Any bird lovers out there?

[DarkHorse]

Everyone loves talking about thier pets, but since I live in an apartment and want a large dog it will be a while before I can get one so...

I would love to talk about any birds that people may have! I have a quaker parrot, Toby, that is spoiled rotten and a super cute budgie(parakeet) that is named Jack Sparrow after a certain movie character. :D

Is there anyone else out there that has birds? I would love to share!!

[mb1197]

I have a bird....and two cats and a puppy.:D It's quite a full house for us, but they all seem to get along. Here's a few pictures for you.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5ce00b3127cce94ec8e33be2900000016108QcuG7Vs3Z-
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4cc09b3127cce9ec101dabca900000015108QcuG7Vs3Z-
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4cc09b3127cce9ec101d8bcab00000016108QcuG7Vs3Z-

[DarkHorse]

Your cat and your bird together are so cute! I love that they can play together. Your budgie also has such an intense teal color it is very pretty. Does he/she sing, mimic, or talk at all?

Any more bird lovers?

[EveWasFramed]

I have a Quaker Parrot named Scout and I absolutely adore her. She was hatched in June and we got her in August... she's talking up a storm and just generally being a cutie pie! I love to talk about her so I hope this thread livens up! :p

I would have a heart attack if any of my cats got that close to Scout!


Here she is!

http://www.saintadvertising.com/images/Scout.jpg

[DarkHorse]

Yay! Another Quaker owner! I would love to chat about our birds. Mine is six years old and doesn't talk as much as I would like. She can say "Hi," "Toby," "Momma," "what" (with an attitude), "out" (when she wants out of her cage). But thats about it.

What can Scout say?

[EveWasFramed]

Yay someone else is awake! I'm so bored but not quite ready for bed! :)

So far she says:

Hello
Hi
Step up
Kisses
No!
Good Girl
Thirsty
Scout is!

I talk to her a lot when I'm with her and I try to say the same things over and over again. I always say "step up" when I take her out of her cage and "kisses" when I kiss her beak. I always ask her "Who's a good girl?" and answer "Scout is!" and now she answers sometimes too. When I change her water I say "Do you want some water? Are you thirsty?" and she's picked up on some of that I guess. I'm trying to get her to say "I love you" but no dice yet. :) It was a riot when she said "No!" for the first time because I was actually yelling at my cat and Scout was on my shoulder and I yelled "No!" and then so did she. I cracked up! She only seems to say things when they're relevant. I also leave the radio on for her during the day so maybe she picks up talking from that somewhat? I know she's working on saying other things cause I can hear her chattering away to herself when I'm in the living room and she's in her room. She seems to like to practice a word before she debuts it! :D

I assume your bird's name is Toby. Do you know if it's a male or a female? We paid $60 to get her sexed which was expensive, but worth it, I think. Females can egg bind and I might not look for it if I didn't know she was a girl. We thought she was a boy for the first 10 days we had her so I had to change my pronouns around! I'm glad she's a girl, but not for any good reason!

Where did you get your bird? Scout came from a breeder in Springfield, MA.

[DarkHorse]

Yeah, I am always up late. I should be studying for a midterm but that seems so boring.

Yes, my bird's name is Toby, she is a girl, and she is 6 yrs old. We had her DNA sexed as well but that was a while ago so I don't remember how much it was, but $60 sounds about right. That is great that your bird talks so much. I really wish I could get Toby to talk more, but she seems very content to repeat her words over and over for hours at a time. A funny story is I think she got "what" by saying "momma" to me and I would say "what" back.

On top of the words she says she also makes a kissing noise, popping noise, and a zipper noise. It is really funny.

I have never had any problems with her egg binding. I was always thought egg binding was more common in smaller birds. I got her from (gasp) PetsMart and they said they got her from a breeder in Washington State.

Does Scout do any tricks at all? I am attempting to teach Toby some tricks like high five and fetch a ball. I am getting mixed results. She keeps getting high five and step up mixed up now. :rolleyes:

[mb1197]

Your cat and your bird together are so cute! I love that they can play together. Your budgie also has such an intense teal color it is very pretty. Does he/she sing, mimic, or talk at all?

Any more bird lovers?
That's the only cat I trust enough to be with our bird and always in an enclosed space where I can watch them carefully. Although they are great together you just never know....:rolleyes:

He doesn't talk, but man is he a chatterer!

[kristin9903]

EveWasFramed and mb1197 What cute birds you have!

We have 2 birds: Steve and Reggie. Both of them were "special needs" rescues that Dh acquired while in vet school.

Steve is a Cockatiel. He has one wing, one eye, and 3 toes. He's a very angry bird, and doesn't like people all that much. We tried to socialize him, but to no avail. We don't have any pictures of him because everytime I try, he freaks out. And when Steve freaks out, it could really hurt him because he can't fly and has no balance.

Reggie is our Greenwing Macaw. He was left at the vet school with aspiration pneumonia as a baby, and wasn't expected to live. DH nursed him back to health, and he's now almost 3 years old.

He talks and is VERY loud. He says:
Hi
Hello
Hi Reggie
Reggie Bird!!!!
oooooooh (when he gets a treat)
I love you!
Yea!
Cori (the name of our Cocker Spaniel)
Nigel (the name of our Yorkie)
Meow
Good bird
Bad bird
Ow

He also makes kissing noises whenever I smooch him on the beak and he sings, too. He doesn't know lyrics yet, but he does runs like a pro. :)

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d800b3127cce9c2b4923747600000015108Aasmblo3atD

[DarkHorse]

Hi kristin9903 I'm excited that there are more bird owners out there! Yay!
Your cockatiel sounds like a cockatiel I had after a stupid vet got ahold of her. We took her in because she got sores on her feet. The vet wrapped her feet in bandages, but wrapped them so tight that her toes lost circulation and she lost all but three of her toes. :mad: I was so mad at that vet, but that is a whole other topic...

Anyway, I love your macaw and that's great that he can say all those words. Toby makes kissing noises when I give her kisses too! I do wish she would talk more, though.:rolleyes:

mb1197 My budgie, Jack, doesn't talk either, but he sure does chatter too. He mimicks all the birds outside, Toby, and does a perfect impression of our guinea pig's squeal/squeak. He loves to practice all of his noises all day long. It can get really annoying sometimes, though.

It was really funny last night. I gave Toby a bath and put one of her rubber duckies in the water with her and she loved it. She took the longest bath I had ever seen and was splashing and playing with her toy, it was so cute. Then when she was finished she tossed her duckie out of the water and got out too. It was like she was saying that it was time for them both to be done with their bath. I should have taken a picture.

Speaking of which I really need to post a picture of my featherbabies since all of you have posted yours.

See ya!

[Spooky_Eyes]

Any other bird lovers here?

I adore birds and have had pet birds most of my life, starting when I was 11 and bought my first parakeet. Right now I have two cockatiels; we had a conure but I had to find him a new home because with work, college, and my 4 year old son, I couldn't give him enough attention.

When I go to the pet store, I stop in the bird section and could literally spend hours watching the birds play. I want to take them all home with me and am waiting for the day that hubby and I own a house so I can transform a spare bedroom into my own "aviary".

Anyone else share my love of feathered (rather than furry) friends?

(PS...I have nothing against dogs or cats...I can live with them, or without them...)

[Tonysweetie]

I love birds! I would love to have a bird but DH wouldn't have it. I used to work at a bird/reptile pet shop after I graduated HS and this cute little baby Quaker Parrot came in the store. It was so tiny we had to hand feed it. I got sooo attached to that bird. I taught him how to give kisses, hehe. He sat on my shoulder most of the work shift. I was happy when someone finally bought him but was sad to see him go. I used to have one as a kid and she was just really cool.

[Darlene&Scott]

I have a 16 year old cockatiel named Leo and I love her to bits (yes it has a boy name...we thought she was a boy until she laid an egg one day lol)

I'd really love an african gray but I can't commit that much time to one right now :-P

[DarkHorse]

I think I started a thread about this last year! I love birds! I have a quaker parrot named Toby and a budgie named Jack Sparrow. They are both girls even though they kinda have boy names. I would love to get a conure, but I don't have time right now for any more than I have. Although I do keep trying to convince DH that we need another budgie to keep Jack entertained. ;) I also agree that I love going into the bird section and watching the birds.

I would love to see pictures if any of you have some!

[Spooky_Eyes]

That's funny about the boy names for girls...both of my cockatiels are girls, and one of them is named Rufus. The other one we adopted from someone I knew at work and kept the name she already had, Jessie.

The picture of the cockatiel is Rufus (I don't have any of Jessie on my computer), and the other is of the conure we had for a year (I miss him!).

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75/parvarana/pax3.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75/parvarana/roo.jpg

[Daisy]

I don't have any birds, but my parents do and I grew up with one of them - they are bird fanatics!

They have a blue and gold macaw, Kiwi, who is 20 years old. She was originally given up by her old owner, Carl, when she was 9. She is a bit of a feather plucker and has a massive vocabulary.

A couple of years ago, they added a scarlet macaw to the family, Ruby. She is probably 2-3 years old now and still has some of her 'baby' face. Her vocab isn't as extensive as Kiwi's, but it's not bad either.

When my parents built the house they're in now, they designated a room to be the bird room and outfitted it with a built in humidifier and storage/counter/sink area. The room also has big windows that look out on to a fountain/pond. Those birds are so spoiled!

Some of the things Kiwi likes to say on a regular basis:
Hello, how are you?
I love you sweetheart
Good night sweetheart
Here kitty kitty
Row, row, row your boat
quack, quack, quack
Good girl
Be quiet
Weeeeeeee
Come here
Step up
Okay
Would you like some breakfast?
Want some? Mmmmmmmmm.
That's good.
Would you like a peanut/some crackers?
No/Kiwi no
Get over here/get over there
She can say all of our first names
She says hello, how are you? when the phone rings
She can laugh like a human when other humans are laughing
That's all I can think of for now!

Writing this makes me excited to see them over the holiday!

[Sarah Smyth]

Do you guys let your birds fly around?
Just curious.

[Sidhe]

hey I have 3 birds. 2 Cockatiels (one a grey called Sage and the other a yellow called Peeper) and also a male red sided eclectus parrot. I'll figure out how to post a picture and put them up here. The cockatiels don't talk, but my Eclectus (Oscar) does. He's a baby still, only a year and a half. I'm bonkers for them.

[LRL]

I have a lovebird who is about 10 years old. Her name is "baby", original, I know! She is SO loud, and lately I was not spending the time with her that I should, so she is over at my MIL's house now. The birdseed on the floor was becoming an issue with our crawling 10 month old. This bird is totally attached to me, and will bite anyone else who comes near her (not entirely charming, eh?). I taught her how to give kisses, and she does a cat-call. I am not sure that I will be getting any more birds in the near future though. IMO they are more work than a cat and dog, and it is sad when they can't be given undivided attention for at least an hour a day. I used to let my bird sit on my shoulder and fly around a little bit- I really don't like clipping her wings too much.

[DarkHorse]

Do you guys let your birds fly around?
Just curious.

I would never let my birds fly around because it is just too dangerous. I let my first birds (two cockatiels) fly around during supervised times only and one of them was killed when she crashed into a wall. My budgie gets his wings trimmed whenever he gets enough lift to fly. One day he was able to do a loop around the living room before we realized he had enough feathers to fly. The only problem was the stove was on and he went right over the top of it. :eek: I just about had a heart attack. Ever since then all he has to do is show he can get a little lift and I clip his feathers. Flying into something dangerous is one accident that I can avoid!

[ManteoChik]

SO's parents have an African Gray....I'm guessing he's at least 7 years old because they've had him ever since SO and I started dating and that was seven years ago so he's probably a little older. His name is Cramer, but they tend to call him "BooBoo".

He's hilarious and has a whole vacabulary. Its been seven years and I still can't bring myself to actually touch him...lol. I will feed him out of my hand and rub his back. I've picked him up before but it just freaks me out. SO keeps telling me that I better get used to it because they live a long time and we'll be getting it after his parents are gone.

As for having a bird with other pets...when they got Cramer they already had two dogs - a black lab and a hotdog. The dogs all live in peace and Cramer would feed them. They'd lay under his perch in the kitchen and if you'd hand the bird some food he'd drop it on the floor for the dogs to catch. Also, he used to ride around the house on the lab's back.

Both of their dogs have died of old age but we take our 2 year old lab with us to their house for long periods of time and its no problem with the bird. I will agree that its a huge amount of work though.

[dreamgirly]

We have a blue-crowned conure (looks exactly like "Polly" in the movie). I've had him for 18 years, so I am assuming it's a "he" as there have been no eggs to this point. We never had him sexed. Since I got him when I was young, my parents didn't really know what you were supposed to do with a bird so it was "up to me" ... and I didn't really think it mattered, so that's why we assume our bird is a boy.

We don't cut the feathers - when he is out of his cage, the fans/stove are off, he has plenty of experience flying, so he's free to fly, we just keep watch on him to keep a towel under him when he lands. He only likes to be on shoulders for about 30 minutes. Then he starts preening (digging in your scalp, pulling my husband's facial hair, etc) and is cranky so we put him back up. My grandfather named him when he gave him to me, but we don't call him by that name, we say "Birdie." We also have a shih-tzu and they terrorize each other a little bit - my bird can hold his own though- and they're fine together.

He loves loves loves bathtime:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/nibbles24_7/babybird.jpg?t=1168270702

and with our shihtzu:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/nibbles24_7/birdie_puppydog.jpg?t=1168270725

[NotDesperate]

If anyone lives in the DE/MD/NJ/PA area, my mom has a young, blue parakeet (plus the cage and accessories) that she would like to find a home for.

She wanted to get it as company for her Cockateil but it didn't work out.

I think actually she wouldn't mind finding a new home for the Cockatiel either. He is about 2-3 years old and sings a lot.

Just so you know, she isn't in the habit of getting animals and then getting rid of them. She told my dad she wanted a canary and he got her the Cockatiel instead because he thought it would be funner. Soo, while she likes the little guy (the bird, not my dad- haha), it isn't what she wants.

So if anyone is interested, PM or email me (katiekuras@comcast.net).

Thanks

[meganth]

I know this thread is old but i was hoping somebody could give me advice.

I have a parakeet that i found outside almost five years ago. I have no clue how old she is.

My problem is that her face has started to turn pink. I can't figure out what would cause it. I haven't changed her food or anything.

The only thing i found online was something to do with minerals/vitamins - similar to a flamingo's feathers. But that wouldn't make sense (to me at least!) because i haven't changed anything.

Anybody have any ideas?