New Member to the Forum!

[FlyFreeForever]

Hello, I am a new Member. I have 3 birds. 2 are keets, one is a teil.
My whole world revolves around birds, even more so my birds.
So i figured it might be a great idea to join a forum to chat with people who have similar interests and I will also have the opportunity to learn more about things i don't know.
there are some things about the parrot world i never really understood.
like the quarantine thing. I'm sorry this might sound horrible to you. but i have had many different birds from when i was 5 years old til now, and i have never done the quarantine idea. and never have i ever had a problem. Of course i always watch out for signs of sickness in the bird i bring home.

anyways. i would love to learn as much as i can. I am excited for xmas because i asked for some parrot books that im just gonna love. one is about parrot language, and the other is a 2 volume set sold by a collage, for a small percentage of the original price to fund a program to help parrots. anyways the books are about avain health and surgical procedures and such. don't worry i would NEVER do surgery on my bird omg!
I would pay for a vet for that lol
its just knowledge that i would like to have, you know the more you know the better right.

I am starting the prosses to switching my birds over to nutriberies or avicakes. Im not sure which one yet. but i realized that they love it so much.

My life is kinda in the dumps atm. I seem to be having tragedy after tragedy.
ive been really sick, from several things. family issues. personal issues. money issues sometimes, but honestly money is not my biggest worry.
Ive been so depressed. im so glad i have my birds to make me smile.

 

[Scott]

Greetings Hope, welcome to the forums! You will most definitely find folks passionate about our companion birds!!

Quarantine is an extremely vital process to safeguard our existing flock from diseases we cannot visually determine or detect with lab tests. As creatures of prey, birds tend to hide illness, and when you observe something wrong the process has likely been present for a while. The generally accepted time is 30 days with some variation. You and your birds have been extremely lucky!! Please consider quarantine for future companions!!

Your birds are beautiful, thanks for sharing the pics!!!

 

[GaleriaGila]

Greetings, and welcome!
Sounds like you have a lot going on.
Rest assured that this is a very safe and caring haven.
I'm glad you found us!

 

[Anansi]

Hello, and welcome to the Parrot Forums family! You've definitely come to the right place to find other people who are passionate about their birds!

I agree with Scott. Quarantine is vitally important, and up until now you and your flock have been VERY lucky. There are some highly contagious diseases that may not even show symptoms for the first few months or so. Heck, some don't show symptoms for years! But that's why a quarantine process, in addition to disease testing, is so important when bringing in new flock members.

I have a family member who brought a new bird into his flock, only to learn a few weeks later that she had the dreaded PBFD! If not for the QT process, he'd have lost his cockatiels as well.

I am so sorry to hear of the challenges you are currently facing in your life. You will find this a warm and welcoming community, and I hope you will find some measure of solace, here.

Love the pics of your beautiful budgies! We love bird photos here, so keep them coming!

 

[Kentuckienne]

Welcome! You can always use the search feature to look up questions, and maybe check out the more general forums for advice about diet, nutrition, making toys, health - everything about caring for your feathery friends. And if you don't find an answer, or something is confusing, just ask!

 

[Flboy]

Welcome to you! Sorry for the challenges you are dealing with!
I understand your point on the quarantine process. But when it goes wrong, it is very ugly, and your whole flock suffers!

 

[SirEdwin89]

Welcome to the forums, glad you found us! I can see why the quarantine process could seem unnecessary as well. It's one of those things that we do not necessarily because of the prevalence of issues, but because of the potential severity.

I view it kind of like an emergency escape plan. Sure, you may never ever use it, BUT if you don't have it, and something happens, the results can potentially be catastrophic.

Much is the same with quarantine, you may never ever bring home a sick bird with a transmittable disease. BUT in the 1% chance you do, it could result in not loosing one bird, but every bird in your flock. That 30 day wait is a much less painful alternative, just for potential peace of mind.

You definitely found a great place to ask and learn though, with a community of folks with a wealth of passion, and we are thrilled to have you again!

 

[Allee]

Welcome to you and yours! Thanks for sharing photos of your adorable birds!

 

[Loko]

Welcome to the forums! Like everyone else said, quarantine is super important, and since everyone else already explained all of it, I would say a simple example may help you to understand.
You may bring a bird home from a breeder, and introduce this bird right away to your flock. This bird however has some disease which is still in its incubation stage, meaning there are no signs or symptoms.. even a blood test could come clean. Then 2 weeks later this disease has intensified, and is now full blown. Then, all your birds end up dying or gravely ill. Not meaning to sound harsh, but thats what quarantine prevents. Instead of having one sick bird you suddenly have three, which can also intensify things.
Also, it would be a good idea to get them onto some hogh quality pellets instead of just nutriberries.
Hope everything gets better for you as well, the birds are beautiful!

 

[FlyFreeForever]

Welcome to the forums! Like everyone else said, quarantine is super important, and since everyone else already explained all of it, I would say a simple example may help you to understand.
You may bring a bird home from a breeder, and introduce this bird right away to your flock. This bird however has some disease which is still in its incubation stage, meaning there are no signs or symptoms.. even a blood test could come clean. Then 2 weeks later this disease has intensified, and is now full blown. Then, all your birds end up dying or gravely ill. Not meaning to sound harsh, but thats what quarantine prevents. Instead of having one sick bird you suddenly have three, which can also intensify things.
Also, it would be a good idea to get them onto some hogh quality pellets instead of just nutriberries.
Hope everything gets better for you as well, the birds are beautiful!

yea i had requested a sample of some pellets not only in the past, but also more recently. they seem to want to starve over eating any form of pellet.
i had given them just a dish of pellets for a day to try to get them to eat it. they refused to eat it. and when i gave them what they are used to they jumped on it like a druggie on crack. sry i live in the ghetto over here lol.

i told myself i would never try to give them the pellets like that again, they were like starving. it just killed me to see them like that.
i like the idea that they have with the avicakes and nutriberies. they remove the husk on the seed then add all the needed missing nutrients and vitamins and whatnot.
and they just love it.

 

[Loko]

Welcome to the forums! Like everyone else said, quarantine is super important, and since everyone else already explained all of it, I would say a simple example may help you to understand.
You may bring a bird home from a breeder, and introduce this bird right away to your flock. This bird however has some disease which is still in its incubation stage, meaning there are no signs or symptoms.. even a blood test could come clean. Then 2 weeks later this disease has intensified, and is now full blown. Then, all your birds end up dying or gravely ill. Not meaning to sound harsh, but thats what quarantine prevents. Instead of having one sick bird you suddenly have three, which can also intensify things.
Also, it would be a good idea to get them onto some hogh quality pellets instead of just nutriberries.
Hope everything gets better for you as well, the birds are beautiful!

yea i had requested a sample of some pellets not only in the past, but also more recently. they seem to want to starve over eating any form of pellet.
i had given them just a dish of pellets for a day to try to get them to eat it. they refused to eat it. and when i gave them what they are used to they jumped on it like a druggie on crack. sry i live in the ghetto over here lol.

i told myself i would never try to give them the pellets like that again, they were like starving. it just killed me to see them like that.
i like the idea that they have with the avicakes and nutriberies. they remove the husk on the seed then add all the needed missing nutrients and vitamins and whatnot.
and they just love it.

Theres a bunch of threads that would be useful for you if you search about how to convert to pellets. I definitely would not take their main food source away for a whole day though.
One way I recently saw mentioned is to leave pellets out the whole day. In the morning, and then in the afternoon for about 15 minutes put the regular food mixed with the pellets, then after 15 minutes remove it and leave pellets. This way they dont starve but are hungry enough to maybe try them.
Another way which I think would work better for you is to slightly soak the pellets in 1 part natural fruit juice and 2 parts water (maybe warm too). This way they are soft and a little bit more tasty. Just dont use any sugary concentrate juice. Some good pellets are Harrisons and Zupreem. Try to stay away from colored ones like the Kaytee. The juice method should work, use a juice of a fruit that they like to eat normally.

Some birds are iust real stubborn! Good luck with it!