Animal Stories - People Talking About Birds



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Latest Animal Stories on Birds (4282)

dibya - 2011-07-27
I had a pair of black masked love birds, living together for 2 months,but they are too scared of anyone, and they are kept in the living room, so there is always someone there for them to get used to us. Even when I change their food, they get sooooo frightened. They dont eat anything except grass seeds. Is there something wrong?

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Charlie Roche - 2011-07-28
I believe they just were never handled and all they had to eat was the seed. Try and feed them with your hand - any kind of treat. They should like little pieces of millet, maybe apple - you can just cut up a long string of millet and give them an inch piece. Try and get them used to your hands. Think if you were that size and a hand the entire size of your body was coming at you - would you be scared? So go slow. Try and coaz them out of the cage a little (where they won't be trpped fleeing from the hand) and continue to introduce new foods, pieces of treat etc with your hand. There isn't anything WRONG they were just never handled. It will take awhile but they should come around to loving humans too. Go slow.
Anonymous - 2011-07-29
Thank you charlie for your suggestion...............
Anonymous - 2011-07-29
Would I consult you when ever i got problem with my birds???????????
Charlie Roche - 2011-07-29
I had lots of birds and bred for many years but I am not a vet. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there really are many avian vets outside of breeding territories in Fl and CA. There are a whole lot of sanctuaries and small breeders that are usually pretty local that have ideas. I'll help if I can but best to know and learn. Now I think this works. There is a little picture of one of my birds with my name Charlie. That takes you to a facebook account and about 200 people that are parrot crazy (like me). There are vets, breeders and parrot lovers. Join, click to be a friend and there about 200 people to ask questions. Most are sanctuaries, breeders and/or vets and from all over the world. Just started it for Animal World. OK????
hava - 2012-01-28
I rescued a black masked couple (one year old) they were in a very very smal cage without nothing inside, and very afraid of people. They are with me now already 3 months. There is a big progress, they now have 5 babies (20 days old) and the male steped twice in my arms! I spend every day 15 minuts with them, start with slices of apple, i offered them with my hand, throug the bars of the cage, and sunflour seads. Little by little they got to know me and are much more relaxed with me. The day they arrived I cliped their wings and it help alot,so they woundt fly when i was closed by, now they are full flight, but not scared when i get close to them. One thing also, at the bigining, i took their food plate out from the cage, and after few hours, i would come to the cage with seads, offer to them with my hands, they were hungry so they had to try to eat from my fingers. Good luck and much patiente!
Donna Wilson - 2012-11-16
I am very proud of you doing that, I am going to be getting a black mask baby in about 2 months, but I have 5 other lovebirds and some are afraid of me and after reading your post I have hope to gain the trust of them some day.

Deborah Pearson - 2012-10-14
As you can see by my name, I am the owner of the pictured bird. That picture was one of the first I took after acquiring him. He was a rescue and totally unhandlable when I brought him home and named him BIRDIE. It took over a month of sitting in the same room and reading and spending time to finally get him out of the cage- another couple weeks of getting on the stick, then a couple weeks of walking around the house with him on the stick to move him to his day cage in the computer room. I had never had a macaw before and must say if Birdie is a 'usual' Ruby I highly recommend them. He is an only bird and does not and never has been a screamed. His day cage is in front of a sliding glass door and he will let out a startled squawk if a hawk swoops by and when home alone a few squawks at sunset but not the continual ear bleeding screams some macaws subject their owners to. His being a nonscreamer may be due to his being an only bird which means no other bird to scream to and we do not share our time with another bird. Whenever we are home his cage door is open and when he wants company will slide down the side of the cage and cruise over to climb up my leg to spend time. He has picked up quite a vocabulary as well as what we call bird 'Morse code' tapping. In the subsequent years since that picture was taken, he has transformed from an unhandlable pile of feathers to a friendly, easy to work with, wonderful pet both of us can handle. Just be prepared as there are a lot of people who fervently dislike cross-breeding any birds. While such an attitude is understandable as macaws are no longer imported so the pure breeding stock is limited, once the deed is done, giving the off-spring a good home is all that counts, and my Ruby has been a delight.

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Clarice Brough - 2012-10-14
Thanks so much for sharing your story. Your bird is truly awesome. I love the picture and its great to have you share your experience and history with this beautiful creature. How awesome, you've got a great bird!

And thanks again Deborah, for sharing that picture. That was way back in 2004, and at that time you told us it was the first photo you took of him. You did a great job and Birdie's picture was the only example we had for several years. It has really helped to have Birdie's portrait for people to see what the Ruby Macaw looks like. So many, many thanks!

LORA - 2012-11-06
HELP! I RESCUED A severe macaw 2 days ago. He's 10. I'm in complete and total love but I would like to find out a few things to be able to take good care of him. His previous owner died. He was in a dark pet store in a dirty cage. He has 2 broken feathers on each wing. Does any one know what I can do to help his feathers?

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Charlie Roche - 2012-11-06
Congratulations and if you love him - I am sure he loves you. Then you just have to understand each others language and you will learn to obey him and all will be well. Joking but they seem to have a way about them that will tell you what it is that they want and like. The two feathers. If it is just the ends - I would just take a pair of scissors and while you pull his wing out saying pretty - cut the tip off where it is broken. I would just remove the scraggly end so it doesn't prickle or itch him. Then start bathing him with an aloe bird bath - spritz him down cuz fathers might be dry. He might even like a shower -

Slim - 2010-12-20
Hello

I'm living in Lafayette, Louisiana and I'm looking to buy a pair of Belgian Fancy Canarys.

I can drive anywhere less that 300 mile to pick them up.

Thank you

irma reyeros - 2011-06-01
I found a cherry head conure, he fell from his moms nest. I nursed it back to a healthy parrot. However, I never wanted to trim her wings because I always thought if he flew away hell find many of his brothers and sisters in the area where I found him. But... I have been so sad because I kept him for a year and he was such an amazing bird. Very lovable, affectionate and good companion. I just did not think it was fare for me to keep him in captivity.

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Charlie Roche - 2011-06-01
All a person can do is make the best decisions they can on the days they make them. I am glad you got to enjoy her for awhile and saved her life.

EDUARDO FELICIANO - 2010-07-12
My comment is that have for lovebirds mother father son and daughter. I raised them all from young but one of the birds (daughter) has a scab on her wing and i have been try to cure with no success. I thought it was because of fighting at first but know i'm not so sure. What can i do about this problem i love this bird a lot she is very attached to me and can't fly very well because of this. Is there any kind of medication i can use for this problem?

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Charlie Roche - 2012-11-28
I think you need to figure out what the 'scab' is. Sounds like it might be a broken blood feather in which case it looks like a scab, feels like a scab but is a broken blood feather that won't go away and will need to ber pulled out. I am not sure but no reason a scab should just remain - but broken blood feather seems to stay embedded forever. It also bothers them so they wouldn't fly and they possibly pick at it. If you think a scab - possibly you can soak the scab in a water peroxide solution and maybe it will just come off. At least you would be able to see what it was. How about a vet around you?

caren - 2011-08-16
My redheaded conure was abused before I got it. It's plucking it's plucking it's feathers out. How do I get it to stop plucking.

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Charlie Roche - 2011-08-16
WOW that is not fun and real rough to deal with. So much information and so many articles have been written - it can make a person nuts. In summary, most agree that birds pluck because they get stressed or bored. How to get out of the circle is the problem. First, try bathing with an aloe bird rinse - as the aloe seems to soothe the itching. Second, there are things like foragining toys or straw toys that they can easily tear apart and that seems to help. Letting them tear down paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls, seems to help. Those toys where you put a roll of paper (cash register roll) and they pull it off and chew it up seems to help. Leaving them with movies like surfs up, cartoons with music seems to help.

Giving them lots of attention, cuddle, talking any sort of stimulation seems to help. There is also those plastic collars which prevent them from chewing but conures really don't like them. I would try the toys, attention, bathing, aloe and even pieces of paper for them to chew up before I would try the collar and I don't know that I would try a collar on a conure.

It isn't your fault. It isn't something you do. It is something where in the wild they would be busy 100% of the time just getting enough to eat. In captivity without stimulation, flocks and just attmpting to survive, some have a tendency to pluck. You have abuse and it is hard to turn around so just be patient and remember it looks like YUK to you but he thinks he is pretty. Now is a good time to start with toys, paper, bathing etc cuz molting. Some also just pluck during molting cuz the new feathers coming in itch them or prickle them. Conures usually love bathing and I pout mine in the kitchen sink with the sprinkerl on - he loves it. Makes a mess but he loves it.

tara - 2012-09-02
I have a dusky Conure Willy. he is such a joy, my kids spend all thier time with him. He gets alot of love and he loves it. I have a concern about him though just last night he started shivering and been bit lathargic. I am really worried about him and can't wait till Monday to take him to the vet. Any Idea what those symptoms might be?? Can't imagin that something bad would happen to beautiful Willy.

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Charlie Roche - 2012-09-02
I would get him to the vet as soon as possible - preferably before tues. Till you can get him to the vet place a heating pad wrapped in a towel on low underneath or even inside his cage. You can also shine a light onto his cage. You need to keep him warm.

Mary - 2012-04-10
I had to go away on a trip (which is not the first time) and had my daughter caring for my two parrots a dusky conure and a quaker. They have both been together ever since I brought them home from the nursery 8 years ago. Now my quaker (Sierra) has throughout the years tried to mate with my conure (Duskie). I had been told they were both male...I do understand that sometimes mistakes happen and it doesn't matter because they are my family. But to get back to my question. When I came home there were two eggs at the bottom of the cage. I have to assume that Duskie laid them since it is always Sierra who tries to ride Duskie. I know nothing about breeding. Is it possible that the eggs were fertilized by my quaker?

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Charlie Roche - 2012-04-10
Well, it is pretty obvious that one of them isn't a male. Yes, it is possible that a quacker can/will mate with a conure. Speices do cross mate. The egss may not be fertile as it usually takes a pair a clutch or two to cath on to what it is they are supposed to be doing. However, if the eggs are fertile and hatch - just enjoy them and welcome to motherhood. Some folks are just tootally opposed to cross breeding anything. The way I look at it - most of us in the United States are cross bred. My dad was Norwegian and my mom Scottish. My cousins dog is a yorkie poo - part yorkie and part poodle. So if someone is against it - hey ask them their background. The babies from this match will be adorable and obviously great pets. You can see photos of the cross at Conure Quaker Hybrid

Suzanne - 2011-06-25
I have a dusky conure named yogi. I have had him for 27 years and love him to pieces. All of a sudden he is laying eggs. He/she never did this before.
What can I do? Yogi has laid 2 eggs so far and he pushes them down to the bottom of his cage and leaves them there. Any idea what I can do ?

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Charlie Roche - 2011-06-26
Leave the eggs there about 10 days or so. If you remove them right away - there is a chance she might double clutch and lay two more. No reason to do that but it happens. If she is totally ignoring them thenjust remove them. Females (all females) have eggs and when it comes to birds, sometimes out of no where for no apparent reason, she just lays them. It isn't something you do or don't do - it is just nature.
Suzanne - 2011-06-27
Thank you for your answer. But when I bought the bird it was a Male at least that is what the breeder told me Yogi was? How come after having her/him for 27 years that now he/she is laying eggs? I have had him/her since Yogi was 6months old.. Thanks for the info. Suzanne
Charlie Roche - 2011-06-27
The breeder could have believed that Yogi was a male. They actually could have had the little thing DNA sexed and been told it was a male but sometimes labs make mistakes. Some females birds will live 50 years or more and never lay an egg at all. Some will lay eggs fairly consistently every year. I don't know why your little he/she would decide to wait 27 years and lay an egg or why she laid an egg at all. I do know whether after two years or after 35 years, it is not abnormal. It just happens. Now there is one other thing, I did not think to ask, but by any chance did you happen to add a new bird into your family?
Suzanne - 2011-07-01
No new birds at all. I just have Yogi and Kasper my cockatoo. They are in seperate cages and across the room from each other and have been for 8 years like this. I got Yogi 1985 (born) at 6 months of age. And Kasper born 1989 and got him 6 months of age. Yogi is 26 not 27..Yogi has layed 3 eggs now, but all on bottom of cage. He won't let me take any of them away but does not bother with them at all. They just sit there.
Charlie Roche - 2011-07-02
I've had birds for years and this would definitely puzzle me also. Pickles is a Panama Amazon and ever since she turned around 15 years old, she has laid 1 or 2 eggs every spring. She doesn't sit them. They are not fertile. She gets totally bored with them afte a couple of weks and I just remove them. She is not pleasant around this time but when the eggs are removed, she returns back to her normal self. Good luck.
Suzanne - 2011-07-03
Ok! thanks for the input. She does hug onto a toy that has beads on it. I have taken away 1 egg cause it got smashed, she did not like it but since I have left the other 2 there she is ok with it. Now she is biting her house that she sleeps in looks like an A frame but open at both ends, this is her second house, the other one she ripped apart also. I will just wait and see. Thanks so much for the information. Sue

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