Hello from Mississippi

Major_in_MS

New member
May 16, 2019
2
0
Mississippi
Parrots
Felix-Budgie,
Blizzard-Budgie,
Pepper-Sun Conure.
I've been lurking here for a few days and reading a lot of posts.

I'm married with four teenage children, well two of them I guess are considered young adults but they are still in school and still living at home. We have several pets that I will introduce in the order that we acquired them.

First are our two budgies that we got at a pet store six years ago. They live in a large cage in our living room. They used to live in my son's room, but when I discovered the deplorable condition of their cage and the area around the cage they were moved. They are named Felix and Blizzard. Blizzard is currently sitting on two eggs and Felix is frantically feeding her.

Next we became the owner of a very young cat when she showed up crying on our front porch one night during a thunderstorm. I think she is a Balinese or a Birman or some other Siamese mix. My daughter fell in love with this cat and when we couldn't find the owner in the neighborhood or any of the lost pet groups she became ours by default. We named her Cooter Brown. Her fur is too thick to see if she has a tattoo on her abdomen, but she has been with us for about 4 years now and she has never been preggo and we've never had any male cats hanging around so I'm assuming that she is spayed.

Next, around Christmas of 2017, another stray cat started showing up in our backyard. She was skinny and looked like she had been homeless for a while. Of course Holly started feeding and playing with this cat and again no owners have been located. This one has a small blue tattoo on her abdomen so I believe that she is spayed. Her name is Smoky Longfellow. She looks like a European Shorthair Tabby.

Neither one of the cats will come in the house, they simply refuse and if they are brought in they stalk around in a panic until somebody opens a door and lets them back out. They do however wear nice little collars with bells on them. They still manage to drop several mice and moles on my front porch each day, but since the bells were added I no longer see little piles of feathers anywhere.

Our next pet showed up quite unexpectedly when one of my sons friends gave him a 12 or so week old German Shepherd puppy as a birthday gift. I've sworn all my life that I would never have a house dog, but we don't have a fenced in yard. Karma is a pretty good dog though, she is about 14 months old now and we just had her spayed and micro chipped.

I used to have a huge flock of chickens and ducks but I ended up having to get rid of them when the county informed me that my 3 acres were not zoned for poultry. When I moved I made sure I was in an area that allowed chickens, so this spring I restarted my flock with 5 Rhode Island Red pullets and 2 straight run bantams.

The last addition to our family is the reason I am here on this forum. I bought an eight month old Sun Conure from a neighbor who's pair will hatch eggs about once a year. I'm planning on sending in a blood blot to get it sexed. It's name is Pepper. Pepper was both hand-fed and fed by parents. We are still in the getting to know each other phase. There is only one CAV that I can find in MS and his clinic is about 1.5 hours from me.

What else?.....

Hmmm, I like brewing my own beer, woodworking, gardening, cooking, and I like to keep fish but I don't have an aquarium since the move to our new house. I really don't have a good place to put one. I am building a Koi pond in the backyard though.

I'm a retired firefighter and a current pediatric RN on the night shift, so most of my forum reading and posting is likely to be in the middle of the night during my week on. During my week off I hardly ever even look at my computer.

I've enjoyed meeting you all through your posts on the forum.

Major
 
Last edited:

Scott

Supporting Member
Aug 21, 2010
32,673
9,789
San Diego, California USA, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy
Parrots
Goffins: Gabby, Abby, Squeaky, Peanut, Popcorn / Citron: Alice / Eclectus: Angel /Timneh Grey: ET / Blue Fronted Amazon: Gonzo /

RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
Welcome Major, thanks for an enlightening intro! You've certainly done your homework and are able to care for a multitude of species.

You're at home as we have a membership well versed with conures and budgies.
 

Casper223

New member
Apr 27, 2019
327
2
Gulf Coast, Louisiana/Mississippi State Line S/E
Parrots
Umbrella Cockatoo "Zoey"
Good Morning Major, and Welcome to the forum. I'm a neighbor of yours from Louisiana. Reads like your home is full of love and growing with more. I've never had cats, although I've never had anything against them either, it's just I was raised with a Moluccan cockatoo in house, and Mom wouldn't ever mix the two. In doing a search for CAV's I did notice there was one in Gulfport, although I'm not sure where in Ms your located. There is one in Metairie LA, again not sure where your located, but I've noticed vets everywhere reccoment him as the leading authority of Avian Care in this area. His appt waits non-emergency are 2 weeks, I'm sure if there was an emergency, he could do better. I will definitely address that question myself in the next week, as I'm preparing for delivery of a baby umbrella. Most vets I've spoken too, are quite up front in explaining they don't have the education to deal with birds, although if the bird is well, they can do a check up, maybe that makes sense for you but doesn't make sense to me. Often pets look fine, and yet have underlying problems. So very much like you, I have a couple of choices in my area, and I will explore those much more before the arrival of my little guy. But I've always been absolutely amazed by my mom's Moluccan, and currently I have an English bulldog are my only two pets. It's nice seeing you here, and if I might be of any help, feel free to reach out and ask, for some reason, knowing the closest CAV is in gulfport, and knowing I'm about an hour away, makes me think were not to far from one another. Hope you enjoy the sight as much as I do, and I'll look foreword to seeing more of your posts, please when you get a chance, post a few pictures of your babies!
 

EllenD

New member
Aug 20, 2016
3,979
65
State College, PA
Parrots
Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
Welcome to the Community Major!!! You've found the best online Parrot Community on the Web!!!

Congrats on your Sun Conure baby! How long have you had Pepper now? I'm asking because at 8 months-old, regardless of gender, Pepper is going to be going through Puberty here soon (usually Sun Conures hit Puberty at around 1 year-old, give or take a month or two.)...You definitely want to make sure that Pepper's cage is also in your living-room where the Budgies are, instead of in someone's bedroom or another "back room", as they are such extremely social Flock-Animals, just like the Budgies they absolutely need to have their main-cage in the "main room" of your home, where you and others spend most of their time, so that Pepper is with you/among his/her Flock, while you're watching TV, eating meals, reading, gaming, on the computer, etc., whatever it is that you do....Sun Conures tend to bond-closely with one person (as do most all species of Conures), so that's why I asked how long you've had Pepper thus far. Once a Conure (any species) gives someone their trust and bonds closely to them, it's a very special, unique relationship that you just can't explain unless you've experienced it. I have a male Green Cheek Conure, Bowie, who I brought home as a 13 week-old hand-raised baby, and he is just turning 3 years-old this Wednesday! And as close as we are, it really does seem like every single day we become closer...When they refer to Conures as being "Velcro-Birds" they are absolutely correct, and they mean it...So congrats on adding a Conure to your family, you won't regret it...

***Be very careful about allowing the 2 Budgies out of their cage at the same time that Pepper is out of his/her cage, at least until you see what type of relationship they are going to have (and especially since your Budgies are a bonded-pair currently laying on a clutch of eggs, if any of the eggs are fertile and actually hatch, and you have chicks that the pair are feeding, you want to be extremely carefule about Pepper landing on their cage or especially not accidently getting inside of their cage (ASK ME HOW I KNOW THIS, LOL!)...Budgies are one of the best "family-oriented parrot species, meaning that both the mom and dad feed the chicks, they both lay on the clutch of eggs and the chicks once they hatch, and they are very protective of not only their eggs and their chicks, but of each other. So since Pepper is a new parrot to their Flock and they are simultaneously laying on a clutch of eggs and may have chicks hatching soon (21-day incubation period, give or take up to 3-4 days per egg in the order of which they were laid), they may get a lot more aggressive/nippy than they usually are...

I used to be a breeder/hand-raiser of multiple parrot species, but both American and English Budgies, along with a few other Parakeet sub-species such as Linnies, Bourkes, Princess of Wales, BeeBee's/Canary-Winged, and Moustaches...And I kept the very last clutch of birds I ever bred/hand-raised, a clutch of 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids (7 males and 1 female), who all live together in a huge walk-in Aviary in my lower walk-out level of my house (split-level, 3 stories plus attic)...And believe it or not, the Budgies get along very, very well with my 4 larger parrots and always have...The Budgies are now over 5 years-old and were here almost 2 years before my first additional bird, my Blue Quaker Parrot, Lita Ford...Then I added Bowie, my Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure, then Duff, my Cockatiel, and finally Kane, my male Senegal Parrot...And while Kane doesn't get along with any of the other birds at all, not even a little bit, he actually tolerates all 8 of the Budgies...So it's quite possible for your 2 Budgies to get along well with Pepper (maybe, maybe not, you never ever know until they get to know each other)...The absolute best way to introduce them is to have their cages both in your living-room, with them easily able to see each other and talk to each other all the time, but with their cages across the room from each other, or at least with a good couple of feet between them, so that their individual "territories" are definitely separate. That way they can see each other, talk to each other, and get to know each other all day long, every day...It's also nice because whenever you are not at home they have each other to talk to...And hopefully after your Budgies are done with this clutch of eggs/chicks and they get out of the "protective-mode" that parents get into, they might even like each other...You just don't know until you see it...

***I also just wanted to say that if you have an actual Certified Avian Vet (CAV) that is only 1.5 hours away from you, then that's awesome and is 100% worth thew 1.5 hour drive, as oppose to taking either of your Budgies or Pepper to an "Exotics" Vet that is closer to you, because they tend to not have any additional education, training, or experience in Avian-Medicine than what little they get while in Vet School, which is basically none...Vet School (at least in the US) is focused on dog and cat medicine and that's it, they don't have the time to teach/educate about any other animal/bird medicine during the 2-years of classroom work, nor do they have time to train them or give them experience actively diagnosing and treating any other types of animals/birds during the last 2-years of Vet School, which are the hands-on years...And the big problem with this is that in the US (all countries are different of course) you can call yourself an "Exotic Veterinarian" or your practice/hospital an "Exotic Animal" Clinic/Hospital if you want to right after you graduate from Vet School and then pass your State-Boards...So in the US, all that the title of "Exotics" Veterinarian means is that the Vet has graduated from an accredited Veterinary Medical School and has passed their Boards and gotten their State License to practice Veterinary Medicine in that State, and that they are "willing and wanting" to see/treat types of pets other than just dogs and cats (with the title of "General" Veterinarian in the US meaning that they only see/treat dogs and cats)....Now there are some "Exotics" Vets who are ALSO Certified Avian Vets (rare, but they exist), and there are also some Vets who aren't Board-Certified Avian Vets (meaning they did not take their Specialized Boards in Avian Medicine), but who did actually do an extra Internship, Mentorship, or a full Fellowship in Avian Medicine, and they typically call themselves "Avian Specialists"...But if you've got an actual CAV only 1.5 hours from you, absolutely make the drive!!!
 

itzjbean

Well-known member
Jan 27, 2017
2,572
Media
4
119
Iowa, USA
Parrots
2 cockatiels
Hello and welcome from the Midwest (Iowa)! Sounds like you've got quite the zoo at your house!! I look forward to seeing more posts from you and your flock!
 

GaleriaGila

Well-known member
Parrot of the Month 🏆
May 14, 2016
15,045
8,742
Cleveland area
Parrots
The Rickeybird, 38-year-old Patagonian Conure
Welcome, Major. At the very least, you need your own reality television series! I look forward to following your adventures.

9lhIlM0.jpg
 

Most Reactions

Top