I have a tame cockatiel and sometimes he likes to sit on my shoulders, but he bites the hell out of my ears and it hurts really bad, but no blood. Is he trying to tell me something or does he think my ears are just chewable toys?
I want to buy some birds for our avery (6'tall, 5'wide, 4'deep), but don't know what kind would be best. The birds can be as noisy as they like (the noisier the better!), they don't have to speak, or be easy to tame, as they probably won't come out over the avery at all. They also have to be reasonably easy to care for, as i've never had birds before!
I have a 2-and-a-half-year-old male parakeet (budgerigar) named Henry, and I've recently come into possession of a female cockatiel less than 7 months of age that I've named Bindi. So far, Bindi is adapting quite well; she can be frustrated with some new changes, (like going from her cramped, but comfortable cage to a much bigger and spacier one), but she has already taken a healthy lifestyle, already allowing me, my mother, and even some of our random house guests to feed her treats by hand, (but we have yet to do out-of-cage training yet.)
Anyway, Henry has always been a big fan of sweets. He loves things like fruit and sweetened bird treats like millet and cuttle bones, and it's like trying to feed a kid that will never understand what it means to eat healthier things like vegetables and (unsalted, cooked, I know the drill) meats. Bindi, on the other hand, is the exact opposite; although she loves fruits, she also likes dark green vegetables, (good for when she starts laying eggs in about a year or so), all sorts of nuts and dried up beans, and she's even eaten our Thanksgiving turkey and had a hard-boiled egg, shell and all.
Another thing that I personally think might have been a huge difference in their getting used to healthy foods is the fact that Henry was store-bought, and I got Bindi at a local bird market not too long ago. Bindi came from a retiring bird breeder (in his mid-90's with a nest of new baby birds; I can understand why he couldn't take care of them) so he donated her to the National Cockatiel Society who I later bought her from. Even though the person speaking for the NCS told me that Bindi was never hand-fed all throughout her childhood, she shows much more grace in her training than Henry ever did, (unfortunately, Henry still hasn't mustered up the courage to admit that the hands that hold out food for him once a week aren't going to hurt him.)
Anyway, all I'm asking is for someone who has a parakeet, or any other bird, that's really stubborn in what he or she eats, and how you got them to eat something different. Thanks!
I live in Central Florida. My neighbor leaves this poor bird outside all the time. Only sometimes does he cover him up. Tonight will be 39 degrees. Could he freeze to death? He is 10 years old and they said he has lived outside his whole life here....
