How to introduce conures?!?

[kme3388]

 

[Cottonoid]

That all makes sense to me

Edit: I was just going to ask for more pictures and YAY! He's so beautiful

 

[kme3388]

He's a darling!

Do you have to do anything special because of Nico's illness? I change my clothes when I get home from MAARS and only wear those shoes there, but Cotton isn't making contact with me (yet!) so I haven't researched much about it.

I'm looking forward to seeing how Charlie settles in!

I will add I have to take special steps to protect Nico though. I have a whole list of overwhelming stuff I have to do. Luckily I have an upstairs.

 

[Cottonoid]

I will add I have to take special steps to protect Nico though. I have a whole list of overwhelming stuff I have to do. Luckily I have an upstairs.

My having MAARS-only shoes is totally to prevent me bringing outside illness in to their birds, so I can see Nico having a list! He's such a handsome fellow, of course he gets the longest list

 

[kme3388]

I just got home, and I am now disinfecting the conure cages. pressure washing them gets them clean fairly fast. I am curious which one they will choose after his quarantine. The larger one is Kiwi’s. I’m not the largest fan of it because the food dishes go on the bottom. Everything up top is close to impossible to access.

 

[Cottonoid]

I kinda wish that was my U-Haul moving in next to you

That bigger cage looks so pretty but it is a bummer having the food/water at the bottom!

 

[kme3388]

I kinda wish that was my U-Haul moving in next to you

That bigger cage looks so pretty but it is a bummer having the food/water at the bottom!

Rochester is a quiet little town… if you like quiet you’d enjoy it

 

[HeatherG]

No I don’t have to worry about what Nico has going on because Nico’s illness is secluded to Nico. Nico is sick because of Nico’s immune system from what I’ve gathered. Kind of like a human with an autoimmune disease. I’m not a doctor, or scientist. I am just going based off what I’ve been told.

HeatherG writes:
I don’t believe this is correct. Aspergillosis is more of an opportunistic infection, but PDD is a dangerous avian infectious disease. That’s why I advised you not to take in that macaw a couple weeks ago. If Nico does have PDD I believe it is transmissible.

Again, have you asked your vet about bringing other birds into your home/ adding to your flock?

 

[kme3388]

Again, have you asked your vet about bringing other birds into your home/ adding to your flock?

Nico is negative for PDD. PDD and bornavirus are not in the same. Yes I have consulted my vet. Thank you for trying to be helpful.

 

[kme3388]

Again, have you asked your vet about bringing other birds into your home/ adding to your flock?

I really do appreciate your help. I think you do amazing giving people advice with their parrots. Nico really is sick because Nico has a compromised immune system. I of course would consult a vet, and doctors in regards to Nico. We are trying to protect other birds from Nico with these statements by making him into be a disease. In all reality it more or less has to do with protecting Nico… kind of like we don’t want our elderly exposed to anything like a common cold for an example… as it could be deadly to them. As most of us would be perfectly fine with the common cold. This is how things were described to me.

 

[HeatherG]

I hope you are correct. Good luck.

 

[kme3388]

Bornavirus is something that anyone with a larger flock probably has. Its expected that 50% of captive birds have this. It’s a matter of if a parrot shows symptoms. Then there are species like the ekkie’s that tend to be symptomatic.

PDD is always deadly, and is very nasty. I was told I should be very thankful Nico doesn’t have this. It’s very hard to watch from what I’ve gathered.

 

[HeatherG]

As I said, I really, really hope that you are correct. I will read more about this; I didn’t want to say anything and deleted an earlier reply because it would be upsetting and look like dramatics; I just felt I was obligated to say something.

I hope that I’m wrong about the risk and I hope you don’t have any more problems. Im sorry for upsetting you and that was NOT what I wanted—to upset anyone. I want everyone to be safe and as well as possible.

With best intentions and caring:

 

[kme3388]

As I said, I really, really hope that you are correct. I will read more about this; I didn’t want to say anything and deleted an earlier reply because it would be upsetting and look like dramatics; I just felt I was obligated to say something.

I hope that I’m wrong about the risk and I hope you don’t have any more problems. Im sorry for upsetting you and that was NOT what I wanted—to upset anyone. I want everyone to be safe and as well as possible.

With best intentions and caring:

Don’t ever worry about me being upset. I think you are incredibly sweet. If you do read and learn more post it. I can learn right with you. I appreciate the help, and advice. It seriously would take a lot to upset me. I think it’s a great learning experience for everyone. I just post what I’ve either been told, or read. I’m not a doctor, and have always said that.

 

[saxguy64]

Also not a doctor of any sort, but my ekkie boy is also positive for bornavirus. (ABV) I freely admit, when I got the diagnosis, I sobbed like a baby for days. Then I started asking questions and researching. I pictured my sweet little boy, not even 4 years old yet, with this horrible disease. PDD is a progressive wasting and neurological disease, and it's heartbreaking to watch. That's what I started with in my mind. But here's the thing. Yes, ABV is the underlying virus that leads to PDD. There are, however, quite a few different strains of ABV, and only a few of them lead to PDD. I've also seen that 50-60% or more of all domestic parrots in the US would test positive for ABV. That's a huge number, yet there's still a relatively small number of them that develop symptoms or progress to PDD. I would never have known about it had my guy not started toe tapping, a possible neurological symptom. In our case, the toe tapping was unrelated to PDD, and diet elimination process found that a batch of dark purple grapes was the trigger for him. Ekkies and their diet sensitivities...

My big take away from all this? ABV is scary, and once you have that diagnosis, it means vigilant watching for symptoms of possible PDD in the future, but chances are those symptoms will not happen. Contrary to my first thoughts after the diagnosis, ABV is NOT an automatic death sentence.

My two cents based on personal experience and information I could find.

 

[ravvlet]

Interesting random fact; certain types of coronavirus in cats (not the kind we’ve been dealing with) can cause feline infectious peritonitis. It sounds like it’s similar to ABV versus PDD in parrots. Almost all cats are exposed to coronaviruses; however, FIP is rare. It’s thought that it’s because it only develops from certain strains of feline coronavirus, where in about ten percent of cases the virus infects the cats white blood cells and causes organ damage and eventually, death. They’ve only developed an antiviral for it in the last few years, that is not yet FDA approved. A roommate in college lost her cat to this; it was a terrible thing to witness.

All this to say - there are many diseases that are common and mild but also have a rare, deadly mutation. It’s good to be cautious, but it’s also entirely possible and hopefully probable that Nico will never develop PDD. That’s something only Nico’s medical team can determine.

Sorry for going off topic! I thought the parallel was interesting and perhaps worth noting.

 

[Cottonoid]

@ravvlet that's what I thought of when I first learned about bornavirus/PDD (my most recent cat had the dry form of FIP).

 

[kme3388]

I feel like not much is known about PDD, or Bornavirus thank you @saxguy64 for sharing about your experience with bornavirus. Ekkie’s, Macaws, and a few others tend to get the symptoms of bornavirus. While other species of parrots have no symptoms, and can have bornavirus. I got lost at points when I was reading about Bornavirus, and PDD I must admit.

 

[Terry57]

Charlie is gorgeous!
I have a Jenday and a Sun, both males, and unfortunately can't have them out at the same time because my Sun hates anything yellow and will attack it, even cockatiels.
I think your situation will may be different because of the male/female combo.
Even if the worst happened and they can't be out together, they will still provide company for each other. Jazz and Jury talk back and forth to each other while they are in their cages or one is out

 

[kme3388]

I wanted to keep them separate for the first 30 days. However myself, and my husband were in different rooms playing with the conures separately. Well my jenday decided the proper thing to do would be to fly to the sun conure Charlie, and dive at him. Then it was a game of chase in the air. Then they both landed on my husband, and started being snarky to one another. It happened so fast. So the conures elected to not quarantine, and are trying to establish who is the dominant one. They are contact calling non stop too. So we put the cages in the living room at opposite ends so they can see each other that way the stop contact calling.

Conures will be conures!