When is it time for a first outing?

[WannaBeAParrot]

Hi Folks. Meet Cody Blu.

16 days ago I adopted a Blue Crowned Conure from a local Wildlife Rescue. She's about 4.5 to 5 months old and came from from a tree nest and a teeny unfeathered baby. They hand weaned her in a nursery.

I have a bunch of questions that keep coming up because I don't have experience with a baby conure. Pritti was part of our family for 33 years, but he was 8 when I met him and together 24 years. So I went through boyhood through old-manhood with him, but not baby or toddler.

1--When would it be okay to take Cody for an outing? I would like to take him with me to visit family. It's only 10 minutes in the car, but I don't want to stress her out if it's too soon to take her out of here.

2--DNA for gender testing. Any thoughts on which is better: plucking out fresh feather, blood via toe nail clipping, or blood from regular syringe method -- ALL DONE BY AN A-VET, of course. My vet's office said they do the toe nail clip. Couple of folks recently told me that it is the worst way to take blood from a healthy parrot. So I don't know. That's how vet always did Pritti for all exams.

3--Mirror. Cody seems to really be looking for her brothers/sisters that she was in the wildlife center with. SHe was the last to be adopted. THey said she was more aggressive and not as sweet and friendly as the others, so they were chosen first. I like a little challenge and know that I have to earn Cody's friendship and love, but we are doing just fine so far. When we pass a mirror while she's on my shoulder, COdy really perks up and becomes very verbal, cooing, screeching. Usually Cody is practically silent (which is kind of weird). So I've been bringing her to a mirror once a day for a little time with her "friend". She seems fine afterward. I put a spinning toy mirror on top of the cage today. She fixated and played with it for about 10 - 15 minutes straight, ten went on her merry way to eat and play with other things. What do you think about leaving it there?

4-- Talking. She's pretty quiet. I've been talking to her alot trying to see if she'll say simple things -- hello, hiya, yumyum, mornin'. So far nothing, no mimicking She's just a quiet birdie in general. Have we passed the stage where she will / would learn to talk? Or keep going?

5-- Sleep. I thought a bird this age would want to sleep alot. She has yet to sleep during the day that I know of Unless she takes a nap when I leave the house for 3 - 5 hours. But there have been several days where we were here together 24/7 and she never napped or closed her eyes. I shut down her lights and cover her up about 8:30pm each night. But if I sneek a peek I see her eye open. SHe is snuggled next to her fuzzy buddy though.

6. Dunking. She is a dunker. PIcks up a pellet, walks across the enter cage to dunk in water bowl. Should i just go ahead and put the two bowls next to each other so she doesn't have to literally walk from one side to the other with just about ea pellet. I feel bad for her. She's probably using up as much energy as the single pellet gives her for each walk, lol.

That's all for now. I appreciate your help and thank you for being brave enough to stick with this post and read all of it.

Thanks.

 

[EnglishMuffin]

Hi wbap. Just want to start by saying how delightful it is that you've welcomed a new fid into your home I hope s/he helps heal your heart after the passing of your dear pritti.

I can't help with all your questions but I can help with some.

As far as cody being quiet, I think that's normal for baby conures. Anyone I know who's had one from a baby has remarked that they're quiet for the first couple months. I'm sure s/he'll perk up soon.

As far as the outing goes: there are pros and cons but I say go for it. I think exposing them to as many new and positive experiences as possible when they're young is the best way to raise a confident and socialised bird.

With the mirror, I would leave it if she likes it, and just rotate it out as you rotate her normal toys. Just watch for signs of obsession or aggression.

And with her water: if she likes dunking let her dunk. I'd get a second water bowl and leave one next to her food and another the other side of the cage to keep clean.

As far as sleep goes, sootie never slept during the day as a baby. She does now she's a bit older.

 

[JamesC]

I'll pipe up for the talking. Rosco is an unknown age but estimated to be between 5 and 10. Never peeped a word for the first year or so after I adopted him but now he can be a bit of a chatterbox. Just the 4 phrases/noises he has learned from me so far but he says them a lot. I think he has picked up something new, I just can't make out what it is yet. And I think he is starting to say his name. So I think your new one will pick up words soon.

 

[ruffledfeathers]

Gilbert is a quiet bird too, unless he feels chatty. And he didn't start talking at all for a while after I got him. I would have to go looking at my old posts to remember, but I seem to think it was late winter before he started trying to say anything and he came home in September. He started really trying to talk at about his first birthday.


I encourage outings. At least for my Gilbert, it seems to explode his curious mind, and he soaks it all in and enjoys it. He also tends to get spoiled at his destinations--I bring him to a friend's house, they give him some yummy treat food, go to dad's he feeds him stuff like corn muffins. When he was in his carrier at the vet the other day, he was SO happy and started talking out of the carrier (I think expecting his destination to be fun). He was really irked when toweled and band yanked off his leg and blood drawn. haha, not quite what he had in mind.


I have heard negative things about mirrors, but I play mirror games with Gilbert. (it isn't with him all the time but he goes to the mirror with me and we play 'where's the birdy?')


I think my vet always draws blood with a needle/syringe but I haven't heard many opinions about the other methods.

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

Thanks everyone for your input. I very much appreciate your sharing your thoughts based on your experiences with your fids and info you've picked up along the way.

I've taken Cody outside twice into a screened area overlooking hedges where there are usually butterflies. She seemed very interested. I think later will be her first outing to visit someone.