I remember the time my mom got a parrot because she wanted one, go figure. I kept telling her don’t get a bird you don’t even know how to raise one and she told me, “it’s the same thing as a dog.” I faced palmed after she got a White-fronted Amazon parrot. After a month when I noticed that my mom is definitely not giving enough attention to the bird because she was off working. My mom bought a small cage for it with a single round perch, giving her seed based diets, had her wings clipped, got her one toy, and barely letting the bird outside because it pooped everywhere. I was honestly really disappointed in my mom that she had no idea what she was doing. I like to be alone and have some peace and quiet, but when you have a bird that’s constantly yelling because of boredom it’s frustrating. The last thing I wanted was to put my school work and my free time aside to take care of that bird… So I decided to do some research on how to take care of a bird and what it would need, not surprised, I read a lot of the things my mom was doing wrong online. I changed her diet with more fruits and veggies, I got her some branches from my back yard to put in her cage, I let her out of her cage whenever I got back from school, and just spent time with her for like 2-4 hours. I was making so much progress and she slowly started to trust me more and more. After 5 months of trying to befriending the bird, my family got separated. My mom left our household to live with her boyfriend, my little sister moved in with her dad, and I was left alone. My mom obviously took the bird with her, I was telling her how to raise the bird and what she needed, she listened to me, but 3 months after the separation I went to visit my mom, I saw the bird had a much bigger and needed cage, but she was locked in, eating a bunch of seeds, and only having 2 toys. I tried to get the bird out again but it became aggressive when I got close. I felt so bad for the bird because it didn’t deserve a life locked away in a cage. I got mad at my mom to let her out more and to change her diet at least but I could already tell that she gave up on the bird a long time ago. I would want to take the bird in to give it more care, but I barely make enough money to support myself. Please everyone do your research when getting a pet and don’t treat all the animals the same.
My mom did this, but with betta fish! She had them in 0.2 gallons! If you know anything you should have a 5 gallon minimum! But 10-15 gallons are MUCH better. Bowls are SUPER bad for ANY fish!
maybe you should give the bird away to an adoption center? i don't know that much about this but there must be somewhere that will take care of abandoned birds.
Idk...my bird holds grudges. No lie. I tell her she can't have pizza and she will deadass go to my sister and pretend to show her affection to make me 'jealous' for the rest of the day.
Love pets that're smart enough to do things like that. My fish used to get mad every time I'd clean her tank, refuse to look at me. Couldn't risk my not noticing what she was doing, though, so she'd swim over as close as she could to me, then turn around and face away. All was forgiven as soon as she got hungry, or wanted petted
@Lavenda Eclipse I am against wing clipping unless it’s for a medical reason. There are lots of psychological and physiological implications when clipping a healthy bird. This video goes into more detail including interviews with an avian vet. Wing clipping does not help with bonding, it takes choices away from them so they can’t get away, so they have no other option then to interact with the human on question - again more info in the video. ruclips.net/video/iaihjhodOp0/видео.html
I clip my Jenday Conure's wings only enough to where he cannot fly upwards into places I can't pull him down from in an emergency. I also make sure he doesn't drop like a rock when he tries to fly. He can fly outward at a downward angle until landing like an airplane.
I’m so glad you mentioned not clipping a birds wings. Being able to fly is not only good for their physical health but also good for their mental and emotional well being!
@@kikihowe4799 Clipping wings is not a solution, because crashing is mostly a result of lack of muscles to properly coordinate the flight. Parrots are literally masters of flying that have to out fly predators in the wild. It's a common misconception that clipping helps with crashes. Properly flight train your bird and offer plenty of landing opportunities.
wrong again, if you dont want your bird flying out your door then clip one wing. but do it correctly. Other wise why put them in a cage at all leave them outside to fend for themselves
@@kikihowe4799 if you want a bird that doesn't fly get a hamster! Birds are meant to fly! Their lungs are built to operate under the intense flight. They neeD NEED to fly. My conure flew into things quite a bit when he first started flying around. The pet store had him clipped and when he grew them out he wouldn't land properly, or would fly into the ceiling. After about a month he was much better. Now he navigates perfectly around the apartment and hasn't flown into anything in over a year.
getting a bird without doing any research. ive seen so many people impulse buy birds and they end up getting neglected our brought to a shelter. i waited 6 motnhs to get my birds cause i wanted to make sure i was ready. thanks to all these sorts of videos i was and i can keep learning more. thank you
Yess I don't have a parrot yet but I am doing as much research as possible so I can have my soon to be parrot living it's best life bc I really need to have a happy bird
@@ayuriii there are a lot of good videos out there that can really help with training ur bird. most important things is patience and just keep trying. ive used a lot of online videos and my birds are progressing a lot. i hope this helps
I have a cockatiel and I relly recomend the food brand tropicano.also u can use newspaper at the bottom of its cage as it's cheaper,easier to clean and it's perfectly safe for your bird
Welcome to wonderful world of cockatiel. They are the most engaging birds. Mine is now 4 and called Kokomo. When I come home or get up in morning he is so excited. Gives loads of cuddles. He is mainly free flying during the day but also will spend a time in his cage even though the door is open. Enjoy your wonderful new friend.
Cover your keyboards when you leave the room, and close that laptop, too! They love to pop off the keys, and will eventually come to LOVE this activity!
Being patient is so important. My rescue budgie, Iris, flew into my room, scared and completely untrained even though she's an adult. It was slow at first, but then she started to make remarkable progress, until... she regressed. I was confused, worried and kind of upset, not gonna lie, until I realized she was going into moult, which made her feel insecure and unsafe. So we went back to the very basics. Now she's almost done moulting, reaching the previous goals and we're both happier and more relaxed. Sometimes we need to get over ourselves and do what has to be done in order to get that sweet reward (e.g. treats for her, adorable hand-clawshake for me).
The other 2 common mistake 1. Letting them go “free” you can’t let them go because they don’t know how to take of themselves 2. Getting a cage without sides it may look pretty but it makes them feel unsafe
We had a love bird once. On the 5th day, my mom said that love birds know how to go back to where they came from but I was skeptical and always let the doors closed. One day when I was having my online classes, my mom and sisters opened the door and watched him fly away. He apparently went back and then went out again. After that, we never heard from him again.
It took my bird around 90 days of working with her everyday for her to finally feel ok enough to land on my finger. She's still super skittish but she had many years of no real interaction with her old owners. Its a slow process but very rewarding!
I have the same thing, I adopted a parent raised cockatiel that had never had interaction with humans and was totally terrified, I got him may 2020 and now I can pet him, he knows how to go through the 'tunnel' (my hand) his recall is very good and he just loves to sit on my chair while I work ;) so I know how rewarding it feels to make progress, I hope everything is good with your bird and best of luck to you 😊
This is so true. Bonding with a hand raised baby bird is great but it's practically no work at all. Earning the trust of a previously owned bird who doesn't just love you from the start is magical.
@@Ansonidak I'm in this situation, with a plucker due to her needs not being met with her previous owner. I'm kinda enjoying how mine reacts to what she doesn't like from me, makes me laugh :) I've got her trained now to the point where she will "step up" if I position my hand so it forms an extention of the perch & she'll now let me lift my hand a little & put it back exactly where it was, but we have debates over what's ok & not ok in my hand movement while she's on it. If I move my hand too far or when she wasn't in the mood for it, she screams at me/my hand & bites it (gentle bite, doesn't hurt me, presumably she would if I didn't respond by immediately returning my hand to the perch extention position). Anyway I just find it funny & enjoy it :) when she came to me, she had total "learned helplessness" & would do as told, then return to her cage & start rocking & plucking cause of how stressed she was :( Now she feels comfortable in telling me off & asserting HER demands for what's going to happen in training :) & who knows, maybe one day we might reach the point where she's actually going to let me move my hand with her on it lol She trusts me, but she still has her demands for how she's going to live her life & if I don't comply with those, she will make sure I know I'm expected to lol
@@mehere8038 I have a cockatiel that I rescued from a breeder. He never had any interaction, other than the leather glove that would pluck him from the cage. He trusts me now about 85%, about a year later. He will not let me touch him. He will step up and eat out of my hand. I can read his body language and get an idea of what he's thinking or going to do. He's so gentle when I'm working with him. If he doesn't like something, he will gently nip at my finger. Then I draw it away. Patience. We'll get there.
Sadly my little love bird passed away suddenly last night. He seemed perfectly healthy the days prior to his passing, even a few hours before, but out of the blue he became lethargic and was acting very sleepy. I tried taking him to the vet but sadly there were no avian vets close enough or even open at that time of night. I watched him take his last breath in my arms after the second vet turned us away. I’ve had pet birds since I was a Baby so he meant the world to me even though I only had him a few weeks. Birds are amazing pets with a lot of personality. I came to this video trying to understand if maybe it was something I did that made my baby die so young. I still can’t figure out what happened to him, so a 13th common mistake I’d like to add is, don’t think you know everything about your pet and therefore become less careful.
this happened to mine last year he was fine the day before enjoying being out more and i woke up to him limp on his shelf i blame myself for not paying more attention and noticing any signs he might've been showing
@@Hannah57293 same, my bird a day before let me kiss him in the ehad three times, he looked so happy and he let me touch him etc, then the other day he left and i blame myself too for not seeing the cat that ate her :(
There were many things that I seemed to get right on your list. But sadly, there were a few things I got wrong. I really liked your video. It was very informative. Thanks for the information. I hope many bird owners might learn from your wisdom and make better lives for their little friends.
Thank YOU!!!!! These feathered friends have been with me for over 15yrs and you have cleared up a few common mistakes that will be corrected straight away! Foraging for one and the part about seeds! My poor babies! I will do better for them! Thanks for guiding me in the proper direction. Greatly appreciated.
be glad they don't have lorikeet poop lol :) Mine do the same & one of mine has taken to leaving his cage & exploring & chewing all my boxes (with things like tools in them, that I really want the boxes for). I've always given him ample cardboard & paper of all varieties in his cage & he won't touch them! But apparently the ones that he's figured out he's not supposed to touch taste much better due to that lol & anything I put on top of them for him to chew instead, he just pushes out of the way to get to the ones I don't want chewed. Same if I remove the ones he's chewing & replace with stuff I'm ok with him chewing, he just moves to a different spot to find something new to chew lol. I love how much character they have :) my other one doesn't like to leave the cage, she just watches him do it & also enjoys her smart toy with treats like a good little bird lol (I actually think she's part of the reason he's doing it, cause if he tries to destroy anything inside the cage, she tells him off for it lol - but I did put chewing & swinging toys on a bird stand outside the cage specifically because of that & he just ignores them)
@@eunyounguzun2597 lol they just love showing their personality & that it's THEIR home & THEIR rules don't they :))) (and it's pretty cool :) I love pets that maintain their personality instead of just doing exactly what they're supposed to)
I wish I knew about not feeding them just seeds because boy, they will not want to change their diet if that is what they are used to. Also, our budgie, Jasper, was a bit standoffish and grouchy and although his cage was always open, we didn't interact with him very much because we thought he didn't want that. Then my teenage daughter decided to talk to him several times a day and more and more he got friendlier, mostly to her, but when we saw the changes, we started talking to him more, even if we didn't try to get him on our fingers. It was amazing to see the difference.
My first birds I fed on a seed diet and clipped their wings, I felt so terrible when I realised that that those are terrible things to do. Since then I’ve trained all my birds with recall, they live off pellets and chop and I’d never clip wings again. Everyone makes mistakes but as long as you learn from them your birds can live the best life!
Watching my bird fly and shrill with Glee as she does loop-de-loops, is pure joy for both of us! There's very few things better in my life been watching my bird swoop down and Buzz me! She's such a character and she does it just to make me laugh. We have so much fun together and every minute is better because of her presence in my life. She follows me from room to room and has a platform or a bird designated Fun Zone in each room, that way she goes to her designated fun areas with colorful toys rather than making my stuff her toys. It has taken time but she's now learned there's areas that are considered no birds zones like my library. She's had a few accidents and chewed up the covers of a few hardback books. It was not because she didn't know better, it was because I was working and on the phone too long according to her. She was feeling ignored and took her frustrations out on one of my books. The minute I got up to look for her and walked into the room, she leap into the air and darted off lickety split. She knew she'd been a bad bird and quickly fled the scene of the crime! Lol. She is so funny and Spunky. I couldn't adore her personality more and understand if you have a flighted cage--free bird then things get chewed up sometimes. That's just goes with the territory. She's potty trained so that's rarely a problem. I don't ever put her in her cage so the only time she goes in it, is if she wants to. She has plush sleeping tents with cotton bedding that she loves to sleep in. It's warm, dark and soft on her little feet. She has several of them, but always chooses to sleep in the one that's closest to where I sleep. It's instinctual for bird to never let their mate out of their sight and to use their birdcall to locate the mate especially first thing in the morning if they wake and they're alone. They're very social creatures and find safety in numbers or at least by pairing up which is a lifelong commitment of great devotion and affection. My bird has decided that I am her bird mate and hat's not unusual. I've been raising parrots for over 40 years and several became very attached to me, but none so much as this little silly angel. That is the nature of the Senegal parrot. They are sweeter and more shy than the amazon parrots. Senegal's are highly sensitive and very aware. They're extremely intelligent and telepathic with their bonded person. Most important thing to share with a bird is mutual respect. I always let her have the freedom to choose what she wants to do and if she wants to be held or touched. Sometimes she just wants to chill and not be handled. That's usually nap time around mid day. She helps herself to whatever's on the kitchen sink which is usually Organic Raw pecans, walnuts, carrots, hardboiled egg yolks, pomegranate, lentils or banana chips. It's funny because her new thing is flying through the house with food in her mouth. I'm now finding fruit and vegetables in the strangest places, like finding baby carrots in the bathroom. That was pretty funny. She a hoot that for sure! Her chirps and sounds are so adorable and she's now mimicking our parrotlet which is unbelievably cute because that gets the parrotlet going and they get all fluffed together and start chirping in harmony. I think this little Senegal is the most precious living thing on Earth. I strive each day to make her life as wonderful as it could possibly be and it's amazing, because she does the exact same thing for me. The love and affection that birds give their bonded person is off the charts. She whistles for me the moment she wakes up and as soon as I whistle back she flies to my pillow. If I get a headache and lay down she will stand vigil on my pillow quietly watching me while I sleep. She doesn't fly or make any noise when I'm laying down resting. It's clear she is concerned and can telepathically empathize. She senses my pain and expresses concern with gentle kisses on my ear or fluffs her head feathers on my cheek. That's her way of softly petting me. There is nothing more precious than that, except for when I finally open my eyes and she says "Hi" and next says "yum yum" because, of course, she's excited that I'm awake and wants to remind me that her yum-yum's are late. I've had a lot of birds in my life, but this little sweetie is definitely my favorite! Senegal's are amazing especially if you have the time to create this kind of relationship. I work at home so we are always together and most the time if I go to the store she comes with me. She's quite popular at the places we frequent. In my opinion nothing could be sweeter or more precious than the warm rewarding companionship that can be developed with a beautiful angelic bird. 😍🐦💖🤗🐦
I've researched multiple different kinds of parrots to see if they're for me. I think for my first bird it's between a cockatiel and a lovebird, but Senegals are one of the parrots that I was considering as well. ❤
The Mirror Mistake: I was thinking of a mistake that I may have seen on another video (because I noticed my Green Cheek Conure was getting grumpy in the first few months that we had him): Fortunately, we fixed this problem after research: "The Mirror Mistake" The mistake is leaving a Conure near a mirror too long. They don't realize that it is them (dumb ass birds...lol). They start to fight the mirror and get aggressive towards themselves (I think some humans do this too..lol). Someone in our house was working all of the time and it was just in room with her (so it was good that it was NOT in a cage all day). But then, I noticed the mirror issue (because the conure didn't seem as happy). Once we covered that the mirror (or removed the mirror) in the room, the bird was much much happier and has been awesome ever since. If you notice bad bird behavior... definitely try to figure out what is going on : )
Ruby my bird loves mirrors a lot! When she sees our iPad black screen she can see her reflection and she runs right towards it she would talk to herself it’s super cute!
cockatiels male ones specifically usually love staring at mirrors i have a male and a female one she doesnt mind the mirror too much but the male stares at it for a while even sleeps near it
I agree with everything you said, especially clipping wings. my conure was eaten by a stray cat.. it just came into the house, grabbed him and ran. the poor bird had no chance as the wings were clipped. clipped birds are really limited in their movement too, and have bad balance. they can fall from high places and get injured. and they can't go where they want, they must stay on the cage/ their stand until someone picks them up.
That is horrible! I hope more people see this and understand why birds should have their wings. Also for more than just this safety reason! You never know what can sneak into your house one day. This also includes little kids who are grabby and don't know their strength.
Hate to revive this thread from the dead, but properly clipped wings won't make your bird a flightless stone. Unless you ravage their wings and cut all the wrong feathers. My conure is clipped, keeps his last primaries on each wing, and can fly perfectly well -- he even likes to do little aerobatic tricks, lol. Even without his last primaries, he isn't as debilitated as OP says.
i have a cockatiel that was from a nephew of a friend of my mom's. The nephew, when finally receiving the birb, lost interest on it (may I add he BEGGED for a bird) and my mom's friend didn't know what to do with the bird, neither how to take care of it. My smart ass father brought the birb to my house, with him knowing nothing of how to take care of it. I decided to take care of the bird with knowing how to take care of it too. I started wanting to take care of it in a proper way a while ago, but I didn't really know what to do, and this video helped me a lot! I'll have a small talk with my parents to see if we can buy more toys, pots, fruits and others to make my sweet cockatiel happier and healthier. Thanks for the advice!
Great video. Exceptional camera work and editing, exceptional content and presentation. Summary message is that all parrot owners should continue to learn and always strive to do better for the benefit of their pet and themselves.
I did have a parakeet and you're right about them hiding illness really well. Luckily I noticed but pretty much he had to lean over to breathe comfortably, so he went to a part of his cage to make it look like he was just sitting there. We took him to the vet and turns out he had a lung infection and also was diagnosed with epilepsy; He had medication but the added effect of the seizures made it very hard on him and he died a week later.
This is great stuff! I wish we had this information when we first started. I especially appreciate your reference to using the services of an avian vet. We lost a fid by going to recommend but not avian vet, we didn't know better. Now we are parronts to 8 fids and living the birb life!
So helpful! Another mistake we learned the hard way is making sure they get plenty of restful sleep in a dark, quiet place. When we shifted to 12 hours of darkness at night for our last bird, her behaviors and hormone issues improved so much.
Thank you! I thought we had done plenty of research (6 months worth) before we got our little guy, but I learned something new from this video and I really appreciate it. :)
These are all great tips for a bird owner! I would also like to suggest that lifespan should be carefully considered. A Green Cheek Conures should live up to 35 years but they generally only live about 10 due to neglect, poor diet or carelessness. They are mischievous and curious little beasties which can very easily get them into trouble. It's a major commitment that should not be taken lightly.
Unfortunately this happened to me with my previous bird. I was dead tired on as school day so I automatically assumed that he is in his cage since I couldn't find him around me. The next morning was very traumatising for everyone especially myself. He just wanted to snuggle and because of my laziness I had lost a very close friend. :(
@@dimitarkondev5522 I lost my female Eclectus recently to lead poisoning. I still have no idea where the lead source is, I am usually good at knowing common lead sources but this must be something that I didn't expect to have lead. It happened a few months ago so I am still really depressed and upset. I miss her heaps :(
I agree to that, even light napping can be dangerous. Birds like having a regular bedtime and wake up time too. I have a sleeping routine for my cockatiel to let him know it’s time to sleep. Then he sits on his favorite perch and flaps his wings quickly and says “to sleep” to let me know he is ready for bed! I wrap his cage up in a cover and turn off the lights in his part of the house until the morning when everyone gets up for breakfast and starts making noise. He will start calling for people if he wants to get out of the cage sooner, but usually he is content to sit in there until I remove his cage cover.
Tysm, my mother’s friend has not been fully aware of these things. She had kept three birds in one small cage with not a lot of care. I am keeping them for a month but I will try to take care of them well. Thank you for this video
Great advice for any pet bird. I loved watching your mischief makers during the video. My cockatiel loves to have me puff air on him, he fluffs up & gyrates around on his perch making little chirping sounds.
Omg ah another super quality video 😍 little update with my green cheeks, they love eating their little chop cubes now. I didn’t think they’d like it, but they’ve been eating way healthier now!
Hey I have a green cheek Conure he is better than any dog or cat I ever had I never cage my birds. I also have three cockatiels and a sun conure I really let them do whatever they want to do and they eat with me all the time🥳🥳🥳
We just recently got a concure and this was super helpful! We are still learning his habits and what he likes and dislikes. We also got him one of those okay mats you showed in the video. He absolutely loves it and has been playing on it all evening. He keeps saying thank you lol
Mistake number 11 "Holding grudges" If you do yell at a bird, they still will do it again. If you yell at your bird, they will take it as affection and think it's alright. Say you yell at a bird for chewing on a shirt. The bird likes the yelling and will bite and chew to get yelled at again. The best way to show your bird that you are mad is by ignoring them for a little while. Not so long they get lonely, but long enough to show you are mad at them.
That... actually makes a lot of sense. I mean, they're constantly screeching at each other, so now that you mention it, yeah, why WOULD they associate yelling with anger?
Great, I probably did all of those and feel even worse about my cockatiel :( When he passed away I felt really guilty and still do because I knew I wasn't giving him the care he needed and that made his life a lot shorter and monotones than it should've been. Two things I do know; I know nothing about taking proper care of a bird and probably wont get one in the future because I don't want it to happen that way again.
i would love to own a budgie again one day but i would just feel so guilty because i was given one when i was just a dumb teenager but i needed to rehome her to my best friend since she was too much for me to handle at the time. she was a few years old and was an unsocialized pet store budgie, and springing that on an uneducated teenager was definitely not the best move but i did try to give her an enriching life, and i was patient with her and tried to train her, but i feel like i failed her. even after living at my friends place for a couple of years now (she lived with me for about 4 or 5, never changed) she still hasn't changed
Suddenly i feel bad for my friends bird when i was young who got it as a present and never left the cage because it was aggressive with others and bit them a lot and was constantly screaming and scared of my friend because she was so hyper and screamed everytime she got close to the cage to show us how bad of a bird he was... rip peanut
I have a pineapple GC just like yours. He recently stopped letting me touch him with my hands. He still flies to me, sits on my shoulder and cuddles my face and/or feet XD the second he sees my hands he flies away. Any idea why this might be? He is almost 2 and this only started recently. He was super cuddly before this.
Welcome to the birb maturity years. It will last for a few years. This is the time when birds are mostly rehomed. Please stick it out, when he hits adulthood, he will be way more mellow & probably more affectionate, but nothing is as cuddly as a baby conure. Its part of being a parrot owner. Stick it out through the puberty years, it will get better
@@lovemachine2246 I absolutely agree, I wish people had to take a few classes & have to have a special license to own parrots. They are just so dynamic & not like any other animal you bring into your home. They are wild animals & should be respected. So sad how many birds suffer because people buy on impulse cause they saw a cute RUclips video.
do you know that touching a bird anywhere but it's head is like touching the private parts on humans? So it seems like as your bird is maturing, it's decided it doesn't want you to be it's mate, which is a really good thing :) A lot of people end up with a lot of problems cause they accidentally bonded with their bird as it's partner
This was a really great video. Thank you!!! I was definitely guilty on the seed diet. I think one more to add maybe depending on where you live or if your parrot goes outside a lot is a uv lamp. From all the research I did not once did I see that birds need a uv lamp. I live in England where the sun will show up once a year... If that. :) and since most parrots are tropical creatures from warmer and brighter countries they usually soak up a lot of vitamin D. Advised from the vet saying it would help his behaviour and health, I think it has. Also on the plus side for my parrot, it has a mirror and he is obsessed with mirrors, which I think is the case for all our feathered friends. :D also your floof balls are adorable!
I just got a green cheek conure and doing research too be a good owner and you just got a sub so far you are the most knowledgeable and seem too have an extremely good relationship with your birds so thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and experience
Thank you SO MUCH!! This video really helped and I'm a much better owner than I thought I am:) But I still do some mistakes and after I know what's wrong I'll start working on fixing things. Have a great day and your birds are CRAZY CUTE💗💕
This is an excellent tutorial. I wish I’d seen this before I got my parrot. She was an impulse purchase. What can I say? Anyway, 3 years and a lot of tears later, we are doing great. Newbies should subscribe to this site - it’s one of the best I’ve come across.
I try so hard to get my bird to forage, apart from ripping paper to get in his food bowl he will not forage. However he does love playing and shredding his toys, so I change them every so often. But if I give a specific forage toy he will not try it, and a toy he doesn't like, if theirs seeds he will take the easy ones and leave the ones he has to work for.
Have you tried making your own foraging toys or areas? Sounds like your bird already enjoys paper, you can cut and bend these into shapes! Shapes can hide seeds inside. Shredded paper can be added to a box where seed can be scattered around. There are a few DIY videos on making your parrots foraging toys. Research my friend, research!
@@AM-xf8mu If your parrot is getting more than 30% of seed for their daily diet, they really wont forage. They already get everything they need in a bowl that requires no work. Maybe stop putting all into 1 bowl, and only put a tiny amount in the bowl, the rest hide around the cage in foraging toys? Some birds have to be trained to play with toys, if they are un familiar with them. My rescue cockatiel was like this, 6 years with 0 toys, he had no idea.
Try changing the treat to some thing he loves but doesn’t get unless he forages also if he is getting seeds in his bowl everyday then he won’t care much for the seeds that he has to work for
I definitely made this mistake. I bought a baby lovebird with doing any research. But I made a commitment and I am now doing all the research I can do I can have a happy healthy bird. This was very informative. Thank you
I have a 3 peach faces and I let one of them out and he normally stay on my shoulder or has a walk but he flown away so I got a bit of sun flower seeds and dropped some on the ground and he looked angry when I did it so he came back and gave them to him as a treat
This was such a great video!! Thank you for sharing ❤️ Your birds are gorgeous!! Especially the blue one 😍 I just got a Greek cheek conure and he’s already so sweet and cuddly. He’s such an amazing little pet 🥰
i got my parakeet about 2 years ago and i wasn’t good at taking care of her and i’m worried it’s too late to train her and have her bond with me. any tips?
Treat her like she is brand new to you. Train for instance sitting close to her, talking calmly, not looking her directly in the eyes. Then train getting your hand closer to her etc etc. And be really patient. Try doing it maybe 10-20 times every day maybe just 5-10 min at a time. And go back to what she was comfortable with, as soon as you push her boundries to much so she gets scared. And be patient. Good luck :)
Couldn't have said all of that better, myself! Great video! Thank you! I have a parrot page on Facebook and everybody's going to appreciate this video so thank you again!
mhm me too, but i a m surprised that my mom mentioned a really good point actually, she said that if we get a bird now during your school (i go to school ik its bad bc the pandemic but my school is dumb) the you should get it in the end of school (aka after 2 months :) so i think 2 months is really a good amount of time for me to do alot of research. I am getting a trained quaker that was in a pet store. (he is trained and when i entered the shop and touched him, he was really happy, so i think that that is a sign that we will bond very well :> ) so i advice you to get a very enough amount of time to do research for about how much responsibility the bird has to have. so good luck:)
i forgot to tell you.. that ik birds from pet shops can be bad and stuff but this store especially is famous and considered a really honest store, they said that a breeder gave them this bird, they said he was scared (btw idk if he is a boy or girl.) so they bonded very well to other people as well. so i think this is gonna be a really good time to have a bird. and if ur wondering that if ur on a school vacation, then aren't you going to be away from ur bird? well we do not go on vacations i just go to swimming for about 1-2 hours so that should be a decent time to go out for while then come back to say hello to my feathered friend!
my budgie even eats chicken😭 his favorite is probably yoghurt, but he’s always out of his cage flying around frantically, so i think he’s active enough to burn it
Took almost 3 years to get my lovebird to allow me to casually touch her and move her around as I want. Now she sees me as her mate and doesn’t let any other relative (she’s known them the same amount of time) go in her cage without taking skin. Took awhile for her to pick bedding (we got 6 different kinds of “housing”) she finally went for the one without a roof 😒
I just want to say thank you for your videos! I am new to your channel, and while I don't have parrots (I have a rescue House Sparrow and 2 Bengalese/Society Finch friends for him), a lot of the advice is really really helpful where it can be applied to them. I wasn't aware that even wooden dowels were bad for birds feet for example or that plastic containers shouldn't be used due to cleanliness, which I will change immediately since the finches don't quite like human company and prefer their flight cage! My sparrow is bonded to us so he spends very little time in a cage) So again, thank you so much for what you do!!
I was about to clip my bird's wings for the first time out of desperation (moving etc) but stumbled on your video - I had thought many times of inventing a halter for my sunset conure. Then I SAW IT in your video. Buying a harness instead! Thank you!
I have a cockatiel, he HATES fingers from being abused when my aunt was in collage. I'm able to put my finger in there but he just nibbles it then walks away, I've tried putting millet in front of my finger to get him to walk on but he just attacks the millet thinking he's going to be hit with it. We've had our cockatiel for years! He's now 28 years old, he spends most of his days in his cage and he's never plucked out his feathers. He also doesn't really like fruit, we will give him some different fruits even veggies but he just bites them once or twice then walks off to let them decay(of course we take it out before then). He doesn't really like being out of his cage either, he just acts panicy and will try to flap to a higher spot but he's not a good flier and he's probably got some blindness from how old he is so he just crashes into something. It's really sucky because I want to be there for him, he eats mostly seeds and he doesn't look obese or fat at all, he doesn't gorge on his food and he looks like a very natural size. Do you have any tips for me to help him?
Just so you know, budgies and cockatiels are the few parrots who do eat seeds on a regular basis (but not 100% of their diets!). This is where research comes into play. Not all parrots eat the same diet in the wild, they should not be given the same diet in captivity either. Wild cockatiels studied had a strong preference for sorghum, although they ate a whopping 29 different types of seeds. Young and soft seeds were preferred. In addition to seeds, cockatiels in the wild will eat pretty much anything they can get their beak on. They’ll raid farmers’ crops, snag up unsuspecting insects and happily dine on berries, fruits and veg if they can find them. Parrots are not domesticated pets, they are better off treated as their wild counterparts when it comes to diet. A lot of Wild parrots species live a lot longer than pet ones (Not counting disease or predators). In short, your cockatiel isn't going to get as sick as other parrots would off an all seed diet. Variety would be much better though. The bird seed mixes you get in a pet store all tend to be complete junk, with added salts, sugars, and food dyes!!!! I highly recommend making your own seed mix with human grade non GMO seeds. You should try sprouting this seed mix. Adding a variety of seasonal chopped veggies (try veggies in varied sizes as well, some like whole, others like tiny tiny chop). Fruit is something they rarely eat in the wild. It is a nice treat, but a lot of sugar. Also 1 grape to a cockatiel is like a human eating 256 grapes. So portion sizes matter. They also enjoy flowers, and herbs as well. Just make sure anything you give your bird is safe for it to consume. Some are dangerous to your bird. You might also want to add foraging areas / toys around for your bird to explore and discover seeds as they go. Free feeding seeds all day is not helping your couch potato! Also if they wont eat pellets don't feel bad, pellets are a man made thing, that companies try to push off onto their consumers as a needed item. Birds in the wild do not eat 50-70% of a damn diet in pellets lol. At most I give mine 20% pellets in their daily diet, just because you cannot give them everything they get in the wild from home. With veggies making up the bulk of food intake 50%. As well as sprouted seeds. Daily. Seeds I introduce mid day in foraging areas / random toys places around the room. Here is a handy link for budgies / cockatiels diets. Seeing these 2 species actually flock together in the wild! They also tend to eat most of the same exact things! www.omlet.co.uk/guide/budgies/budgie_food/food_list Used this site myself to come up with a healthy seed mix for all my budgies and cockatiels. They are currently enjoying a mix of Buckwheat, canary seed, oats, red wheat, clover, flax, millet, mung bean, and lentils. I sprout these to mix in with their morning veggies, and also use them in foraging.
Also - My rescue cockatiel Buddy was the same way. He hated hands and fingers so much. He still hates thumbs. I have no idea what his previous owner did to him. I just made sure to watch his body language. When he was un comfortable I left him alone. When he got on a better diet I started training. Have you given target training a go? Also, Buddy doesn't get millet off the stick anymore, such a mess, I feed him 1-2 seeds between my fingers now. A lot more controlled than a big bite lol. He is so eager to train when he sees me bring out the millet seed bowl :D Also, instead of trying to force him out of the cage, have you just spent time next to his cage? He is pretty old, I don't know his whole story. He could have arthritis in his feet, or wing joints. When was his last avian vet visit? I mean at most cockatiels rarely live to around 32. With 10-14 years being more common. So what ever you have been doing has been pretty good so far to get him to 28!
maybe to help with the diet, get some power supplement, on the seeds etc spray a little water and mix in the powder, the water will help it stick to the seeds which then sticks to feet and beaks so you know they get the vitamins from it. Sounds like he needs a lot of patience. (I am no bird expert I have just read a lot on birds since owning one) If you are worried about his health go to an avian vet, they can give check up, weight him make sure he is a good weight. If he has a fave spot he sits maybe you could have food there he might then try and eat. My first bird (she unfortunately died last year) wouldn't try new foods, I would have attach it to the cage next to her fave perch and she would then try it, either eat it or leave it. Sounds like he feels safe in his cage, so doesn't want to leave. Maybe as a suggestion there could be calming music he likes? with the millet maybe leave some near his cage where he can see it, but not cause stress and slowly move it closer over a few days or weeks so he can see that it is not something that is going to hurt him. I have notice some people do not realise you can't really punish birds, it makes them fearful and scared of you or things. But it is needed to more find a deterrence, like ignore bad behaviour but reward the good. I wish you and your feathered friend the best of luck tho.
@@xShrubx Never add supplements to your birds diet unless recommended and prescribed by an avian vet, there is 0 way to tell what your bird is low on in vitamins without blood work done. You have a much more likeliness to poison your birds doing this than helping them. If your bird does die, take the body to an avian vet for a work up to find cause of death. EXAMPLE - You might think it was diet, turns out it was metal poisoning and you had no idea, but you still have that 1 copper bell that will end up poisoning and killing the rest of your birds. You can learn a lot from your birds death, and how to be a better bird owner.
About a year ago my family bought my green check conure (Blu) a rope perch and she loved it. We stared to notice really soon that she was throwing up string and we admittedly threw it away and never buying her one again. Make sure you guys keep an eye on your pets💕
I found a fair trade bird rope thing the other day that is made from all natural materials (palm leaves I think it was). Was $10 for 10 metres. I'll find it again for you if you're interested. Could be a good option if you want it, if not, that's fine too :)
@@brybowmaan ok, found it, now lets see if the site will let me post it :) vetnpetdirect.com.au/collections/bird-toys-boredom-relief/products/natural-rippers
@@brybowmaan wow, I think the link is actually sticking :) Not sure where you're located, that site probably isn't suitable for you, but it's got the info & you can probably find somewhere else you can get it from :) It talks about it for shredding there, but I'm sure I saw somewhere else where it spoke of it as suitable for rope perches too. There's a few different varieties available, that company making them has quite a few pretty cool looking natural toys actually & pretty reasonable prices too imo I hope taht, or one of their others is suitable for a rope perch for you & that you can find somewhere you can buy it for delivery to where you live
@@stanmvrshh1709 what, no? unless your bird is sick it WILL remember you after a weekend- also you should not have to "restart" a bird. there living too :/
@@stanmvrshh1709 have you thought about how birds survive in the wild? Do you REALLY think that a bird that can't remember where it's food is located if it rains for a few days can survive? Birds obviously have good memories! You should here the commotion here each year when the cuckoos arrive in spring! They've been 5000 kms away in another country for 6 months, but the second they arrive back, all species they prey on gang up on them & try to chase them out before they can be cuckoos! But you think a bird can't remember it's owner & home if it's away for 2 days? really????
I went on vacation for 4 days once and left my budgies at my mom's house while I was gone. When I got back they were all fine except for my one girl, Apollo, who was pissed at me. Now, Apollo is usually the most social and loving to me of all my birds, and she would barely even acknowledge me for two or three days after I got back. But after that time she was back to her loving self again. I'm almost 100% sure she was holding a grudge against me for those few days.
I have been doing research ing information on how to care for parrots for the last few weeks, today I finally got to hold a bird. Sealing my decision. You have been so helpful
My dad raised and bread alll kinds of exotic birds for over 20 years so he has A LOT of experience. But they had this one bird I think it was an Amazon he figured out how to open his cage and fly out then he would proceed to open EVERYONE else’s cages so then my fathers trying to catch at least 30 some birds 😂 they had to put an actual key lock on his cage
So glad it is against animal protection laws in many countries. Germany for example, some neighbor countries as well. Narcissistic to think a human could ever replace a same species partner, when parrots are as intelligent as young children. They have their own needs, and we can't keep up with that.
@@blueberrypawsome green cheeks don't like birds that are not their species. But they are friendly towards their own kind, with some exceptions of course just like we humans have some people we just don't like :)
It was mentioned in the video NOT to get your bird rope toys because of the harmful effects of eating them, but there’s another very big reason why you should not get rope toys for your birds. They can get caught in them. As the toy wears down it will develop loose strands. These strands can get caught around the birds feet, neck, wings or other body parts. This can cause them a lot of stress and pain. I personally have very regretfully made the choice of getting my conure a rope toy. Her foot ended up getting caught, out of stress and panic she ended up chewing one of her talons to the point where the vets had to amputate it. I still feel guilty about it but I’m happy to know she lives a good life full of affection and safe, engaging toys.
These tips were helpfull. I got a cockatiel and didnt know how to really care for her, i watched this video and realised i was doing many things wrong, she had a really small cage, i rarely let her out, i clipper her wings, she had a seed diet and she didnt trust me at all, she would get agressive when i got near her. Now 2 months later i fixed those problems, now she wont leave me alone when she wants to play, i dont mind tho. And now she is sleeping on my arm as im writing this.
Great list 👍 Lots of good information. There are lots of ways to add enrichment activities - get some pine cones, almonds + walnuts + macadamias in the shell (which also helps keep their beaks in good condition), dried fruit, pumpkin seeds, etc in a big baking tray or planter and “hide them” among smooth stones (you can get them at hardware or homewares stores) and the birds will spend hours happily foraging - plus you can hide colourful toys and treats in there too. One of the best investments I ever made was a kids toy sink with a pump that I got from K-Mart and it makes birdie bath time a lot of fun. Also got a modular cardboard thing from K-Mart that was marketed as a cat’s play centre - it’s a system of interconnected cardboard cubes with holes between each segment and little windows - it’s quite big when fully assembled but it makes a fantastic play area for parrots. And for their diet I asked my vet as well as a few ornithologist / parrot specialists I follow on Twitter for recommendations and also get inspiration from the wild - I have a Green Cheek and a Sun Conure and in the wild they eat a fair bit of fruit so I started giving them chopped apple for breakfast and they absolutely love it. Blackberries are a great reward for good behaviour, pomegranates are good too as they’re not too high in fructose. They love tropical fruit like mangoes, passion fruit, dragon fruit, custard apples, rambutans and lychees, every so often and on special occasions although not too often because some vets say sugars (even fructose) can make hormonal behaviour worse. Sprouts are another hugely popular option and they love chili peppers too (can’t stand them myself but the birdies love them). I let them have a bit of olive oil too or MCT oil every now and then - it helps them condition their feathers (Sun Conures don’t have a uropygial gland so they use powder down feathers to condition their plumage as they don’t produce preen oil) This was originally going to be a two word comment but I got a bit carried away.
Thank you for this! I've had my GCC Pop Tart for almost two years and thought I knew it all, but I realized that there are some things I can do better 😊
Question, my cockatiel stays in his cage all day although his door is open, and if I try to get him to get out he gets crazy and tries to escape, I think he doesn’t like me, any tips in how to get him out and use to me? Thanks in advance
Hi! It sounds like he may be afraid of the environment and needs some time adjusting to it, especially if you recently brought him home. You don't want to reach in and try to take him out because it’ll be very stressful for him. Try leaving the door shut so he feels a bit safer and spend more time with him by being near the cage and doing everything next to him so he can get used to you (do this for a few days, depending on how he feels so be sure to watch his body language too!) You could even feed him some treats through the cage bars and after a few days, you could start opening the cage door and feed him treats through the door. Take things slow and go at your bird’s pace so he learns to trust you and not be afraid, hope this helps! Just remember to be patient and he’ll learn to trust you! 🤞🏻
I'm glad we're not the only ones who do that. We have a cockatiel and a conure who both roam free. They have a cage, but it's always open and they go in there to play and look for food. We've also installed what we hope is a better bird bath for them. They come into the shower with me, and our cockatiel will actually take her shower with me from time to time. Our cat and cockatiel actually play together, whereas the conure will have none of that. She sometimes cuddles up to the dog, because she likes her fur. They spend time with everyone in the family, although they do have their favourites. I used to think birds were slightly more interesting than fish, and something that just made noise in a cage and so I never really wanted one. But my wife insisted and having them roam free like the dog or the cat has really changed my perspective of what it means to live with birds, and I love them to bits.
@@vince7245 , hello! My name is Iryna. I speak english not well. Can l ask you about your parrots? I have one Conure( 2 years old) I think , it's a boy) I read , that you have two different parrots) Are they boy and girl? I'd like to buy one more parrot , but I don't know, how they will doing. I wonder, will not they bite each other?
@@iryna15 Hi, I'm definitely no expert, these are the first birds I've raised and I'm learning as I go. Both our birds are hand raised by us. We got them when they were very very young and hand fed both of them. The cockatiel is only a few months older than the conure, and we think they're both female. They are just over a year old each. The conure is definitely the dominant one of the two. In fact, she dominates the cat and the dog as well and she gets very jealous. We're quite firm with her, and she doesn't bite the cockatiel, but she does let her know she is boss. But at the same time she tries to cuddle up to the cockatiel, who often doesn't feel like it. The cockatiel seems to be happy just left to it, where as the conure likes being with someone and close a lot more. They get on well enough, but they're very different. I realize that probably doesn't quite answer your question. But yes, our get on fine. Sometimes they play together or the cockatiel tries to groom the conure, and she lets her for a bit.
Birds cannot sleep outside please leave your bird in their cage when they need to sleep please do researches and don't be dumb,bad things ard dangerous so don't think these things as a joke...
I’ve been target training my new CAG. He’s 26 and doing well with target training. He still won’t step up without biting. He will accept treats from my hand. I adopted him about 3 weeks ago. He’s come a long way since I took him to get groomed. He didn’t like that at all and seemed to hold a grudge for a couple of days. My goal now is to bond with him and get him to step up.
It is 3 AM and I'm almost finished watching Death Note. Instead of pulling an all nighter and finishing it or maybe going to sleep, I am watching this video. I do not own a bird and don't intend on getting one.
Hi! I have a question, My bird is un-tamed and would probably fly away if I let it out, while I’m trying to tame it is there any other way I can cure it’s boredom without letting it out?
I have 10 birds. Of those 10, 5 came to me clipped. While they're easier to catch, they're definitely not as happy as my fully flighted birds are. I hate when people try to justify clipping by saying that it's safer for them, when it's not. They're just lazy. If birds can't fly away from what scares them, it usually results in them biting.
I just got two new budgies. One chipped. The chipped one did not bite. The other one bit me hard once. By the way, I did not notice the chipped part until a week later. Do they grow back?
Woah! Surprisingly, I haven't made any of these mistakes. That's actually very reassuring, as I have bad anxiety and even though I've done research for about two years before getting my bird, I'm always worried that I'm doing everything wrong.
My cockatiel completely refuses to eat anything but the seeds she got at the pet shop and it's been almost 2 months of me trying.. Edit: any ideas of what I should do?
A channel called Flock-Talk has a good video on switching from seeds to pellets, she has a lot of different informational videos as well, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find and i hope it helps!
Try veggie Chops! 🥕🥦 Give a little veggie chop every morning and if hè/she doesn’t eat it; give the bird after a hour the seeds but let him/her work for it. So don’t give it in the bowl but let him of her work for it like in the video. It might take 2-3 Months before the chop really gets eaten so you have to be patient and give it every morning. 😊 Search for chop recipes on internet, there is a lot to find! 🌱
I gave my birds nutriberries (seed+pellet balls) to start with and they used to eating pellets that way. Veg chop is a bit of a harder transition but one step at a time :')
Hey, great video. We just lost the second of our 2 cockatiels after 20+ years... They passed within 3 months of one another after having lived on 3 continents and I have to say, this video is EXCELLENT. We made MANY of these mistakes incl. the food which thankfully we recognized early on and switch to about 70% harrisons and the rest natural stuff. If you want your parrots to live to their full potential and happy, follow the basic dos / dont's found here! We are now looking forward to a conure in the near future.
I am watching this while not having birds nor planning on it. I sometimes feel this urge to want a bird but then I remember they are too much work for the time I have. Very cute though, I enjoyed this vid!
when birds walks... it's too cute
I KNOW RIGHT!! I LOVE IT! ❤️
I have three peach faced lovebirds, and they hop around on the ground....it’s the cutest thing
Yeah I know I agree one of my Quaker parrots when it walks it looks like he's wearing high heels and walking in them 😂
My parakeet is so cute when he runs across the table
@@FlyingFids they just forget they can fly
My parrot hangs up side down in his cage while ringing his toy bell every morning and scream a lot he’s basically my alarm clock
ruclips.net/video/Z_elwEkq3GI/видео.html
GREAT THAT'S GOOD THEN
So does mine :D
Now that days are getting longer I usually wake up because of the birds screaming at the other side of the apartment too 😂
How cute 😄
I remember the time my mom got a parrot because she wanted one, go figure. I kept telling her don’t get a bird you don’t even know how to raise one and she told me, “it’s the same thing as a dog.” I faced palmed after she got a White-fronted Amazon parrot. After a month when I noticed that my mom is definitely not giving enough attention to the bird because she was off working. My mom bought a small cage for it with a single round perch, giving her seed based diets, had her wings clipped, got her one toy, and barely letting the bird outside because it pooped everywhere. I was honestly really disappointed in my mom that she had no idea what she was doing. I like to be alone and have some peace and quiet, but when you have a bird that’s constantly yelling because of boredom it’s frustrating. The last thing I wanted was to put my school work and my free time aside to take care of that bird…
So I decided to do some research on how to take care of a bird and what it would need, not surprised, I read a lot of the things my mom was doing wrong online. I changed her diet with more fruits and veggies, I got her some branches from my back yard to put in her cage, I let her out of her cage whenever I got back from school, and just spent time with her for like 2-4 hours. I was making so much progress and she slowly started to trust me more and more.
After 5 months of trying to befriending the bird, my family got separated. My mom left our household to live with her boyfriend, my little sister moved in with her dad, and I was left alone. My mom obviously took the bird with her, I was telling her how to raise the bird and what she needed, she listened to me, but 3 months after the separation I went to visit my mom, I saw the bird had a much bigger and needed cage, but she was locked in, eating a bunch of seeds, and only having 2 toys. I tried to get the bird out again but it became aggressive when I got close. I felt so bad for the bird because it didn’t deserve a life locked away in a cage. I got mad at my mom to let her out more and to change her diet at least but I could already tell that she gave up on the bird a long time ago. I would want to take the bird in to give it more care, but I barely make enough money to support myself.
Please everyone do your research when getting a pet and don’t treat all the animals the same.
You are an amazing person! I hope your mom will take better care of your parrot.
My mom did this, but with betta fish! She had them in 0.2 gallons! If you know anything you should have a 5 gallon minimum! But 10-15 gallons are MUCH better. Bowls are SUPER bad for ANY fish!
You have the right attitude, that counts for a lot!!
maybe you should give the bird away to an adoption center? i don't know that much about this but there must be somewhere that will take care of abandoned birds.
@@alexverdana2435 true
Idk...my bird holds grudges. No lie. I tell her she can't have pizza and she will deadass go to my sister and pretend to show her affection to make me 'jealous' for the rest of the day.
What kind of bird to you have
Love pets that're smart enough to do things like that. My fish used to get mad every time I'd clean her tank, refuse to look at me. Couldn't risk my not noticing what she was doing, though, so she'd swim over as close as she could to me, then turn around and face away.
All was forgiven as soon as she got hungry, or wanted petted
@@itsmyahnga lovebird (sadly has since passed 🐥)
@@jolenedeboer7333 noooo :( Rest In Peace
@@itsmyahnga thank you!!!
Totally agree about not clipping wings - it causes more problems! Why get a pet which can fly, only to prevent it from flying!
@Lavenda Eclipse I am against wing clipping unless it’s for a medical reason. There are lots of psychological and physiological implications when clipping a healthy bird.
This video goes into more detail including interviews with an avian vet.
Wing clipping does not help with bonding, it takes choices away from them so they can’t get away, so they have no other option then to interact with the human on question - again more info in the video.
ruclips.net/video/iaihjhodOp0/видео.html
@Orchid Flock 👋 🥰
I clip my Jenday Conure's wings only enough to where he cannot fly upwards into places I can't pull him down from in an emergency. I also make sure he doesn't drop like a rock when he tries to fly. He can fly outward at a downward angle until landing like an airplane.
I’m so glad you mentioned not clipping a birds wings. Being able to fly is not only good for their physical health but also good for their mental and emotional well being!
My sun conures wings are clipped after her flying into the wall ...a couple of times ..
@@kikihowe4799 that would have been your sun conure learning to fly properly. Was she kept in the cage a lot? That may have been what was happening
@@kikihowe4799 Clipping wings is not a solution, because crashing is mostly a result of lack of muscles to properly coordinate the flight. Parrots are literally masters of flying that have to out fly predators in the wild. It's a common misconception that clipping helps with crashes. Properly flight train your bird and offer plenty of landing opportunities.
wrong again, if you dont want your bird flying out your door then clip one wing. but do it correctly. Other wise why put them in a cage at all leave them outside to fend for themselves
@@kikihowe4799 if you want a bird that doesn't fly get a hamster! Birds are meant to fly! Their lungs are built to operate under the intense flight. They neeD NEED to fly. My conure flew into things quite a bit when he first started flying around. The pet store had him clipped and when he grew them out he wouldn't land properly, or would fly into the ceiling. After about a month he was much better. Now he navigates perfectly around the apartment and hasn't flown into anything in over a year.
getting a bird without doing any research. ive seen so many people impulse buy birds and they end up getting neglected our brought to a shelter. i waited 6 motnhs to get my birds cause i wanted to make sure i was ready. thanks to all these sorts of videos i was and i can keep learning more. thank you
Yess I don't have a parrot yet but I am doing as much research as possible so I can have my soon to be parrot living it's best life bc I really need to have a happy bird
Same literally
Do you know how can I train my bird? It's exactly like the green on this video. /I'm not a native speaker, sorry if I wrote something wrong
@@ayuriii there are a lot of good videos out there that can really help with training ur bird. most important things is patience and just keep trying. ive used a lot of online videos and my birds are progressing a lot. i hope this helps
Try having a 12yr old cockatiel dumped on you with absolutely ZERO bird knowledge. 🙄 Doing my best to educate myself though!
Got my first cockatiel today and this is the most helpful video till yet! I'll try all of them
First! And it’s cool got a cockatiel!! I have a green cheek conure!! And getting a sun conure soon!
I have a cockatiel and I relly recomend the food brand tropicano.also u can use newspaper at the bottom of its cage as it's cheaper,easier to clean and it's perfectly safe for your bird
@@izzymartin5634 Im getting one in a few months! Would you recommend this brand for Budgies too?
@@livclement1507 budgies are verry enegetic so yes!
Welcome to wonderful world of cockatiel. They are the most engaging birds. Mine is now 4 and called Kokomo. When I come home or get up in morning he is so excited. Gives loads of cuddles. He is mainly free flying during the day but also will spend a time in his cage even though the door is open. Enjoy your wonderful new friend.
Cover your keyboards when you leave the room, and close that laptop, too! They love to pop off the keys, and will eventually come to LOVE this activity!
Being patient is so important. My rescue budgie, Iris, flew into my room, scared and completely untrained even though she's an adult. It was slow at first, but then she started to make remarkable progress, until... she regressed. I was confused, worried and kind of upset, not gonna lie, until I realized she was going into moult, which made her feel insecure and unsafe. So we went back to the very basics. Now she's almost done moulting, reaching the previous goals and we're both happier and more relaxed. Sometimes we need to get over ourselves and do what has to be done in order to get that sweet reward (e.g. treats for her, adorable hand-clawshake for me).
The other 2 common mistake
1. Letting them go “free” you can’t let them go because they don’t know how to take of themselves
2. Getting a cage without sides it may look pretty but it makes them feel unsafe
There spoiled lil brats and need to be spoiled
@@nerdsam4825 they were born in the wild and just need special care
What do you mean about the sides of the cages?
@@lxlrvfx1764 you cant use a round cage
We had a love bird once. On the 5th day, my mom said that love birds know how to go back to where they came from but I was skeptical and always let the doors closed. One day when I was having my online classes, my mom and sisters opened the door and watched him fly away. He apparently went back and then went out again. After that, we never heard from him again.
It took my bird around 90 days of working with her everyday for her to finally feel ok enough to land on my finger. She's still super skittish but she had many years of no real interaction with her old owners. Its a slow process but very rewarding!
I have the same thing, I adopted a parent raised cockatiel that had never had interaction with humans and was totally terrified, I got him may 2020 and now I can pet him, he knows how to go through the 'tunnel' (my hand) his recall is very good and he just loves to sit on my chair while I work ;) so I know how rewarding it feels to make progress, I hope everything is good with your bird and best of luck to you 😊
This is so true. Bonding with a hand raised baby bird is great but it's practically no work at all. Earning the trust of a previously owned bird who doesn't just love you from the start is magical.
@@irisklok7169 Good job. Parent raised birds are very challenging.
@@Ansonidak I'm in this situation, with a plucker due to her needs not being met with her previous owner. I'm kinda enjoying how mine reacts to what she doesn't like from me, makes me laugh :) I've got her trained now to the point where she will "step up" if I position my hand so it forms an extention of the perch & she'll now let me lift my hand a little & put it back exactly where it was, but we have debates over what's ok & not ok in my hand movement while she's on it. If I move my hand too far or when she wasn't in the mood for it, she screams at me/my hand & bites it (gentle bite, doesn't hurt me, presumably she would if I didn't respond by immediately returning my hand to the perch extention position). Anyway I just find it funny & enjoy it :) when she came to me, she had total "learned helplessness" & would do as told, then return to her cage & start rocking & plucking cause of how stressed she was :( Now she feels comfortable in telling me off & asserting HER demands for what's going to happen in training :) & who knows, maybe one day we might reach the point where she's actually going to let me move my hand with her on it lol
She trusts me, but she still has her demands for how she's going to live her life & if I don't comply with those, she will make sure I know I'm expected to lol
@@mehere8038 I have a cockatiel that I rescued from a breeder. He never had any interaction, other than the leather glove that would pluck him from the cage. He trusts me now about 85%, about a year later. He will not let me touch him. He will step up and eat out of my hand. I can read his body language and get an idea of what he's thinking or going to do. He's so gentle when I'm working with him. If he doesn't like something, he will gently nip at my finger. Then I draw it away. Patience. We'll get there.
Sadly my little love bird passed away suddenly last night. He seemed perfectly healthy the days prior to his passing, even a few hours before, but out of the blue he became lethargic and was acting very sleepy. I tried taking him to the vet but sadly there were no avian vets close enough or even open at that time of night. I watched him take his last breath in my arms after the second vet turned us away. I’ve had pet birds since I was a Baby so he meant the world to me even though I only had him a few weeks. Birds are amazing pets with a lot of personality. I came to this video trying to understand if maybe it was something I did that made my baby die so young. I still can’t figure out what happened to him, so a 13th common mistake I’d like to add is, don’t think you know everything about your pet and therefore become less careful.
dw, hope you are fine, my lovebird passed away today because a cat ate it
this happened to mine last year he was fine the day before enjoying being out more and i woke up to him limp on his shelf i blame myself for not paying more attention and noticing any signs he might've been showing
@@Hannah57293 same, my bird a day before let me kiss him in the ehad three times, he looked so happy and he let me touch him etc, then the other day he left and i blame myself too for not seeing the cat that ate her :(
@@kess9937 omg that’s awful! Poor bird 🦜
I'm so sorry for your losses
There were many things that I seemed to get right on your list. But sadly, there were a few things I got wrong. I really liked your video. It was very informative. Thanks for the information. I hope many bird owners might learn from your wisdom and make better lives for their little friends.
Thank YOU!!!!! These feathered friends have been with me for over 15yrs and you have cleared up a few common mistakes that will be corrected straight away! Foraging for one and the part about seeds! My poor babies! I will do better for them! Thanks for guiding me in the proper direction. Greatly appreciated.
I've had lovebirds for years and years now. Poop everywhere and they destroy everything I love :')
But I still love them with my whole heart 💖
Really? Mine hardly pooped out of their cage. They love to destroy anything wicker.
be glad they don't have lorikeet poop lol :)
Mine do the same & one of mine has taken to leaving his cage & exploring & chewing all my boxes (with things like tools in them, that I really want the boxes for). I've always given him ample cardboard & paper of all varieties in his cage & he won't touch them! But apparently the ones that he's figured out he's not supposed to touch taste much better due to that lol & anything I put on top of them for him to chew instead, he just pushes out of the way to get to the ones I don't want chewed. Same if I remove the ones he's chewing & replace with stuff I'm ok with him chewing, he just moves to a different spot to find something new to chew lol. I love how much character they have :)
my other one doesn't like to leave the cage, she just watches him do it & also enjoys her smart toy with treats like a good little bird lol (I actually think she's part of the reason he's doing it, cause if he tries to destroy anything inside the cage, she tells him off for it lol - but I did put chewing & swinging toys on a bird stand outside the cage specifically because of that & he just ignores them)
@@mehere8038 Same with my birds 😔
@@eunyounguzun2597 lol they just love showing their personality & that it's THEIR home & THEIR rules don't they :))) (and it's pretty cool :) I love pets that maintain their personality instead of just doing exactly what they're supposed to)
I wish I knew about not feeding them just seeds because boy, they will not want to change their diet if that is what they are used to. Also, our budgie, Jasper, was a bit standoffish and grouchy and although his cage was always open, we didn't interact with him very much because we thought he didn't want that. Then my teenage daughter decided to talk to him several times a day and more and more he got friendlier, mostly to her, but when we saw the changes, we started talking to him more, even if we didn't try to get him on our fingers. It was amazing to see the difference.
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My first birds I fed on a seed diet and clipped their wings, I felt so terrible when I realised that that those are terrible things to do. Since then I’ve trained all my birds with recall, they live off pellets and chop and I’d never clip wings again. Everyone makes mistakes but as long as you learn from them your birds can live the best life!
How do you train with recall?
Finally, someone who reaaaalllly is interested in a healthy bird life!!!! Thank u so much.
Watching my bird fly and shrill with Glee as she does loop-de-loops, is pure joy for both of us! There's very few things better in my life been watching my bird swoop down and Buzz me! She's such a character and she does it just to make me laugh. We have so much fun together and every minute is better because of her presence in my life.
She follows me from room to room and has a platform or a bird designated Fun Zone in each room, that way she goes to her designated fun areas with colorful toys rather than making my stuff her toys.
It has taken time but she's now learned there's areas that are considered no birds zones like my library. She's had a few accidents and chewed up the covers of a few hardback books. It was not because she didn't know better, it was because I was working and on the phone too long according to her. She was feeling ignored and took her frustrations out on one of my books. The minute I got up to look for her and walked into the room, she leap into the air and darted off lickety split. She knew she'd been a bad bird and quickly fled the scene of the crime! Lol. She is so funny and Spunky. I couldn't adore her personality more and understand if you have a flighted cage--free bird then things get chewed up sometimes. That's just goes with the territory. She's potty trained so that's rarely a problem.
I don't ever put her in her cage so the only time she goes in it, is if she wants to. She has plush sleeping tents with cotton bedding that she loves to sleep in. It's warm, dark and soft on her little feet. She has several of them, but always chooses to sleep in the one that's closest to where I sleep.
It's instinctual for bird to never let their mate out of their sight and to use their birdcall to locate the mate especially first thing in the morning if they wake and they're alone. They're very social creatures and find safety in numbers or at least by pairing up which is a lifelong commitment of great devotion and affection. My bird has decided that I am her bird mate and hat's not unusual. I've been raising parrots for over 40 years and several became very attached to me, but none so much as this little silly angel. That is the nature of the Senegal parrot. They are sweeter and more shy than the amazon parrots. Senegal's are highly sensitive and very aware. They're extremely intelligent and telepathic with their bonded person. Most important thing to share with a bird is mutual respect. I always let her have the freedom to choose what she wants to do and if she wants to be held or touched. Sometimes she just wants to chill and not be handled. That's usually nap time around mid day.
She helps herself to whatever's on the kitchen sink which is usually Organic Raw pecans, walnuts, carrots, hardboiled egg yolks, pomegranate, lentils or banana chips. It's funny because her new thing is flying through the house with food in her mouth. I'm now finding fruit and vegetables in the strangest places, like finding baby carrots in the bathroom. That was pretty funny. She a hoot that for sure!
Her chirps and sounds are so adorable and she's now mimicking our parrotlet which is unbelievably cute because that gets the parrotlet going and they get all fluffed together and start chirping in harmony.
I think this little Senegal is the most precious living thing on Earth. I strive each day to make her life as wonderful as it could possibly be and it's amazing, because she does the exact same thing for me. The love and affection that birds give their bonded person is off the charts.
She whistles for me the moment she wakes up and as soon as I whistle back she flies to my pillow. If I get a headache and lay down she will stand vigil on my pillow quietly watching me while I sleep. She doesn't fly or make any noise when I'm laying down resting. It's clear she is concerned and can telepathically empathize. She senses my pain and expresses concern with gentle kisses on my ear or fluffs her head feathers on my cheek. That's her way of softly petting me. There is nothing more precious than that, except for when I finally open my eyes and she says "Hi" and next says "yum yum" because, of course, she's excited that I'm awake and wants to remind me that her yum-yum's are late.
I've had a lot of birds in my life, but this little sweetie is definitely my favorite! Senegal's are amazing especially if you have the time to create this kind of relationship. I work at home so we are always together and most the time if I go to the store she comes with me. She's quite popular at the places we frequent. In my opinion nothing could be sweeter or more precious than the warm rewarding companionship that can be developed with a beautiful angelic bird.
😍🐦💖🤗🐦
This is soooo super sweet!! 🥰
I've researched multiple different kinds of parrots to see if they're for me. I think for my first bird it's between a cockatiel and a lovebird, but Senegals are one of the parrots that I was considering as well. ❤
The Mirror Mistake:
I was thinking of a mistake that I may have seen on another video (because I noticed my Green Cheek Conure was getting grumpy in the first few months that we had him): Fortunately, we fixed this problem after research: "The Mirror Mistake"
The mistake is leaving a Conure near a mirror too long. They don't realize that it is them (dumb ass birds...lol). They start to fight the mirror and get aggressive towards themselves (I think some humans do this too..lol). Someone in our house was working all of the time and it was just in room with her (so it was good that it was NOT in a cage all day). But then, I noticed the mirror issue (because the conure didn't seem as happy). Once we covered that the mirror (or removed the mirror) in the room, the bird was much much happier and has been awesome ever since.
If you notice bad bird behavior... definitely try to figure out what is going on : )
my quaker parrots loved the mirror, they'd just stare at it
Ruby my bird loves mirrors a lot! When she sees our iPad black screen she can see her reflection and she runs right towards it she would talk to herself it’s super cute!
cockatiels male ones specifically usually love staring at mirrors i have a male and a female one she doesnt mind the mirror too much but the male stares at it for a while even sleeps near it
I agree with everything you said, especially clipping wings.
my conure was eaten by a stray cat.. it just came into the house, grabbed him and ran. the poor bird had no chance as the wings were clipped. clipped birds are really limited in their movement too, and have bad balance. they can fall from high places and get injured. and they can't go where they want, they must stay on the cage/ their stand until someone picks them up.
This is horrible.
That is horrible! I hope more people see this and understand why birds should have their wings. Also for more than just this safety reason! You never know what can sneak into your house one day. This also includes little kids who are grabby and don't know their strength.
Heyy, do you you know how can I "teach" my bird to not crash?//I don't speak English sorry if something is wrong
Hate to revive this thread from the dead, but properly clipped wings won't make your bird a flightless stone. Unless you ravage their wings and cut all the wrong feathers. My conure is clipped, keeps his last primaries on each wing, and can fly perfectly well -- he even likes to do little aerobatic tricks, lol. Even without his last primaries, he isn't as debilitated as OP says.
Our cat got into the house and even with the best flying skills the bird didn't make it :(
i have a cockatiel that was from a nephew of a friend of my mom's. The nephew, when finally receiving the birb, lost interest on it (may I add he BEGGED for a bird) and my mom's friend didn't know what to do with the bird, neither how to take care of it. My smart ass father brought the birb to my house, with him knowing nothing of how to take care of it. I decided to take care of the bird with knowing how to take care of it too. I started wanting to take care of it in a proper way a while ago, but I didn't really know what to do, and this video helped me a lot! I'll have a small talk with my parents to see if we can buy more toys, pots, fruits and others to make my sweet cockatiel happier and healthier. Thanks for the advice!
Great video. Exceptional camera work and editing, exceptional content and presentation. Summary message is that all parrot owners should continue to learn and always strive to do better for the benefit of their pet and themselves.
I've had parrots for 30 years ♥️🐦
Your video was great. Also tell people how good the magazine Bird Talk is. That publication taught me a lot!
I did have a parakeet and you're right about them hiding illness really well. Luckily I noticed but pretty much he had to lean over to breathe comfortably, so he went to a part of his cage to make it look like he was just sitting there. We took him to the vet and turns out he had a lung infection and also was diagnosed with epilepsy; He had medication but the added effect of the seizures made it very hard on him and he died a week later.
As a bird owner, I agree with this video 100% everything she mentioned is spot on.
This is great stuff! I wish we had this information when we first started. I especially appreciate your reference to using the services of an avian vet. We lost a fid by going to recommend but not avian vet, we didn't know better. Now we are parronts to 8 fids and living the birb life!
So helpful! Another mistake we learned the hard way is making sure they get plenty of restful sleep in a dark, quiet place. When we shifted to 12 hours of darkness at night for our last bird, her behaviors and hormone issues improved so much.
Thank you! I thought we had done plenty of research (6 months worth) before we got our little guy, but I learned something new from this video and I really appreciate it. :)
These are all great tips for a bird owner! I would also like to suggest that lifespan should be carefully considered. A Green Cheek Conures should live up to 35 years but they generally only live about 10 due to neglect, poor diet or carelessness. They are mischievous and curious little beasties which can very easily get them into trouble. It's a major commitment that should not be taken lightly.
Lots of true observations here! We all make mistakes, but we can learn and improve how we care for our birds!
Tip for Conure owners. Do not fall asleep with your Conure, especially in your bed. I have heard many stories of Conures getting crushed.
Unfortunately this happened to me with my previous bird. I was dead tired on as school day so I automatically assumed that he is in his cage since I couldn't find him around me. The next morning was very traumatising for everyone especially myself. He just wanted to snuggle and because of my laziness I had lost a very close friend. :(
@@dimitarkondev5522 That sucks, sorry for your loss. :(
@@EvolvedParasite It really does. Thank you. I know he is in a better place now.
@@dimitarkondev5522 I lost my female Eclectus recently to lead poisoning. I still have no idea where the lead source is, I am usually good at knowing common lead sources but this must be something that I didn't expect to have lead. It happened a few months ago so I am still really depressed and upset. I miss her heaps :(
I agree to that, even light napping can be dangerous. Birds like having a regular bedtime and wake up time too. I have a sleeping routine for my cockatiel to let him know it’s time to sleep. Then he sits on his favorite perch and flaps his wings quickly and says “to sleep” to let me know he is ready for bed! I wrap his cage up in a cover and turn off the lights in his part of the house until the morning when everyone gets up for breakfast and starts making noise. He will start calling for people if he wants to get out of the cage sooner, but usually he is content to sit in there until I remove his cage cover.
Tysm, my mother’s friend has not been fully aware of these things. She had kept three birds in one small cage with not a lot of care. I am keeping them for a month but I will try to take care of them well. Thank you for this video
Great advice for any pet bird. I loved watching your mischief makers during the video. My cockatiel loves to have me puff air on him, he fluffs up & gyrates around on his perch making little chirping sounds.
Omg ah another super quality video 😍 little update with my green cheeks, they love eating their little chop cubes now. I didn’t think they’d like it, but they’ve been eating way healthier now!
hehe thank you! 🥰 and yay thats so great to hear! 💕
This was very helpful, well done. Gorgeous birds, they are lucky to have such a great , intelligent owner. Thanks for your clarity and information!
♥
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Hey I have a green cheek Conure he is better than any dog or cat I ever had I never cage my birds. I also have three cockatiels and a sun conure I really let them do whatever they want to do and they eat with me all the time🥳🥳🥳
Awwww
Truly like unruly children haha
You shouldn’t have conures. Endangered and their population is decreasing due to exotic pet trade.
@@hudsonholmes2949 make sure to buy from a reputable breeder or better yet, adopt!! That way you aren't taking wild birds out of the wild.
We just recently got a concure and this was super helpful! We are still learning his habits and what he likes and dislikes. We also got him one of those okay mats you showed in the video. He absolutely loves it and has been playing on it all evening. He keeps saying thank you lol
Sorta unrelated, but just wanna say quickly that your green cheek conures are beautiful, they look very very happy and healthy!
Yes i have made one of these mistakes, i lost my patience in training my bird but now i understand that i need to have patience
Mistake number 11
"Holding grudges"
If you do yell at a bird, they still will do it again. If you yell at your bird, they will take it as affection and think it's alright.
Say you yell at a bird for chewing on a shirt. The bird likes the yelling and will bite and chew to get yelled at again. The best way to show your bird that you are mad is by ignoring them for a little while. Not so long they get lonely, but long enough to show you are mad at them.
That... actually makes a lot of sense. I mean, they're constantly screeching at each other, so now that you mention it, yeah, why WOULD they associate yelling with anger?
Great, I probably did all of those and feel even worse about my cockatiel :( When he passed away I felt really guilty and still do because I knew I wasn't giving him the care he needed and that made his life a lot shorter and monotones than it should've been. Two things I do know; I know nothing about taking proper care of a bird and probably wont get one in the future because I don't want it to happen that way again.
Love the green cheeked conures. They're so cute!
i would love to own a budgie again one day but i would just feel so guilty because i was given one when i was just a dumb teenager but i needed to rehome her to my best friend since she was too much for me to handle at the time. she was a few years old and was an unsocialized pet store budgie, and springing that on an uneducated teenager was definitely not the best move but i did try to give her an enriching life, and i was patient with her and tried to train her, but i feel like i failed her. even after living at my friends place for a couple of years now (she lived with me for about 4 or 5, never changed) she still hasn't changed
Suddenly i feel bad for my friends bird when i was young who got it as a present and never left the cage because it was aggressive with others and bit them a lot and was constantly screaming and scared of my friend because she was so hyper and screamed everytime she got close to the cage to show us how bad of a bird he was... rip peanut
I have a pineapple GC just like yours. He recently stopped letting me touch him with my hands. He still flies to me, sits on my shoulder and cuddles my face and/or feet XD the second he sees my hands he flies away. Any idea why this might be? He is almost 2 and this only started recently. He was super cuddly before this.
♥♥
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Welcome to the birb maturity years. It will last for a few years. This is the time when birds are mostly rehomed. Please stick it out, when he hits adulthood, he will be way more mellow & probably more affectionate, but nothing is as cuddly as a baby conure. Its part of being a parrot owner. Stick it out through the puberty years, it will get better
@@bigsky445 Preach. More people need to realize that Parrots change when they mature and have to take that into consideration before getting a Parrot.
@@lovemachine2246 I absolutely agree, I wish people had to take a few classes & have to have a special license to own parrots. They are just so dynamic & not like any other animal you bring into your home. They are wild animals & should be respected. So sad how many birds suffer because people buy on impulse cause they saw a cute RUclips video.
do you know that touching a bird anywhere but it's head is like touching the private parts on humans? So it seems like as your bird is maturing, it's decided it doesn't want you to be it's mate, which is a really good thing :) A lot of people end up with a lot of problems cause they accidentally bonded with their bird as it's partner
This was a really great video. Thank you!!! I was definitely guilty on the seed diet. I think one more to add maybe depending on where you live or if your parrot goes outside a lot is a uv lamp. From all the research I did not once did I see that birds need a uv lamp. I live in England where the sun will show up once a year... If that. :) and since most parrots are tropical creatures from warmer and brighter countries they usually soak up a lot of vitamin D. Advised from the vet saying it would help his behaviour and health, I think it has. Also on the plus side for my parrot, it has a mirror and he is obsessed with mirrors, which I think is the case for all our feathered friends. :D also your floof balls are adorable!
I just got a green cheek conure and doing research too be a good owner and you just got a sub so far you are the most knowledgeable and seem too have an extremely good relationship with your birds so thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and experience
Thank you SO MUCH!!
This video really helped and I'm a much better owner than I thought I am:) But I still do some mistakes and after I know what's wrong I'll start working on fixing things.
Have a great day and your birds are CRAZY CUTE💗💕
This is an excellent tutorial. I wish I’d seen this before I got my parrot. She was an impulse purchase. What can I say? Anyway, 3 years and a lot of tears later, we are doing great. Newbies should subscribe to this site - it’s one of the best I’ve come across.
thank you so so much! 💕
Awesome video, your birds look like they're in top notch condition. Amazing.
I try so hard to get my bird to forage, apart from ripping paper to get in his food bowl he will not forage. However he does love playing and shredding his toys, so I change them every so often. But if I give a specific forage toy he will not try it, and a toy he doesn't like, if theirs seeds he will take the easy ones and leave the ones he has to work for.
same here
Have you tried making your own foraging toys or areas? Sounds like your bird already enjoys paper, you can cut and bend these into shapes! Shapes can hide seeds inside. Shredded paper can be added to a box where seed can be scattered around. There are a few DIY videos on making your parrots foraging toys. Research my friend, research!
@@angsfeatheredfriends i will carry on trying new ways but he really doesn't bother if they require a lot of work
@@AM-xf8mu If your parrot is getting more than 30% of seed for their daily diet, they really wont forage. They already get everything they need in a bowl that requires no work. Maybe stop putting all into 1 bowl, and only put a tiny amount in the bowl, the rest hide around the cage in foraging toys? Some birds have to be trained to play with toys, if they are un familiar with them. My rescue cockatiel was like this, 6 years with 0 toys, he had no idea.
Try changing the treat to some thing he loves but doesn’t get unless he forages also if he is getting seeds in his bowl everyday then he won’t care much for the seeds that he has to work for
I definitely made this mistake. I bought a baby lovebird with doing any research. But I made a commitment and I am now doing all the research I can do I can have a happy healthy bird. This was very informative. Thank you
8:24 SO TRUE, i’ve had my conure for 4 1/2 years but every once in a while, i’ll look up birds things to make sure i’m on track
I have a 3 peach faces and I let one of them out and he normally stay on my shoulder or has a walk but he flown away so I got a bit of sun flower seeds and dropped some on the ground and he looked angry when I did it so he came back and gave them to him as a treat
This was such a great video!! Thank you for sharing ❤️ Your birds are gorgeous!! Especially the blue one 😍 I just got a Greek cheek conure and he’s already so sweet and cuddly. He’s such an amazing little pet 🥰
i got my parakeet about 2 years ago and i wasn’t good at taking care of her and i’m worried it’s too late to train her and have her bond with me. any tips?
Treat her like she is brand new to you. Train for instance sitting close to her, talking calmly, not looking her directly in the eyes. Then train getting your hand closer to her etc etc. And be really patient. Try doing it maybe 10-20 times every day maybe just 5-10 min at a time. And go back to what she was comfortable with, as soon as you push her boundries to much so she gets scared. And be patient. Good luck :)
@@kraft3898 thanks! i hope it helps :)
Never too late. How's your bird doing now?
@@king-icarus she’s great but my sister takes care of her now
Couldn't have said all of that better, myself! Great video! Thank you! I have a parrot page on Facebook and everybody's going to appreciate this video so thank you again!
agreed this was the most helpful video I have found and I love her voice it's very calming to listen to!
I am getting parrots and im doing research watching a lot of vids etc. :)
mhm me too, but i a m surprised that my mom mentioned a really good point actually, she said that if we get a bird now during your school (i go to school ik its bad bc the pandemic but my school is dumb) the you should get it in the end of school (aka after 2 months :) so i think 2 months is really a good amount of time for me to do alot of research. I am getting a trained quaker that was in a pet store. (he is trained and when i entered the shop and touched him, he was really happy, so i think that that is a sign that we will bond very well :> ) so i advice you to get a very enough amount of time to do research for about how much responsibility the bird has to have. so good luck:)
i forgot to tell you.. that ik birds from pet shops can be bad and stuff but this store especially is famous and considered a really honest store, they said that a breeder gave them this bird, they said he was scared (btw idk if he is a boy or girl.) so they bonded very well to other people as well. so i think this is gonna be a really good time to have a bird. and if ur wondering that if ur on a school vacation, then aren't you going to be away from ur bird? well we do not go on vacations i just go to swimming for about 1-2 hours so that should be a decent time to go out for while then come back to say hello to my feathered friend!
my budgie even eats chicken😭 his favorite is probably yoghurt, but he’s always out of his cage flying around frantically, so i think he’s active enough to burn it
Cannibalism 😨
omg.. HES A CANNABAL
My bird likes eating chicken 😭
Took almost 3 years to get my lovebird to allow me to casually touch her and move her around as I want. Now she sees me as her mate and doesn’t let any other relative (she’s known them the same amount of time) go in her cage without taking skin. Took awhile for her to pick bedding (we got 6 different kinds of “housing”) she finally went for the one without a roof 😒
I just want to say thank you for your videos! I am new to your channel, and while I don't have parrots (I have a rescue House Sparrow and 2 Bengalese/Society Finch friends for him), a lot of the advice is really really helpful where it can be applied to them. I wasn't aware that even wooden dowels were bad for birds feet for example or that plastic containers shouldn't be used due to cleanliness, which I will change immediately since the finches don't quite like human company and prefer their flight cage! My sparrow is bonded to us so he spends very little time in a cage) So again, thank you so much for what you do!!
I was about to clip my bird's wings for the first time out of desperation (moving etc) but stumbled on your video - I had thought many times of inventing a halter for my sunset conure. Then I SAW IT in your video. Buying a harness instead! Thank you!
I have a cockatiel, he HATES fingers from being abused when my aunt was in collage. I'm able to put my finger in there but he just nibbles it then walks away, I've tried putting millet in front of my finger to get him to walk on but he just attacks the millet thinking he's going to be hit with it.
We've had our cockatiel for years! He's now 28 years old, he spends most of his days in his cage and he's never plucked out his feathers. He also doesn't really like fruit, we will give him some different fruits even veggies but he just bites them once or twice then walks off to let them decay(of course we take it out before then).
He doesn't really like being out of his cage either, he just acts panicy and will try to flap to a higher spot but he's not a good flier and he's probably got some blindness from how old he is so he just crashes into something.
It's really sucky because I want to be there for him, he eats mostly seeds and he doesn't look obese or fat at all, he doesn't gorge on his food and he looks like a very natural size.
Do you have any tips for me to help him?
Just so you know, budgies and cockatiels are the few parrots who do eat seeds on a regular basis (but not 100% of their diets!). This is where research comes into play. Not all parrots eat the same diet in the wild, they should not be given the same diet in captivity either.
Wild cockatiels studied had a strong preference for sorghum, although they ate a whopping 29 different types of seeds. Young and soft seeds were preferred.
In addition to seeds, cockatiels in the wild will eat pretty much anything they can get their beak on. They’ll raid farmers’ crops, snag up unsuspecting insects and happily dine on berries, fruits and veg if they can find them.
Parrots are not domesticated pets, they are better off treated as their wild counterparts when it comes to diet. A lot of Wild parrots species live a lot longer than pet ones (Not counting disease or predators).
In short, your cockatiel isn't going to get as sick as other parrots would off an all seed diet. Variety would be much better though. The bird seed mixes you get in a pet store all tend to be complete junk, with added salts, sugars, and food dyes!!!!
I highly recommend making your own seed mix with human grade non GMO seeds. You should try sprouting this seed mix. Adding a variety of seasonal chopped veggies (try veggies in varied sizes as well, some like whole, others like tiny tiny chop). Fruit is something they rarely eat in the wild. It is a nice treat, but a lot of sugar. Also 1 grape to a cockatiel is like a human eating 256 grapes. So portion sizes matter. They also enjoy flowers, and herbs as well. Just make sure anything you give your bird is safe for it to consume. Some are dangerous to your bird.
You might also want to add foraging areas / toys around for your bird to explore and discover seeds as they go. Free feeding seeds all day is not helping your couch potato! Also if they wont eat pellets don't feel bad, pellets are a man made thing, that companies try to push off onto their consumers as a needed item. Birds in the wild do not eat 50-70% of a damn diet in pellets lol. At most I give mine 20% pellets in their daily diet, just because you cannot give them everything they get in the wild from home. With veggies making up the bulk of food intake 50%. As well as sprouted seeds. Daily. Seeds I introduce mid day in foraging areas / random toys places around the room.
Here is a handy link for budgies / cockatiels diets. Seeing these 2 species actually flock together in the wild! They also tend to eat most of the same exact things!
www.omlet.co.uk/guide/budgies/budgie_food/food_list
Used this site myself to come up with a healthy seed mix for all my budgies and cockatiels. They are currently enjoying a mix of Buckwheat, canary seed, oats, red wheat, clover, flax, millet, mung bean, and lentils. I sprout these to mix in with their morning veggies, and also use them in foraging.
Also - My rescue cockatiel Buddy was the same way. He hated hands and fingers so much. He still hates thumbs. I have no idea what his previous owner did to him. I just made sure to watch his body language. When he was un comfortable I left him alone. When he got on a better diet I started training. Have you given target training a go? Also, Buddy doesn't get millet off the stick anymore, such a mess, I feed him 1-2 seeds between my fingers now. A lot more controlled than a big bite lol. He is so eager to train when he sees me bring out the millet seed bowl :D
Also, instead of trying to force him out of the cage, have you just spent time next to his cage? He is pretty old, I don't know his whole story. He could have arthritis in his feet, or wing joints.
When was his last avian vet visit? I mean at most cockatiels rarely live to around 32. With 10-14 years being more common. So what ever you have been doing has been pretty good so far to get him to 28!
maybe to help with the diet, get some power supplement, on the seeds etc spray a little water and mix in the powder, the water will help it stick to the seeds which then sticks to feet and beaks so you know they get the vitamins from it. Sounds like he needs a lot of patience. (I am no bird expert I have just read a lot on birds since owning one) If you are worried about his health go to an avian vet, they can give check up, weight him make sure he is a good weight. If he has a fave spot he sits maybe you could have food there he might then try and eat. My first bird (she unfortunately died last year) wouldn't try new foods, I would have attach it to the cage next to her fave perch and she would then try it, either eat it or leave it.
Sounds like he feels safe in his cage, so doesn't want to leave. Maybe as a suggestion there could be calming music he likes? with the millet maybe leave some near his cage where he can see it, but not cause stress and slowly move it closer over a few days or weeks so he can see that it is not something that is going to hurt him.
I have notice some people do not realise you can't really punish birds, it makes them fearful and scared of you or things. But it is needed to more find a deterrence, like ignore bad behaviour but reward the good.
I wish you and your feathered friend the best of luck tho.
@@xShrubx Never add supplements to your birds diet unless recommended and prescribed by an avian vet, there is 0 way to tell what your bird is low on in vitamins without blood work done. You have a much more likeliness to poison your birds doing this than helping them.
If your bird does die, take the body to an avian vet for a work up to find cause of death.
EXAMPLE - You might think it was diet, turns out it was metal poisoning and you had no idea, but you still have that 1 copper bell that will end up poisoning and killing the rest of your birds. You can learn a lot from your birds death, and how to be a better bird owner.
About a year ago my family bought my green check conure (Blu) a rope perch and she loved it. We stared to notice really soon that she was throwing up string and we admittedly threw it away and never buying her one again. Make sure you guys keep an eye on your pets💕
I found a fair trade bird rope thing the other day that is made from all natural materials (palm leaves I think it was). Was $10 for 10 metres. I'll find it again for you if you're interested. Could be a good option if you want it, if not, that's fine too :)
@@mehere8038 okay I’d love to take a look for both of our family birds. Thank you🤗
@@brybowmaan ok, found it, now lets see if the site will let me post it :)
vetnpetdirect.com.au/collections/bird-toys-boredom-relief/products/natural-rippers
@@brybowmaan wow, I think the link is actually sticking :)
Not sure where you're located, that site probably isn't suitable for you, but it's got the info & you can probably find somewhere else you can get it from :)
It talks about it for shredding there, but I'm sure I saw somewhere else where it spoke of it as suitable for rope perches too. There's a few different varieties available, that company making them has quite a few pretty cool looking natural toys actually & pretty reasonable prices too imo I hope taht, or one of their others is suitable for a rope perch for you & that you can find somewhere you can buy it for delivery to where you live
@@mehere8038 okay thank you so much 💕
birds: don’t understand humans holding grudges
my bird: holds a month long grudge after i boarded her for a weekend
maybe it wasnt a grudge, maybe it didnt recognize you after the time you left it
@@Bonstergirl1 you sound like you’ve never had a bird
@@stanmvrshh1709 what, no? unless your bird is sick it WILL remember you after a weekend- also you should not have to "restart" a bird. there living too :/
@@stanmvrshh1709 have you thought about how birds survive in the wild? Do you REALLY think that a bird that can't remember where it's food is located if it rains for a few days can survive? Birds obviously have good memories! You should here the commotion here each year when the cuckoos arrive in spring! They've been 5000 kms away in another country for 6 months, but the second they arrive back, all species they prey on gang up on them & try to chase them out before they can be cuckoos! But you think a bird can't remember it's owner & home if it's away for 2 days? really????
I went on vacation for 4 days once and left my budgies at my mom's house while I was gone. When I got back they were all fine except for my one girl, Apollo, who was pissed at me. Now, Apollo is usually the most social and loving to me of all my birds, and she would barely even acknowledge me for two or three days after I got back. But after that time she was back to her loving self again. I'm almost 100% sure she was holding a grudge against me for those few days.
I have been doing research ing information on how to care for parrots for the last few weeks, today I finally got to hold a bird. Sealing my decision. You have been so helpful
I’ve been working on getting a bird, and I found your videos and they have been super useful!
My dad raised and bread alll kinds of exotic birds for over 20 years so he has A LOT of experience. But they had this one bird I think it was an Amazon he figured out how to open his cage and fly out then he would proceed to open EVERYONE else’s cages so then my fathers trying to catch at least 30 some birds 😂 they had to put an actual key lock on his cage
that shitter's gonna learn how to lockpick
😂 Oh, my gosh, what a brat! (affectionate) They just live for chaos, don't they?
Most common mistake ever: keeping a parrot alone, without a partner.
Glad someone mentioned this since it should really have been in the video, thank you.
So glad it is against animal protection laws in many countries. Germany for example, some neighbor countries as well. Narcissistic to think a human could ever replace a same species partner, when parrots are as intelligent as young children. They have their own needs, and we can't keep up with that.
I’ve been researching and from what I see most people with green cheek condures say most of the time they will fight other birds, are they wrong?
@@blueberrypawsome green cheeks don't like birds that are not their species. But they are friendly towards their own kind, with some exceptions of course just like we humans have some people we just don't like :)
@@lovemachine2246 ah okay thanks :)
It was mentioned in the video NOT to get your bird rope toys because of the harmful effects of eating them, but there’s another very big reason why you should not get rope toys for your birds. They can get caught in them. As the toy wears down it will develop loose strands. These strands can get caught around the birds feet, neck, wings or other body parts. This can cause them a lot of stress and pain. I personally have very regretfully made the choice of getting my conure a rope toy. Her foot ended up getting caught, out of stress and panic she ended up chewing one of her talons to the point where the vets had to amputate it. I still feel guilty about it but I’m happy to know she lives a good life full of affection and safe, engaging toys.
They did mention that dummy
These tips were helpfull. I got a cockatiel and didnt know how to really care for her, i watched this video and realised i was doing many things wrong, she had a really small cage, i rarely let her out, i clipper her wings, she had a seed diet and she didnt trust me at all, she would get agressive when i got near her. Now 2 months later i fixed those problems, now she wont leave me alone when she wants to play, i dont mind tho. And now she is sleeping on my arm as im writing this.
Great list 👍 Lots of good information.
There are lots of ways to add enrichment activities - get some pine cones, almonds + walnuts + macadamias in the shell (which also helps keep their beaks in good condition), dried fruit, pumpkin seeds, etc in a big baking tray or planter and “hide them” among smooth stones (you can get them at hardware or homewares stores) and the birds will spend hours happily foraging - plus you can hide colourful toys and treats in there too.
One of the best investments I ever made was a kids toy sink with a pump that I got from K-Mart and it makes birdie bath time a lot of fun.
Also got a modular cardboard thing from K-Mart that was marketed as a cat’s play centre - it’s a system of interconnected cardboard cubes with holes between each segment and little windows - it’s quite big when fully assembled but it makes a fantastic play area for parrots.
And for their diet I asked my vet as well as a few ornithologist / parrot specialists I follow on Twitter for recommendations and also get inspiration from the wild - I have a Green Cheek and a Sun Conure and in the wild they eat a fair bit of fruit so I started giving them chopped apple for breakfast and they absolutely love it. Blackberries are a great reward for good behaviour, pomegranates are good too as they’re not too high in fructose.
They love tropical fruit like mangoes, passion fruit, dragon fruit, custard apples, rambutans and lychees, every so often and on special occasions although not too often because some vets say sugars (even fructose) can make hormonal behaviour worse.
Sprouts are another hugely popular option and they love chili peppers too (can’t stand them myself but the birdies love them). I let them have a bit of olive oil too or MCT oil every now and then - it helps them condition their feathers (Sun Conures don’t have a uropygial gland so they use powder down feathers to condition their plumage as they don’t produce preen oil)
This was originally going to be a two word comment but I got a bit carried away.
Thank you for this! I've had my GCC Pop Tart for almost two years and thought I knew it all, but I realized that there are some things I can do better 😊
Question, my cockatiel stays in his cage all day although his door is open, and if I try to get him to get out he gets crazy and tries to escape, I think he doesn’t like me, any tips in how to get him out and use to me?
Thanks in advance
Hi! It sounds like he may be afraid of the environment and needs some time adjusting to it, especially if you recently brought him home. You don't want to reach in and try to take him out because it’ll be very stressful for him. Try leaving the door shut so he feels a bit safer and spend more time with him by being near the cage and doing everything next to him so he can get used to you (do this for a few days, depending on how he feels so be sure to watch his body language too!) You could even feed him some treats through the cage bars and after a few days, you could start opening the cage door and feed him treats through the door. Take things slow and go at your bird’s pace so he learns to trust you and not be afraid, hope this helps! Just remember to be patient and he’ll learn to trust you! 🤞🏻
My conure is all day out of his cage he sleeps on my desk he only eats in his cage he does what he wants 😂
Mine too. I’m always worrying that I’m spoiling her for when maybe I’m not home 24/7.
I'm glad we're not the only ones who do that. We have a cockatiel and a conure who both roam free. They have a cage, but it's always open and they go in there to play and look for food. We've also installed what we hope is a better bird bath for them. They come into the shower with me, and our cockatiel will actually take her shower with me from time to time. Our cat and cockatiel actually play together, whereas the conure will have none of that. She sometimes cuddles up to the dog, because she likes her fur. They spend time with everyone in the family, although they do have their favourites. I used to think birds were slightly more interesting than fish, and something that just made noise in a cage and so I never really wanted one. But my wife insisted and having them roam free like the dog or the cat has really changed my perspective of what it means to live with birds, and I love them to bits.
@@vince7245 , hello!
My name is Iryna.
I speak english not well.
Can l ask you about your parrots?
I have one Conure( 2 years old)
I think , it's a boy)
I read , that you have two different parrots)
Are they boy and girl?
I'd like to buy one more parrot , but I don't know, how they will doing.
I wonder, will not they bite each other?
@@iryna15 Hi,
I'm definitely no expert, these are the first birds I've raised and I'm learning as I go. Both our birds are hand raised by us. We got them when they were very very young and hand fed both of them. The cockatiel is only a few months older than the conure, and we think they're both female. They are just over a year old each.
The conure is definitely the dominant one of the two. In fact, she dominates the cat and the dog as well and she gets very jealous. We're quite firm with her, and she doesn't bite the cockatiel, but she does let her know she is boss. But at the same time she tries to cuddle up to the cockatiel, who often doesn't feel like it. The cockatiel seems to be happy just left to it, where as the conure likes being with someone and close a lot more.
They get on well enough, but they're very different.
I realize that probably doesn't quite answer your question. But yes, our get on fine. Sometimes they play together or the cockatiel tries to groom the conure, and she lets her for a bit.
Birds cannot sleep outside please leave your bird in their cage when they need to sleep please do researches and don't be dumb,bad things ard dangerous so don't think these things as a joke...
I’ve been target training my new CAG. He’s 26 and doing well with target training. He still won’t step up without biting. He will accept treats from my hand. I adopted him about 3 weeks ago. He’s come a long way since I took him to get groomed. He didn’t like that at all and seemed to hold a grudge for a couple of days. My goal now is to bond with him and get him to step up.
What does CAG stand for?
Thanks so much!! I needed this video!! Really appreciated taking your time making this video.
Me: she updated
Me: click for your life...
Btw i love your videos they are very helpful and it so weird that you dont have 100k yet
haha thank you so so much! 🥰 hopefully one day! 🤞🏻😊
It is 3 AM and I'm almost finished watching Death Note. Instead of pulling an all nighter and finishing it or maybe going to sleep, I am watching this video.
I do not own a bird and don't intend on getting one.
Lol
😁😂
Death Note hits hard
You need this :))
I did most of these at one point! 🥺
😭 that's okay, we've all made mistakes!
It is never to late to change what your doing. We have all made mistakes. it’s what we do when we find out that we are wrong that is important
This video is sooo helpful!! I just got a green cheek conure and sun conure and I’m learning so much about these sweet babies!!
Hi! I have a question,
My bird is un-tamed and would probably fly away if I let it out, while I’m trying to tame it is there any other way I can cure it’s boredom without letting it out?
wow, I'm early!
haha yay! 😊
You should have more subs . you content is really interesting . so weird
ahh thanks so much! 🥰
And fun! You are really good at this. and congrats 🎊 🍾 on 1000 subs!
@@buddythebird244
ruclips.net/video/Z_elwEkq3GI/видео.html
Yeah i’m still confused
Anyone who could ever hold a grudge against an innocent animal probably shouldn’t have any pets in the first place! Lol
I've never clip my birds wings I've always thought it to be unfair for the bird I just found this channel think I'm hooked very very helpful thank you
Thank you so much for this info. We're bringing our first parrot, a Sun Conure, in 2 days. This helps a lot.
Choice number 13; gettong a bird when you don't have enough money for vet bills.
I have 10 birds. Of those 10, 5 came to me clipped. While they're easier to catch, they're definitely not as happy as my fully flighted birds are. I hate when people try to justify clipping by saying that it's safer for them, when it's not. They're just lazy. If birds can't fly away from what scares them, it usually results in them biting.
Amen.
I just got two new budgies. One chipped. The chipped one did not bite. The other one bit me hard once. By the way, I did not notice the chipped part until a week later. Do they grow back?
when i got my cockatiel its wings were clipped and she did't know how to fly but know she flys very good and i got her like 2years ago
Got my first budgie today and have done lots of research for about 3 years but I still learn every day
Woah! Surprisingly, I haven't made any of these mistakes. That's actually very reassuring, as I have bad anxiety and even though I've done research for about two years before getting my bird, I'm always worried that I'm doing everything wrong.
My cockatiel completely refuses to eat anything but the seeds she got at the pet shop and it's been almost 2 months of me trying..
Edit: any ideas of what I should do?
A channel called Flock-Talk has a good video on switching from seeds to pellets, she has a lot of different informational videos as well, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find and i hope it helps!
Try veggie Chops! 🥕🥦
Give a little veggie chop every morning and if hè/she doesn’t eat it; give the bird after a hour the seeds but let him/her work for it.
So don’t give it in the bowl but let him of her work for it like in the video.
It might take 2-3 Months before the chop really gets eaten so you have to be patient and give it every morning. 😊
Search for chop recipes on internet, there is a lot to find! 🌱
@@BeanieBae thanks for the tip
@@nissie95 thanks. I'll make sure to try that
I gave my birds nutriberries (seed+pellet balls) to start with and they used to eating pellets that way. Veg chop is a bit of a harder transition but one step at a time :')
My bird poops on everything literally everything in my house
My princess parrot nibbles me if she needs to poop. I didn't train her to do that, she just loves me too much to poop on me.
@@thegoodnessness
That’s adorable
The green one looks like Jaiden Animations’ bird, Ari
Hey, great video. We just lost the second of our 2 cockatiels after 20+ years... They passed within 3 months of one another after having lived on 3 continents and I have to say, this video is EXCELLENT. We made MANY of these mistakes incl. the food which thankfully we recognized early on and switch to about 70% harrisons and the rest natural stuff. If you want your parrots to live to their full potential and happy, follow the basic dos / dont's found here! We are now looking forward to a conure in the near future.
I am watching this while not having birds nor planning on it. I sometimes feel this urge to want a bird but then I remember they are too much work for the time I have. Very cute though, I enjoyed this vid!