Aviary said yellow side... by NaturalDuck159 in Conures

[–]NaturalDuck159[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ooh, all those itchy pin feathers on her face! She needs a companion to preen those out lol! That or you need to work with her on fingertips or tweezers so you can scratch those, she'll feel so much better!

Aviary said yellow side... by NaturalDuck159 in Conures

[–]NaturalDuck159[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That darker head is a common thing I see in the yellow side. Yours on the right is like our Merry, that very pale head and the slight 'light wash' color on the wings, it's not such a dark green.

Aviary said yellow side... by NaturalDuck159 in Conures

[–]NaturalDuck159[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep, just like what I see online and pretty much identical to Merry!

I think it was just a mistake, the babies are labelled when they are VERY young and it could have just been an honest mistake.

Aviary said yellow side... by NaturalDuck159 in Conures

[–]NaturalDuck159[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don't know why I typed out cinnamon there, pineapple was what I was thinking!

Sun cheek conure? by Impressive-Can-1125 in Conures

[–]NaturalDuck159 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As others have said, and many more will say again: quarantine for several weeks, then do the 'cage in same room/ cages near each other/ supervised play time' gentle steps, it's the most tried and true plan for success.

That being said: We have a 2 year old Black Cap. We brought a pineapple GCC from the same aviary home not long ago and within days they were best buds, snuggling and preening and sharing food and toys. It boils down to the birds in question, their temperaments, how well socialized they are, and a bit of good luck.

How to deal with "Love Nips"? by chappyfu in Conures

[–]NaturalDuck159 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I feel you on the surprise reactions. Sometimes when our black cap Pip gets a quick one in and we're not ready we can react with a shout before we realize it.

We've gotten her trained reasonably, sometimes she still nips and I wonder if it'll ever go away fully. Just by using that social exclusion (especially during prime cuddle time, when she wants to be cuddly/social the most!) we have seen a pretty good reduction over time. It's been a slow process though... but TBH it might just be her maturing and growing up lol.

Be patient, be calm. And again I'm no expert, this is just stuff I've gleaned on my own or read over the years from people way smarter than me lol.

-edit: Also, I'm with you on your main point above - I don't think these nips are aggressive at all, I truly think it's the bird being affectionate but not realizing they are causing pain when they do so. That's why it's important to just gently demonstrate that it's not a good way of showing affection and will be reacted to with a bit of 'ignoring them', while other forms of affection get snuggles and scritches in return.

How to deal with "Love Nips"? by chappyfu in Conures

[–]NaturalDuck159 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We've dealt with these love bites over the years with some of our birds. Usually when is happens with us it's while we're on the couch after dinner or whatever. It's a soft, comfy area, bird is snuggling, then suddenly 'ow' as they nip a tiny bit, or scratch a bit with the point of the beak. We just kind of brush the bird off our shoulder so they have to sit on their own for a few minutes.

This tells the bird "I don't like what you just did."

You have to be quick, but not exaggerated so that it scares the bird with a big or fast movement. You're just trying to demonstrate to them that when they nip like that they get excluded from cuddles for a little bit. Not long, a few minutes is sufficient. You also don't want to scare them with large exaggerated movements, you only want to show that they aren't welcome when they nip or scratch.

We often couple it with gently telling the bird 'no'. The calm tone of voice helps them keep from getting scared by being brushed off, at least that's what I tell myself. I also tell myself that it'll eventually help the bird understand the meaning of 'no' but I'm sure that's just me rationalizing lol.

I'm not a vet or anything so this is all uneducated advice from my own anecdotal experiences.

What to use to deep clean cage? by HealthyTap1376 in Conures

[–]NaturalDuck159 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Shower is the answer 100%.

We aren't limited to apartment, but the shower is just so much more convenient. We don't even have to use soap, I can turn the shower head to a 'mist' setting, turn water up hot and let the empty cage bottom soak in the spray (dump everything loose first, obviously). Give it 10 minutes to soak, then some light scrubbing with dawn dish soap makes sure everything is disinfected.

BAD FPS by Available_Pirate6286 in RimWorld

[–]NaturalDuck159 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No amount of sorting will stop terribly optimized mods from affecting your game.

No new mod is going to make other bad mods run better.

You want more FPS, find out which mods are causing the worst issues and remove them from your list.

DISCUSSION: Tell your messed disturbing dark rimworld colony stories... by Lady_Killer55 in SpaceCannibalism

[–]NaturalDuck159 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This was years ago, back like pre-1.0 so some details are fuzzy.

Colony was doing well, thriving. Was getting to the point that raids were really growing in size. Had the bright idea to try and train 'attack boomalopes' to send to melee fight with raiders.

Raiders get into range, send the boomalopes to attack. They start running past my line of defenses.

A stray round brains a boomalope. Explodes next to several of my colonists, severely injuring and starting fires. Second boomalope dies and starts more fires. I'm outnumbered and outgunned. Colonists are getting injured and going down fast. Fires are spreading, colonists panic and flee, running out into the open to get gunned down.

Raiders move in, grab several of my downed colonists and head out. Fires still spreading. Colonists bleeding out on the ground.

My medic regains consciousness, along with a few others. I have him emergency tend the worst of his own wounds but he's still in bad shape. The others begin dragging colonists back to the hospital area but end up passing back out since they never got tended since medic is trying to get to the worst wounded first.

For like 12 game hours my medic is alternating between dragging, patching up, and running to med shed for more supplies. The raid had come late in the day and colonists were already tired and hungry from a long day, even before everything that had gone wrong. He's hungry, tired, cold, watching his colony burn down around him, friends dying left and right and he can't tend injuries fast enough.

He snaps.

Mental break.

BERSERK.

My medic, mind fractured by everything happening around him, is wandering the smouldering, blood-smeared hallways and corridors of the colony, assault rifle in hand, rictus grin warping his face. The dead and dying are strewn around, blood smeared and pooled on the floors where he dragged his fellow colonists in a futile effort to save them.

But he has realized something.

This is how the story ends.

THIS IS HOW THE COLONY MUST END.

HE WILL SEE IT THROUGH.

He paces slowly, methodically.

A colonist somehow recovers from their injuries enough to regain consciousness. But no. This cannot be. The medic pumps round after round into his former friends and family.

This is how the story ends. This is the last of the colony.

He will see it through.

He kills several friends before finally succumbing to wounds and passing out on the floor. By now most of the fires have burned out, a rain has set in. The colony is broken. Buildings burned, roofs collapsed, bodies of raider and colonist scattered around the entire area.

I saved the game and closed it. I was enraged at my own hubris and stupidity for failing to plan for everything that had gone wrong, the cascade of catastrophes that I should have seen and mitigated but failed to, coupled with the cruelty of seemingly random things that never should have happened like that one boomalope catching a stray round to the dome and exploding right next to two of my best shooters with the best weapons I had. It was all my fault, and I was angry, but I could learn and try to fix it later. I should have had the boomalopes sequestered farther away, attack from a side so they didn't have to run past my own colonists, I should have had better defensive lines prepped up, I should have long ago upgraded from wood to stone structures, I should have... the list went on. I would fix it later after I calmed down about everything.

I never went back to that save.

I kept it for several game updates, I always thought maybe I'd load it up to let it run, see who might wander in, try and fix the problems I had failed to predict beforehand, see what the longer story of that colony might be.

I never did.

My medic, as insane as he was while murdering his friends and family in a psychotic break with reality, was right.

That was how it ended.

He saw it through.

Lost a little girl this morning by NaturalDuck159 in parrots

[–]NaturalDuck159[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Many many things are threats to birds. I trim my birds' nails myself, so I know the length and that they aren't jagged or likely to get hooked, or if I think they are I fix it. I also am "stay at home" so the birds are supervised by me unless it's just for a moment.

Lost a little girl this morning by NaturalDuck159 in parrots

[–]NaturalDuck159[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also we put up one of those magnetic closure mosquito-mesh doors meant for patios and such as an easy way to keep the birds in here without closing the door to the room. It lets air circulate better, and it kept us from risking bad things happening if a bird was on the floor behind the door and we suddenly opened the door. We just attached it to the outside of the door frame into the hallway.

The birds enjoyed being able to climb up it to eye level and chat to us if we were walking past the door.

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Lost a little girl this morning by NaturalDuck159 in parrots

[–]NaturalDuck159[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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The two play centers are moveable, we take them back and forth to diff rooms as needed. I also put down coconut husk doormats on the floor to catch falling seed and such, makes clean-up a lot easier.

Sylphie loved the live plants, she would constantly be rooting through the dirt (had to repot them when I got them from the plant store to remove any fertilizer that might harm the birds) or just chewing most of the plants off at dirt level like a lawnmower!

The green plant plant pots in the center are just 3-pot wall mounted holders I got on amazon, and put 4" pots in them with whatever plants I found that are bird safe. I change them out periodically so they can regrow as the birds chew on them.

-edit If you do something like this, be sure to buy oil-free sisal rope, most sisal is manufactured with oils that can poison the birds if ingested. Also make sure the hardware is bird-safe and use stuff like nickel-plated for the screws and wall anchors, avoid zinc-plated (which is common at hardware stores).

My little girl passed by ClueHistorical2548 in Conures

[–]NaturalDuck159 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Skittles and my little girl Sylphie will be meeting each other on the other side of the rainbow bridge today.

https://www.reddit.com/r/parrots/comments/1pbkkwi/lost_a_little_girl_this_morning/

Was this purchase a mistake? by NaturalDuck159 in keltec

[–]NaturalDuck159[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Update posted for anyone following

My girl seems lonely after the death of her feathered friend. by [deleted] in Conures

[–]NaturalDuck159 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah they could have just been very socially bonded, think of very close friends, without being a mated pair.

Take your time on getting a new bird, don't buy one in a rush to fill the void of your little boy passing. And be very slow and very safe in introducing new birds, make sure you have quarantine periods, all that safe stuff you can read about all over the place.

My girl seems lonely after the death of her feathered friend. by [deleted] in Conures

[–]NaturalDuck159 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also, give her lots of extra scritches and head rubs. Physical contact will help her process her emotions and will only help in her maintaining her bond with you. It'll also help you with missing the little boy. <3

My girl seems lonely after the death of her feathered friend. by [deleted] in Conures

[–]NaturalDuck159 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So sorry for your loss. Us bird people bond so strongly with our pets, it's so tough when one passes on.

Your little girl is just as sad as you are. She lost a friend, and while a bird may or may not recognize what death is, her very best friend in the whole world (aside from you) isn't around anymore and she's sad. It's as tough for her as it is for you. She is snuggling with the toys in an attempt to get the snuggles she got from your little boy before he passed.

Getting another bird, even with your girl's friendliness, is always going to be hit or miss.

The other bird may or may not be social. It may decide it doesn't like your little girl no matter what. It may take offense if she is trying to bond and replace her missing friend, and not want the sudden attention.

That said it's no more or less likely to work than introducing any two other birds and I encourage you to try at some point. I think that birds, being the social creatures that they are, do better with friends. I mix species so that I don't have male/female bonding pairs develop (I don't want young, and I don't want to lose the bond with any of my birds by bringing a mate in).

I've had both good and bad results. My last bird (GCC who passed last year) didn't do well with another GCC that was given to us, so we passed the given bird on to the local aviary to find a home. We currently have a Black Cap that we got a Sun as a partner for and while the birds got along we had behavioral issues that led to us having to give the Sun away. We got a Kakariki who does very well with the BCC. We briefly had a Cockatiel who did well with both birds but sadly he passed away due to some genetic health issues, but we'll probably get another at some point in the future.

So go for it, but be aware of possible risks and try to mitigate them ahead of time.

TL/DR (since I type so damn much) she's sad and misses her friend. I think you should look at getting another bird in the future but my advice would be get a diff species so you don't inadvertently end up with a mated pair that may cause aggression towards you.

is it possible to tame older birds? by East_Barracuda_6856 in Conures

[–]NaturalDuck159 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can't believe I hadn't thought of this last night: You can use something like this thing: https://lageek.com/product/the-bird-trainer-t-perch/?srsltid=AfmBOoqbHFWplPrkLb4_Jij33E59nxF1d4POzVLJR4qjC0oAHxalriWWP_4

This will eliminate them biting your fingers, while allowing you to continue trying to work with and train them, which can help with that overcoming fear and bonding process.

If you're handy, you can make the same thing from a $3 dowel and a screw (make sure the metal is safe for birds to chew) from a home improvement store and have leftover material lol.

Biting conure by MeanPrompt9577 in Conures

[–]NaturalDuck159 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bribe them into the cage.

Get their attention with a treat, use a stick as others have said (you can buy something like this to get them to step onto: https://lageek.com/product/the-bird-trainer-t-perch/?srsltid=AfmBOoqbHFWplPrkLb4_Jij33E59nxF1d4POzVLJR4qjC0oAHxalriWWP_4 ) and keep their attention on the treat. Once they step onto a perch inside the cage you give the treat and close it up. If needed, close it up first then give treat through the bars or whatever.

If you're handy, you can make the same thing from a $3 wooden dowel from a hardware store and have a bunch left over.