A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall The Critter Corner adopted parakeet making progress

I don't know if any of you remember, but I"ve posted about Leslie before. We got her from my cousins that had her for a year and pretty much neglected her. on top of that they found her wild. so, this birdy has been through a lot!
I'm so excited about her progress. I was getting discouraged and posted a 'help me' thread a couple months back. the advice was, give her time. Well you all were right! when we got her in feb-march she would only move to eat and wouldn't even whistle or chirp. she's slowly been doing more things but, in the past 3 weeks she is now eating from my hand, she has torn up her favorite toy by chewing and hanging upside down on it! and will come out of her cage to eat! she isn't real comfortable with flying around yet (she does do it, but she's a nervous wreck) but at least now she exercises her wings in her cage. and she'll walk out on the outside perch and just sit and/or eat. she will also whistle back to us.(mimic a short whistle or series of whistle) and has learned a wren call. a couple of times she has murmered very low in what sounds a bit like what a bird sounds like when they are trying to talk. which is something I never even considered she'd ever do because of her upbringing.
I'm just really thrilled and wanted to share my pet story! I know there are some on here that have pet birds. thought you all would enjoy hearing about it.
and any new sugguestions would be great too.

that is awesome!

I'm glad Leslie is mending, Cricket.


Maxi's parakeets, Buttons & Ties, are still terribly people shy. They have never really recovered from their upbringing, unfortunately. Even so, they are lovely companions and seem happy enough, especially when Maxi is home to chat and sing with them.


Merme

I had all sorts of birds while growing up - my dad was in the aquarium pump manufacturing business for a while and would go to the large pet trade shows in NYC. He always brought home a bird of some kind each time he went. I had many parakeets, and the one thing I learned early is if you have more than one in a cage or room, they will pay more attention to each other, than to people.

I had a great parakeet when I was in college. His name was C.K. Dexter Haven, for Jimmy Stewart's character in the Philadelphia Story. He talked to me - said a few words, did the catcall whistle, and would sit perched on my shoulder while I would study at my desk. He was great fun, especially since I had a single room my last year in college in the dorm.

When Don and I were first married, we also had a parakeet - Silverwings. He would perch on the top of his cage most of the time, but would fly into the bathroom to perch on the medicine chest mirror while we would get ready for work each day. We had him for about 10 years. I remember one time a girlfriend of mine was visiting and she had a bit of a headache. She laid down on the couch, but couldn't rest because in her words "that stupid bird just will not shut-up!" He was telling her his whole repetoire of words and whistles and it drove her crazy!!!

I'm so glad that your bird is much more comfortable with you, and can't wait to hear about his next accomplishments!

She has done so much, just lately. there is NO telling what she'll do next. I'll try and get some pic's. I'm very proud of her. she has come a long way. she wouldn't even eat veg or fruit until I first got her to eat suet feed out of my hand. today for the first time she ate some green leaf lettuce from my hand! I fed her some then my two kids fed her some. then I got to thinking about how she's never eaten any veggies before and so I kinda put a stop to it. I didn't want to upset her insides with so much new strange food. we are all looking forward to hand feeding her again tomorrow. It shouldn't be long until she'll sit on our shoulders.

Sounds great!

Be careful with lettuce - especially iceberg lettuce - it can give them the runs pretty badly. I'm glad you thought of that and stopped.

I can certainly relate to that! especially since Ms. Leslie has learned the wren call. (of all birds! UGH) it has been too hot in the past few months to hang her cage out on the porch. In another month or two she'll spend some mornings and evening out there, oh yea, you can bet on it.... calling in all the wren's she thinks she can handle. she does make some noise! (which is actually good to hear. she didn't make ANY noise when we first got her)

yea, unfortunatly I killed a rabbit with a peach like that when I was a kid. very sad. I've never forgotten it! live and learn, i guess.

I'm gonna check out the poop in the A.M. before we feed her anymore fresh veggies.