HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: chris@unislc.uucp (Chris DelPrete)
Subject: Re: Cockatiel Seed Problems
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 19:19:22 GMT

Karen L. Dapper (kd1z+@andrew.cmu.edu) wrote:
: The worse part is when I notified the store this morning they didn't
: seem very suprised.  Does this type of thing happen often?  I will never
: go back there again, but how can you be sure that your seed is fresh? 
: There are no dates on the packages.  

Most seed is infested with something.  I always keep all my dry goods for my
bird guys in the freezer.  That takes care of the insect eggs in the seed.  It
really is not uncommon.  Some of the better pet stores I know of keep their
seed in the freezer too.  If you find a place to get really fresh, clean seed,
let me know.  But there is no reason to assume clean seed will not get infested
later, as it lays in a drawer.  Bottom line:  keep your seed in the  freezer.

: I know this is a disgusting story and I still feel gittery but I wanted
: to warn everyone so that it doesn't happen to anyone else.  

Unfortunately, it is part of the package with most seed.  The best thing to do
is take preventative measures and freeze the seed.   Who knows?  Tiels
certainly enjoy little bug snacks in the wild.  Perhaps the extra protein is
good for them!  :^)  Check with your vet?  I'll ask mine.
-- 

  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  +  Christine DelPrete-Delaney                             The Rest   o  +
  +  chris@unislc.slc.unisys.com                               ____    0  +
From: orly@aludra.usc.edu (Mr. Nitro Plastique)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: Speach Training for Parakeets
Date: 14 Sep 1992 13:36:51 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu



To Whoever Can Help;

        I need some info/help on how to speach train my 2 parakeets.
I know they have to be very young, so I bought ones that are 2 months old each.


                        Thanks in Advance


                        Victor Orly


-- 
|Victor R. Orly               | "Try to imagine all life as you know it,      |
|aka "Mr. Nitro Plastique"    |  stopping instantaneously, and every molecule |
|Univ. of Southern California |  in your body exploding at the speed of light"|
|Internet: orly@aludra.usc.edu|    -Egon Spengler, from "Ghostbusters"        |
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: chris@unislc.uucp (Chris DelPrete)
Subject: Re: New addition to the family...
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 19:15:08 GMT

NEVES RICHARD K (neves@anchor.cs.colorado.edu) wrote:
: (under the eyes to).  We'll see.  Does anybody know of a better way to
: determine sex?  It's funny how we call the baby a she.  This little
: bird is really cute, wish you all could see.

Some breeders will pull an outside tail feather and see what grows in.  If a
solid grows in, then it is male, otherwise a female.  I have found this an
accurate way to sex baby cockatiels.  Just don't pull the feather until it is
mature (usually 8 weeks is good).  If you need tips on pulling feathers, let me
know.  Good luck and have fun with your new baby.

BTW:  keep an eye on its weight while you're weaning it.  They can drop weight
pretty quickly and not show it until it is too late.  

: The only thing that bothered me about the breeder, was that he was
: kinda a "big bird" snob.  He kept saying that cockatiels were
: "transitionary" birds.  In my opinion, bigger isn't better!  Chuck
: has just as much personality as these towering macaws.

Actually, I have a tiel that "out-personalities" all the big birds I've met. I
agree:  bigger is not necessarily better.

-- 

  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  +  Christine DelPrete-Delaney                             The Rest   o  +
  +  chris@unislc.slc.unisys.com                               ____    0  +
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: jim@coral.aiss.uiuc.edu (jim crouse)
Subject: FAQ
Reply-To: jim@coral.aiss.uiuc.edu
Organization: AISS/Telecom University of Illinois -- Urbana-Champaign
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 14:53:05 GMT

Is the FAQ still being worked on ?

I have been working part time for, IMHO, the top Avian Vet around my area.
He has just started his own practice, and does all the avian referrals
for the Univ. of Illinois Vet Med School, as well as lectures on the
exotics and avain sections in the Animal Science courses. 
So I am getting some great experience as well as having access to
an incredible amount of first hand knowledge.
I would be willing to help in the writing of the FAQ.

We have a Blue and Gold Macaw, a Yellow Nape Amazon, a Brown Throat
Conure,and several Cockatiels. So I am seeing a good range of pet birds.

Anyone interested ???


jim


jim@coral.aiss.uiuc.edu


Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: wiegand@rtsg.mot.com (Robert Wiegand)
Subject: Re: Avian behavior
Keywords: behavior
Reply-To: motcid!wiegand@uunet.uu.net
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
Distribution: "world"
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 15:12:33 GMT

dsnhv@dsnsun.ericsson.se (Henk Vriens) writes:

>I have a female salmon crested cockatoo who's sometimes plucking
>her feathers.  She's in a large cage together with a male salmon
>crested and a pair of goffins in the cage next to her.  Although
>I'm giving her as much as attention as I can, she keeps plucking.

I have a few questions / suggestions.

Are you sure that she is plucking herself, and that its not the male
plucking her? Watch them carefully to make sure.

It might be usefull to put a divider between the cages if the other birds
are making her nervous.

Do they have any toys to play with? They are very smart and will sometimes
pick feathers because they have nothing else to do.

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Wiegand - Motorola Inc.
uunet!motcid!wiegand
Disclamer: I didn't do it - I was somewhere else at the time.
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: hanson@ucs.indiana.edu (Fred D. Hanson)
Subject: Please Help - Hurricane Andrew animal victims
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 19:03:54 GMT

Please read, continued support will be needed for some time to come.

First:  My thanks to Jim Crouse, U. of Illinois, for calling our
attention to the magnitude of the problem.

Second:  250,000+ persons are homeless and so are their pets
which include a far number of parrots.

Third:  On Sat. 9/5, I spoke with Chantal Bailey, a private kennel
owner who has opened her door to aid all animals by providing shelter,
food, and MOST important helping to find foster homes for these pets.  
She with the aid of others in the area including the Gold Coast Bird 
Club has placed 110 PARROTS thus far.  Plus I did not write down the 
number of dogs and cats.  The birds have been given (implanted I think) 
with donated transponders so that they can be tracked if necessary.  An 
avian vet, Dr. Parrot (female) is to be given credit for a lot of 
assistance.  All pet descriptions have been computerized so that 
matching pets and owners might be easier.

Fourth:  The ongoing need at this time is money to (1) help foster homes  
with food and supplies and (2) assist those who still have their pets.
Chantal stated they were getting multiple requests for bird food daily.
Also, she pledges any money received and not used for Andrew relief will go 
to the local human association which suffered I think a complete lose of the 
shelter kennel.  

Fifth:  What can you do?

*  Send your personal contribution (address below).
*  Make others aware that not just people assistance is needed.
   Perhaps your local paper could print a short story.  Chantal said a
   story in a Rhode Island paper generated $1500 in support.  Reporters
   can call at the number listed below.  I realize that as time goes by
   the news media quickly loses interest but the problems are still there.

Finally:  Next time, I for one will be ready to act faster.  My wife and I
have dogs (4), cats (3) and parrots (3).  One final note, Chantal did say
that thus far 6 dogs had been reunited with their owners.  These people must
be truly thankful.  Chantal and all the individuals and organizations 
involved in this relief effort deserve a lot of praise.

Send donations to:  Chantal Bailey
                    771 SW 121 Avenue
                    Davie, FL 33325
                    (305)  475-0095

Thank you!

        Fred D. Hanson  -  hanson@ucs.indiana.edu  -  (812)855-0941

       "Man belongs to the Earth; the Earth does not belong to man."
                                                           -unknown 


Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: neves@anchor.cs.colorado.edu (NEVES RICHARD K)
Subject: New addition to the family...
Keywords: cockatiel
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 01:35:35 GMT

Last week I asked for some advice on getting a buddy for Chuck, our
cockatiel.  Thanks for all the useful advice.  Michelle and I
appreciate it.  Most suggested we find a breeder and to get a hand-fed
'tiel.  We did both.

The Tropical Bird Farm in Boulder was quite impressive.  They had
about 400 babies of all types kept in really good conditions.  I was
especially impressed by the fact that they wouldn't let us leave until
we were thoroughly educated about our new cockatiel (which still
needed some hand feeding).

We aren't sure what the sex is, so we refer to it as 'she', 'sweetie'
or 'baby'.  She is a 2 month old, cinnamon, and hand-fed from hatching
day.  She is ***really*** cute.  After a couple of days, we got her
off the syringe and onto steamed peas/carrots/beans/corn/spinach
/'soaked seed'.  It is amazing how she has matured in just the several
days we have had her.  Oh, btw, we paid $95.

The breeder also said a quaker was a good option for a buddy for
Chuck.  We had already decided, though, that we wanted to risk less
affection from Chuck and get another cockatiel.

The whole point of getting another bird was to improve the quality of
Chuck's life during the day hours when neither my wife and I were
around.  Unfortunately, Chuck doesn't seem to appreciate this (yet).

So far, Chuck 'tolerates' the new baby.  We got the baby a new cage
that is fairly roomy and put it next to Chucks.  At night, they get
covered under the same blanket.  As long as the baby doesn't infringe
on Chucks turf (i.e. not come in Chuck's cage), Chuck is pretty civil.

The only attention Chuck gives the baby is when Chuck's sees her
eating and immediately assumes that whatever the baby is eating is
better than what she has.  Chuck then proceeds to climb from her cage
to the other cage and 'sneak' a bite or two.

Chuck seems huge compared to the baby which doesn't quite have all the
feathers yet.  Since we got the new bird, chuck seems even more
affectionate to me.  We'll see what happens.  We would like to see
them bond, but this will take time.  Who knows, maybe chuck will still
give me the time of day when they do bond.  

The guy who sold us the bird claims that there is absolutely no
guaranteed way to determine if the baby is a boy or girl.  We think
she is probably a boy since she has a lot of yellow on her whole head
(under the eyes to).  We'll see.  Does anybody know of a better way to
determine sex?  It's funny how we call the baby a she.  This little
bird is really cute, wish you all could see.

The only thing that bothered me about the breeder, was that he was
kinda a "big bird" snob.  He kept saying that cockatiels were
"transitionary" birds.  In my opinion, bigger isn't better!  Chuck
has just as much personality as these towering macaws.

Again, thanks for the advice.

Rich (and Michelle)
From: roberts@studguppy.lanl.gov (Doug Roberts)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: Re: How BirdieIzed Are You?
Date: 8 Sep 92 21:23:17 GMT
	<1992Sep1.155209.15223@ryn.mro4.dec.com> <Bu9vEG.4y5@news.cso.uiuc.edu>
Organization: Technology Modeling and Analysis, LANL-A7


In article <Bu9vEG.4y5@news.cso.uiuc.edu> susan@solace.me.uiuc.edu (Susan Wrightson) writes:

> 2. He will let me hold him BY HIS TAIL upside down with his feet hanging
> free.  I start with him lying on his back in my hand, and I grab his tail
> feathers firmly and evenly close to his body and pick him up.  He relaxes
> and puffs up when I do this.  He also likes it when you give him food
> while he's hanging like this -- he can hold food in both claws!
> 

Our Goffin likes this too. He looks kind of silly, hanging there by
his tail, but he really seems to enjoy it...

--Doug
--

==================================================================
Douglas Roberts                |
Los Alamos National Laboratory | All good work is done in defiance
dzzr@lanl.gov                  |  of management. -- Bob Woodward
(505)667-4569                  |
==================================================================
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: chris@unislc.uucp (Chris DelPrete)
Subject: Re: Weird 'Tiel Behavior/Off the Death Diet!
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 20:01:58 GMT

Christine V Sylanov (sylanov@function.mps.ohio-state.edu) wrote:
: 	I'm also *ecstatic* to report that she has finally taken
: to fresh veggies and fruits.  I have been trying for years to get

Wonderful!!!!

: 	Another strange behavior she has is, on her "playpen",
: she will sit on the edge of it, with her tail hanging off of it,
: and then she'll jump off the ledge onto the base of the playpen,
: (so her tail is still outside of the playpen), and then she
: does a weird back-and-forth motion with her tail.  I assume
: this is some sort of egg-laying type of thing?  

It sounds as if she wants to mate.  But even more, it sounds like she is a he.
Many male cockatiels do what you describe.  Are you sure of the sex?  If yes,
then she probably wants to mate and raise a clutch.
-- 
                          _   /|
Chris DelPrete Delaney    \'o.O'
chris@unislc              =(___)=
                             U
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: brekshyn@shearson.com (Bohdan Rekshynskyj)
Subject: Sengalese parrots
Reply-To: brekshyn@shearson.com
Organization: Ordinatio
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 16:33:31 GMT

Greetings,

   Can anyone tell me of their experiences with Sengalese parrots?  Also, information
on their life span, their "affectionateness", intelligence, talkativeness, et al
would be appreciated.  Feel free to email me.  Thank you!


						Bohdan

P.S. - what's a good price for one nowadays?




=====================================================================
 
Bohdan Peter Rekshynskyj
 
Consultant                     
 
Compuserve:  72576,1754


                              
All promulgations are my own.  No corporate entity has authorization
to represent me.
 
Imprimatur.						Nihil obstat.
 
=====================================================================


Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: gerard@caliban.soest.hawaii.edu (Gerard Fryer)
Subject: Re: Help.  Fierce Amazon.
Organization: Scum Of the Earth and Senile Tenured
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 18:30:33 GMT

Thanks, Mike, Tanya, and Doug for your recommendations about how to
stop my unruly blue-front from attacking my daughter.  I have already
tried some very restricted use of a spray bottle of water.  That looks
like it will do the trick as long as I don't overdo it (so that it's
always a surprise).  Following recommendations in Bird Talk I'm also
going to lower Lafitte's cage so that her preferred perch is not above
shoulder level when I'm sitting down.

I would have thanked you all sooner but was distracted by a breeze and
some storm surge (you might have heard about it).
-- 
Gerard Fryer  (g.fryer@soest.hawaii.edu)
School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: jim@coral.aiss.uiuc.edu (jim crouse)
Subject: Re: Help needed--crying amazon
Reply-To: jim@coral.aiss.uiuc.edu
Organization: AISS/Telecom University of Illinois -- Urbana-Champaign
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 14:16:10 GMT

Subject: Re: Help needed--crying amazon

Read some of the work done on behavior by Christine Davis.
She has some great techniques in avian behavior modification.

I have started working part time for Dr. Welle, the top Avian
Veterinarian in centeral Illinois, and he recommends her work
as being one of the best in this area of study.

jim
From: sylanov@function.mps.ohio-state.edu (Christine V Sylanov)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: Weird 'Tiel Behavior/Off the Death Diet!
Date: 7 Sep 1992 21:14:41 -0400
Organization: Department of Mathematics, The Ohio State University
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: function.mps.ohio-state.edu


	My 'tiel has recently changed her behavior-she remains
inactive throughout most of the day, and "wakes up" around 10
or 11 pm at night.  She has been doing this for the last
couple of weeks at least.  She seems happy, she doesn't cry
for attention, and when I go to bed and cover her, she plays
quietly in her cage for a short time. I have been home during
the day most of the time the last few weeks, and have been
giving her attention at these times, but she just doesn't want
it-she'd rather stay in her cage and nap.  She appears to be
perfectly healthy, and happy, also.  Any ideas on what's going
on here?  She's about 6 years old.

	I'm also *ecstatic* to report that she has finally taken
to fresh veggies and fruits.  I have been trying for years to get
her to eat fresh things, with no success (she will nibble if I am
eating it also, but she wouldn't touch the stuff in her cage).
I got fed up with her and did the following:  In the morning,
I put only fresh veggies/fruits in her seed cup, and later on
I add seed, but I put the seed under some fresh veggies, at least
that way she has to push the fresh stuff around. I was pleased 
to see her perched on her swing grasping a piece of carrot the
other day (it was about midnight, by the way)!  
	I had tried most of the usual stuff, I think, I put 
different types of food bowls in many different places, both
in and out of her cage, and nothing seemed to work.  

	Another strange behavior she has is, on her "playpen",
she will sit on the edge of it, with her tail hanging off of it,
and then she'll jump off the ledge onto the base of the playpen,
(so her tail is still outside of the playpen), and then she
does a weird back-and-forth motion with her tail.  I assume
this is some sort of egg-laying type of thing?  

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
	Christine Sylanov  sylanov@function.mps.ohio-state.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: quinones@ucsc.edu (Kathy Quinones)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: Re: Weird 'Tiel behavior
Date: 8 Sep 92 21:37:39 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: orchid.ucsc.edu
Originator: quinones@orchid.UCSC.EDU



I asked a friend who studies biological rhythms in birds, and he recommends
that the cockatiel be kept in as close to absolute darkness as possible
at night, and then be exposed to bright lights during the day (specially
in the morning).  This should reset the bird's "clock" and make him/her
be active during the daytime.
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: gerard@caliban.soest.hawaii.edu (Gerard Fryer)
Subject: Help.  Fierce Amazon.
Originator: gerard@caliban
Organization: Scum Of the Earth and Senile Tenured
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 00:05:46 GMT

Has anyone got any ideas about how to calm a fierce amazon?

A few years ago my daughter Katherine inherited my brother-in-law's
parrot, a female blue-fronted amazon named Lafitte (he had thought the
bird was male, but the bird demonstrated otherwise as soon as we took
her home).  Lafitte is exceptionally fierce towards Katherine, lunging
at her with open beak and splayed wings and generally treating her as a
rival.  This behaviour began as soon as we got the bird.  I did nothing
about the behaviour then, other than suggest to Katherine that she not
encroach on the bird's space.  I figured that when Katherine grew up a
bit Lafitte would regard her as another adult human (naive, I know, but
I knew nothing about parrot psychology then).

It didn't work, of course.  Katherine is now a willowy almost-teenager
but Lafitte is as fierce as ever.  The bird will accept favorite food
from KAtherine but will drop it immediately in order to try to bite the
outstretched fingers.  She would unquestionably inflict a nasty injury
if she got the chance.  If Lafitte is loose on the floor she'll go
hunting for Katherine and has a couple of times treed her on a dining
chair (vaguely reminiscent of the old cliche of the housewife perched
on a stool with a threatening mouse on the floor).

Katherine is a real ornithophile so she takes this very hard.  She
always approaches the cage calmly and she seems to be the only one who
can teach Lafitte new words (the bird is a pretty poor talker).
Lafitte is very strongly bonded to me but, despite the threatening
behaviour, it's really clear that she likes having Katherine around.
She'll often ignore me and shout when Katherine walks out of the room.
With everyone else, even other girls, Lafitte is a gentle bird (as
gentle as any amazon, I guess): she'll shake hands, climb on your
shoulder, and (reluctantly) let you scratch her neck.  She takes food
from everyone (except Katherine) very gently.

Any suggestions?
-- 
Gerard Fryer  (g.fryer@soest.hawaii.edu)
School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology
University of Hawaii at Manoa
From: MVOIGT@cmsa.gmr.com
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: Screeching
Date: 15 Sep 92 18:57:34 GMT
Organization: GM Research Labs

HELP!!!  My cockatiel screeches whenever I walk out of the room into
another one.  I let her out once a day but not all the time.  I used to
think it was cute that she missed me, but not anymore!!  What can I do
to solve?  Also -- any tips on getting her to talk?  Does taking away
mirrors help?
From: kd1z+@andrew.cmu.edu (Karen L. Dapper)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: Cockatiel Seed Problems
Date: 14 Sep 92 15:03:54 GMT
Organization: Information Networking Institute, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

I had a horrible experience this weekend and am looking for
advice/comments on how to avoid ever going thru it again.  I bought a
5lb bag of cockatiel seed mix at my local pet store.  I hadn't purchased
food there before but the place is well known and is clean.  I brought
the seed home on Sat, on Sun I started to find small worms (I'm using
the nice term here) on my wall by the bird cage.  I immediately removed
my bird, scrubbed the cage and moved him to a new location along with
cleaning my entire house.  Turns out, there were worms in the bird seed
bag that I had placed in the cabinet under his cage.  You couldn't see
the worms but when I looked closely at the bag, I found tiny holes. 
Thank god I hadn't feed my bird from that bag.  

The worse part is when I notified the store this morning they didn't
seem very suprised.  Does this type of thing happen often?  I will never
go back there again, but how can you be sure that your seed is fresh? 
There are no dates on the packages.  

I know this is a disgusting story and I still feel gittery but I wanted
to warn everyone so that it doesn't happen to anyone else.
From: rdmiller@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Ruth D Miller)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: Re: FAQ
Date: 9 Sep 1992 15:47:19 -0500
Organization: Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: matt.ksu.ksu.edu

Back in the summer I had posted a list of possible questions wanting
answers, and sort of offered to compile a FAQ.  But I have since then become
swamped, and realistically I'm not going to get it done.  I'm posting to
the net so you all know what happened to me (and the FAQ).  APologies and
all encouragement to whoever wants to give it a try him/herself!

Obligatory bird tale--I was at a picnic Labor Day and a girl, 6 or 7 I'd
guess, asked me if I had any children.  When I said, "Yes, 3 lovebirds,"
she got this most confused look on her face...Made the picnic worthwhile,
for me! :-)

Ruth

Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds