Frodo's Vocabulary

My green cheek Frodo has been expanding his vocabulary of late. He is constantly surprising me. In addition to his first phrase, "Peek-a-boo", his favorite go-to word is "Baby." He uses it in a variety of ways. "Baby", "Hello baby", "Hi baby", "Hey baby" or just "Baby, Babeeeee, bee." He also shushes me when I suggest that he be quiet or when he pipes up loudly at bedtime. He has also learned to say "Pssst" like he is going to whisper something to me.

First, he's been hearing me calm down the cockatiels during their night frights on many occasions. To my surprise, he added his own comment to the cockatiels with "It's okay." He's heard me saying "It's okay" or "It's alright" many, many times.

Second, when he's in the bird room and I'm in the living room, I ask him, "What're you doing?" He now reciprocates.

Third, I often ask Frodo, "Who's a good boy?" He says that now as well.

Fourth. His latest word is the name of one of my cockatiels. "Chipper."

Frodo also mumbles a lot in human speech. I call it practicing. When he gets it down, then he'll use it smugly. Such a funny little guy.

Conure Care: What To Do and What Not To Do

What To Do

• Give your bird(s) a lot of love, time, and patience.
• Consider subscribing to Bird Talk magazine. This is a helpful source of information on caring for pet birds.
• Wash fresh fruits and veggies before giving them to your bird and give him/her fresh food and water every day.
• Allow your bird to bath frequently at least a couple of times a week and daily if possible. My bird prefers a bath taken in a small 5-6" wide (2-3" high) bowl of water (room temperature).
• Teach your bird the "up" and "down" commands. Although with green cheeks, they don't always wish to obey the "down" command. They sometimes grip their owner's finger even tighter when one gives the "down" command or try to scramble up your shoulder.
• Take your bird for regular well-bird check-ups with a certified avian vet. Also consider keeping an Avian First Aid Kit in your home and check out NetVet. 
• Consider purchasing a book on basic bird care and one on avian first aid.
  
• Clip your bird's wings when the primary coverts grow out and trim your bird's nails when they get long and sharp. If you are not acquainted with these procedures, please have a professional do it for you; it is fairly inexpensive to have done.
• Dismantle and clean your bird's cage completely, including toys and perches, with hot, soapy water to which a cap full of liquid bleach (like lemon Clorox) has been added. This will clean and sterilize the cage to provide a safe environment for your pet.
• If you have a single bird, consider leaving a radio on during the day when you are away at work or school to keep your bird entertained and allow some supervised "out" time for your bird when you are home.
• Research a bird species, like green-cheeked conures, that you are interested in before you buy one to determine if it is right for you. 
• Visit Birds n Ways' Library of Articles/FAQs which has a listing of excellent bird care articles too numerous to reference here.

What Not to Do

• Never buy a bird merely for its color, buy a bird on impulse, or for the sole purpose of expecting it to be a talker (and then be disappointed if it is not).
• Do not lose your temper or get frustrated with your bird or its behavior. Birds, like other animals, are in tune with their owner's emotions and will react accordingly.
• Do not use teflon or other coated cookware (fumes from overheated pans can kill your bird if heated past a certain temperature). Some irons and hair dryers also contain teflon-like products. Update: One reader pointed out in her comment that there was an article in ConsumerReports.org in 2007 called "Nonstick Pans are Ok in New Tests." In the article, they didn't mention testing them with birds though, so I would still be cautious.
• Do not keep your bird shut up in its cage all the time. Birds have feelings too and will be extremely unhappy if shut up constantly and may develop behavioral problems as a result. During the week, spend at least an hour a day interacting with your bird and more on weekends.
• Do not feed your bird avocado, chocolate or foods full of sugar, fat, salt, or an all seed diet.
• Do not use soaps or other chemicals directly on your bird or use aerosols, paint, or other chemical products around your bird(s); they have very delicate, sensitive respiratory systems and could die from asphyxiation.
• Do not place your bird directly by a heater or place your bird in direct sunlight without providing a place for him/her to be in the shade (sun/heat stroke could occur). Do not place your bird near an open window or near an air conditioner as birds are susceptible to upper respiratory infections.
• Do not let your bird chew on jewelry, metal or painted buttons, dried paint, metal or plastic blinds, treated wood, etc. (paint and costume jewelry, especially, could contain lead; and wood can be treated with harmful chemicals).
• Do not walk blindly into bird care without knowing how to care for them.
• Do not let your bird's nails get too long as they can get caught in frayed ropes or other toys in its cage or let your bird's primary coverts completely grow out. Free-flying birds can accidentally escape through an open window or door, fly into windows, mirrors, water boiling on the stove or a hot frying pan, or land in the commode and drown. 
• Do not let your bird's cage go uncleaned as mites, bacteria, old food, and feces can adversely affect your bird's health.

Conure Diet: Taking Care of your Conure's Nutritional Needs

So, you've found yourself the brand new owner of a Green-cheeked Conure, a member of the Pyrrhura family of birds (Pyrrhura molinae). Now what do you do?

A cute little green cheek (just-weaned) was added to my flock back in 2002. Below is some information that a new owner might find helpful in providing a proper and enjoyable diet for a new green cheek or other small parrot.

Keep in mind that you need to make a concerted effort to make your conure's diet more well-rounded and healthier, so even the pelleted diets need to be supplemented with a variety of other healthy foods. I recommend keeping pellets in their cage at all times, to offer them seeds more as treats, but supplement their diet with fruits, vegetables and other healthy items from the list below.

Vegetables

Peas in the shell or thawed frozen peas, broccoli, corn (fresh or thawed frozen corn), green beans, cooked and cooled limas, yellow or green squash (baked), carrots (raw or cooked), red or green peppers, cucumbers, greens (such as chopped spinach or other greens), cooked pinto beans, cooked lentils, cooked white beans. Please note that is important to let cooked food cool thoroughly before offering them to your conure, otherwise they could burn their tongues and crops.

Fruit

Apples (mine's absolute favorite!), blueberries, cut-up oranges, tangerines, bananas, pears, grapes, peaches, melon (minus the rind), strawberries, mangos, papaya, plums, cherries, etc. Always remove seeds/pits from fruit before serving.

Starches

Cooked brown rice, cooked pasta, baked or boiled shredded potatoes or yams (note that corn/peas are also starches).

Other

Pellets (Roudybush, Forti, Zupreem and others), a good seed blend such as Kaytee's Conure/Lovebird Forti-diet (if the Kaytee conure blend is not available in your area you could substitute a cockatiel blend), spray millet, sprouted seed, Lafeber's Avi-cakes, a mineral block or cuttlebone, multi-grain cereals that are low in sodium, sugar, and fat.

My green cheek is partial to the Forti seed diet and the Zupreem Fruit Blend for cockatiels. Neither my conure nor my tiels will eat the yellow banana-shaped Zupreem fruit pellets. He seems to like the orange and red ones the best. For some reason he puts the green ones in his water tube. He likes avi-cakes and will occasionally eat the mini Roudybush pellets that the cockatiels like.

Food Preparation Shortcuts

As a working woman and head of household, I do not always have time to spend cutting and chopping in the mornings or evenings, so I started doing a few shortcuts. Cook up batches of the following items separately: cooked peas, carrots, corn, green beans, lima beans, brown rice, pasta, yams, acorn squash, potatoes, pinto beans, lentils, white beans, pasta, yams, acorn squash, shredded potatoes, and brown rice. Rinse the batches well, cut them up as needed, and freeze them spread out on a cookie sheet so that they do not stick together.

When the items are frozen, the pan is then removed from the freezer, and its contents broken up, placed in ziplock freezer bags, and dated. The same procedures works well with a cooked mixture of pinto beans, lentils, white beans and split peas. In addition, it is easy and fairly economical to purchase a bag of frozen mixed veggies (carrots, corn, peas, green beans & limas) when they are on sale and keep these in the freezer as well.

Then, as needed, open the different bag mixtures, take out some of each, place in a microwave dish, add a little water, and pop everything into the microwave for 2 minutes or so or until heated through.

Dump the hot mixture in a colander, run some cool water over it, so that it isn't scalding hot, and give your bird about a 1/4 cup serving dish of the mixture. They REALLY love it! Your bird will probably make contented little noises when she/he eats and have a mess on his/her beak afterward--not to mention the wall, floor, etc.

Cook enough of the mixture to last for a couple of days and keep it in the refrigerator. Also treat your bird with fruit from the list above. I use the term 'treat' when it comes to fruit since green cheeks definitely have a sweet tooth, and when fruit is mixed into their regular food dishes with the vegetables, they rarely eat the veggies! I found that it's wise to give them fruit at a different time than they are given vegetables. But it is important to provide fruit as a steady part of their diet.

It is equally important to thoroughly wash fresh fruits and veggies that you give to your birds. Any fresh or cooked food that you give your bird should be removed from their cage after an hour or so, otherwise it tends to spoil (bacteria) and is not good for your bird.

Foods to Avoid

Absolutely no chocolate, avocado, coffee or alcohol no matter how much they bob up and down and beg.

• Chocolate is poisonous to animals and birds.
• Avocado is poisonous to birds.
• Dairy products - there are mixed opinions about dairy products. I read an article that mentioned that parrots are unable to properly digest dairy products. Another source mentioned that it causes diarrhea. I made a personal choice not to give my birds dairy products.
• Caffeine should be avoided. Soft drinks, coffee, etc. Coffee, especially, contains some of the same elements as chocolate.
• Alcohol, a well-known poison with documented side effects, is a big NO! I personally believe that anyone who owns a pet should never give their pets alcohol. I often see idiots posting YouTube videos of animals they have gotten drunk and thinking it is so funny. Makes my blood boil!
• Avoid junk foods - anything that is high in fat, salt, and/or preservatives. An occasional bite of pizza crust is okay. Humans already have enough bad habits in regard to these foods but you don't want your conure to become a junk food junkie.

Housing Your Green-cheeked Conure

The HOEI (18.3" x 18.3" x 22") cage is an excellent cage for smaller conures and gives them plenty of room to move around. They are difficult to find these days, but a cage similar to this would work fine for your pet. The cage that you select should have 1/2" to 3/4" bar spacing. I would suggest putting newspaper (cut to the cage size) in the bottom of the cage for adult birds; make a stack of about 10-20 papers high and then just remove the top soiled paper every day as conures tend to be messy--both their food and stool. However, if your conure is still a baby, being hand fed, and lives in the bottom of its cage, newspaper would not be a good choice.

It is necessary to give your bird fresh water every day. All food dishes, glass water tubes, etc. should be washed in hot, soapy dish water with a capful of liquid bleach--lemon Clorox is good--added to the water to disinfect the dishes at least twice a week if not daily (also a good idea to clean their wooden perches and all their toys as well in this solution making sure that the perches and toys are rinsed well and dried off before putting them back in the cage). The entire cage should be dismantled and cleaned with the same solution at least once a month. [Also see article How Clean is Clean?]
 
It is important to provide a variety of different perches for your bird, so that their feet do not get sore from being in the same position all the time. Some suggestions for mixing and matching are: 1/2" wooden dowels (untreated), Comfort perches, small or medium Booda cables, natural manzanita perches, and a small (3/4") cement perch to keep their nails dull.


The site owner suggests that one purchases (or makes one's own) play area for your bird as conures need a lot of "out" time from their cages when you are home and can supervise. For your bird's safety and to better train your bird, make sure your bird's wings are clipped first by a professional; your bird's nails should be clipped by a professional as well since windows, large mirrors, food cooking on your stove, commodes, etc. can endanger your bird's life). If kept in their cages too much, some green cheeks can throw temper tantrums that you would not believe! Green cheeks also need a wide variety of toys to play with to keep them entertained (but don't overstock their cage with toys so that they have no room to maneuver!). 

In addition, rotating toys every week or two will help keep them from getting bored. The owner's bird enjoys playing with toys with knots in them that they can unravel and hand-held toys. They relish playing with large buttons, and a favorite is a soda bottle cap. They especially like rope toys that they can swing and climb on (and hang upside down from!).

Frodo Loses His Budgie Friend

Last night a tragic accident took the life of my beautiful budgie, Skylar. She was the sweetest little hand-fed budgie who loved being cuddled.

It was love at first sight for both Skylar and me. She was sharing a cage with a cockatiel when I spotted her at the pet store. When she saw me, she came running over and offered her head up against the bars so that I could pet her. Needless to say, I was shocked.

Apparently, her breeder had removed her from her parents care to hand feed her. Skylar had been so tiny that the breeder had to use a toothpick in order to feed her. It certainly paid off because she was the sweetest little budgie who loved to be scritched and who wasn't the least bit fearful of her new owner.

Those of you with budgies know how unusual it is to have a budgie who is tame and sweet right from the store. Usually it takes some time and effort to tame and win the love of a budgie. I had to pay twice as much as one normally would for a budgie, but she was worth it.

A great mimic, Skylar nailed the ring tone of the phone and the beep of the answering machine as well as the beeping of the microwave. Another little imitation that she enjoyed was the sound of my sneezing. It even became a game with her. I would pretend to get ready to sneeze, and she would finish the sneeze. She had me in stitches with her antics.

Skylar was what I called my multiple personality bird. She could imitate the calls and noises from every one of my birds in their voices. One minute she was Chipper the cockatiel. The next minute she would be Ringo the cockatiel or Snowflake the cockatiel. She even imitated the way that Chipper would do his little knocking routine. Skylar learned to do it as well, and it quickly became a game with us just like it was with Chipper. Not even a few minutes later, Skylar was the second green-cheeked conure in the house when I was pretty darned sure that I only had one. She was extremely adorable, and her loss will be difficult to overcome.

My green-cheeked conure Frodo thought so too when I brought him home to live with us. After a period of quarantine from the rest of the flock as a precaution, Skylar immediately introduced herself to him, and they quickly became buds.

Since Frodo was as bold as her, they were kindred spirits who enjoyed spending time and getting into mischief together. They also adored each other and would chatter to each other, would sit side by side and offer their heads to one another for preening. Skylar even chatted in conure speak. They were adorable together.

Frodo would follow behind Skylar where ever she went and was pretty territorial about and protective of her. Together they would climb up my floor length drapes and perch on top of the ruffle to heckle me or to take a nap. Because he was so intent with her, you might even say that he was even a trifle obsessed with her. Because of this relationship, I knew that he would not understand why her cage was no longer sitting next to his and why she didn't answer him when he called to her.

Of course, all the birds had heard me crying and grieving over Skylar, but it wasn't until I took her little lifeless body to them, tearfully laying her down on the table on which two of the cages were housed that they could understand why I was upset. I thought it only fair that they could see her, and that Frodo especially would understand that she was gone and not being hidden away somewhere by me and resenting me for it.

It was hard to watch, but Frodo came over to her and made little soft inquiring noises to her as he walked around her. He even preened her little head for her. That just made me cry even more. Finally, Frodo gave her a good nip to wake her up, and I knew when he understood that she was gone. As he processed that, he allowed me to take her away. When I came back into the room, he climbed onto my arm and spent the rest of the evening with me.

The tiels had all watched this with interest but none of them were friends with Skylar even though she had tried her best, bless her little heart.

Frodo and Skylar were not a mating couple, in case anyone was wondering, but since I didn't want them to attempt cross-breeding, I did only allow them some supervised play time together.

I spent some extra time with Frodo today, because I saw how much he was looking over to where her cage had been and looking sad. We had a good day together despite grieving over our dear friend.

Yes, Conures Do Accept Bribes

Who knew that a simple green nut could wrangle a green-cheeked conure so completely?

Innocently eating a few pistachio nuts one day in front of my birds, it sparked an interest from my flock. At the time, the tiels had tried them before and liked them. Green-cheeked conure Frodo, however, was new to my home, so seeing me eating, he mooched one to try for himself and literally went nuts over them. If you have a conure that really likes a particular food and the happy little noises they can make as they relish the treat, you will understand the inference. He absolutely loved it!

I don't have pistachios in the house very often, because I think they are a bit spendy. Though they aren't very good for them and shouldn't be given to your pets on a regular basis, conures can be bribed with a pistachio nut. Perhaps not all conures feel the same, but my Frodo would trade his best friend for one.

When they first met, Frodo didn't like my dad at all. I think it was the baseball cap dad was wearing. If you want Frodo to scream, walk into a room wearing a baseball cap, and that little sucker will bring down the house, stirring up all the rest of the birds into a panic. The same thing happens when my brother walks into the bird room with his baseball cap on.

Disappointed that Frodo wasn't making a very good first impression on my parents when they came to visit, I asked my dad to remove his cap and gave Dad a pistachio nut. As soon as Frodo saw the nut in my dad's hand, he stopped screaming and began bobbing his head up and down and straining forward. If you own a green cheek, you know the behavior to which I am referring.

Dad gave Frodo the nut. Frodo took it right out of his hand, ate it and begged for more. No more screaming at my dad that day. It was really cute.

Green Cheek, Georgie, Loves His Music

This was too cute not to share: 

Splish, Splash: Taking a Bath

Of all my birds, my green cheek Frodo loves nothing better than taking a bath. I left a bowl of water in his cage one day when I was home and that little bugger bathed five times! It was great! After he bathes these days, Frodo likes to run up my arm to my shoulder and then shake off the excess water onto me. Cheeky bugger!

The fact that they do enjoy baths so much just reinforces to me how important bathing is for the health and well-being of these little guys. I found a cute video of a green cheek named Poppy who is enjoying a bath that I thought I'd share.

Poor Me, I Have to Scratch My Own Head

Green cheeks, as well as grey-cheeked parakeets, are quite capable of scratching their own heads and necks with their foot if need be. They like to throw guilt upon their owners by giving themselves a head rub as if to say, "Look at me. I am so pitiful that I have to rub my own head. Poor me."

If I had a camcorder, I'd share Frodo in action, but there is a perfectly great video already available online. Check out little Petri who is just looking for sympathy:

Bringing Home Frodo

A routine visit to a local pet store in 2002 ended up being an eventful day. Fed up with customers who didn't properly take care of their birds after getting them from her store, the owner and I spoke about educating folks on the care of birds. When I admired her four newly weaned green-cheeked conures, she gave one of them to me, saying that she knew he would be well cared for with me as his owner than if she had just sold him to someone she didn't know. So, I went home that day with a new friend, one who was small and had funny-looking feet. Decided to call him Frodo. Can't imagine why.

Keeping an extra cage in the house for emergency rescues, I quickly made him right at home as soon as we walked in the front door. He was quiet for the first few days and kind of took in his new surroundings but did not seem fearful. Making sure he was eating and drinking regularly, I left him to his own devices, away from the other birds, and didn't try to handle him for a few days.

Every day I would go to his cage, greeting him sweetly, and would open his door, giving him his freedom should he desire to venture out, though didn't try to interact with him otherwise. On the second day, he did come out of his cage, and though fully flighted, he stayed on top of it and didn't try to fly around. He too was trying to get a feel for the place and to get adjusted. He was content to stay where he was and just watch me and the other birds interact. He even went back into his cage all by himself when I turned the lights down in the room a bit.

On the fourth day, I was sitting on the couch, watching television, and all of a sudden, Frodo flew over to me and landed on my shoulder and snuggled into my neck, rubbing his head up toward my chin, begging to have his head rubbed. I was flabbergasted! Apparently, he'd thought he'd had enough adjustment.

I was his best bud. He liked to snuggle with me whenever he could and begged for treats when I was eating. I quickly learned that he loved apples and carrots. He also liked fresh broccoli, corn, peas, and most fruits you could imagine. I was eating a Ritz cracker one night and saw Frodo on top of his cage, leaning forward and bobbing his head up and down, reminding me of my grey-cheeked parakeet, Kiwi, who used to do the same thing when she wanted something. In the case of Kiwi though, she would also make a beeping noise as she bobbed and strained forward. Frodo, however, just did the bob and strain maneuver. Those of you who own a green-cheek will recognize the behavior of which I speak.

Working diligently with Frodo, we established the step up and step down from both my finger and a stick perch that I keep around for rescuing my high-strung cockatiels who freak out over the budgie giving the warning cry at regular intervals. The budgie loves to do this to freak them out, and the cockatiels fall for it every time.

Frodo is also semi-potty trained. He will back up and seek an edge to poop from instead of just going where he is standing. If he hasn't gone in a while, I can hold him over a trash can and say "go potty" or "come on, go potty," and he will go. You might have to say it a few times, but he will do it if he does have the urge.

When he first became a member of my flock, he loved playing the 'tickle tickle' game. I would reach around and gently nudge him onto his back and then tickle his belly with my fingers. He just loved it and would grab onto my fingers and nibble on them.

Another game we played then was 'peek-a-boo.' Since Frodo, like my former grey-cheek, is a snuggler, he likes to snuggle under the throw with me in the evenings if I watch television or read. He crawls under the throw, starts grinding his beak, and is fast asleep. I got in the habit of peeking under the throw and saying, "peek-a-boo" to him, and then would lower the throw again and would do that at regular intervals for a bit when we had our evening times.

Imagine my surprise when I walked out of the room one night, out of his view, and heard this little, "Peek-a-boo" coming from the other room. I walked back into the room, and of course, he clammed right up. The next thing he learned to say was, "Baby." Now he changes that up with, "Hey, baby" which has become his call for me as I come in the door fresh from work. He also says "hello" and mumbles a lot of other things, but I haven't quite figured them out yet. I'm repeating "good boy" a lot these days so hopefully he'll pick that up, especially when it is reinforced with head scritches.

I very gently plucked a few of his chest feathers and sent them off to a lab for a DNA test that first week to verify that he was a he, and he was. Green-cheeks are not sexually dimorphic (i.e. can't tell the males from the females), so I felt I needed to find out.

That's all about the Frodster for tonight. I hope you enjoy your green cheek as much as I do mine. I bid you good night and hope you don't complain as much as Frodo does about having to go to bed these days. Such noisy vocalizations at bed time. If you don't believe me, check out this video that an owner shared on YouTube. The individual who posted it didn't allow the code to be embedded elsewhere, so visit this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js1gSj-0Brg