As a new bird-dad, I was anxious to learn all I could about IRNs. Thank God I found you out there!
My wife and I got our first bird "Birdius" (my wife latinizes everything!) by accident. I was out looking for crickets for our leopard gekkos and the place I usually buy them was out, so I wandered in to a pet shop/aviary I had seen advertized and they had a flock of newly weaned, hand raised tiels out of their cage. One brave little fellow stepped up immediately when I offered a finger and we sort of bonded. I had to call my wife as she was at a hair appiontment, and I told her I was bringing her to the shop after her appointment. Needless to say, she bonded with the same tiel immediately! (She took it as a sign when he pooped on her!) We had a busy schedule that weekend, so we opted to take Birdius home the following Monday.
Two months later and with Birdius talking up a storm, we were in the pet store/aviary again and a small blue bird caught my wife's eye. We had talked about getting another bird as a companion for Birdius and this might be the one. It was a blue IRN and was not quite weaned yet. We came in to the store regularly to visit the bird as it was weaned but we were saddened by the fact that this bird refused to bond with my wife. It kept biting at her hands and flying away as if terrified. At that point we almost decided not to get the bird, when the breeder decided to try something. Her assistant had bought a blue IRN from her not long ago and was keeping it at the store because he could not spend the time giving it the daily attention it needed. The breeder took the bird from its cage and brought it to my wife and it promptly stepped up to my wife's finger and they bonded. The owner called her assistant at home and asked him if he would be interested in a trade. We were happily surprised when he said yes.
About two weeks later we took the IRN home (we named it Magoo thinking if it was a boy, it would be named Quincy Magoo and if it was a girl, Molly Magoo) and we have never regretted our decision.
As we have found out the last 4 weeks, the learning curve is a lot steeper with IRNs than it is with tiels, but the Indian Ringneck board has been a great resource. Keep up the good work!
Skippie
I really wish Birdius and Magoo were pals, but unfortunately, the minute they're together, they start snapping and lungeing at each other.(see the message threads under training and behavior, subject: Getting along.