Another new IRN owner

[Gagginforit_00]

Hi all, my family and I have recently purchased our first Irn after owning a cockatiel for 8 years. She's about 8 weeks old and fitting in nicely. I have worked consistently with her the last few days and she now steps up on my finger and has no trouble going in or out of the cage now. She still consistently bobs and makes the same call though, I presume this is baby behavior and she's calling for her mother/ flock.

I have a few questions, I'll probably repeat these so my apologies.

She has to be on me, always. On my shoulder, arm or on my lap even though I have encorperated my partner and children in a large percentage of her short training. Will this change? Or am I now her best friend? FOR EVER??

Her diet consists of a range, from a mix of cockatiel mix, pellets to fruit and vegetables as I'm trying to find her favorite food for rewards for further training. However, I'm yet to discover a "treat" or a "reward" as she will gladly eat a mixture and nothing in particular is favoured. Any tips?

She "pepper" as we have named her, has little interest in toys. She had a variety that I have swapped and changed but nothing has been touched?? I have made my own for her from native nuts and bark ( I'm from Queensland Australia, and have heard irn's love gum nuts and the like, but no joy. Why is this? There's bells, mirrors, ladders and nets but not a single toy has been touched?

Pepper is very quiet, the only makes the same quiet calls a few times a day, but she's active and all over her cage and the house. We play quiet music for her to encourage this behavior, but I don't want to decrease her want to make calls or in the future talk, could this do that?

Also, we have toyed with the idea of buying her a man friend, I have thought while still young, it may be in our favor to introduce them. Is this a good idea? I would like to breed them so our children can see this, but I don't want to start a breeding factory of birds as I know there is a lot of work involved, and ultimately, she is a part of our family, not an income. But would like her to have a young hunk, a bit of bird eye candy if you will around the house.


Thanks for reading, and hope you can help with a few of my questions, pepper is preening me as I type this and whispering something in my ear. She may have read the part about a feathered man friend???, lol.

[Elphi]

Hello Gagginforit_00!!

I'm a new IRN owner too, so perhaps i cannot answer all your questions!
I have two IRN. They neither like their toys, i think it's because they are two and they play together when they are alone. Perhaps some birds like toys and some don,t... i think there's nothing to worry about, mainly if you pay all the attention to the bird it needs.
For food i feed them mainly with pellets (made by cereals) and fresh fruit and vegetables... i dont usually use seeds... so as reward I use sunflower seeds or foxtail millet (not sure it's the right name in English )

I don't feel they are quite noisy... They sing louder in the morning and in the afternoon... but during the day... normal.

And about the couple.... jajajajajaja, it's up to you (or to her )

Welcome to the forum!!

[Em&Petrie]

Hi, I'm a new Irn owner too! Petrie (11 weeks old) didn't play with his toys for about 1 week when I bought him/ her home. I think he is a boy! He was quite scared of them! I indubitably bought them out of the cage and made a game with the toy. I did this a few times, and then I found he was playing with them in his cage. See if that's works I guess! He often sleeps a lot too, I guess your pepper is still a ill baby, so she's probably just gets exhausted quickly if she is out with the family a lot. She seems cute! Good luck!