Update on baby bird

I keep wanting to tell every little thing that s/he does, but if I started a new topic for each one, it might get pretty tedious for everyone, right? haha! So I'll just start one and update it as I feel inclined, and anyone interested can read it or not. . I'll never know the difference! Lol

So! The latest is that Nibblet has pottied on request THREE TIMES today!!! Isn't s/he the smartest little bird ever in the whole world??? Now all I have to do is keep that going, and start getting those potties where I want them to be- in the shoe boxes. I bought 8 plastic shoe boxes that I plan to put around the house in convenient bird spots and line them with paper towels. They have nicely rounded edges for birds to perch on and do their business, and are plastic so they're easy to clean and sanitize. I'm hoping that I'll be successful in teaching Nibblet to go potty in the boxes at home, and on request anywhere else. I know so much more now than I did with baby J. I have an opportunity to do things so much better... I just hope I don't mess it up all over again. The only reason JJ didn't turn out worse than she did is because she was just such a magnificent bird to start with.

My vow is to treat this baby like a princess made of fine china, who needs teaching, boundaries, and rules. The education and limit-setting has to be done in a gentle, loving manner though so I keep my gentle, loving bird. To that end, Nibblet will spend more alone time in his cage than JJ did, learning to amuse himself and not be dependent on me for happiness.

I wrote it down so I'll always be able to see it and refer back to it... And be held accountable for what I say and do.

Now, it's time for me to put little Nibblet away and go to the grocery store... Alone!

C'ya later alligator!

I think Nibblet is one lucky little birdie! We need another picture.

Ask and you shall receive! (the third "picture" should be a video if you click on it.)

If it didn't come through right, here's the direct link. I've done it this way before but don't remember exactly how I did it. And I didn't use my phone to post it like I'm doing now.

New baby playing in the mirror

Nibblet's too adorable! Reading about her/him just makes me inside.

She is crazy beautiful, man I love gccs!

Too Cute, got that tongue working on the mirror.

So , you none with updates for today ??? We have to wait til tomorrow ??

So, you're gonna love this!  I took Nibblet on her first outing today. We went to the bird store to be shown off to everyone. (Yes, she showed very well, I might add.) While there, I was talked into fostering Caesar, a Bronze-winged Pionus.  She has quite a sad history, but is in a much better place now.  She's nine years old and I'm told quite a talker. I brought her home w/o talking to my OH, but when he saw her he was quite taken in. He's a special education teacher by profession, and she really pulled at his heart strings. Right now we've given no commitment beyond tonight, and beyond that, we'll go day to day and see how it goes. But I really really hope we can keep her long enough that we can help her build enough confidence that she can find a great new home. 

She looks as if she needs a good friend, thanks for giving a bird a chance. You're golden.

Jealous!

I didn't read the full post, and I just read "i took her out on her first outing" skipped the rest and looked at the picture.

Totally thought she transformed herself into a pionus.

Lol! Yup! I have the worlds only transforming GCC/Pionus!

Seriously though, she's down there all fluffed up and cuddled up next to my hubs neck, and he's all sweet-talking her... If he's not careful, he may get himself a bird.

Too cool, I love Pionus (Pioni ?)! Good on you for offering a home, however, temporary (or permanent) the home may be. I would love to foster animals, but the giving them away part would be so hard.

RogerP wrote:

Too cool, I love Pionus (Pioni ?)! Good on you for offering a home, however, temporary (or permanent) the home may be. I would love to foster animals, but the giving them away part would be so hard.

I'm totally with you there, Roger.

Vicki, wow! You'll have to give Caesar her own thread, but I'd love to hear her whole story. We wouldn't want to miss out on any Nibblet news, though! It's my daily GCC dose while on travel!

Wow I am so happy that you are there too many times those birds get shoved to a corner and hope that they will just fix themselves...and YEP sounds like and Ceasar makes a full boat. There is a ton of love and 2 that are surely in need to you and keep the updates coming.

so happy things are going so good with your little nibblet! im jealous you get ceasar to! id come steel him if my dad would let me have three birds! pionus are amazing little birdies and your gonna fall in love

I really don't want to be a negative nancy, but please, please be careful about where you take Nibblet. Bird stores or whatever petstore that sells animals, I would NEVER take my birds there. You don't know what kind of diseases your bird can pick up and many illnesses are airborne. A store where there is a constant turnover of different animals and people from all sorts of places just makes me very nervous.

GlassOnion wrote:

I really don't want to be a negative nancy, but please, please be careful about where you take Nibblet. Bird stores or whatever petstore that sells animals, I would NEVER take my birds there. You don't know what kind of diseases your bird can pick up and many illnesses are airborne. A store where there is a constant turnover of different animals and people from all sorts of places just makes me very nervous.

I agree.

@GO and Zaza - I know y'all are right, and I honestly don't expect that she'll be going out much anymore for a while - largely because it's getting too cold for me to feel comfortable taking her out safely. However, this was a trip I 1) didn't feel like I could put off, and 2) didn't want to put off. The owner of that store and her manager have been so amazingly good to me, I couldn't not take Allie in to meet them (I'm going with Allie until told otherwise), especially because I'd already told them that I'd be getting one of their Blue-crowns, that I would clearly not be getting now. I realize there's a risk involved, but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do.


Now, the update!

Today has been a roller-coaster ride of emotions for me. For whatever reason I've been missing JJ like crazy and everything I've looked at or touched has reminded me of her and I've burst into tears. On the other hand, there's little Allie doing little things like going potty on request multiple times today which made me so proud of her I could bust! So, we've made a step towards potty training - which is HUGE for me because Allie has already pooped on me more times in five days than JJ did in her whole life. I'm not exaggerating. On either account. Allie pooped on my HEAD twice today when I didn't even realize she was up there. She had been sitting on the back of my chair and for some reason decided to get OFF the chair and ON to my head to go poo. (Thanks bird.) The little rascal is FAST when she decides she's got to go!

Today was a big day for little Allie. First of all she let me flip her on her back this evening to clean her mouth after her feeding. I've been (gently) trying, but she's been resisting, obviously scared. Today she let me do it. I only kept her over for a moment then turned her back over and gushed about how magnificent she was, but that was a big change in her.

I also introduced the harness to her today. As she'd never seen it before, it didn't bother her in the least. I just wore it around my neck and pet her with it today. She's still not very comfortable with me handling her wings (maybe 40% if I were to measure), so it will be a while before I do much more than what I'm doing now, but I want her to see the straps and material and know that they're not a bad thing. When she'd try to chew on them I'd try to redirect her, but there was a lot of redirecting going on. Eventually I took that toy away from her!


Wow! How exciting was that! You were here as it happened folks! I'm pretty excited by that, can you tell? LOL!

So, moving on... the OTHER thing she started letting me do today was to let me grab her and pick her up over the top of her body (covering her wings) without freaking out. She'd always step-up fine, but if I'd try to pick her up she'd freak out on me. BUT, today she's let me do it several times w/o having any major flip-outs. SO, I think that's progress!

Anyway, that's about it for today. I think she's done amazingly well for a little girl, dont you?

Now, if she'll just quit pooping on me, we'll get along just fine!

Sounds like Allie's doing GREAT! And talking already?

you re doing great vicki...keep up the good work


dusty

I am so happy for you Vicki (and jealous too, that's how I want Arthur to be)! Little Allie seems to feel very safe around you (how could she not).

And talking already? What a smart little girl!!

Wow she's a quick one!

FWIW, Scooter self potty-trained because I'd take him off of me to clean up when he did it and he'd rather hang around with me. He's not 100% reliable, but he's pretty good.

On the getting exposed to stuff while out subject, I think common sense applies. If it's a bird store, how careful are they? And to put bird stores into perspective, is this a bigger risk than exposure to what any wild birds might be carrying? Pigeons are notorious for carrying disease.
Sometimes the risk is worth it because the benefits are great.

Not taking my birds on outings like to the bird store (a very clean, safe one) is like not taking my kids out in public, because of all the what ifs. There is crap anywhere and everywhere. You just make the best choices you can for your WHOLE family. The benefits of a well socialized bird outweigh the insanely small risk of taking them to a healthy, clean, responsible bird store.

A store with many birds has mostly a closed air space as opposed to the outside with pigeons where flowy fresh air circulates constantly. There is a reason why many respectable breeders choose to have a closed aviary, because people have lost a number of birds from diseases that someone brought in. Same with why many vendors keep their items in a bird-free workshop. As for kids, we vaccinate them and they still do get sick but they voice that the are sick, as opposed to birds that won't easily show their symptoms at all. There are a millio places to take your bird out to socialize, but taking a beloved one to an enclosed bird store where one airspace contains baby birds and surrenders from god knows where, is iffy to me. I take Apple out to places, I just avoid petstores with live animals.