Companions for companion birds

[Wolf]

Yeah, he might like one of those little cat balls with a jingle bell inside it, They are cheap and are usually two or three in a pkg. Frayed twigs work a little better than smoother ones. You really can't expect much from a travel cage. I keep a couple of extra bowls for food or water.

[Navre]

I have dozens of toys for Ocean, so I gave him a couple of things she hadn't used yet.

He isn't eating at all yet, but It's only been one day. I did get him to eat a sunflower seen out of my hand.

He bites with a big ferocious show. The bites have no power at all. They are more like kisses. I think they are just bluff bites.

He seems like he is fully feathered. He flaps his wings and hops, but doesn't really take off.

I was going to call him Foster while he was here, but I have found out that his name is Lucky. She found him in a park in 1994 in the snow in the middle of winter. I guess the name is appropriate.

[Pajarita]

Oh, poor thing, he looks so sad and dejected... He might no longer be able to fly if he hasn't been allowed to leave the cage (which looks pretty small to me) for years. Please give him a bowl. I do realize that bottles are easier than a bowl but birds were not meant to drink a single drop at a time.

[Navre]

I think he is allowed out a lot.

My plan was to keep the birds separate, but they can see each other from the cages.

He is eating today, sleeping a lot, drinking from his bottle.

He seems pretty friendly. Always pretends to bite but prefers to be in the room with people. Steps up every time. It goes, shriek, fake bite, step up, every time.

Are cockatiels ground foragers? He runs around the floor trying to find seeds or bits of gravel that might be in the carpet.

[Wolf]

I do believe that they are partial ground foragers.

[Pajarita]

Yes, indeed they are. They are granivores and grains only grow in grass-like plants so they have no choice but to go to ground for them.

[liz]

I have a large food tray on the floor in the cockatiel room. I put it on the floor so the non flyers can get to it easy but none seem to have a problem with food on the floor.

[Navre]

Honestly, I worry about how I can give enough time to each bird were I to get another one permanently. Of course, I thought the same thing about a second child.

[Pajarita]

Yes, but children grow up and become more and more independent while parrots remain needy and dependent all their loooooong lives... and, although everybody thinks they will be able to sustain the same level of commitment and enthusiasm they have at the beginning, they either don't or life interferes. That's why I don't like people having many parrots as pets (meaning all in their own cages) because there is no way on this green earth that any one person can spend enough hours with all of them. And why I keep most of mine cage-free in a birdroom with companion birds of their own. Better for them and easier for me.

[Navre]

It is my understanding that even in separate cages, the birds serve to occupy and entertain each other?

Mostly, I keep the cages open when the sun is up.

The reason I'm thinking about this is that after just one day at rescue, a bird is already bonding with me. There is a long way to go to know if that's actually true, but one of the directors said she would not be surprised if this bird went home with me eventually. I guess you'd call it a medium sized bird, but everything but a budgie will dwarf my GCC. I wouldn't worry as much about another conure, and I'm pretty sure I don't have the room To commit to the larger macaws or cockatoos, but I wonder about those medium birds. The particular bird is a smaller, female, CAG. She seems pretty layed back for a CAG. Even with all the chaos going on in a room full of LOUD birds, she seems relaxed with me.

I consider that my first responsibility it to the bird I already have, however.