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Curious

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Re: Curious

Postby Pajarita » Mon Jan 16, 2017 10:59 am

Kagro3 wrote:Hello, and thank you for your reply and advice and information:) I saw some videos on YouTube of ppl showering And blowing them dry,( cool air only), and showered with cool water, no soap only water. I read too that they needing bathing to help with all the powder? So they don't need showers once a week? By saying all the time I had to give to a bird, I Was just showing that I have a lot of time. Also, I didn't know that you couldn't spend time with them during the evening? I did read that they require 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night. So, I figured I had at least until 5pm? But didn't know that was just during winter. If I got a bulb it would be bird specific and not just any pet light bulb but thank you for clearing it up by saying a full spectrum bulb over UV. When they are hormonal you can't spend time with them? Or can't spend the normal amount of time you normally do with them? I completely agreee that all this research won't help me to know exactly what it's like until I actually have it and live with a bird. Well, I had really only wanted a Congo African Grey. I was doing research only on that bird and was on YouTube one day watching videos and I saw a video of a Moluccan Cockatoo. His name is Gotcha and I just fell in love with him and I watched pretty much all his videos lol So, I started doing research on M2's as well as CAG's after that. While I think there are many different breeds that are gorgeous and intelligent and have great talking ability, the two breeds I chose are the ones that caught my eye the most. Even with all the issues that can come along with them.I am open to recommendations as to which bird would be best for my family and I. It is kind of discouraging and sad to hear that the birds I want most wouldn't be best for me or my family as I really had my heart set on them. I googled avian rescues by me and the closest is in NJ. So I wouldn't be able to volunteer there as it's too far for a daily thing. Thank you so much again :)


Let me clarify. The 12L/12D (12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness) schedule is obsolete (unfortunately, some people have not 'caught on' to the fact). When we first got parrots, we used to keep them at a human light schedule (get up in the morning, turn on the lights, spend all day with lights until night when we went to sleep) and we realized this was no good because the parrots were hormonal all the time. So then, somebody came up with the idea that, if in the tropics, the days and nights are always 12 hours long, we should be able to keep birds at this same schedule. Problem was, the birds were still hormonal all the time because we did not realize that tropical birds use food availability and weather as their primary breeding triggers. Now we know that all birds, even tropical ones, are photoperiodic and that they will revert to using light as their primary trigger and that, in order for the birds to have the same seasons they have in the wild (breeding and resting), we need to make them 'follow' the sun, thus, the solar schedule. When you keep a cockatoo at 12L/12D, you end up with a bird that is overly hormonal and that has consequences which vary from plucking and self-mutilating to constant screaming and aggression (see this: https://www.parrots.org/pdfs/our_public ... 54-2-2.pdf
and this: http://www.mytoos.com/
Cockatoos kept at a strict solar schedule do get hormonal but they don't become overly hormonal (sexually frustrated and in chronic pain from overgrown gonads) because right before this begins to happen, they stop making sexual hormones and their organs go back to tiny and dormant.

You seem to have your heart set on an M2 and although I commend you for your research, I don't think you realize what you will be getting into -M2's are, without a doubt, the most difficult parrots there are to keep happy. I readily admit I wouldn't be able to do it and I have 24 years of experience and have had hundreds of parrots under my care (I used to ran a rescue). You need huge infrastructure (it will require a large outdoor aviary as well as an entire room devote to it) and highly experienced handling because one single bite can take half a cheek, a lip, a finger, etc. and you have little girls. Sheesh, I have two LSC sweethearts which never, ever bite me and I still always end up with a black and blue from them just from them hanging on to me.
Pajarita
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18697
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Curious

Postby Bird woman » Mon Jan 16, 2017 11:46 am

Kirsten , before you make the plunge into m-2 life I want to ask you precisely what is motivating you towards the cockatoos? Really think about it and be very honest about it with yourself as like pajirta said these are the most difficult of all to keep healthy and happy not to mention there ability to destroy all the wood in the house and scream well beyond the decimal range of our ears and deliver a bite that could send someone to the hospital. My husband has been sent to the doctors twice for stitches in the face due to my m-2 . It wasn't her fault but his carelessness and playing to rough with her and teasing which he thinks is playing. Something as simple as rattling a paper bag will get mine excited. I have after 20 years discovered the joy of a smaller species of bird and I want to share the story with you. I'll send some short videos of my Maxie ( Quaker) and let you see her magnificent personality in a runt muffin size. I have always keep my rescuing to large birds , and it was ment for cockatoos only but didn't work out that way. Several months ago Maxie showed up in a box with out her cage that apparently was so covered in fecies and no perches they just left it. They had to move quick as it was an abandoned house crawling with drug addict. Maxie weighed only 60 grams when she should have weighed at least 90 +.The poor little thing couldn't even perch , her little feet were so malformed and swollen I really didn't think she'd ever perch again. Such a small fragile bird , I was scared to start fixing her. I thought she wouldn't be able to handle it. Well you have a picture of my Maxie now after much physical therapy ,good food and lots of love and proper care she is healthy , happy , perches and flys. And the best part is her personality, devotion and courage is as big if not bigger than any of my big birds . I didn't even know that everything I knew and loved about the personalitys and interactions with my too's could come in a compact ,easier keeping , more family oriented. Runt. When my younger grandkids are over Maxie is the one that plays with them and if they happen to get a nip then it's not a maijor catastrophe. Well Maxie won't be getting rehomed as she has proven she can hold her own with the big birds and will fly to stay out of there way and lumie one of my little LSC'S is best buds with her. Let's explore the different species together with the forum and maybe others will catch your eye and in the meantime I will shoot videos of my different fids and you can see what there capable of doing . Remember birds are as different as humans and there personalitys vary greatly and in the same species. One may be cute and cuddly and the next a screaming demanding destroying holly terror , and it takes a lot of patients , hard work and knowledge to get them over it if you can. Sometimes you just have to except the way they are when you know all there needs have been met and there just to emotionally damaged. BW
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Bird woman
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 869
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Flight: Yes

Re: Curious

Postby Kagro3 » Mon Jan 16, 2017 12:30 pm

I had just wrote this big thing and it never posted after I hit submit :( Anyways. Basically, I said thank you Pajarita. I am going to research avian photoperiodism. I read your first link and the second link I had already read before while doing research. ( I didn't want to just read the good and the sweet things about M2 but the bad and ugly of owning and caring for one. I knew I needed to see it all.) I have a spare room in my house for whichever bird I do get to make its own. I wanted to keep the cage in our living room, but only keep the cage in the spare if it wasn't liking being in our living room. I dont have an outside aviary yet, obviously, lol But when the time comes, if the bird needs it, I will get one. I have a large enough, fenced in yard to keep an outside aviary. I am thankful for your honesty in all this. Basically, I don't think anyone truly knows what they are getting themselves into with anything, no matter how much research, until they actually live it. I am hoping to find a close parrot rescue so I can visit a bunch of times and spend time with an M2 as well as other large birds to see how I feel about it all. I also plan on spending multiple visits at different times with a bird that I am interested in. I don't want to rush any of this as it is a lifetime commitment and not something to be taken lightly. I'm trying to do all this right as I want it to be right in whichever I chose. Your advice, experience, and knowledge of all who are giving it and helping is very much appreciated and highly respected.

Bird woman,
I am very fascinated by the cockatoos but they aren't the only type of bird I would be willing to get. It one of the ones I've been researching and truly hoping to get. I really do like the medium to larger birds most and really do want to stay with those. Anyone could recommend different birds to me.
Kagro3
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 16
Location: Northeast Pennsylvania
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Moluccan Cockatoo
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Re: Curious

Postby Bird woman » Mon Jan 16, 2017 12:52 pm

Check your e-mail sent you some stuff. BW
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Bird woman
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 869
Location: Southern , Oregon
Number of Birds Owned: 10
Types of Birds Owned: 2 mollucans, 2 LSC'S, 2 macaws, 1 bare-eye, 1 grey, 1 goffin and max the quaker
Flight: Yes

Re: Curious

Postby Sana Bukhari » Mon Jan 16, 2017 3:58 pm

hELLO Dears..
My female parrot foot is injured and swell ,and pain on her foot. Please help me that how can I treat to her foot. she is in trouble and I don't know that what should do for my little princess.
Sana Bukhari
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 2
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: I have one male reddish and blackish ringneck green parrot and one female lack the ringneck green parrot.actually I have worn shoes and mistakenly I I put my foot on my little princess parrot foot and she is now injured and very disappointed. Kindly help me how can I treat to her foot.
Flight: No

Re: Curious

Postby Bird woman » Mon Jan 16, 2017 4:16 pm

Sana Bukhari wrote:hELLO Dears..
My female parrot foot is injured and swell ,and pain on her foot. Please help me that how can I treat to her foot. she is in trouble and I don't know that what should do for my little princess.

You need to go to the vet ASAP there little feet are very fragile and it's nothing to mess with . B W
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Bird woman
Amazon
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 869
Location: Southern , Oregon
Number of Birds Owned: 10
Types of Birds Owned: 2 mollucans, 2 LSC'S, 2 macaws, 1 bare-eye, 1 grey, 1 goffin and max the quaker
Flight: Yes

Re: Curious

Postby Pajarita » Tue Jan 17, 2017 12:25 pm

Patti, she can't have a quaker, she lives in Pa where they are illegal and gassed on sight when found (Kagro, I lived on Jonas Mountain, near Effort and Brodheadsville, and that's where I had my bird rescue).

Kagro, there are many smaller birds that are smart, beautiful and loving and which can be great companions. I have a wonderful sun conure and a marvelous GCC. Conures are said to be nippy and loud but mine never bite or scream and they are both VERY tolerant of other people (they are the only birds that I allow my grandkids to handle). But, if you have your heart set on a cockatoo, I would recommend a Lesser Sulfur. You still need to put the hours, the work and the effort and you will still have to live with a one-bird demolition machine and screams but they are not as bad/difficult as moluccans and just as beautiful and loving as they can be. And some of them can be the biggest hams! My Freddy loves to show off to anybody who he thinks is looking his way - that bird is a frustrated comedian, I swear! And there are so many of them needing a home because people think they will be able to do it but a few years later realize they can't (people who work simply can't make a cockatoo happy - toos are the number one given-up bird) and all they need to be perfect is somebody who is there all day long and willing to love them.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18697
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Curious

Postby Bird woman » Tue Jan 17, 2017 3:36 pm

To bad about the Quakers . I even thought a goffin would be good , especially for the kids to interact with . Alyha is my first and only experience thus far and my vet always recommended to stay away from them because there to hi strung and even though there small don't play well with others.well although she is learning to leave the other birds alone { likes to bounce off the other birds heads} she is an absolute delight. Plays, bounces all over the place , fiercely loyal to me and a maijor cuddle box and eats all her veggies! :D what more could you ask for? She is also curious about anything new and doesn't scare easily. BW
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Bird woman
Amazon
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 869
Location: Southern , Oregon
Number of Birds Owned: 10
Types of Birds Owned: 2 mollucans, 2 LSC'S, 2 macaws, 1 bare-eye, 1 grey, 1 goffin and max the quaker
Flight: Yes

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