New here, Introducing my Cockatiels

[Nakiska]

Hi everyone!

I'm very new to the forum and we have a Conure and 2 Tiels.

I had a my first Cockatiel about 5 years ago, his name was Chaco, a gray tiel and he was fabulous! After I lost him, I went the 5 years before deciding I wanted another bird and when the whim hit, I went straight to the pet store with buying a Tiel in mind.

When I walked in, the only birds in the store (over an hour away from my house) was a cage full of budgies and a cage with 2 tiels in it. A Lutino and a Gray.

The Gray tiel was mean as all get out, hissing, biting, lunging, posturing as soon as I looked at him. The Lutino was much more cooperative which was great as I'd ALWAYS wanted a Lutino. I noticed some blood on the wing feathers and a little on the body. The store owner said he'd been in a fight with another bird and damaged a blood feather.

He stood on my finger just fine and although a little nervous about the blood feather, I couldn't resist and brought him home.

Well, I found out with in 24 hours, this Lutino Tiel was definitely NOT a male and SHE absolutely fell in love with my husband! We named her Chiquita and fed her well and she has grown and BLOSSOMED!

Quite as a mouse, squeeks once in a while...super sweet girl.

Then a month or so went by, hubby and I walk into a pet store to get Chiquita a new swing. Once again, the only birds this pet store had was a cage full of budgies and wild baby cockatiel who looked horribly ragged. Hubby looked at him and said..."Wow, it's UGLY!" I gotta take him home.

So we did. Chicken Little. He's definitely a boy and he talks up a storm! He was wolf whistling, kissing and saying pretty pretty bird within 3 weeks of us having him. He's been fed well and he too has completely blossomed into a beautiful boy! And he's not so wild anymore. Although he won't let us pet or scritch him at all, he does willingly get on our fingers, likes to sit on our shoulders and loves to participate in his "tiel walkabout" for treats

The other night when my Son was playing with them he said he looks sooo soft! He has really come a LONG way in a short period of time and GROWN! I can't believe how fast he grew!

5 days ago, in the pet store again, Hubby and I were completely won over by a little Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure. I know...we sound like we're nuts! But believe me, we've said NO to many birds. This guy picked us and we are soo glad he did. Amazing little feller he is. My kids are all telling me..Mom..."if we were in the pet store, we would have wanted him too!"

We're DONE buying birds, I swear, we are all totally in love with the 3 we have and I'm just so proud of them all I wanted to show off a couple pictures of them.

Take care,

Toni

 

[merlinsmom13]

What lucky birdies! Welcome to the forum. It seems we have conure fever here lately, you've come to the right place.

 

[MikeyTN]

Welcome to the forum!!!! We understand how it is when you see a bird you like and want to take home...lol....beautiful bunch you have there!!!

 

[Garnet]

Welcome and you have beautiful tiels. Chicken Little is a pied just like my Bandit. I love this mutation. You've taken great care of these two, they look very healthy and in perfect feather.

 

[Nakiska]

Thank you all so much! With all the debate about what and how to feed birds, I was wondering if I was doing the right things, but as I saw them both blossom, and so quickly too, I figured they're getting what they need. Their behavior leads me to believe I'm doing something right as they appear to be very happy, healthy, contented well adjusted birds.

This last weekend was horrible, on a personal level. My 13 year old son made some terrible choices and is suffering some life altering consequences. Of course, being the Mommy that I am, I'm an absolute wreck.

Last night, I was so greatful for our birds. When I was trying to calm my nerves for bed, I got out our birds and for couple hours last night, they were the only break I'd had in the midst of all that went on.

Watching Chicken Little and Chiquita was cracking me up...Chicken Little can't, and I mean, absolutely can not stand by and watch Chiquita or our Conure (Franklin) eat anything, he always runs up to one of them and either tries to steal the food out of his or her mouth, or wait for them to drop it, then he quickly grabs it and runs off to nibble on it, then he looks at either bird again, usually Chiquita...runs back up to her because she's moved onto a different treat, and he has to steal it again...this goes on for hours and it's so funny to watch. Sometimes, if the piece is big enough, they'll get into a tugging war over it, until it breaks or one drops their end.

Our Conure and our Tiels are still getting used to each other. The first 3 days or so, our Conure (only 3 months old) was a bit of a bully, he'd puff up and run up to him (funniest thing ever to see) and they'd look at him, like what's your problem dude! We'd put our hand between them and tell Franklin "Beeee niiiiice!" and After the 3rd day we'd just say..."Bee Niiicee" (in a warning voice) and Franklin would back off and do something else, mostly run back to "Mommy or Daddy" and care less about the Tiels.

It's funny, because they have this sort of awkward communication with each other, like our Conure was munching on a yellow pepper piece...Chicken Little couldn't stand it any longer, so he ran up to Franklin...stops in front of him, waits a couple seconds...to see if Franklin was going to do anything about it, then when he felt it was "safe" he attempted to grab the pepper out of Franklins mouth, then Franklin dropped it and ran back to me and Chicken picked it up to run off with it. hahahahaha! Or the tiels will be involved in their own scavaging but side by side...and all the sudden Franklin will decide it's time to see what's going on, he'll run off me or daddy, run up to them and stop...course they stop and look at him, like an awkward off beat dance...then they'll go back to scavaging, or sometimes Franklin will pick something up first and then the tiels will go back to their previous business.

For the first time last night, our tiel's both showed interest and were playing with the little ball that our Conure loves...they actually stole it from him, and both of them took turns carrying it off, and sometimes they carried it together! Either way, they made it clear that Franklin was NOT getting his ball back!

Franklin really could have cared less...he just went about using me as his jungle jym and flopping over on his back for his belly rub.

For those who are curious, our birds each have their own individual cage, each night we let them all out together, we put a bath towel down on our bed and I put a bunch of "treats" on it, fresh fruit, veggies, toys, grass, cereal...and the tiels have learned just to stay on the towel, our Conure...he's wayyyy less concerned with eating and more concerned with cuddling and playing. When they are all done, 2 - 3 hours later, they let us know they want to go to bed. I put them in their cages, take the towel and fold it up, shake it off outside and it goes in the wash. Easy clean up.

It's so incredible how pets can be such a comfort in troubling times. For me, my heart is so heavy, my emotions are a wreck, I'm barely functioning, I pray for my Son and I am so grateful for our birds...and last night, I think they sensed my pain, for even our Tiels went above and beyond their normal behavior to make me chuckle.

Toni