Some questions

[Acky]

This is my first parrot. I have taken care of other peoples parrots when they went on vacation. I have a few question, I thought some of you could help me with.
1. My little birds have gravel to help them with their food. Do parrots need gravel?
2. Do they need a cuttlebone?
3. Do the need insects to eat?
4. How do you get parrots to talk…and is there an age for them to start talking?
Thanks….and anything you can add will help. I want my first parrot to be around long long time.

[41Gryphon]

1. Parrots do not need gravel. They can chew their food up into small bits with their hooked beak just fine.

2. Parrots do need cuttlebones and mineral blocks as supplements. Unlike canaries and finches, a HUGE part of their diet must be veggies and fruits. You should feed your parrot a large variety of fruits and vegetables. Apples and grapes won't cut it. They need foods rich in vitamins and nutrients. Offer plain boiled bits of chicken and chicken bone every now and then. Crush up a boiled egg (shell and all) and offer it in a dish a couple times a week. Seed/pellets should only occupy 20-30% of their diet.

3. Parrots are not primarily insect eaters. In the wild, they may snatch one once in a blue moon, but no, they do not require insects to be healthy.

4. Parrots learn to talk by hearing their "flock" talk. They pick stuff up. A parrot will continue to learn words (if he/she talks at all) throughout their entire life, so no, there is no age limit. Not all parrots talk. It really depends on the personality of the individual parrot. Some species are more prone to talk more than others. Some parrots are content with their parrot noises. Others like to communicate through whistles and beeps and whatever electronic sounds they may hear. Some may be even chattier than your average human. Parrots can even learn to talk in context.

Parrots are very social. They need lots of toys to occupy their time with and need hours and hours of interaction each day. Unless you plan on letting your bird spend 90% of his/her time outside the cage, get the largest cage you can afford. Parrots are very costly pets to care for in general, but they'll pay 10 times of it back to you in affection.

[MiaCarter]

41Gryphon got it covered nicely!

I'd also offer egg. Egg is a superfood and they love it!

Enrichment and interaction is super important for hookbills. They bore easily and so you should always be offering toys and other enrichment to keep them occupied. Otherwise, you're not going to like what he comes up with for entertainment!

Some birds talk, others never do.
Males are much more apt to speak than females.
Start associating certain words with certain actions and objects, just as you would for a young child.

I also invent a personal "jingle" for each bird.
Come up with 2 versions. One that's a whistle and one that you sing with words.
For instance, my jingle for Hunter the cockatiel is "Knock, Knock, Hunter's Home!" It's a 5-note whistle and a little song with the same tune.

They're more apt to mimick a whistle than words at first. Once they start mimicking whistles, they can progress to words more easily.

Sing/whistle your bird's personal jingle to get his attention and whenever you're cuddling together. He'll come to realize it's his song within a few days.

Then you can use it as a communication tool.
For instance, if I'm sitting at the bar working on the laptop and I don't see Hunter (and wonder if he's into mischief), I'll whistle his song and he'll reply and come flying over to see me.

If I'm out of view, sometimes he'll get anxious and he'll start whistling his song. I whistle back and he calms right down. This doesn't happen so much anymore now that he has a mate, but he still does it a few times a week. That personal jingle becomes a way of saying "Hey, where are you?" and "I'm here, Hunter! Even if you can't see me!"

[finchandlovebird]

What kind of parrot do you have
How old is it
What do you know of how it was cared for by the previous owner

[cindy]

Curious also what species?

[Colt]

Great care tips. I'm also curious of the species. Some do not talk, others do but it's very garbled or mumbles, and others make great talkers.

[Colt]

cindy and finchandlovebird I've answered our question...lol Look down a few posts. The bird in question is a female Eclectus.

In general Eclectus are not talkers. In fact they are a pretty quiet bird. I don't recall ever hearing one scream at the store or really make any noise unless they were begging as chicks to be fed. And it was a nearly non-existent sound. They actually remind me a bit of an autistic child in the way that they like their routines and are slow to like new things in their environment.

The babies that I've handfed were always very "cautious" I guess would be a good word. You'd open the cage and tell them to step up and wait patiently until the bird examined your hand and finally climbed aboard to come out and see you, unlike Conures who would scramble all over their cage waiting for you to open the door and let them out. It was the same when you transferred them to a customer. They'd slowly look the person over and tentatively step onto their hand. So you may notice some "thoughtfulness" in her behavior.

While beautiful they were one of the harder species to work with at the store because of their personalities. They were never big on playing and I believe although it has been quite sometime since I researched them, but Eclectus may have special dietary needs. I believe they have pellets specifically for this species and they should receive a higher amount of fresh foods than some other species.

They were not nippy birds at all, although we did have a male who went through a phase of several weeks where he would slowly reach over and just clamp onto your thumb while you waited for him. It got to the point where he was unwilling to come out for any of the girls and they were frightened of him. So I worked with him in little ten to fifteen minute sessions several times a shift and he worked through that.

I prefer females over the males. Their colors are to die for and they seem to be a bit more outgoing (but not much) and are a bit calmer. The males were a little unpredictable, like Hogan I mentioned above. They'd develop little quirks that you just had to live with.

The birds we had in the store through the years were not also big players. At least not like a Conure or Macaw, or even the Cockatoos or other larger parrots who would seriously throw everything into playing (or destroying) a toy. The Eclectus always played gently with their toys, giving it a thoughtful nibble or a little push or tug. I can't remember ever having a toy destroyed by an Eclectus.

Granted those are just my experiences with them and you may find your girl to be different. But I've probably had 6-8 in my care before and the behavior I described was pretty typical.

[Acky]

Thanks..this helps. ok first go to my topic "She's Here!" You can see a picture of her and her age. Second tomorrow I will add a cuttlebone to her cage. She had a small cage at first, but a new one came on Monday. A little taller then me and I bet me and my hubby both could fit in it. Doors to small . It is made for a big parrots. Also the day after I put it together I went right out and bought 5 toys for it. So I did put toys in it. This is the first day I did not take her out of her cage because hubby and I had running around to do. Now I have been giving her a fresh {what I call a birdy salad} everyday. It has carrots, bell pepper, green beans, pea pods, sprouts, spinach leaves, apples, grapes, watermelon, kiwi, and orange. What surprised me was I thought for sure she would go for the grapes first thing. Nope. She went for the watermelon big time. She is very sweet. Hand feed. Well anything else I will be happy to take it in. Thank you again for the advice.

[Acky]

Also it is late and she has been put to bed. Tomorrow I will get a picture of her new cage and post it right here.

Rebecca

[Acky]

Here is her new cage

[Sheather]

Try to cut her some natural tree branches to play with, parrots loooove stripping the leaves and shoots, it's good nutrition for the more forage-y parrots like Eclectus and it relieves boredom.

[Acky]

Sheather

I'll have to think that one over...don't want to give her anything that might make her sick.

[Sheather]

Why would it make her sick?

I bring in branches for all of our birds every couple days. There is no better or more natural enrichment.

[cindy]

If you use outside branches best to scrub them with soapy water, rinse well and then soak in bleach and water for 15 to 30 minutes then sun dry... wild birds can leave all kinds of nasties on them plus it is good to get dirt and grime off of them before using them for your birds... google safe and unsafe wood, trees, plants for parrots.

[Sheather]

Well bleaching and drying utterly defeats the point of fresh branches, with leaves and shoots and flowers to strip...