them. Never handled any of them without a towel once I descovered how bad their bites can be. I just wish I had someone near me to help me learn how to towel better. I think next time I take Hiro to the vet I'll have him show me yet again and practice with him there to correct whatever I'm doing wrong.

[Wolf]

Welcome back to the forum, we were wondering why you never returned to the forum, now we know. This is an older forum program that does have its problems, but Michael is hesitant about updating it because of all of the information that he would lose during the change over period. It always happens. This program does not send out messages to let you know that someone has responded to any of your posts, so the only way to know is to log on to the forum, sorry about that.

I am sure that I was the one that stated that cockatiels are less aggressive than most other parrots. I am sure that there is a difference in how aggressive they are based on their individual personalities, they are after all individuals, the same way that we humans are individuals. I am not trying to say that they can't be aggressive, just that as a general rule they are less so. I am sure that their bites can be painful to us humans, after all we do not have the protection of the feathers that they have to help protect them from the bites of other birds. We just don't make the best birds. But cockatiels can't bite hard enough to defend themselves from other parrots and because of this they get pushed around and are easily intimidated by other birds.

You have mentioned a disease that you have, but as I don't know what it is or its effects, I wonder if one of the effects might be an increased sensitivity to touch. But then again some people are naturally more sensitive to things such as a parrots nails or their beaks when they are just holding on. I am not so sensitive to these things, myself, but I do read a lot about this in quite a few other people, so I can sympathize to this.

Having your vet teach you how to properly towel your bird is a wonderful idea. Pajarita has also written an article/ post on this very subject. I believe that it is in the training section and I will try to locate it for you and post the link to it in my next response to you. We will be happy to help you in any way that we can.