Conference 7.286::pet_birds

    I've noticed that for the first day or so, sometimes the new bird
    won't appear to be eating (looking at the level of the food in the
    dishes).  Has your friend observed her bird for any length of time?
    Also, if the bird was hand-fed, how long has it been since it was
    weaned?  Is she feeding it the same food that it was weaned onto?
    Does she give it a choice of soft foods as well as seeds to crack?
    Does the bird have any other birds around it that *it* can observe
    eating?  Sorry about all these questions, but there could be a lot
    of reasons, and not all of them awful or life-threatening, why the
    bird doesn't appear to be eating.
    
    Linda

    Hi Linda,
    
    I assume my friend has had time to observe her bird because she's been
    out of work due to an operation.  I am going over to see the little
    cutie tonight.  I'm not sure how long it has been weaned but she told
    me that she bought the same food that it was weaned onto. She did
    mention something about giving the bird veg-all canned veggies but I'm
    not sure she has tried that yet.  I think she has just been giving it
    seeds.  The bird does not have any other birds around it (it's the only
    bird). 
    
    I was thinking that it just takes some time for the new bird to
    settle in to the new surroundings and new cage and being by itself.
    She was in a cage with 2 or 3 other baby cockatiels so maybe she's
    lonely and wants to be held.  My friend was leaving it in the cage
    so it could get use to it but from what I've read, maybe she should
    be giving it more of the human contact (for the bonding)???
    I can't wait to see her and hold her tonight.
    
    Donna

    Donna,
    
    I had a similar experience when I brought home my Lutino cockatiel
    now known as EBUZZ.  He was seven week old and was just completing
    his weaning stage.  Ebuzz would still make this sound whenever it
    got hungry but didn't eat his seed.  I started to offer it a spray
    of millet from my hand and he liked that okay.  It still wasn't
    good nutrition so I went out and purchased some baby food (mostly
    fruit) and hand fed this to Ebuzz until he started to eat seed on
    his own.  This practice lasted about three week.  I shortened the
    time that he ate from my hand gradually and he would start to eat
    more of his seed.  
    
    Tell your friend that this is the time to influence this bird. 
    The bonding process will be very critical during the nex three 
    months.  I never used and tapes or other artificial means of teaching
    Ebuzz how to talk.  I did spend almost every moment home with him
    on my should or patting him and of course talking to him.  Ebuzz
    now says "hello"  "pretty bird"  "what are you doing"  
    "pretty cockie" "hi little cockie" and one thing that we really
    get a kick out of is he will tap the cage bars with his beak and
    say "knock knock"  this was all accomplished just through normal
    contact and conversation.  The first year is the year that any bird
    will acquire it's personality.  Ebuzz is a great companion and is
    very affectionate.  Please pass this information along to your friend
    and tell her that I wish her the best of luck with her prize.
    
    Jim Buccieri

    Hi Jim,
    
    I went over to my friends house last night to see her little baby
    (Zelda).  She is the cutest and cuddliest little thing.  She LOVES to
    be held and out of the cage.  The first thing I noticed was that the
    dowel perch was in the middle of the cage and not near the food/water
    dishes.  So, I moved it down.  Then I put her on the perch and noticed
    that she wasn't getting sure footing (the dowel was too big for her I
    think).  So I took her back out of the cage and took some seed from her
    seed dish and put it in my hand. She started to take it but didn't really
    crack any seed open.  I think she was playing with it.

    Well, needless to say, off to the store we went...  We bought a
    manzenta branch which had a few different size branches on it and a
    little birdie passifier and then headed home.  I took the dowel and
    swing out of the cage (the swing had the same size dowel perch) and put
    the manzenta branch and passifier in there.  Then I took Zelda and put
    her on the branch in front of the seed cup.
    
    Lo and behold!  She started eating her seed and then a few minutes
    later went over to the water dish and drank some water.  After that,
    she started playing with her passifier.
    
    She's a really neat bird and I know my girlfriend is going to really
    enjoy her (although I have my doubts about owning a bird when you
    own 3 cats).  Her cage is hung from the ceiling in a corner of the
    room so, HOPEFULLY, the cats can't get to her.  It's high enough
    so you have to get on a little step stool to reach her so I hope
    that's high enough.
    
    Thanks for the suggestions on training her to talk.  I will definitely
    pass the word on ....
    
    Donna :-)

    I just spoke with my girlfriend (Pugsi) and the name of the bird is
    Zelda-Bob (because we were busting her chops last night because she
    doesn't know the sex of the bird).  However, the bird will really be
    called Zelda (Bob was added to make others happy).  Believe it or not,
    her husband had gone out this morning and ordered a name plate for the
    cage (without Pugsi knowing that he was doing it) and then she informed
    him that the name was Zelda-Bob.  Needless to say, he is now getting a
    new name plate. 
    
    As you can see, they are already being controlled by the bird! 
    
    Question:  Pugsi made up a mixture of soggy monkey biscuits, chick
    peas which she skinned and split in half and corn.  Zelda likes
    the chick peas and biscuits but not too fond of the corn.  Are chick
    peas good for birds?
    
    I gave her a whole listing of the note (10.*) on feeding so she could
    read and learn.  She said she's going to make up the recipe in note
    10.21. (Linda Hutchins's recipe) with other comments from other
    replies).  She wants to use chick peas instead of brocoli.  Is this
    ok?
    
    Thanks,
    Donna :-)