indian ringnecks

[Kaliska]

Tell me more about indian ringnecks. More talk about personalities and interaction would be great.

I have a hex cage if I can get new hardware to put it together. It was bought used as a sugar glider cage 6 or so years ago. I think after looking at the new models it's narrowest dimension is 27" side to side standing taller than me at a little over 5' with barely any stand and a peaked roof. The bottom of the peak is probably even with my head. Does that work? I've heard they need a lot of space for the tail. I don't know how much their tail sticks out versus down and I know there are some negatives to a hex cage with no solid walls. We could cover a couple panels. This cage would also work well because it can be wheeled easily around the room. We have big sliding wood doors between rooms that we close at night so this cage could be wheeled in front of those when open or back to the center of the room when my husband is at his computer that sits just on that side of the door. Otherwise I have to go buying a cage and that will probably add another 6-12months of saving money up.

I've probably seen it somewhere at sometime but revisit diet for me. What dry mix? How big of pieces? How heavy on fruit versus vegetable?

Anything specific about perches beyond spacing them right? I use rope perches a lot which I know a few people don't like but they go where I want them. Then a few natural perches. A concrete perch or rough type perch somewhere and maybe a calcium or mineral perch and chew. Usually a wooden dowel or some simple pinewood item makes it's way in there just to fill a space. I want more of the twisted boinging rope perches or other hanging items but the roof is smooth on the hex so it would need something across it to hang on.

And there we will start....

 

[janicedyh]

This site was really helpful to me IndianRingneck.com | Learn About Your Feathered Family Member! Here is a list of foods What to Feed your Parrot (recipes, toxicities, links too!) - IndianRingNeck.com another site that is very helpful The Diet / Nutritional Needs of Ringneck Parrots

 

[janicedyh]

I have a folder where I keep all my printouts ... foods that are safe etc. Being a new IRN owner I have not learned the lists by heart and since some foods are not safe I refer to the list when I give her any new foods. IRN's tails can get really long and if their wings are unclipped they have a fairly wide wingspan so the size of the cage matters a lot. In my opinion a hex cage is not appropriate.

 

[expressmailtome]

I am not sure if you have read this thread, but several members talked about their Indian ringnecks in it: The good, the bad, and the ugly about Indian Ringnecks. | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum .

 

[InTheAir]

A larger cage would be better for a ringneck.
Rope perches depends on the bird, I have one that will chew them so I can't put them in her cage.
A good pellet and lots of low energy vegetables and fruit.
Fresh Food Nutrients

My 2 also love natural browse to chew on.

 

[Kaliska]

I have mulberry trees which grow like crazy and I've designated one just to be cut down to it's stump 3 times a year for animal fodder and chewing wood. The other 2 I will be trimming some lower sections when they recover from being chopped off every year by the previous house owners. There's some dwarf apple trees that one may have to be cut down.

I read peoples' accounts of their own bird but for every person saying they bite horribly there is someone saying they are careful with their beaks and good natured. My large bird experience is pretty much zero aside from I'm the one brave enough to hold my arm out to the pet store's macaws. I taught the cockatiels a separate word for stepping off me instead of just "step up" so they wouldn't try to argue it as much. I tell them to "perch". It was the big problem with the conures when the store I visited had them. They would not come off someone without being peeled off and my experience to get my hand/arm/body in the right position to really encourage stepping off me isn't that great yet. Sound is a minor problem but a sun conure was on my list prior to a meyer's parrot and then seeing Indian ringnecks. Eventually we are going to end up with my husband's parents' senegal.

Occasionally my illness leads to headaches and my sleep schedule is a bit skewed but the house has blackout curtains and the birds have special lamps along with every other animal so we can shift everyone a few hours without much risk of complications. The house needs seriously rewired for my needs though. Most of it runs off 2 breakers that go to random outlets which may or may not have a ground. I kind of have my own well covered electrical system going outside of the plaster walls for now. Grew up with an electrician as a grandparent.

We could probably trial the senegal for awhile and work with her. She bit my husband's dad, he just reacted and whacked her on the beak, and she refused to stop biting everyone in the household since. They stopped clipping her wings which led to not letting her out because she would bite and not go back in. She is cage bound in a square box that isn't tiny but it doesn't clear my shoulder for height and probably has less cubic feet than the hex cage I have. She is at least the center of everything in the house, talked to, and hand fed foods but I'm sure she'd love to get more than through the bars head scratches. I'm not sure how to approach it though since they think we have too many animals, it was a gift to his mom, and they see nothing wrong with how she is kept except it isn't as interactive as they'd like.

 

[Kaliska]

Could I leave an indian ringneck loose in a walk in aviary style if it also holds caged birds? I was thinking of doing a half wall at the extension they put on the livingroom and then wire the rest of the way up so I can directly let birds loose safely with possibly an old beat up natural hardwood desk for myself and some large perch stands and perches between walls/cages for them. I know some people have permanently uncaged large birds but I'm concerned with biting through the bars and how much they might stress each other. I have 3 cockatiels and like I said we might get the senegal. I could have a feeding and night cage for when dealing with the others if they don't get along or are a danger to each other and when not home/sleeping if necessary. Everything here has a night time routine to go in it's cage, kennel, room.... and back out when the sun lamps come on. Then I open the curtains and we start the daily feeding and cleaning.

 

[InTheAir]

It sounds like that senegal needs a lot of tlc and time! I recommend rehabilitating him first before you consider adding more birds. Working with fearful birds can be challenging and time consuming.

A ringneck may or may not get on in a mixed flock. I wouldn't let my hen go near teils unsupervised, especially if they are caged or clipped. Without knowing the birds and how they get on, that sounds like a really risky thing to try. Also, if you throw an already scared senegal into the mix it could be even more risky.