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Post by Ira on Feb 8, 2022 11:28:20 GMT
I have acquired antibiotics! My manager wanted me to do a pcr test, which I have done, but after swabbing my tonsils I figured it was probably best not to stick what was obviously tonsilitis bacteria up my nose to swab that. 😆
I had to tie the side door of the cage shut because it barely stays closed and he'd obviously bumped it at some point, otherwise I'll come home at some point and find him out when he shouldn't be.
We'll see what happens, I guess. The budgies certainly don't seem impressed, on the rare occasions they pay attention to him, which is really only when he gets near them.
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Post by Hezz on Feb 9, 2022 0:28:50 GMT
Don’t be surprised at him going off and having a mad chirping fit. I think all parrots do this, the budgies certainly do as well. Mine seem to take it in turns, so it isn’t just one that is yelling all the time, although I do think Bunji does more than his fair share. See if you can pinpoint when his calling seems to be worst. For instance with Loki he is going to yell whenever there is a cockatoo anywhere within cooee regardless of time, but first thing in the morning as soon as he gets out of his cage is a time to have a yell - yell to the world to tell all you are still alive - and mid- to late afternoon is nother time of relentless double chirps. I say chirps, but not at all in the same category as what you get with budgies. If you can pin point times where he seems to be loudest, you have two options; either get in first (must be before he starts) with some one on one time particularly if you can get him exercising and possibly are able to wear him out, or remove yourself entirely from the situation and let someone else handle it for half an hour or so. If your head is heavy, almost any sound can seem to rip right through you. Head phones or ear plugs??
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Post by Ira on Feb 9, 2022 19:45:35 GMT
I'll bear it in mind, Hezz. Right now I'm not doing anything with him at all because I'm barely getting out of bed. The 'unexplained' yelling is mostly an evening thing. He yells if I leave the room, if I'm in the room and he's in the cage and I'm not stood right next to him talking to him, and then occasionally apparently randomly. He seems to get especially yelly when he might possibly be getting tired, because he also gets nippy when you try to remove him from screaming in your ear at that point, but then gets extra yelly when you start putting him to bed.
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Post by ffiscool on Feb 9, 2022 21:14:57 GMT
Does he have toys? I’m wondering if he could get attached to a toy, rather than only wanting you
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Post by Hezz on Feb 10, 2022 0:12:32 GMT
So you’ve proved it has nothing to do with you, really. Most birds have a dusk chorus as well, a gathering of the flock to take off and roost somewhere. It is also usually a busy time of the day in a household, with everyone home, talking, going about food prep, perhaps. Where is he in the house when all this is happening?
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Post by Ira on Feb 10, 2022 7:32:38 GMT
Oh, I forgot, he does start up when he's out of the cage when I enter the room, even if he was totally settled before and even if he was totally settled and playing with Ant. I'll start with a basic house layout. Ground floor - garage, guest bathroom, utility room, our bedroom. First floor - family living room, kitchen. Second floor - Tom/Xana's bedroom, our living room/bird room. So the usual routine, for a work day, (although this hasn't been great since he arrived due to illness and whatnot) is that Ant gets home just after 4pm and lets the birds out upstairs. He's a total hermit so he'll then spend time up there doing his own thing, interacting with the birds as and when they want to. This is when I usually get sent lots of cute photos and videos of gatherings of budgies on his arms. This is usually when they get their portion of chop for the day, which Cocoa is happy to join in with and they all eat alongside each other reasonably well. My housemates also finish work at 4, one of them works from home, whether they're in the family living room or their bedroom depends on how stressful their day has been, and making their food tends to happen anywhere between 6:30 and 8:30. I get home by 6:30 unless work runs late or I've got swimming afterwards, the swimming being a new thing. The budgies I aim to get fully covered by 7:30 because they're uncovered at 7:30 in the morning and I want to make sure that Gwen has a solid 12 hours of darkness. Cocoa I'm trying to make sure has plenty of sleep but also trying to balance making sure he gets time to socialise. He generally needs to be put away to get the budgies in because he wants all the attention and makes it difficult to get them to step up to return to their cage, so Ant usually leaves him in whilst cleaning, which is when I go to make dinner, and I generally intend to then let Cocoa back out for a bit after dinner but usually by that point he's driving us both completely up the wall with his screaming to be let out. The yelling to be let out is the only one I'm at all able to get in before, and that's literally first thing in the morning when I uncover him if I get him out straight away. Otherwise later in the day it's difficult to even get near the cage because there's barely a break between the calls, and when there is by the time I turn around, speak and take half a step towards the cage he's started again. ffiscool he does have toys. I've seen him poke one occasionally. He seems to like the curly cut paper straws on some of the shredding toys. I have tried to demonstrate other toys but it's hard to tell if he's interested. I can't read him like I can the budgies. He shies away a little if I try to offer a toy whilst he is on me. He generally wants whatever is in our hands, but then is nervous of the hands. Outside of the cage, his favourite thing to explore is a seagrass tent that I attached a pair of seagrass mats to to make a climbable shredding toy. He likes to tuck himself into the tent and chew at it, and occasionally calls from inside it, but that's generally more tolerable and seems to be a 'are you still there?' type of call if we've not been talking. If he repeats it a couple of times then he usually quiets if we say his name quietly.
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Post by starrymist on Feb 10, 2022 21:29:14 GMT
I’m sorry you’ve had a tough start to having him. It must be stressful for you all. Hopefully he will settle down with time.
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Post by Hezz on Feb 11, 2022 0:32:54 GMT
Yeah, I get how hard it is to make a move when they are calling all the time. Don’t worry, Loki does the same thing. If he is being very loud and I cannot let him out, for whatever reason, I do walk to his cage and say “shhh” with all the actions, finger to the lips, and he will often stop yelling to give me a “ssss”, his version of shh and repeats after me. It doesn’t work all the time, but maybe could if I had the opportunity to use it more, rather than OH getting all “ahhh” about the noise. It certainly doesn’t work when there are strangers in the house.
Another thing that works sometimes, and you might be able to work on it more, is if he is calling and I would go to let him out, but not reward the calling, and have reached that stalemate of calling as soon as you go to move, start talking quite loudly to him as you turn and don’t stop if he starts calling again, as though you are talking over the top of him. It seems to take them off guard a bit.
You could also try something of a combination of telling him “shhh”, and if no response, leave the room. Leave it 10-15 mins and try again. You would have to keep the same time period between the “shh” and you leaving so that he gets to know what comes next. Other than that, I don’t have any more ideas at the moment., except of course pick one course of action and stick to it for a decent amount of time. It may be a week or a month before you see any progress.
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Post by Hezz on Feb 14, 2022 23:44:08 GMT
How are you getting on, Ira?
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Oct 6, 2011 7:41:27 GMT
Marianne Marlow
Administrator
George, Daisy, Iris, Billy, Peter, Chipper, Dinku, Barney, Ayla and Rocky
Posts: 28,853
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Post by Marianne Marlow on Feb 15, 2022 8:19:44 GMT
Hope things with Cocoa are okay and you're feeling better Ira
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Post by Ira on Feb 27, 2022 11:28:11 GMT
Sorry, between my health, work, and Munchy it's taken me a while to get around to this.
Essentially I came to the conclusion that Cocoa was yelling so much because he needed more than I was able to offer him, and thus we made the 6-7 hour round trip to take him back to the breeder.
Definitely wouldn't have be able to manage him as well as Munchy right now.
He was so adorable the entire way in the car, until the last 5 minutes when the yelling began. Before that it was sweet burbles and grumbles, playing in his tunnels, and scoffing millet and apple.
Hayley, the breeder, brought his sibling in and they reunited and were chasing around all over the lot of us, and then cuddled up together in Cocoa's seagrass tent. It was soooo cute and made me feel glad that they were back together, they'd clearly missed each other. Nana, the yellow one, had been louder since Cocoa left, but now the most noise they make is the odd contact call to each other. They're playing together and Nana now likes to divebomb people from inside the woven willow tunnel that I left for them. Cocoa kept the things that I had specifically for him. The budgies liked some of them but I don't need Gwen trying to nest.
So yes, linnies, even/especially hand-reared, are definitely better in pairs. Hayley prefers to sell them in pairs for that reason, but was happy that I knew birds enough to be okay with one. And I think I made the right decision for everyone. We're now much less stressed, Cocoa and Nana are happy. Hayley said she'll either keep them or try to find them a home together. If I'd had more energy/been more enthusiastic about the species, I might have taken them both, but we're sticking to budgies and just enjoying our current flock for the time being, and the linnies are both happy and well cared for.
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Post by Loz on Feb 27, 2022 11:35:23 GMT
This is a happy ending for all.
Glad you are getting your peaceful life back and for the reunited linnie siblings.
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Post by ffiscool on Feb 27, 2022 13:20:06 GMT
Sounds like that was the issue, glad they’re together again, and peace (minus budgie noise) is restored
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Post by criswell on Feb 27, 2022 19:10:22 GMT
It's sweet that they were so pleased to see each other. I'm glad there was a happy resolution.
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Post by Hezz on Feb 28, 2022 0:59:28 GMT
Ah, I thought this might have been the outcome. At least now you know, you tried, you gave it a go. Chalk that one up to experience.
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