Wonder Woman (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} crankygirlie) wrote,@ 2007-05-15 01:44:00 |
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Gold cap conure needs a home
I received a forwarded message today regarding a gold cap conure, which is the same kind of bird that Micah is.
The letter:
Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that I need to find a home for my little gold-capped conure, Niko. He is healthy and has had annual check-ups since he was born in 2002. He is very affectionate with his "flock" (Ed note: I believe that she refers to the people flock here) but does not readily accept outsiders, which is the major issue for us. We have lots of people staying with us for extended periods and two very social kids whose friends are constantly coming and going. It is a bad match with Niko's temperament, exacerbated by the fact that he is flighted. I don't want to clip his wings, mostly because I feel that his quality of life is better as a flighted bird but also because we have cats and it wouldn't be safe for him. I also don't want to keep him caged every time we have visitors.
It has taken me a long time to come to this decision, and still is not an easy one for me, but now I am just concerned to find a good home for him. Niko doesn't talk but has many other endearing qualities. He loves baths and showers, poops on command over the sink in the morning, is very cuddly and loves green grapes and banana chips. He is also very beautiful. He has stayed many times with our trusted bird sitter and has always gotten along well with other birds but I wouldn't recommend him for a household with small children or with a lot of commotion. And I would really like to find someone who would not clip Niko's wings.
Disclaimer:
Before I say all this, Niko is not my bird. I can't take him because Micah is a somewhat hormonal hen (so bringing a strapping young lad into the house may not be the best idea) and she is only with me until her owners come home again and I would not want to let Niko become fond of her and then have her leave him. I am speculating and assuming some behavioral things based on my knowledge of parrots and the breed.
Possible Dealbreakers and Complications:
Niko is only 5 years old, and he may live up to 35 years. Niko sounds very bonded to his human family, so there are a couple of things to realize and consider: 1) Niko will go through some attachment-related stress that may cause him to develop behavioral problems such as feather picking or plucking and/or screaming. 2) Niko's new parents would have to choose between accepting Niko's current temperament of distrusting new people OR committing time and effort into retraining Niko.
Parrots are very smart and as a youngster, Niko could definitely be trained to more easily accept new people. Without training and socialization, Niko's distrust of people will probably increase/solidify as he grows older and his reactions (his current owner does not describe what these are) may become more aggressive as he ages.
Niko is a flighted bird and his new owner would have to accept they have an animal that flies. This means that until Niko has been trained in proper flight, including recall, the house or apartment should be birdproofed and all household members always be vigilant about open doors and open unscreened windows. Poisonous plants would have to be disposed of, all electrical cords would have to be covered and the owners would have to understand that the wood is totally going to get chewed on somewhere. And if there are breakable items, at some point he may knock them over. Also, if he loves water, uncovered water on the stove has to be watched lest he dive into it. Yeah, they're smart but not always that smart. Toilet lids will always have to be down. No matter what, anyone who takes a flighted bird should be willing to work with their bird to encourage good flying habits and discourage bad ones, but always prepare for and expect a bit of occasional unfortunate flight-related incidents.
Birds are a lifetime committment:
Niko needs a forever home, so he would never have to go through this kind of separation anxiety again. If he remains distrustful of new people, this is even more important than a bird like Micah, who loves new people and has adjusted very well to living with different people.
Birds are a lifetime commitment and their time and patience requirements are akin to a three year old child. As someone who has given a home to a parrot for a year now, it is almost exactly like having a child. Except you can't cage your child and cover it up with a blanket to make them be quiet. :P
Niko sounds like a terrific bird for anyone who wants a companion and can commit for life. Yes, you'd be marrying the parrot. And no, Niko would not grant you a divorce. I cannot say enough how important it is to fully commit to a bird for their full lifespan. Not just commit to keeping the bird, but commit to loving and caring for the bird and meeting the bird's needs. This is very serious.
About Conures and Gold Caps in particular:
Gold cap conures are very unique conures. Conures are well loved for their playful nature, smallish stature and beautiful features. They are also well known for being very loud. Part of this is bad rap, since they're actually not much louder, if at all, than other popular companion birds, but nandays, jendays and sun conures are high strung creatures with pretty grating calls when agitated. Conures are natural "watch birds" as their small stature requires they be more vigilant for predators, and they will make some pretty impressive alarm calls if they're scared or angry.
HowEVER - Gold cap owners pretty much universally report that this breed of conure is much more calm and their calls are much less grating. As someone who lives with one and who is often in pain and sensitive to sound and having met nandays, jendays and suns - they're all right. Micah is so much more relaxed than these other conures and her calls, while similar inflection, are so much easier on the ears. I definitely think it is her breed, though she is naturally also a very good girl in general. :)
Gold cap conures would be considered a small to medium sized bird.
Basic housing/food needs:
This size of conure will require a minimum cage size of 22"W x 22"L x 24"H, but the rule of thumb is "as big of a cage as you can accommodate." The only caveat is the bars must be close enough together that he can't shove his head through and get stuck. It can be tough to find a really big cage with bars close enough apart for a conure. Cages can easily cost a couple hundred dollars. You cannot skimp on this. He has to be able to stretch his wings and climb around. I do not know if Niko comes with a cage.
Conures should eat a mostly pelleted diet, supplemented with whatever vegetables you can trick them into eating (well, some like 'em more than others but Micah is a picky-pants), fruits and low-fat starchy things like bread, pasta or rice. Good treats for these birds would be dried fruits and favorite cereals. Niko may love banana chips, but they're SO high in fat, a little tiny sliver of banana chip is like eating a big huge greasy hamburger with mayonnaise. Whole nuts like peanuts are entire chocolate cakes with thick buttercream frosting. Regular fatty foods will do just the same thing to birds as it does to people. Bad stuff. Bigger birds can have more of those fatty things but conures are small. :) So, low fat stuff for them, as much as possible.
Birds need fresh water every day, and sometimes more than once a day as they can get food in their dish or bathe in their dish. The cage's paper lining needs to be replaced daily and the cage disinfected every one to two weeks. I'm awfully lucky (?) with Micah as she refuses to soil her cage. It's a pain in the ass that she holds her poop (it could be bad for her), but it means there's really nothing to clean up. Weird bird.
Health
Birds need annual exams including bloodwork and fecal cultures, even if they seem fine. Birds absolutely need an avian vet. There are not very many in the Seattle area, but I recommend Dr. Maas in Bothell.
Birds are natural athletes and need to have plenty of exercise to keep them in good health. Companion birds tend to be "perch potatoes," sitting around all day when not out of their cage playing. Flighted birds make it easier to get good exercise, by teaching the bird to fly to a target and recall, you can get some good cardiovascular exercise. Before Micah was fully flighted, I had to exercise her every day myself, swinging her around so she flapped her wings. It's a lot easier now that I can fly her from her cage to her boing several times.
It's a wise idea to keep your birds away from other birds if you don't know for sure those other birds are completely healthy. When I first got Micah, I took her to a lot of risky places, and I'm just lucky she didn't come into contact with some very deadly avian diseases such as Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (granted, as an adult bird she's not as susceptible, but it's an incurable, terminal disease, gah) or any number of bacterial or fungal infections. A bird's respiratory system is very fragile and they are very skilled at hiding disease, so it's not uncommon to only notice a bird is sick when it is too late to save them.
Micah is part of a fly group and she spends time in close enough proximity to other birds, so all the people who are part of the group have agreed to not take our birds to risky environments and get regular bloodwork done on our birds so there's no possibility we could pass an infection through our 'flock.' This means I no longer take Micah to any pet store with birds for sale or to any local community gatherings that include other birds whose health hasn't been 100% verified.
A parrot's poop is one of the first indicators of disease. Unusual changes in the feces like diarrhea (almost no solids to the poo) or discoloration that can't be explained by changes in diet (feed Micah enough pears and she's a waterfall) is a big red flag. You should always know your bird well enough to notice changes in their behavior. That, along with poop, may sometimes be the only signs you'll ever get from the bird before things get serious. Weight loss is harder to see on a fully feathered bird and unless you make a habit of weighing your bird pretty regularly (I don't), you may not notice it. A sick bird may spend all their time fluffing up their feathers, but not all of them do, or that may be their normal behavior. Again, birds are often like children - parents will notice when their youngster is acting "off," even if the child is too young to communicate their discomfort in words.
A parrot should always have bright eyes, good balance (a healthy bird should never have problems clambering around the cage and climbing on perches and should never fall off a perch without a good reason), a healthy appetite, regular poos and be somewhat talkative (Micah spends a lot of time making a funny little "cluck" noise). A happy, healthy bird vocalizes. A sick bird tries to stay quiet to avoid predation. A healthy bird will not star to pluck or pick their feathers - some plucking is stress related (Micah plucked all her chest, back and leg feathers off when her home became less-than-bird-friendly), some hormonally related (broody hens pluck some of their lower belly feathers in preparation for sitting on eggs) and others can be due to infection. A bird who has started to pluck can sometimes be difficult to stop as it becomes habit, but a fresh picking or plucking habit is not healthy.
Though male parrots obviously never have the major problem of laying eggs, their hormonal issues can manifest themselves in other unpleasant ways. A male may choose a family member for his "mate" and aggressively defend him/her and become jealous of other family members, even attacking them. It's always important to recognize the signs of sexually-related behavior and discourage any misconceptions the bird may have. Birds accept their people flock as their own, even sexually.
If your bird ever starts to get the wrong idea, it's a good idea to keep shoulder-perching the exception instead of the rule, not allow your bird to snuggle under your clothes, moderate their fat intake, keep the light in the house regulated to the same number of hours of light and make sure your bird has a regular bedtime. Don't make a habit of petting your bird's tail feathers too much, or rubbing his/her back or underbelly. Don't feed your bird from your mouth or allow your bird to feed you (you'd think anyone would avoid this but some people are nuts). It seems to go without saying, but definitely never let your bird "back up" on you, and try to keep the backing up on toys to a minimum - distract them if they start. Yes, "backing up" is a euphemism for masturbating. Yes, birds masturbate. Some more than others.
Birds toenails and beaks can grow pretty fast. Usually beaks will take care of themselves as the parrot rubs it on stuff and chews on things, but toenails often need to be trimmed. Avian vets can do that for you or you could totally take your life into your own hands and try to do it yourself. I don't. I am too afraid of cutting too far and making her bleed, and I also can't stand to restrain her the way they need to. Some birds can be trained to willingly sit through their pedicure but I haven't even started on that with Micah.
Birds need about 10-12 hours of sleep at night, and it's even more important for hormonal birds to have their daylight hours regulated and limited. Birds should have as steady a routine as possible - even if you can't get them up at the same time every day, make sure they get to bed at the same time every night. There was a time when we were not as strict about Micah's bedtime (10pm), and since we have been consistent, she has been a much happier and well behaved bird. She starts getting herself ready for bed at about 9 and by 9:30 she's in her polly dolly and grinding her beak (a happy, sleepy bird). Sometimes we have to argue with her to get her out of the cage to poop before bed, because she's too sleepy. It seems the sleepier that bird is, the stronger a grip she has on her sleepy-perch.
Bathing is extremely important for most birds. In Niko's case, it's not going to be a big issue, since he loves showers and baths. Birds need to take baths to soften the sheaths around new feather growth, to soften the dirt on their feathers so it can be easily preened off and to wash their skin, which can get just as dry or itchy as a human's skin if they've gone without a bath for a while. Itchy, dirty skin leads to feather plucking, and really dirty feathers aren't the best thing for parrots to be licking and running through their beaks all the time.
Some birds will take a bath wherever they see water, some birds like to be misted down or go in the shower and some darn birds think that water will make them melt and will only bathe on their own time or if their owner forces the issue. Be as gentle as possible if required to bathe a parrot who seems afraid of water. Try not to get water in the parrot's nose.
Enforced wintertime bathing should involve a nice heat lamp or other nice warm place to dry off. Parrots run a higher temp than humans and chill easily when wet. Also, don't give any baths right before bedtime, brr! I hate going to bed with wet hair and I don't think a parrot would appreciate it either.
Social needs:
Birds are incredibly, incredibly social creatures. They do everything with their flock, including eating, sleeping, playing, exercising and vocalizing. Your bird will assume you are their flock. They will want to eat when you eat, sleep when you sleep, so on and so forth. If you laugh or shout or sing, they will likely loudly vocalize with you (Micah can be quite rambunctious about this). Have your bird in a part of the house or apartment where they can participate (even if it is just within their cage) with the main goings-on of the house.
Isolating a parrot is one of the cruelest things anyone could ever do to a parrot, and is the parrot's worst nightmare. Birds are absolutely 100% wired for having companionship. They can literally go crazy without it. A great deal of the biggest behavioral problems birds develop are due to not having their social needs met. Some birds cannot even be left at home for the 10 hours people may spend away (Cockatoos, especially Moluccans, should never have to go through that). Every parrot's social needs will vary, but they will let you know if you're not giving them what they need. Expect this to be many, many hours a week. Not all of it has to be one-on-one active playtime, but folks with companion birds will always need to find a way to involve their bird in the activities in the house so the bird can feel part of a flock.
When it's food time, I call to Micah, "It's time to eat!" Now when she sees me futz around in the kitchen, she automatically comes down to start to eat, and will often eat the entire time I am eating. She likes it when I watch over her when she eats (so no one eats her, of course), and will go back up to her polly dolly to snuggle and hide when I leave. If I am upstairs and she is in the mood for it, I bring her up with me and she sits in the room adjacent to me (my room is too dark for her liking) where she knows I am close by. In the morning, if it's not too early, she sits on the perch that we have suction cupped to the mirror and watches me go through my morning routine. Matthew takes her into the shower with him often so she can get a bath (oh how she hates it, but it helps dissolve the sheaths on her new feathers). When I am downstairs and go to the bathroom, she likes to come with me and sit on the towel rack.
In a lot of these cases, I'm not "playing with" her, and in fact, she isn't on ME (not on my shoulder or hand), but she is present with me when I am doing things. She preens herself in the bathroom while I do, she chews on the towels when I pee, she sings with Matthew's Sonicare toothbrush and just generally "hangs out" with us. She likes being in her cage and takes a lot of beauty naps, but if I leave her downstairs all day long when I am upstairs, she gets quite cranky and calls for me to come down to see her. She has me trained more than I have her trained, too. :P Plus, I'm always feeling guilty of I leave her alone. Some days I feel more prepared to be a mom than other days.
A bird will greet their flock when the flock returns home. It's important for the flock to vocally greet one another! Micah has varying levels of excitement upon our return. If she's been snoozing it's a pretty sedate greeting, but if she has been up and about, she has a special "OMG YOU'RE HOME!!!" call. It's important to return that attention and let the parrot be loud for a few minutes. If the bird doesn't get a response from its flock, it may repeat the call and become more and more anxious that it is not returned, and it just prolongs the noise.
A bird, especially a conure, will watch out for their flock and alert their flock to danger. That's an important job for the parrot! If the bird is truly alarmed and passing the alarm along, the right response is to acknowledge the alarm but soothe the bird with reassurances that it's okay and everyone is safe. The parrot will fear for its flock just as much as it fears for itself, so don't discount the concern the bird has. The quicker and more reassuringly the bird is responded to regarding a real fear (sudden loud noises, dark shadows flying overhead, obvious predators like dogs, cats or hawks, etc), the better.
Shrieking for no apparent reason or screaming in anger or frustration should be dealt with differently, but that's a HUGE other subject. In summary, distraction and positive reinforcement of "good" behavior works, while "punishment" rarely does.
Entertainment
Birds are normally little busy bees all day long. They are constantly moving, foraging for food, chewing on things and generally enjoying all the different textures and colors of their environment. Mostly textures, parrots are outstanding chewers. In the cage, though, there's not as much to explore or do. Birds need lots and lots and lots of toys, rotated every week or so to make things fresh, new and interesting. Different birds will like different toys (some birds like puzzles or plastic toys, and some birds preening toys and others like chewy/shreddy toys, and some like all three, whatever), and a great deal of the toys will be completely destroyed. In fact, the better and more loved the toy is, the more destroyed it is going to get. Some people buy toys and then get frustrated when their bird destroys it. They fail to grasp that destroying it is the point!
Expect to either spend a bunch of money on insanely priced toys from pet stores or buy a bunch of bulk parts and make your own toys. Always get bird-safe stuff - some glues or coatings are toxic and some toys can be chunked up into small enough pieces for the bird to try to consume and choke on, or even obstruct the intestines. All parrots will have different dispositions - Micah rarely tries to eat her toys, if ever. She's very good about chewing them up and spitting them out. Other birds have to be supervised with toys that can be munched up.
There are some great places to buy bulk toy parts online and the Seattle Parrots Yahoo! Group also has a member who puts together regular charity sales with wholesale-priced toys. Some also recommend baby toys (if it's put together so a baby can't kill themselves with it, sometimes it is ok for a bird, but keep in mind, babies don't have strong, sharp beaks).
Some birds watch television and most birds like looking outside. Micah loves Red Dwarf and looks outside a lot. She loves to yell at the garbage truck and dogs. It's nice for birds to see and hear a lot of new and different things, to keep them intellectually stimulated when their flock is away.
Furniture
Ha, furniture. Perches, perches, perches. Companion birds spend most of their time sitting on whatever it is you put in their cage. Make sure the perches are big enough around for the bird to not quite get their feet all the way around it, and that they are of varying textures and shape so that their feet don't get stressed from always putting pressure in the same places - birds can get arthritis in their feet from that. :( Some people recommend textured concrete perches for toenail trims, but man if they just don't seem to work for Micah.
Micah has a boing, which is a braided-cloth covered wire spiral, and it hangs from the ceiling. She also has a playgym (it's too small but she still likes it) that we call the Poo Palace. Birdies should have perches or playgyms or whatever that they can spend time on outside of their cage. It's also been nice to have the Poo Palace because it's portable and has food and water cups, so I can take Micah places with me and she can eat, drink, play and poop on her playgym and not get frustrated, hungry, dehydrated and mess up other people's floors.
Parrots should also have a good travel cage so they can ride in the car with you. Micah got spoiled at first, she LOVES car rides, loves to look out the window, loves going places. Unfortunately, our car is just chock full of airbags, and should anything happen that would cause an airbag to deploy and she were loose in the car (on my hand or lap), she would most likely be killed. Even if the airbag didn't deploy, there's no guarantee she would be able to take flight in time to not be thrown forward along with us in the car, and there's no seat belt for birds! So, as much as she hates it, now she rides in a cat carrier with a hole drilled for a perch inside. I put the carrier in the foot well of the front seat... I'm not sure if that's the best place for it, but there's not a lot of GOOD places for it in the car. :/
We looked all over for an appropriate sized travel cage, but it's difficult to find one in the right size, so Matthew just bought a medium-sized kitty carrier with a metal grate top and front, then put a perch in and I hung a toy and a polly dolly in there, and though she hated it at first, she's willingly going in it now to go places and recognizes it as a safe place for her to be if she feels threatened.
Micah has something she snuggles whenever she sleeps. We call it a "polly dolly," and it's really just a lot of scraps of fabric all tied together in a big mass. She preens it and leans on it when she sleeps. I am not sure how birds in general manage to sleep on one foot, but I know how Micah does - she just leans against the polly dolly! Ha! It helps keep her warm and secure at night. Some birds might like those "bird cozy" things that look like little hanging fuzzy triangles. Other birds just rough it and go without blankies. Micah would not touch a "bird cozy" with a ten foot pole, but only ever seems to sleep soundly when she has a her polly dolly.
Other pets
Every parrot is different, and will like or dislike their flockmembers in surprising ways. Cats can be particularly dangerous for a parrot because the bacteria a cat carries in its saliva, while harmless to the cat, can become a fatal infection in a parrot. That means even an innocuous surface scratch or tiny bite from a cat should be followed up by an avian vet visit as soon as possible.
Not all cats will hunt parrots, and some dogs or cats may become best pals or at least tolerable or ignored flockmates. There's no way to tell till they're introduced, under strict supervision, of course. :) Micah doesn't like dogs, and even though she will more than tolerate my neighbor's dogs (because she Loves my neighbor with a capital L) and no longer yells at all the dogs she sees, she was ready to chase my grandparents' dog down.
Having other birds is no guarantee of friendship - parrots are particular and may not take a liking to their other hookbill flockmates. They can become territorial or they could simply decide they just don't like that other bird, even if it is of the same species.
Birds can be just as much a danger to other pets as the other pets are to the bird, if not more. Birds are naturally outfitted with very strong, sharp weapons. If their claws aren't sharp enough, their beak sure is, and they can terrorize the cats and dogs aerially, too!
There are some pets that are almost guaranteed to view the birds as prey, especially ferrets. It's best to research it carefully before doing any introductions, and always slowly introduce, while both are safely restrained.
Training
Training a parrot is not just for tricks. Parrots need to have their good habits regularly reinforced and love the interaction and discipline (as well as the treats) they get when their owners train them. Parrots can be target trained (trained to walk or fly where directed to), trained to recall (fly or walk back to their trainer), trained to speak on command, perform complicated tasks and a lot of other things. Parrots are very, very smart. It's always a good idea to spend a little time every day working on a new skill or reinforcing an old one. There's a lot more that could be said about training but the most important thing I could say is, "It's more than a good idea." Training can be essential to good bird behavior. A lot of birds might be naturally sweet, but every bird will test their limits and try to rule the roost. Regular reminders of their place in the flock do a lot for them and their owners.
All right... if you read all that and still may be interested in taking on what I am sure will be one of the sweetest birds ever (though not as sweet as Micah, I'm sure), email me at the address in my profile or comment with your email address. If you're unwilling to read this comparatively short summary of bird care, you're not going to be willing to read the many books or webpages or put in the other time to really get to know and care for a parrot.
Or if you already know everything I said because you're already an experienced parrot owner, well, that's fine too. :) Just promise a forever home and you, too, may have one of the darn sweetest kinds of birds there are. Gold caps really are special. They're not common, and they're real loves.
I received a forwarded message today regarding a gold cap conure, which is the same kind of bird that Micah is.
The letter:
Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that I need to find a home for my little gold-capped conure, Niko. He is healthy and has had annual check-ups since he was born in 2002. He is very affectionate with his "flock" (Ed note: I believe that she refers to the people flock here) but does not readily accept outsiders, which is the major issue for us. We have lots of people staying with us for extended periods and two very social kids whose friends are constantly coming and going. It is a bad match with Niko's temperament, exacerbated by the fact that he is flighted. I don't want to clip his wings, mostly because I feel that his quality of life is better as a flighted bird but also because we have cats and it wouldn't be safe for him. I also don't want to keep him caged every time we have visitors.
It has taken me a long time to come to this decision, and still is not an easy one for me, but now I am just concerned to find a good home for him. Niko doesn't talk but has many other endearing qualities. He loves baths and showers, poops on command over the sink in the morning, is very cuddly and loves green grapes and banana chips. He is also very beautiful. He has stayed many times with our trusted bird sitter and has always gotten along well with other birds but I wouldn't recommend him for a household with small children or with a lot of commotion. And I would really like to find someone who would not clip Niko's wings.
Disclaimer:
Before I say all this, Niko is not my bird. I can't take him because Micah is a somewhat hormonal hen (so bringing a strapping young lad into the house may not be the best idea) and she is only with me until her owners come home again and I would not want to let Niko become fond of her and then have her leave him. I am speculating and assuming some behavioral things based on my knowledge of parrots and the breed.
Possible Dealbreakers and Complications:
Niko is only 5 years old, and he may live up to 35 years. Niko sounds very bonded to his human family, so there are a couple of things to realize and consider: 1) Niko will go through some attachment-related stress that may cause him to develop behavioral problems such as feather picking or plucking and/or screaming. 2) Niko's new parents would have to choose between accepting Niko's current temperament of distrusting new people OR committing time and effort into retraining Niko.
Parrots are very smart and as a youngster, Niko could definitely be trained to more easily accept new people. Without training and socialization, Niko's distrust of people will probably increase/solidify as he grows older and his reactions (his current owner does not describe what these are) may become more aggressive as he ages.
Niko is a flighted bird and his new owner would have to accept they have an animal that flies. This means that until Niko has been trained in proper flight, including recall, the house or apartment should be birdproofed and all household members always be vigilant about open doors and open unscreened windows. Poisonous plants would have to be disposed of, all electrical cords would have to be covered and the owners would have to understand that the wood is totally going to get chewed on somewhere. And if there are breakable items, at some point he may knock them over. Also, if he loves water, uncovered water on the stove has to be watched lest he dive into it. Yeah, they're smart but not always that smart. Toilet lids will always have to be down. No matter what, anyone who takes a flighted bird should be willing to work with their bird to encourage good flying habits and discourage bad ones, but always prepare for and expect a bit of occasional unfortunate flight-related incidents.
Birds are a lifetime committment:
Niko needs a forever home, so he would never have to go through this kind of separation anxiety again. If he remains distrustful of new people, this is even more important than a bird like Micah, who loves new people and has adjusted very well to living with different people.
Birds are a lifetime commitment and their time and patience requirements are akin to a three year old child. As someone who has given a home to a parrot for a year now, it is almost exactly like having a child. Except you can't cage your child and cover it up with a blanket to make them be quiet. :P
Niko sounds like a terrific bird for anyone who wants a companion and can commit for life. Yes, you'd be marrying the parrot. And no, Niko would not grant you a divorce. I cannot say enough how important it is to fully commit to a bird for their full lifespan. Not just commit to keeping the bird, but commit to loving and caring for the bird and meeting the bird's needs. This is very serious.
About Conures and Gold Caps in particular:
Gold cap conures are very unique conures. Conures are well loved for their playful nature, smallish stature and beautiful features. They are also well known for being very loud. Part of this is bad rap, since they're actually not much louder, if at all, than other popular companion birds, but nandays, jendays and sun conures are high strung creatures with pretty grating calls when agitated. Conures are natural "watch birds" as their small stature requires they be more vigilant for predators, and they will make some pretty impressive alarm calls if they're scared or angry.
HowEVER - Gold cap owners pretty much universally report that this breed of conure is much more calm and their calls are much less grating. As someone who lives with one and who is often in pain and sensitive to sound and having met nandays, jendays and suns - they're all right. Micah is so much more relaxed than these other conures and her calls, while similar inflection, are so much easier on the ears. I definitely think it is her breed, though she is naturally also a very good girl in general. :)
Gold cap conures would be considered a small to medium sized bird.
Basic housing/food needs:
This size of conure will require a minimum cage size of 22"W x 22"L x 24"H, but the rule of thumb is "as big of a cage as you can accommodate." The only caveat is the bars must be close enough together that he can't shove his head through and get stuck. It can be tough to find a really big cage with bars close enough apart for a conure. Cages can easily cost a couple hundred dollars. You cannot skimp on this. He has to be able to stretch his wings and climb around. I do not know if Niko comes with a cage.
Conures should eat a mostly pelleted diet, supplemented with whatever vegetables you can trick them into eating (well, some like 'em more than others but Micah is a picky-pants), fruits and low-fat starchy things like bread, pasta or rice. Good treats for these birds would be dried fruits and favorite cereals. Niko may love banana chips, but they're SO high in fat, a little tiny sliver of banana chip is like eating a big huge greasy hamburger with mayonnaise. Whole nuts like peanuts are entire chocolate cakes with thick buttercream frosting. Regular fatty foods will do just the same thing to birds as it does to people. Bad stuff. Bigger birds can have more of those fatty things but conures are small. :) So, low fat stuff for them, as much as possible.
Birds need fresh water every day, and sometimes more than once a day as they can get food in their dish or bathe in their dish. The cage's paper lining needs to be replaced daily and the cage disinfected every one to two weeks. I'm awfully lucky (?) with Micah as she refuses to soil her cage. It's a pain in the ass that she holds her poop (it could be bad for her), but it means there's really nothing to clean up. Weird bird.
Health
Birds need annual exams including bloodwork and fecal cultures, even if they seem fine. Birds absolutely need an avian vet. There are not very many in the Seattle area, but I recommend Dr. Maas in Bothell.
Birds are natural athletes and need to have plenty of exercise to keep them in good health. Companion birds tend to be "perch potatoes," sitting around all day when not out of their cage playing. Flighted birds make it easier to get good exercise, by teaching the bird to fly to a target and recall, you can get some good cardiovascular exercise. Before Micah was fully flighted, I had to exercise her every day myself, swinging her around so she flapped her wings. It's a lot easier now that I can fly her from her cage to her boing several times.
It's a wise idea to keep your birds away from other birds if you don't know for sure those other birds are completely healthy. When I first got Micah, I took her to a lot of risky places, and I'm just lucky she didn't come into contact with some very deadly avian diseases such as Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (granted, as an adult bird she's not as susceptible, but it's an incurable, terminal disease, gah) or any number of bacterial or fungal infections. A bird's respiratory system is very fragile and they are very skilled at hiding disease, so it's not uncommon to only notice a bird is sick when it is too late to save them.
Micah is part of a fly group and she spends time in close enough proximity to other birds, so all the people who are part of the group have agreed to not take our birds to risky environments and get regular bloodwork done on our birds so there's no possibility we could pass an infection through our 'flock.' This means I no longer take Micah to any pet store with birds for sale or to any local community gatherings that include other birds whose health hasn't been 100% verified.
A parrot's poop is one of the first indicators of disease. Unusual changes in the feces like diarrhea (almost no solids to the poo) or discoloration that can't be explained by changes in diet (feed Micah enough pears and she's a waterfall) is a big red flag. You should always know your bird well enough to notice changes in their behavior. That, along with poop, may sometimes be the only signs you'll ever get from the bird before things get serious. Weight loss is harder to see on a fully feathered bird and unless you make a habit of weighing your bird pretty regularly (I don't), you may not notice it. A sick bird may spend all their time fluffing up their feathers, but not all of them do, or that may be their normal behavior. Again, birds are often like children - parents will notice when their youngster is acting "off," even if the child is too young to communicate their discomfort in words.
A parrot should always have bright eyes, good balance (a healthy bird should never have problems clambering around the cage and climbing on perches and should never fall off a perch without a good reason), a healthy appetite, regular poos and be somewhat talkative (Micah spends a lot of time making a funny little "cluck" noise). A happy, healthy bird vocalizes. A sick bird tries to stay quiet to avoid predation. A healthy bird will not star to pluck or pick their feathers - some plucking is stress related (Micah plucked all her chest, back and leg feathers off when her home became less-than-bird-friendly), some hormonally related (broody hens pluck some of their lower belly feathers in preparation for sitting on eggs) and others can be due to infection. A bird who has started to pluck can sometimes be difficult to stop as it becomes habit, but a fresh picking or plucking habit is not healthy.
Though male parrots obviously never have the major problem of laying eggs, their hormonal issues can manifest themselves in other unpleasant ways. A male may choose a family member for his "mate" and aggressively defend him/her and become jealous of other family members, even attacking them. It's always important to recognize the signs of sexually-related behavior and discourage any misconceptions the bird may have. Birds accept their people flock as their own, even sexually.
If your bird ever starts to get the wrong idea, it's a good idea to keep shoulder-perching the exception instead of the rule, not allow your bird to snuggle under your clothes, moderate their fat intake, keep the light in the house regulated to the same number of hours of light and make sure your bird has a regular bedtime. Don't make a habit of petting your bird's tail feathers too much, or rubbing his/her back or underbelly. Don't feed your bird from your mouth or allow your bird to feed you (you'd think anyone would avoid this but some people are nuts). It seems to go without saying, but definitely never let your bird "back up" on you, and try to keep the backing up on toys to a minimum - distract them if they start. Yes, "backing up" is a euphemism for masturbating. Yes, birds masturbate. Some more than others.
Birds toenails and beaks can grow pretty fast. Usually beaks will take care of themselves as the parrot rubs it on stuff and chews on things, but toenails often need to be trimmed. Avian vets can do that for you or you could totally take your life into your own hands and try to do it yourself. I don't. I am too afraid of cutting too far and making her bleed, and I also can't stand to restrain her the way they need to. Some birds can be trained to willingly sit through their pedicure but I haven't even started on that with Micah.
Birds need about 10-12 hours of sleep at night, and it's even more important for hormonal birds to have their daylight hours regulated and limited. Birds should have as steady a routine as possible - even if you can't get them up at the same time every day, make sure they get to bed at the same time every night. There was a time when we were not as strict about Micah's bedtime (10pm), and since we have been consistent, she has been a much happier and well behaved bird. She starts getting herself ready for bed at about 9 and by 9:30 she's in her polly dolly and grinding her beak (a happy, sleepy bird). Sometimes we have to argue with her to get her out of the cage to poop before bed, because she's too sleepy. It seems the sleepier that bird is, the stronger a grip she has on her sleepy-perch.
Bathing is extremely important for most birds. In Niko's case, it's not going to be a big issue, since he loves showers and baths. Birds need to take baths to soften the sheaths around new feather growth, to soften the dirt on their feathers so it can be easily preened off and to wash their skin, which can get just as dry or itchy as a human's skin if they've gone without a bath for a while. Itchy, dirty skin leads to feather plucking, and really dirty feathers aren't the best thing for parrots to be licking and running through their beaks all the time.
Some birds will take a bath wherever they see water, some birds like to be misted down or go in the shower and some darn birds think that water will make them melt and will only bathe on their own time or if their owner forces the issue. Be as gentle as possible if required to bathe a parrot who seems afraid of water. Try not to get water in the parrot's nose.
Enforced wintertime bathing should involve a nice heat lamp or other nice warm place to dry off. Parrots run a higher temp than humans and chill easily when wet. Also, don't give any baths right before bedtime, brr! I hate going to bed with wet hair and I don't think a parrot would appreciate it either.
Social needs:
Birds are incredibly, incredibly social creatures. They do everything with their flock, including eating, sleeping, playing, exercising and vocalizing. Your bird will assume you are their flock. They will want to eat when you eat, sleep when you sleep, so on and so forth. If you laugh or shout or sing, they will likely loudly vocalize with you (Micah can be quite rambunctious about this). Have your bird in a part of the house or apartment where they can participate (even if it is just within their cage) with the main goings-on of the house.
Isolating a parrot is one of the cruelest things anyone could ever do to a parrot, and is the parrot's worst nightmare. Birds are absolutely 100% wired for having companionship. They can literally go crazy without it. A great deal of the biggest behavioral problems birds develop are due to not having their social needs met. Some birds cannot even be left at home for the 10 hours people may spend away (Cockatoos, especially Moluccans, should never have to go through that). Every parrot's social needs will vary, but they will let you know if you're not giving them what they need. Expect this to be many, many hours a week. Not all of it has to be one-on-one active playtime, but folks with companion birds will always need to find a way to involve their bird in the activities in the house so the bird can feel part of a flock.
When it's food time, I call to Micah, "It's time to eat!" Now when she sees me futz around in the kitchen, she automatically comes down to start to eat, and will often eat the entire time I am eating. She likes it when I watch over her when she eats (so no one eats her, of course), and will go back up to her polly dolly to snuggle and hide when I leave. If I am upstairs and she is in the mood for it, I bring her up with me and she sits in the room adjacent to me (my room is too dark for her liking) where she knows I am close by. In the morning, if it's not too early, she sits on the perch that we have suction cupped to the mirror and watches me go through my morning routine. Matthew takes her into the shower with him often so she can get a bath (oh how she hates it, but it helps dissolve the sheaths on her new feathers). When I am downstairs and go to the bathroom, she likes to come with me and sit on the towel rack.
In a lot of these cases, I'm not "playing with" her, and in fact, she isn't on ME (not on my shoulder or hand), but she is present with me when I am doing things. She preens herself in the bathroom while I do, she chews on the towels when I pee, she sings with Matthew's Sonicare toothbrush and just generally "hangs out" with us. She likes being in her cage and takes a lot of beauty naps, but if I leave her downstairs all day long when I am upstairs, she gets quite cranky and calls for me to come down to see her. She has me trained more than I have her trained, too. :P Plus, I'm always feeling guilty of I leave her alone. Some days I feel more prepared to be a mom than other days.
A bird will greet their flock when the flock returns home. It's important for the flock to vocally greet one another! Micah has varying levels of excitement upon our return. If she's been snoozing it's a pretty sedate greeting, but if she has been up and about, she has a special "OMG YOU'RE HOME!!!" call. It's important to return that attention and let the parrot be loud for a few minutes. If the bird doesn't get a response from its flock, it may repeat the call and become more and more anxious that it is not returned, and it just prolongs the noise.
A bird, especially a conure, will watch out for their flock and alert their flock to danger. That's an important job for the parrot! If the bird is truly alarmed and passing the alarm along, the right response is to acknowledge the alarm but soothe the bird with reassurances that it's okay and everyone is safe. The parrot will fear for its flock just as much as it fears for itself, so don't discount the concern the bird has. The quicker and more reassuringly the bird is responded to regarding a real fear (sudden loud noises, dark shadows flying overhead, obvious predators like dogs, cats or hawks, etc), the better.
Shrieking for no apparent reason or screaming in anger or frustration should be dealt with differently, but that's a HUGE other subject. In summary, distraction and positive reinforcement of "good" behavior works, while "punishment" rarely does.
Entertainment
Birds are normally little busy bees all day long. They are constantly moving, foraging for food, chewing on things and generally enjoying all the different textures and colors of their environment. Mostly textures, parrots are outstanding chewers. In the cage, though, there's not as much to explore or do. Birds need lots and lots and lots of toys, rotated every week or so to make things fresh, new and interesting. Different birds will like different toys (some birds like puzzles or plastic toys, and some birds preening toys and others like chewy/shreddy toys, and some like all three, whatever), and a great deal of the toys will be completely destroyed. In fact, the better and more loved the toy is, the more destroyed it is going to get. Some people buy toys and then get frustrated when their bird destroys it. They fail to grasp that destroying it is the point!
Expect to either spend a bunch of money on insanely priced toys from pet stores or buy a bunch of bulk parts and make your own toys. Always get bird-safe stuff - some glues or coatings are toxic and some toys can be chunked up into small enough pieces for the bird to try to consume and choke on, or even obstruct the intestines. All parrots will have different dispositions - Micah rarely tries to eat her toys, if ever. She's very good about chewing them up and spitting them out. Other birds have to be supervised with toys that can be munched up.
There are some great places to buy bulk toy parts online and the Seattle Parrots Yahoo! Group also has a member who puts together regular charity sales with wholesale-priced toys. Some also recommend baby toys (if it's put together so a baby can't kill themselves with it, sometimes it is ok for a bird, but keep in mind, babies don't have strong, sharp beaks).
Some birds watch television and most birds like looking outside. Micah loves Red Dwarf and looks outside a lot. She loves to yell at the garbage truck and dogs. It's nice for birds to see and hear a lot of new and different things, to keep them intellectually stimulated when their flock is away.
Furniture
Ha, furniture. Perches, perches, perches. Companion birds spend most of their time sitting on whatever it is you put in their cage. Make sure the perches are big enough around for the bird to not quite get their feet all the way around it, and that they are of varying textures and shape so that their feet don't get stressed from always putting pressure in the same places - birds can get arthritis in their feet from that. :( Some people recommend textured concrete perches for toenail trims, but man if they just don't seem to work for Micah.
Micah has a boing, which is a braided-cloth covered wire spiral, and it hangs from the ceiling. She also has a playgym (it's too small but she still likes it) that we call the Poo Palace. Birdies should have perches or playgyms or whatever that they can spend time on outside of their cage. It's also been nice to have the Poo Palace because it's portable and has food and water cups, so I can take Micah places with me and she can eat, drink, play and poop on her playgym and not get frustrated, hungry, dehydrated and mess up other people's floors.
Parrots should also have a good travel cage so they can ride in the car with you. Micah got spoiled at first, she LOVES car rides, loves to look out the window, loves going places. Unfortunately, our car is just chock full of airbags, and should anything happen that would cause an airbag to deploy and she were loose in the car (on my hand or lap), she would most likely be killed. Even if the airbag didn't deploy, there's no guarantee she would be able to take flight in time to not be thrown forward along with us in the car, and there's no seat belt for birds! So, as much as she hates it, now she rides in a cat carrier with a hole drilled for a perch inside. I put the carrier in the foot well of the front seat... I'm not sure if that's the best place for it, but there's not a lot of GOOD places for it in the car. :/
We looked all over for an appropriate sized travel cage, but it's difficult to find one in the right size, so Matthew just bought a medium-sized kitty carrier with a metal grate top and front, then put a perch in and I hung a toy and a polly dolly in there, and though she hated it at first, she's willingly going in it now to go places and recognizes it as a safe place for her to be if she feels threatened.
Micah has something she snuggles whenever she sleeps. We call it a "polly dolly," and it's really just a lot of scraps of fabric all tied together in a big mass. She preens it and leans on it when she sleeps. I am not sure how birds in general manage to sleep on one foot, but I know how Micah does - she just leans against the polly dolly! Ha! It helps keep her warm and secure at night. Some birds might like those "bird cozy" things that look like little hanging fuzzy triangles. Other birds just rough it and go without blankies. Micah would not touch a "bird cozy" with a ten foot pole, but only ever seems to sleep soundly when she has a her polly dolly.
Other pets
Every parrot is different, and will like or dislike their flockmembers in surprising ways. Cats can be particularly dangerous for a parrot because the bacteria a cat carries in its saliva, while harmless to the cat, can become a fatal infection in a parrot. That means even an innocuous surface scratch or tiny bite from a cat should be followed up by an avian vet visit as soon as possible.
Not all cats will hunt parrots, and some dogs or cats may become best pals or at least tolerable or ignored flockmates. There's no way to tell till they're introduced, under strict supervision, of course. :) Micah doesn't like dogs, and even though she will more than tolerate my neighbor's dogs (because she Loves my neighbor with a capital L) and no longer yells at all the dogs she sees, she was ready to chase my grandparents' dog down.
Having other birds is no guarantee of friendship - parrots are particular and may not take a liking to their other hookbill flockmates. They can become territorial or they could simply decide they just don't like that other bird, even if it is of the same species.
Birds can be just as much a danger to other pets as the other pets are to the bird, if not more. Birds are naturally outfitted with very strong, sharp weapons. If their claws aren't sharp enough, their beak sure is, and they can terrorize the cats and dogs aerially, too!
There are some pets that are almost guaranteed to view the birds as prey, especially ferrets. It's best to research it carefully before doing any introductions, and always slowly introduce, while both are safely restrained.
Training
Training a parrot is not just for tricks. Parrots need to have their good habits regularly reinforced and love the interaction and discipline (as well as the treats) they get when their owners train them. Parrots can be target trained (trained to walk or fly where directed to), trained to recall (fly or walk back to their trainer), trained to speak on command, perform complicated tasks and a lot of other things. Parrots are very, very smart. It's always a good idea to spend a little time every day working on a new skill or reinforcing an old one. There's a lot more that could be said about training but the most important thing I could say is, "It's more than a good idea." Training can be essential to good bird behavior. A lot of birds might be naturally sweet, but every bird will test their limits and try to rule the roost. Regular reminders of their place in the flock do a lot for them and their owners.
All right... if you read all that and still may be interested in taking on what I am sure will be one of the sweetest birds ever (though not as sweet as Micah, I'm sure), email me at the address in my profile or comment with your email address. If you're unwilling to read this comparatively short summary of bird care, you're not going to be willing to read the many books or webpages or put in the other time to really get to know and care for a parrot.
Or if you already know everything I said because you're already an experienced parrot owner, well, that's fine too. :) Just promise a forever home and you, too, may have one of the darn sweetest kinds of birds there are. Gold caps really are special. They're not common, and they're real loves.
