Welcome Home, Diamond!

Diamond came home today. His weight was up 10g after being down to one feeding, and he's eating solid food with gusto. He's also mature in other ways: I see him perching on one leg, strong enough and balanced. He can play with a foot toy and not drop it or himself, for quite a while. He tried making a different noise then the two he knows.

I fed him his formula tonight and got as much all over him as down the hatch, I'm afraid. That's the only thing I'm worried about. Since he can eat fine, he can get the formula down the right pipe on his own, but is not at all helpful in holding still to get the syringe way down the way he wants it—he wants to be tanked up, not "eat" the formula.

—John

Congratulations and best of luck on raising Diamond!

Congrats
So happy Diamond is home and eating well.
PS... Perhaps you should both wear bibs. LoL

Congratulations!!!

oh they are gorgeous and sweet!!... congratulations

I recently took in my cousins Pionus, but all he did was scream, I was shocked at how loud they can be....needless to say I had to take him back

I hope you bird is a quiet one, they are awesome birds!

He was in a glass aquarium-like tank at the nursery, and the next step would be to have a cage with newspaper over the bottom mesh and all low things: bowls on the floor and a training perch.

But Diamond decided after about 10 minutes of hopping between two low perches, carefully at first, that he was a Big Bird and wanted to be up high.

He chose a sleeping perch as the top coil of a "boing" at the very top in the corner. I later saw how he got up: climb up the side where the wires are horizontal, walk across the ceiling (the Napolean top no less!) all the way across (he should have used the other wall!) and then drop down the rope. Problem is, he can't get down from there! In the morning I had to help him. After a nap, he called out for help again after trying to make it down the first turn.

So I re-arranged the stuff and put in the cheap dowels it came with (until I get the fancy stuff) to let him get around up high like a grown-up. He doesn't want anything to do with the ground now, so I made sure he can get to his dishes easily. But I still keep a water bowl on the ground just in case.

More later...