Anyone on here in Hampshire, UK looking to rehome?

[resmith76]

Hi, I am in Hampshire and have a gorgeous 3 year old greencheek hen that is super cuddly tame. She laid her first clutch of eggs this year(obv infertile as no male) so ideally I'd like to find a local home that may want to breed (indoors, she is not an aviary bird) or just have as a companion. I am not asking anything for her but she will not come with a cage and I will want to vet the home. Thanks for reading

 

[plumsmum2005]

Hi and welcome to the forums. Is there a reason why you want to rehome your Greencheek. If there is a problem that is causing this then fire away we will do what we can to help. We have a section dedicated to rehoming and you could put the details on there.

http://www.parrotforums.com/adoptions-re-homing/

 

[resmith76]

Hi, thanks for your message. I have gone back to work full time so shes not getting the attention she has been used to

 

[plumsmum2005]

Hi there are loads of members who work full time and cope with giving their bird the best they can. We don't live in an ideal world unfortunately. Are you up for input on how to juggle to keep your girl? No pressure, but if folk on here can help I'm sure they will.

 

[resmith76]

Hi, thanks but shes not my only bird, I have 4 indoors and 6 in the aviary, she is the only one that is shouting all day for attention though and I don't think that's fair on her.

 

[plumsmum2005]

This is not an insurmountable problem, good gracious you can be there all day and they still will shout. With training and perhaps some tweeks here and there it may be possible to win this one WDYT? If so please give an insight of the other birds indoors, her cage and set up, diet. Will give it a go if you will LOL.

BTW just because she laid eggs does not necessarily mean she will make a good parent bird. Often hand reared, indoor birds don't do this well. Egg laying is part of the hormones she is experiencing and this will lessen in time and there are things to do to help her focus less on this. Quite often people have this misconception and the birds are miserable being put into breeding and can suffer injury from the other bird they are paired with.

 

[resmith76]

Thanks Plumsmum2005, always up for trying anything I'll give as much detail as I can

She is in the front room with an African Grey and Rock Pebbler, they are out of their cages all day (separate sleeping cages, will get a pic), they have someone home all day as my husband is disabled so I didn't think my going back to work full-time would be a problem.

She has been here all of her life as I bred and hand-reared her. She had her foot squashed in the nestbox by her parents so I brought her indoors to rear, so she has a strange foot which doesn't affect her at all, she can perch properly but if on flat ground her toes all point forwards.She is not particularly bonded to me and will go and cuddle anyone and everyone even if I'm in the room.

The last year her shouting has got progressively worse, we've tried a few things including ignoring, putting away (she is pretty well trained and will go into her cage on command), rearranging toys etc so any suggestions welcome

I will go and get a few pics, fingers crossed I can work out how to upload them lol

 

[plumsmum2005]

I am wondering if some of the noise is to do with the hormones. Obviously never reward her shouting for attention. Is she kept plenty occupied with toys in her cage? What about diet? I feel daft for asking as you clearly are experienced but hey nothing lost eh?

Has the shouting progressed along with the hormones IYO?

BTW may be sensible to edit your location a bit!

 

[resmith76]

 

[plumsmum2005]

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Wow what great birds, really good to have you on here btw

Which cage is which LOL?

 

[resmith76]

I think I got the pics up

They are all fed a mixture of J & J Fruity Parakeet, Harrisons HP Pellets and J & J Low Sunflower, the diet hasn't changed and they all get fresh fruit, veg and eggfood in the morning before I go to work, once a week I give them Avimix and they are wormed every 6 months.

I wanted to get them all on the Harrisons but my African Grey is having none of it, the others (including Chirps) eat the pellets though.

 

[resmith76]

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Wow what great birds, really good to have you on here btw

Which cage is which LOL?

Thank you
The conure has the middle cage, Rock Pebbler has the corner one and African Grey is in the smallest (her choice! lol)

Just realised I didn't answer the hormonal question, it has been since I went back to work, she would have been just turning 2 then so possible but maybe a little late? As she has laid her first lot of eggs this summer though not impossible

 

[plumsmum2005]

Just some observations - I'd cut back on the egg food for the indoor birds, it is very rich. I thought was more for breeding/baby birds? If Chirpy is eating her pellets cut back her seed but up the fresh veggies mostly and some fruit. If they all like egg you could do a 20 minute hard boiled split between them every 1/2 weeks IMO. Up Chirpy's toys, keep her mega busy with whatever toys she likes, will she forage, is so buy her a foraging toy with some seeds in!! Avoid anything that in anyway can be construed as nesting material in her cage.

Btw have you noticed in the garden in the Spring and Summer how noisy the birds are? All trying to win mates, make a nest and then a few months later silence.

This section in general could be very useful to you. http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/

 

[resmith76]

Just some observations - I'd cut back on the egg food for the indoor birds, it is very rich. I thought was more for breeding/baby birds? If Chirpy is eating her pellets cut back her seed but up the fresh veggies mostly and some fruit. If they all like egg you could do a 20 minute hard boiled split between then every 1/2 weeks IMO. Up Chirpy's toys, keep her mega busy with whatever toys she likes, will she forage, is so buy her a foraging toy with some seeds in!!

This section in general could be very useful to you. Parrot Food, Recipes and Diet - Parrot Forum - Parrot Owner's Community

Thank you, they don't get much eggfood (only what I have leftover from making up the aviary birds batch) so it wouldn't be a problem to cut that out completely for a while They have a communal feeding station with everything on there so need to figure out how to restrict the conure but still get the African Grey everything she needs, I will get my thinking cap on
They do all have foraging toys and I've tried upping and even removing some toys, shes a challenge! lol

 

[plumsmum2005]

Separate feeding pots in their cages I suppose? I use pot dishes in Plum's cage on the bottom for veggies/chop as that needs changing regularly as goes off. Pellets are free feed in a dish attached to the side bars.

I am fairly sure she will settle down and she obviously has a fantastic home with you. Please stay on here and feel free to post as often as. If you decide to edit your location would love to see your aviary birds btw.

 

[resmith76]

I'm not sure I have enough hours in the day to go back to cleaning their cages out daily as I used to when they had their food in there (I already get up at 5am to get them done before I go to work) having the feeding station means hubby can keep it clean, top it up etc during the day, as its at the right level for him to reach comfortably, they don't have food in their cages, just water, I only clean them out once a week as they're rarely in them lol
I think I need to cut down! lol

The aviary ones:

 

[plumsmum2005]

What beautiful birds, thanks for sharing.

I put paper on the bottom of Plum's cage - it's a quick scoop up. Chop/veggies are put on cage floor in pot dishes and then into the dishwasher. The paper keeps it to a minimum IMO.

If you can perfect a good veggie chop this I feel would save you time/make life easier and is done by members on here who work long days. It is also a fab way of getting loads of veg into your birds because it is all mixed up they cant so easily pick n choose. It's worked with my fussy 'too! Saves time too, as one session making chop and then freezing is overall quicker than doing it each day and I have done both ways and prefer the make chop n freeze way now.

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/60516-chop-no-stressin.html

 

[resmith76]

Ah! lightbulb moment! (it takes me a while sorry lol)

If I take the seed traps out I could do that! (I can be so blonde sometimes) they have the seed trap bars in their cages still, I've just been wiping the bars daily but only changing the paper below weeky. I'll try taking them out and putting the feed bowls directly on the paper and Hubby can still put the fruit and veg on the feeding station. Got to be worth a try. Thank you.

I do chop now, they have more veg than fruit, but I don't freeze it, doesn't take long to make up fresh each day (had a lot of practice! lol) it cleaning the birdroom that takes most of my pre work time

 

[plumsmum2005]

Just a bit more re feeding - the pellets you have, the HP are great for your Grey, Bessey but Chirpy could be better on adult lifetime fine, Harrison`s Adult Lifetime Fine.

Here is an idea for the seed you have http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/57416-sprouting-made-easy.html it is excellent for all your birds and provides loads better nutrition.