Welcome to my pond - Swim, wade, or sit on the bank

[Pyxis]

Everybody meet Cricket.

Cricket came to live with me today. I saw an ad on Craigslist for him and decided he would come be part of my flock. He is over five years old, but beyond that I do not know his exact age. As so often happens with parrots, he has been bounced from home to home and I am his fourth owner. I will be his last; he has found his forever home.

He is on a seed diet, which is bad for parrots, and worse yet he's on one of the cheap ones full of sunflower seeds and other fatty seeds. I've switched him to Zupreem Smart Selects and will be switching him fully over to pellets soon. It also sounds like the only treats he ever really got were millet spray and those honey seed sticks. Soon he will learn the joys of fresh fruit and veggies, though it will probably take me awhile to convince him they are safe to eat.

All his toys were little mirrors, which aren't great for parrots, and no fun things to bang around or chew or destroy. Oh, and also a string of mardi gras beads hung over a perch, for some reason, which I have just noticed and will be removing because that's not safe at all. I added one small neutral toy to his cage to get him started. He doesn't seem afraid of it, which is good.

He's in his old cage right now, which luckily is actually not too small for him. But after he settles I'll be moving him into a cockatiel palace.

Right now we are at the first stages of getting him used to me, which is me just sitting quietly in his sight. He's watching me type this. Next I will sit by his cage and read to him, and then we will start working on 'Step Up'. He was hand tamed for his previous owner, so I don't suspect we will have trouble there. Then I'll clicker train him Might even get him wearing a Flight Suit, so he can come outside.

 

[casportpony]

Cricket is adorable, congrats!

 

[Alaskan]

I love plastic 'wood' planks. They're a great way to reuse those pesky plastic bottles. What color did you choose? How will you keep your feet warm & the house insulated without the carpet?

It is a swirl of almost black and golden honey...I will try to take a photo.

Since it is plastic it has some insulation as is...and it comes with an attached rubber backing/ bottom. I actually think it will be pretty warm...or at least no colder than hardwood.

I am a bit worried about having a nice floor since that means:
1. No more splitting wood in the livingroom
and
2. No more working on snow machine engines in the dining room
and
3. No more painting projects on the kitchen floor....

The kids and I might have to live civilized!!

Selective Blindness is a self defense mechanism that our brain blesses us with (until someone important comes to visit & the veil is pulled resulting in painfully clear optics & utter panic.)

And yes as to the utter panic... until I learned to just not ever let people visit as well as super lower my standards.

 

[Alaskan]

That's the plan!

Well, good attitude!

 

[Alaskan]

Everybody meet Cricket.

Cricket came to live with me today. I saw an ad on Craigslist for him and decided he would come be part of my flock. He is over five years old, but beyond that I do not know his exact age. As so often happens with parrots, he has been bounced from home to home and I am his fourth owner. I will be his last; he has found his forever home.

He is on a seed diet, which is bad for parrots, and worse yet he's on one of the cheap ones full of sunflower seeds and other fatty seeds. I've switched him to Zupreem Smart Selects and will be switching him fully over to pellets soon. It also sounds like the only treats he ever really got were millet spray and those honey seed sticks. Soon he will learn the joys of fresh fruit and veggies, though it will probably take me awhile to convince him they are safe to eat.

All his toys were little mirrors, which aren't great for parrots, and no fun things to bang around or chew or destroy. Oh, and also a string of mardi gras beads hung over a perch, for some reason, which I have just noticed and will be removing because that's not safe at all. I added one small neutral toy to his cage to get him started. He doesn't seem afraid of it, which is good.

He's in his old cage right now, which luckily is actually not too small for him. But after he settles I'll be moving him into a cockatiel palace.

Right now we are at the first stages of getting him used to me, which is me just sitting quietly in his sight. He's watching me type this. Next I will sit by his cage and read to him, and then we will start working on 'Step Up'. He was hand tamed for his previous owner, so I don't suspect we will have trouble there. Then I'll clicker train him Might even get him wearing a Flight Suit, so he can come outside.

Parrots are great!

I have found cockatiels terribly difficult to switch to pellets if they aren't started out on them.

The one we have now just refuses to go full pellets.

Good luck though, he might not be that difficult.

 

[Pyxis]

Parrots are great!

I have found cockatiels terribly difficult to switch to pellets if they aren't started out on them.

The one we have now just refuses to go full pellets.

Good luck though, he might not be that difficult.

I got a twelve year old cockatiel to switch once They definitely can be difficult about it, lol. I basically plan to run through the methods from least hard on the bird to most hard. First I will do 'Instinctual' - they instinctually like to eat from dishes that are higher up, so pellets will go in a high dish and seeds in a low dish. I will also try the method where you mix pellets into their seeds and gradually increase the amount of pellets in the pellet to seed ratio.

Lastly, if I have to, I will do the method where you take all food and just leave pellets. You try for two days, and if by the end of the second day they haven't eaten, then you take a break for a week and try again. Most birds will switch to pellets the first time you do this. Almost all will be eating pellets by the end of round two.

Also, I'll be trying a variety of pellets to see what he likes. I'll try Roudybush and Harrison's, and both companies will send you samples if you ask, so I have samples on the way to me. If he doesn't like either of those, I'll try Zupreem Naturals.

 

[MotherOfCluckers]

Well, the cross Hoover's said they did to make them is leghorn and araucana. I'm gonna guess it was actually ameraucana, because none of them have tufts but some have muffs.

Leghorns are often barred, you just can't see it in their plumage. So if their original cross had some barred leghorns in the mix, then it would totally be possible to have barred ones. That said, none at my store have ever been barred, and it's possible that your Rural King mixed them up and labeled something else as Prairie Bluebells. Do you have pictures of them?

Thank you! That makes sense. I didn’t know that about leghorns. I do have some pictures of them as day old chicks and last week. I got them around mid June. The suspected cockerel has a weird tail.

 

[Pyxis]

View attachment 1904554
Thank you! That makes sense. I didn’t know that about leghorns. I do have some pictures of them as day old chicks and last week. I got them around mid June. The suspected cockerel has a weird tail.

Pictures should help us tell what they are for you, if you can post them

 

[MotherOfCluckers]

Pictures should help us tell what they are for you, if you can post them

I think I posted some? Maybe.

 

[Pyxis]

I think I posted some? Maybe.

Yep, I see it now! Weird, the picture is even in my quote, but I didn't see it the first time, haha.

I'm thinking maybe she really is a barred rock? She looks like she has a single comb, which wouldn't be impossible since leghorns have single combs, but all of mine have pea combs. You may end up just having to wait and see if she lays blue eggs or not, lol.