Have been reading the parrot wizards 2nd edition on "well behaved parrots." So far, per the book, I've gone abt some things totally wrong & apparently have a anomaly of a bird because we're both alive and unharmed. (sarcasm intended).
I'm curious abt the experiences others have had beyond what books say, bc I find myself thinking "hmm, not my bird" A LOT. Granted, Yoshi is roughly 8 months old, so not a baby but not yet hormonal. I know this can change.
1. I'd been free feeding,& it hasn't seemed to deter her willingness to training. Granted, I was putting more than necessary in bowl. I took the advice to not free feed and only feed after training sessions. It seems like what that got me is a disgruntled bird that just stared at me like a child sent to school w/o breakfast. It's been this way for a week, so I'm inclined to return to letting her eat before, but from observing her habits, only abt 20 pellets are needed, not 1/2 a bowl full.
2. She won't touch fresh food, or atleast, nothing I've tried so far. She will eat dehydrated papaya, coconut & pineapple. I bought pine nuts, walnuts and almonds, crunched them up into smaller pieces, but she doesn't seem much interested, nibbles then drops. I tried dehydrated vegetables, she throws them around. She once took a nibble of banana from my husband but left the rest & never ate it again, so I'm going to try dehydrated bananas. She loves dehydrated sprouts. If I hand her a pellet as a treat, she's happy as a clam.
So, if she refuses fresh food, am I neglecting her nutritionally? She does like nutriberries if I crush them up for her, but those have some form of syrup in them, aka sugar, and I'm hesitant to use as anything more than an occasional treat. I threw out the fancy colored food that came with her (it was 50/50 pellets/seed) and now have uncolored Lafeber's and Zupreme pellets.
3. She's a down picker. I asked the vet about this when we went in for a trim, but the vet said this was common in Quakers, that she'd checked her skin & feathers & saw no bald spots or skin irritation, so she wasn't concerned abt it. I had read it was a sign of stress or nutritional deficiency-hence my concern. I'd also read that beak trimming isn't necessary unless there's a nutritional deficiency. Again, vet didn't point this out, but did have to trim her beak. We'd gone in so vet could teach me beak, wing & nail trimming.
4. Apparently Yo's wings were cut too short to begin with, because even though they've grown some since I've had her, vet said they were too short to clip. "But she's started flying!" I said. She's supposed to, the vet said.
Debating just letting her wings grow out. That one the Parrot Wizard advocates, says it's easier to train, among other things. My fear is her getting hurt when her flapping no longer keeps her airborn.
5. "Birds have no connection emotionally to humans." Now, if that's true, why are they so cuddly & demand attention? Yoshi responds more to cuddles & praise than those training treats, goes absolutely bananas when one (only one) of my grandsons approaches her. He's her designated survivor if she outlives me.
As for the notion of stress, she's a very chill bird. She's neither protective nor defiant of her cage, not bashful, open to meeting ppl. Occasionally one of the dogs wanders into her room when the gate is open, and she watches but doesn't react. She accepts cage time without fussing and comes back out when I open the door and tell her to come. She gives me abt an hour after her light comes on before letting me know it's time for me to be in there. (Yes, she has her own room where she can see down the hallway when the door is open, but safe from dogs and has quiet time at night.)
I'm curious abt the experiences others have had beyond what books say, bc I find myself thinking "hmm, not my bird" A LOT. Granted, Yoshi is roughly 8 months old, so not a baby but not yet hormonal. I know this can change.
1. I'd been free feeding,& it hasn't seemed to deter her willingness to training. Granted, I was putting more than necessary in bowl. I took the advice to not free feed and only feed after training sessions. It seems like what that got me is a disgruntled bird that just stared at me like a child sent to school w/o breakfast. It's been this way for a week, so I'm inclined to return to letting her eat before, but from observing her habits, only abt 20 pellets are needed, not 1/2 a bowl full.
2. She won't touch fresh food, or atleast, nothing I've tried so far. She will eat dehydrated papaya, coconut & pineapple. I bought pine nuts, walnuts and almonds, crunched them up into smaller pieces, but she doesn't seem much interested, nibbles then drops. I tried dehydrated vegetables, she throws them around. She once took a nibble of banana from my husband but left the rest & never ate it again, so I'm going to try dehydrated bananas. She loves dehydrated sprouts. If I hand her a pellet as a treat, she's happy as a clam.
So, if she refuses fresh food, am I neglecting her nutritionally? She does like nutriberries if I crush them up for her, but those have some form of syrup in them, aka sugar, and I'm hesitant to use as anything more than an occasional treat. I threw out the fancy colored food that came with her (it was 50/50 pellets/seed) and now have uncolored Lafeber's and Zupreme pellets.
3. She's a down picker. I asked the vet about this when we went in for a trim, but the vet said this was common in Quakers, that she'd checked her skin & feathers & saw no bald spots or skin irritation, so she wasn't concerned abt it. I had read it was a sign of stress or nutritional deficiency-hence my concern. I'd also read that beak trimming isn't necessary unless there's a nutritional deficiency. Again, vet didn't point this out, but did have to trim her beak. We'd gone in so vet could teach me beak, wing & nail trimming.
4. Apparently Yo's wings were cut too short to begin with, because even though they've grown some since I've had her, vet said they were too short to clip. "But she's started flying!" I said. She's supposed to, the vet said.
Debating just letting her wings grow out. That one the Parrot Wizard advocates, says it's easier to train, among other things. My fear is her getting hurt when her flapping no longer keeps her airborn.5. "Birds have no connection emotionally to humans." Now, if that's true, why are they so cuddly & demand attention? Yoshi responds more to cuddles & praise than those training treats, goes absolutely bananas when one (only one) of my grandsons approaches her. He's her designated survivor if she outlives me.
As for the notion of stress, she's a very chill bird. She's neither protective nor defiant of her cage, not bashful, open to meeting ppl. Occasionally one of the dogs wanders into her room when the gate is open, and she watches but doesn't react. She accepts cage time without fussing and comes back out when I open the door and tell her to come. She gives me abt an hour after her light comes on before letting me know it's time for me to be in there. (Yes, she has her own room where she can see down the hallway when the door is open, but safe from dogs and has quiet time at night.)
re reading parrot wizards. She does look over my shoulder at times while I'm reading.
so if those are something you bird likes and eats well, don't be put off by the people who go on about there only being one actually healthy pellet.
I'm so used to cockatiels undoing the work
