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Am I wrong?

Rain Bow

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When using treats as a reward system, you want the reward to be the size of half a sunflower seed or less. Is there anything in his current diet that he really enjoys? At least 2-3 items? If yes, you could remove those from his diet and use as foraging rewards or training rewards.

You might also try other *easy* foraging ideas or make the ideas you've already tried even easier. Heck, an easy one is to get some grass (some people use the fake stuff!) and sprinkle it with dry food... or something to that effect. Don't give up, just keep trying!

Dollar tree has the crinkle paper. Paper version of easter grass. Just a small amount to start & you could build into more a s you go.

You may want to look @Unapproved Vendor's Dailies shop. Marsha is great & can help you find healthier alternatives to Milo's diet. Maybe dried sprouts could help. I just started sprouting & am pleasantly surprised. Buddy is seemingly getting a taste for them. I don't know if you can sprout a walnut, but Marsha would know. It would be so much more healthy compared to a dormant nut.

Does Milo like corn? Buddy likes dried corn, I've always called it birdy crack. I sprouted popcorn & he liked the seed & I liked the root part. Fun interactive way to eat together & encourage the spouts.

:bighug:
 

Gribouille

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I've experienced the opposite situation, I was waiting for a baby bird to be old enough to pick him up at the breeder, when I stumbled upon an ad for a rehome. The rehome is a little brother of the parrotlet I lost in March, he was only 20 min from home and already tame, I adopted him.
With the breeder, there was red flags from the beginning, as he said the birds were 3 weeks old when they looked like they were just hatched. The 2 weeks difference between the age he gave and their appearance remained consistent all along.
Now I've seen an ad with that the babies are ready to sell. I feel bad for them and their parents. As they were growing up, the breeder sent me pictures, I was shocked to see how filthy the nesting box was. It didn't really improve with time, the babies were on a dirty cloth with metal wires lying around, the cages had no toys, only 2 straight plastic perches, and I don't think they've ever been cleaned. There are 5 parrotlets in half a little cage (divided) that isn't big enough for a single budgie. The birds don't look happy nor healthy, they definitely need rescue from that breeder. The rehome I have adopted is in perfect health and comes from much better conditions too..
 
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lexalayne

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I would bet my last dollar that everyone on here does their best - even when the dream bird they’re hoping for is in reality more than they’ve bargained for - :idea:
 

melissasparrots

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I was shocked to see how filthy the nesting box was.
Just a quick note for anyone else reading this not to judge too much based on what a nest box picture looks like. @Gribouille, many of the things you mentioned were red flags. Especially the chicks being 2 weeks behind developmentally. However, nest boxes can get filthy, and in some cases the breeder should not do anything about it. We in the pet owning community have some conflicting ideas. We don't want the breeder to steal babies from the parents for hand-feeding and ruining their lives making an imprint(I don't agree with this but many are passionate about it.) But, at the same time, we want the nest box to be clean. Unfortunately, with many species, if you clean the nest box, the parents abandon the babies. So...its a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation. I always took a filthy nest box to mean its time to pull babies for hand-feeding. I never wanted to risk cold and or dead babies to maintain cleanliness. However, once out of the box, bedding and paper towels all should be fairly clean keeping in mind that babies are poop machines. So, even if you change paper towels between feedings, if you have 5 babies in a brooder, and take a picture right before the next schedule feed before you have cleaned, it can look a frightful mess. That said, it doesn't look good to post pictures of babies in their worst state. It makes you wonder what it looks like if the pictures shown are the "good" ones.
I'm totally not being critical of your post.
 

Gribouille

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Just a quick note for anyone else reading this not to judge too much based on what a nest box picture looks like. @Gribouille, many of the things you mentioned were red flags. Especially the chicks being 2 weeks behind developmentally. However, nest boxes can get filthy, and in some cases the breeder should not do anything about it. We in the pet owning community have some conflicting ideas. We don't want the breeder to steal babies from the parents for hand-feeding and ruining their lives making an imprint(I don't agree with this but many are passionate about it.) But, at the same time, we want the nest box to be clean. Unfortunately, with many species, if you clean the nest box, the parents abandon the babies. So...its a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation. I always took a filthy nest box to mean its time to pull babies for hand-feeding. I never wanted to risk cold and or dead babies to maintain cleanliness. However, once out of the box, bedding and paper towels all should be fairly clean keeping in mind that babies are poop machines. So, even if you change paper towels between feedings, if you have 5 babies in a brooder, and take a picture right before the next schedule feed before you have cleaned, it can look a frightful mess. That said, it doesn't look good to post pictures of babies in their worst state. It makes you wonder what it looks like if the pictures shown are the "good" ones.
I'm totally not being critical of your post.
I agree with you, but the nest box was already quite dirty before the eggs hatched, and he didn't hand feed them later on, so that was the state of the bird room and cages, dirty with metal wires and no toys. As you say, he took pictures not thinking about how it would look, which indicated that it was not a concern for him. I don't think he ever cleans in there, which is really not good!! Here is the picture of the ad, he sent me a picture of the babies eating at the bottom of this cage 4 weeks ago and it has not been cleaned since :eek:
216_1254565474.jpg
 
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melissasparrots

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Yeah, that is pretty nasty. And nest boxes should be close to spotless prior to eggs hatching. Sounds like he doesn’t clean between clutches.
 

finchly

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Finches and canaries will definitely abandon for the least reason, even for you checking the nest too many times. I clean the nest box once on the day I band, and possibly once more. So only 2 times in 23 days. Plus they are packed in there — so there’s plenty of poop all around them! That’s just the way it is!

But yeah @Gribouille what you were seeing was more than just a dirty nest. :( Your instincts were right.

I would bet my last dollar that everyone on here does their best - even when the dream bird they’re hoping for is in reality more than they’ve bargained for - :idea:
:marlenesmile:
 

Gribouille

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But yeah @Gribouille what you were seeing was more than just a dirty nest. :( Your instincts were right.
I feel bad for those birds, even if they come from a breeder they'd need a rescue. It is too easy for private breeders to just breed birds without taking good care of them..
 

fashionfobie

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I feel bad for those birds, even if they come from a breeder they'd need a rescue. It is too easy for private breeders to just breed birds without taking good care of them..
It is also easy for inexperienced people to breed two birds that they bought from the same place.. sometimes breeding siblings and creating insects related illnesses. Breeding is not a lighthearted matter in the least. People need to understand and respect the whole process.
 

fashionfobie

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You know I reread this post... and clearly my auto correct was at it again... 'incest' was the word I was intending .. ;)
 
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