Hello! New to the indoor caged bird section.

[chicken pickin]

I have been on byc for 5 years now but am very new to the world of indoor caged birds.

My family has been toying with the idea of a bird for a few years. This is mainly because our 11yr old daughter has been infatuated with parrots since she was maybe 7 or 8 years old. She loves any type of parrot and is so knowledgeable about all the different types. She knows more about parrots than most adults i know. She has taken out probably every parrot book from her school library. And birds love her! Even mean birds that are said to bite or only like a certain person, they all seem to like her.

So fast forward a few years to now, she turns 11 next week so we decided it was time for her to start really reasearching a type of parrot that fits what she wants in a bird and also what fits our family. She has always liked the conure so after much reading we learned that the green cheek conure is everything we are looking for. We started looking around our local pet stores, held many birds, one by one spending time with each until she found "the one", they just clicked. Yes the bird was scared being held by strangers and it showed. But she didnt nip or bite, she snuggled with my dd and was sweet as can be. It was adorable to watch.

So we found the one, a cinnamon green check conure who my daughter has named Sunny. Sunny is ours but still at the petstore while we prepare our home for her or him (a dna test will be performed before we bring her home). We visit her at the store so she can get familiar with us so transition to our house will be less scary. We are going to visit her tomorrow

So far we have found a vet and also an after hours emergancy vet just in case. We ordered a cage of of amazon that arrived today and we love it. My dd put it together mostly by herself with a little of my help, she was so happy and she LOVES the new cage. We have also ordered toys and perches. We have been reading so much and watching youtube videos to learn more about conure care, cleaning, feeding, training etc.

Here are some pics of our new parrot. The pics of my dd in the blue sweatshirt was the first time meeting Sunny, the ones with the black shirt are at the first vist after we put a deposit on her. Oh and then the new cage.

We are all super excited! Sorry for the long post.

 

[Ravynscroft]

That is awesome!! And you can see how Sunny and your DD clicked and are bonding!!!

 

[JaeG]

Awww, that's beautiful! She looks besotted (and who wouldn't be with such a pretty bird). Sunny is gorgeous. I bet your dd can't wait to bring her home.

I'm about to try my hand at hand rearing some bourkes parakeet babies. Our daughter (almost 10) is also a bird lover and has wanted a parrot for ages. I find even budgies are too noisy but the bourkes are the quietest, sweetest things. In my country they are only ever viewed as aviary birds, yet hand raised ones sound like they are adorably sweet. They aren't cuddly but my daughter wants a parrot that will sit on her finger or shoulder, and play with her, so bourkes sound perfect for her. She's not cuddly either! We have 4 fertile eggs under one of our hens so are eagerly awaiting them hatching.

Good luck with bringing Sunny home - sounds like she'll be a much loved member of the family.

 

[gpop1]

Very nice. I would suggest buying something like a scrap of carpet or a mat that's about 8" larger than the bottom of the cage. Conure's tend to squat when they go to the toilet which tends to land a few inches out from the cage especially when they are playing on the gym. They also love curtain rails so expect to do a little training. Looks like its going to be one happy bird. The fact that you can hold the bird from behind shows that its a quality hand tame

 

[chicken pickin]

Thanks!

I did already plan for the mess. The cage came with seed guards but i didnt put them on. I ordered a clear plastic floor mat, the kind that goes under desks for office chairs. Also i was just today looking at the cage and realized thd curtain rods are going to likely pose an issue. We do plan to do a lot of training with her so im hoping i find something that works for us.

I dont want to set her up for failure so i may move the cage to a different spot so her eye isnt on the the curtain rod to soon.

We went for a visit with her again today. And it went awesome. She snuggled with the kids, i have 3 daughters, the bird was leaning into their hands, leaning up against their faces and even giving kisses. Cant wait to bring her home!

We also set up the dna test so should find out the sex next week

 

[Ravynscroft]

Good to hear! Sounds like great bonding time!

Might want to set up DD with her own little dust buster vacuum to make cleanups a little easier on you, too...

 

[chicken pickin]

Good to hear! Sounds like great bonding time!

Might want to set up DD with her own little dust buster vacuum to make cleanups a little easier on you, too...

Great idea! Thanks!

 

[chicken pickin]

So we finally have our green cheek home. We picked her up on wed afternoon. She seems to be settled in well. My question is though that she wants to be out of her cage and with us all day and all night. She stays snuggled up on our shoulders under our hair and has just been sleeping. Is all this sleeping during the day normal. Im guessing that maybe she just isn't sleeping well in her cage at night since it is new to her.

We have her cage in our livingroom, and our house is relatively quiet. Kids go to bed at 8 and me and DH watch tv quietly until about 10. I cover her cage at 830/9pm to block light from the tv and she stays covered until 8am. I don't hear her during the night. What I do find odd is she sleeps hanging on to the side of her cage... Seems odd to me. She has a few different style perches but doesn't use any of them, she just climbs the cage. Again Im guessing she may just need to get used to her new cage.

If anyone has any tips or suggestions on what I may need to change, or even reassurance that shes just adjusting, that would be awesome.

 

[TwoCrows]

Moving to a new home does take adjustments. Parrots do not do well when they are rehomed and they do need a lot of assurance all is well.

Yes, I would imagine she is not sleeping well hanging off the side instead of perching at night. You might try sneaking in tonight when it is very dark and placing her on the perch? Maybe she will stay? My Cocketiels always had night frights and I left a night light on right near the cage so they could see to come down for water in the night or move around. In total darkness, some of them panicked. And they hated when I covered the cage completely. I covered the top, and 3 sides and left the front open. These techniques seem to allow them good sleep at night.

You also might try a ticking clock. I have used this method with stressed birds. The constant ticking seems to calm their nerves. Quite music on during the day too seemed to keep them calmer all throughout the day.

Other than this, I am not sure. Hopefully she does get used to the cage soon and can sleep. Keep telling her it's ok to live with you! LOL

She is adorable however!!

 

[gpop1]

Remember these days fondly. It will take a few days for her to settle and unless she's screaming the house down I wouldn't fully cover her. My sun conure never was caged from the day we got her and she would happily sleep on the gym cuddled up to a soft perch. You can try hanging a wash cloth down the inside of the cage next to a perch. She should stand on the perch and press up to the cloth a bit like she does your hair when shes on your shoulder. As for the sleeping unless she has her head resting on her back and wing then she's probably zoned out rather than sleeping but its common for birds to nap during the day. As long as she is eating I wouldn't worry to much conures are not a self harming bird so a little stressed isn't a major problem.