Nakiska
New member
- May 30, 2011
- 787
- 0
- Parrots
- 4 Cockatiels 2 males Chicken Little & Charlie, 2 Females Chiquita and Sweet pea. Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure -Franklin and our now tame, rescued feral Pigeon - Belle.
Hey everyone!
How's things? I have a few moments - FINALLY - to post a couple pictures and give an update.
The new tiels I rescue/homed back in August are doing wonderful! I named the boy Charlie and the one I decided is a girl, Sweet Pea. I talked to the woman who owned them prior to me taking them, she said she'd raised them from babies and they are 3 years old. I asked if she had names for them and she said...not really, other then the one that always hung upside down from the roof of the cage was "dumb A$$"
I said, "Oh, okay...well, that one's a girl and I call her Sweet Pea and LOVE how acrobatic she is for a cockatiel.
She gave me this sob story of how she got kicked out of her house and had to leave the birds with her ex and on and on...well, I determined from her story, and from her choice of name for the one she did name...that she'll NEVER get these tiels back...EVER. They are mine, for the rest of their life.
I took them from their HUGE mansion cage, clipped their wings and moved them into a smaller cage to work on hand taming them. They are definitely taking some time in the taming department, but that's okay. I open the cage door every evening when I let them out for "tiel walkabout treat time" and they WILL climb up and sit on us when they think we aren't looking, but aren't trusting of being touched and will run/fly off if we offer our finger for them to hop up on. Interestingly enough, they WILL hop up on a stick for me. So that's good.
When I first got them, they just chirped the same chirp over and over and over...no change in tone, no trying to make other sounds, nothing, just that same ole chirp...The best I can describeit is it's the chirp usually the females make, as they aren't usually very vocal...at least the females I've had aren't.
Charlie, however, since moving him has expanded his vocal horizons TREMENDOUSLY! He chatters on and on and on, he started with the wolf whistle, then he said pretty boy, then I whistled "if your happy and you know it clap your hands" to him with the "cluck cluck" for the clap...and he REALLY loves that song! He makes so many sounds, even I'm surprised! He sometimes sounds like someone trying to tune a radio, then he speaks alien, then he chatters in morse code...roflolol!!! He's AWESOME!
Sweet Pea, she's quiet, she doesn't even chirp like she used to when I got her, but she likes to play with toys more so then any of the others.
Now, my tiels that I had PRIOR to taking in Charlie and Sweet Pea, (they are all caged separately, in sight of each other) something interesting, well to me, baffling - has happened with my male, Chicken Little.
Chicken Little is approximately 8 months old now...I'd say. Last month, he got to meet Charlie for the first time (after quarantine) I had them all 4 out for treat time together. Chicken looked at Charlie, followed Charlie around for like 20 minutes, mirrored everything he did, then he said Hello...what'cha doin? Charlie didn't "answer" ROFLOLOLOL!! I about died it was sooo cute!
Well, little did I know, that was the last time I'd heard Chicken Little speak!
Chicken Little was picking up a pretty extensive vocabulary for a young tiel and he'd talk and talk and talk, and whistle and sing and about every week he'd start speaking a new word or phrase. Now...NOTHING! He's clammed up!
He also got extremely aggressive when in sight of Charlie! When I went to put him to bed, he'd bite me and resist being held...he was NEVER like this before Charlie. Their cages were side by side and Chicken Little became obsessed with Charlie...not in a mean way...but mirroring everything he does! And then he'd attack me when I'd offer him my finger to let him out for treat time. So I put a divider between their cages, so they can't see each other unless I allow them to be out together and when they are out together, Chicken just cares about nothing else other then being with Charlie! The only time he'll whistle is right in Charlies face.
I MISS my Chicken! I miss his sweet voice, I miss him talking and can't believe that he turned like he did. My husband had them all out together one evening, and said that Charlie tried to mount Chicken...now I'm SURE they're both males...so what's up??? Both Charlie and Chicken could care less about the 2 females and my husband and I.
Chiquita, our Lutino female...well her personality didn't change, just Chickens!
I've thought about separating them Charlie to a completely different room...but awwww....he's so darn happy now. And Chicken is happy too...he's just silent. And with the divider up, he hops up on my hand to come out and as long as he doesn't see Charlie, he's mostly like his old self.
So if anyone has any insight to Chickens behavior, I'd sure appreciate it. I miss my "old" Chicken very very much. I mean, why would he just STOP talking???
Okay, so I've attached 2 pictures. Of of the 4 of them out, usually their "treat" time consists of fresh fruits and veggies, but the night I took this picture, we were out of the "good" stuff...so they had seed treats.
Chicken Little has the gray on the face, Charlie is facing us, Sweet Pea is the 3rd over, and the Lutino is Chiquita.
Then also I'm sharing a picture of Charlie and Chicken...they are in each others face like this A LOT and it's the ONLY time Chicken will whistle, he'll whistle with charlie, up in his face like that...but won't ever speak with the vocabulary he was learning sooo well.
EEEKS! Lost track of time! Gotta get back to work!
Have a good one!
Toni
How's things? I have a few moments - FINALLY - to post a couple pictures and give an update.
The new tiels I rescue/homed back in August are doing wonderful! I named the boy Charlie and the one I decided is a girl, Sweet Pea. I talked to the woman who owned them prior to me taking them, she said she'd raised them from babies and they are 3 years old. I asked if she had names for them and she said...not really, other then the one that always hung upside down from the roof of the cage was "dumb A$$"
I said, "Oh, okay...well, that one's a girl and I call her Sweet Pea and LOVE how acrobatic she is for a cockatiel.
She gave me this sob story of how she got kicked out of her house and had to leave the birds with her ex and on and on...well, I determined from her story, and from her choice of name for the one she did name...that she'll NEVER get these tiels back...EVER. They are mine, for the rest of their life.
I took them from their HUGE mansion cage, clipped their wings and moved them into a smaller cage to work on hand taming them. They are definitely taking some time in the taming department, but that's okay. I open the cage door every evening when I let them out for "tiel walkabout treat time" and they WILL climb up and sit on us when they think we aren't looking, but aren't trusting of being touched and will run/fly off if we offer our finger for them to hop up on. Interestingly enough, they WILL hop up on a stick for me. So that's good.
When I first got them, they just chirped the same chirp over and over and over...no change in tone, no trying to make other sounds, nothing, just that same ole chirp...The best I can describeit is it's the chirp usually the females make, as they aren't usually very vocal...at least the females I've had aren't.
Charlie, however, since moving him has expanded his vocal horizons TREMENDOUSLY! He chatters on and on and on, he started with the wolf whistle, then he said pretty boy, then I whistled "if your happy and you know it clap your hands" to him with the "cluck cluck" for the clap...and he REALLY loves that song! He makes so many sounds, even I'm surprised! He sometimes sounds like someone trying to tune a radio, then he speaks alien, then he chatters in morse code...roflolol!!! He's AWESOME!
Sweet Pea, she's quiet, she doesn't even chirp like she used to when I got her, but she likes to play with toys more so then any of the others.
Now, my tiels that I had PRIOR to taking in Charlie and Sweet Pea, (they are all caged separately, in sight of each other) something interesting, well to me, baffling - has happened with my male, Chicken Little.
Chicken Little is approximately 8 months old now...I'd say. Last month, he got to meet Charlie for the first time (after quarantine) I had them all 4 out for treat time together. Chicken looked at Charlie, followed Charlie around for like 20 minutes, mirrored everything he did, then he said Hello...what'cha doin? Charlie didn't "answer" ROFLOLOLOL!! I about died it was sooo cute!
Well, little did I know, that was the last time I'd heard Chicken Little speak!
Chicken Little was picking up a pretty extensive vocabulary for a young tiel and he'd talk and talk and talk, and whistle and sing and about every week he'd start speaking a new word or phrase. Now...NOTHING! He's clammed up!
He also got extremely aggressive when in sight of Charlie! When I went to put him to bed, he'd bite me and resist being held...he was NEVER like this before Charlie. Their cages were side by side and Chicken Little became obsessed with Charlie...not in a mean way...but mirroring everything he does! And then he'd attack me when I'd offer him my finger to let him out for treat time. So I put a divider between their cages, so they can't see each other unless I allow them to be out together and when they are out together, Chicken just cares about nothing else other then being with Charlie! The only time he'll whistle is right in Charlies face.
I MISS my Chicken! I miss his sweet voice, I miss him talking and can't believe that he turned like he did. My husband had them all out together one evening, and said that Charlie tried to mount Chicken...now I'm SURE they're both males...so what's up??? Both Charlie and Chicken could care less about the 2 females and my husband and I.
Chiquita, our Lutino female...well her personality didn't change, just Chickens!
I've thought about separating them Charlie to a completely different room...but awwww....he's so darn happy now. And Chicken is happy too...he's just silent. And with the divider up, he hops up on my hand to come out and as long as he doesn't see Charlie, he's mostly like his old self.
So if anyone has any insight to Chickens behavior, I'd sure appreciate it. I miss my "old" Chicken very very much. I mean, why would he just STOP talking???
Okay, so I've attached 2 pictures. Of of the 4 of them out, usually their "treat" time consists of fresh fruits and veggies, but the night I took this picture, we were out of the "good" stuff...so they had seed treats.
Chicken Little has the gray on the face, Charlie is facing us, Sweet Pea is the 3rd over, and the Lutino is Chiquita.
Then also I'm sharing a picture of Charlie and Chicken...they are in each others face like this A LOT and it's the ONLY time Chicken will whistle, he'll whistle with charlie, up in his face like that...but won't ever speak with the vocabulary he was learning sooo well.
EEEKS! Lost track of time! Gotta get back to work!
Have a good one!
Toni
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