My guess is a cockatiel?
Close, but nope!
It’s a trick! It’s a velociraptor!
Hansey, this bird is so cool! What’s your bird’s typical day like? You say he’s not cuddly – where does he hang out if not on you? What does he eat? Do you give him special treats? What does interacting with Beaker look like?
Yay! I also have a Poicephalus – a Senegal named Facehugger. She got that nickname after she bit Christien on the cheek, drawing blood and really crunching down on the flesh with her pointy beak. Does your Peanut bathe? I haven’t been able to get my little dinosaur to bathe ever.
Wow, what a gorgeous hen! What kind of chickens do you have?
I don’t have chickens but one of my son’s friends has a few. This is Dot, my son’s favorite (so far) of the ten-hen flock:
Turns out when you hold them on their back and cradle their head, they fall asleep in your hands. I guess it reminds the hens of being in the egg. Dot is about a month old, so still a baby. Here she is when she was just a wee lass, a couple days old:
Sulfur-crested Cockatoo?
I’ll have to dig out my old pictures as a kid. My mom was a bird aficionado and we had I think 5 different birds at various times while I was growing up.
Buddy - Cockatiel that escaped. It was my mom’s first and she made some mistakes with him on the back porch. Buddy never returned and my young sisters cried their eyes out, so …
Buddy - Yes, she let me sisters name her (Buddy #2 was a female but we didn’t know for at least a year.) A Conure that lived for quite a while and side-by-side with her next one for many years.
Beavis - Yellow Naped Amazon. My mom was slowly replacing us as kids with birds who were perpetually 2-year-olds. Beavis was brilliant and had a wide vocabulary, whistled and sang songs and could literally mimic my youngest sisters voice so well it was uncanny. Beavis leaned to yell JUST like my sister, “Mooooooooom?!? Daaaaaaaaaad?!?,” and would do so from anywhere in the house if he wasn’t in the room the family happened to be in. Nobody put Beavis in the corner. Beavis lived at least 30 years with my mom, I don’t remember his exact age at death.
Quincy - My mom rescued a Sulfur-Crested Cockatoo from a friend of the family that had passed away. Cockatoos are LOUD, LOUD, but the most fun, loving and rambunctious birds I’ve ever seen. He was an absolute nut. However, he had bonded to a male, and he had issues getting pissy with my mother several times, drawing blood for a few of them. Eventually we found another man who took Quincy and (supposedly) he has(had?) a great life since. I think they can live upwards of 70 years in captivity, he might still be alive.
Well, my second guess would have to be a budgie then. I was looking at the beak first and foremost, but the light coloring of the pin feathers steered me toward cockatiel. But if it’s not a budgie, then some kind of parrotlet? Pretty sure it’s not a lovebird? Otherwise I’ve no idea, but that beak type rules out many of the larger parrots I think.
Well, he’s not cuddly, but he absolutely wants to be near us as much as possible… particularly my husband. This makes me jealous because I’ve had Beaker for longer than I’ve even known my husband, never mind how long we’ve been together, hehe. (I got Beaker in 1997, my husband and I met in 99 and got married in 2004.) It’s quite hilarious because Beaker speaks in both of our distinct voices - his, with a British accent, and then my American accent. He changes whose voice he’s talking in at any given moment depending on who he is trying to summon. ;)
So that said, our set up is this. We have an open floor plan on the main floor of our house (like is common in newer houses these days). The living room is open to the kitchen, but off of the kitchen is a room that was marketed as a “den”. This is Beaker’s room. My husband and I both work at home, and our PCs are in our living room, so Beaker is near us all day. We go in and schmooze with him quite often, and we call out to each other throughout the day. He can get a bit shrieky if we’re not giving him our undivided attention every second of the day, but that’s parrots for you. ;) I’m looking at getting him a new stand that we can have in the living room with us for additional hanging out time.
He eats a pelleted diet, supplemented with fresh veggies and fruits. He like carrots and peppers, and enjoys apples. He looooves grapes, but I try to minimize those (well, fruit in general) because they tend to be too sugary. He’s very stubborn about trying new foods, but he’ll usually try something if he sees us eating it.
His favorite treats are almonds (in the shell, so he has to work at them) and banana chips. Oh god, banana chips are like crack cocaine to him. He’ll eat a banana chip in his cage, and then after he’s finished, he’ll climb down to the bottom of his cage and lick up the crumbs like a junkie, hehe.
He’s active in the morning, generally has a nap in the early/mid-afternoon then starts getting vocal again around dinnertime. His bedtime depends on the time of year, because he’s generally ready to sleep when it’s getting dark. He usually lets me know that he’s ready to sleep because he calls out “Ready for bed?” to me, hehe. Though he occasionally tries saying that at like 10:00 AM because he expects it to summon me to him room. ;)
So basically interacting with Beaker looks like just being with him, talking to him and playing with him, even if he has no interest in crawling all over us. I should note that during the summer when he’s all hormonal, he wants to be SUPER cuddly, because he evidently wants to mate with me (any port in a storm, I guess). I mean, you know you’re a parrot owner when the phrase “No, I’m not going to let you throw up into my mouth” is something you occasionally have to say. ;) But as soon as the hormones get out of high gear, he goes back to being slightly cranky. BTW, I call Beaker “he” but I do not actually know his gender, as I’ve never bothered paying for the blood test to find out. He’s never laid an egg, but that doesn’t mean anything… my conure Mickey laid her very first egg at the ripe old age of 20. (That’s an amusing story I can tell another time.)
Anyway, I’m at a point now where I’m attempting to “re-train” him. He was never bite-y before Mickey died, and I could usually read his moods pretty well. That is, I could tell when presenting my hand whether he wanted to step up or if he wasn’t in the mood. That kind of stopped when I went to pick him up one day, he put his foot up like usual but when I got nearer instead he lashed out and bit me, hard. He’s been like that ever since. My amazing avian vet at the time suggested that in his little bird brain, he possibly blames me for his being an only bird now, thinking something like “Last time I saw Mickey, she was with you!”
In any case, I’ve been working with him daily using animal handling gloves (because African Grey bites hurt like hell) and am making progress. I think there will be a point in the future where I can get him back to cuddly status, but it’s a long road. However, I once hand tamed a wild caught parrot (I can tell that story if there’s interest), so if I can do that, I’d hope I can bring around a domestically bred one that has lost his way.
I’m 49 now, and I’ve had birds in my life for 40 of them. They’re an adventure and a lot of work and effort, but I can’t imagine not having them. And since Beaker is only 23, and can live to 50-60, there’s a good chance he’ll outlive me.
Sorry for the wall of text, though it’s usually quite hard to shut me up from talking about my birds once I get going. This thread may cause people to put me on mute. ;)
No, this thread and your Beaker stories are WONDERFUL! Our family has talked about getting a bird, but we have three cats who have never been around birds and it’s daunting to think about a critter you might need to care for for the rest of your life!
This is a cool YouTube channel on a lady who breeds and trains falcons, owls and other birds. I am hooked on her videos with her Raven.
I’m probably not the only one, but I’d like to hear the stories of Mickey’s egg and the wild parrot.
And great thread idea, Sharpe!
I’m happy to share them!
So when we were living out on Seattle’s Eastside, we had no one to watch the birds for us if we wanted to go on vacation. (Previously, I had family nearby, and my parents were always happy to watch my flock.) However, there was a place nearby that only sold parrots and parrot supplies, and she also had a parrot boarding facility next to her store. The place was great - they took fantastic care of the birds and I never worried about them when we were away. When you brought the birds in, they’d take you into the boarding facility which had cages lined up, so there were always other birds in there, but the birds couldn’t physically interact with each other… but they could certainly see each other and vocalize with each other (it was sooo loud in there, hehe). My lovebird Rufus was always such a social little thing, I honestly think he loooooved going to boarding and was always sorry to leave when I’d pick them up, hehe.
Anyway, the process was that you’d bring the birds, and when they’d bring you next door to the facility they’d point you to the cages they had set aside for your birds (size appropriate), and you could set them up with your birds own toys and any special perches they liked that you brought with you. You could leave any special treats for them to get as well.
So this particular visit, I brought the birds in, and the cage the owner had set aside for Mickey happened to be directly across the aisle from someone else’s blue crowned conure. This was almost certainly the first time Mickey had seen another blue crowned since she left the nest (honestly, blue crowns are not super common as pets compared to other conures, so I was kinda surprised to see one myself!) and both birds were IMMEDIATELY very visibly interested in each other. Mickey started vocalizing right away, and I chuckled at how adorable it was, and was glad he was going to have a friend while we were away.
Anyway, fast forward two weeks later, and I’m arriving to pick the birds up again. I go into the facility and the first thing I notice is that Mickey looks GORGEOUS. I mean, Mickey was 20 years old at this point, and wasn’t super into immaculate preening as he had been in his younger days, so his feathers often looked a bit unkempt. (Not unhealthy mind you, but a bit sloppy.) But Mickey looked absolutely fabulous. I chalked this up to perhaps the facility having better full spectrum lighting or something and forgot about it.
Several days later at home, I’m in the bird room, getting them all their dinner, and as I approach Mickey’s cage, I kind of do a double take, wondering what is that I see at the bottom of the cage???
It was an egg.
I stood there just kind of slack jawed for a few moments. At age 20, this was the moment I finally had confirmation that Mickey was a “she” and not a “he”.
I was worried because I know egg laying can be very stressful for birds, and Mickey wasn’t exactly a young bird anymore. I called the vet in the morning who told me to just make sure she had enough calcium (she recommended a supplement) and that I might want to consider getting some fake eggs to discourage more laying, because she would probably now lay one every couple of days until she had a full clutch of 3-5 eggs. I did order some eggs (you can order fake eggs for every parrot in existence) and it’s amazing how much they look like the real thing. (I guess it’s no surprise birds are fooled by them.)
She did indeed lay a few more eggs before the fakes arrived, and then, using clever sleight of hand techniques (because Mickey was very protective of those eggs!) I managed too swap out her real ones for the fake ones. I took out three real one, and left her five fake ones. Which she began to sit on very diligently.
Her real eggs were infertile, of course. She had no direct interaction with that other conure at boarding, but the vet said that just being nearby was probably all she needed to get her hormones going. All I had to do was let her sit on the fakes until she got bored of them, which took several weeks, but eventually she realized they weren’t going to hatch, and I was able to remove the fakes and store them for next time.
And there was a next time - she laid on two more occasions randomly after the initial event (the vet said that wasn’t uncommon) before she passed two years later, so it was nice to have the fakes handy. She never had any negative health effects from the laying.
Here is a photo of Mickey sitting very protectively on her five fake eggs. My brother very accurately said that “That’s a look that says ‘you reach for these eggs lady, you’re pulling back a bloody stump!’” :D
I will have to share the story of Bork, the wild caught red masked conure (also called a cherry headed conure) tomorrow, as I’ve probably rambled on enough today.
@RichVR, your Beaker is adorable! When I was in the market for a larger parrot, I was trying to decide between a cockatoo and African grey. I was weighing whether I wanted super smart or super cuddly, and I ended up going super smart. (Not that cockatoos aren’t smart, but I think greys have the edge in the parrot world.) Some days I regret that decision. ;) Then I watch a couple videos of cockatoos screaming their heads off and think maybe not, hehe. ;)
Still, I love cockatoos. If I’d gone cockatoo I probably would have gone either umbrella, moluccan or galah.
Where did you get Beaker’s name from? For my Beaker, it was mainly because when he was just a wee baby bird, his squeaky noises really sounded like Beaker from the Muppet Show, hehe. It was an added bonus that he happened to also have a beak, so it seemed to work. ;)
Aw, thank you!
That’s an Americuna. Her name is Quack and we’ve had her since she was a chick 11 years ago. Most of the other birds are gone, but we have one other who is a sex link and a few years younger than Quack.
I like the heratige birds like Quack more than the sex links we got. The sex links are bred so you can tell if they are hens by color alone.
That egg story was great! Thanks.
I love reading about birds, but I don’t think I could commit for 20+ years.
OK, so more info on my birds, starting with Pinkerton, who is bigger and older
Pinkerton is a Galah Cockatoo/Rose-Breasted Cockatoo (same species, name varies by region). He’s about 12 ounces in weight. I got him a little over 4 years ago from a parrot-specialist store in Sacramento - he was recently out of the nest at 16 weeks. He’s about 4.5 years old now.
Compared to the average cockatoo, Galahs are a bit less loud and a bit less cuddly although Pinkerton is both occasionally loud and fairly cuddly. He doesn’t like to just chill on my shoulder and tends to roam when let out of his cage. He has one problematic behavior: after roaming awhile on the desktop he will inevitably climb to the floor where he will explore peacefully for a time but then invariably decide to start “playing with” my feet which eventually leads to pinching. I’ve worked on this behavior without being able to eliminate it and now I basically let him do his thing until he gets to the foot-pinching, then back in the cage he goes.
He gets a chunk of time out of the cage every day. He eats a seed mix I get at my local chain grocery store. His cage is setup to have some direct sun every day in part of the cage and shade in the other half.
He does talk, occasionally. He will say “Hello” and “It’s OK” and “It’s OK bird” but only when he feels like it. He’s playful and a good buddy although I do get annoyed with the foot pinching.
He’s shy with other people but can be around them as long as I am there. He doesn’t get aggro with other people but he will try to flee if he gets startled.
Lastly, he is mostly a coward and lets himself get bullied by the much smaller but more aggro Peanut Bird (who is up next later today.)
Overall, he’s my buddy who sometimes pinches my feet.
Beaker is the largest parrot I’ve ever owned and is also definitely the most skittish (though I think that’s a common trait in greys). We always call him a “scaredy bird”. My lovebird Rufus was always absolutely the bully of the bunch. Tiny little thing wasn’t afraid of anything. Not his larger flockmates, not even a cocker spaniel he lunged at once (which hilariously sent the startled dog tumbling over backward).
Pinkerton sounds like quite an adorable little character!