About my birds:
A year ago my trusty sidekick moved in with me and brought her blue crown conure, Oliver. (Named after the main character in the Terry Pratchett novel, Monstrous Regiment -- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monstrous_Regiment_(novel)). Oliver is almost 8 years old, and trusty sidekick got him from a reputable breeder when he was a few months old. He says a few words and has a bad habit of nipping people to get his way, but overall acts like a creature with some dignity who enjoys a certain amount of personal space.
We got our sun conure, Newton, in December 2015, when he was about 2 months old. "Newton" is short for Winsor Newton -- like the paint company! But we started calling him Newton after Isaac Newton because of his troubles with gravity (like most baby birds, for a while he was a little wobbly on perches/fingers/any moving objects... Also the breeder had clipped his wings right before we got him, and for a bit he wasn't exactly aware that he couldn't fly far anymore.) Newton is the complete opposite of Oliver, personality-wise. He's a huge goofball and loves to snuggle and learn tricks.
Last month, Newton was diagnosed with Avian Gastric Yeast, which he's still recovering from (and appears to be doing just fine). Not sure if it was something we did, or the breeders/pet shop's fault. But we caught it super early, kind of by accident, so prognosis is good. We syringe-trained him quick and he actually enjoys taking his meds now, so it's pretty painless!
Oliver is kind of "hers" and Newton is kind of "mine"... but really we're all one flock. Neither have been DNA sexed so the genders are just our best guesses. The birds have separate cages and separate perches but share a room. They mostly ignore each other, especially when out of their cages, but chatter during the day.
I became... mildly... obsessed... with bird care & training when we got Newton. I mostly just hang out here and read stuff, but I'm on here so often lately I figured I should at least say hello!
-Jay
