Joining the IRN family!

[daniele]

Hey guys!

These are my fids Morph & Sprocket!!! I love that you call them fids, genius!!!



(hope that worked, it's been a long while since i've posted in a forum!)

My boyfriend had talked about getting a parrot for ages whereas I was happy to take it or leave it not really fancying the responsibility of having pets. Now I can't imagine life without them! We got Sprocket on a friday afternoon and were pretty keen for him to have a little friend so that they could learn from one another, stay warm when it gets cold and generally just do bird stuff together and keep each other company when we're not there. Luckily the breeder had one of their other buyers fall through and we went and picked up morph the next day. One of the other baby birds was beautiful and yellow but it was so timid and frightened. I'm really happy we ended up with the two we've got, they've got great little personalities!

This is my first time as a bird owner and for the first week I was so worried about making sure that we were looking after them correctly. We started off trying to feed them this formula stuff with a bent up spoon and I found it so distressing. Thankfully that only lasted a couple of days because as soon as we put some fresh fruit in front of their beaks they were off and now they feed themselves! A lot! Sometimes I wonder how they pack it all in! I find it fascinating how their poo's change after they've eaten different things, does that make me weird?

Sprocket is definitely the more adventurous and stronger of the two. Morph is way more chilled out. Morph will lay down on your chest for a nice cuddle whereas Sprocket just wants to fly. It doesn't take long for Morph to copy what Sprocket does and they're both flying so well already! When we got them I would take them out the front to get the mail and the second day we had them Sprocket was already sitting on my shoulder down at the local Bunnings, but now.. NO WAY! After only a couple of weeks they've figured out how to fly and I'm terrified that they'll take off and I'll never see me fids again! Before they could fly they would sit with us and hang which was awesome but now it's like they get bored so they fly off and go hang out on top of the curtain railing. So depressing ha ha! At some stage we want to get their wings clipped but I feel like a big meanie doing it now because they look like they're having so much fun. My boyfriend wants to because I think he thinks that it'll help us tame them but I'm not sure which is why I'm here basically! To chat with you all, hear your experiences and figure all that sorta stuff out!

So glad I found this community. Let me know if i talk too much I just love my new little friends so much!!

Look forward to chatting some more!

[pinkdevil]

hi Daniele and welcome to the forum.

I really love the photo of Morph & Sprocket.

You were very lucky Sprocket decided to leave his/her flying skills till AFTER the Bunnings trip.
If you prefer to leave the wings unclipped, you could try getting them used to a birdie harness while they are still young. That way you could still take them for 'walks' without the worry of them flying off. Just need to watch for predatory birds though.

I found the same thing, when baby birds finally learn to fly. They prefer flying around and perching high then spend their moments with you like they did. So I usually have food handy or eat something myself, or play with their toys. Most times they can't resist food or the toys, the old 'what have you got there, must see, must have', kicks in.

Good luck and congrats on your new additions.

[daniele]

I immediately know my boyfriend is going to hate that harness idea! We've both got different ideas about how to raise the fids.. such as he doesn't see the harm in letting them munch on his cheetos whereas I almost have a conniption if I catch him doing it!!!

Most times they can't resist food or the toys, the old 'what have you got there, must see, must have', kicks in.

Good luck and congrats on your new additions.

..hey thanks! Too true about that! I was eating a bit of pizza the other day and Sprocket moved at the speed of light to get up close and personal with it, it was hilarious!

The breeders told us that you can't let them have acidic fruit. Do you know if this is true? Things like oranges & tomatoes? So far nothing I've read here says you can't and I want them to eventually come out the back to do the gardening with me where there are always tomatoes ripe for the eating!!!

[pinkdevil]

Ahhhhh....the joys of differences of parenting opinions.

Here is a link to safe and non safe foods.....
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... ods#p66211

[daniele]

Cool. Thanks for the link! I'll check it out now.

[kyria]

Welcome to the family .. love the pic of your beautiful fids , you really won't be the same again and its totally wonderul

[daniele]

Thank you! Do you really have 9 birds?!!

[kyria]

I really need to update that sig pictures ...


I have 12, all tame pets . just added a 14 week old ecelctus boy about 3 weeks ago

[kyria]

And I am helping my daughter hand raise 4 baby tiels we had to rescue from over exuberant preening daddy. But they will go home with her.

[daniele]

Hooley dooley! That's a lot of birds!! You'd be a great person to ask for advice from then! And i majorly need advice.. ANYONE!!!

We took Morph & Sprocket down to the pet store this morning to get their wings clipped which was a tortured decision in itself and oh my lord what a debacle it has turned into. So distressing!!

He clipped their nails with these old wire cutter things when we really didn't want their nails clipped but he apparently misheard us.. whatever! He ended up doing only one of Sprocks feet because he started bleeding and now it won't stop! I'm devastated! He put some talc on it and it seemed to be fine but when we got them both home we took 'em out the back for a little bath and his foot just won't stop bleeding. He also told us to put vaseline on it which hasn't helped so we rung another pet store and they said that vaseline wasn't any good because it softens the claws and.. something else i can't remember but like.. what the f..!? We've gone and bought some more talc and we're going to try that. Hopefully we don't have to take him down to the vet. It is just so upsetting. Any advice????

He also only clipped one side of their wings. Is this normal? They can hardly fly at all now. I am so upset because yesterday they were flying around having a ball and now they go to take off and only make it about 20cm if that! I'm so worried that they're going to hurt themselves. Oh my lordy I feel like I've gone from being a really good parent to a really **** one in the space of a couple of minutes! The poor fids! Just giving them lots of cuddles and praying we avoid a trip to the vet!

Does anyone have any similar stories or advice????

[angela74]

hi im angela from qld australia i have 3 inr at the moment and the breeder that i got mine from told me that it is better to cut both wings as they can still fly, bondi flys from the top of her purch to the floor and proceeds to walk around other wise it will throw them off balance and they do a nose dive into the furniture or floor as for the bleeding nail never had that and not sure what else to do.
regards angela. PS very new to this sight but loving it so far

[daniele]

very new to this sight but loving it so far

I know! Isn't this site wonderful!

I can't believe what I let that a-hole do to my babies. What you wrote are exactly the thoughts I had. I also think that they will try to over compensate with the wing that wasn't clipped. Do you know how long it takes for the feathers to grow back?

[pinkdevil]

Sorry you have had a bad experience with your birds.

ANYTHING used on the bird should have been CLEAN and at least, disinfected if not sterile, not some old wore cutter type things.

I personally do not trim my birds nails as I believe they get all the trimming they need from naturally rough branches. Some people have bought and used sand paper or rough store bought type perches. I have seen photos of a bird who had one of these style perches, it was not a pretty sight. The skin was worn off the feet from the birds constant use of the perch. The owner came home to a red cage.....the birds blood!!

Has the nail stopped bleeding yet?

I would clip the other wing so that they are able to balance themselves much easier when gliding to the floor rather than spiral unevenly with a thud. I imagine having only one good wing would be like us trying to walk with only one good leg. As they were used to flying, I would try to keep them at a lower hight for a while until they realise they can not longer fly.

The feathers will not replace, (unless the feather is removed), until moulting time which is still a few months away yet.

When I clip flight feathers, I clip a couple at a time on each wing and see how far the bird is able to fly. If more feathers are needed to be clipped I clipped one or two more and repeat process.

Here is a link that shows how to clip......http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww19eii.htm

[daniele]

Has the nail stopped bleeding yet?

Yes! Thank the lord! The talc seems to have done the trick but what a horrible thing for Sprocket to have to go through. I don't know if next time we bath him it'll start bleeding again but I'm going to keep a close eye on it! Either way we're NEVER going back to that pet store!!!!

You have given such great advice I really appreciate that. Thank you.

I would clip the other wing so that they are able to balance themselves much easier when gliding to the floor rather than spiral unevenly with a thud. I imagine having only one good wing would be like us trying to walk with only one good leg. As they were used to flying, I would try to keep them at a lower hight for a while until they realise they can not longer fly.

The feathers will not replace, (unless the feather is removed), until moulting time which is still a few months away yet.

That breaks my heart and makes me feel so bad. That means that they'll be galumphing all over the place for months the poor babies. Generally when is moulting time? Is it seasonal? Do you think they're suffering? Oh my...

I probably should clip the other side like you say but I'm terrified what that's going to do to them. They've been through so much already. Do you think we should wait a few days or do it straight away?

[daniele]

This guy right... his idea was.. he pulled the wing out and left 2 feathers on the outer wing and 2 feathers close to their bodies which he said helps cover their kidneys and then he snipped off all the feathers in the middle right up to the feather line. Then with the two outer feathers he cut them mid length. This guy sounds like a butcher right?! I really hate the idea of doing that to their other wing.

[ellieelectrons]

I've heard varying opinions on whether to clip one wing or both wings. The people who I most trust, though, say clip both wings... and ours have both wings clipped.

When Charlie was bleeding recently, someone advised that corn flour can also help to stop the bleeding.

With regard to keeping their nails trimmed, after a bad experience with a non-vet, I now only let an avian vet do it but do my best to help them keep their nails naturally trimmed with natural tree branch perches in their cage and I also now have a cement swing that I bought from the Parrot Society shop. I still have little welts all over parts of my arm from their claws... but they aren't as bad since I bought the cement swing. Their feet seem to be ok so I don't think it is damaging them.... and they seem to love using it.

Our local pet store was so great at wing clipping. Janey, who screams like crazy at the vet, doesn't even let out a whimper when they clip her wings... but unfortunately they've closed down now and I don't know where I'm going to take mine later this year. My friend took her IRN to a local (non-avian) vet and vowed she would never do it again because it traumatised her so much... Unfortunately, I think you've either got to learn to do it yourself (which I'm not game to do either) or keep trying to find someone you are happy with.

I'm sure your fids will be resilient and get over it in no time... although, if you're anything like me, it will probably take you much longer to get over it

Ellie.

[daniele]

I'm sure your fids will be resilient and get over it in no time... although, if you're anything like me, it will probably take you much longer to get over it

Ha ha! Totes! My boyfriend and I were massively traumatized. He was ready to go down there and open a can of whoop a*s on this pet store owner. Luckily the fids don't appear to be distressed at all by the experience and that's the main thing. It's just not worth it but you know.. I would like to know that this guy doesn't end up doing this to someone else's pet but I don't know how I would go about doing that. I don't want to ruin his business but at the same time he shouldn't really be doing anyone else any more 'favours'...I would just rather put the whole experience behind me. We've learnt our lesson and were lucky that nothing irreparably bad happened. I think in the future we'll just do what was mentioned up above and trim a few feathers at a time and see how that goes.. when I say 'we' I mean my boyfriend of course. I'll be in another room!

Are avian vets hard to find? I guess it's like trying to find a good hair dresser! With the corn flour thing I'm guessing things like arrowroot powder and thickening powders you use in baking work along the same principle right? Hopefully I won't have to test this theory again!

With regard to keeping their nails trimmed, after a bad experience with a non-vet, I now only let an avian vet do it but do my best to help them keep their nails naturally trimmed with natural tree branch perches in their cage and I also now have a cement swing that I bought from the Parrot Society shop. I still have little welts all over parts of my arm from their claws... but they aren't as bad since I bought the cement swing. Their feet seem to be ok so I don't think it is damaging them.... and they seem to love using it.

Seems like a bad experience is a rite of passage. We all learn by making mistakes but it's heart breaking when we can't transfer the pain we have caused onto ourselves. Natural tree branches are something I really want to incorporate into our cage so if that helps with their nails that'd be awesome! I went out the other day and got a few foraging toys which I thought were kinda cool. I also put some gravel paper down on half of the bottom of the cage but I don't think they ever really walk around much down there. Not yet anyway. But I really want to put some sort of plant in there or.. something?? Any ideas??

Thanks for the comments guys! You're all awesome!

[ellieelectrons]

But I really want to put some sort of plant in there or.. something?? Any ideas??

Our birds are housed in a patio aviary... so it's quite a tall cage. We cut off a branch from a tree in our yard and put it in their cage (I wash it first). They have fun stripping it of its leaves and stripping the bark back. Usually we use our lemon tree... but we spared it last time we changed it and tried a different tree.

I must post some photos of our set up some time.

If you are doing natural tree branches, my understanding is the thicker the better.... That's one thing we have trouble with. We don't seem to have the right tools or know-how (not sure which) to be able to cut through really thick branches... so most of our natural branch perches are thinner than we'd like.

Ellie.

[daniele]

My granny has a lime tree and a mandarin tree and I was thinking of taking some big branches off of them so that's good to know that you use branches from a lemon tree. Should be the same right?

[daniele]

I must post some photos of our set up some time.

Ellie.

Would love to see it!

[ellieelectrons]

My granny has a lime tree and a mandarin tree and I was thinking of taking some big branches off of them so that's good to know that you use branches from a lemon tree. Should be the same right?
My granny has a lime tree and a mandarin tree and I was thinking of taking some big branches off of them so that's good to know that you use branches from a lemon tree. Should be the same right?

My understanding is that fruit tree branches (except cherry trees) should be safe.

ellieelectrons wrote:
I must post some photos of our set up some time.

Ellie.

Would love to see it!

I must post some photos of our set up some time.

Ellie.

Would love to see it!

I have the photos on my camera, just have to get around to uploading them to my computer! Must do it soon!

Ellie.