#sarahbanning

[askbirdbloggers]

There was an ask a while back about "gurgling" noises a birb was making that were causing concern, I just wanted to mention that my little guy has started to do something like what was described (definitely not beak grinding, more like a soft "uuaauggughhghhg" sound) but is still vocalizing normally otherwise, so I don't think the noise is anything to cause concern. I have no idea where he got it from because his dad has never made that noise, but the little guy seems to like doing it a lot.

^

-Admin Rei

[fionaostbyillustration]

Is me video of yon squeaky Nico. What does it mean birb?

The Translate fram a goggles: "I am squek for GIVE KISS onto me rightnow ant then ten compliment ONLY THIS WAY shall going tobed upon time"

[flockdynamics]

Hey there! I’ve been reading your blog for a while (found you from askbirdbloggers) and finally decided to start my own birdie blog! I recall reading a while back that you are open to receiving links, so if you’re interested you can find my flock at http://hullonico.tumblr.com/! <3 I’m still learning how to do this whole tumblr thing, but I think I’m starting to get the hang of it, haha.

Me: Okay finally gonna start  answering things now that I have internet!! But sure, I'll post this; you have some adorable birdies! Check it out bird friends!

[askbirdbloggers]

Hey again bird bloggers! So, I got a response from Amanda on another blog recommending I ask here, so here I am! I've got four 'tiels right now, two babies (3 months old) and two adults. I really need to get a new larger cage for them all (currently I have two smaller cages) but the problem is that they hate being separated. I was wondering if you guys have some suggestions for good cage dimensions for four 'tiels? They spend most of their time out of the cage btw, as I work from home.

I really don't think 4 'tiels should be housed together.  It doesn't take a whole lot for them to turn on one another in an enclosed space regardless of the species.

Unless you got an aviary styled cage I don't really see how 4 'tiels in one cage is a feasible thing to do, really each 'tiel should have it's own cage as to prevent territorial and food protective aggression. It never matters if they're related or have lived together since birth, when there's not enough food or not enough space or someone woke up on the wrong side of the perch you could end up coming home to a bleeding 'tiel.

You could work to deter the separation anxiety by keeping the cages near one another or slowly adapting them to being apart and rewarding them when they're away from one another.  Eventually they'll start to learn that being apart is a positive thing with treats and good experiences.  Since you're home most of the day it would make much more sense to work on eliminating the separation anxiety and getting them each their own home.  What might be faint separation problems now can easily turn in to severe aggression if not dealt with so it should really be top priority to sort that out and get them used to the idea of having fun without one another.

- Courtney (thepacificparrotlet)

[askbirdbloggers]

Just an update for you guys, my randy little cockatiel is finally chilling out a bit and leaving her perches alone for the most part. It took some constant vigilance and consistent discouragment not to mention lots of distraction/attention to help chill out her hormones, but after about a week of this she's stopped trying to make it with the branches as much. Longer nights, a changing environment, and food control really do help a ton with these behaviors!

That's great to hear, I hope she continues to progress this way. Hopefully she'll quit getting it on with the branches and she'll grow up to be one super healthy 'tiel!

Thanks for the update!

- Courtney (thepacificparrotlet)

[askbirdbloggers]

Thanks for confirming my suspicion about discouraging my baby cockatiel from masturbating; I've been doing some research on how to go about discouraging it but nothing seems to be working. I've got them on 12 hour nights right now, have been moving their perches/toys around every day, and there are definitely no nesting areas. But regardless of what I do, she goes straight for any perch available and starts up again when I'm not looking! Any other tips or tricks on discouraging this behavior?

Remove an excess of food, watch that there aren't copious amounts of calcium in the diet and try to distract her from the behaviour.

I haven't had to deal with masturbating birds so I don't have any personal tricks.  The best thing I can say is to just keep the environment as changing as possible, the less homey it feels the less likely she will be in the mood to masturbate.  Try to see if there's anything triggering this behaviour, maybe a certain bird walks by, a sound, a certain food you fed that day the temperature anything that might be setting her off and try to change that.

If all else fails do you best to distract her, hide food so she has to work for it, spend a little extra time handling her and just do your best to keep her mind elsewhere.

Any of the mods or followers have some personal tips/ tricks to deal with masturbating birds?

- Courtney (thepacificparrotlet)

[askbirdbloggers]

Hey again, thanks for answering my question about my baby cockatiels egg-sitting, but now I've got another question for you guys! One of the babies who I'm pretty sure is a female has been masturbating on one of the perches (I cleaned it thoroughly when I saw her doing it to make sure she wouldn't get an infection), should I discourage this behavior? They're 77 days old right now. My male used to do it before I got my female, but he was much older when he started up, about a year old.

Yes this behaviour should be discouraged, it not only risks causing infections and other internal issues but it encourages hormonal frequencies which causes birds to become aggressive.

Unless you are a registered breeder there should not be reason to encourage these hormonal behaviours.

- Courtney (thepacificparrotlet)

[askbirdbloggers]

I have two healthy adult cockatiels that recently raised two babies, (took them all to the vet last weekend and everyone is totally fine!) But my female laid a new clutch of eggs while the babies were adjusting to leaving the nest area, and now the two month old babies are trying to sit on the eggs. I do my best to separate them from the nesting area (sterilized right after laying, because we can't handle another batch of babies) but they are so curious! Should I be worried?

Sorry this took so long!  I have no experience with young cockatiels, so I was waiting for someone with more experience to answer it.  I would think that it's okay--at two months, the babies are probably not old enough to get their hormones stimulated by sitting on eggs, and as the eggs aren't fertile, there's no danger of the babies killing any chicks that might be developing.

Sorry I don't have a better answer!  If someone more knowledgeable wants to jump in here, please do!

- Jamie