Birds: Who Keeps Them (And What?)

RoachGirlRen

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I've noticed a lot of herpers on this board, but what about bird keepers? Our feathered friends are, after all, a link to the ancient split between cold blooded and warm blooded. So who else keeps birds, and what species? I saw a few pigeon keepers - fantastic! I want to hear more about your stock.

I have several birds, and it seems several more will be coming my way. Here is the current "crew:"


My beloved hen, Alejandro. She's a 2 year old adult mixed breed female, layer variety (I assure you this is not a rooster, no matter how much she looks like one). Our neighbors gave her to us as a chick as she had chronic sinus infections and they didn't know how to deal with it. She still has issues with sinus infections, but a modified diet and higher humidity environment has it (mostly) fixed. This chicken is my absolute baby; she grew up in my room until she was old enough to safely go outside without getting eaten. She follows me around like a feathery little dog, hops up and sits in a chair at the table when she wants food, and loves to perch on my arm like a big, clunky, flightless falcon. Here's a picture of us being silly:



Nuru is our rooster. I'm unsure of his age and background, but he was abandoned in the woods with his hens in Fahnstock State Park in NY, where my uncle works. They were left in the middle of January, so the hens were largely picked off by predators or froze to death. Nuru was the only survivor, and they only caught him because he was mostly starved and too weak to fight back. We agreed to take him as a buddy for Alejandro, but they actually get along very poorly. So, they're kept seperate, but can see and interact with each other through the fence. He's hyper aggressive and known for taking great flying leaps into the air, kicking and clawing, and latching on to you with his beak. As a result, we have to keep his spurs, nails, and beak very blunt, as he's taken more than a few chunks out of unsuspecting visitors.


Aspen the attack bird, my Green Cheeked Conure, who is a vicious junkyard dog trapped in the body of a tiny parrot. Nah, he's not that bad - he's just very protective of me and attacks anyone or anything who gets in our way. He was a very ill-concieved gift from a relative who didn't understand the whole "expensive 30 year commitment" aspect of owning a conure...


Pretty Bird (No, I did not name HIM) is a White Fronted Amazon who was abandoned at the vet office I worked at for biting a child. He was there for five years, in the kennel, in a very small cage with no enrichment. He was fed mostly sun flower seed and was overall very poorly cared for. The poor bird was utterly neurotic by the time I started working there, but with a lot of TLC and handling, I got him to warm up to me. The office gave him to me for Christmas since it was obvious that he was "mine" anyways. He's taken a great deal of work to be even a semi-normal parrot, and still has a lot of issues from his traumatic little life.


Velveeta is a budgie I adopted about 14 years ago along with a male who has since died. We bullied a pet store into handing them over as both had bad URIs and were not getting proper care. The male sadly developed a large, cancerous tumor and had to be PTS at only 6 years old, but 'veeta is still alive and kicking at 14 - and I'm glad for that, as she's a wonderful bird.


Sigma (molting in this pic, sorry for her shabby appearence!) is a budgie I adopted from an elderly woman with Parkinson's disease. She could no longer care for aged Sigma and her young companion, Theto. As it was, they were in a very small cage with only one perch, eating only spray millet. :( They aren't at all tame, but have a large aviary all to themselves now.


Theto is the other keet from the woman with parkinsons. The poor little fellow allready had fatty liver disease when I got him, as you can see from his bulging chest. He is on a special diet to keep it from progressing, but will inevitably be short lived. Please forgive the poo on the perch in this shot; this was when they first came in, and had runny stool from the stress - covering everything in POOP no matter how much we cleaned!


Noah the budgie was actually a stray. Our hen found the poor little dear dehydrated and desperately trying to get water... and responded by beating the snot out of him. I came outside to the sight of a little white parakeet being pecked and flung and thought for sure he was dead. He was close enough; this bird required subcutaneous fluids and force feedings twice daily every day for a week because he was to traumatized that he wouldn't do anything but lay on the bottom of the cage. What's more, he had a severe upper respritory infection and almost died, but thankfully strong anti-biotics, lots of heat, and plenty of fluids carried him through it. He's on the rebound now, but seems to be deaf - perhaps related to his albinism.

Ok, I showed you mine - now you show me yours!
 
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Masurai

Arachnobaron
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Apr 21, 2007
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Beautiful birds. I used to have two parakeets, but a rat snake got into our house and ate one, and then we gave the other one away
 

OldHag

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We have 10 chickens (VERY tame like yours :D ) and a duck that thinks its a goat!
 

AneesasMuse

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awww.. they are all beautiful!! I only have the one bird.. the recent recovery/rehab pigeon, WoHi, and he is definitely enough bird for me! :rolleyes:

I've had parrots, an English Budgie, chickens, turkeys, ducks, a goose... I miss my little Freddie (the budgie).
 

hermitman64

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I keep Diamond Doves off and on. I want a cockatiel so bad, though :)

 

RoachGirlRen

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Oooh, I love diamond doves. How are they to keep? I've often considered adopting them when I see them posted on craigslist/petfinder, but I've only had one dove ever and it was disabled. They seem like lovely birds, but I wouldn't know where to start with anything that isn't a parrot or chicken!

I am supposed to be adopting a 12 year old Yellow Naped Amazon from a neglect/abuse situation soon. That'll be my new pet project for the next 50 years ::laughs::
 

bugmankeith

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Glad I found this thread.

My Aunt owns a parrot but doesnt know what type it is, she asked me and I had no idea i've never seen one like this before. I googled "green and red parrots", and searched many sites with pictures of pet parrots, I couldnt match this parrot.

Under it's wings are red with a small bit of yellow.

What human food can it eat, and what types of toys/treats does it like?

My Aunt is in her 90's and the parrot bites her and it's wings arent clipped so it never comes out of the cage which I feel bad about but there's nobody else who wants it so she is stuck with it and besides the biting loves the bird.

[/IMG]
 

Falyn

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I just adopted 2 cockatiels last week their names are Dukey and Carmin. Carmin is a total $%^&* but Dukey is rather sweet and sings row row row your boat says here kitty kitty kitty and then yells at the cat when it gets close lmfao.
 

ZooRex

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Wow, great birds. The pet store I used to work at specialized in exotic parrots, and I really wanted to get one, but don't have the room. Theres also the whole "Reptiles = Salmonella = Dead birds" thing as well. I figure some thing out in the future, I would really love a sun conure or an eclectus. ~ Rex
 

RoachGirlRen

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Bugmankeith - I *think* the parrot is a white eyed conure. And eek, I kindof feel bad for it... very small cage for such a clever bird, especially if it isn't let out. Biting is a common behavioral problem in birds who are under-stimulated, bored, and frustrated, especially if they haven't been handled often - though at your aunt's age, I can see why it happened. It really is a shame when birds get into that kind of situation; it becomes very hard to place them. If it ever comes down to it NEEDING to be rehomed, such as if your aunt could no longer care for it, do PM me... I'm not too far from Long Island. I would be happy to work with it as a foster mom until it is stable enough to be adopted.

Any parrot toys would definately improve its environment! You can also DIY toys using unfinished wood, hemp, and bells from craft stores, which is cheaper. As for human foods, fresh fruits, veggies, and greens are absolutely essential to a parrot's diet - just avoid avocado, they are deadly. You can also give them boiled pasta with nothing on it, most legumes, and as treats, nuts and seeds. Though, it looks like the diet is seed based :( Pellets are preferable, but they can be very hard to convert over to them if they've been eating seeds for their entire life.

Hope that helps!
 

Mina

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I have parrots. I have two blue front amazons, one male and one female, one lilac crowned amazon, one blue headed pionus, a Congo African grey, a Sunday conure, a jenday conure, a meyers parrot, a black cap conure, and a quaker.
In other words, we have a noisy house.
 

Darwinsdad

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We had a Cockatiel as kids it had some "interesting" habits that I won't go into detail about.
Where is Wendy she is a huge bird fan.
 

Dark

Arachnobaron
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I had a bird when I was little, a stressed out Parakeet was given to us when the previous owner couldn't stand it. It never really liked anyone, it lived for a few years but since we got it when it was already old, it didn't last long, Ever since That bird I never really wanted one. Although my Uncle bought an African Grey that only likes him and hates everyone else. I would love to get one of the Baby Love Birds that were born a few months ago. Although I am not sure if I am ready for the commitment.

Is it possible for a Love Bird to learn to speak?

Very Nice pictures, Its very nice that you take in birds that have a bad beginning and rehabilitate them.

Good luck
 

Arachnotized

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Jul 5, 2007
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Gorgeous birds everyone! I have three pigeons ..binky, peppy and furcoat..binky and peppy I found under the bridge when they were babies and furcoat I got from a farm with my chicken fluffy. Heres some pics of my babes..

Binky




Peppy



Together



A wet sock



Will get some pics of furcoat and fluffy tomorrow :D
 

AviculariaLover

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Oct 20, 2006
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Caique!

This is my buddy, Pepper, the black head Caique.

My dad's assistant had a family friend who passed away, and she had two parrots, a caique and a green conure, kept in the same tiny dirty cage. We don't know for how long. My family offered to take in the birds even though we've never kept birds before, but they had no where else to go. We ended up giving the conure to a bird rehab place because he was too traumatized from missing his owner, apparantly he was very attached, and viciously attacked us, we couldnt change his food and water without gloves. The caique however, made a complete turnaround. Over the years he's gotten more and more tame... he's my buddy. He hates teenage boys (my brother, my boyfriend, etc.) and most strangers, he has certain tastes in people, apparantly. But he LOVES me, and I LOVE him, no matter how much of a mess he makes!

Being silly


He hates paper towel tubes. Along with just about everything else.


Bath time in the water dish! He does it whenever he hears a vacuum.


Looking all bashful and innocent. HA! Don't let him fool you. He's plotting.
 
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