Ask Bird Bloggers

[askbirdbloggers]

How loud can ringnecked parakeets get? I'm trying to convince my mom to let me get one but she's concerned about how loud they are + the circle of mess you get when they flap their wings

They can get loud.

They aren’t necessarily the type to be loud all of the time, but when they are they are. They also have this really shrill sound that is like metal cutting across metal that is very unnerving.Of course, it depends also on the individual bird, I would say if volume is a problem an IRN may not be the best choice. They aren’t a very snuggly sort of bird, but they do demand attention with their voices so they can be hard to live with at times. Jacie (words on birds)

[askbirdbloggers]

So one of my tiels, who is still being tamed, screams everyday regardless of what is happening, sometimes when he's out of the cage he won't scream, but he'll do it when he is out sometimes too, I want to discourage this behavior but also help him because there has to be a reason for it. I'm worried about him

You have to pay attention to what is going on when your tiel screams. Is there activity in the house? Are people moving around? Is something going on that while quiet and non-threatening to humans could be distressing your ‘tiel (like folding laundry as an example)?Though birds will just scream sometimes because that is what they do. Sometimes it’s contact calling for the rest of the flock, sometimes it’s screaming at bad weather, sometimes it’s calling out when the sun is setting, sometimes it’s because their voice sounds neat to them right now.There is a lot of reasons for birds to do what we think of as screaming. Sometimes especially with parrots their normal vocalizations is considered screaming to us even if it’s not necessarily screaming to them.But watch closely what is going on. Find a pattern and try to eliminate the problems. Though it won’t stop all the sounds of screams, just the preventable ones. Jacie (words on birds)

[askbirdbloggers]

My mom had 4 lovebirds that she kept in a room in her house. She has cages, but the birds fly free around the room (which has not been bird-proofed). A few weeks ago, one of the birds died suddenly of unknown causes. She decided to replace the bird so she'd still have an even number. She had the new bird for abt a week, & that one has also died. She wants me to help her train the remaining birds to stay in the cage, but my two lovebirds are quite time & view the cage as their home 1/2

2/2 IDK how to help accustom her birds to the cages. I’m concerned for the other birds. IDK what the cause of death was (both birds had been eating/drinking, & there was no sign of injury/illness from what she said). She loves these birds SO MUCH & was devastated when the first bird died. But when I’ve tried to give her advice on how to care for the birds, she seems to always have excuses. I live in another city, so I can’t visit often, but any advice you offer me would be appreciated.

People can love their birds and still not necessarily do what is best for them. If your mom isn’t taking your advice and has excuses each time... well... I’m not sure if anything we say is really going to help you there.

If your mom keeps non-stick cookware and uses it, for example, that could be causing the sudden death. It could be a similar environmental thing like if she or someone else in her household smokes. Especially since the new budgie seemed to pass away so quickly I am worried it is something like that more than anything that could have done it. However, budgies are also fragile animals and quite overbred so it wouldn’t be a surprise if it were something genetic either.

As for making the bird stay in its cage all the time, that’s not something we should be trying to teach birds. They are really intelligent animals, yes even budgies, and they are not well suited to stay in a cage for their whole lives. If your mom is keeping the birds in their cages for most or all of the day, then there is a good reason they don’t like being in there.

As comfortable, as large and as toy filled and stimulated as we can make a cage for a bird, it won’t replace direct interaction and socialization and the novelties of being out. So I can’t really recommend that course of action in the first place.

I think you need to sit your mom down and have a real heart to heart with her about these animals. About the care, attention and stimulation they really require to thrive and about setting realistic and doable goals for improving their care. But the main problem is getting her to be receptive to you, and unfortunately that’s not something we can help with really.I wish you the best of luck in all of this.Jacie (words on birds)

[askbirdbloggers]

I adopted a budgie about a month ago, and she'll only eat millet and seed mix, and she's underweight. I want to convert her to better food, but I don't want her to lose anymore weight, and also she's pretty skittish about new toys so I don't want to take away the millet because she plays with it. It makes it worse because I don't know how to start training her when basically all she eats is treats already. Any advice on how to safely convert her and get her to try new toys?

Taking away the millet would be fine to be honest, even if she plays with it. You could always put in a spent millet sprig that’s just the stick if she wants to play around with it, without giving her a full thing of millet. Though, if she doesn’t have the treat to play with, and you hide a little bit of millet in and on the toys you give her, it should attract her to the toys more than giving her a favourite thing in with the new things.

It’s usually recommended you change about 10% of their food at a time, depending on the bird this process could take days... or weeks, sometimes it can be months. It can be slow and frustrating, but stay determined and keep offering your budgie fresh foods, a good pellet and all that other good stuff. You just have to keep offering it and checking the bowl to see that they’ve eaten it, how much, what was taken, etc.

It can take time for them to adjust and get settled to a new diet and with new things, but as long as you keep offering they usually will at least check the thing out and usually after its not new and scary they will end up liking things.Jacie (words on birds)

[askbirdbloggers]

Of the few times I've left a camera on my linnie while I'm gone, he mostly just sits on his perch and sings/talks along to the music I leave on (even for hours!). He doesn't play with toys almost ever, even though he has several all over his cage and I switch them around every few days or weeks. Is this normal? I know I just worry about him too much, but I feel like he's supposed to be playing! Does this imply there's something going on wrong or is it just kinda how some birds are? tysm!

It’s a little hard to say. Since he is singing along with the music and seeming content then it may not be anything to worry about, especially if this is how he’s always been.

Some linnies are less prone to playing than others, so it isn’t to say that he should be playing. It depends though, how active is he when there are people around? How long does he spend alone in the cage?

Sometimes birds will be less active in their cages because they spend a lot more energy when they are out of the cage. So if he’s very active whenever you’re around, then it may not be as much of a problem as you think.

Pay close attention to the toys, see if there are any small bite marks, check where the poop is dropping in the cage and try to see if he’s always ignoring the toys, if he’s ignoring all of them, or if it’s just an occasional thing or him having a type preference that’s not being fulfilled.

Foraging toys and such can help encourage your bird to check out what’s around him and adding treats to other toys can help entice him in to playing with them, then he figures out on his own how to have fun with them.Good luck with your Linnie!Jacie (words on birds)

[askbirdbloggers]

{{ Hello, I just have a quick behavioral question for you guys. I know you don't deal much in passerines, but my canary does something very strange, where she grabs at the especially-fluffy, slightly-upturned feathers below her wing and on her shoulder. She looks almost like she's trying to pluck them, but she'll hop around holding them, and I've only ever seen them come out once. She's free-flighted in the room with the diamond doves, gets full nutrition, and she already molted. Any ideas?

Anyone have canaries that can help shed light on this behaviour?

It sounds like just an odd quirky play behaviour that they picked up to me but I am honestly not sure.Jacie (words on birds)

[akira-birds]

I own two different kinds of canaries, and i never seen such a behavior like this. If she is not plucking, certainly is a good signal, but I would pay attention to this.

Maybe is just a playing stuff :) Marell, my pintagol canary, knows how to trim his own nails with his beak. At the start I was worried he could be hurting himself, but some observation time show me its just his way to do it.

[askbirdbloggers]

Thank you for your input :)

[askbirdbloggers]

Is there a way to train behavior in birds? I don't want to clip my cockatiel's wings but I'm also scared that he will ruin something valuable like books or cables, and I don't have room at home to keep them in separate places... [1/2]

[2/2] I guess what I'm really afraid is of him being inconvenient to visitors or destroying something. Is there a way to train him when and where to not fly? Also, what not to play with? Should I just go ahead and clip his wings for convenience?

I’m not against clipping for various reasons and it is in the end a serious choice you have to make. However I wouldn’t clip any bird just for convenience sake.

A clipped bird can get in to just as much trouble getting places they don’t belong, chewing on things they shouldn’t and otherwise making a mess and annoying visitors.

There really isn’t a convenient way to keep a bird.

However, there are ways to train birds and their behaviour. 

Target training can be invaluable if you want to teach your bird there is an okay and a not okay place to be. Flock-talk has a wonderful part of their page dedicated to the basics of training, where to start and how to prepare that I think you’ll find useful.Jacie (words on birds)

[askbirdbloggers]

my parrot keeps attacking the targeting stick, I can't train him with it if he is only interested in destroying it and I can't try using a new object because he attacks everything, also he's too territorial over his cage while being afraid of me at the same time so I am not sure if he sees me as dominant or not, he is 7 years old, have I failed as an owner or can I still fix his behavioural problems and how or is it too old at this point, I want to bond with him but I can't seem to do it right

You haven’t failed, there is always time to change things around and have a more amicable relationship. It may take a long time but with patience you can work towards a better relationship.For your target sticks, do you allow him to get used to the object first? Sometimes it can be the sudden intrusion into their cage with an unfamiliar object that sets them off. if you use something your bird is more comfortable with, or if you acclimatize him to the target beforehand it can help ease in to things.Sometimes it is a matter of moving too quickly or them being startled by the target stick when you first use it. Moving slowly can help quite a bit, especially if you have familiarized your bird with the object already so they know it’s nothing that will hurt them.Dominance isn’t really a thing to worry about with birds. It shouldn’t be the goal to be the dominant one so that he’ll respect you. You want to be your bird’s friend, their partner, their flockmate! They need to understand you respect their boundaries and won’t hurt them and you need to establish some reasonable boundaries and communicate them gently. Your bird will not always give you the benefit of being gentle, but it is important to stay calm and not escalate any energy or aggression.It can be difficult to train and tame a bird who has not been their whole lives, but it is possible to at least improve upon the relationship.Jacie (words on birds)

[askbirdbloggers]

I recently adopted a sun conure from this lady and when I first met him, he was really sweet and would go with anyone. He was very good and sweet and would go with anyone well he would always want to be with my mom. However, now he only wants to be with me which is good but will attack and scream at other people. He will let my mom hold him still though. He is sometimes ok with my dad too. Idk what to do so that he won't be as aggressive:(

What are they doing that make your sun aggressive is the question. Do they ignore his body language? Is it only when you are around that he attacks? Is he okay with taking food from them but not being held?

The screaming alone could be excitement and your bird may be over stimulated by it and turn that to aggression, but generally they need to understand that other people aren’t going to do things to him that he doesn’t like. If they don’t respect his boundaries he will not like them very much and want to defend himself.Having your sun spend time with your folks and other people will help quite a bit. Even if they don’t have hands on interaction with him, just being around people and learning to trust that they are not a threat can go a long way.

However birds can be particular about who they become affectionate with and some birds will not really care for others much at all. Sometimes it is a personality thing, but often with enough time you can get birds to at least tolerate the presence of someone they dislike.Good luck and if you need anymore help or have more specifics we’d love to help when our inbox is back open!Jacie (words on birds)

[askbirdbloggers]

{{ Hello, I just have a quick behavioral question for you guys. I know you don't deal much in passerines, but my canary does something very strange, where she grabs at the especially-fluffy, slightly-upturned feathers below her wing and on her shoulder. She looks almost like she's trying to pluck them, but she'll hop around holding them, and I've only ever seen them come out once. She's free-flighted in the room with the diamond doves, gets full nutrition, and she already molted. Any ideas?

Anyone have canaries that can help shed light on this behaviour?

It sounds like just an odd quirky play behaviour that they picked up to me but I am honestly not sure.Jacie (words on birds)

[askbirdbloggers]

Can you recommend a good avian full spectrum bulb? And can I put these bulbs in any lamp fixture?

I typically use Sunblaster bulbs or Zoo Med Avian Sun bulbs. Whether or not you can use them in a fixture depends entirely on the wattage of the individual bulb and what your fixture can handle. They don’t necessarily need a heavy light fixture like heating lamps but they do need to be positioned so that your bird will get the most light out of it and not too far away from them. I really like the long fixtures from Sunblaster because you can attach them to the ceiling above the bird cage and not have to worry about it so much.Jacie (words on birds)

[askbirdbloggers]

Is it safe to use recycled newspaper bedding like yesterdays news(or I think all living things makes a version of that)to line a birdcage with instead of regular newspaper?It would just make it easier to manage with my disability If not, suhgestions?

I have never seen or used this kind of thing but generally I find it harder to clean and I don’t like the cage lining to look like pellets because then Dax may be prone to try to eat them.Also unless you are dumping the entire thing on a daily basis there isn’t really a guarantee that you can spot all of the poop and while a day or two probably isn’t a big deal you don’t want that to fester in their cages.I know some folks get along really well with craft paper and parchment paper that they can cut to the size of their cage and layer it so you’re not shoving in ill-fitting newspaper every day. Typically you can put a weeks worth of paper down and just remove the top layer each day.I find that method to be easier than laying out newspaper all the time, and I generally don’t like granulated and pelletted litter options for cage lining because of the potential health risks.Jacie (words on birds)

[askbirdbloggers]

I have a relatively new budgie, we've had her about a month, and she's currently comfortable with people in the same room as her but really freaks out if anyone puts their hand or any new things in her cage, no matter how slowly they move or how much they let her get used to them. She only has one toy, so she mostly plays with her millet by shredding it. I can't target train her yet because she's too nervous about sticks. How do I get her to accept more enrichment and be less scared of stuff?

This will mainly take time and persistence on your part. A lot of birds will get weird about new things in their cage so slow introduction can help. Sometimes when slow introduction doesn’t work, tying something familiar on to the new object can help.

For example you mentioned your budgie likes millet (what bird doesn’t really, lol?), so you could put part of the millet sprig on the toy when you put it in her cage. She may avoid it at first, but will likely investigate sooner or later.

If she isn’t comfortable with people interacting with her inside of her cage (in her territory, inher nest essentially), then interact with her outside the cage. You can play mimic games through the bars, talk to them softly, show them your hands slowly and put them down again showing her you mean no harm.Let the bird get used to your presence as someone who isn’t always going to push passed boundaries.Building trust and friendship takes time. You can do it though <3Jacie (words on birds)

[askbirdbloggers]

I just got a cute baby GCC. He's about 14 or so week right now. I want to take him to an avian vet soon for a routine check up-- even found a few good ones 45 min away -- but I want to make sure I know what to expect and come in educated. What tests are necessary for a routine check-up ? Any resources you could think to link me too. Thank you kindly <3

Sorry this has come so late. We’ve all been busy this summer.I don’t really have resources to this end but basically your vet should physically examine the bird. Feeling the bird, listening to their heartbeat and breathing (breathing is checked on several parts of their body since the respiratory system is complex), checking the condition of the feathers over their body, checking under the wings and trying to see some of the skin on the sparse-feather areas to make sure that looks right. Looking into the birds throat, earholes and eyes is fairly standard as well. Some vets will take blood samples at regular check ups and some will only take blood samples if there is something otherwise presenting in the bird. It’s actually all fairly standard when it comes to routine check ups.Jacie (words on birds)

[askbirdbloggers]

Hi again. I succeeded in getting a conure (yellow-sided pineapple green cheek), and this is his/her first day at home. I was handling him/her earlier today, and I wasn't surprised when the talons left little scratch marks on my hands and fingers, but there is one bump on my left wrist that looks like a reaction. I remember having something similar with our old dog, but do you know anything about similar cases with birds? I'd prefer not to be allergic to my new parrot. Thank you!

Reactions like that can be caused by a lot of things and not necessarily by the animal who caused it.

Could be some dirt or other substance getting in the wound and causing a small infection, it could have been something that was on the claw that punctured you (small amount of poop for example) and your body is just getting rid of that....But really you’ll have to see an allergist to help sort out if it is an allergic reaction and how severe it may be/become. My partner has allergic reactions to bird dander, but we still keep a parrot in the home because he manages the symptoms with medicine and remedies. However I know someone else who has a family member that can’t even be around someone who has been around birds recently without a thorough decontamination shower and change of clothes.

So allergies to birds present in different ways and sometimes can be managed but other times cannot be. You’ll have to seek further advice from a medical professional.Jacie (words on birds) 

[askbirdbloggers]

Hello! I’m petsitting for a friend who has a lot of birds… 18 in total. She is excellent - has a close relationship with the local avian vet and most of the birds were at one time surrenders to the vet that she has taken home. A lot of them fly free in the house, haha. Anyway, she’s gone for a month, and has left me very detailed instructions as well as her credit card numbers at the vet if I have any issues. One of the birds (a lovebird) wears a “cone of shame” collar basically all the time because they have not been able to stop him from picking his feathers - he picks himself bald! The collar is a plastic thing that is basically two halves held together with 2 screws - ie you have to take it off/on with a screwdriver. Hopefully you can see it in the photo! Anyway - My friend says that if I am comfortable with it, I can take the collar off him for a couple of hours a day/every other day so he can preen, then put it back on. I’m worried that if I take it off, I’ll never get it back on! He is very tame and friendly (snuggles into your shirt and loves cheek and beak scritches), but I’m also worried about handling it because it just seems like a lot of manhandling for a little bird, and I’m not terribly experienced. She’s said if I’m not comfortable doing it, I can take him to the vet and they will do it (she asked them beforehand) for a day at a time a couple times while she’s gone. But I’m worried that he should have more breaks from the collar than that - his feathers look all smushed and sad in there, I want to let him preen more often. So really there are 2 questions - 1) how difficult(/hazardous) is it to remove a collar from a lovebird, and 2) is there anything wrong with him wearing the collar for a week or two straight, provided obviously that his behaviour is normal? 

Thanks in advance!!

I have never seen these collars for long-term use to be perfectly honest and find it odd that this is the method that the vet also endorses to stop the bird from plucking....

I wouldn’t remove it if you are uncomfortable handling a bird in that manner. It seems as though it would be very difficult to take off and put back on if you are unfamiliar with the concept and with handling the bird.

You probably should take the little one to the vet to get the collar off for awhile like your friend suggested, because while two weeks solid may not cause irreparable harm it certainly won’t be good for them to never be able to move their neck fully or preen themselves. Feathers need fairly consistent maintenance so leaving them to go unpreened for weeks is not going to be great on this batch of feathers. I am personally very uncomfortable with this arrangement but I don’t know what to do about it since all you are doing is pet sitting and don’t have full ownership and responsibility for the bird.  I know collars like this are sometimes used over the short-term for medical reasons and that’s understandable but just to prevent plucking.... it seems to be a stop-gap measure that shouldn’t have become a long-term solution. It doesn’t remove any of the stressors that lead to the plucking behaviour and it doesn’t address any of the root of the problem. So yeah. Difficult situation, definitely take this beeb to the vet to get the collar off once in awhile at least though please. Jacie (words on birds)

[thegreatbirdiegames]

for the alex foundation

Extending the time to donate to the fundraiser! I’ll be leaving it open for three more days!

[askbirdbloggers]

I hope you all enjoyed the games! Please donate if you can! - Chelsea (sweetiesugarbird)