My soon to be new girl!

[harpersmom]

Hi everyone - I'm new to the IR part of the forum, but I already have 2 wee fids (Kalypso the parrotlet and Pi the budgie). We're in the process of selling our house, but the woman I got Kalypso from has a beautiful IR called Maya that she was looking for a forever home for. Maya has already been rehomed before, so I want to make sure we are in our new house before she comes home. The woman is happily holding on to her for me! This picture doesn't do her justice - she is a brilliant yellow!

I'm going to be building an aviary/enclosure for her when we move...lots of climbing spots, toys, foraging - she's going to be spoiled and loved. I met her tonight and she didn't even try to bite me. She needs to be re-taught things, but I'm so ready for her.

Any constructive ideas on how to ease her transition from her current home to mine is greatly appreciated. The woman will be lending me a cage while I build the enclosure for her, so I'm hoping that will help.

Thanks!
Gwen

That’s so cool! I’ve always wanted an IR, but never got one yet. Have you ever seen the channel peekaboo parrots? She’s in Asia and she has a 2 parrotlets, and an IR named Bowie. She used to have a GCC named Hazel and a parrotlet named booboo and they were inseparable. She sent them to a new home together. Anyways, Bowie talks so well! He will say peekaboo and whatcha doin’? And he will say sorry and it’s ok as well. He is soo cute check out there channel!

 

[Pipper]

They can be so sassy, just today, I asked Dora to step up and proceeded to reward him but before I could say good girl HE said good girl to me, took the treat and started regurgitating on me.
(I say good girl because when I got him he didn't have his ring yet, so I thought he was a girl. But he got used to it so whatever. This is also why I named him Dora.)

LOL, yuck! I could do without the cropping!

 

[NBGwen]

That’s so cool! I’ve always wanted an IR, but never got one yet. Have you ever seen the channel peekaboo parrots? She’s in Asia and she has a 2 parrotlets, and an IR named Bowie. She used to have a GCC named Hazel and a parrotlet named booboo and they were inseparable. She sent them to a new home together. Anyways, Bowie talks so well! He will say peekaboo and whatcha doin’? And he will say sorry and it’s ok as well. He is soo cute check out there channel!

I'll have to check it out for sure!

 

[NBGwen]

That's how I tamed the lutino IRN. She's now called Missy instead of Pipper because that seemed to fit her prissiness better. When I 1st got her I tried the usual way of sticking me hand in the cage and waiting but because she has memories of who knows how many owners only ever sticking their hand in the cage to capture her and force her out of the cage to clip her wings or whatever, that that method of taming her was only ever going to be necessarily scary for her.

It sounds like you've done so much for her! That's great! I quoted this section as the woman I am getting her from said something about clipping her wings...I'm telling her a big no. I don't clip my fids's wings. Pi and Kalypso are full flighted for a reason. I have 2 cats, one of whom is a sneaky so-and-so...she's tried to pounce on Kalypso before (she never gets close as I'm always right there). And honestly, if I want her trust, I don't want to force her to come to me. I could be wrong in this attitude, but I just don't feel that birds of any type should be clipped. Seems rather cruel (my cats aren't declawed either, I could never do that). It will make it more challenging to train her, but I'm prepared for that. There is one really great thing about it - she's not a bitter! When I held her, she mouthed my finger but didn't even try to bite. I'm hoping that's her norm

 

[Pipper]

It sounds like you've done so much for her! That's great! I quoted this section as the woman I am getting her from said something about clipping her wings...I'm telling her a big no. I don't clip my fids's wings. Pi and Kalypso are full flighted for a reason. I have 2 cats, one of whom is a sneaky so-and-so...she's tried to pounce on Kalypso before (she never gets close as I'm always right there). And honestly, if I want her trust, I don't want to force her to come to me. I could be wrong in this attitude, but I just don't feel that birds of any type should be clipped. Seems rather cruel (my cats aren't declawed either, I could never do that). It will make it more challenging to train her, but I'm prepared for that. There is one really great thing about it - she's not a bitter! When I held her, she mouthed my finger but didn't even try to bite. I'm hoping that's her norm

Well clipped wings are almost a requirement though for a medium or big bird that isn't tamed like an IRN to avoid panic crashes at full speed flight so it's not bad but if they aren't tame and the only time they are touched by people is every 6 months a forced capture and touching to clip their wings and primary means of defense you can bet that is going to make them scared of people and when those some birds don't get enough efforts to tame them the rest of the time either then when they get to be a 3 year old bird like I have well it only knows then people don't touch her except to force capture and clip her wings now as she has gone through that ordeal at least 6 times as a three year old.

Also, if you have a bird younger than 6 months that is wild, clipping their wings and then working intensely with them to tame them is going to make the taming go so much faster because they'll wind up on the floor when they try and fly - then you hold out your finger and most young birds will try to fly onto your finger out of danger from the floor at which time you raise them up from on the floor and to a safe place on your finger high up and that is very appreciated by the young bird and causes the young bird to think of your finger as a place of safety rather than a place they are forced onto but really don't want to perch there. That's a big difference maker when the bird is an adult and you need to take them to a vet or clean their cage or have bought them a new cage and lots of other activities.

Also, many people clip their birds to prevent an accidental escape to the wild. In my small town there is actually recently a blue-fronted Amazon somewhere in the wild now and it gets still cold here in April and you can bet that bird ain't going to find the food she was fed as a pet if she finds any food that she can eat at all. And she has to find water, sleep and shelter, and avoid all those wild creatures to she never heard of before. I feel very sorry for that blue-fronted Amazon, I hope they find and rescue her or that she uses her tameness to rescue herself and approaches people so they can take her in.

 

[janicedyh]

Pipper, if your new IRN is a 2 1/2 year old green male it should have its ring by now making it obviously male.
As far as bathing, I have one of these on top of Kiwi's cage I fill every morning. She is like a fish jumping in and out all day. It has to be large enough for her to get her tail and wings in

 

[Pipper]

Pipper, if your new IRN is a 2 1/2 year old green male it should have its ring by now making it obviously male.
As far as bathing, I have one of these on top of Kiwi's cage I fill every morning. She is like a fish jumping in and out all day. It has to be large enough for her to get her tail and wings in

I thought as much about the green male at 2 1/2 being a female but me being the noob I am and the pet store owner / bird breeder being the expert that he said he was I deferred to what he said. And he told me about how egg binding happens and was so smart about it I didn't doubt him for a minute when he told me the green IRN was a 2 1/2 year old male. He had in fact intended to breed the green & yellow IRNs I have from him originally but they didn't like each other he said so he sold them. So now we know the real reason they didn't breed - they are both girls! He didn't know though what he was talking about as he was told that by who he got them from and believed them like I believed it when he told me so I don't think he intended to mislead me. I am still keeping her but since I ultimately bought her because I wanted to breed and raise two or three nests of IRNs personally I will now have to search for a male IRN again cheap (cheap for an IRN but not really cheap) and this time insist on a ring around his neck I see in a picture or person before paying for it. I will probably have to visit Florida to find one of age that is a male. It's only 600 - 900 mile drive one way! I guess I can turn it into a mini-vacation. He would probably mate with both I think although one is fine if he mates with only one of them. I don't want fighting between the three though and I want them all tame beforehand.

Missy has a pretty dog food bowl she likes but it is too small so I will get one that looks the same but is bigger. Since she drinks from it too I put vitamins in the water but not alot of them. I will also get the green IRN the same kind and size. They are sold at WalMart for $9.50 each. Missy would never climb into that pyrex baking dish as she so weird about her cage being changed. She hates clear things that are solid too so right now as I type this she is refusing to eat her favorite foods only because I have them sitting on a clear blue plastic tupperware lid. She'd be afraid to even climb into a clear pyrex dish to bath in it. She hates change of even when I clean her cage but clean it anyway I do. Honestly, Missy is a flake - I think she would refuse to ever breed with any male I might pair her with so Missy will be my pet and the new green IRN will probably be breed. Not that she isn't a pet too but Missy is a basket case. She has always been needed extra thought in how to avoid upsetting her while still making her a good pet.

 

[NBGwen]

Well clipped wings are almost a requirement though for a medium or big bird that isn't tamed like an IRN to avoid panic crashes at full speed flight so it's not bad but if they aren't tame and the only time they are touched by people is every 6 months a forced capture and touching to clip their wings and primary means of defense you can bet that is going to make them scared of people and when those some birds don't get enough efforts to tame them the rest of the time either then when they get to be a 3 year old bird like I have well it only knows then people don't touch her except to force capture and clip her wings now as she has gone through that ordeal at least 6 times as a three year old.

Also, if you have a bird younger than 6 months that is wild, clipping their wings and then working intensely with them to tame them is going to make the taming go so much faster because they'll wind up on the floor when they try and fly - then you hold out your finger and most young birds will try to fly onto your finger out of danger from the floor at which time you raise them up from on the floor and to a safe place on your finger high up and that is very appreciated by the young bird and causes the young bird to think of your finger as a place of safety rather than a place they are forced onto but really don't want to perch there. That's a big difference maker when the bird is an adult and you need to take them to a vet or clean their cage or have bought them a new cage and lots of other activities.

Also, many people clip their birds to prevent an accidental escape to the wild. In my small town there is actually recently a blue-fronted Amazon somewhere in the wild now and it gets still cold here in April and you can bet that bird ain't going to find the food she was fed as a pet if she finds any food that she can eat at all. And she has to find water, sleep and shelter, and avoid all those wild creatures to she never heard of before. I feel very sorry for that blue-fronted Amazon, I hope they find and rescue her or that she uses her tameness to rescue herself and approaches people so they can take her in.

I can see that...food for thought for sure. It would be similar here where I am (we just got a pile of snow yesterday, gross. I'm in Atlantic Canada). Where I live is quite rural but I plan on harness training Maya and am currently trying to harness train Kalypso (and when I say training, I mean leaving the harness on top of the cage until she finally realizes it won't hurt her, then moving on). I'm hoping Maya will take to the harness, but it will be something new and possibly scary. Baby steps! The woman I am getting her from actually had her IRN fly off on her last year He was possibly taken by someone to another city and she's trying to get him back. It was a really awful accident - he always sits on her shoulder, but someone opened the door unexpectedly and he got spooked badly. Off he flew. The new house I am moving to has the main door right off the livingroom where my birds will be, so it's something I am VERY mindful of.

 

[NBGwen]

Pipper, if your new IRN is a 2 1/2 year old green male it should have its ring by now making it obviously male.
As far as bathing, I have one of these on top of Kiwi's cage I fill every morning. She is like a fish jumping in and out all day. It has to be large enough for her to get her tail and wings in

It would never occur to me to use a dish like this! What a great and affordable idea!