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Once she feels comfortable try lightly stroking the back of her neck. Tootsie bends her head down when she wants to be scratched. Once you get her to come on to your hand freely, train her to come on to your index finger. Each time she gets up, say "up". Eventually, you will be able to control her by saying up when you want her to go up. I put my finger about 1/3 of an inch above her feet and gently push my finger against her legs to get her to come up when she doesn’t want to. Like when she is trying climb up my computer cables to get onto my shoulder. I don’t know if most birds are like this, but Tootsie doesn’t like it when I hold her away from my body. As long as my hand stays close to my chest, she never flies off. Yet if I hold my hand out she freaks out. Keep asking others for help because every bird is different and what works with mine may not with yours. As far as the food thing goes, I disagree with Sage alot. Birds need a variety of foods to stay healthy. The worst thing a person can do is only feed a bird seed. Every bird is going to have different tastes. Tootsie hates raw veggies. I have tried to hide them in her food, but she knows what’s there. The same with fruits. Yet, if I am eating them, she will nibble on my plate. She loves cooked veggies. Make sure you wash all food well to get pestisides off. I have NEVER heard that a bird shouldn’t eat steak. It is a great source of protien. Pizza also is a great treat. She loves the cheese and crust
With any food that you give her, you will have to be aware of what is toxic to a bird! Whether it be spices, sauces, or the food. It is also important that there is a balance in her diet. Tootsie would eat crackers and bread all day if I let her. She loves carbs especially when they are crunchy. Only a small part should be carbs. Protien is good as are most fruits and veggies. Offer her a variety and find out what she likes. Also, make the same veggie in different ways. Like raw, then cooked, shaped a different way etc. Make sure not to leave food in her dish for to long as it will spoil. To top things off, feed her a good fortified seed. I use Fiesta and I have found it to be the best. Some people belive birds should only have pellet food. I’ve never known a bird that will each just pellets but I guess they are out there. My birds won’t touch them. You still didn’t say if she is in her own cage or not. If she isn’t, I would put her in her own cage. This way she can focas on you and not the other birds and you can monitor exactly what she is eating. It’s not going to easy to tame her. She is an adult set in her ways and you are going to try and change her world. Be persistant and don’t give up! The reward is to valuable. I really wish you good luck and keep on gathering info from others so you can be well informed! Boy, that was a lot to write!
enigmulia, I’m sorry, but like you i too have been a bird owner for many years now by cockatiels and conures. I do a great deal of research, have many experts on the subject of nutrition and what’s right and wrong for birds. THAT’S WHERE I HAVE GOTTEN MY INFORMATION!
If you disagree that’s fine, it would be a very boring world if we did agree. However, if you doubt my words go look on several forums that tell you about what to feed your bird and what not to.
As for training, Never ever wear gloves! you could seriously injure your bird, and break the trust you already have with your bird. It’s called, don’t flinch an inch, break out the bandaides for yourself, and learn to be gentle.
I personally have one bird that is a known biter, but it is fear base, and I never force her to come, never make her visit anyone she doesn’t want to either.
Salt and spies are a big time no no for birds!. Dairy products please limit them, they have been known to cause allergies in some birds.
yogurt makes a nice treat for birds to.
So Wherever you’ve gotten your information from to I wonder about as well.no offense, and I’m not offended either. Just exchanging information. and hopefully educating some newbies to bird ownership as well.
enigumla, I don’t know where on earth you got the idea that I said feed only seed.
Seed in fact is a bad idea. Seed, especially sunflower seeds cause fatty livers! You are obviously reading something into my posts that are not there.
Pizza and steak are very bad for birds because of the spices. (SPICES ARE TOXIC!!)
Meat yes is a good source of protien, a few mashed taters, green peas, corn, carrots, bananas, apples are good of course washed off and well.If you do not believe me that is your buisness, but if you go to any expert sites that tell you what to feed and not to feed your birds the things I mentioned or variations are on there.
good heavens, do you think I’m some kind of dummy? I have never allowed my birds to eat straight seed. My birds generally eat a fruited pelleted diet mixed with fresh veggies and fruits. They always have and always will.
Pizza? NEVER! Only if they steal it from me. My sandwhich, Twiggy likes taking a bite or two and that’s quite ok cuz she’s getting a mouth ful of lettuce and bread.
the worst thing anyone with a bird can do is buy the cheap wild bird seed and feed that.
That’s junk, not a diet at all.
so my friend I think you have some things very mixed up about my advice as for birds.
And egg laying. I’ve experienced that with my Anna bird, and I know the danger that presents to a precious bird as well so disagree all you want, but what I say is based on a great deal of experience, and book knoweldge along with the advice of expertenigmaluna, Sage is right. You should not take away eggs too soon, they need to go through the incubation days as already mentioned & for the reasons mentioned, however, I have heard of the occasional person who has successfully taken eggs away just after a few days & with no problems at all. This only happens to the minority of layers, most layers require infertile eggs to go through the full incubation in order to give up laying. Taking eggs at such an early stage shouldn’t be recomened regardless of whether they cope well with this being done or not. It is a bigger risk.
Ok so i have started something here.So this is where I get off.Thanks for the info from all.
Sage, I’m sorry if you think I implied you only feed seed. I was just giving advice that one should never only feed seed. I am sure you are a great bird mommy, don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against you or your ways. They are just different than mine. To each his own. As far as the egg laying, I just said I had been told differently. I never said it was wrong to leave the eggs. This is not a debate over who is the bird expert. It is just a forum where people talk and hopefully learn from each other. I am interested in finding out more about this egg laying business. You brought it to my attention that I may have been misinformed. I’m greatful. Don’t take this personally.
I’m sorry if I came across that I was taking it personally. I wasn’t. it’s just been a long interesting day at work for me, and I was a little "Alarmed to think that you thought I was feeding only seed.
Yes, the egg laying business is actually more dangerous for our little female birds than one might think. This is the reason one should know if they have a female bird or a male.
Egg binding can cause death. Nutrition is an important factor if a bird is to lay a healthy clutch of young. Under nurished or improper feeding I understand from breeders means that the clutch more than likely won’t hatch. that floored me! Still does.
You can in a pinch, in an emergency use a tums, "Not rolaids, for an emergency source of calcium. This is something I had to use for my precious Anna bird when she had a clutch of infertile eggs. She’s a picky eater. Not so much now but she was then. Anna was a bird nobody dared get anywhere near her nest, (Her cage) unless you were either Twiggy bird or me. She wanted and loved the eggs very much. I saved her eggs from 2 years ago. P.S. Anna bird is a precious somewhat blind and crippled Nanday Conure.
She’s lived with me 5 years noww.But yes, we have much to learn from one another.
And as bird owners visiting the sites owned by bird experts helps us be better bird parents.
I keep http://www.birdscomefirst.org handy. I frequent the Nanday conure message board. Foster Parrots.com also has a list of do feeds and don’t and some other helpful hintsMax, the conure I adopted is a Nanday conure too! He was neglected by an ignorant couple who happened to read an essay I had written about making the commitment to own a bird. He had plucked all the feathers off of his chest and had become mean. I took him intending to find him a good home. He just refused to let anyone near him aside from me. How could I deny a bird a little peace in his life. I had to keep him. The vet said he damaged the skin to much for the feathers to grow back, but I don’t mind having a naked chicken, as everyone else calls him. He feels content and will live out his life with me and Tootsie, plus my 5 cats. No hard feelings
Click on any picture to see full size:
Enigmaluma, that is so fantastic!!
I actually have 2 nanday conures. My Kiwi Anna, "Anna Bird," is my sanctuary baby. She had been rehomed 4 prior times to the sanctuary, and the owners of the sanctuary told me that someone’s macaw bit off her toes, and he also got the nailbeds out of her other claw. It ripped my heart out when I found out she was left clawed, "Same claw with missing toes." I recently found out she has inclussions on her eyes too. She’s so precious. She’s my little parrot that cries, and bites out of fear, and so she prefers only me for the most part with very few exceptions. She only said 2 words for 2 years. Ok and mommy. Now she says 15 plus words, and has quite the birdanality.
Mz. Twiggy bird is my other Nanday. Her story will rip your heart out to. If I run out of room I’ll make another post to share her story.
Mz. Twiggy bird came to me when I wasn’t expecting it. Anna bird was an answer to my prayers, and I was bragging her up and showing her off to a family friend when he suddenly said, Oh can you get me a bird just like her? I started the grill and drill. I wasn’t going to get someone a bird who just wanted one when he shut me up by saying he had 10 years of bird experience. But he also had 9 year old twin girls and a 6 year old son.
Since I had never heard of a Nanday Conure until I started searching for another bird to love, (We lost our precious Lexi Bird, a cockatiel in an escape accident. We had him for 7 happy years) I still seaI still search the skies for him. Even though it’s been since 2003. So when I learned I was bringing a Nanday baby home I found The Nanday Conure Message board to learn how to care for my precious feathered angel and that’s when I found a post, "Free bird." I thought these birds are all back east and I’m not putting a bird through a long trip, not to mention the bird was for someone else.
But after three times of clicking on and off the site I noticed the last sentence. "I’m in the Columbia Basin and will drive within a reasonable distance to meet possible new owners. At the time I lived in the Columbia Basin. "Don’t now." and on the Oregon side of the Columbia. Mz. Twiggy’s story went something like this.
Mz. Twiggy was actually introduced as Mr. Bird. He had been purchased and loved by the poster’s sister who was single at the time. She loved and spoiled this little green angel for 7 years, but then she found true love, married and had a baby of her own. The introductions didn’t go well at all. Mr. Bird was a screaming very jealous baby, and his owner didn’t have the patience to deal with the behavior so the newly formed family fixed up a water bottle and obviously from my observations squirted her so viciously that she retreated into whatever corners she could find.
Mr. Bird began plucking, and plucked so badly that his chest, back, wings had been worked over pretty good. After several emails I found out we lived only 75 miles apart. Mr. Bird was in immediate need oMr. Bird was in immediate need of a new human family because his new human worked in real estate and was gone more than she was home, and had a home full of cats. 5 for the most. When Mr. Bird arrived he took to my foster son immediately chortling happily scaling him from waist to his head. He was in far more serious shape than I was lead to believe, and my love for birds is all encompassing. This bird was never being rehomed, would never go to our family friend, and I’m not one bit sorry either. When he came to us I learned more on my own about his health. His beak was overgrown from the neglect- they stopped giving him the nutritious treats he so truely deserved, needed and wanted. They had also removed his perches to control his behavior. (This fries my cookies!) Birds need the perches to get away from humans at times. We also learned that Mr. Bird through DNA Testing was a hen thus the name got changed to Mz. Twiggy. Flight suits, lots of love, trips to the vet has done her a world of good. She is by far my most mischevious feathered charge, but the friendliest to. Since she’s been with us she’s regained almost all of her breast feathers, her back still may never be covered in feathers again. I’m also working on a doument so that my precious charges have a God father as well. It is the right thing to do for them.
I’m owned by 5 precious birds.
2 nandays, 1 Jenday and 2 cockateils.
and as much as you disagree with me about the food thing this may also be another surEnigmaluma, as much as you disagree with me about the food stuff for birds this fact may also give you a shock and a surprise.
Most of what I know and have learned what birds should and should not eat have come from the experts that frequent the Nanday Conure message board.
Some of these people are, Anna, Margaret, Bruce, Sam, Bill, Lynda, Sandra.
Anna is a breeder, and I have learned a great deal from her even the Tums thing….
So go visit the Nanday Web ring, you’ll find almost everything and anything you could possibly have questions about when it comes to your Max.Good luck.
I will check it out! Max was sugically sexed as a boy before I got him. He was born in 96. When I brought him home, I had found a home for him within a day. Max went with Jan for a month. She had to go to Italy for a week so I babysat him. When she returned, he refused to go anywhere near her. For hours we tried to get him to remember her and go to her. He wouldn’t go. Finally we decided maybe he would be better if he were back at her house without me around. After a week, so begged me to take him back because he was so sad. As she came up my stairs with him , he started screaming! As soon as the door opened he was dancing, his favorite greeting. He jumped right on me and started to clean my eye lashes. How could I refuse him? My tiel,Tootsie, just ignores him because she doesn’t think she is a bird, but Max is her protector. Whenever she goes down the cage and onto the floor, he screams until he sees that I know she is on the floor. My 5 cats have been raised not to bother the birds. Tootsie often sits on Rufas as he sleeps. Max still doesn’t believe it’s ok when the cats get close. I feel bad for him because he doesn’t have a buddy but I really don’t want another bird. I would feel guilty if I found him a new home because he has such a strong bond with me. I don’t want him to suffer ever again. When my mom’s myers parrot comes over, Max is so happy! So I don’t know what to do. He is a bad biter to anyone except me. He actually bit my girlfriend’s father to the bone.
He is a bird owner/lover and insisted that he could get Max on his finger. I warned him! So I don’t know how I would find him a home where he wouldn’t just be stuck in a cage. I love him, don’t get me wrong. I just want what’s best for him. I wanted to mention something to you. Be careful about following someones advice just because they are a breeder. I know with cats, there are A LOT of breeders who don’t know thier a– from a hole in the ground. I have spent years with Munchkin breeders and have found that few really know or care about the individual cat. They look for the quickest cheapest way to mass produce with best results. One breeder actually told me that she kills any babies born nonstandard(without the short legs). I was horrified! Another one said how it is ok to breed uncles to nieces etc. So I check out everything I hear carefully. There isn’t a degree for breeding, they aren’t specialists. Just a word of experience. Well, good luck with your babies!
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