New Parrot

[Stellify]

SO....

I'm ridiculously excited right now because I'm going to be getting a new parrot next week! :bounce
It's a baby green cheek conure. I'll be driving down to Richmond, Texas next Friday to pick her up.

Here are some pictures of her brother, her sister, and then the little girl I'll be bringing home:

I haven't decided what to name her yet....I've been leaning towards "Sunalei" though


Anyone else have any pet birds? I'd love to hear about them! :yes:

 

[Madhuri]

They are soooo cute!!!!
I am defintiely a bird peron. I've only had birds for pets, mostly cockatiels. I love 'em!
I only have a male cockatiel atm sincethe female died. Had him for over 9 years. He 'talks' and crawls under your chin for 'cuddles'. He's my baby

 

[cardero]

Anyone else have any pet birds?

We used to.

 

[Katzpur]

I am SOOOO jealous!

 

[jamaesi]

Ahh, conures! They're so cute but I could never take the noise. I see the one in the middle in the second pic has a Flightsuit/diaper, my 'too has one, too. They're awesome and totally worth the price.

Just to be annoying for a minute, but you're going to be feeding your conure a pelleted diet with lots of fresh veggies and fruits and getting her the biggest cage you can afoord and lots of toys, right? I recommend Zupreem Natural, there's no dyes- no one knows if dyes are okay for parrots and the dye discolours their poop, discoloured poop is harder to determine if it's healthy poop- in it, and you can find it most anywhere. It also doesn't taste half-bad (yes, I've nommed it, I wouldn't expect my parrots to eat something I wouldn't) so parrots like it. I also feed Roudybush but it's a little harder to find. Beak Appetit cooked diets are also easy to find and I haven't met a parrot that doesn't go wild over it, you can make up a box of it at a time and freeze small portions to thaw and feed daily. I usually add more veggies and grains to it when I make it.


I have lots of birds. I have four chickens, two are Australorps (Celaeno and Asterope), two dominique bantams (Raya and Sakina), one budgie named Hime, and a bare-eyed cockatoo named Squishy.

My Australorps, both hens, are lesbians. It's funny as heck to watch them try to mate. The chickens have a coop in the backyard but roam the front yard during the day eating bugs and taking care of weeds. I live in town so technically I'm not allowed to have them but no one's complained, lol. I give out eggs to all my neighbours. Here's two adorable pictures of my bantams when they were little peeps and my dog, Zahi. Zahi herds the chickens (yes, German Shepherds are herding dogs) and protects them from raccoons. <3

Hime was abused and I took her in, she's missing a lot of her toes and I don't know how she lost them. I don't really interact that much with her because it stresses her, but she's got a big cage and lots of toys. She'll sit on my hand and eat millet but that's about it. Here's a picture of her hanging upside down to eat millet.


And now Squishy! She's a five year old bare-eyed cockatoo/little corella.

She's pretty much my surrogate child. She's wickedly smart. The more intelligent parrots like greys and corella cockatoos (bare-eyeds and the long-bill 'too) are as intelligent as a five year old human child but have the emotional maturity of a two or three year old. Squishy has a huge vocabulary and knows what she's saying, she'll say something like "I want banana" and god help you if you don't give her a banana or something else instead of a banana. She learned German commands to harass my dog, he's trained in German. She also knows colours, shapes, and numbers, she can count up to six.

One of her favourite toys are old phonebooks. She loves ripping them up. Squishy also copies me a lot, when I brush my teeth she'll mimic me by holding her foot up to her beak and move her foot back and forth. When I make wudu or ghusl and clean my nose she'll stick her foot under the water and hold it up against her beak and make a sneezing noise. It's aborable. Oh yeah, she showers with me- parrots need daily baths, too. Anyway, she was playing with her phonebook when I was reading a book. She started to copy me and turn the pages of the phonebook and pretend to read... then she turned enough pages to get to the yellow pages in the back of the phonebook. She looked at the yellowpages and then said "Hello, Yellow!" She then looked at me and said "Yellow. I want banana!"

She loves watching TV, she has a TV of her own she watches when we're not home. She only watches the Disney Channel because there's no questionable content or things that are too scary- she's frightened by scary movies and sharks. She's a huge fan of Hannah Montana and loves watching her show. She loves the movie The Lion King, she'll watch that five times in a row and go "MORE!" when I try to turn it off. She also likes John Wayne movies, but not westerns. It has to have John Wayne in it- she can tell.

Here she is with John Wayne.

She also likes trucks, the bigger the better. When she's in the car with me and a big truck passes by she goes "Whooo! Yay!" I have a friend who works at PennDOT and she asked me to bring Squish over one day, Squish loved it. Squishy has to be the only fan of PennDOT in the entire state, LOL!

She loves going out and meeting people! I take her to a lot of different stores in town (there's a framed picture of her and the owner of a feed store in town hanging up at the feed store behind the counter) and to a art studio that has an open mic once a week. She goes up on stage with people when they perform. She's a big fan of one of my friends who plays electric guitar and goes up with him. She's incredibly friendly and well-socialised which I'm grateful for, her vet says she's the best behaved parrot he's seen.

 

[jamaesi]

Goodness. I forgot I have some videos of her...

Here's her doing "birdie fly!" Sorry the TV is so loud in the background, I'm hard of hearing and don't notice how loud I have it.

Here's a video of her doing a weird behaviour that's common with cockatoos- no one really knows why they do it.

And here's a longish video of her talking. She was mad I wouldn't get her out of her cage while I was putting the dishes away. I laughed because it was pretty epic to hear her scream "I LOVE YOU" in an angry voice.

 

[cardero]

Jamaesi, Is that an apron around Squishy? Do you make that yourself or can you buy them? How do you fit that on to a bird?

UPDATE: Just got done watching the videos so I can see how the apron fits.

 

[jamaesi]

Jamaesi, Is that an apron around Squishy? Do you make that yourself or can you buy them? How do you fit that on to a bird?

It's a Flightsuit, I mentioned them in the first paragraph of my post...

I see the one in the middle in the second pic has a Flightsuit/diaper, my 'too has one, too. They're awesome and totally worth the price.

Squishy puts it on herself, with a little help from me. I hold it up and she puts one leg through, then she holds up the other side of the suit while I guide her other leg in it, then I pull her wings through it, she can't do the wings part herself.

 

[cardero]

Squishy puts it on herself, with a little help from me. I hold it up and she puts one leg through, then she holds up the other side of the suit while I guide her other leg in it, then I pull her wings through it, she can't do the wings part herself.

That would make for an interesting video.

 

[Stellify]

They are soooo cute!!!!
I am defintiely a bird peron. I've only had birds for pets, mostly cockatiels. I love 'em!
I only have a male cockatiel atm sincethe female died. Had him for over 9 years. He 'talks' and crawls under your chin for 'cuddles'. He's my baby

My dad's fiance has two 'tiels. They just had their first clutch! Five eggs
She also has a rose-breasted cockatoo and a macaw that are both babies. It's so funny...when we take the macaw out, she sits there and periodically makes this honking sound, and flaps one wing. It sounds like my dad when he blows his nose really hard

We used to.

lol
That's a beautiful cat, btw!

Ahh, conures! They're so cute but I could never take the noise. I see the one in the middle in the second pic has a Flightsuit/diaper, my 'too has one, too. They're awesome and totally worth the price.

Just to be annoying for a minute, but you're going to be feeding your conure a pelleted diet with lots of fresh veggies and fruits and getting her the biggest cage you can afoord and lots of toys, right? I recommend Zupreem Natural, there's no dyes- no one knows if dyes are okay for parrots and the dye discolours their poop, discoloured poop is harder to determine if it's healthy poop- in it, and you can find it most anywhere. It also doesn't taste half-bad (yes, I've nommed it, I wouldn't expect my parrots to eat something I wouldn't) so parrots like it. I also feed Roudybush but it's a little harder to find. Beak Appetit cooked diets are also easy to find and I haven't met a parrot that doesn't go wild over it, you can make up a box of it at a time and freeze small portions to thaw and feed daily. I usually add more veggies and grains to it when I make it.


I have lots of birds. I have four chickens, two are Australorps (Celaeno and Asterope), two dominique bantams (Raya and Sakina), one budgie named Hime, and a bare-eyed cockatoo named Squishy.

My Australorps, both hens, are lesbians. It's funny as heck to watch them try to mate. The chickens have a coop in the backyard but roam the front yard during the day eating bugs and taking care of weeds. I live in town so technically I'm not allowed to have them but no one's complained, lol. I give out eggs to all my neighbours. Here's two adorable pictures of my bantams when they were little peeps and my dog, Zahi. Zahi herds the chickens (yes, German Shepherds are herding dogs) and protects them from raccoons. <3

Hime was abused and I took her in, she's missing a lot of her toes and I don't know how she lost them. I don't really interact that much with her because it stresses her, but she's got a big cage and lots of toys. She'll sit on my hand and eat millet but that's about it. Here's a picture of her hanging upside down to eat millet.


She's pretty much my surrogate child. She's wickedly smart. The more intelligent parrots like greys and corella cockatoos (bare-eyeds and the long-bill 'too) are as intelligent as a five year old human child but have the emotional maturity of a two or three year old. Squishy has a huge vocabulary and knows what she's saying, she'll say something like "I want banana" and god help you if you don't give her a banana or something else instead of a banana. She learned German commands to harass my dog, he's trained in German. She also knows colours, shapes, and numbers, she can count up to six.

One of her favourite toys are old phonebooks. She loves ripping them up. Squishy also copies me a lot, when I brush my teeth she'll mimic me by holding her foot up to her beak and move her foot back and forth. When I make wudu or ghusl and clean my nose she'll stick her foot under the water and hold it up against her beak and make a sneezing noise. It's aborable. Oh yeah, she showers with me- parrots need daily baths, too. Anyway, she was playing with her phonebook when I was reading a book. She started to copy me and turn the pages of the phonebook and pretend to read... then she turned enough pages to get to the yellow pages in the back of the phonebook. She looked at the yellowpages and then said "Hello, Yellow!" She then looked at me and said "Yellow. I want banana!"

She loves watching TV, she has a TV of her own she watches when we're not home. She only watches the Disney Channel because there's no questionable content or things that are too scary- she's frightened by scary movies and sharks. She's a huge fan of Hannah Montana and loves watching her show. She loves the movie The Lion King, she'll watch that five times in a row and go "MORE!" when I try to turn it off. She also likes John Wayne movies, but not westerns. It has to have John Wayne in it- she can tell.

She also likes trucks, the bigger the better. When she's in the car with me and a big truck passes by she goes "Whooo! Yay!" I have a friend who works at PennDOT and she asked me to bring Squish over one day, Squish loved it. Squishy has to be the only fan of PennDOT in the entire state, LOL!


She loves going out and meeting people! I take her to a lot of different stores in town (there's a framed picture of her and the owner of a feed store in town hanging up at the feed store behind the counter) and to a art studio that has an open mic once a week. She goes up on stage with people when they perform. She's a big fan of one of my friends who plays electric guitar and goes up with him. She's incredibly friendly and well-socialised which I'm grateful for, her vet says she's the best behaved parrot he's seen.

Green cheeks are very quiet conures, even by pyrrhura standards. Nothing like suns and other aratinga types (sp?). They're also pretty small.

I've ordered a flight suit...but she isn't trained to it yet (her sister is the one wearing it in the photo). So we'll see how that goes.... They're all very well socialized babies, though, so it shouldn't be too hard to convince her to like it

I got her a HUGE cage for her size. And a TON of toys, so I can rotate them out often. Her cage also has a removable play stand on top, so she can have a perch no matter what room I'm in at any given time.
The breeder I'm buying her from feeds all her birds a zupreem and roudybush diet, along with lots of fruits and veggies. I'll be continuing along those lines.
No worries, she's going to be a spoiled rotten little bird! And I've done hours and hours of research, along with long conversations with the breeder via email, about diet and care. So she'll be spoiled the right way!

Your birds are all so pretty! And Squishy sounds like loads of fun

I absolutely can't wait to bring my little girl home :hearts:

Goodness. I forgot I have some videos of her...

Here's her doing "birdie fly!" Sorry the TV is so loud in the background, I'm hard of hearing and don't notice how loud I have it.

Here's a video of her doing a weird behaviour that's common with cockatoos- no one really knows why they do it.

And here's a longish video of her talking. She was mad I wouldn't get her out of her cage while I was putting the dishes away. I laughed because it was pretty epic to hear her scream "I LOVE YOU" in an angry voice.

LOL!
I haven't laughed that hard all day. Thank you

 

[jamaesi]

Green cheeks are very quiet conures, even by pyrrhura standards. Nothing like suns and other aratinga types (sp?). They're also pretty small.

I've ordered a flight suit...but she isn't trained to it yet (her sister is the one wearing it in the photo). So we'll see how that goes.... They're all very well socialized babies, though, so it shouldn't be too hard to convince her to like it

I got her a HUGE cage for her size. And a TON of toys, so I can rotate them out often. Her cage also has a removable play stand on top, so she can have a perch no matter what room I'm in at any given time.
The breeder I'm buying her from feeds all her birds a zupreem and roudybush diet, along with lots of fruits and veggies. I'll be continuing along those lines.
No worries, she's going to be a spoiled rotten little bird! And I've done hours and hours of research, along with long conversations with the breeder via email, about diet and care. So she'll be spoiled the right way!

Your birds are all so pretty! And Squishy sounds like loads of fun

I absolutely can't wait to bring my little girl home

Yay! That makes me very happy. I'm so glad your conure girl is going to be spoiled in a good way. It breaks my heart to see parrots that are abused and fed only seeds and crammed in small cages with no toys- parrots are so smart and deserve so much better.

Like I said, the Beak Appetit is a GREAT way to them fresh veggies and grains and very easy. About once a week I cook up a whole box of it on the stove and add in more grains, oatmeal, different kinds of rice, pastas, quiona, beans (cooked beans, not dried- dried beans are bad for parrots because some have proteolytic enzyme inhibitors- in short, they stop the bird from absorbing needed nutrients but cooking destroys those enzymes) and more veggies- chopped greens, broccoli, peppers, squashes, yams, carrots etc... After it's cooked I serve some fresh to the birds and then I freeze the rest in little containers that hold enough for each day. Then all you have to do every day is thaw and heat and serve. It's a big time saver.

Oh, by the way, parrots can be just plain weird about their veggies. Some parrots will only eat a certain veggie if it's been prepared a certain way, so if they refuse to eat a certain food, don't give up! Squishy wouldn't eat corn at first. I found some freeze-dried corn at Big Lots one day, it was packaged as a toddler finger food. I picked it up and offered it to her- she went nuts over it! After that she would eat dried corn and then fresh corn. I actually buy a lot of food that's meant for babies and toddlers for her, baby food in jars to mix in with her fresh food and finger foods as snacks and treats.

The absolute best way to make a parrot eat something new is to just eat it yourself (and you have to eat it, they're smart enough to know if you're just pretending to eat it) in front of them while acting like it's the best thing ever, even keep it away from them for a minute if they reach for it while going "YUM YUM SO GOOOOOD!~" Parrots are very jealous- use it to your advantage. If Squish rejects some new food I get everyone around in on how good this food is, I give it to whoever else is home and they eat it, I even give some to the dog. By then, she's pretty ready to try it out.

Squishy was pretty good about the Flightsuit. As soon as I got it I put it on her with no problems. Since your conure sounds so well socialized it should go pretty well, too. After she's settled in, have everyone you can think of come over and interact with her so she's really used to meeting people. If you take her outside use a leash, you can clip onto the Flightsuit pretty easily. I have Squishy recalled trained (I just hold my hand up and go "step up!" and she'll glide to me) and clipped so I'm comfortable having her out in the yard or buildings with me unleashed, but when I take her outside to other places I leash her just to be safe.

I'm not sure about what trees you have in Texas, but natural branches make the best perches. My birds are big fans of magnolia and willow branches and both are "safe" woods- they love to chew them up which is good exercise for them. Oh, and if you can get them, corn stalks are great for perches and parrots like ripping them up.

Oh! And for toys, foraging toys are the best! In the wild parrots spend most of their time looking for food, having all their food served to them in a dish in the same place can make them mentally ill. The ones I have are all too big for a little conure but here are some good examples of foraging toys. I never put treats or snacks in Squishy's food bowls, I hide them in foraging toys all around her cage so she has to work for them. What works really well for a simple foraging toy is a basket- I am constantly going to thrift stores and yard sales looking for baskets, especially the ones that are meant to hang on a wall and are flat. They're inexpensive when you get them that way, maybe a dollar or less each. Get natural untreated ones without wires (toxic) or string (parrot can get tangled up in them) holding them together and not ones that are painted or look shiny because of some sort of glaze put on them. Anyway, you stuff the basket with foot toys, shredded paper, treats, more shredded paper, whatever you want... I hang them up in the cage using plastic shower curtain rings- you can also find them at thrift stores. Very cheap and easy foraging toy.

Here's some pics of Squish's cage to show what I mean... Here at the right and bottom left you can see the two baskets.

You can see half the basket there and a ladder I put horizontally and weaved strips of paper through. Strips of paper are one of the simplest toys and most parrots love them.

I'm pretty proud of this one and it's really simple. I made a platform with a woven placemat I picked up at a thrift store. It's held up by plastic shower curtain rings.

Here's a close-up view of the foraging toys. The one on the left is a puzzle toy Squishy has to turn to make the treat (freezedried corn) fall through and out the maze. I'm not quite sure what the hell the yellow thing on the right is, but it works really well to shove small toys and treats in.

 

[BucephalusBB]

I haven't decided what to name her yet....I've been leaning towards "Sunalei" though

Sunalei?? Ow common, no way she is going to remember that!

 

[cardero]

Here's a close-up view of the foraging toys. The one on the left is a puzzle toy Squishy has to turn to make the treat (freezedried corn) fall through and out the maze. I'm not quite sure what the hell the yellow thing on the right is, but it works really well to shove small toys and treats in.

Is it just me or is Squishy having more fun than I am?

 

[Circle_One]

I'm terrified of birds, but I LOVE Maesi's Cockatoo!

She's the most amazing bird ever!

Congratulations on your new family member!!

 

[Panda]

*Note to Self*
Get Blayze a pigeon for Christmas.

 

[Yes Man]

Most of my friends don't like birds. I personally like 'em. I've got one male cockatiel at home who's about 15, I think. We have a tenuous relationship. He tends to get bitey around me.

 

[Stellify]

Yay! That makes me very happy. I'm so glad your conure girl is going to be spoiled in a good way. It breaks my heart to see parrots that are abused and fed only seeds and crammed in small cages with no toys- parrots are so smart and deserve so much better.

Like I said, the Beak Appetit is a GREAT way to them fresh veggies and grains and very easy. About once a week I cook up a whole box of it on the stove and add in more grains, oatmeal, different kinds of rice, pastas, quiona, beans (cooked beans, not dried- dried beans are bad for parrots because some have proteolytic enzyme inhibitors- in short, they stop the bird from absorbing needed nutrients but cooking destroys those enzymes) and more veggies- chopped greens, broccoli, peppers, squashes, yams, carrots etc... After it's cooked I serve some fresh to the birds and then I freeze the rest in little containers that hold enough for each day. Then all you have to do every day is thaw and heat and serve. It's a big time saver.

Yeah, the breeder says she does that with a soak & cook thing. I'll probably do the same, since it seems to save so much time.

Oh, by the way, parrots can be just plain weird about their veggies. Some parrots will only eat a certain veggie if it's been prepared a certain way, so if they refuse to eat a certain food, don't give up! Squishy wouldn't eat corn at first. I found some freeze-dried corn at Big Lots one day, it was packaged as a toddler finger food. I picked it up and offered it to her- she went nuts over it! After that she would eat dried corn and then fresh corn. I actually buy a lot of food that's meant for babies and toddlers for her, baby food in jars to mix in with her fresh food and finger foods as snacks and treats.

The absolute best way to make a parrot eat something new is to just eat it yourself (and you have to eat it, they're smart enough to know if you're just pretending to eat it) in front of them while acting like it's the best thing ever, even keep it away from them for a minute if they reach for it while going "YUM YUM SO GOOOOOD!~" Parrots are very jealous- use it to your advantage. If Squish rejects some new food I get everyone around in on how good this food is, I give it to whoever else is home and they eat it, I even give some to the dog. By then, she's pretty ready to try it out.

Is canned baby food good for them? I didn't even think of using it.
Haha Yeah, if they won't play with a toy you can do the same thing...play with it first

Squishy was pretty good about the Flightsuit. As soon as I got it I put it on her with no problems. Since your conure sounds so well socialized it should go pretty well, too. After she's settled in, have everyone you can think of come over and interact with her so she's really used to meeting people. If you take her outside use a leash, you can clip onto the Flightsuit pretty easily. I have Squishy recalled trained (I just hold my hand up and go "step up!" and she'll glide to me) and clipped so I'm comfortable having her out in the yard or buildings with me unleashed, but when I take her outside to other places I leash her just to be safe.

I think she'll learn to like it as long as I give her treats lol
I plan on taking her around my dad's house (two kids, dad and my stepmom, not to mention their other birds) fairly often, as well as to my friends' places. She'll get used to new people very quickly :yes:
I'm going to recall train her, but I still don't plan on EVER going outside with her unless she has a leash on. It's just too dangerous- we have cats, dogs, hawks, foxes, etc. around here that would just be too happy to eat her. And she's clipped, so she isn't at full capacity to escape if something was chasing her.

I'm not sure about what trees you have in Texas, but natural branches make the best perches. My birds are big fans of magnolia and willow branches and both are "safe" woods- they love to chew them up which is good exercise for them. Oh, and if you can get them, corn stalks are great for perches and parrots like ripping them up.

We have a ton of safe woods around here, but I'm not sure about whether or not they've been sprayed down with pesticide. Except for the trees at my dad's house...he has a mimosa, a dogwood and I think a birch tree....and those are all safe. Besides that, I've got a number of other non-natural perches that should work nicely.

Oh! And for toys, foraging toys are the best! In the wild parrots spend most of their time looking for food, having all their food served to them in a dish in the same place can make them mentally ill. The ones I have are all too big for a little conure but here are some good examples of foraging toys. I never put treats or snacks in Squishy's food bowls, I hide them in foraging toys all around her cage so she has to work for them. What works really well for a simple foraging toy is a basket- I am constantly going to thrift stores and yard sales looking for baskets, especially the ones that are meant to hang on a wall and are flat. They're inexpensive when you get them that way, maybe a dollar or less each. Get natural untreated ones without wires (toxic) or string (parrot can get tangled up in them) holding them together and not ones that are painted or look shiny because of some sort of glaze put on them. Anyway, you stuff the basket with foot toys, shredded paper, treats, more shredded paper, whatever you want... I hang them up in the cage using plastic shower curtain rings- you can also find them at thrift stores. Very cheap and easy foraging toy.

Good ideas! I've scrounged up a couple foraging toys, but not many yet. It's something I'm going to have as an on-going project.
Natural wicker baskets also make great portable play stands! Just stick some toys on there, and they go to town. Then once they chew the basket up, you can go find another one for a dollar.

Sunalei?? Ow common, no way she is going to remember that!

That's what nicknames are for

I'm terrified of birds, but I LOVE Maesi's Cockatoo!

She's the most amazing bird ever!

Congratulations on your new family member!!

Thank you!

Most of my friends don't like birds. I personally like 'em. I've got one male cockatiel at home who's about 15, I think. We have a tenuous relationship. He tends to get bitey around me.

lol
Maybe you just need to "persuade" him...with lots and lots of treats

 

[Stellify]

The cage finally arrived today
I'll be spending the weekend putting it together and re-arranging my room so that everything looks awesome.

 

[Stellify]

Here are pictures of her cage!

 

[Katzpur]

Hey, Jamaesi! I'd love to hear the story again about how Squishy got mad when she didn't get to watch Hannah Montana and what she does when she is watching her.