Rhode Island Parrot Rescue

[Navre]

Casey ran up to my shoulder and either fell, jumped,or tried to fly (He has chewed the flight feathers off of one wing) and crashed into a cage and ended up on the floor. Another one of the volunteers went to pick him up. The volunteer said, "Step Up." Casey put one foot on her hand and then stepped back and said, "No." And the way he said 'No' was in a very 'No Thank you' sounding way. He then stepped up for me and I put him back. It was just so funny.

[Navre]

Wait until he molts them. This is a bad time to check on edges of feathers because they do wear out on the edges. As to laying an egg, I had a gray that was thought to have been a male (Elliot) and which I knew was a female as soon as I saw her - her previous owner argued and argued that she had lots of experience on parrots and that Elliot had all the male behaviors so I thought that I could be wrong. Well, two years later, at 21 years of age, Elliot (which became Ellie) laid her first egg.

My Grey, Turk, didn't lay an egg until she was almost 20.

I guess it really doesn't matter. It seems that most adopters are doing the DNA test at the first vet visit, anyhow. I didn't do one on Tanya because she was tattooed on the wing as a female. I will be interested to see how Casey reacts to other people. It may be a bird who loves all men, but so far, (s)he has a strong preference for me. It may be possible that the old owner had a grey beard, like I do.

I don't know whether Casey has always plucked, whether he is plucking due to losing his owner, or due to the fact that he came from a home with a smoker. The bird, the cage, and all the toys absolutely reeked of smoke, and it just got worse as the cage and the bird got wet. I don;t know whether the smoker was his old owner, or the person who had the bird in the interim and gave him to the rescue.

Cleaner air, a stable home, and a good diet may help with the plucking. if not, naked birds need love too.

[Pajarita]

Going by the red feathers on his back, he/she has been plucking for a while. And, of course naked birds need love, too! Funny thing about pluckers is that you only notice they are different when you first get/see them because, after a while, you don't even notice it.ws

[Pajarita]

The 'ws' at the end was Isis doing. She was perching on the screen and jumped down to the board to get head scratches...

[Navre]

The 'ws' at the end was Isis doing. She was perching on the screen and jumped down to the board to get head scratches...

I thought it was a country code I didn't know!

I saw a baby (fully feathered but black eyes) grey at a pet store who had a few red feathers on the nape of the neck. We had a Grey named Hope who has some red feathers on her legs, and she didn't seem to be plucking, at all. But it does seem to be a plucking thing. It's odd. I wonder how that works?

If I pluck my gray hairs out of my beard, I wonder if they'll come in red? All the gray in my beard used to be red, so I suppose there's a chance. This may take a while.

[Wolf]

Nope, not a chance, been there tried that the only red that came to mine was red skin from plucking the beard. Mine was red in the distant past as well.

[Pajarita]

Casey ran up to my shoulder and either fell, jumped,or tried to fly (He has chewed the flight feathers off of one wing) and crashed into a cage and ended up on the floor. Another one of the volunteers went to pick him up. The volunteer said, "Step Up." Casey put one foot on her hand and then stepped back and said, "No." And the way he said 'No' was in a very 'No Thank you' sounding way. He then stepped up for me and I put him back. It was just so funny.

LOL - They DO know what they are saying. Sweetpea has a habit of picking things up from the canaries cages (I put down the 'clean' bowls and produce on top of the bottom and middle row cages so I have it handy when I am doing the top cages) and making them clank by dropping them - then he asks: "Who did that?" to which I answer "Baby bird did that!" (and, sometimes, he answers himself). This morning, I was doing thorough cleaning and was not paying much attention to him so he lifted a canary bath too high and spilled all the water in it to which I said: "NO, Sweetpea! Look what've you done! That's a naughty bird!" He looks at me and says: "Who did that?", I answer "Naught bird did that!" to which he answered in a VERY loud and firm voice: "BABY BIRD did that! PRETTY BIRD!"

[Navre]

We have a DYH named Paco. Aside from being beautiful, he is one of the best talkers I've ever heard. He has long conversations with himself, and when I'm leaving the office he asks, "are you going to work?" And then says "take your jacket. Don't forget your keys!" He sings, "way up high" as he climbs to the top of his cage.

Do your birds speak in English or Spanish? We had a couple who spoke Portuguese.

[seagoatdeb]

I was told Gaugan was a male, the babies of Red Bellies often all look like males, but the store obviously had never dna sexed, because when Gaugan moulted she was a female...lol...With the rescue Senegal my daughter just got we were told she was a male, but we both think she is a female and she acts like a female poi, so we are sure we are right. You may never know for sure, if there is never an egg layed.

[Navre]

When I had my first birds, the only way to know was through surgical sexing. That's pretty extreme of you ask me. Now that it's just a blood test, it seems reasonable to have it done.

Any bird I owned would be DNA sexed the first time the vet drew blood. I guess with small birds, sometimes they can't take enough blood if they are running other tests, but even my tiny green cheek could be done.

In the absence of a vet visit, I'd just keep the blood sample cards around and get a sample of the bird ever had an accident that resulted in blood. It's cheaper than the vet, too.

I think it's more than just a curiosity. Things like egg laying can be a medical emergency. I just want to know the sex of the bird.