First time Alexandrine owner

[vortex319]

Hello ! Hoping everyone is doing fine and keeping safe in the Covid 19 pandemic we are facing.



I am new to this forum and the reason I joined is because I am new to handling Alexandrine parrots. My previous experience is with the IRN, Fischer lovebird as well as a cocktail. I got all of these when they were at least a month old so I have experience in feeding parrots by using a syringe.



I have a few questions regarding the Alex that I currently own.



1. It is of 4 weeks and needs to be fed using a syringe. How long before I would be able to feed it soft solids (like mashed chick peas paste). I recall my IRN started the chickpea intake at 6 weeks of age. I am not sure about the Alex. Could anyone share their experience?


2. I have been told that the Alex has a better vocabulary than the IRN (my IRN had a limited vocabulary and refused to go beyond that).



3. The million dollar question - gender ! The breeder who I got the Alex from stated clearly that it is impossible to determine the gender of an Alex / IRN before a year or so and anyone claiming to do so before that age is just trying to make a buck out of you. Could anyone substantiate this ?

 

[SailBoat]

Hello ! Hoping everyone is doing fine and keeping safe in the Covid 19 pandemic we are facing.

I am new to this forum and the reason I joined is because I am new to handling Alexandrine parrots. My previous experience is with the IRN, Fischer lovebird as well as a cocktail. I got all of these when they were at least a month old so I have experience in feeding parrots by using a syringe.

I have a few questions regarding the Alex that I currently own.

1. It is of 4 weeks and needs to be fed using a syringe. How long before I would be able to feed it soft solids (like mashed chick peas paste). I recall my IRN started the chickpea intake at 6 weeks of age. I am not sure about the Alex. Could anyone share their experience?

2. I have been told that the Alex has a better vocabulary than the IRN (my IRN had a limited vocabulary and refused to go beyond that).

3. The million dollar question - gender ! The breeder who I got the Alex from stated clearly that it is impossible to determine the gender of an Alex / IRN before a year or so and anyone claiming to do so before that age is just trying to make a buck out of you. Could anyone substantiate this ?

I understand that one can obtain a Parrot for less money when they are not Fully Weaned. But, when such happens, there can be behavior problems as the likelihood of the chick being faced with buyers with little to no knowledge of caring for such a young parrot.

Did you, as experienced care provided, not ask such a question from the individual that sold you this inexpensive, non-weaned parrot? Have they disappeared or are no longer answering your phone calls or messages?

 

[Cardinal]

Hi Vortex 319

Which country are you from?

 

[vortex319]

Hello ! Hoping everyone is doing fine and keeping safe in the Covid 19 pandemic we are facing.

I am new to this forum and the reason I joined is because I am new to handling Alexandrine parrots. My previous experience is with the IRN, Fischer lovebird as well as a cocktail. I got all of these when they were at least a month old so I have experience in feeding parrots by using a syringe.

I have a few questions regarding the Alex that I currently own.

1. It is of 4 weeks and needs to be fed using a syringe. How long before I would be able to feed it soft solids (like mashed chick peas paste). I recall my IRN started the chickpea intake at 6 weeks of age. I am not sure about the Alex. Could anyone share their experience?

2. I have been told that the Alex has a better vocabulary than the IRN (my IRN had a limited vocabulary and refused to go beyond that).

3. The million dollar question - gender ! The breeder who I got the Alex from stated clearly that it is impossible to determine the gender of an Alex / IRN before a year or so and anyone claiming to do so before that age is just trying to make a buck out of you. Could anyone substantiate this ?

I understand that one can obtain a Parrot for less money when they are not Fully Weaned. But, when such happens, there can be behavior problems as the likelihood of the chick being faced with buyers with little to no knowledge of caring for such a young parrot.

Did you, as experienced care provided, not ask such a question from the individual that sold you this inexpensive, non-weaned parrot? Have they disappeared or are no longer answering your phone calls or messages?

Perhaps you misread my post. I have ample experience of raising un-weaned parrots. The answer to the rest of my queries would be appreciated

 

[vortex319]

Hi Vortex 319

Which country are you from?

United Arab Emirates.

 

[Jottlebot]

Hello, I have no experience weaning chicks, so I'm sorry I can't help you there. I believe Alex's wean a lot later than 6 weeks though. I'm sure people are still hand feeding up into the 3 to 4 month mark, but this is just from what I have read, mostly on this forum to be honest! As posted above, surely you can ask the breeder for this information?

In terms of vocabulary my boy says about 10 individual words and phrases and seems to pick a new one up every ...maybe...6 months. At least he seems to come out with something new and clear about that often. He is now 3.5 years old.

I hope you are still in touch with the breeder, because I like what they told you about gender! They are 100% correct apart from the duration, you need to wait 3 years to be sure no ring will appear, and of course you could get a DNA test done, which will give you an answer very quickly.

I'm uncomfortable that you have such a young Alex, but that's likely to be cultural and due to my total lack of experience with weaning. I'm in the UK and there is no way a breeder would sell an unwanted baby so it seems quite shocking. You have experience though, so obviously that's different too.

All the best

 

[Cardinal]

Hi Vortex 319

Which country are you from?

United Arab Emirates.

Is it from a breeder? Or could it be smuggled wild bird fledgeling from India or Pakistan?

 

[vortex319]

Hi Vortex 319

Which country are you from?

United Arab Emirates.

Is it from a breeder? Or could it be smuggled wild bird fledgeling from India or Pakistan?

Locally bred.

 

[vortex319]

Hello, I have no experience weaning chicks, so I'm sorry I can't help you there. I believe Alex's wean a lot later than 6 weeks though. I'm sure people are still hand feeding up into the 3 to 4 month mark, but this is just from what I have read, mostly on this forum to be honest! As posted above, surely you can ask the breeder for this information?

In terms of vocabulary my boy says about 10 individual words and phrases and seems to pick a new one up every ...maybe...6 months. At least he seems to come out with something new and clear about that often. He is now 3.5 years old.

I hope you are still in touch with the breeder, because I like what they told you about gender! They are 100% correct apart from the duration, you need to wait 3 years to be sure no ring will appear, and of course you could get a DNA test done, which will give you an answer very quickly.

I'm uncomfortable that you have such a young Alex, but that's likely to be cultural and due to my total lack of experience with weaning. I'm in the UK and there is no way a breeder would sell an unwanted baby so it seems quite shocking. You have experience though, so obviously that's different too.

All the best

Many thanks for your kind, encouraging words. Could you tell me when I should introduce toys to the chick? The mistake I made when I hand raised my IRN was that I did not introduce it to toys and it resulted in the IRN getting scared of the toys every time I tried to introduce them. The thing that really caught its attention was bottle caps which it always forced me to give to him.

 

[Jottlebot]

I think while it is so young you could put a toy in whatever box or incubator it is in so it gets used to what they look like, but I wouldn't worry about that yet to be honest.

As he gets older and shows interest let him play with safe toys or bits of toys, he'll probably just pick blocks up and put them down again at first.

Alex's aren't generally easily frightened. Maybe because they're relatively large. I can do whatever I want with the toys in my boys cage and he's never been frightened by them. My guy was parent reared though, which arguably makes them more independent than human reared, which might have been why your IRN was scared. I think it will be a couple of months before he starts to have any interest in toys though, but I'm sure getting him introduced to how they look won't cause any issues by having them in his sight as he grows up.

 

[Jottlebot]

Also, my Alexandrine LOVES bottle caps too! Either on their own as foot toys, but he's also strong enough to bite them off the top of bottles if I hold them still for him

 

[vortex319]

After one week, my baby alex has started opening up its pin feathers into green ones. The red shade on the shoulder is also evident.



Just a couple of quick questions.



1. I would like to train the alex to walk over to me once I release it on the floor. At what time should this training be started? In my opnion, my baby alex should be 45 days of age by now.



2. As per the Kaytee website, I am supposed to keep feeding the baby formula till 10 weeks. During this time, can I introduce solid foods to the bird (soft chickpeas etc etc)?

 

[Chulbul]

Hello, I have no experience weaning chicks, so I'm sorry I can't help you there. I believe Alex's wean a lot later than 6 weeks though. I'm sure people are still hand feeding up into the 3 to 4 month mark, but this is just from what I have read, mostly on this forum to be honest! As posted above, surely you can ask the breeder for this information?

In terms of vocabulary my boy says about 10 individual words and phrases and seems to pick a new one up every ...maybe...6 months. At least he seems to come out with something new and clear about that often. He is now 3.5 years old.

I hope you are still in touch with the breeder, because I like what they told you about gender! They are 100% correct apart from the duration, you need to wait 3 years to be sure no ring will appear, and of course you could get a DNA test done, which will give you an answer very quickly.

I'm uncomfortable that you have such a young Alex, but that's likely to be cultural and due to my total lack of experience with weaning. I'm in the UK and there is no way a breeder would sell an unwanted baby so it seems quite shocking. You have experience though, so obviously that's different too.

All the best

Many thanks for your kind, encouraging words. Could you tell me when I should introduce toys to the chick? The mistake I made when I hand raised my IRN was that I did not introduce it to toys and it resulted in the IRN getting scared of the toys every time I tried to introduce them. The thing that really caught its attention was bottle caps which it always forced me to give to him.

I can literally feel the excitement of having a new pet through your questions. Congrattulations!


Just like human kids ...at the age that your parrot is...it's only colors that they are attracted to. Put colorfull , light weight and nontoxic objects around him. With time he would start exploring them. You will notice that he would love playing with them lifting them around amused by it's shape n sound while dropping them on the floor.

Tip : Change the toys frequently as they get bored very easily.

All the best .