Hello - first time parrot owner!

[pinkiepunksmummy]

Hi, I'm new! We re-homed a Senegal parrot from friends 8 months ago shortly after getting a pair of budgies...we also have two dogs and three children so a very busy household and lot of entertainment for a lonely parrot from a very quiet house with no company during the day!

[Wolf]

Welcome to the forum.

[pinkiepunksmummy]

Thankyou

[Wolf]

So tell me about your birds, have you named them yet? What are you doing with them currently? You are new, are you referring to just the forum or are you new to having parrots in your home?

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum! Do you have a male or a female sennie and are your budgies boy and girl? Names?

[pinkiepunksmummy]

What a lovely welcome!
We've never had birds before and the kids wanted fish, but as I would have to help them with cleaning tanks etc. and I have a really bad fish and shellfish allergy we thought budgies would be more sensible!
They are two boys called Bobby and Bertie, we were advised to get one so he would talk, but Bobby he seemed quite shocked at being in a new home away from the flock, so the following week we bought Bertie...they are brothers and are very happy together! They do speak a bit, "What ya doing?" and they blow kisses! We got them last May. Bobby is blue and Bertie is olive green. They are noisy and messy, but very sweet!
Last summer we were offered 17 year old Rosie the Senegal parrot by friends of ours. They had had Rosie since she was a parrotlet but both work long hours and she was left in a quiet house all day on her own and was being disruptive....ripping the wall by her cage, mad bathing which splashed water everywhere, shredding the paper in the bottom of her cage, and worst of all feather plucking....she had no feathers at all over her front and none under her wings. They offered her to us because my three children (11, 12 and 15) are home-educated so we are home all day and there is always plenty going on here!!
Rosie was fed on a tropical parrot mix with chocolate biscuits, chips (French fries) and the occasional grape as treats. Since living with us she has found that she adores apples! She has fresh apple everyday with a selection of fruit and veg (parsley, banana, orange, celery, peppers, cucumber, carrot, cabbage, broccoli, etc.) depending on what I have in the fridge, plus peanuts, walnuts, dried fruit, and whatever we think she might like, alongside her parrot mix (chillies, peanuts, seeds, grains, pellets, dried banana, dried peas, pumpkin seeds).
Rosie only had two perches and a swing in her cage, no toys because she was destroying them so since coming to live with us, she has a new cage with two platforms, a variety of perches, a new swing, a spiral bouncy perch, and lots of toys that we rotate....currently she has a coconut/cuttlefish/bamboo/felt hanging toy that she loves shredding, several shoelaces with pieces of loofah attached, a rattley toy with plastic loops, a stuffed log, and a paper roll dispenser.
And we've taught her to use a water bottle as well as her bowl! She only bathes occasionally now, and has actually grown some feathers on her tummy as well as a patch under each wing and lots that hang down over her legs!
She could meow when she came to us, because her owners had cats, but we didn't think she would be able to learn to speak as she was older, but she can now say
"What ya doing?" (she taught the budgies!)
Teddy (one of the dog's names)
Good Morning
human cough
My name....especially when she wants apple,
She laughs (in context!)
has a variety of human whistles
and she also imitates the dog whining and it is hilarious when she joins in barking with the dogs! She also makes lots of other noises, like a rusty hinge, beeping, and a growl!
The funniest thing is that she has 'adopted' me...I have always been bird phobic, hate the flapping noise of their wings, can't stand loose feathers - would never touch one, etc. now though, I will stroke Rosie and give her a head scratch and we have built up a trust - I am the only person out of the six people living here that can scratch under her chin and round her eyes without getting bitten....and that is why I came across the forum.
Recently Rosie has been very pecky and naughty when I try to re-fill her bowls and tidy her cage, she has been attacking me and doing a wing display where she lifts her wings up and then tries to bite me. Last week she built a nest of sorts in the bottom corner of her cage (cleared a patch of newspaper, then arranged shredded newspaper and sandpaper on top, took some peanuts there and was absolutely no poo there where usually she just poos wherever she is). When I cleaned her cage out, I removed the nest and she has stopped the odd behaviour...I assume this was hormonal behaviour due to the extra spring day light?
And has anyone got any advice on her feathers? She has got a lovely sheen to her feathers now, her beak looks less flakey too, but she still plucks the feathers from her front...at the moment she has a few coloured ones and quite a nice amount of fluffy white ones, but mainly pulls them out when they are still downy. I understand they may be itchy and irritate her skin, but would love to encourage her to leave them alone! She looks a poor scruffy little thing...I'll try and upload some pictures.

[Wolf]

Feather plucking is often a most difficult behavior to try to modify as it depends on finding and eliminating the cause of it as well as whether or not it has been going on long enough to become an ingrained habit. I have both an African Grey parrot and a Celestial Parrotlet that came to me plucking their feathers. They are both doing great at this time. The Grey has regrown almost all of her feathers and rarely plucks and the Parrotlet is currently regrowing his. I added about 2 ounces of alcohol free aloe to about 10 ounces of spring water and spray both of these birds with this mixture once a week for their baths as well as any time that they appear to be overly itchy. I also use this same mixture of aloe and water for the bird baths. But I believe that the most effective thing that I have done to relieve this problem is to spend time with them both actively interacting with them and just hanging out with them in the same space.
The various things like shredding paper and building a nest are perfectly natural and in keeping with the seasonal breeding cycle and should pass shortly as we move past the breeding and molting times of the year. The aggression that recently began while you were servicing her cage appear to also be from the same cycle of events and should also pass along with the other behaviors, but let us know if they do not.
I do hope that the dietary changes that you made mean that she no longer gets chocolate or French fries. I would love to hear more about their diets.

[Michael Reynolds]

hello and welcome to the forum yes stop the chocolate in all forms. how do you know it is female? dna or egg laying? just a word of advice for the future I do not advice getting another female Senegal as they will fight and can be to the death if together. keeping them occupied and training is one of the best ways of stopping the plucking but has the bird had bloods taken by an avian vet to make sure it is not a medical reason like liver problems?

[pinkiepunksmummy]

No, lol, no more junk food! She gets fruit, nuts and Rice Krispies for treats now.
The budgies are fed on Millet seed and sprays, these: http://www.atsdistribution.co.uk/49459- ... Rhy1_nF-_Q
parsley, sprouted millet, grass, salad cress and honey bars for a treat. They refuse to eat fruit and veg, I have tried all sorts and various ways, but they just refuse!

Rosie has a selection of fresh fruit and veg alongside her parrot mix everyday, she loves picking through it and slings the bits she doesn't like on the floor!
So far she doesn't like: strawberry, squash, lettuce, pumpkin seeds, pecans, dates, pine nuts.

I will get her some aloe for her skin...she loves to be sprayed, thankyou. She never seems itchy, I think she was probably bored out of her mind and just got into the habit of plucking, poor girl.

Her cage is in the kitchen/dining room, so she has company all day, if we go out it is not for long and then she has the radio and both dogs, lol....she watches them, calls them and shouts "do you want a wee wee"! She preens her new feathers and if we see her pulling them we distract her with a game of tug the shoelace or give her a little treat....she has been plucking the feathers for 17 years - do you think they will ever grow back properly?

[pinkiepunksmummy]

Hi Michael Reynolds...we were told she was female by her previous owners. A friend of theirs bred her. Apparently she was tried with another Senegal, but they fought so were separated again. Apparently plucking is something she has always done.