"Susan J. Saari" <saari@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> (04/04/91)
Hello cockateil lovers, My husband and I are the owners of a wonderful female cockateil named Kih. Kih is an adopted bird - she flew up to our apartment about 4 1/2 years ago. We tried to find her owner, but nobody claimed her. We knew nothing about birds, but she really won us over. She is a very affectionate member of our family. I guess you could say that she is on her third life. Last fall she was diagosed with diabetes. I somehow learned to give her the insulin shots every day and she is very healthy. Now, here's my question. At certain times (usually once a year since she was 2 years old) she does something strange. We theorize that it has something to do with her mating urge. In the morning when I take her cover off and let her out, she starts chirping for about g 2 hours. The chirps are loud, but not her loudest, and are about a second apart. In the past she has done this about a week and then returns to her normal lovable self. This time though, she has been chirping every morning for almost 4 weeks. My husband and I don't know what to do to help her get over this cycle. As much as we try not to let it bother us, it gets to us. Do any of you have suggestions as to what we can do? We really love her and would like her to get back to "normal." She only does this in the morning right after getting up. She spends most of the day while we're at work, in her cage, but she's out all the time we're home. Thanks for your help, Sue
hrm360w1@beach.csulb.edu (Jill Carlton) (04/05/91)
Hi Harpal, this is my first experience with rec.birds and your article caught my attention. Although I don't know about cockatiels, I have a sulphur toucan which sounds like a broken, out-of-whack washing machine every morning, especially now. She also sqawks in the daytime (she's out in an outside cage) periodically. Although she doesn't do it all the time, when she does it can go on and on and on ... til it drives us nuts! I've asked some parrot people whether it is some kind of mating call, or just boredom, but no one seems to know for sure. However, one of the parrot breeders mentioned a shot that can be administered to take away the mating urge but he didn't know if it could be used on toucans and neither did my vet. The downside is that it wears off with time and would have to be given every season. Also, my vet didn't know if it would even work and if there were any serious side effects. I sure would like to know if you find any alternative to what appears to be a mutual problem. I would also like to ask if anyone out there knows anything about toucans... there is a definite lack of literature on them and I'd love to increase my limited knowledge. Thanks!! Jill (Spike's "mom")
mm@lectroid.sw.stratus.com (Michael Mahler) (04/08/91)
'Tis spring and young bird fancy's turn to thoughts of love...' You might try moving her to a room that you spend more time in if possible, since I'm assuming that she screams when you aren't in the room? -- -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ What's said above has nothing at all to do with what's said by the company I work for.