Hello :)

[Maniiacy]

Almost a month ago I bought two Indian Ringnecks, and they're both just hitting 4mo's old. ^^





I just had a few questions I was hoping someone here could answer

> They both have little black lines in their feathers -- only on their wings -- I've read about stress bars. Is that what this is?

> Usually when they're tired, they make a sort-of sucking sound, is this normal?

> They are both from the same clutch. I haven't had them sexed, but I hope to soon. My biggest worry is, if they are male and female, and when they are old enough to breed, should I separate them? If I didn't and they did breed, would I have to "toss" (..probably not the best wording ) the eggs? I ask this because if them being related could cause health issues for the eggs, I wouldn't want the chicks to suffer

> EDIT: Also, I've tried to get them to try pellets, but to no avail. I don't want to fully take away their veggies/seed just to force them to eat the pellet. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Any and all answers are welcome! Thank you in advance.

[SCB -SA]

hi there,

few answers for you...
Yes those are more than likely stress bars and will grow out as they moult....
That sucking sound and gritting of the beak is a sign of tiredness and / or contentment...

As for eating pellets, i just mixed pellets in with the seed and let them choose, otherwise i would leave them
pellets during the day and seed at night... they certainly will eat if they get hungry and wont starve.

Hope that helps!

[SCB -SA]

oh and regarding breeding them, just dont encourage them to breed by providing a nest box etc,
and if they show signs of interest in each other, best to seperate them, as it is very stressful on a
females body to lay eggs, so rather avoid that, especially seen as you would just discard the eggs to
avoid bad genetic faults.

[imdnt]

Hi Maniiacy,

re: pellets

If it's possible, you can try and do is use a small baffle cage and put their vegies there in the morning and leave the pellets in their usual feeding containers.

Once they've eaten the vegies, they're left with nothing but pellets to eat by the end of the day. Hunger usually gets them there

We found our boys just eat vegies/fruits if given the chance and won't touch their pellets so we switched to this strategy and it worked for us. Mind you we don't fill the baffle cage to the top otherwise they wouldn't bother with the pellets. Everyday we put a moderate size amount of fruit or vegies (eg 2 halves of a kiwi fruit) into the baffle cage every morning.

It may take 'em a little while to get used to the baffle cage (I think it took about a week for ours) but once they learnt this is the fruit/vegie spot, they couldn't get enough whilst still eating pellets.

Hope that helps ya!

[pinkdevil]

Hello and welcome.
Sweet looking birds you have there.

With regards to encouraging your birds to eat pellets, you could try this method told to me by the manufacture of Vetafarm brand pellets.
Moisten a few pellets (maybe a spoon measure) and mix in with a small amount of seed (aprox 50/50). When the bird eats the seed, they will get the taste of the pellets as well. Over time increase the amount of pellets to seed ratio until the bird is eventually eating pellets.
I used this method to begin a few of my birds I purchased mature and not fed pellets at all. Now they will eat pellets (dry) or seed as they choose.
If you tried the pellets first thing in the morning when they are at their hungriest, you may find they will nibble a few and eventually get used to the pellets anyway.

[Maniiacy]

Thank you everyone I'll have to try the moist pellet idea for sure.

[LiveWire]

Maniiacy, We share the same town and have the same cage. Only mine is empty

Your babies are beautiful!



~Leslie

[Maniiacy]

Maniiacy, We share the same town and have the same cage. Only mine is empty

Your babies are beautiful!



~Leslie

Wow, there's a lot of Bakersfield people on here If you haven't already, look up For the Birds. They have an IRN there named Dodger who is a total sweetheart. He's the reason I got mine