From: Macaws-Digest-Owner@newwave.net To: Macaws-Digest@newwave.net Subject: Macaws Digest V6 #641 Reply-To: macaws@newwave.net Errors-To: Macaws-Digest-Owner@newwave.net Precedence: Macaws Digest Friday, 27 December 1996 Volume 06 : Number 641 In this issue: MacCuddle Birds Blue & Gold Macaw Re: Severe Macaw Metal halide v. Vitalite (x-posted) Re: Macaws Digest V6 #640 Re: Macaws Digest V6 #640 Re: Macaws Digest V6 #640 Re: Blue & Gold Macaw re: B&B talking & lory for Cathy Re: Blue & Gold Macaw Re: Macaws Digest V6 #640 Re: Blue & Gold Macaw See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the Macaws or Macaws-Digest mailing lists. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: piedcat@juno.com Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 02:58:29 PST Subject: MacCuddle Birds I too, wish I had a cuddle bird, but ADORE my MacAmazon Bodie. ACtually, when she sees me pet and scritch and love BobTheCat (the cat), she watches intently, and then for the next half hour or so she will sort of tolerate my stroking her from head to tail. Closest we get to cuddles. Oh yes, I can hold her under my chin, when she is in this mood. Also, when toweled. Jealousy is a magnificent tool! Pied cat ------------------------------ From: "Steve Mullin" Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 06:19:40 -0600 Subject: Blue & Gold Macaw I recently purchased a 2 year old male B&G. He's really a very sweet bird. Currently all he's interested in eating is nuts. I want to move him over to pellet food but when I put it in his dish he won't eat it. I'm a novice on birds and I'd like any help possible. What is the best way to switch him over to pelleted food and which pelleted food is the best as far as taste so he will like it when he tastes it. I also have a 18 month old red-headed Amazon and she too will not eat the pelleted food. But she will eat almost anything I give here. She has a more varied diet then the B&G. Steve Thanks for using Gulf Coast Web Pages Houston, Texas http://gcwp.com steve.mullin@gcwp.com ------------------------------ From: "annie.hart" Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 08:12:20 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Severe Macaw On Thu, 26 Dec 1996, Barry Thaxton wrote: > I haven't tried a putting him in a box. I'm not sure I could that. Even > when I put him in his cage, he calls my name and says "let me out". > > Barry Barry, The box really does work for my conure...I just have not been able to put Galen in it yet because he just seems so much like a baby. It is only for 5 minutes at a time and has really changed the attitude of the conure. She rarely nips anymore. Annie ------------------------------ From: DH Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 05:31:04 -0800 (PST) Subject: Metal halide v. Vitalite (x-posted) I have been learning about setting up a reef tank, and one of the items that has come up is lighting, since coral needs quite a bit more light than fish. Metal halides have been recommended as something that most closely approximates the sun's light. Until now, all I've ever heard of were full-spectrum Vitalites, but metal halide is supposedly, to the reef world, what Vitalites are to the bird world. And I am being told that metal halide lighting is even closer to natural sunlight than Vitalites. I've been thinking about setting up some interior lighting over the birds' cages, and I like the idea of setting up one metal halide light between the two big cages (over the play tree), because it gives off some heat, and would be nice when the birds come out of the shower as a place to sit and preen. Any thoughts on metal halide lighting? Something I don't know that is a concern for the birds? (The light would be approximately 3-4 feet above their heads, and would not be directly on the cages, but shining in between, so some peripheral light/heat would probably be felt on the interior sides of the cages.) Many thanks for the advice. \|/ O<....spector@netcom.com ^(_)^ spector had a little bird, a 'tiel hen named Merlot, _||__ and everywhere that spector went, the hen was sure to go! ------------------------------ From: ElZortan@aol.com Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 10:06:09 -0500 Subject: Re: Macaws Digest V6 #640 Hi. I have a couple of questions. First I have my Blue and Gold, Rio. I hand fed him and he is very bonded to me, and I'll admit, very spoiled. He is now 11 months old. I have an amazon and 2 cockatiels, but all are in different rooms in the house. My amazon is a good talker and learned very fast and at a young age. Rio hasn't said his first word yet. When do macaws learn how to talk and does anyone have any advice for me to use in teaching him? Also I am thinking about getting a rainbow lori. Does anyone know about these birds. They are so pretty. I have heard of their special diets and of how messy they are. Thank you, Cathy ------------------------------ From: Denise Osborne Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 10:57:26 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Macaws Digest V6 #640 Cathy- From my experience all birds learn to talk at different rates (or not at all) depending on the individual birds as well as the species (please remember that each bird is unique.) Speaking in general terms the best talkers with the largest vocabularies are the amazons and african greys. This may be why your amazon learned so fast and so quickly (just genetics). Macaws in general don't usually speak as well, as clearly, or have the extensive vocabularies of the amazons or greys (though some do). I've noticed it sometimes takes them a little longer to get started on talking (maybe they mature slower?). I noticed you said that all of your birds are in different rooms. Is there a reason you keep them separated? Are they able to hear each other when they are separated? One thing I've found is that many birds tend to pick up words much more easily from other birds than they do humans. Maybe it's a competition thing or just a bird thing...I'm not sure. If your amazon like to talk to himself or you a lot and your macaw could hear him, he might pick up words from the amazon. Other than this, young birds can pick up speaking, if you simply talk to them a lot...just as if it were a general conversation. (Heck, i even speak to my computer and appliances). Make sure that you speak slowly and clearly. Denise (in Miami) ...who doesn't know why she all of a sudden thinks herself to be so qualified to dish out information . You wrote: > Hi. I have a couple of questions. First I have my Blue and Gold, Rio. I hand > fed him and he is very bonded to me, and I'll admit, very spoiled. He is now > 11 months old. I have an amazon and 2 cockatiels, but all are in different > rooms in the house. My amazon is a good talker and learned very fast and at > a young age. Rio hasn't said his first word yet. When do macaws learn how > to talk and does anyone have any advice for me to use in teaching him? Denise Osborne dosborne@buaxp1.barry.edu http://gator.naples.net/~nfn03834/birds.html ------------------------------ From: "Robert" Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 10:31:00 -0600 Subject: Re: Macaws Digest V6 #640 Are you talking about a green naped lorikeet? If so, I personally think they are hilarious to watch. Lories and lorikeets have a higher metabolism than most parrots. In the wild they eat nectar. They make special nectar mixes for them and pretty bird makes a small pellet for them. I've heard if they are on pellets, there not near as messy. You would still need to give fruits and vegetables. They seem to be easy going birds for the most part but the do seem to have a temper that shows it's self faster than I've seen in most parrots. Hope this helps you some. Marie in OK ------------------------------ From: Evan Coffield Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 09:10:02 -0800 Subject: Re: Blue & Gold Macaw Hi, steve, welcome to the line. i also have seedeaters and am currently switching these guys over. try fruit juice on the pellets and mix with the seed, but very very very slowly decrease the seed they will start taking to the pellets soon. cindy if not someone said to give the pellets and hold the seed till later in the day after vegies, fruits and pellets are given then if they don't eat it, give them the daily amounts of seed i didn't try this. Steve Mullin wrote: > > I recently purchased a 2 year old male B&G. He's really a very sweet bird. > Currently all he's interested in eating is nuts. I want to move him over to > pellet food but when I put it in his dish he won't eat it. I'm a novice on > birds and I'd like any help possible. What is the best way to switch him > over to pelleted food and which pelleted food is the best as far as taste so > he will like it when he tastes it. > > I also have a 18 month old red-headed Amazon and she too will not eat the > pelleted food. But she will eat almost anything I give here. She has a > more varied diet then the B&G. > > Steve > Thanks for using Gulf Coast Web Pages > Houston, Texas > http://gcwp.com > steve.mullin@gcwp.com ------------------------------ From: Tom Wahl Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 11:28:02 -0800 Subject: re: B&B talking & lory for Cathy ElZortan@aol.com wrote: > > Hi. I have a couple of questions. First I have my Blue and Gold, Rio. I hand > fed him and he is very bonded to me, and I'll admit, very spoiled. He is now > 11 months old. I have an amazon and 2 cockatiels, but all are in different > rooms in the house. My amazon is a good talker and learned very fast and at > a young age. Rio hasn't said his first word yet. When do macaws learn how > to talk and does anyone have any advice for me to use in teaching him? > Also I am thinking about getting a rainbow lori. Does anyone know about these > birds. They are so pretty. I have heard of their special diets and of how > messy they are. > Thank you, > Cathy Hi Cathy! I can't tell you much about your B&G, I'm a new owner myself, but I've often read that they will start to say "hello" often before they are even weened. This of course is an individual thing. As to a rainbow lory (really lorikeet, also known as a Swainson's lorikeet) the description I just read says that they will eat not only nectar, but also insects, and some corn. I have a blue streaked lory. I wouldn't trade him for anything, but at they same time, I wouldn't buy another lory. It gets kinda old keeping his cage clean, and after 5 years it's a bit of a stretch to interact with him as much as he would like. He loves to sit on my shoulder, but what a mess of warm goo going down your back! I personally don't feel that a purely pelleted diet is adequate, as their digestive system was not designed for a dry diet. Flash has done quite well for almost 6 years on Mynah bird pellets (fruit based) mixed with Pretty Bird lory pellets (recent addition) soaked with a little apple juice and hot water. I let it soak until mushy. To this I add a mixture of powdered sugar, corn meal, coconut shavings, banana baby cereal, and powdered milk. He also gets a little apple and/or grape (easy on the grapes, they don't tolerate high iron) pretty much on a daily basis. That's a lot to keep up with, and the cage must be kept clean, it can get ripe pretty quick. Like I said, I love my lory, but wouldn't get another! Feel free to e-mail if I can help any more. Tom ------------------------------ From: "D. Thomas" Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 14:27:51 +0000 Subject: Re: Blue & Gold Macaw > I recently purchased a 2 year old male B&G. He's really a very sweet bird. > Currently all he's interested in eating is nuts. I want to move him over to > pellet food but when I put it in his dish he won't eat it. I'm a novice on > birds and I'd like any help possible. What is the best way to switch him > over to pelleted food and which pelleted food is the best as far as taste so > he will like it when he tastes it. > > I also have a 18 month old red-headed Amazon and she too will not eat the > pelleted food. But she will eat almost anything I give here. She has a > more varied diet then the B&G. > > Steve > Thanks for using Gulf Coast Web Pages > Houston, Texas > http://gcwp.com > steve.mullin@gcwp.com > > Hi Steve, The brand of pellet that our birds have started eating the fastest when introduced to it was ZuPreem. The first day Kayla and Yoshi started eating it right away and then within the next few days Zeus and Cookie started eating it. Lotus will eat it sometimes when he is hungry enough, but if I have already given him a peanut or some veggies then he isn't hungry enough to bring himself to eating it. What I do when giving them something new is to give them less or no treats the evening before so that the next day they will be hungrier than usual. Then the next morning I give them nothing except the new food item and that is what they have in their dishes all day. That evening I will give them their veggies and inspect who has eaten how much of the new food item. The next day they will be expected again to eat the new food item but they may not be as hungry so I will usually only give them a small portion of veggies or healthful treat that evening. Sometimes putting some veggies that they like in with a small amount of pellets will incourage them to taste the pellets while they are eating the veggies (this will have to be removed in a few hours as it will spoil). You can also offer wholewheat toast with peanut butter and pellets inside, this will get them used to the taste and may be something to try for the more stuborn birds. You can also put fruit juice on the pellets to add to the flavour and to soften the pellets, this will also spoil quickly. Denise (in Halifax), Douglas (Husband), Kayla and Cookie (M2's), Yoshi (CAG), Zeus (B&G), Lotus (DYHA), and our charming house guest Sam (Maroon Bellied Conure). http://users.atcon.com/~dthomas/ Feel free to respond directly to: dthomas@mail.atcon.com ------------------------------ From: "D. Thomas" Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 14:38:03 +0000 Subject: Re: Macaws Digest V6 #640 > Hi. I have a couple of questions. First I have my Blue and Gold, Rio. I hand > fed him and he is very bonded to me, and I'll admit, very spoiled. He is now > 11 months old. I have an amazon and 2 cockatiels, but all are in different > rooms in the house. My amazon is a good talker and learned very fast and at > a young age. Rio hasn't said his first word yet. When do macaws learn how > to talk and does anyone have any advice for me to use in teaching him? > Also I am thinking about getting a rainbow lori. Does anyone know about these > birds. They are so pretty. I have heard of their special diets and of how > messy they are. > Thank you, > Cathy > Hi Cathy, Our B&G learned to talk just from us talking to him, other birds and to each other within context of what is going on around us. Zeus said his first word at approximately 6 months of age. Repetition is ok, but I choose to do that within context as much as I can. So long as he is exposed to alot of talking I am sure that he will learn. If you put your Amazon in the same room and make a big deal about it everytime he talks, that may help to encourage/teach your B&G that talking gets a bird alot of attention. Then he may start to experiment with it himself. If you think that he tried to say something make a big deal about it even it you couldn't understand what he was trying to say, this will encourage him further. Denise (in Halifax), Douglas (Husband), Kayla and Cookie (M2's), Yoshi (CAG), Zeus (B&G), Lotus (DYHA), and our charming house guest Sam (Maroon Bellied Conure). http://users.atcon.com/~dthomas/ Feel free to respond directly to: dthomas@mail.atcon.com ------------------------------ From: Frank Lombardi Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 12:57:08 -0600 Subject: Re: Blue & Gold Macaw At 06:19 AM 12/27/96 -0600, you wrote: >I recently purchased a 2 year old male B&G.I want to move him over to >pellet food but when I put it in his dish he won't eat it What is the best way to switch him >over to pelleted food and which pelleted food is the best as far as taste so >he will like it when he tastes it. >Steve Hello steve Well I can't tell you what pellets taste the best ( they all taste bad to me ) but we use roudybush It has no added sugar no dyes I like that and the birds seem to like it to. I have a conversion diet on my web page you may want to try. It works all most all the time. We switched our birds with it , we tried everything else and non of the other ways worked. please check it out the URL is in our signature good luck and let us know how it worked. Hugs to u and u'r feathered friends!! Meg, Frank Dunkin (Red-lored amazon), Newton (Yellow Nape Amazon) Clarence (Umbrella Cockatoo), Player (Blue Streak Lory) see photos, first aid kit supplies and conversion diet at: http://www.flex.net/users/lom/pets.htm Low cost long distance phone service only $0.11.9/min see http://freedomstarr.slctnet.com/?LO5135640 http://www.angelfire.com/biz/Information ------------------------------ End of Macaws Digest V6 #641 **************************** To subscribe to Macaws-Digest, send the command: subscribe macaws-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@newwave.net". 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