polly need you to help me help her!!!

[MonicaMc]

Yes, it is important to get her DNA sexed! Not laying an egg for 12 years means nothing! I've heard of birds laying their first eggs at 18+ years old! And obviously, a male can never be egg-bound! So even if you have no plans on breeding, it's great to know for medical reason! (*kicks self in ass for having a conure for 6 years, currently 18 years old, never laid an egg and is assumed male* )

Parrots aren't covered out in the wild, and I certainly don't cover mine! But there are times that it can be beneficial for the birds... so no, it's not required, but if it helps the bird sleep better, helps them from having night frights, etc, it may be a good idea.

Is Polly willing to come out of the cage on her own? Amazons are usually highly food motivated, so many are willing to work for food!


From the little we know about her, she sounds like an amazing zon!

 

[Birdlover11]

I wouldn't force her out of the cage, just leave the door opened with some nutriberries and a play gym if you bought one. You are supposed to fill her food cup with parrot pellets, I use Lafeber's . If she isn't eating it put 100% apple juice , just 2 cap fills and mix it. That what I did for my birds. Then you could put 5 or 6 pieces of veggies or fruit. You shouldn't use these as treats they are part of her diet. Then for treats use either nutriberries or some really good peanuts. I think you are a good human for saving poor Polly, I feel disgusted that I'm the same race as the revolting , full of cr$@ woman. Call the ASPCA on her. Or the humane society.If you want some more info you could read on amazon parrots online, or you could just message us , post we want to answer questions !

 

[henpecked]

If you want some good advice, post question here. We're bird lovers who take it to the extreme. i've had a pet amazon for over forty years, you learn alot and things change as we learn more about what it takes to keep them healthy and happy. We love to learn and our fids mean everything to us.

 

[Kiwibird]

What a pretty girl she is! It's quite surprising she's taken to you so fast, given her prior situation (it took a good 6 months for our rescue zon to start taking to us). Then again, your probably the first human who's ever been kind to her, and I'm sure she appreciates the nice cage, constant supply of food and attention. Parrots are flock animals, and thrive emotionally of feeling "part of the flock" (aka, you and your family). Just remember, even if she is quickly taking to you, don't be upset with her/think she hates you if she does bite you at some point. It will take a while for her to form a true strong, trusting bond.

In regards to the covers question, it is a good idea to get your parrot on a schedule regarding when they sleep/are awake, and a cover at night is the best way to achieve this. Since she has had negative experiences with covers before, I would suggest instead of completely covering the cage, start acclimating her to the concept slowly. For a few weeks, just cover a single corner of her cage. Once she's used to that, cover half the cage, after that, cover all but the front, until she is comfortable with the whole cage being covered at night. Make sure while you are introducing her to the concept of a cover at night, you always put her to bed/wake her up around the same time each day. That will help her learn faster what to expect with the cover. Personally, our guy gets put to bed around 9, and woken up at around 7:30, and has been since the day we brought him home. He's so in tune with his schedule, if we loose track of time, he will alert us when it's time for bed or that it time to start the day! And if you do happen to know the color of her old cage cover, use a different color (parrots can see color and make associations with objects of a certain color). One final thing, don't confuse fear of the cover with her simply not wanting to go to bed. Parrots behavior is a whole lot like a toddlers behavior, and sometimes that translates into them being tired and grouchy, yet still not wanting to be put to bed at bedtime!

 

[pollysmama]

Great news today, polly seen her doctor today, she does have a respitory infection starting(her slight wetness around her nose had nothing to do wwith it because they are not conected like humans well you learn something new everyday). He said it is a good thing i got her out when i did, she is a little under weight but not today and he said he can tell by her beak and nails she has not been well taken care of and he agreed she acts just like a teenage girl lol. she will be on meds for 14 days poor girl, we did do the dna just to be 100% sure. He also had me put her on a fresh fruit and veggie diet with 1/2 of her feed, i brought it to him and he told me all it was is junk and not great for her. He is also my vet for my many other animals and he said birds are great a sensing if someone is an animal lover or not so he said that is why she is being nice at the moment, but also told me that she may stop being nice if any memorys are brought back so to watch her. (I work with horses all the time and rescued 2 wild donkeys about a year ago and have them tamed enough to ride, I have also worked with a few of his barrel horses!). She has been very mad at me today very quite and you can just tell pissed off she went to the vet. I also have spent since the day i got her almost 95% of my time in my bedroom with her. so she gets use to me. I leave my tv on all day so she is always hearing someone talk. I do shut it off at 8:30 every night because my kids are put to bed at that time, i giver her an itch on her head for 5 mins turn off the light then shut the door. We wake up at 6:30 (7 on the weekends) and first thing i do is turn on the light and open all the curtains in my room so she gets plenty of light. I am trying to get her use to how we work around her and get her "normal" so i do have certain times i do stuff, i clean her cage and give her fresh food(i take the fresh food out and give her plain parrot food after 30 mins) and water and wipe down everything with a warm cloth with just water @ 9 am. My husband thinks i am crazy with how perfect and how I time everything out for her but after letting him ready all you guys have said and what my vet said he now understands and is getting in on the action . She has taken to him better then me first day he came off the road he got to itch her head and it took me a bit to do it. I do think the blanket is a fear thing, when i clean her cage she gets scared of my hand and arm and trys to scare me by acting like she will bite me and climb to the top of her cage and hand up side down mouth open in attack mode, she climbs to her perch as soon as i close her door, and she does the same when i even go near her cage with a sheet, they had just a plain white one over her cage so i have tried black but she still hates it.

 

[Birdlover11]

Good thing you got her to the vet in time. Birds hide sickness, they hide it so well that by the time the owner notices it after a few days it passes away. I wouldnt use a blanket if it brings bad memories, what is her bed time ? When it's her bed time just shut off the lights.If your husband thinks your crazy for how you time everything for birdie chores, then we all are crazy lol

 

[pollysmama]

Good thing you got her to the vet in time. Birds hide sickness, they hide it so well that by the time the owner notices it after a few days it passes away. I wouldnt use a blanket if it brings bad memories, what is her bed time ? When it's her bed time just shut off the lights.If your husband thinks your crazy for how you time everything for birdie chores, then we all are crazy lol

I turn everything off and shut the door at 8:45 i choose that time because the kids are in bed right around 8:40 and i have 5 mins give or take to get my tea ( i love a nice hot cup of berry tea before bed!!) my hubby did not relize how damanding birds were, as soon as i found out i had to safe polly even if it was the last thing i did i called my vet, and spet hours and hours online and all i have to say is OMG i dont think i will ever know everything i need to know, go back to my room for bed around 10 with out lights or a tv just to keep it normal for her and play bubble shoot on my phone until i fall asleep.

 

[Karigan]

I look forward to hearing if you have a Polly or Paulie!

 

[pollysmama]

I have a ton of wooden blocks from my kids, i was going to give away but i see many toys for birds with them, would it be ok to use them even with the paint of them and make toys with them for polly? my hubby does not think it is a good idea because she may swallow the wood or the paint may harm her. He is becoming very protective of her

 

[Karigan]

I've seen people recommend them before, but haven't been able to find anything on the paint. Many parrot sites sell them, but I don't know if they're the same as in stores. I'd like to think that it would be non-toxic, since they're chewed on by teething toddlers.

 

[Birdbuddy]

Good luck. It sounds like you both lucked out. What everyone says sounds good. I took in an older pair of birds which had never eaten fresh fruit and vegetables. It can take a while for them to change their eating habits. Be patient. You can make a fruit and vegetable shiskabob and put in the cage for he to noble on. I cook up rice, oats or another grain and mix in fresh vegetables and fruit. I sprout seeds and it to this mixture. My birds get this every day along with their seed (2 seperate bowls). At first I sprinkled a little of their favorite seed on top to entice them. Once they got a taste of it the started eating it. Now they beg for it. This time of year pumkin is a good option too. I cut up pumkin and freeze it for latter (they like it so much). Some birds are picky about the dish you feed them in. If you change their dish it make take them a little while to get use to the dish.

Good luck and enjoy.

 

[pollysmama]

Well I got it today, I went to give polly her fresh veggies and fruit for dinner, i did the normal thing hi polly how are you i love you polly then went to put the food and she flew at me a bite my arm!!!! i jumped but kept doing what i was doing while telling her no no no that's not nice. she calmed down when she realized i was going to do what i had to finish up even with my arm bleeding. What would make her go crazy like that for no reason?

 

[henpecked]

Just trying to exercise control over her situation. After she learns too trust you ,she'll accept your actions as in her best interest and let you lead. your doing fine. it's OK to let her know your making the decisions, She was just checking to see who was in charge. Just wanted too know if the strongest bird is leading the flock.

 

[pollysmama]

Ok an update, Polly is a girl. I think i will change her name to grump. She is letting me scratch her head and belly threw the cage but as soon as my arm is in there she bites me. it seems the more aggressive i am with her she lets me touch her more. ugh i swear she has split personality but i love her. They told me she hates kids but she LOVES my two she hears them and goes crazy until they go talk to her

 

[newtobirds]

Many birds are territorial about their cages. This is a seperate issue from other aggression. I would totally expect a cage-bound parrot to be protective of their space. In my world, managing that behavior is a better gig than battling it. I have one bird that is fierce about her cage and 2 that aren't. I target-trained my cage aggressive bird and trained her to hang out away from my hand so I can safely change her bowls. I clean her cage when she is not in it. No sense fighting over something we can work around!

Glad to hear it's all moving forward for you! It all takes time.