Stainless Steel Bird Cages

I recently came across a new website that is advocating the use of only stainless steel when purchasing your birds home.  Apparently Stainless Steel Bird Cages are not only stronger and longer lasting than powder coated cages but the other types of metal are not as strong.  This could be a real problem if you have a larger macaw or cockatoo who like to chew as the softer metals can actually flake off and be ingested by your bird which will eventually lead to metal toxicity poisoning.

I’m by no means an expert but what they talk about about on their site makes a lot of sense to me and is probably information we should all head.

Performing Parrots

Have you ever seen a bunch of performing parrots?  I went to the San Diego Zoo recently and they had several parrots trained to do different things and it was amazing to watch.  It reminded me why I wanted to train my little bird to become a performing parrot!  Here is a video of some amazing performing parrots!

 

Getting a Cockatiel?

Cockatiels popularity is on the rise.  They are a fun more affordable bird to get as a pet and that’s why I think you see more people getting them.  I stumbled across a site yesterday that has great information on these little birds.  Check out their Cockatiel Information Guide when you get a chance!

Conure Vet Visit

Within the last week I started to notice that Kiwi my conure was having what sounded to me like a little cough.  When she would get worked up from flying or climbing around on her cage it sounded like she might be sneezing a little or coughing.  I listened closely for a day or two and decided this wasn’t normal breething behavior for her so I called around to the local vet offices. 

Unfortunately where I live there are no board certified avian vets.  I did find one who has been raising birds for a long time and at least seemed to have a pretty good knowledge of what could be wrong with her.

When she heard Kiwi breathing she said it’s possible she has some sort of respitory infection and suggested we use some antibitoics to clear this up.  This worried me some as the antibiotics are to be administed by mouth and I knew my little conure wasn’t going to be too excited about that. 

While at the office the vet showed me the easiest way to wrap little Kiwi up in a towell and feed her the medicine via syringe.  She of course does not like being wrapped up in the towell but she seems to like the antibiotics ok.  Cherry Flavor!!

The vet also said we need to take special precaution to keep Kiwis’ level of stress down.  So she gets to be pretty low key the next week or so with no real training or action.  We moved her cage as well as it was under a heat duct which the vet said it’s important not to have any drafts on her even if it’s warm air.

So we’ll keep an eye on her and continue giving her the antibiotics which seem to be a bitter sweet experience for her and hopefully she’ll feel better.  It’s very important that if you notice any sort of simliar problem with your parrot or conure that you take them to a vet as soon as you can.  They are simple just a little more fragile than other animals and need care sooner.

Talking Parrot

Does your parrot talk?  Unfortunately my Kiwi doesn’t talk very much.  She will try to mimic sounds and will laugh when prompted but so far she has not said any words that I can really understand.  Now conures are not typically well known for their talking ability but some species of the conures can talk pretty well.  Sun conures are often very vocal little parrots and if you spend the time they will develop the ability to speak some. 

 Parrots such as African Greys and a couple other species of macaws often are the most capable of speech.  Cockatoos can be trained to speak pretty well, although they are often very vocal in a negative way.  Be sure you know what you’re getting yourself into before buying a cockatoo.  While they can be fun and extremely cuddly they are the loudest in my opinion of all!

I’m sure you all have heard of Alex the talking African Grey that died recently.  He was thought to be one of the smartest parrots that anyone has ever come across.  He was capable of distinguishing between colors, numbers, letters, etc… If you have a Grey more likely than not you do not need any help teaching him to talk.

 However if you do I have a great opportunity for you.  Chet from Birdtricks has developed a package that walks you through the steps of teaching your bird to talk.  He created a system that includes several cd’s full of other birds talking.  Different research shows they learn the best from hearing other birds talk.  You can try this package out for only $2.95 for 30 days.  If you decide to keep it you are billed the balance but if you are unsatisfied you can simply return it no questions asked.  I would give this package a try.  I’m not sure how long it will be availble so dont wait too long!

Poll

I have a poll going on my site and I’d love for you to stop by and let me know your opinion.  www.trainyourbird.com

My own domain!

Thanks for reading thus far.  I wanted to let you know I’ll be updating this blog on my own domain from now on which is www.trainyourbird.com  I hope you’ll visit!

Bird Training Dvd Review Part 2

Sorry it took a couple extra days to get this out to you. My birthday was labor day and yesterday was quite a hectic day at work. Here’s the second part of my review.

One thing I really enjoyed was right after I ordered I received a confirmation e-mail that contained two e-books that I could start working with right away. I’m one of those people who hate the wait associated with ordering things online so this was fantastic. Instant gratification…isn’t that something we’re all after?

The first of the two e-books dealt entirely with one of my problems. It covered in depth how to befriend your bird and gain it’s trust. It had many little tricks that Chet and Dave had figured out that I dont think I ever would have thought of. I dont think it’s fair to give that info away here but trust me when I say it’s good stuff.

The second e-book covered potty training. This was the least of my worries. Now dont get me wrong..My little friend did her share of pooping but at this point that was not at the top of my to fix list. It did come in handy down the line.

After about 3 days my packaged arrived and I was elated. When I tore into it I found it included the following:

1. Taming Training Tricks DVD’s volume 1-3
2. 2 Audio Cd’s
3. A Clicker
4. 188pg Platinum training manual.

As you may have noticed I went all out and bought the “expensive” or elite package. The way Chet works it is like this. You pay $47.77 plus shipping up front and that covers the cost of the basic package which is Volume 1 of the DVD, the audio cd’s, and the clicker. Then you get the rest of the materials to try out for no cost for 30 days. If you like them and decide to keep them you are billed $147.00 at the end of that time period. Or you can return the elite portion of the kit no questions asked.

When I first say the price that was going to eventually cost around $200 I had a minor heart palpitation but then I realized that was really nothing if it worked. I also had the comfort knowing if it didn’t work I’d mail it all back to Chet and be out nothing but my time.

As mentioned I had already read through the e-books so some of the methods suggested I had already started on such as their training diet. All this really consists of is figuring out how much food your bird eats on a daily basis and putting him on a schedule. He eats the same amount every day so he certainly does not go hungry but you just control at what time he eats.

As I started to watch the DVD I knew I had found what I was looking for. Chet and Dave made the learning process easy. They went step by step and I watched and took notes. I then would try and implement the same methods with Kiwi. Now saying everything they said worked like a charm would be a lie but that’s not realistic at all. All birds are different and everything isn’t going to work for every bird but I guarantee if you watch these and try them out you’ll find some techniques that work for you.

And as I mentioned in the first part of my review they record their mistakes and aren’t afraid to tell you…hey look what I did…dont do it! This was great!

As you remember one of the things I was adamant about was ongoing support for my questions. Included with this package you got access to their forum called the inner circle. This alone may have been worth the entire cost of the package. They have hired a full time parrot behavior specialist to answer every question asked in that forum. Kim Bear is her name and she’s a fantastic lady and it’s obvious she knows what she’s talking about. She occasionally writes articles that are phenomenal which Chet posts to his blog as free info for his subscribers.

Not only do you get access to that forum but included in the price is a 1/2hr consult with Kim on the phone. Wow! You get her all to yourself to figure out exactly what your bird or yourself is doing wrong in the training process and how to fix it. I personally have not used this yet as I’m saving it for something that I can’t fix by watching or reading the materials I already have. An ace up my sleeve so to speak.

Well I can’t begin to express enough how thankful I am to Chet and Dave for making this bird training DVD for me. Over the next couple weeks I’ll update on my progress and training journey with Kiwi but I suggest if you’re a new bird owner or have had a bird for years and want to greatly stimulate your feathered friend’s mind buy these materials.

Good luck in your training!

Bird Training Dvd Review Part 1

As discussed in my previous post the reason I needed this help was due to the fact my new conure did not seem to be getting any friendlier after several weeks of living with us and had developed a habit of screaming incessantly. What you’ll find here is a report/review of the product I found. When sitting down to write this I quickly realized I would need to break it up into two parts as it got quite long.

So my search for some help began….What I was looking for was one of two things. I hoped to find either a detailed account of someone elses experiences (Such as mine here) or an affordable product that would give me step by step instructions on how to tame my wild beast

Search after search returned no results for any sort of account that would provide me with useful info on bird training. I hope to provide that here so people that are in my situation may stumble upon this and get some use out of it.

Led to the conclusion I was not going to find the detailed experience I was looking for I decided plan b it was! If I was going to pull some sheckles out of my own pocket for this product I had a few things in mind I wanted it to include:

1. Step by step instructions that were dummy proof
2. Something visual I could watch that was also believable. I didn’t want to watch someone training birds that were already tame.
3. It absolutely had to cover the issues I was dealing with including screaming and Kiwi’s lack of interest in our friendship.
4. And last it needed to provide me with some ongoing support. Hey I might have questions!

Well Google treated me a little better with this search. While there is certainly not a wide array of products on the market there were at least a few! I sifted through the choices and most of them did not come close to fitting the guidelines I had set forth. They were either just e-books or audio cd’s and most did not provide any sort of support for my dumb questions.

Then I found the diamond in the rough! Chet & Dave Womach from birdtricks.com had what I was looking for. Chet and Dave had obviously experienced many of the same problems I had but instead of turning to someone else for answers they decided they’d sovle the problem themselves. Going a step above and beyond this they even recorded their progress and produced it for all of us to benefit from.

I highly highly recomend checking out their site birdtricks.com Sign up for their three day newsletter just to get a taste of the high quality information they provide!

Listed below are the reasons other than the quality content I decided to pull the trigger and buy:

1. They admitted they made mistakes along the way and show you those mistakes so you can avoide making the same ones.
2. The product is a DVD so I can actually watch what happens. They do also provide audio cd’s and e-books so you get all kinds of info
3. They provided many many testimonials on their site from satisfied customers. What says more than a satisfied customer?
4. The best money back guarantee I have ever seen. 6 MONTHS! I didn’t test this out as there is no way I’d send it back but you could if you want.
5. The only downfall to the site was it’s rather long and can be confusing in some parts.

This is where we’ll break it off today. I will finish this up either tomorrow or Monday though with a breakdown of what you get for the cost and why I think it’s the best thing on the market. Until then.. have a great labor day weekend!

Let the Screaming Begin!

We spent about a 1/2hr with the folks we bought Kiwi
from discussing different things such as how Kiwi’s
cage was set up at their house, what toys she liked,
what kind of schedule she was on, and so forth. We
learned quite a bit about her and felt ready to bring
her home!

The first couple days were a breeze. We set the cage
up just like we were told she liked it, provided her
the same food she had been eating, and even put her
old toys in her cage to try and make it homey!

Kiwi for the most part just sat in her cage and looked
at us as we looked at her. Once or twice we would
try to approach her but it quickly became apparent she
wasn’t ready for that kind of contact by scurrying away.

We did not want to force affection on our new found friend
and decided to give her several weeks before we started
to befriend her more actively. One of things we read
was spending a lot of time in close proximity to the cage
will help your bird get comfortable with you quicker.
My wife works from home and with Kiwi’s cage right next
to her desk we felt this should help speed up the
“friendship” process.

Well I was wrong then and I’m sure I’ll be wrong again
many times in my life but boy was I wrong then! About
3 days after Kiwi’s grand homecoming the screaming started.
I was very aware that birds made screaching noises but
I was not prepared for the noise that came from this
little bird.  I found the information at this Conure page
very helpful!

As mentioned in my previous post we live in a condo and
after about 2 days of screaming off and on, from sun up to
sundown I thought our eviction notice would be forthcoming.
Thankfully the screaming did come to a hault at bed time.
Once her cage was covered and the lights were off or dimmed
she would give her lungs and our poor ears a break.

Several more days of this led me to this conclusion. Either
we need to get this behavior fixed or I was going to have
to find a padded room somewhere for my wife. Keeping
in mind she works all day within an arms distance of our
little siren! We both loved the bird (I convinced my
wife daily of this) so giving her away was not an option.

I started doing some research online as I was sure
someone else somewhere had run into this very problem
and conquered it. Not only that but they probably shared
their experience online as I am now. Isn’t the net a great
thing?

Tomorrow I am going to do a quick review of what I found and
what worked. I now have a well behaved bird whom both Janell
(my wife) and I are happy to have!