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New member! New mom!

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New member! New mom!

Postby Ajrudnick » Fri May 04, 2018 1:54 pm

Hello!

I am AJ. I am in the process of adopting a red bellied parrot named blaze. He is the bees knees. I love him so much. I have been going daily to the center to play and interact with him so that when he comes home, I am not a complete stranger.

His story as I know it: blaze lived in a cage less house with 2 conures. They picked at and on him all of the time and because they were always free to fly, he had no safe place to call home. The woman gave him up and at the time he only had his 2 little tail feathers. He plucked those out that night.

He has been there a couple weeks now and his feathers do seem to be growing back in (fingers crossed) and he is very sociable. He steps up to anyone. He still prefers to be out on a rope or perch watching. He is a great eater and loves almonds.

I am looking for advice on preperation, bonding, environment and more. I have 1 month to get ready for him to come home. I am looking for any and all advice!

I have had finches, parakeets and a conure in the past but I was little.

I am home full time. I do not have kids but I am married. My husband loves him more than I do :)

Can't wait to get to know everyone and to get schooled!

AJ
Ajrudnick
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Preparing for blaze! A red bellied parrot rescue who will hopefully have some feathers back by the time he comes home. (June 1)
Flight: No

Re: New member! New mom!

Postby Pajarita » Sat May 05, 2018 9:50 am

Welcome to the forum, AJ, and thank you so much for giving a plucker a home! Now, I am not trying to pop your balloon, I am just trying to give you my opinion on some of the information that was given to so you have a more accurate picture and better prepared for him when he gets home.

You did not say how old he is and how long he has been plucking but, if he has been doing it for years [and if he has plucked his entire body, including primaries, this is something that has been going on for a loooooong time], chances are he will continue to do it even when whatever it was that made him start disappears. It is VERY rare that a bird that has been plucking for a long time actually stops completely. But this doesn't mean there will not be improvement. It just means that, most likely and if you do everything right, he will allow some or most of his feathers to grow but there will either be a patch that he will contine to pluck or he will do it seasonally so, if this happens, please do not feel this is, in any way, your failure - it's just that they get into the habit of doing it and they can't break it. I have three plucking birds right now: a cockatoo that had good feathers only on his head [the rest were plucked, broken or barbered] and he is doing better in the sense that you don't see any naked skin now and, every year, he is allowing a couple more feathers to remain but he still looks like a mess; an old amazon that came to me after living for, at least, 25 years in a basement and was completely plucked - she still plucks herself [and some of her feathers don't grow back due to follicle damage] and her mate but does it only seasonally now]; and a male senegal that started after he lost his second mate in two years and which continues to do to this day [I tried giving him a mate but he doesn't court her properly]. They all have lives as happy as they can be in captivity [which is not saying much but there you have it] but they still do it and, personally, I don't even notice their bad plumage any longer. I wish they would not pluck but, as long as it doesn't bother them, it doesn't bother me.

Now, the 'he plucked because he couldn't get away from two conures that picked on him' sounds like bunk to me. I am not calling the previous owner a liar but I seriously doubt that was the reason why he plucked. If he had been kept in the same cage with the conures, maybe - but if he and the conures lived cage-free, it's impossible. Parrots are highly intelligent and VERY resourceful and pragmatic animals and, even if the conures had ganged up on him [doubtful but possible], he would have known to keep his distance and that would have been the end of the 'picking'.

If he has been in the rescue for only two weeks, his friendliness is, most likely, due to his being in they honeymoon period. It will continue for a while after he comes to live with you but, eventually, he will start showing his true colors -which does NOT mean he will be mean or anything, it simply means that what you see now is not what you will end up with. So, if a couple of months down the road, he starts 'acting up', it won't be anything you did.

As to preparation for his coming... well, you need to think of proper housing [largest cage possible but don't go with the narrow and tall, go with more space horizontally and high enough that his roosting perch is at your eye level when you are standing up] and look for the perfect place for it: near a window for natural light [because he needs full exposure to dawn and dusk] but with its back against a wall [if this is not doable, get a large material to drape at the back of the cage to make a solid 'wall' - it reduces stress], diet [please do A LOT of research because you will find that people recommend pellets but, in reality, they don't comply with the specifications of their natural diet -I have a male and female African Red Bellied parrots, Davy and Isis, and they are EXCELLENT eaters of produce so you should have no problem in that sense], light [you will need to get a good quality full spectrum light [CRI higher than 93 and Ktemp as close as possible to 5,000], how you will manage a strict solar schedule [believe it or not, this actually requires thinking and planning] and plan what will be his daily routine [because it's best if you don't change it once you start and they need to be exactly the same day after day after day after day].
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
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


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