New Owner Questions

[Warman]

Hello all! Just a few questions from a new member and prospective parrot owner.

I am looking to get a GCC in a few months, whenever I have finished getting all I need and find the right breeder. I intend to get a weaned, hand reared parrot, the younger the better.

I've never owned a parrot before, but have wanted one for many years. I've not been able to get one because my mother is afraid of birds (I know, why?!). but now I have my own place, the time has arrived! I've researched them over the years and am well aware of the time, money and lifestyle commitments.

However, I have a few more questions I am hoping you lovely people can help me with

So, here we go;

1) I have quite a small 1 bedroom flat. The main cage, which is nice and large, is located in the lounge. I spend most of my time here, and am usually up until around 11pm watching tv, playing on my pc, etc. Therefore I wonder if I should have a separate cage for sleeping, which I can put in another less used room around 8/9pm so it can get its 10-12 hours sleep? or do people think parrots can get used to sleeping in a used room and this isn't necessary? I will be getting a travel/vet cage anyway, so it won't be an extra cost. I suppose it may depend on the parrot? should I just wait an see how they get on in the lounge and go from there?

2) I work full time, and am usually out from around 8-5. However, I am quite a lame person and don't have much of a social life, so will be home all evening and all weekend. I will be spending at least 2 hours a day directly interacting with my parrot, and will spend time training and playing with it every evening plus lots at the weekend. However, when I mentioned this on another forum (reddit) someone suggested I get 2 to make sure they are happy when I'm away. What are your views on this? I have a really large cage and intend to get lots of toys, foraging opportunities, etc. to keep it entertained when I'm away. would 2 be necessary? I have mixed sources on this, some say its double the work and they may not even get on, some say it'll be good, some say they won't bond with me if there's 2, some say 2 is ok if i get them from the same breeder at the same time. opinions?

3) heating. My flat is not that well insulated, and I'm not a particularly cold person. I understand I want to keep the general temp at around 18-23 Celsius, and will get a monitor to try and maintain this. However, should I look into a small heat source for the cage? at night it might get colder, and it'll be cheaper running a small, parrot friendly heater in the cage, than heating the whole room the cage is in. opinions on this?

4) Feeding. When I'm away at work, is it best to leave lots of food in the bowls so it can eat whenever it likes, or work out what it eats in a sitting and just leave this amount? I don't want them getting hungry when I'm away, but am also aware of the dangers of over eating. What do people usually do?

5) Cage location. I have currently placed the cage next to my sofa. The cage is on wheels and has a tray/stand below it. This means many of the perches will be above eye level when I'm sat on the sofa. does this lead to behavioral difficulties? I have mixed sources on this and would like anecdotal evidence here. It also means lots of activity, talking, getting up and down, around the cage. Will this stress the bird or make it feel included?

6) cooking. My lounge and kitchen are connected. I do a lot of home cooking. Is this ok? For example, frying onions can sometimes make my eyes hurt, is this a problem for a parrot? I have purchased cast iron and aluminium pans so there is no teflon or PTFE, etc. but am worried about actual food fumes. Should I put the parrot in a separate room when cooking?

That's about all I can think of for now. I apologize for a long post here, and appreciate the time you've taken to read it. I hope it just goes to show how committed I am to making sure my parrot has the best life possible and that I'm taking ownership very seriously.

Thank you!

 

[SailBoat]

First Welcome to the Parrot Forums!

You have a ton of excellent questions, but I think it would be very useful for you to start with reading the Link below! That Thread address life with a Parrot and it a proper place to start prior to addressing all of your more general questions.

To All You "Maybe" Future Parrot Owners With Questions

EllenD


Again, welcome to the Parrot Forums!

Added Note: If you find this a repeat of you knowledge base, please understand that is something that helps us determine what level of information you have obtained to this point. I.E. The Thread provides a strong foundation.

 

[SilverSage]

Wow! Someone who has actually researched before asking for help! Amazing!!

1) I would highly recommend a sleep cage for this. It is the perfect solution. Just be sure the room you place the bird in for sleeping is warm enough. Draping the cage with a cage cover helps with overnight warmth.

2) this REALLY depends on the bird. Since you are talking about GCCs, I think two might be ideal but let me make some suggestions if you decide to go that route. I raise GCCs and have seen many different scenarios.
- if you get two, get them as babies and get a same sex pair. Nothing is cuter than a bonded pair of conures, nothing is more heartbreaking than separating them, and nothing is more irresponsible than allowing them to have babies when you aren't prepared. A same sex couple purchased together as babies will usually bond just as deeply with each other as opposite sex, but without the dangers.
-play with them TOGETHER. Don't be the thing in their life that is always trying to separate them. Bonded pairs of GCCs are perfectly capable of being absolutely fantastic pets, but they like to be together. All the time. Lots of Internet advice will tell you that you need to always take them out one at a time, and that advice is so silly. Those are the same people who will tell you that your GCC will start to hate you if it has a mate, and that is no coincidence. Imagine this; imagine you have an romantic partner in your life that you absolutely adore. You love everything about them, they are perfect, and you want to spend every waking moment with them. Now imagine you and your partner have a friend that wants to spend time with both of you, but NOT TOGETHER. So your grind is always dragging you away from your partner to spend time with your friend. You like your friend but don't understand why they won't hang out as a group. And they do the same thing with your partner, so whenever your friend is around you don't get to be with your one true love. Pretty soon you start to resent that friend! In the wild bonded GCCs would almost never be apart. That's how they are. If you want a pair, let them be a pair, and you can be the favorite third wheel
-Don't feel like you NEED a pair. You don't. I personally prefer not to place birds in single bird homes, but it can be done and it can be done RIGHT. With lots of work on your part to be sure he has enough to keep his brain busy etc while you are away. If you only want one, only get one. There is no right or wrong answer to this.

3) there are heated perches that can be purchased. I have never used one and don't know how convenient they are. Be very careful that you don't accidentally cook your bird! Also be extremely careful with cords! Some fluctuation is fine, but do make sure the cage isn't in a drafty are.

4) The best and healthiest option is one that requires the bird to forage. That said, there are hundreds of perfectly good ways to handle feeding your bird. With your work schedule I would make absolutely sure to focus on foraging skills immediately. Let your bird fill his day searching for and devouring tasty treats! The best way to prevent over eating is to teach your baby to eat fresh food and pellets. Save your seeds for training and foraging. A good breeder will wean the babies onto these instead of seeds, but if you get one from a poor breeder you may have to work to teach them what to eat. This is ESPECIALLY true if the breeder practices early clipping and force weaning. A GCC should not be clipped until AT LEAST 4 months. Clipping before that majorly interferes with how they process the world around them, particularly threats including "dangerous foods." Lots of breeders clip before this because honestly hand feeding flighted babies is a royal pain. Find a breeder who is willing to let your baby keep his flight feathers, and beware of anyone who says they let their babies have "their first few flights." Along those same lines, I discourage you from saying "the younger the better." This sort of statement is likely to lead you down the path of force weaning which is cruel and has life long CJ sequences. No breeder will say "I force wean" bevause the term is relatively new and most breeders still don't realize the damage they are doing. Force weaning is simply the practice of gradually reducing the amount of formula offered so that the baby needs to fill up on solids. This seems innocent but in reality it is extremely emotionally damaging for the baby. Baby parrots should be fed as much as they will take as often as they will take it for as long as they will take it. The emotional security provided by this method of weaning, called "abundance weaning" gives the baby the security to go out into the world and try new things, especially new foods! I know it seems backwards but a hungry baby bird is a lot less likely to taste new foods than a baby who knows his formula will arrive on schedule. It's funny to watch babies begging for food at meal time with solid food right next to them. They ignore it completely, but once they get their formula what do they do? They start messing with the solid food!

5) your cage location sounds perfect. The idea of "height dominance" is outdated. Birds equate height with safety and a nervous bird who doesn't trust you very well may bite you when you try to take him down from a high place, but that's fear, not dominance.

6) as long as you are being careful with fumes and you keep the bird in the cage while cooking to prevent injury, it should be fine. Be careful with cleaners of course, but the main thing is the non stick stuff and you already have that covered! It's so refreshing not to have to try to convince someone that part of parrot ownership costs includes throwing those dangerous tools away!

And welcome to the forum!!!!


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[Warman]

Wow! Someone who has actually researched before asking for help! Amazing!!

1) I would highly recommend a sleep cage for this. It is the perfect solution. Just be sure the room you place the bird in for sleeping is warm enough. Draping the cage with a cage cover helps with overnight warmth.

2) this REALLY depends on the bird. Since you are talking about GCCs, I think two might be ideal but let me make some suggestions if you decide to go that route. I raise GCCs and have seen many different scenarios.
- if you get two, get them as babies and get a same sex pair. Nothing is cuter than a bonded pair of conures, nothing is more heartbreaking than separating them, and nothing is more irresponsible than allowing them to have babies when you aren't prepared. A same sex couple purchased together as babies will usually bond just as deeply with each other as opposite sex, but without the dangers.
-play with them TOGETHER. Don't be the thing in their life that is always trying to separate them. Bonded pairs of GCCs are perfectly capable of being absolutely fantastic pets, but they like to be together. All the time. Lots of Internet advice will tell you that you need to always take them out one at a time, and that advice is so silly. Those are the same people who will tell you that your GCC will start to hate you if it has a mate, and that is no coincidence. Imagine this; imagine you have an romantic partner in your life that you absolutely adore. You love everything about them, they are perfect, and you want to spend every waking moment with them. Now imagine you and your partner have a friend that wants to spend time with both of you, but NOT TOGETHER. So your grind is always dragging you away from your partner to spend time with your friend. You like your friend but don't understand why they won't hang out as a group. And they do the same thing with your partner, so whenever your friend is around you don't get to be with your one true love. Pretty soon you start to resent that friend! In the wild bonded GCCs would almost never be apart. That's how they are. If you want a pair, let them be a pair, and you can be the favorite third wheel
-Don't feel like you NEED a pair. You don't. I personally prefer not to place birds in single bird homes, but it can be done and it can be done RIGHT. With lots of work on your part to be sure he has enough to keep his brain busy etc while you are away. If you only want one, only get one. There is no right or wrong answer to this.

3) there are heated perches that can be purchased. I have never used one and don't know how convenient they are. Be very careful that you don't accidentally cook your bird! Also be extremely careful with cords! Some fluctuation is fine, but do make sure the cage isn't in a drafty are.

4) The best and healthiest option is one that requires the bird to forage. That said, there are hundreds of perfectly good ways to handle feeding your bird. With your work schedule I would make absolutely sure to focus on foraging skills immediately. Let your bird fill his day searching for and devouring tasty treats! The best way to prevent over eating is to teach your baby to eat fresh food and pellets. Save your seeds for training and foraging. A good breeder will wean the babies onto these instead of seeds, but if you get one from a poor breeder you may have to work to teach them what to eat. This is ESPECIALLY true if the breeder practices early clipping and force weaning. A GCC should not be clipped until AT LEAST 4 months. Clipping before that majorly interferes with how they process the world around them, particularly threats including "dangerous foods." Lots of breeders clip before this because honestly hand feeding flighted babies is a royal pain. Find a breeder who is willing to let your baby keep his flight feathers, and beware of anyone who says they let their babies have "their first few flights." Along those same lines, I discourage you from saying "the younger the better." This sort of statement is likely to lead you down the path of force weaning which is cruel and has life long CJ sequences. No breeder will say "I force wean" bevause the term is relatively new and most breeders still don't realize the damage they are doing. Force weaning is simply the practice of gradually reducing the amount of formula offered so that the baby needs to fill up on solids. This seems innocent but in reality it is extremely emotionally damaging for the baby. Baby parrots should be fed as much as they will take as often as they will take it for as long as they will take it. The emotional security provided by this method of weaning, called "abundance weaning" gives the baby the security to go out into the world and try new things, especially new foods! I know it seems backwards but a hungry baby bird is a lot less likely to taste new foods than a baby who knows his formula will arrive on schedule. It's funny to watch babies begging for food at meal time with solid food right next to them. They ignore it completely, but once they get their formula what do they do? They start messing with the solid food!

5) your cage location sounds perfect. The idea of "height dominance" is outdated. Birds equate height with safety and a nervous bird who doesn't trust you very well may bite you when you try to take him down from a high place, but that's fear, not dominance.

6) as long as you are being careful with fumes and you keep the bird in the cage while cooking to prevent injury, it should be fine. Be careful with cleaners of course, but the main thing is the non stick stuff and you already have that covered! It's so refreshing not to have to try to convince someone that part of parrot ownership costs includes throwing those dangerous tools away!

And welcome to the forum!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you so much for such a detailed, quick reply. It's given me lots to think about and plenty of info to get stuck into.

I want to say sorry for the "the younger the better" comment. I did not mean that age would come as a preference to proper weaning and growth, just that I was looking to get one that was young rather than one a little older. This is purely from a view of bonding ASAP into the birds life and getting it used to it's forever home as soon as possible. I will, of course, be taking the time to find a responsible breeder who has done things correctly, and not one who has rushed the process to get it sold at the detriment of the bird.

As for the 1 bird or 2 part, I am still really undecided on this. In my heart I had always planned on one, and would still prefer this. The only reason I had entertained the thought of 2 is for the well-being of the bird. It's nice to know that both are possible, and this is definitely something I will be researching further before moving forwards.

I will continue to research more and will no doubt have more questions in the coming weeks!

As a someone who raises GCCs, I wonder if you can help with what may seem a rather silly question. Are there more babies born at certain times of the year? as in, spring/summer? I only ask because the past few weeks I've been keeping an eye on UK forums/vendor sites and haven't seen a great deal coming through for sale. Is this down to the time of year or just a coincidence? I know many birds are kept in artificial light/heat so they may not be aware of the actual season, but does this still impact when baby birds are born? I'm hoping more will become available over the coming months to give me some options in terms of breeders and birds.

Thanks very much for your time

 

[SilverSage]

No need to apologize for wording, I assumed you weren't looking to rip babies out of the nest, I just would hate for a less than great breeder to take it literally in order to "one up" the competition.

And it's not a silly question some parrots, like cockatiels, breed year round. Others, like Ringnecks, breed only seasonally. GCCs will almost always breed only in the spring. There are exceptions especially when artificial lighting is used but typically spring is when they breed. I'm not sure what your season is, but dont hesitate to call or email your local breeders and ask. Here in Hawaii the first babies of the season are a few weeks old, and will start being available in the next 3-5 weeks. Local breeders should be able to tell you specifically when you should be able to expect babies for sale in your area. Many breeders offer discounts if you put a deposit down early as well. Have you thought about what color you like best? Color doesn't effect personality but if there is a color you prefer, it might help narrow down your choice of breeder since not all breeders have all the colors


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[ZephyrFly]

Hello! I noticed that you're close to my part of the country so I honestly suggest looking into avian vet locations or a vet that can/will thoroughly examine birds. I think you're east enough to be closer to more options than me, but be warned you might have to go a ways to get to one. Further for a good one.
Mine is over an hour away, 2 hours for a better one (but they only take referrals as I live so far away)

 

[Warman]

No need to apologize for wording, I assumed you weren't looking to rip babies out of the nest, I just would hate for a less than great breeder to take it literally in order to "one up" the competition.

And it's not a silly question some parrots, like cockatiels, breed year round. Others, like Ringnecks, breed only seasonally. GCCs will almost always breed only in the spring. There are exceptions especially when artificial lighting is used but typically spring is when they breed. I'm not sure what your season is, but dont hesitate to call or email your local breeders and ask. Here in Hawaii the first babies of the season are a few weeks old, and will start being available in the next 3-5 weeks. Local breeders should be able to tell you specifically when you should be able to expect babies for sale in your area. Many breeders offer discounts if you put a deposit down early as well. Have you thought about what color you like best? Color doesn't effect personality but if there is a color you prefer, it might help narrow down your choice of breeder since not all breeders have all the colors


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the info. Hopefully this will mean more birds will become available in the coming months, with spring just around the corner. I have got my heart set on either a standard green cheek or a blue sided. Not a huge fan of the pineapple colouring, I think they're very pretty but would prefer the green colourings rather than the more yellow kind. They're all beautiful though!

 

[GaleriaGila]

Warman, I like your style!
And you found a great place for advice, support, and information.
Welcome.
Glad you found us.

 

[Warman]

Hello! I noticed that you're close to my part of the country so I honestly suggest looking into avian vet locations or a vet that can/will thoroughly examine birds. I think you're east enough to be closer to more options than me, but be warned you might have to go a ways to get to one. Further for a good one.
Mine is over an hour away, 2 hours for a better one (but they only take referrals as I live so far away)

Thanks for the message. I am currently looking into vets in the local area. I found a few on the AVV website that are within an hour or so of my area. I will be giving them an email/call over the next few weeks to find one that is suitable. I have family scattered around the country so am used to travelling and have no issues travelling if it means getting the best for my bird.

Nice to meet someone on here from the UK, had only come across people from the US so far

 

[SailBoat]

If with great luck you can let the Parrot choose you, it will go much farther to your want for a early bonding! And Yes, you can tell! If they come to you, you likely have an interested Parrot. If you both cannot be separated (Love At First Sight - Both Ways!), its rare, but truly wonderful if it happens!

 

[ZephyrFly]

There's a couple of us on here but it is a US site to be fair.
Good to know you're ready to travel then! You might be luckier than me in terms of vets. But it's fair to warn you.