MaggieBee
Meeting neighbors
- Joined
- 3/15/20
- Messages
- 49
Hey all!
Just wanted to give the kind people who commented in my recent posts about Pearl the baby tiel (namely @Zara @Birdbabe @Lady Jane @Sparkles! @finchly @SumitaSinh @GoDucks @Monica @Sunnymom and @Mockinbirdiva) an update on the difficulties I was having with her.
I brought pearl home around two months ago at 4 weeks, and soon was faced with a lot of difficulties related to feeding. She was always, always begging for food, making baby noises even with a full crop, and resisted any attempt at weaning, even though she picked a little at the food I left for her. That led me to postpone her weaning far over the age where she should have started, for fear of underfeeding/stressing her out. She was eating her full 10% (sometimes 15%) body weight in formula three times a day at 10 weeks, gamely finishing every dose even if she'd been eating pellets and chop in between meals. Even then, she'd screech her little (deafening) baby noises every second she was with me or even aware I was close by, which I found very concerning. Additionally, she seemed to have very little interest in her surroundings other than where it related to food.
Well, I'm pleased to announce she's made incredible (and very fast) progress, and it all happened in the span of a few days!
It all happened because my parents and I went to visit my grandmother for the weekend. Before Pearl, I'd just take my budgie Cori in his cage (which is small enough to cary, but big enough for a tiny bird who spends most of his day out of it – or at least with the freedom to leave it, he does seem to prefer being inside it unless I' in the room). Now with two birds, and very little car space, I had no other choice but to have them in the same cage.
For the trip itself, I was lucky enough that the harness I'd bought for her arrived just two days prior, and luckier still that she accepted it with no need for gradual introduction or training. She fusses a little when I put it on and take it off, but other than that behaves perfectly and seems to really enjoy the change in scenery it allows!
For the stay, obviously she couldn't be in a harness the entire time, so I decided to introduce them to cohabitating. They'd already been introduced under supervision, and seemed to tolerate each other well, even sitting on the same shoulder for some periods of time.
So when we got there, I plopped her into his cage (which is too small for her, and I'll have to come up with a long term solution for that) and sat supervising them in case he got territorial.
I shouldn't have worried, though! He immediately welcomed her into his space, and they'd constantly follow each other around – the cage wasn't designed OR set up for her bird her size, and she'd try to follow him into the higher perches and then fall down, either because the hanging perches tipped under her weight or because she'd try to maneuver into a too-small space and trip. Cori, on the other hand, would follow her down every time she fell and chill with her on the floor of the cage until she was up to try again. He even thought her to pick fallen seeds off the floor (I was still transitioning him into a pellet diet because he was a rescue bird and used to seeds) and I even caught him feeding them to her! Very cute stuff.
When we got home, this all inspired me to set up the 'big kid cage', which I'd bought for when she grew out of her brooder, and transfer them both there. THAT turned out to be a tipping point in her development. She started eating on her own literally overnight, stopped making baby noises altogether, and instantly became more curious and exploratory. This also means she developed a very parrotlike obsession with cables, but that's a price I'm willing to pay. She's also developed a taste for millet, which she previously ignored altogether, which means I was able to start training her properly.
They're good friends now and can always be found hanging in the same perch, even though they have a lot of space, and following each other around, and once I even found Cori preening her head!
In short, I'm very pleased and relieved with her progress, and as a nice bonus Cori now has a lot more cage space, a friend, AND is finally on a pellet-only diet!
Plus she's started to molt out of her horrible wing clip, so I should be able to start flight training her soon
I've put together a little video compilation of this process:
Just wanted to give the kind people who commented in my recent posts about Pearl the baby tiel (namely @Zara @Birdbabe @Lady Jane @Sparkles! @finchly @SumitaSinh @GoDucks @Monica @Sunnymom and @Mockinbirdiva) an update on the difficulties I was having with her.
I brought pearl home around two months ago at 4 weeks, and soon was faced with a lot of difficulties related to feeding. She was always, always begging for food, making baby noises even with a full crop, and resisted any attempt at weaning, even though she picked a little at the food I left for her. That led me to postpone her weaning far over the age where she should have started, for fear of underfeeding/stressing her out. She was eating her full 10% (sometimes 15%) body weight in formula three times a day at 10 weeks, gamely finishing every dose even if she'd been eating pellets and chop in between meals. Even then, she'd screech her little (deafening) baby noises every second she was with me or even aware I was close by, which I found very concerning. Additionally, she seemed to have very little interest in her surroundings other than where it related to food.
Well, I'm pleased to announce she's made incredible (and very fast) progress, and it all happened in the span of a few days!
It all happened because my parents and I went to visit my grandmother for the weekend. Before Pearl, I'd just take my budgie Cori in his cage (which is small enough to cary, but big enough for a tiny bird who spends most of his day out of it – or at least with the freedom to leave it, he does seem to prefer being inside it unless I' in the room). Now with two birds, and very little car space, I had no other choice but to have them in the same cage.
For the trip itself, I was lucky enough that the harness I'd bought for her arrived just two days prior, and luckier still that she accepted it with no need for gradual introduction or training. She fusses a little when I put it on and take it off, but other than that behaves perfectly and seems to really enjoy the change in scenery it allows!
For the stay, obviously she couldn't be in a harness the entire time, so I decided to introduce them to cohabitating. They'd already been introduced under supervision, and seemed to tolerate each other well, even sitting on the same shoulder for some periods of time.
So when we got there, I plopped her into his cage (which is too small for her, and I'll have to come up with a long term solution for that) and sat supervising them in case he got territorial.
I shouldn't have worried, though! He immediately welcomed her into his space, and they'd constantly follow each other around – the cage wasn't designed OR set up for her bird her size, and she'd try to follow him into the higher perches and then fall down, either because the hanging perches tipped under her weight or because she'd try to maneuver into a too-small space and trip. Cori, on the other hand, would follow her down every time she fell and chill with her on the floor of the cage until she was up to try again. He even thought her to pick fallen seeds off the floor (I was still transitioning him into a pellet diet because he was a rescue bird and used to seeds) and I even caught him feeding them to her! Very cute stuff.
When we got home, this all inspired me to set up the 'big kid cage', which I'd bought for when she grew out of her brooder, and transfer them both there. THAT turned out to be a tipping point in her development. She started eating on her own literally overnight, stopped making baby noises altogether, and instantly became more curious and exploratory. This also means she developed a very parrotlike obsession with cables, but that's a price I'm willing to pay. She's also developed a taste for millet, which she previously ignored altogether, which means I was able to start training her properly.
They're good friends now and can always be found hanging in the same perch, even though they have a lot of space, and following each other around, and once I even found Cori preening her head!
In short, I'm very pleased and relieved with her progress, and as a nice bonus Cori now has a lot more cage space, a friend, AND is finally on a pellet-only diet!
Plus she's started to molt out of her horrible wing clip, so I should be able to start flight training her soon
I've put together a little video compilation of this process:
