Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

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Aussie_nathan
Posts: 41
Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2013 3:59 pm

Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by Aussie_nathan »

Hi everyone my name is Nathan and this is Marley
Marley is a blue IRN baby around 8 weeks old and he/she is still living at her breeders house being hand reared for another 8-10 weeks.
I'm looking forward to getting her home and enjoying her company and learning off each other, I'm currently in the process of setting up his/her cage with toys and branches and things. The breeders I am getting him/her off are lovely people and send me updates weekly of marleys progress with pictures and are a wealth of information, they have been breeding IRN for close to 40 years and are always available to chat and gladly offer advice.
Marley was the only blue out of 4 chicks and I can't wait to see him/her in full colour with grown up feathers. Here are some pics
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InTheAir
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by InTheAir »

Hi and Welcome!
What a little cutey. It's so exciting watching them grow up, isn't it?
I had the hardest time staying patient waiting for Sapphire to wean. It felt like forever!

Regards,

Claire
Aussie_nathan
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Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2013 3:59 pm

Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by Aussie_nathan »

Hi Claire and thank you,
I know what you mean, I can't wait until Marley moves to our house for good. Still with the breeders at the moment as they are hand raising him/her for me until he/she is fully weaned and eating on his/her self and will be tamed as well, just basics like step up and knows his/her name,
Looking forward to seeing his/her full big bird colour and in flight too.
InTheAir
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by InTheAir »

Flighted birds are so much fun!

Good choice on the gender neutral name btw. The breeder we got our first bird from was convinced he was a she, so we called him Nila before getting a dna test done. Now he has a rather feminine sounding name and people tend to assume he's a girl. :lol:

What part of Australia are you in? I live in sunshine coast.
Aussie_nathan
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Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2013 3:59 pm

Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by Aussie_nathan »

I live in Melbourne at the moment, I move around every couple of years because I am in the defence force. Me and my partner were scratching our heads trying to decide on a name we could use for both male and female and that's what we settled on. Marley's mum is an albino and her dad is an olive green and the breeder said that she normally has one blue per clutch of eggs, when the breeder said blue I was expecting blue ha ha ha not an aqua greeny tingle but it doesn't really matter as I actually like the colour Marley is, can't wait to see if Marley stays that colour or gets darker or lighter when he/she gets big bird feathers, and I know that he/she is way to young and it's no indication on what he or she will be but I swear I can see a light ring around his or her neck in one of the photos
Aussie_nathan
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by Aussie_nathan »

Oh and the breeder also said that when the parents have a blue that they are mostly 90% female. From the albino mum and olive green dad breeding pair. That Marley has come from
InTheAir
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by InTheAir »

Melbourne is nice.

It's hard to look at pictures from my phone, is Marley a turquoise blue perhaps? http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... ue#p105958

I think turquoiseblue is the prettiest mutation! Nila is one and his colour has been changing slightly with every moult. He's about 16 months old now and looks absolutely stunning! He was quite blue with a little bit of green when he was little.
I haven't really got a clue about how genetics works, I just like looking at the pretty coloured birds in the mutation section of the forum :lol:
Aussie_nathan
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by Aussie_nathan »

To be honest I wouldn't have a clue to what colour Marley is, the breeders have just called Marley blue.
From the pictures I have of Marley when she was only just feathering she has blue but then the latest pictures I got Marley has a bit of green tinge in the wings and I do like the TurquoiseBlue and I absolutely love the double factor violets but not the price tag that comes with them ha ha ha. Have you got any pictures of Nila I could compare Marley too? And I watched a video of you and nila doing tricks last night and WOW is he cleaver, how did you train him to fly back to his perch and to and from your hand?
Aussie_nathan
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by Aussie_nathan »

Here is Marley one of the first pictures I got
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InTheAir
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by InTheAir »

I think Nila would have been about 4 months when this was taken
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The breeder we got him from said he was a blue green lacewing... which was very inaccurate.

It's fairly easy to teach them to do almost anything for a yummy treat! For a bird that has always been flighted there seems to be no difference between stepping onto a hand and flying to it.
I taught my new bird to step up by holding a treat in one hand and offering the other hand as a bridge to get to the treat. She started flying over as soon as she saw me getting treats ready to offer, but I think the proper way is to increase the distance between the bird and the bridging hand so it has to make little flights to get to you (and the treats).
Going to the perch is the same but in reverse. The cue I use is to point at the perch and say perch.
I hope that explanation made sense, I'm much better at explaining stuff in ringneck than human!
http://www.goodbirdinc.com has heaps of great info on training, I highly recommend it.
Aussie_nathan
Posts: 41
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by Aussie_nathan »

Thanks for all the info and yes it did make sense, I know that Marley will step up as the breeders have told me when I come to collect Marley once fully weaned he will step up and be tamed to hold as they hand feed all their chicks and start teaching them at a young age even calling them by their names so they respond when called. I'll check that site out as I really want to teach nearly to fly to his cage and to me and if I can teach Marley to fly to the cage to go to the toilet, I have read about people doing that.
Nila looks like she has more green to him then Marley but saying that Marley is younger as well so will be interesting to see what colour Marley actually is
InTheAir
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by InTheAir »

You'll have to share some pics of Marley when s/he gets to your place.
Definitely check out that site, I just realised missed out a few of the important principles in that explanation!
Aussie_nathan
Posts: 41
Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2013 3:59 pm

Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by Aussie_nathan »

I will be checking out that site for sure to help train Marley.
Just spoke to the breeders and they explained what colour Marley is and he is a Turquoise blue like you said and he has also started to nibble on seeds and apples so not long to go until Marley comes and lives with me. Just a matter of weeks EKK
InTheAir
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by InTheAir »

Cool! You will have a great time watching Marleys colour develop as s/he grows up.

My other tips, things my boyfriend and I learnt very quickly after Nila moved in, are you can never have too many play stands or foraging toys and activities!
MissK
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by MissK »

For Rocky, quite a different circumstance, but he did need to learn (or relearn?) to fly, and he also needed to learn to step onto my hand. Honestly, flying to the hand, for him, was like falling off a log (as they say here), once he learned those two prerequisite skills. It was seriously as easy as me holding a treat in my right hand, and tapping my left wrist. He thought about it for a short while, and then there he was.

I have not taught him to fly away from my hand. We have had some success in getting him to fly away from something else, though not necessarily to a specific point. He loves to hang out on the Budgie cage, where I don't want him to be. I started by tapping near him with a stick (which he doesn't like, and who would?) as I said "GO" and pointed to his own cage with an expansive whole-arm gesture. Over time, I was able to lose the stick. Eventually, as I am surely the laziest trainer on this forum, I expect the "GO" and point cue will be useful in getting him off my arm. I have not yet experienced getting tired of him on the arm, though, so not really much motivated, myself for this. :lol:
-MissK
Redzone
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by Redzone »

Great to hear that you will be leaving Marley flighted, Nathan! It adds so much more to the experience of owning a parrot, & is a lot better for the bird's mental health & physical wellbeing :)
Aussie_nathan
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by Aussie_nathan »

I don't like the idea if clipping marley's wings but I do understand why some people do it to their birds. It's just some thing I don't want to do. The hard part for us is we have to young kids aged 3 and 1.5 years old and they love to go out side all the time and have to be reminded to close the door when they do go out side, so we will have decided to only let Marley out of the cage in the morning when we get up until the kids go out and play, for lunch time when we are all in side eating lunch and relaxing for an hour and also when I come home from work and can have more control of Marley while the kids run around. So Marley will be spending 2 x 3 hour blocks in his cage a day during the week days and on the week ends Marley will be out more often until my young kids no to keep all outside doors shut because Marley is out of his cage. As for training Marley to fly to my arm and to his cage that's done thing I really want to teach Marley that way he can fly to his cage when he wants to sleep or come to me when I offer him a treat and I think seeing Marley in flight with marley's colours would be amazing
InTheAir
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by InTheAir »

We don't have kids, so we don't need to worry about anyone else leaving doors open. We have got a curtain in front of the ranch slider, it's not foolproof but it means we can go in and out while the birds are zooming around and they can't fly straight out the door after us. We have to check the curtain before we use the door as both birds like to climb on it and hide behind it.

I'm sure Marley will take over your house and train everyone very quickly :wink:
As long as there is plenty to do in the cage, that routine should work I think
Aussie_nathan
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by Aussie_nathan »

Once the kids are older and understand that when Marley is out of the cage we should be alright, there is plenty of fun toys, bright colours and a mirror to keep Marley occupied until it's time for some out side cage time, and then Marley will be learning some tricks to test him and his memory. So I'm not really worried about Marley being in the cage for those 2 x 3 hour periods because it will give him some rest time
MissK
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by MissK »

When I was a child, my parents made great use of little latches like this:

http://www.shifflerequip.com/products//68850/TP-5701
-MissK
Aussie_nathan
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Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2013 3:59 pm

Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by Aussie_nathan »

Thanks for that link. We have some thing similar on all if our cupboards and they stop the little terrors when we remember to actually use them ha ha
willowisp71
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Location: Bunbury, Western Australia

Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by willowisp71 »

Hi Nathan,

I think your wee little bubba is more likely just a blue (not turquoise) - the pics the breeders have sent to you have been taken with a flash, which will make the bird more like a turquoise than a standard blue. I have a mature blue male, and if I take pics of him using a flash, the same thing happens! I now make sure I take pics without a flash, using the natural daylight to better show his true colour :)

here's a pic of my boy WITH flash:
Image

and now one WITHOUT flash:
Image

Excuse his stumpy-butt of a tail - he'd only just moulted out all his tail feathers, and new ones hadn't grown in yet, lol :lol:

Also, regarding your chicks colour/mutation:
Aussie_nathan wrote:Oh and the breeder also said that when the parents have a blue that they are mostly 90% female. From the albino mum and olive green dad breeding pair. That Marley has come from
Are you absolutely certain that the breeders said the dad is an olive (although more likely a grey-green which LOOKS olive in colour, as opposed to a real Olive being double dark factor) and an albino mum? I've just been doing the calks on this pair, and firstly:

For this pair to be able to produce a blue, the dad must be split to blue himself…

And secondly, for them to be producing albino chicks, dad must ALSO be split to ino!

But then, with ALL these factors going on in the parent birds, they should also be producing greens, grey-greens, greys, as well as the blues and albino coloured chicks.

Oh, and if the mutations are correct for each of the parent birds, then there is an equal chance of your blue chick being male or female (as with all of the other chicks from this nest) - DNA testing will be required to determine gender before 3 years of age :)

Can you confirm from the breeders for me exactly what mutations they think the parents are? And maybe also ask them what other colour chicks have this pair produced in the past…. I'd be interested to see if any of the colours mentioned above have occurred - (if not, then they have mistakenly identified the parent birds mutations).

Looking forward to seeing updates on your new companion, Marley :)
Regards Deb
willowisp71
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by willowisp71 »

PS: I've just had another look at the first pic you posted, and it looks like there could be a grey or grey-green (?) bub in with your bub and the albino's?? And I also just re-read one of your replies above stating the breeders had confirmed your's was turquoise blue, not just blue….. for this to be so, dad must carry turquoise himself, either visually or as a split. I don't suppose they sent you pics of the parents at all? :D
Regards Deb
Aussie_nathan
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Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2013 3:59 pm

Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by Aussie_nathan »

Hello and Thank you for insight and thoughts, I am still trying to figure out and get my head around all the different mutations and how they come about, I tell you what I think I need a degree or some thing because some post seem like they are speaking a different language. You are right there is a grey in the nesting box with the other three birds but unsure whether it's a grey green or normal grey and my breeder did explain that Marley my little guy is a turquoise blue and they way they keep calling Marley a him seems that he might be a male and I know it's unsure to tell until 3 years of age or DNA testing but surely with my breeders 40 experience doing this they would have a fair idea.
I also haven't seen the parents for my self but I have spoken to the breeder and his wife on the phone many of times and have had constant contact with them, asking them things that I am unsure of and so one to better prepare my self for when I go get my bub. They have only said that the dad is a green and the mum is albino and they normally only get one blue per clutch out of that breeding couple. They have offered to show me all their birds and explain colour and genetics when I go to collect Marley and have offered to sit down and have a lengthy talk about the birds so I am clear on things that I might have questions about.
Your little guy is absolutely beautifull I love that colour blue. I really don't mind what colour blue my bub is to be honest because I am sure we are going to have a blast learning off each other and just hanging out together
MissK
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by MissK »

I really don't mind what colour blue my bub is to be honest because I am sure we are going to have a blast learning off each other and just hanging out together
This is really the main thing. When I was out looking for my bird, I wanted a grey, maybe a blue. I got a green. "Settled", because that was the individual I wanted to bring into my home. A curious thing happened. I grew to appreciate that no grey or blue bird in the world could be more beautiful than my green one. :wink:
-MissK
Mitchan
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by Mitchan »

MissK wrote:
I really don't mind what colour blue my bub is to be honest because I am sure we are going to have a blast learning off each other and just hanging out together
This is really the main thing. When I was out looking for my bird, I wanted a grey, maybe a blue. I got a green. "Settled", because that was the individual I wanted to bring into my home. A curious thing happened. I grew to appreciate that no grey or blue bird in the world could be more beautiful than my green one. :wink:
That's lovely! I was never really that fond of green ringnecks at all, until I came to adopt my Nicko, and now I honestly can't imagine anything prettier. :lol:
Aussie_nathan
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by Aussie_nathan »

I was speaking to my breeder last night and he told me Marley is at least 16 weeks old and is a very cheeky, sociable little bird at the minute, very vocable unlike the two little white ones from the same clutch. Here is an up to date picture
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Aussie_nathan
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by Aussie_nathan »

This is marleys new home! We pick him/her up tomorrow morning YAY
TiffandKari
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Re: Hello I'm Nathan & this is Marley

Post by TiffandKari »

Hello! Marley is so cute :D
Tiff and Kari


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