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Post by aaron on Apr 4, 2017 10:27:01 GMT -5
She's not going to hate you over that. She loves you! If she was going to have a strong reaction, you would most likely know already. She's just reluctant because something is different and she's processing it. But it sounds like it's fine
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Post by aaron on Apr 3, 2017 23:02:03 GMT -5
Cupcake sort of has free reign. She's flighted, and when we are home, she is out of her cage, with very little exception. She obviously cannot do everything she pleases, or go unsupervised, but she goes where she pleases, for the most part, which hinges on the fact that she generally wants to be where we are. We will allow her to sit and relax on the bathroom door by herself when we are around the corner in the living room, but she knows that if she decides to break our trust and start exploring the bathroom while we aren't there, and we catch her, she won't be allowed to sit on the door, so she is generally a good girl and stays on the door. That bathroom is bird-proofed, anyhow, so it isn't much of a gamble. But aside from that scenario, she generally chooses to be where we are. If she does happen to decide to go check out a different room without us, someone will go retrieve her. If she is going between people in different rooms, we communicate to make sure that someone knows where the bird is. So, she doesn't truly have free reign, but I think she feels at least some sense of autonomy In general, she does pretty well with sticking to the rules... about as much as you can expect from a parrot. I'd love to give her more freedom, but I don't really think there's any practical way to do that in our circumstances. But I generally feel like the more she feels in control of her destiny, the happier she is. Cupcake can eat as many pellets, cucumber slices, or lentil sprouts as she wants. Other things are given more sparingly. Quakers do pig out, so you want to make sure that fattening foods are limited. We give her pumpkin seeds as treats, among other things. I do think I need to give her less of them, actually. I need to weigh her again, come to think of it.
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Phew!
Apr 3, 2017 22:47:57 GMT -5
Post by aaron on Apr 3, 2017 22:47:57 GMT -5
Welcome back! Glad to hear things are going well! Of course you know this, but during hormonal times, proper sleep schedule is really important... 12+ hours of darkness a day, and avoiding experiences that might give off a nest vibe... All helps with Cupcake a lot. When she bites us, if it is more than a communicative nip, she gets brief, but immediate cage time. Generally 1-2 minutes. Then she ideally goes right back into the same situation that triggered her to bite. It definitely works, at least for now That said, the majority of her bites are because she wants something or we are taking her away from somewhere she wants to be. The only bites I would consider to be triggered by hormonal aggression are the ones that are triggered by certain objects, like my beard trimmer. Those bites are different and more vicious... and I'm not sure how one would prevent them, and it sounds like that might be the kind of bite you're dealing with. I just try to avoid those situations, like you guys seem to be doing.
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Post by aaron on Mar 31, 2017 23:01:21 GMT -5
Great news biteybird!! Congrats!!
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Post by aaron on Mar 31, 2017 22:54:20 GMT -5
Could go either way... definitely don't let it go on too long without a checkup. It definitely could be manipulation, but if the overall amount of food that Pidge is eating has decreased substantially, that it something you should definitely be wary of.
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Post by aaron on Mar 31, 2017 22:50:59 GMT -5
Glad to hear it!!
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Post by aaron on Mar 30, 2017 23:17:25 GMT -5
I do agree that birds in pet store deserve good homes too. I'm so grateful that we ended up with Cupcake. She's such an important part of our family. I hate that places like Petco sell birds, though... despite having gotten Cupcake there. They are far too complicated creatures to be sold this way. Most of them sold there probably do not get good homes. But of course they are all deserving of a good home... If you feel a strong connection with one, definitely go for it. That's what happened with us and Cupcake. I felt extremely drawn to her-- without even interacting with her all that much. I saw and talked to her repeatedly (like 10+ times) because we were at the pet store regularly buying supplies a different reason... but I never held her. I had an idea of how much work birds are from prior experience, and wasn't about to make that committment for our whole family... but I kept talking about Cupcake to my family, nonetheless... I was mostly joking, not really expecting anything to come of it, but they then surprised me with her (another thing I would never recommend)... We had little-to-no idea what we were doing. But five years later, I can say it feels meant to be. There have been ups and down, but she is a genuinely good bird that is extrordinarily sweet and really loves her flock... she's a huge part of our family and is highly cherished. These Quakers are special birds. At any rate, if we were ever to get another bird, I'd definitely try to rescue... but I don't forsee additional birds in our future any time soon. Maybe in a decade or two.
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Post by aaron on Mar 29, 2017 23:01:59 GMT -5
Happy gotcha day to you both!!!
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Post by aaron on Mar 29, 2017 23:00:55 GMT -5
It sounds like you have the right idea. I'm sure she will get more comfortable as time goes on. Patience is key with these little guys for sure. Let us know how it goes with the test drives!
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Post by aaron on Mar 29, 2017 19:07:57 GMT -5
We got Cupcake from a pet store, and we would never do it again, simply because we wouldn't want to support birds being sold at pet stores... but she turned out to be an excellent companion parrot.
I wonder why the band is bothering the little guy... Is it metal? Cupcake's is some kind of other material and it doesn't seem to bother her at all. It's required by law here in Virginia, so it's here to stay.
I wonder when the last time was that a state outlawed Quakers... I feel like it's fairly unlikely that more states will outlaw them at this point, but that's really only a hunch... I could be totally wrong.
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Post by aaron on Mar 28, 2017 14:04:24 GMT -5
Cupcake is out all the time, and toys are generally of no interest, especially if nobody is willing to play with them with her. Sometimes she will get into it if we also show interest... but she wants attention from us, and the toys are clearly no substitute. Interestingly, she gets the most mileage out of the simplest toys-- little wicker rings that she slowly destroys over weeks... Even those, however, will only hold her attention for 5 minutes, maybe 10, tops.
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Post by aaron on Mar 28, 2017 9:45:45 GMT -5
I would try test drives... Maybe just try taking her out to the car and sitting in the car for a few minutes... drive around the block if it seems okay... then go back inside. Gradually work up to longer times based on her response... if she seems to be fine it doesn't have to be very gradual. If she seems really stressed, you will probably want to move slow.
But I do agree that it would be a good idea to get her seen by a vet-- especially if you can't identify any common factors that might be triggers for the anxiety behavior. She seems awfully young to be so stressed out for no clear reason, but I guess it's possible that she is just easily scared, or she went through something traumatic earlier in life? Hard to say, obviously. Poor little girl!
That said, maybe you can call the vet and describe the situation to them and see if they feel there is anything they will be able to do. Have you been able to identify how far the closest actual avian vet is, just in case?
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Post by aaron on Mar 27, 2017 23:14:07 GMT -5
Cupcake goes to my parents' house in a small but functional-enough travel cage-- they have a cockatiel. The birds definitely entertain each other to some extent, but they don't really interact. Cupcake definitely scares the cockatiel (everything does)... But my parents give her lots of attention, so she loves it. I think this kind of situation is fairly ideal, but not easy to come by. My vet says that he would always recommend the bird stay in its' own environment if at all possible, but that birds tend to get some entertainment out of being boarded temporarily because it's kind of like "bird camp", so it's not that bad... Personally we've never boarded Cupcake once in over 5 years, and I'm sure we will have to eventually, but we just haven't wanted to if we could avoid it, and thus far we have. I'm not sure if that was the right move, but she is a flighted bird that flies a lot, and I don't really want to cage her for days on end... that said, I feel like it's an option that would be useful to have. A trial run feels like the right way to do it... When we do board her, we intend to stage very short term visits to the vet to board her for first a matter of hours, and then maybe a day. I want her to be sure we are coming back when we leave her for more than a day. Hopefully it works.
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Post by aaron on Mar 27, 2017 23:00:34 GMT -5
Welcome aboard! Yeah, each Quaker writes their own manual, that's for sure. And no, they don't generally let you read it
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Post by aaron on Mar 26, 2017 22:37:42 GMT -5
They definitely can have what seem like totally random moods. I can't claim to understand what is behind most of Cupcake's moodiness.. generally it does not seem like hormones, but who knows... maybe they can present in more subtle ways. Cupcake definitely seems to be moodier these days, but she also seems to be actively trying to work with us.. We generally get bitten when she either really wants something we have (food, generally), or finds some object that we have chosen to pick up to be extremely offensive for some reason or another... One of my two beard trimming devices cannot be used in her presence, period. We recently got all new dishes and glasses in the kitchen, and sometimes she gets very angry at the new ones and we get bitten as a result. While they do hurt, 95% of the time these are not bites that break the skin, but I'm pretty sure if I decided to use that beard trimmer with her around there would be blood Those pin feathers must be really annoying for them... luckily my wife is extremely diligent at getting all of Cupcake's pin feathers as soon as they are ready... I don't have the patience and as a result Cupcake barely lets me try, she knows it's better to just have Mom do it I think this strengthens their relationship a lot too. I was proud last night though -- we had a friend over for dinner and Cupcake was very friendly and social (once bribed with some tofu, which she loves)... She was quite a charmer! I think she was very fond of our guest.
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