My first 'too

[Birdy888]

Thankfully Kyliegh hasn't laid anymore eggs. I am dialing back the amount of egg she's getting. I gave her egg everyday once a day. She is only going to get egg every other day for a week or so then probably twice a week. At the same time I am trying to find dry foods that will give her what the egg gives her. Hopefully that will decrease the hormones and keep her from laying more eggs.

I also want to give Kyliegh foods that will help her molt without laying. She'll still have egg twice a week. I know she'll need protein like crazy though once the molt really kicks into high gear.

Kyliegh loves walnuts. They are her absolute favorite. I made her a mix of unsweetened coconut shavings, almonds, pine nuts, the flax/chia/hemp seed mix, and of course walnuts. When I go shopping tomorrow I am going to add pecans and more walnuts too. I am going to buy some bananas, oranges, kiwis, and maybe some other fruits to dehydrate. I will add those fruits to Kyliegh's mix once they're dehydrated.

Kyliegh isn't the most food motivated bird I've ever worked with. Between the treat mix and perhaps a sunflower seed or two here and there I hope to get her to go in her cage and spend the night in it. She really hates staying in it. If I keep her in for more than 15 minutes she'll scream until I take her out. I have to give her a reason to want to stay in it at night. It may take a long time but Kyliegh is worth it.

 

[Shezbug]

Have you tried removing the egg and feeding her cooked chickpeas, black beans or tofu?

The chickpeas (all lentils and beans) are usually very cheap and really easy to serve many ways- the bonus is the chickpeas/black beans are full of protein and are healthy.

Burt loves chickpeas, he will eat them sprouted, cooked, mashed, or turned into a blended dip like mush with other tasty foods added.
Birdie has eaten them every now and then but he’s a real poop head with healthy new foods so we’re still working on his eating habits.

 

[Birdy888]

I had forgotten about chickpeas. It had been on my mind to get her lentils but I kept forgetting to get them. I got her both yesterday afternoon. I also got some fennel seeds, thyme seeds, endive seeds, Swiss chard seeds, parsley seeds, and oregano seeds. I may have left something out but those are the ones I remember offhand.

Even as I type this my dehydrator is cranking out banana chips. I have probably 10 more trays worth to cut and dehydrate. Of course Kyliegh won't get all of them but she'll get at least half.

Well after I thought we were out of the woods Kyliegh laid a second egg last night. I really hope this will be the last one. Unlike the first egg she showed passing interest in it for a couple of hours then started doing her own thing. I did give her some egg tonight but I am going to give it to her every other day for the next 4 nights then move to every 3 days and if needed I'll reduce it to every 4 days.

Last night for the first time Kyliegh spent the night in her smaller cage in our room. It was hard for me to do because I could tell how desperate she was to get out. She screamed off and on for about an hour and then slept. Tonight she is in her cage and is screaming. I'd say she's been in there about 30 minutes. Admittedly she isn't screaming as much as last night but close enough. Yesterday morning I let Kyliegh out a couple of hours after sunrise. I am going to get her used to that schedule so she has a routine she can count on.

 

[Pat H]

Have you tried removing the egg and feeding her cooked chickpeas, black beans or tofu?

The chickpeas (all lentils and beans) are usually very cheap and really easy to serve many ways- the bonus is the chickpeas/black beans are full of protein and are healthy.

Burt loves chickpeas, he will eat them sprouted, cooked, mashed, or turned into a blended dip like mush with other tasty foods added.
Birdie has eaten them every now and then but he’s a real poop head with healthy new foods so we’re still working on his eating habits.

Tofu? Of course it's a soy product and not a dairy [despite the color! ].. but I'd never thought of giving mine Tofu?
How do you feed it-- cubed, mashed, mixed w/ other things? Tempeh? [spelling?].
Protein-- I know people need to be aware of how much protein the birds are getting-- will burn out [liver, was it, or kidneys -- been so long]...
Moderation is still the key!

 

[Birdy888]

Kyliegh flew to my wife and nipped at her elbow Friday night (she wasn't even looking my way much less touching me but the nip was light, no blood this time). As a result I decided to do away with egg altogether. Until Kyliegh isn't so hormonal and stops perceiving my wife as a threat even when she's not touching me or near me there will be no eggs. Even when she gets egg again it'll be given far less often.

That said she acted like she was going to lunge at my wife last night but I put a quick stop to that. I didn't do it in a mean or angry way. After that she was an angel. She hasn't had an egg since Friday night. I have begun cutting back on the hours of daylight also. I have hope that the two eggs she layed will be it and that once her hormones calm down that she won't see my wife as a threat anymore.

I know that warm foods can trigger breeding mode. I also know many people feed their birds warm veggies such as beans, peas, rice, or whatever their human cooked for themselves. Later today I am going to cook some quinoa, chickpeas, lentils, and rice. I know they are great foods for her. I have been feeding seed sparingly, trying to make sure she gets nutrient rich foods instead. Kyliegh got to try some banana chips for the first time Friday night. She liked them. I still have more to dehydrate but that won't be until later today or tomorrow.

Later today I am going to use the pieces of cardboard that were protecting my food dehydrator as a foraging tray. I have pecans, walnuts, and pine nuts I can put in there. I got some crinkle paper from dollar tree to use. There are toys and other odds and ends I can put in as well.

 

[faislaq]

When Luv Bug first came to us she bit me a lot for the first few weeks; decent gouges. As we learned each other more it lessened. She still nips occasionally, but doesn't gouge me (unlike new guests sometimes). She still definitely prefers men, but we coexist mostly peacefully these days. Your wife and Kyliegh will get there.

 

[Birdy888]

Kyliegh has been a model citizen today. She's left my wife alone the last couple of days.

Tonight Kyliegh got to try sprouted lentils for the first time. At first she was taking them and spitting them out before she realized that she needed to dehull them. She still shredded some afterwards but she ate probably 3 or 4. I sprouted about 1/4 cup dry so there's about 1 cup sprouted. Some have visible tails and some don't so they are close to if not at their peak nutritive value.

I use ACV in both the soak water and in the rinse water. Later today I'll get these in the refrigerator. While some of the lentils have a small bead of a tail the majority lack a visible tail. I figure another 8 hours or so will fix that.

 

[Birdy888]

Kyliegh is showing signs of being less hormonal. She isn't trying to press her rump against my hand like she was and she hasn't been searching for dark places.

She hasn't tried to bite my wife since Kyliegh nipped her Friday night. If my wife has food Kyliegh walks or flies over to her which scares my wife. I know It'll get better. I just want it to be better sooner rather than later. Kyliegh still tries to bite our dog if he gets too close however. I believe she is doing that out of fear however and not out of jealousy.

I intend to teach Kyliegh how to be more independent. I'll start with teaching her to play inside her cage. I don't want to leave her in the cage for hours on end but when I need to clean or if I have to go to the store I would like her to be in her cage. I also want to keep her in her cage at night. I can get her in the cage but I can't get her to stay in it long before she screams. It'll take time but she'll get there. I just need to be more consistent with Kyleigh's training.

 

[Birdy888]

Kyliegh is a bit closer to having her playstand done. I cut some brackets and the pieces for the frame that will enclose the base. Now I need to sand everything down. Once that's done the core of the stand will be done. Let's just hope Kyliegh will actually, you know, play on it. LOL. I think she will though.

After I made my cuts I went through the scrap pieces that were left over. I cut them into rectangular pieces for her. I also kept some shavings. Kyliegh has only been interested in the door jamb of our room. Thankfully the apartment complex is going to start renovating the whole complex and they will be replacing the doors and door jambs among other things.

I noticed her poop, although well formed, was getting that green color again. It's been a week since she last had egg. I made her some with cooked quinoa and orange bell peppers. I pushed the quinoa into the egg yolk. She ate the egg and quinoa mix. She also tried the plain quinoa but wasn't impressed. The bell pepper, either raw or cooked, was a non-starter. Even the seeds didn't entice her. She'll get egg once a week for now. If I see hormonal behavior increase again I will only give egg once every other week.

Just a few minutes ago Kyliegh acted like she was going to attack my wife and of course my wife jumped. Even I jumped. I think Kyliegh is doing it to get a reaction but it still scares my wife. I hope Kyliegh stops doing that soon. It has been a couple days since she did that last. She does it out of the blue but she doesn't actually bite. I guess it is better than actual biting. She is probably still hormonal to an extent too.

Hopefully I can get her to actually eat more raw vegetables instead of just shredding them. At least she ate some quinoa today. I want to be able to give her good food that has everything she needs to thrive without making her hormonal. I'll research this more. I know it's doable.

 

[faislaq]

If she keeps chewing doorjambs, etc, you could cover them with pine. Maybe 1 or 2 well-placed screws & you can change it out as needed. Then when you move you only have 2 holes to spackle & it keeps Kyleigh away from the chemicals in the finish.

Also, ask your apartment to let you know when they will begin working on your building & unit. When ours was redone, there were some very strong fumes & we had to move the birds to my mom's til we could air it out.

 

[Birdy888]

I know they will start that in a couple of weeks. There will definitely be fumes since they will repaint everything. I have a friend I can take her to to wait out the fumes. The only problem is that they can only do 5 apartments at a time.

They have 5 vacant apartments they will renovate first. Once they renovate those they'll move people from their current apartments into the newly renovated apartments. Those new apartments become their new apartments. That will continue until they're done.

They'll give us notice ahead of time when it's our turn. I think it's 30 days notice but I need to double check that. There will be a lot of commotion since we'll be packing and they're doing inspections like they do on move out. They will also do an inspection about a week after moving to the new apartment to make sure everything is going well. Kyliegh is going to have to go to our friend's house more than once I think.

Oh about the door jambs... Kyliegh does that only if her cage is close enough to it to allow easy access so her cage is about a foot from the wall. She hasn't chewed any jambs since.

 

[faislaq]

Oh about the door jambs... Kyliegh does that only if her cage is close enough to it to allow easy access so her cage is about a foot from the wall. She hasn't chewed any jambs since.

Ah, yes. We have several door jambs, corners & window trim with "custom distressing" from when I wasn't as careful as I should have been when I roll the playstands around.

And 1 dining chair back courtesy of Buzz.

 

[sunnysmom]

Cockatoos live for a reaction. LOL. It's hard not to react but you have to try. For instance, a friend stopped by to meet Elvis a couple weeks ago. Elvis never dive bombs anyone. Ever. But he decided to fly to the kitchen and flew over the friend's head. She ducked and squealed. Elvis thought this was great. So what did he keep doing? He kept flying over her head, getting closer and closer to her head so she would continue to duck and squeal- even though I kept saying he won't hurt you, don't duck, etc. But Elvis clearly thought this was a fun new game.

Something also you can do, is spend time with Kyliegh when she is in her cage too. You don't want her to associate "cage" with you going away.

 

[Birdy888]

I am always next to the cage when she's in it. She is a little more tolerant of being in there than she was but even with toys being in there she just bangs her beak against the bars and starts the softer version of screaming after 10 to 15 minutes of being in the cage. Sometimes she will go as long as 30 minutes if her favorite nuts are in the food dish and she is in a particularly good mood lol. It will get better though.

 

[Birdy888]

After a few days of being less hormonal Kyliegh started becoming more hormonal again. I fed her egg on Monday. That's when she started behaving like she wanted to brood. She laid an egg a couple of hours ago. While I hope she won't lay a second I know she likely will.

I know I need to feed veggies and legumes that make up for the nutrients in eggs. So far my efforts to get Kyliegh to eat legumes in general has not gone well. I know it takes time with new foods. She doesn't relish veggies. She'll shred cabbage and she'll eat it cooked here and there. I am going to try new ways of serving vegetables and legumes. I'll also try serving her new legumes such as lima beans.

 

[Feathery]

Does feeding egg trigger hormonal behavior? Or are you trying to compensate the nutrients of laying eggs?

 

[Birdy888]

Both. Feeding her egg triggers the egg laying. If I stop feeding eggs she stops laying them. At the same time I want her to eat things that contain the nutrients found in eggs but don't trigger egg laying. In a perfect world she'd be eating pellets, high quality seeds, veggies, and legumes but we're not there yet.

Before I got her she'd never seen a vegetable or if she had it came in a can. I will have had her for 2 months on the 13th. She is making some progress with the healthier foods but it is slow going. Her previous owner died a week before I got her so while she seems happy I wonder if she is still grieving to some extent.

 

[Feathery]

Thanks for your reply!

That's interesting! What is it about feeding eggs that triggers?

I'm trying to get mine switched to a vegetable and pellet diet currently myself. Some success, but slow!

 

[Birdy888]

Warm, soft foods trigger that response especially in their breeding season. The eggs contain the nutrients they need to lay eggs. I don't think feeding eggs is the only culprit but it seems like they're the bulk of the problem here.

On a positive note Kyliegh finally discovered the joy of shredding wood today. I gave her untreated pine which I cut into thin pieces. She shredded one piece that was 1/8 of an inch thick. I have some bigger pieces for her to try in a bit.

 

[Birdy888]

Kyliegh is starting to become more interested in wood. She had a small square of wood today that she was using as a foot toy. I didn't have my phone with me or I would have gotten a video. I gave her a bigger block of wood and she actually chewed on it and made a decent amount of progress on it.

It makes me happy to see her making progress and having fun. It is almost 2 months to the day that she's been with us. She's come a long way from where she was. Of course there are areas that need work such as getting Kyliegh to eat even more in the way of vegetables, legumes, and sprouts. I also need to teach her to step up even when she doesn't feel like it. Still I can tell she is much happier here and she knows she's loved.

I expect Kyliegh to lay another egg within the next 3 or 4 hours or this time tomorrow morning. Hopefully she won't lay one. For now I am keeping her from seeking out dark areas and not letting her eat warm, soft foods. I'm not going to give her as much cardboard to chew since the softer cardboard shreds may also be increasing her libido. Now that Kyliegh is chewing wood more I'll give her more of that to chew on.