# Hope she pulls through



## Ariel (Feb 7, 2010)

Our cherry head conure, Daisy, out of the blue started to throw a fit, my mom shut her in her cage and covered her up. We don't know if this is when it happened, or if it happened at another time, we don't even know HOW, but when we uncovered her 5 minutes later, we noticed she was dripping blood. 

We pulled her out and took her into the bathroom to examine it, blood covered the underside of her wing, we took her into the clinic where my mom and I both work, meeting the doctor there even though we're closed. However the clinic doesn't see birds so all we could do was examine the injury, it looks like her humerus bone is broken, and there was a hole in the wing. We pressure wrapped it and put an e-color on her for now, we'll be taking her to see a bird vet tomorrow. 

She is very, very, stressed, to the point where she's not screaming, biting, she just sits and lets you pet her. (and if you know my bird thats not good)

Stress can be a killer and birds, its not the wound I'm terribly worried about, its the stress. She'll be spending the night in either my parents room or mine in a carrier. If she can survive the night, thats going to be the biggest mircle of all. So I guess what I'm asking is for all of you to just hope she survives through the night.

I'm in tears right now, practically broken down, she pisses me off sometimes, but god I love this bird and I don't want to lose her.

We examined the cage and we can't find blood anywhere except for where it dripped so we don't where it even got injured.


----------



## daytona1911 (Feb 7, 2010)

I'm sorry for your pain Ariel. I had a sun conure for years and even though it was a little stinker , I loved that bird as well.  I hope it pulls through.   do you think it could have gotten caught on the cage somewhere?  The fact that it is so stressed and not squaking isnt what Id like to see , but It may pull through .  I wish you luck


----------



## Shrike (Feb 7, 2010)

I'm sorry to hear about your bird's injury.  I hope she pulls through.


----------



## <3exoticpets (Feb 7, 2010)

I'm so sorry, that's really awful!  If indeed it is a broken wing, she should be okay.  Yes, stress is dangerous for birds, but if she was otherwise healthy and there are no other injuries, she should get through the night, until you are able to get her medical care.  Just be sure to not handle her for any reason unless it is absolutely necessary and keep her in a nice quiet comfortable spot.  Best of luck and try to stay calm.
p.s.- any local emergency vets by you? (ex: 24 hr hospitals)


----------



## Teal (Feb 7, 2010)

*I'm so sorry Ariel  The first bird I ever had, just a little parakeet, was "stressed to death".. I don't wish it on anyone 

Good luck! *


----------



## Ariel (Feb 7, 2010)

daytona1911 said:


> I'm sorry for your pain Ariel. I had a sun conure for years and even though it was a little stinker , I loved that bird as well.  I hope it pulls through.   do you think it could have gotten caught on the cage somewhere?  The fact that it is so stressed and not squaking isnt what Id like to see , but It may pull through .  I wish you luck


Thanks. Yeah, I know enough about birds to know that stress is pretty bad. We really don't know what happened, we think maybe it happened when my mom slammed  the door, maybe the wing god caught,but she didn't make a single sound, and I didn't see it get caught or anything, we just don't know, and it sucks. It'd be easier if we knew how it happened...



mking said:


> I'm sorry to hear about your bird's injury.  I hope she pulls through.


Thanks, I hope so too. 



<3exoticpets said:


> I'm so sorry, that's really awful!  If indeed it is a broken wing, she should be okay.  Yes, stress is dangerous for birds, but if she was otherwise healthy and there are no other injuries, she should get through the night, until you are able to get her medical care.  Just be sure to not handle her for any reason unless it is absolutely necessary and keep her in a nice quiet comfortable spot.  Best of luck and try to stay calm.
> p.s.- any local emergency vets by you? (ex: 24 hr hospitals)


I really hope you're right. There arn't any emergency vets that see birds. There is one around, but they don't see birds.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 7, 2010)

Teal said:


> *I'm so sorry Ariel  The first bird I ever had, just a little parakeet, was "stressed to death".. I don't wish it on anyone
> 
> Good luck! *


It sucks. I've never had it happen to one of my birds, but I bought my best friend a cockatiel once when she finally moved into a place of her own, and stress killed the poor thing. I felt awful since she was so excited to get her.


----------



## Shell (Feb 7, 2010)

Im so sorry Ariel 

I really hope she pulls through for you. Just make sure to keep her warm, and calm and in a quiet place until you get her to the vet. Good luck


----------



## Ariel (Feb 7, 2010)

Shell said:


> Im so sorry Ariel
> 
> I really hope she pulls through for you. Just make sure to keep her warm, and calm and in a quiet place until you get her to the vet. Good luck


Thats what we'll be doing. She's spending the night in a carrier in my parents room, which usually gets really warm over night.


----------



## ZergFront (Feb 8, 2010)

I'm sorry your bird's injured. I had a sun conure, she died when our heat went out in Winter before I was even 9. 

 I don't know how to mend broken wings but you could dab on some baby powder or flour to stop a bird's bleeding. We did that with a few of our birds when the feathers were cut too short or when one landed in an orange tree. He cut his toe on a thorn.


----------



## Shell (Feb 8, 2010)

Ariel said:


> Thats what we'll be doing. She's spending the night in a carrier in my parents room, which usually gets really warm over night.


Keep us posted. I'll be sending good thoughts.


----------



## Redneck (Feb 8, 2010)

Hope she pulls through for you Ariel..


----------



## Ariel (Feb 8, 2010)

ZergFront said:


> I'm sorry your bird's injured. I had a sun conure, she died when our heat went out in Winter before I was even 9.
> 
> I don't know how to mend broken wings but you could dab on some baby powder or flour to stop a bird's bleeding. We did that with a few of our birds when the feathers were cut too short or when one landed in an orange tree. He cut his toe on a thorn.


Well like I said, we took her to the clinic where my mom and I work at and was able to put a pressure wrap on it (and bind her wing to her body) but our clinic doesn't see birds, so we don't have the stuff to do the sugery and the only clinic that does was closed for the day. 



Shell said:


> Keep us posted. I'll be sending good thoughts.


I'll be sure too. I think if she makes it through the night that'll be a good start. Right now I can't even sleep I'm sick with worry.



Redneck said:


> Hope she pulls through for you Ariel..


Thanks Tommy, I hope she does too.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 8, 2010)

Well Daisy made it threw the night, we dropped her off at the vet this morning. It sucks taking a bird out in weather like this, an injured and stressed bird is already weak.  They're going to do x-rays and we're hoping they'll only have to splint it, but they'll probably have to pin it.

Almost forgot to mention, I trust this doctor %100 he did a lot of work on one of our other birds (A cockatiel named Piper, whos sinced passed away) while she was sick/dying of kidney disease.


----------



## <3exoticpets (Feb 8, 2010)

Glad to hear everything turned out ok


----------



## Shell (Feb 8, 2010)

Glad to hear that she made it through the night 

Hopefully treatment and recovery will all go smoothly for both her and you.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 8, 2010)

Thanks guys.

I just got a call from my mom, they've done x-rays on her and its a pretty low break so internal pinning isn't an option, they're looking at splinting, external fixture, or amputation. At this point the doctor is leaning towards external fixtures. He's started her on pain medication and antibiotics, which I'm glad, I think part of the reason she's so stressed is because she's in so much pain. They're going to be keeping her overnight and possibly tomorrow night, but he wants to get her home as soon as possible, since birds always do better at home. 

They also might need to do a blood transfusion, we're not sure yet, the doctor hasn't removed the pressure wrap to see how much blood was lost yet.

The good news is she tried to bite me and my dad this morning.


----------



## Roski (Feb 8, 2010)

Ariel said:


> The good news is she tried to bite me and my dad this morning.


A thank-you bite! That's the best sign yet!

My first parakeet liked to sit on my finger and bite the hell out of it. I always thought it meant she liked me... but she flew away. This was when I was 7, by the way. I was shattered, but I can't imagine seeing an injury. Hopefully, the worst is over.

Not the same thing, but a few years ago I came home to find my dwarf hamster hanging by one of her hind legs on the side of her cage where 2 perpenticular bars met. There was blood, and she was struggling so much... it's horrifying. I have no idea what could have caused the injury in your bird. 

All the best to you and your conure, and her possible blood transfusion .

Edit: Oh, and to end on an encouraging note... which was the whole point of this, I should probably mention that my dwarf hamster made a full recovery and could run again within a week.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 8, 2010)

Well Daisy went into surgury around 3:30 pm this afternoon. We just got a call from my mom and the damage was more than we thought, the bone was completely jerked out of the socket and shattered. They're going to amputate the wing tomorrow morning. It's going to be a full amputation. 

She'll never be able to fly again, if she survives the procedure. We all feel pretty awful about this, it REALLY sucks. 

If anyone has any information about wing amputation, I'd really appreciate it.


----------



## Teal (Feb 9, 2010)

*Oh Ariel  I'm so sorry to hear the latest update.. 

I don't know anything about wing amputations in birds... I only know that dogs who have legs amputated, don't even notice the missing leg. So, I can only hope that a bird missing a wing might adapt the same way.

I hope the surgery goes well  *


----------



## Ariel (Feb 9, 2010)

Teal said:


> *Oh Ariel  I'm so sorry to hear the latest update..
> 
> I don't know anything about wing amputations in birds... I only know that dogs who have legs amputated, don't even notice the missing leg. So, I can only hope that a bird missing a wing might adapt the same way.
> 
> I hope the surgery goes well  *


Thanks, Jairi. 

From what I hear they're suppose to adept pretty well to loosing a wing, but I'm having a hard time finding any accounts for this online. (stories) so I dunno. I'm pretty worried.


----------



## Teal (Feb 9, 2010)

*I wouldn't worry about it too much  You're doing your best to try and help her... and that's all that matters! If it works, that is awesome.. if it doesn't - then atleast you tried. *


----------



## <3exoticpets (Feb 9, 2010)

Sorry to hear that an amputation is necessary.  It isn't all bad though.  Birds tend to recover quickly and adjust well afterwards.  I will see if I can find articles to link for you.  Best of luck in surgery.


----------



## <3exoticpets (Feb 9, 2010)

http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/surgery.html
scroll to the bottom under "specific surgeries", then read the "before and after surgery" section below it.


http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-breeders/ask-the-vet/ask-the-vet-2004-03-01-11069.aspx


----------



## Ariel (Feb 9, 2010)

Thanks guys, the surgury was around mid day today, I saw her in the morning and she was looking perkier, (though physically she looked pretty beaten up). I haven't gotten a chance to see her since the surgury because of work but my family did and they said she was eating like she was starving, is talking some, and that the dr. said the surgury went really well. She'll be coming home tomorrow afternoon, unfortunately I won't beable to see her until tomorrow night because I work again.


----------



## Shell (Feb 10, 2010)

Happy to hear that she made it through and is doing well


----------



## Ariel (Feb 11, 2010)

Well Daisy is home with us now. She's doing pretty good, a little talkative. She's pretty drugged up though, and she's a little lopsided now. She's only fallen twice so far. She looks like crap, but she'll heal.

Here she is from before the accident:







And here she is after:







She'll be going in every week to have a bandage change. We haven't gotten an estimate of how long it'll be before she fully heals. Eventually she will regrow all her feathers, including where the wing used to be. She still has a little nub where her wing used to be. 

This whole incident has made us realize how much she means to us. Yes, we love all of our animals unconditionally, We're animal people, they bring us the greatest pleasures. Daisy does tend to get on our nerves at time, she's a conure, and if you know anything about conures you know they're loud! 

But...After this happened, I think the though that we could lose her, passed through all of us, and just really shook us. Yes, Daisy can get loud, yes, she can get annoying, but she brings so much happiness to the family as well. When she sits there chattering to herself, when she laughs along with us when something funny happens, when she helps us get rid of the hiccups, but making us laugh as she pretends she has the hiccups too, When you yell "DAISY" and she screams "WHAT?!" back at you. When she tells us or the other birds the shut up, right down to her silly faulty defense mechanism. 'OMG i'm in danger I'm going to BITE MY OWN LEG nom nom nom'. (I don't know why she does this, but its funny).

We love her, and we never want to give her up.


----------



## Mack&Cass (Feb 11, 2010)

Ariel said:


> But...After this happened, I think the though that we could lose her, passed through all of us, and just really shook us. Yes, Daisy can get loud, yes, she can get annoying, but she brings so much happiness to the family as well. When she sits there chattering to herself, when she laughs along with us when something funny happens, when she helps us get rid of the hiccups, but making us laugh as she pretends she has the hiccups too, When you yell "DAISY" and she screams "WHAT?!" back at you. When she tells us or the other birds the shut up, right down to her silly faulty defense mechanism. 'OMG i'm in danger I'm going to BITE MY OWN LEG nom nom nom'. (I don't know why she does this, but its funny).
> 
> We love her, and we never want to give her up.


This almost made me cry. I'm glad to see she's doing well. She's absolutely beautiful, uni-wing and all 

Cass


----------



## Ariel (Feb 11, 2010)

Mack&Cass said:


> This almost made me cry. I'm glad to see she's doing well. She's absolutely beautiful, uni-wing and all
> 
> Cass


Heh, I almost cried writing it. 

Thanks, so are we. gotta say we were pretty worried about her, but, I think she's going to be ok. 

She is, isn't she.


----------



## Shell (Feb 11, 2010)

Aww she's a pretty girl, even all banged up post-surgery 

Im happy so see your update, and that she's home with you. I wish all the best for her recovery.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 11, 2010)

Thanks, theres still a long road ahead of us but I think she's going to be ok. I don't know if its because she's all drugged up, but she's become unusually sweet since what happened. Now if only we could get her to stop biting at her bandages!

This was cute. Right now we're not really letting her out much, and my parents don't want her out unless they're home (just while she recovered just in case something happens, I don't have a way to get her to the clinic) but we're letting all our other birds out still and our, gosh, I think he's 15? maybe older, male cockatiel, Zazu, his cage is on top of hers (has been for awhile) and they're pretty good buddies. He missed her while she was gone (and screamed...a lot because of it). Well I looked over and saw this...







He was wistling to her, it was really cute.


----------



## Shell (Feb 11, 2010)

Awww, that's adorable, he missed his girlfriend 

I don't know too much about birds, our clinic dealt with them only rarely. It's nice to see he wasn't weird with her after coming home from the clinic. Dogs and cats often are funny with their buddies after a vet stay as they smell like that horrible, scary place.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 11, 2010)

Shell said:


> Awww, that's adorable, he missed his girlfriend
> 
> I don't know too much about birds, our clinic dealt with them only rarely. It's nice to see he wasn't weird with her after coming home from the clinic. Dogs and cats often are funny with their buddies after a vet stay as they smell like that horrible, scary place.


haha, yeah. I honestly don't think a birds sense of smell is all that great. Besides I think he missed her to much, he threw a fit while she was gone.


----------



## Shell (Feb 11, 2010)

Here's a stupid question for you.

I know alot of birds can live an insane length of time, but what is the average lifespan for a cockatiel? I was just curious since you mentioned he was 15 or so.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 11, 2010)

Shell said:


> Here's a stupid question for you.
> 
> I know alot of birds can live an insane length of time, but what is the average lifespan for a cockatiel? I was just curious since you mentioned he was 15 or so.


I think usually its between 15 and 25 but I've heard them nearing 30. One of my co-workers has a cockatiel that's at least 24 (probably older) and still looks and acts young. And its not a stupid question, cockatiels are on the smaller size, but live the lifespan of a medium sized bird, but theres also some contraversy of how long they live, some will say 10-15, others 15-30. 

I can see where the contravery comes from because yes Zazu is 15, and I know of one thats at least 24, but I've also seen some die rather young comperatively. However because most people don't take the time to get a necropsy on birds because they're "Just a bird" to some people, they can't say HOW they died. We've lost two cockatiels at relatively young ages. I think one of the biggest problems is diet. 10% of birds (though this statistic may be specific to cockatiels and may have changed its been a while) can simply not tolerate pellets, there are also a lot of genetic disorders that just don't show.

We didn't find out until just recently, but Zazu's mate (who's since passed on) Piper had a genetic kidney disease, it likely would have gone unnoticed (and I'll explain why in a moment) except for the fact that she was one of those who could not eat pellets which worsened the affliction, and caused her to show symptoms before she passed away, at the very young age of 6. 

Just recently her daughter, Scarlet, passed away completely unexpectedly at only 9 (Possibly 10). We did a necropsy on her and found she'd been in kidney failure and gout had surrounded her heart, she had shown no symptoms at all. 

We'd thought the kidney issure had been strictly caused by the pellets, but since we stopped feeding those...We're fairly sure its a genetic thing now (and the doctor agrees.)

Unfortunately, my gorgeous boy, Spunky (Piper's and Zazu's son) is reaching 10, and being Piper's son I'm worried about him suffering the same affliction, I'm holding out hope that he's got his dads genetics more, though. Even if he is a brat, I want him to be around for a long time.


----------



## Shell (Feb 12, 2010)

Ariel said:


> I think usually its between 15 and 25 but I've heard them nearing 30. One of my co-workers has a cockatiel that's at least 24 (probably older) and still looks and acts young. And its not a stupid question, cockatiels are on the smaller size, but live the lifespan of a medium sized bird, but theres also some contraversy of how long they live, some will say 10-15, others 15-30.
> 
> I can see where the contravery comes from because yes Zazu is 15, and I know of one thats at least 24, but I've also seen some die rather young comperatively. However because most people don't take the time to get a necropsy on birds because they're "Just a bird" to some people, they can't say HOW they died. We've lost two cockatiels at relatively young ages. I think one of the biggest problems is diet. 10% of birds (though this statistic may be specific to cockatiels and may have changed its been a while) can simply not tolerate pellets, there are also a lot of genetic disorders that just don't show.
> 
> ...


Wow, that's all really fascinating. Thank you for taking the time 

I always assumed them to be shorter lived than that, but you're right. To many people having a bird die, is no different than a hamster or fish, you don't look into it, so it would be hard to know if old age was actually the cause.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 12, 2010)

Shell said:


> Wow, that's all really fascinating. Thank you for taking the time
> 
> I always assumed them to be shorter lived than that, but you're right. To many people having a bird die, is no different than a hamster or fish, you don't look into it, so it would be hard to know if old age was actually the cause.


I think there are a lot of bird species that live longer than people think. Personally I'd never had much luck with budgies, but most people I know only have them for 5 or so years, if that, but I knew someone that had one that lived to be 10.


----------



## ThreeStarsLoki (Feb 12, 2010)

Poor Daisy     Here's to a speedy recovery!


----------



## Shell (Feb 12, 2010)

Ariel said:


> I think there are a lot of bird species that live longer than people think. Personally I'd never had much luck with budgies, but most people I know only have them for 5 or so years, if that, but I knew someone that had one that lived to be 10.


One of my closest friends had a budgie that was almost 10, yet her cockatiel lived to about 5. 

I've only had one bird, a lovebird, that was evil (its because of her that I have never gotten another bird lol) and I was really young. She scared me to death so we gave her to a friend. She lived a long time from what I remember, but I dont know exactly how old she was when she passed.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 18, 2010)

[YOUTUBE]ITwuaxU3HrM[/YOUTUBE]


----------



## daytona1911 (Feb 18, 2010)

THanks for the video.  Im glad to hear she pulled through with flying colors.  As far as the age thing , I worked in a pet shop for a few years in michigan back in 92-93-94 while I was going to college . I was the arachnid/reptile specialist.(I was already into spiders and scorpions and owner knew next to nothing about keping them so he hired me. gave me the fancy title and paid me minimum wage. Id have been happy to be called exotic pet toilet bowl cleaner if it gave me an extra 25 cents an hour!)  But anyway , the pet shop specialized in exotic birds. THere were a few customers who had lots of birds , that brought them in to get nails trimmed, feathers clipped , etc .  One ol' lady had a cockatoo that she said was in the family for 50 years and still going strong . It had been willed to her from her uncle and he got it over seas so no tellin how old it was . Ive been told that the larger guys can live over 80 , the mediums like the conures live like 40-45 and the cockatiels can live over 30. There was a few  ' teils over 20 that came in to get nails trimmed and they looked vigorous and beautiful.   From what Ive been told and read is that the drafts and other ailments with the lungs is what tends to do in the birds before their time . Its not to say they cant take the cold ,  they just cant take the drastic drops in temp without being accustomed to it .  As far as the budgies go ,  an old gramma used to bring her bird in to get its nails and beak  ( yes beak)  trimmed and filed.  It was an old , rough lookin bird and she said it was over 12 years.  Im thinking it was at the end of its life ,  but to this day , it was the best talker of any bird Ive ever seen.. Wish I had a video phone/u-tube  then !  it was amazing .  after it had its beak trimmed ,  youd put it in the cage and it would spout off statement after statement like "peter piper picked a peck of peppers " ,  how much wood would a wood chuck chuck  ..."   Im tellin you .  awsome.  it has really high pitched ,  but you could tell it was mimicking  the ol ladies voice .  She said she had an old answering machine that would work on a loop and she would say into it what she wanted bird to say then leave for errands.  within a few days the bird would be saying it , then she'd start something else.  Just awesome . Im sure there are a lot better speaking birds than this pint sized guy ,  but I havent found them yet . and we had cockatoos , blue and yellow fronted amazons , african greys , etc . all the talkers at the shop . that one was the best. sorry to go off in a tangent,  just thought you might be interested.
 Jason


----------



## dtknow (Feb 18, 2010)

is fascinating info./..just shows what a vet necropsy can do.

I do hope cockatiel breeders pay close attention to bird genetics. But one thing is that I'm sure many diseases that affect only older birds are probably present in the wild population as well. Haven't looked it up but I highly doubt wild cockatiels live for any longer than 10-15 years, most much shorter before become a tasty munchie for some hungry creature. Seem to fill the same niche as doves do here.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 18, 2010)

Well, I don't think those ages are generally heard of, yes the larger birds such as cockatoos, amazons, and macaws, can live 80+. Cockatiels is usually between 15-25, they have been known to live longer but generally speaking they don't. Medium sized birds, like conures, tend to live 25-30 years, sometimes a longer. I think a lot of those numbers are based on "well this is the oldest one I've ever seen they must..." but in reality the averages are lower. Its like, the average dog lives between 10-15 but i know a dog who's turning 20 this year and she still looks marvelous. 

A lot of people don't know it, but budgies are some of the greatest birds out there, highly tameable, trainable, and talkative. Unfortunately a lot of the ones you get from pet stores are not in good health, plus they've been kept in a flock for so long, it can be difficult to get them to bond to a person. Budgies were the first birds we ever kept and they were both nasty little....yeah, but then later I had a budgie (which unfortunately, was not in good health and passed away after on a month of having it) that bonded to me and I was able to teach it quite a few tricks. Honestly speaking, I think they tend to be better than cockatiels in this aspect.

Yes, birds can take a mild cold, but when they temps really drop their bodies can't take it, they're not used to it, you may not need to provide a supplement heat source, but they're just like any other exotic, they come from places that don't know cold, they're not used to it, and not built to survive it. In cases where the house does get really cold (loss of heat, or even because (like my friends family) you don't agree in using the heat) they can be provided with a heat or basking lamp. I've never done much research on it, only read a few things here and there about it, we've luckily never lost heat, so I don't know how true this is, but it makes sense to me.

Speaking beak trims, my dads bird, a lesser jardines parrot named Bender (yes, like futurama :}) Needs his beak trimmed, badly.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 18, 2010)

dtknow said:


> is fascinating info./..just shows what a vet necropsy can do.
> 
> I do hope cockatiel breeders pay close attention to bird genetics. But one thing is that I'm sure many diseases that affect only older birds are probably present in the wild population as well. Haven't looked it up but I highly doubt wild cockatiels live for any longer than 10-15 years, most much shorter before become a tasty munchie for some hungry creature. Seem to fill the same niche as doves do here.


I completely agree with you, my mom certainly should have looked into both our birds backgrounds before she bred them. While Zazu seems to have come from a well bred stock with good genes, (all of the baldness is from the abussive women in his life, both his mate and his daughter were tough groomers, well that and pied genes) but Piper definately had problems, though we didn't know it until her later years. (between 4-6(when she died). Not only was the kidney disease a problem, but it seems that somewhere down the line there must have been extensive lutino breeding because the few lutinos we did produce were a victum of "over-bred lutino syndrom" (I don't know if thats really what its called, but thats what I call it) and I don't know about the others because they were sold, but out Lutino from the pairing was a little retarded (and i mean this literally) she flew backwards. (not well, she was never capable of full flight) if her wings were trimmed it was worse.) of course my lutino (unrelated) shows more of the symptoms (bald underwings, dark dark eyes, squinting of the eyes) but mentally (and in means of flight) she's fully capable....trust me, before she bonded to me, she gave my mom a hella time.  She's our most flight-capable bird. 

To be hoenst I have no idea how long they live in the wild, I've never looked into it. But you've probably got it right. I don't think people care about wild cockatiels anymore because since its illigeal to import/keep wild birds and since they're practically pigeons in australia people stopped caring. In all honestly though, I would LOVE to see a flock of cockatiels out in the wild.


----------



## daytona1911 (Feb 18, 2010)

cool stuff ariel,
  By the way , a breeder of peach fronted conures up in michigan used to have his breeders outside in a wooden box . It was done up pretty good .  they were kept out of the wind with the wood , and had a light bulb  in the enclosure for heat . one light bulb .  the enclosure was big enough for us to go in and see the birds in January  . I remember well cause that is when I got to pick my first conure named "louie" from him .  he was a breeder for the shop I used to work at  .  Louie was a little brat , mostly because he was raised with his brothers and sisters the first 8 months of his life ,  but he bonded to me pretty fast once I got him .  didnt stop him from biting my ear from time to time . and he wasnt much of a talker.   he drew blood more than once .  I miss that little rascal. BUt as far as the cold tolerance goes ,  they take a lot colder temps than I ever thought possible .  He had to shovel snow away from the door so we could go in and I could pick one I liked. and they werent too close to the light from what I remember .  this was 15 years ago  , but I still remember the cold michigan weather.


----------



## dtknow (Feb 18, 2010)

It likely depends on what they were exposed to when young. If they have been raised outdoors with variable temps and occasional harsh weather they should be ok.

As many people who live in SoCal know LA/OC has 7 species of parrot running wild in the concrete jungle. Here in Long Beach we have a resident flock of mitred conures. We live in the mildest climate zone in CA with temps seldom dipping below the 50's. But that is a lot colder than most people would dream of exposing pet birds to I bet. We recently got some nasty storms...flooding/sheets of rain and whipping wind to go with the cold temps. Went out for a bikeride along the beach and spotted a group of 40 of them foraging amongst some trees. Seemed quite happy for the good weather! Most of the successful introductions(conures, Amazons) come from areas with at least occasional cold weather(Southern SA, etc.).


----------

