Birds

[BigDaddyAdo]

Do any of you guys or gals keep birds?

[ivo]

I do a female cockatiel. Very high maintenance but very adorable.

[Ghoti]

No, just appreciate watching them, feathered or not

Chers,
Scott

[BigDaddyAdo]

I just bought a very tame, hand raised Major Mitchel Cockatoo.

[pfeff]

I've had over the years:

3 hand reared Cockatiels
A hand reared Indian Ringneck
And the best of all a hand reared Scaley Breasted Lorikeet (3/4 scaley, 1/4 rainbow lori)
Budgies
Quails
Peachfaces
Canaries (feed the males alittle bit of chilli, they love it! and yes it is ok for them to eat it)

Just remember as with your fish, feed them a varied diet.

My Cockatiels would eat seed & lettuce (wouldnt go near anything else).
My Ringneck would eat some fruit and seed
My Lori would eat anything! He loved bottlebrush flowers, mangoes, mandarins, apple and of course the nectar powder is a staple of their diet (they don't eat seed because of their tubular tongue)
Budgies love milkthistle

Just be sure to give your Major Mitchel a rounded diet and not too many sunflower seeds they are to birds what lollies are to us! They love them and often sift through their food to find them but they are very fattening from what i've seen and heard.

[goodoo]

They live for 100 years those cockys. I hope your kids and there kids like birds.

[BigDaddyAdo]

I already know about the SF seeds but they make a great training treat.

MM Cockatoos also love chillis. You just need to make sure they don't give you a big kiss after eating one.

I need a license for my MM so I can't take her home yet but we visit her and spend a bit of time with her when we can.

She is a great bird and very affectionate. She is housed next to a bird that talks so is already speaking quite well.

[pfeff]

Awesome! Hopefully not to many of the badwords...

Class 1 or 2? I had a class 1 license for a year when I looked at getting a pair of H/R King Parrots.

Have fun with her. As Goodoo said, I hope your kids know what they are getting themselves in for!

[BigDaddyAdo]

Class 1. Most didn't require any license. Of course I choose one of the few that does. It chose a particular bird (or rather she chose us) rather than deciding on a type of bird first.

My 7 year old has already decided that she is going to take her after we die.

[goodoo]

My cousins in Temora (out Bush) Have a cockatoo that has been through 3 generations. Its one angry bird.