Sephafishie the GCC

[Kinny]

Selling her 3 hand-raised siblings, 2 of them have wonderful homes awaiting their arrival! I kept Sepha (1 of the 4) and she is just amazing!

She is 7 weeks + 5 days today and whenever i make loud kiss noises or loud chirping noises, she flies straight over to me and lands on my hand if I have it outstretched. SO AWESOME! Got an Aviator Harness on it's way for her.

I was singing along to Top of the World by the Carpenters and i heard her squawking away in the enxt room over, so i went and got her and started singing to her and she squawked back to me and kept giving me kisses on my cheek...hehe!

Anywho, I made a care-sheet to go with my baby birdies to their new homes, and figured it may look more professional and pretty if I drew a quick parrot drawing.. well quick turned into a 4 hour Pet Portrait of Sepha. It will now be a part of our Logo!

I am immensely proud of this piece and my Sepha! So much awesomeness in just 1 day!

The real photo is an Album of mine on here. Just had to show her off to the world of Parrotness!

 

[Calace]

Oh my goodness! You have an amazing talent!!! That is absolutely incredible! (And a gorgeous girl you've got too! )

 

[Kinny]

Oh my goodness! You have an amazing talent!!! That is absolutely incredible! (And a gorgeous girl you've got too! )

Hehehehe thank you1 I didn't realise I'd improved so much :52: Nyawww thankies! She is amazing!

 

[MissTaz]

Wow wonderful drawing!

 

[Echo]

I love the care sheet!!! And the drawing is amazing!!! WOW

What does it say on the body? Kingdom of? Just curious..

 

[MonicaMc]

You make me wish I could rip the conure picture off of the "care sheets" that Petco here in America offers and stick your drawing on there!!!! Petco is using a maroon bellied conure as their picture of a green cheek conure, and the employees at the stores are too stupid to know the difference between the two species! (at least, the ones around me are!)

Green Cheek Conure at PETCO


Definitely love it!!!!!! You did a fantastic job!!!!


BTW, I am wondering about the "discipline" chapter.. should that be discipline or training? (may give off the wrong ideas)

 

[Featheredsamurai]

That looks amazing! What program did you use? I assume you have a tablet?

 

[Kinny]

Wow wonderful drawing!

Thank you!

I love the care sheet!!! And the drawing is amazing!!! WOW

What does it say on the body? Kingdom of? Just curious..

Thanks! Kingdom of Mythra, that is my Art Business name. I'm known as KoM on a few Art sites.

You make me wish I could rip the conure picture off of the "care sheets" that Petco here in America offers and stick your drawing on there!!!! Petco is using a maroon bellied conure as their picture of a green cheek conure, and the employees at the stores are too stupid to know the difference between the two species! (at least, the ones around me are!)

Green Cheek Conure at PETCO


Definitely love it!!!!!! You did a fantastic job!!!!


BTW, I am wondering about the "discipline" chapter.. should that be discipline or training? (may give off the wrong ideas)

Hahahaha, oh goodnes... -_- But the difference between them is SO clear! >=[
Why thank you! *purrs loudly*

Discipline. I have a few pages dedicated to Basic Training. The Discipline page goes something like this:

When your bird nips or bites, the way to punish her/him is to do the opposite of what she wants. For example, when she nips too hard and she wants attention or cuddles, I immediately say "No biting." in a stern clear voice.

I then put her in her cage, turn my back to her, walk away and completely ignore her for a couple of minutes or until she calms down and is settled.

Once she has settled down, I take her out and give her a BIG dose of cuddles and I also give her kisses on her upper back/back of the neck.

They respond very well to this method of discipline. NEVER yell at them, or hit them (this includes light taps on the beak.) It does not work. All it does is teach your bird that fingers are ‘Bad and mean!’ and tends to make them angry. Which will cause them to attack your fingers and hands.

Do not let them fly anywhere they want whenever they want, as this will cause them not to listen (which means if they start nipping they won’t listen to you when you say “‘No.” And the problem will grow) or rely on you for where they want to go. When they rely on you, it’s almost like them asking you for what they want. “I want to hop onto you. You see I want that thing over there... Can I have it? Please? It’s over there...”

Hence why we clip their wings. *See ‘HEALTH & SAFETY’ : Page 7*

(I clip my hand-raised birds wings for a billion reasons! To me the dangers of a family house-hold are just too much - However I only clip enough feathers so that they can still skillfully flutter around, they just can't go upwards.

 

[Kinny]

That looks amazing! What program did you use? I assume you have a tablet?

Thank you! GIMP 2.6 - Yes, yes I do! *snuggles with it* Wacom Intuos4 Medium Size

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Cool, just looked it up, I've never heard of that program but it looks pretty cool! I suck at digital painting but I really want to get better. I have a medium bamboo tablet, coral painter essentials 4which I really like, Art Rage, and Adobe Photoshop CS6 and Adobe illustrator CS6.

Even with the programs I still fail at digital paintings XD But yours really is AMAZING, such good work :heart:

 

[Kinny]

Cool, just looked it up, I've never heard of that program but it looks pretty cool! I suck at digital painting but I really want to get better. I have a medium bamboo tablet, coral painter essentials 4which I really like, Art Rage, and Adobe Photoshop CS6 and Adobe illustrator CS6.

Even with the programs I still fail at digital paintings XD But yours really is AMAZING, such good work :heart:

A lot of people hate it as it tends to become a bit glitchy at times, but it's so simple and if you have even the tiniest amount of talent, it is PERFECT! As you have to do the amazingness yourself, instead of relying completely on automatic brushes etc. So to solve the glitchy-ness I just CTRL-S every minute or so so that if it freezes and i have to END PROGRAM, it's alreday saved up-to-date.

It is fantastic! I'm actually going to set-up a little page on our Bird Breeding/Raising website when it's done for pet portraits, and also for a small cost a little teaching program type thing, which I would use JoinMe for. But I won't think too much about it until the websites up. ^^

 

[MonicaMc]

You'd think the differences are, but alas, I see so many maroon bellieds being labeled as green cheek conures. I came across an ad of someone selling "green cheeks" and within that ad was a maroon bellied and a bunch of maroon bellied hybrids. I sent them an e-mail asking if they were selling maroon bellied conures, too cause I saw one in one of the images. They said they were "selling all of them" - which didn't really answer my question other than the fact that they don't know what they have, let alone what they created.


I guess I think in a different way than you... maybe I can explain how I think?


Birds often bite for a reason, so instead of punishing them for biting, you figure out why they are biting. Like plucking and screaming there is no one reason for why they do it, so one answer to solve the issue for all birds is not the best of ideas. In the case of biting, is it because they are exploring with their beaks and nip a little too hard? (exploration in itself shouldn't be punished) Are they biting out of fear? Did we do something that pissed them off or made them upset? Try and see where we went "wrong" which resulted in a behavior that we don't like.

I guess instead of trying to stop a behavior that's already occurring, I try instead to figure out what's causing the behavior so that I can prevent it from occurring in the first place. Does that make sense?




Except for Jayde, my new girl, all my birds are flighted. I actually find my birds are pretty good at avoiding dangers. Even my tiels who have a tendency to fly around in panic have learned to not fly into walls or windows. Having their wings also gives them the ability to fly away from my cats or dog, should the need arise. Of my tame birds, only Casey really enjoys flying around to explore different areas, although she usually sticks to certain areas. Charlie does occasionally fly to different areas, but it's to explore a specific place and it's almost always the same things every time. He's usually not big on walking around on the floor but Casey is. Really haven't had an issue of them chewing on something they shouldn't, nor are they more difficult to handle because of being flighted. Casey flies to me for scritches and Charlie prefers being on or around me rather than being alone... so there are times he chases me around the house!

I'd have to get back to you on Jayde! But I will say that she's been "difficult", and I believe it's because she can't fly! She's not a confident bird, she has her insecurities, she's afraid of hands, and at first, she wanted to be *with* humans but was afraid of getting onto someone so would end up hiding if you got close to her! Now she readily climbs aboard, but is still afraid of hands! Her confidence is slowly building up and she's biting less. When she does bite, it's not the same "I'm going to tear your flesh apart and make you bleed" kind of bites. I actually feel as if she'll be easier to handle once she's flighted because then she could choose to be with someone or not, and knowing her, she'd be with someone! She wouldn't have to hesitate, be afraid and not be able to fly - she could just do it!

 

[Kinny]

:/ Goodness! I hate it when people don't answer simple questions.. >.>

Oh no I totally agree! Below is a page of my old girl Kioko. (she passed away unfortunately whilst I was in Hospital with TPL - I felt it.. i was suddenly severely depressed and distressed.. but i had no idea why.. found out she died at the same time i felt like that... - I am told she drenched herself, and her buddy Kozue (also a Jenday) on a 5 degree day, and stood at the front of the cage/aviary in the cold breeze.. even though they had shelter and a box... Apparently they were both found frozen on the bottom of the cage D': I still don't fully believe it... She wasn't a stupid bird... )

Kioko - Jenday Conure - December 4, 2012

Discipline page is for discipline when your bird is just being naughty. I have another section in basic training, and mentioned in a few places through-out the care-sheet about finding out WHY your bird is biting. Because I agree whole-heartedly, there's always a reason. When my birds nip because they want cuddles, I still tell them 'No' and tell them off sternly, but immediately afterwards i give them lots of scratches and cuddles and play with them. They are learning now to be gentle when i say "Gentle..gentle.." and they are learning to be quiet when i say "Shhhhhh...." such as when they squawk like no tomorrow and my baby is asleep in the next room over haha, Such smart little guys!

Makes PERFECT sense! All my hand-raised birdys are well socialised with friends, their children etc. Can videos be uploaded to this site? Because I have one of our little yellow-sided girly with a COMPLETE stranger (4 year old boy)

Ahh, yeah, I clip my birds wing for many reasons (they can still fly straight) but when they go to their new homes they can keep them clipped (the way I clip them) or they can let them grow and become fully flighted. All up to the buyer. Hehe she sounds so full of character!

You'd think the differences are, but alas, I see so many maroon bellieds being labeled as green cheek conures. I came across an ad of someone selling "green cheeks" and within that ad was a maroon bellied and a bunch of maroon bellied hybrids. I sent them an e-mail asking if they were selling maroon bellied conures, too cause I saw one in one of the images. They said they were "selling all of them" - which didn't really answer my question other than the fact that they don't know what they have, let alone what they created.


I guess I think in a different way than you... maybe I can explain how I think?


Birds often bite for a reason, so instead of punishing them for biting, you figure out why they are biting. Like plucking and screaming there is no one reason for why they do it, so one answer to solve the issue for all birds is not the best of ideas. In the case of biting, is it because they are exploring with their beaks and nip a little too hard? (exploration in itself shouldn't be punished) Are they biting out of fear? Did we do something that pissed them off or made them upset? Try and see where we went "wrong" which resulted in a behavior that we don't like.

I guess instead of trying to stop a behavior that's already occurring, I try instead to figure out what's causing the behavior so that I can prevent it from occurring in the first place. Does that make sense?




Except for Jayde, my new girl, all my birds are flighted. I actually find my birds are pretty good at avoiding dangers. Even my tiels who have a tendency to fly around in panic have learned to not fly into walls or windows. Having their wings also gives them the ability to fly away from my cats or dog, should the need arise. Of my tame birds, only Casey really enjoys flying around to explore different areas, although she usually sticks to certain areas. Charlie does occasionally fly to different areas, but it's to explore a specific place and it's almost always the same things every time. He's usually not big on walking around on the floor but Casey is. Really haven't had an issue of them chewing on something they shouldn't, nor are they more difficult to handle because of being flighted. Casey flies to me for scritches and Charlie prefers being on or around me rather than being alone... so there are times he chases me around the house!

I'd have to get back to you on Jayde! But I will say that she's been "difficult", and I believe it's because she can't fly! She's not a confident bird, she has her insecurities, she's afraid of hands, and at first, she wanted to be *with* humans but was afraid of getting onto someone so would end up hiding if you got close to her! Now she readily climbs aboard, but is still afraid of hands! Her confidence is slowly building up and she's biting less. When she does bite, it's not the same "I'm going to tear your flesh apart and make you bleed" kind of bites. I actually feel as if she'll be easier to handle once she's flighted because then she could choose to be with someone or not, and knowing her, she'd be with someone! She wouldn't have to hesitate, be afraid and not be able to fly - she could just do it!

 

[Kinny]

Had to share this photo, Sepha (left) and her hi-red YS brother (right) having preening time.