Francie Mae
Member
- Feb 22, 2025
- 82
- 66
- Parrots
- Bare-eyed cockatoo
Hey everyone! Thought Iād make a post telling everyone about how Mischief is doing.
We took her to the vet again about two weeks ago, and they found an e-coli infection that she wouldāve had before coming to us. The first vet didnāt do a bacterial culture, which the second vet said is why they didnāt catch it initially. They gave us antibiotics, which sheās since finished without problem. She also had slight agitation in the inside/top of her mouth, but they werenāt overly concerned. We explained our paper cup method of feeding formula and that wasnāt a point of concern for them.
Sheās almost entirely stopped eating formula in favor of her kibble. She still cries for food and does the ābaby swayā when she sees my dad and I, but itās not nearly as much nor as loud.
Sheās pretty good at flying; she can do slow landings and fly downwards, which Grim never learned to do. I imagine he had his wings flipped for all of his life up until coming to us (which is partially why I think he never learned how to fly downwards, only up, since he had such little flight experience, but I donāt know). She loves to fly down to the floor and walk around. We make sure sheās supervised so she doesnāt eat anything thatās bad for her or chew on something dangerous, like a cord. Sheāll fly to us from across the room, and sometimes into the adjacent room. In addition to our hyper vigilance, my dad put in magnetic screen doors on the outside of our backyard/front door and also automatic door closers. Weāve experienced two issues with her flight, though, which i think are related: she is not great at landings. I imagine itās because she doesnāt have a lot of strength in her feet yet? She also easily slips off of our shoulders and her claws arenāt sharp in the slightest. Being paranoid, I want to keep an eye on that and make sure itās not something wrong with her muscles or bones (she also chews on her feet a lot). The second problem is because sheās run into a few things. She ran into the door at a low speed because i think she was looking for somewhere to land and panicked. She seems to have pretty great eyesight, though (tracking flies around the room and stuff).
So far she seems to have a preference for my mom (my mom has some magical way with all birds she meets, we went to a parrot rescue place to buy some toys and the birds there LOVED her) but is very friendly with my dad and I and will sometimes fly to us. She does this cute thing where she raises her foot to her cheek and mimics a scratching motion, which we think means sheās asking for pets. If my mom pets her after she āasksā she closes her eyes and leans into it a little (it seems in Mischiefās opinion, my dad and I arenāt very good at it). The confusing part is sheāll also make a softer, quieter version of her āfeed meā sound. My mom thinks sheās purring, which I know some parrots can do, but I donāt know a lot about it. She also preens my mom and Iās hair a lot. Usually, though, after a little bit of hanging out with us, sheāll start screaming/flapping her wings/biting her foot. My mom thinks itās because sheās overstimulated or frustrated, especially because she tends to do it after she loses her balance.
Iāve mentioned this before, but she loves music. She loves to hear my mom or I play the piano. Sometimes she gets upset if we hit a wrong note (screams), even if sheās never heard the song. Itās almost like she recognizes a dissonant melody. If I sing to her sheāll āanswerā at the end.
She hasnāt said anything yet, but sheās a baby and I donāt expect that of her (I know she may never talk, and that would be more than okay, we donāt have any agenda we want to push on her). She does like to chirp in twos; itās almost like a little jingle. My parents like to whistle at her in response, but I think it would be good if we responded to her with words, to encourage that kind of vocalization (again, I donāt want to make it seem like she NEEDS to speakāIāll be happy with her when Iām old and grey even if she never says a word). Everytime we speak, though, she āresponds.ā Itās hard for me to tell what a happy and unhappy vocalization is though, since she pretty much always makes that sort of crackly baby parrot hum. Honestly, I canāt tell if sheās mad that iām talking to her or happy! Lately, though, sheās been doing a deeper squawk, almost like hi.
(Side note: her vocalization sounds very much like a high pitched version of this: https://youtu.be/fSzaHVjyRGE?si=WvkdhnhdxY2VSU-1 . This is the character we named Grim after)
At night close to her bedtime she gets VERY vocal. She starts screaming, but in the cadence of a passionate conversation, just without words. Sometimes it gets so shrill I worry sheās hurt, but since it only happens right before her bedtime, my parents just think sheās getting grouchy.
She has very little to no fear of our other pets. Iām glad sheās so comfortable, but we never let them interact, (same protocol we had with Grim). Our Labrador is a registered service dog, but sheās also huge, so better safe than sorry. In terms of people, she has absolutely no qualms about new individuals, as far as I can tell. I read that baby parrots will tolerate a lot even if they donāt want to and then hold resentment for it, so Iām worried about pushing her boundaries, but I also want to make sure sheās socialized. But I will say she doesnāt show any signs of agitation while perching on a stranger or when new people come and talk to her.
Lastly, I have some concerns about the lady who sold us MischiefāI think sheās actually a breeder, and isnāt caring for her birds. Iām thinking Iāll make another post about it, though. Iām just not sure what category to put it under, or if i can even report her.
We took her to the vet again about two weeks ago, and they found an e-coli infection that she wouldāve had before coming to us. The first vet didnāt do a bacterial culture, which the second vet said is why they didnāt catch it initially. They gave us antibiotics, which sheās since finished without problem. She also had slight agitation in the inside/top of her mouth, but they werenāt overly concerned. We explained our paper cup method of feeding formula and that wasnāt a point of concern for them.
Sheās almost entirely stopped eating formula in favor of her kibble. She still cries for food and does the ābaby swayā when she sees my dad and I, but itās not nearly as much nor as loud.
Sheās pretty good at flying; she can do slow landings and fly downwards, which Grim never learned to do. I imagine he had his wings flipped for all of his life up until coming to us (which is partially why I think he never learned how to fly downwards, only up, since he had such little flight experience, but I donāt know). She loves to fly down to the floor and walk around. We make sure sheās supervised so she doesnāt eat anything thatās bad for her or chew on something dangerous, like a cord. Sheāll fly to us from across the room, and sometimes into the adjacent room. In addition to our hyper vigilance, my dad put in magnetic screen doors on the outside of our backyard/front door and also automatic door closers. Weāve experienced two issues with her flight, though, which i think are related: she is not great at landings. I imagine itās because she doesnāt have a lot of strength in her feet yet? She also easily slips off of our shoulders and her claws arenāt sharp in the slightest. Being paranoid, I want to keep an eye on that and make sure itās not something wrong with her muscles or bones (she also chews on her feet a lot). The second problem is because sheās run into a few things. She ran into the door at a low speed because i think she was looking for somewhere to land and panicked. She seems to have pretty great eyesight, though (tracking flies around the room and stuff).
So far she seems to have a preference for my mom (my mom has some magical way with all birds she meets, we went to a parrot rescue place to buy some toys and the birds there LOVED her) but is very friendly with my dad and I and will sometimes fly to us. She does this cute thing where she raises her foot to her cheek and mimics a scratching motion, which we think means sheās asking for pets. If my mom pets her after she āasksā she closes her eyes and leans into it a little (it seems in Mischiefās opinion, my dad and I arenāt very good at it). The confusing part is sheāll also make a softer, quieter version of her āfeed meā sound. My mom thinks sheās purring, which I know some parrots can do, but I donāt know a lot about it. She also preens my mom and Iās hair a lot. Usually, though, after a little bit of hanging out with us, sheāll start screaming/flapping her wings/biting her foot. My mom thinks itās because sheās overstimulated or frustrated, especially because she tends to do it after she loses her balance.
Iāve mentioned this before, but she loves music. She loves to hear my mom or I play the piano. Sometimes she gets upset if we hit a wrong note (screams), even if sheās never heard the song. Itās almost like she recognizes a dissonant melody. If I sing to her sheāll āanswerā at the end.
She hasnāt said anything yet, but sheās a baby and I donāt expect that of her (I know she may never talk, and that would be more than okay, we donāt have any agenda we want to push on her). She does like to chirp in twos; itās almost like a little jingle. My parents like to whistle at her in response, but I think it would be good if we responded to her with words, to encourage that kind of vocalization (again, I donāt want to make it seem like she NEEDS to speakāIāll be happy with her when Iām old and grey even if she never says a word). Everytime we speak, though, she āresponds.ā Itās hard for me to tell what a happy and unhappy vocalization is though, since she pretty much always makes that sort of crackly baby parrot hum. Honestly, I canāt tell if sheās mad that iām talking to her or happy! Lately, though, sheās been doing a deeper squawk, almost like hi.
(Side note: her vocalization sounds very much like a high pitched version of this: https://youtu.be/fSzaHVjyRGE?si=WvkdhnhdxY2VSU-1 . This is the character we named Grim after)
At night close to her bedtime she gets VERY vocal. She starts screaming, but in the cadence of a passionate conversation, just without words. Sometimes it gets so shrill I worry sheās hurt, but since it only happens right before her bedtime, my parents just think sheās getting grouchy.
She has very little to no fear of our other pets. Iām glad sheās so comfortable, but we never let them interact, (same protocol we had with Grim). Our Labrador is a registered service dog, but sheās also huge, so better safe than sorry. In terms of people, she has absolutely no qualms about new individuals, as far as I can tell. I read that baby parrots will tolerate a lot even if they donāt want to and then hold resentment for it, so Iām worried about pushing her boundaries, but I also want to make sure sheās socialized. But I will say she doesnāt show any signs of agitation while perching on a stranger or when new people come and talk to her.
Lastly, I have some concerns about the lady who sold us MischiefāI think sheās actually a breeder, and isnāt caring for her birds. Iām thinking Iāll make another post about it, though. Iām just not sure what category to put it under, or if i can even report her.
