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Anonymous
Is it can be birdie tiem nao plz?
>> Anonymous
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>> Anonymous
I had a bunch of cockatiels. They weren't very friendly and they were very loud. I found them rather boring.
>> Anonymous
I have two pretty little finches!
they make so cute noises and always sing, when i enter the room <3
>> Anonymous
My parents have these two budgies. One used to be quiet and reclusive but has, finally, perked the fuck up lately. I mean "the fuck up", really -- he's always chirping, always responding to people even if they aren't talking to him. And he imitates the little phrases my parents chat at him, like "chirp", "hello" and "pretty bird".

He's adorable. His mate, though, is a bit of a demon. She chews. Anything. Everything. To shreds. They're hoping it's just a phase, since she's just one and a half years old.
>> Anonymous
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We have: two cockatiels, a dove, two parakeets, and a lovebird, soon to get more. :)
>> Anonymous
>>180962
its no phase. females are the ones that make the nests, so its just an instinctual thing to just shred everything.
>> Anonymous
Guys, tell me how do you train parakeets! I have two and they always fly away whenever I put my hand in the cage. I really want them to go on my finger.
>> Anonymous
>>181025
First, you need patience. Buckets and buckets of it. Fortunately this generally won't take more than a few weeks, maybe a month, tops. I'll assume that you've bird-proofed the room so you can let them play around freely and that they're no strangers to their environs.

My strategy is to first get the birds interested in you. This happens by talking to them a lot, paying them a lot of attention and so forth, chatting with them in a friendly tone. (Doesn't count if it's nap time though.) Remember to maintain some sort of eye contact: they need to know that you're talking to _them_, and not around in general. Birds don't have a "staredown" thing unlike dogs and some other mammals, unless your manner of looking is aggressive.

Then you need to get them used to, or at least feeling neutral with regard to, your hands. This tends to happen over time as you're cleaning the cage and all that.

Once they cheerfully come to the side of the cage where you're closest and sort of, indicate that they'd perhaps like to sit on top of your head, you can start offering them things with your hands. Lettuce, bird treats, that sort of thing. This transitions your hands from "non-threatening" to "yay, incoming treats and lettuce".

Then you combine these two. Open the cage door, wait until the bird comes to greet you there, offer your finger just outside the threshold. Possibly offer a bit of lettuce to them that's just out of reach, unless they step on your finger. Eventually they will. (If either of them is female, you'll likely get bit, too, since they tend to gnaw on anything.)

Once you've got that far, you need to train them to get off your finger when you say so. A warm, soft, comfortable perch is something that budgies tend to really really dig after all.
>> Anonymous
>>181009
Yeah, I was kind of hoping that she'd eventually wise up and realize that the gnawable stuff isn't going away and that she can return when she's actually nesting. She's also done away with a couple of calcium blocks, which is to say that one day there's the block, as usual, and the next there's a pile of bits at the bottom of the cage. We figured it must be some kind of a thing where young birds wear their beaks down, like pet rats and rabbits do for their front teeth.

I thought it might be a phase because my parents have, in the past, had female budgies that weren't shredding everything they came across... though shredding seems a more common behaviour than not shredding, for a female. Guess it's individual behaviour then.
>> Anonymous
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mine!!
>> Anonymous
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Did someone say birdies?
>> Anonymous
I Have two Aestivas Aestivas (Blue Fronted Amazon). Best pets ever.
>> Anonymous
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my sister's bird.
>> Anonymous
>>181381
Lol, picture taken before you sat on it huh? That is a really pretty bird.
>> Anonymous
>>181381
Awwww, he's snuggling up.
>> Anonymous
>>181033
Should have their wings clipped? The pet shop dude said he'd do it, but I'm not so sure about the whole clipping idea.
>> Anonymous
>>181549
Nah, not really. It'd only help during the stage where you're trying to get them interested in you, i.e. the "quiet room with just the bird (who can't fly around) and me" method. In general budgies are inquisitive (if not nosy like cockatiels): with patience they'll start thinking you as part of their flock soon enough.

Also, some budgies will get crazy frustrated from not being able to fly properly too, since by nature they're excellent at it. So if you do elect to go with the clipping, you might not want to keep it up (the feathers of course grow back) due to this and, uh, bird obesity issues.

In any case you ought to have a vet clip a bird's long flight feathers off one wing (just the one, the goal is to mess with their balance temporarily), and not a pet shop dude. The former is a trained professional, well hopefully, and the latter is a tradesperson at best. One has real good knowledge of bird anatomy and the other just works there...
>> Anonymous
I don't like the wing clipping. I've owned about six birds so far (5 budgies/parakeets and one cockatiel) and the two that were clipped prior to our adopting them seemed more irritable. The budgies who weren't were great, sociable, and a lot of fun to play with.

Since oftentimes people clip wings to force the birds to associate and befriend them, we have a reasonable alternative. Keep them in a small room (like a study or single bedroom) with a low ceiling and play with them when you can. The birds quickly learn to play with and land on you when you're close at hand and available.
>> Anonymous
I had a blockatiel that would steal some motherfucking cheese like nothing else. Why do birds like cheese so much anyway?
My brother was making a sandwich, he put a slice of cheese on it, and turned around to get the mustard or something. He looked back and the cheese was gone. He then saw the bird dragging his piece of cheese across the counter.
>> Anonymous
I worked at a pet store and was shown how to clip bird wings. It's extremely easy. I 'just worked there' but the concept was simple and you can probably even have your vet show you how to do it at home.

I believe some peoples' birds will be better off with clipped wings. I've lived in houses with very high ceilings, fans, delicate things on shelves.. while your bird probably shouldn't have access to rooms that pose a threat to them, accidents *do* happen. Or maybe you'd just rather be able to have your bird in one of those rooms without worrying. Definitely depends on the bird and the situation.
>> Anonymous
Cockatiels are mean :<
>> Anonymous
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My bird L