[Melanie]

Hello everyone. I hope you’re all safe and well.

Losing Willow in February knocked me for six and I truly felt as though my whole world was ripped out from under me. The hole she left behind was immense and the grief of losing her made me physically ill. And to say nothing of the silence.

I couldn’t imagine being a parront again but after my doctor gave a nudge we are now new parronts to seven week old River.

The grief I feel for Willow still washes over me when I least expect it, and I still love her dearly but having River here has been a positive distraction and has helped.

It’s fascinating to watch him, as he spent a lot of time around other bigger parrots and when we collected him he was housed next to two linnies; their behaviour seems to have rubbed off on him. He likes to move about at times in that unique way linnies do and we even caught him trying to pick up food and eat it with his foot this morning.

He hasn’t been out of the cage yet, and isn’t he letting us know about it! He’s never been out but he seems to sense bigger things are to come and is frustrated with the wait.

We’re in the process of offering him millet by hand and considering he’s only been here since Tuesday evening he’s happily taking it from us.

Any tips for building trust would be much appreciated.

 

[ozzie3860]

Welcome back,
River sounds like a good start. You know most of it, we will help where we can.
Is River hand trained by his breeder? It makes a bit of difference, I recent got a new guy named Rio that is hand breed and am amazed at how much different he is from our rescues. He was basically he was not scared of much, just unsure of me. Once we got past that he prefers to sit on our hands. Talk about a big change.
You have any pictures of River yet? We always love pics of our little guys.

 

[Melanie]

Thank you

He isn’t, no. He was parent reared but is absolutely fascinated by watching us. He seems desperate for freedom which he’ll have but not this soon as we want him to trust us first otherwise I fear he’ll elude any attempts at bedtime! Willow was out pretty much the entire day with me so freedom will be his!

 

[ozzie3860]

In that case I think I would keep "freedom" to small rooms you can darken if necessary. One trick I learned for a bird fearful of being handled is to darken the room to settle them down and pick them up. some of this is because their eyes are evolved for the sun much closer to the equator. They really do not seem all that well in traditional lighting and darkness so they are much less alarmed when handled then since they can not really see you as a parrotlet eating monster that is thousands of times bigger than they are.

 

[Melanie]

I never considered that idea, thank you I want to cover anything that might be dangerous too. We have a tree my husband made Willow so he’ll be able to use that in time.

The millet seems to be our best tool right now as my husband had him perched on his hand a moment ago, albeit inside the cage, and I even had a little stroke today.

 

[JackieRTP]

Congratulations on River! As you have noticed, most are food motivated, so long stalks of millet are useful for training and rewards.

 

[Melanie]

Congratulations on River! As you have noticed, most are food motivated, so long stalks of millet are useful for training and rewards.

Thank you! He certainly loves his food and has tried everything we’ve offered so far which we’re so thankful for.

Willow was so finicky. I tried her with new things all the time but she wasn’t even vaguely interested.

 

[Mrs.JP3]

Welcome to you and River! He is adorable, sounds like you two are coming along well. I'm sure it will take a little time but I have no doubt his full personality will come out and the two of you will develop quite a fun little routine.

I love linies, I don't have any but I consider getting some before. I ended up getting Bourke parakeets, they are so near and dear to my heart. I have two of them, and only one of my sweet little parrotlets is still with us. My parrotlets never really took after the bourks But vice versa, Jasper mimics sounds the parrotlets make. It is both funny and annoying sometimes LOL he really starts squawking sometimes it sounds a lot less like a parrotlet and more like a chicken

 

[Melanie]

I hope we do. It was just me and Willow when my husband was at work which was why I found it so hard to come to terms with her loss. I couldn’t even nip to another room without her wanting to come too and the sudden aloneness was too much.

I’ve never heard of Bourke’s Parakeets, I had to google them. They’re beautiful! I love the idea of them mimicking parrotlets 😃

We did consider linnies too, so to see River with some of their mannerisms is funny!

 

[Melanie]

What really surprised me, which I didn’t mention before, was River has chosen to sleep in the exact same place Willow liked to. In low light he looks almost blue when I glance over.

 

[Anya]

I am glad that your doctor gave you a "nudge" to get River. He is beautiful. How great that he is eating whatever you give him. We all wish our birds were like that! I think it is wonderful he has picked the same sleeping spot as Willow. I would take that as a good sign. Isn't it funny how they pick up things from other birds? I swear that Cleopatra has picked up flight patterns from watching the hummingbirds outside at the feeder. She can fly straight up (like an elevator). And she hovers! It is like she is telling them, "Well, I can do that too!" They are such clever wee things! Have fun with your little green gem. Give him as much love as you gave Willow and he will have a wonderful life. Let us know how he is doing. We love hearing all about the babies! And more pictures, please, if you don't mind!

 

[Melanie]

Thanks Anya 🙂

Cleopatra sounds such fun! You have a hummingbird-parrotlet! I know birds mimick calls but I never even considered actions too.

I just made River his breakfast and when I came back in he was sat waiting where his bowl sits. I really thought he’d flit away when I opened the door but he stayed put until I placed it down then he started eating before I even closed the door. This boy loves his good and I hope it’s a habit he keeps up.

I know this isn’t the best quality picture, I am pretty good at getting nice photos but it’s hard through cage bars. But this is him enjoying breakfast:

hmmm, it won’t let me post it.

 

[Melanie]

Ah ha! Done it!

 

[rizzie5022]

I am sorry for your loss, I too lost my green guy Huey in October very suddenly. I got another boy this time a yellow one named Sunshine.

When I got him one of the things I noticed was his chirps sounded like a cage of parakeets. He still chirps like that very softly, he can go on forever.

This is my second parrotlet and he is so different from my first one, Sunshine is a picky eater and is not food motivated at all. On another note I finally have stopped calling Sunshine Huey lol

Best of luck to you all

 

[Melanie]

I am sorry for your loss, I too lost my green guy Huey in October very suddenly. I got another boy this time a yellow one named Sunshine.

When I got him one of the things I noticed was his chirps sounded like a cage of parakeets. He still chirps like that very softly, he can go on forever.

This is my second parrotlet and he is so different from my first one, Sunshine is a picky eater and is not food motivated at all. On another note I finally have stopped calling Sunshine Huey lol

Best of luck to you all

Thank you. I'm so sorry for your loss, too. We decided to have a complete change and get a green boy. I keep having to stop myself calling River Willow and referring to him as Baby Blue. The times my husband has corrected me and said, "River is GREEN."

River is very vocal; as I type this he's yelling at me, but will sit and sing for a time in the morning, and there's all sorts going on in there, including what sound like kissy noises. We do feel lucky that River will have a go at most things. I think the only things he's tossed out of his dish have been swiss chard and a piece of wholewheat pasta. Willow on the other hand was stubborn as a mule and flat refused anuthing new except Goldnfeast but then we couldn't get it in the UK due to the pandemic.

 

[Rubydoo252]

He is so cute! He looks like he is enjoying his breakfast for sure! I look forward to hearing about his amazing adventures!

 

[Melanie]

Thank you so much
He’s really frustrated at the moment and is flitting back and forth and squawking madly because he isn’t allowed out.

I dared a stroke today and he let me which was nice, although he did look a bit offended 😂