* Pet Bird Chat * NEW

[Luzien]

Thanks for the help, everyone. I'm pretty sure everything is going well between the two now; they preen/scratch each others' heads (gently, no damage), fluff up and sleep next to each other, and feed each other. I had to add an extra food bowl because I saw Lemon Pepper becoming territorial over the one, but now they are sharing and feeding each other afterwards (which looks so weird, oh my gosh).
They do snap at each other a bit now and then and get into tiny fights, but they don't actually hurt each other as far as I can tell. They haven't made any really alarming sounds other than the occasional normal squawk. They still have to adjust to having each other there, it's only been a couple days. Still, I'll be keeping a close eye on them if they start acting differently.

That is good with the extra Food bowl^^
dont worry so much, as Long as they dont try to kill each other or bite each other to the blood or attack every other time, there should be no worry...it sounds not so bad from what i read, an they feed each other what is nice!
To partner a bird with an other can take from a single moment together in the cage, to some weeks, some month, half a year...to 2 years with parrots sometimes even more, till they accept each other or till they really like each other....but even then sometimes all looks great for months and then out of the blue there is a Little or big fight....but it should end soon too, sometimes its simple the season ....
stay calm and dont worry

[Annebird]

Hey! Pleased to announce that my new baby green cheeked, Tiko, is all done with his quarrentine, taming, and vet check up and has now become a major new family member in the house! After working with the once skittish little sweetie, I'm now able to provide all the holding, petting, playing, and loving that the little bundle of joy rightfully deserves -- love him so much!

He's about as buddy-buddy as a conure and a cockatiel can get, fortunately frosty was very eager to meet tiko and the same in the other side as well. I'm so glad quarantine is over, quite a hassle to pick up all those seeds on opposite ends of the house!! XD

[zoomzoombadaboom]

It seems like the behavior of my two budgies keeps getting worse. They still preen and feed each other, but they keep fighting, usually over their little swing or a certain perch in the cage. They'll first just start out as a little squabble, sometimes chasing each other or sometimes throwing their beaks at each other as a warning. Usually it's my slightly younger female, Lemon Pepper, that starts it.
But then, sometimes they actually start to get their beaks on each other and try to bite. Sometimes they set their foot on the other, maybe to stop her from getting away, and then throw their beaks at one another. I haven't seen them doing any actual damage, but when they're fighting they will very quietly squawk/screech at each other in a low pitch. I don't know what's going on with them, but I really don't want to have to separate them. Might they actually be hurting each other or should I let them solve their problem themselves?
I don't think it's a problem with the space in the cage; it's the biggest cage we could find in our price range. I will get the measurements later, but it's quite a bit bigger than their old cages.

[wylliam&pepper.]

I just got a parakeet and I named him Pablo, and I am literally OBSESSED with him (as you can probably tell). I've been doing tons of research about budgies/parakeets and even though he's still scared right now, I'm hoping he'll warm up to his new home soon.

[bee ♥]

Username: abbzy14
How many birds do you own? ( if applicable ):4 budgies, 2 rainbow lorikeets, 2 cockatoos and 4 magpies
How long have you had them?: i have had the budgies since the end of 2014, the magpies aren't really pets but they come to our house every day for food. its really cute how sometimes they put little gifts on our step like dead beatles xD anyway they first started coming to our house in the middle of 2015. the cockatoos have been around for ages, my mum had them when she was a little girl. I have no idea how long i have had the rainbow lorikeets for.
What brings you to the bird chat?: i just love birds and i would love to chat about them

[bergamot.]

Hi there! I joined a while back, under the username "kiwi." I recently adopted a 2-3 year old canary winged parakeet (his name is Clyde)
Unfortunately his past owners only fed him sunflower seed, and now he won't eat anything else. I know this probably is not a very healthy diet, and would like to incorporate some more nourishing foods, but he wont touch anything else! Any tips?

[found.]

Hi there! I joined a while back, under the username "kiwi." I recently adopted a 2-3 year old canary winged parakeet (his name is Clyde)
Unfortunately his past owners only fed him sunflower seed, and now he won't eat anything else. I know this probably is not a very healthy diet, and would like to incorporate some more nourishing foods, but he wont touch anything else! Any tips?

Ooh that's tricky. This is kind of a lame tip, but have you tried eating other things in front of him?
The first thing I got my green cheek to eat besides pellets was yogurt, because she likes to grasp my finger with her beak and inspect it with her tongue. (Pretty much nibbling, haha.) Does Clyde do anything like this?

After she found out yogurt was yummy, I got her to try other things by eating some of it first and putting it on my finger. Maybe you could try dipping a sunflower seed in yogurt and see if he'll take it from you and try eating it?
He may discover that yogurt is quite good.

Aa I bid you the best of luck! Hopefully you can switch his diet ASAP.
It really makes my blood boil when people adopt birds on a whim and don't do their research about them.
Feeding them a seed mix is forgivable but, really, sunflower seeds only? hhhHHH

[Pyjaks]

I'd recommend starting very slow. Start mixing the new food into his sunflower seeds and gradually increase the amount until he's on a proper diet. Like Rosette said, some birds can be more receptive to new foods if you "taste" them and then offer it to the bird. Here is a post from Reddit where someone was having a similar problem, hopefully the advice is applicable to your situation! Good luck!

[still]

I don't know if this is just my bird, but I had the same problem a few years back and none of that advice worked for me.

You see, my bird (a conure), had been on a seed based diet all her life (like yours) until I got her and decided to convert her into a healthier pellet diet. I decided to slowly mix in her pellets with her seed mix. But, she still refused to eat the pellets. She'd eat all her seeds and then throw the pellets on the ground. We tried steadily upping her pellet dosage for months but to know avail. She'd eat a couple pellets if I mimed eating them to her but she never ate more than five individual pellets in a sitting and she never ate them of her volition. Eventually, while I was away at camp, my mother got frustrated and decided to pretty much substitute all her seeds with pure pellets- thereby restricting what she ate to only pellets. When I got home, I was kind of horrified and expected to find a starving bird waiting for me, but it turned out just an hour after my mother had done this, she'd begun happily eating the pellets.

Obviously, I'm sure that having eaten a couple pellets beforehand (from when we tried mixing them in gradually) helped her know that the weird colorful things were edible so slowly introducing them helped, I'm sure. But, though it's probably best that you start out mixing the seeds and pellets together, I imagine this method could certainly be used as a last resort.

[bergamot.]

I'd recommend starting very slow. Start mixing the new food into his sunflower seeds and gradually increase the amount until he's on a proper diet. Like Rosette said, some birds can be more receptive to new foods if you "taste" them and then offer it to the bird. Here is a post from Reddit where someone was having a similar problem, hopefully the advice is applicable to your situation! Good luck!

Thank you! I'm still experimenting with fresh fruits and veggies as well