Have Conure, Need help

[Frosty]

Thank you both! Yes, I do want to have them feather sexed so that really helps! If I recall it's supposed to be a plucked feather, not one that fell out on it's own, right?

Thank you for the words GuineaFowling. I agree that quarantine is important even if they get vet checked. We got Riot on Dec 7th and he lived upstairs during his quarantine. There was a Black Capped Conure there that I was eyeing up before the manager offered us Riot. After being there for 3+ months they drastically cut the price. That is why I have a 3rd Conure named Eclipse upstairs now. We have baseboard heat in the house so no ducts moving air from room to room.

nchls school, does the No. Sorry. mean that you never heard of parrot secrets or mean that it isn't worthwhile?

Riots droppings are solid now, I think he was stressed from the handling. I was suspecting that because he was letting go with a watery dropping every time I approached the cage, and no signs of any new droppings in between. We moved him in with Khaos, they really liked hanging together when we had them out of the cage. They are both much quieter now that they are together. When in his own cage, Riot just sat on his perch most of the time, now they follow each other all over the cage. As an added bonus, when we take them out Khaos steps up and Riot is starting to step up with out treats for a bribe. He is getting a lot more comfortable with being on the hands.

I finally found a vet locally that will see birds (the same office last summer said they only did beak, claw and feather trimming). They changed ownership and now say they take care of birds. This is a good thing since other wise I would have to drive about 120 miles to the next closest vet. That would probably be stressful for the birds on a good day, worse if they get sick or injured. I made an appointment for Khaos and Riot but can't get in there until April 8th due to my work schedule. This will give me a chance to see how they do with the birds and get a feel for them. I am looking at the Fold n' go travel carrier, it's the only one that I found so far with a wire bottom. I plan on one for each bird so if they co-operate I should be able to get a stool sample and not have it get walked through.

 

[nchls school]

Thank you both! Yes, I do want to have them feather sexed so that really helps! If I recall it's supposed to be a plucked feather, not one that fell out on it's own, right Correct-from the breast.?

Thank you for the words GuineaFowling. I agree that quarantine is important even if they get vet checked. We got Riot on Dec 7th and he lived upstairs during his quarantine. There was a Black Capped Conure there that I was eyeing up before the manager offered us Riot. After being there for 3+ months they drastically cut the price. That is why I have a 3rd Conure named Eclipse upstairs now. We have baseboard heat in the house so no ducts moving air from room to room.

nchls school, does the No. Sorry. mean that you never heard of parrot secrets or mean that it isn't worthwhile? Never heard of it.

Riots droppings are solid now, I think he was stressed from the handling. I was suspecting that because he was letting go with a watery dropping every time I approached the cage, and no signs of any new droppings in between. We moved him in with Khaos, they really liked hanging together when we had them out of the cage. They are both much quieter now that they are together. When in his own cage, Riot just sat on his perch most of the time, now they follow each other all over the cage. As an added bonus, when we take them out Khaos steps up and Riot is starting to step up with out treats for a bribe. He is getting a lot more comfortable with being on the hands.

I finally found a vet locally that will see birds (the same office last summer said they only did beak, claw and feather trimming). They changed ownership and now say they take care of birds. This is a good thing since other wise I would have to drive about 120 miles to the next closest vet. That would probably be stressful for the birds on a good day, worse if they get sick or injured. I made an appointment for Khaos and Riot but can't get in there until April 8th due to my work schedule. This will give me a chance to see how they do with the birds and get a feel for them. I am looking at the Fold n' go travel carrier, it's the only one that I found so far with a wire bottom. I plan on one for each bird so if they co-operate I should be able to get a stool sample and not have it get walked through.

 

[GuineaFowling]

I know someone who uses the suncast delux pet carrier for her birds. I was thinking of getting the same. It doesn't have a wire bottom but if you cover it with newspaper and have several perches in the carrier they shouldn't get into it. As for dropping samples, fresher is better. Birds poop so often, when I took my baby to the vet he pooped on the counter and that's the sample we used.

 

[Frosty]

I'll have to look that carrier up... I'm getting 2 carriers so if they don't poop at the vet (which is all of 13 miles away) we should be able to get a sample from the carrier. With 2 carriers I'll know whose poop it is.

I just had Khaos and Riot out, I was trying to get a picture of them together but they weren't cooperating. They were on the perch on top of the cage, so here is how Riot looks today. I may be wrong but I think he's looking a lot better.



I need to do some research, Khaos is starting to get a bit painful when he mouths my finger. Which means that it hurt when he got my thumb the other day. No blood but wasn't fun. I need to figure out how to get that stopped.

 

[nchls school]

Yes. Riot does look better.

It is hard to get conures to stop biting. Try not to show fear. Speak in a firm voice saying "no". Do not raise your voice; hollering at conure will only make them scream.

 

[Frosty]

I stayed calm and simply said that mama doesn't like that. Then I put him back in the cage and spent a bit more time with Riot. I think I read somewhere about using diversions like a toy, treat, or something like a popsicle stick that they can chew on. I'm hoping it's something that he'll grow out of or forget about? We got him six months ago so he's probably still young.

On another note... touching on the DNA sexing... do you have a preference between feather vs blood sexing? I need to contact the vets office first to see if they have their own preferred place to send samples to, and if not get the kits ordered. If I'm ordering them, I need to make sure that I get the right ones.

 

[nchls school]

I stayed calm and simply said that mama doesn't like that. Then I put him back in the cage and spent a bit more time with Riot. I think I read somewhere about using diversions like a toy, treat, or something like a popsicle stick that they can chew on. I'm hoping it's something that he'll grow out of or forget about? We got him six months ago so he's probably still young.

Conures can learn that their bites are hurting their owner and stop biting unless wanting to hurt the person. Our Kermit refuses to grasp our arms with his claws because he has learned that it hurts us. Carrying him is a balancing act.

On another note... touching on the DNA sexing... do you have a preference between feather vs blood sexing? It has been a number of years since I had a parrot sexed. I think DNA testing was less expensive, I know it's accurate, and no vet visit is necessary. I need to contact the vets office first to see if they have their own preferred place to send samples to, and if not get the kits ordered. If I'm ordering them, I need to make sure that I get the right ones.

 

[Frosty]

I really don't think Khaos was trying to hurt me... I think it goes back to him mouthing my finger and he is just mouthing harder. My son came in when I told him about it and he got Khaos out, Khaos went after is fingernails too. When my son hid his nails, Khaos starting trying to chew on his knuckles.

I was thinking of checking with the vet because if they have a regular place that they send samples they may get a lower price. Though honestly, I don't feel that $25 is unreasonable.

 

[nchls school]

I really don't think Khaos was trying to hurt me... I think it goes back to him mouthing my finger and he is just mouthing harder. My son came in when I told him about it and he got Khaos out, Khaos went after is fingernails too. When my son hid his nails, Khaos starting trying to chew on his knuckles. No, I do not think so either. If he had been trying to hurt you there would be no doubt, and likely bloody fingers. I meant that if they are hurting you the over-nibbling might stop.

I was thinking of checking with the vet because if they have a regular place that they send samples they may get a lower price. Though honestly, I don't feel that $25 is unreasonable.

Our veterinarian is very expensive-at least a hundred just to look at an animal. I no longer do business with her. The woman refuses to treat any animal, regardless of how serious, if the owner can't pay. I now take our animals to a distant town. Mostly, we do our own medicating.

 

[Frosty]

I can see why you do most of your medicating yourself! I have no idea of how this vet is, that's one reason I am taking the birds there. If they are caring and charge reasonable prices, I'll be happy. I mostly want to have a vet for the birds in case of an emergency. When I previously had problems with poultry, the pet vet said to call the livestock vet who said to call the pet vet. So they gave me whatever prescription medicine that I said I needed based on advice on line just to keep me from bringing the bird in. I want better than that for my conures.

I found a breeder in HI with bands just like Riot has and called them. They are indeed Riots breeder, but it was a cell number and the guy was getting ready to get on a flight to the mainland. If I contact him around Tuesday he'll do some research and see if he can find info for me like a hatch date. He said that he has shipped birds to the Minot ND PetCo and said that they should have his hatch certificate. No wonder my poor bird looked a bit stressed... sent from HI to ND against his will!

That parrotsecrets place was sending daily emails that were supposed to be a mini training course but not a lot of useful info. The end of every email was a request to check out the full training course. Now I'm getting daily emails to check out the full course that 'has quickly become a rage all over the Conure community on the Internet.' I am really not into high pressure sales tactics. Especially when they keep offering a great price that 'might not be available tomorrow'. But I really would like to find a good source of information. Any suggestions on books or anything where I can do some heavy duty reading?