Rehoming a GCC

clo1_2000

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Apr 9, 2018
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Bay Area, CA
Parrots
Yoshi - Green Cheek Conure
Hello,

I recently ** took in** a wonderful Green Cheeked Conure and his name is Yoshi. He is a male approximately 3-4 years old. I bought him from a breeder who had him dumped on her :(

Yoshi seems very sweet and I had a fully decked out brand new cage with toys that was awaiting a love bird. The breeder's eggs fell through and my friend let me know about a local rehome in the area. I went to visit a couple of times and fell in love.

Yoshi is now getting acclimated to his new home, but I have a couple of questions. I am giving him a diet of pellets, fruits, veggies and legumes. Is there anything major missing from that list? (I am avoiding avocado).

I am also covering Yoshi's cage at night when he gets sqawky (usually around 6 or 7). He flutters around when I'm putting the cover on his cage, but then calms immediately down. Is it safe for me to cover him like this? As I said, it seems to scare him initially, but he settles back down once covered.

My last question is about clipping his wings. The breeder had clipped his wings and it seems like this forum has a negative opinion about wing clipping. If I let his wings alone, I assume the feathers will grow back and he will regain flight. My question is, if he was used to having his wings clipped, is it actually more detrimental to let them grow back, rather than keep them clipped?

Thank you for all the help.
 
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wrench13

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COngrats, it sounds like you took Yoshi in right?

Covering - parrots need 12 hours of good solid quiet sleep,. If covering himlets himsettle down at 6 or 7 and he's up by then then all is good If he has his own romm,let him go by natural day/night cycles( some debate on this, as it may cause a lengthier mating season , alsodebate on that ). My parrot, Salty never really likes his cover being put on, he chirps a few times and looks a bit neverous ( this, after almost 3 years)

Food - his diet sounds good, make your self familiar with the no no foods, besides avocado, there are more,like apple seeds.

Wing Clipping - Main thing about having a flighted bird in the house - they can fly out the door if EVERYONEin the house is 100% when and if your bird is out of his cage. It only take a few seconds, whoosh right out. THis and making sure he knows what windows and mirrors are ( show him around the house a few times, let hiim tap his beak on windows and morrors a few times). Also, remember, just becasue his wingsmight be clipped, taking any parrot out side with out a harness on , or extensive recall training, very extensive, canmean a stray puff of wind takes your little buddy away/ Sad bit it happens too often.

Good Luck with Yoshi !
 

IndySE

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May 5, 2016
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Kermit, ♀ GCC (Green Demon)
Whether or not you clip is a very controversial question that I won't attempt to tackle. Regardless of what you ultimately decide, listen to the discourse on both sides of the issue and make a decision that you think is best. However, it isn't more detrimental for Yoshi's wings to grow out than any other fledging parrot. I bought my green cheek conure as a clipped baby whom I suspected was never allowed to fully fledge before she was clipped. She had an aversion to flight that I don't think a bird that was fully flighted would have. However, I allowed her to grow out her wings. And yes, there was a lot of awkward landings as she learned to fly (though not too bad, because she took it very slow). She's at the point now where sometimes she will fly by choice instead of because she was spooked. When she does fly, it is in a very controlled manner and I have not observed any painful crashes.

Potentially, you could give Yoshi some "training wheels" by doing a partial clip. He will still be 100% flight capable and should be treated as such, but by removing 2-3 of his first primaries, he won't have the same power or lift. If he did crash into anything, it wouldn't be as hard.
Best of luck and congrats :)
 
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clo1_2000

New member
Apr 9, 2018
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Bay Area, CA
Parrots
Yoshi - Green Cheek Conure
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Thanks for the advice on clipping. I have one other question. Yoshi hasn't taken a bath since I've taken him in. His water dish is too small, and I bought him a bath extension for his cage. I've tried splashing the water to show him what it's for, but he ignores it. Could it be that he is still getting acclimated (I've only had him 3 days) or should I get a bottle and mist him?
 
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