IndianRingNeck.com

Hey All!

My little Pi-Ko is a very independent one and extremely protective over me... he is now about just over a year old and starting to show his ring! He is so beautiful!

I had a hair raising experience just about two weeks ago... i came home from work and Pi-ko was gone! I live alone and leave him to venture about the flat during the... he was normaly very content with it and i never had any problems, but i came home to that day and he was just gone.. the kitchen window was open and i assumed that he climbed through and was missing.. i had no idea in which direction and how far! I WAS HISTERICAL! My kid was gone and it was all my fault!

I searched and called and whistled for hours and the next moring early-- but nothing-- i found no trace of him---!! i was close to a breakdown and i realised just how much i missed him not being there! I put up posters all over the next day and a reward with photo's all over my complex!! But by 7pm the follwing day he was already missing for 24hours and i was losing hope! I then recieved a phone call-- DID YOU LOOSE YOUR BIRD!! YES!! yes!! Indeed it was my little Pi-ko! he climbed out the window and ventured out, i live on the second story and he flew down and went into another flat!(there is about 200) I was so SO happy to have him back! I am now however totally paranoid and sit with all the windows and doors closed!

I purchased the training and taming dvd's from the Birdtricks.com website and recieved them just yesterday...

I need help though-- im sure that training will help Pi-ko with some dicipline.. he bites all male friends i have and my boyfriend to the extent that its very anoying. i dont want to chase him or yell at him but sometimes he is jut impossible and screams and nipps all the time! Im sure its also contributed to some hormonal change but he gets days where he is just out of control! he runs around screatching and growling and attacks things like the tv remote OR an lighter-- HE HATES LIGHTERS!! He will literally jump for the thing and then bites and jumps the thing!!??? i mean nobody wants to come close to him cos he is so aggresive.. with me he is better yet gets his days!!

What is the best training diet for IRN! He eats seed during the day, no sunflower seeds, he has never taken to them and eats like a budgie-- Redgrape, Jap Millet, oats, and a canary mix-- then also fresh apple, grapes, strawberries, passion fruit, brocoli, and sometimes cooked mix! So i try and give him atleast 3 diff types of fruit a day and a well mixed seed mix! The dvd recomended Millet-- the ones on the stalkes still -- i started giving it to him-- he looks confused and upset to as where his food is!! I mixed a little with the Millet and now he obviously pecks out his favorites!! Clever clever!

have someone maybe found a good training diet idea-- i have to get him to be a bit more respectful of me as now he runs the show at home!!?????


ANY ANY ANY SUGGESTIONS OR STORIES TO SHARE??

Soo glad you got him back! I would be hysterical too! They can be so adventurous.
I always close every window and door. Try to walk around the house and look at all possible hazards whenever hes out and about. If I have to open a window/door, they go in their cages, if my partner or myself are cooking on a hot stove, they go in their cages. If I'm going out for the day, they go in the cages. Always have to be cautious and on your toes with birds. Thats why I don't think I could ever let mine outside to 'play'. They get to sit on the balcony in their cages for sunlight on nice days, but thats as far as they go!

Sounds like Pi-kos a little jealous of other people! Realize that you are his 'flock' and your home is his home. Anyone who enters is a threat. Your friends and you have to ignore this behaviour. After much persistence, he will get the idea. Be patient. It will take some time. I loose my temper at my birds sometimes if I'm having a bad day. But this gets us nowhere. It only makes things worse. Take a step back, move into another room and stay calm. Ignoring bad behaviour in birds is the best possible way of dealing with the issue. Don't be scared of an aggressive bird. They sense it and they know it. Thats what they want. If you react to his aggression, he will think hes won and will continue to do this to control you and your friends. Educate your friends too.

As for the diet, sounds like hes getting a good diet. Just keep trying different foods to see what he likes and dislikes. (No avocado, apple seeds and caffiene including chocolate, these are toxic) Once you have found a 'fave' food. (I use peanuts or peanut butter on toast) Offer this as a treat for good behaviour and he will associate being good with food. Bad behaviour/unwanted behaviour = no attention, no treat!

My Jibby hates lighters too. He only ever does this one screetch and thats at lighters and Yodas calcium perch for some reason.

Just remember to ignore him when hes bad, be patient, persistent and don't be scared.

Lauren, you are so much of a help, thank you so much, esp with the wing clipping and all too! Now let me share this story with you and im a bit reluctant cos when i tell people this story i realise just how stupid i was! No wonder i am SO PARANOID!

I had another episode with Pi-ko, ONLY TWO WEEKS OR SO AFTER HIS first ESCAPE...... and this one was ENTIRELY my fault... p.s i am blonde aswell so please excuse!

I came home some time last week as usual, with Pi-ko being home. It was such a nice afternoon that I said—“let me and Pi-ko take a walk and then pick some of the flowers that’s now so beautifully blooming in the complex”

Ok- so here me and Pi-ko walk, like always he sits on my shoulder.. I have walked with him many a time to my sisters flat and all was fine! We walking and Im talking to him and all—The NEXT moment he takes off and flys through the two buildings in the direction of the constructions site(right behind the flat complex) and disappears… I immediately drop every thing and ran in the direction he flew…

Now I start whistling and whistling and I can hear a faint reply (as he screams when he hears me)—now the wind is blowing and its boiling hot and I cant determine from which direction he is calling…. This was like at 16:30pm..

Eventually I home the sound down and move in the direction—there 3 streets up in the neighbourhood I find him sitting on a roof—calling and talking and all! So yeah, I start calling for attention of the residents—no body is home—I see a dustbin down the road, I put it against the wall and up I climb on these peoples wall and to Pi-ko! So there he sits, I get close, he puts one foot on my finger—and WHAM there he takes off again and flys far above all the houses in the direction of the hill….. uhhhhhh so I started the search all over again, in the direction that he flew….

Again calling and whistling and listening and whistling… I then again home him down.. I somebody’s yard, nobodies home so I get the neighbors to help me climb over the wall and there he is!

Right at the top of this huge tree on a small branch on the side! THERE WAS JUST NO WAY OF GETTING TO HIM! So while we stand there and contemplate a plan (by this time I got the whole neighborhood involved) he turns around, and with one peep he takes off and flys---!!!

I couldn’t see in what direction and its now getting dark and I know if the sun sets—its over!! So walking home I phone my mom(IN TEARS) and tell her of my stupidity and that now Pi-ko is gone forever because there is just no way of finding him now that its dark and by the next day he will be long gone….

So, I tell myself that maybe the previous time now prepared me for this and I was rather calm about it… I get home, pack his cage away and I was furious at myself for being so stupid and not clipping his wings and all that stuff…..

I decide that I might aswell just put the posters up from last time—you never know--- and as I start walking again out if the complex, I hear someone calling me and GUESS WHAT --- here is Pi-ko wrapped in a towel!!!
HE flew all the way back to Northcliff Terrace(the complex) and into someone’s flat—they then remembered him from the posters from the previous time and brought him to me!!!! SO POSTERS WORK!!! REMEMBER AND PUT THEM UP ASAP!!

I still don’t know how I got him back—not the first time and definitely not the second time!! What a day I must tell you!

But my babe is home and i take extra care now with the windows and doors but im starting to think that leaving him out during the day when im not there is also a stupid idea...

Thats the reason why i asked you how long you had the first before you got a second one-- i also feel that the bugger is alone as i live alone and there is not much for him to do during the day in his cage...(thats why i leave him out the play) he is not a toys bird and prefers chewing on me on anything im wearing than the toys!! ohh and he has a tantrum everytime i place a toy in his cage!

I can also go on for hours about mine-- so dont feel funny! Although people look at me funny when i talk like he is a human-- so we will rather "keep it in the family" right!?:

But yes i have to say that i am truely blessed and have many angels looking out for me an Mr Pikkels!

Wow. What a story you've had of late. I would be stressed out of my mind! I'm glad Pi-ko is safe right now. ^_^

I think clipping little Pi-ko's wings is a really good idea, by the way. Even though we clip our bird's wings, we don't take them on walks- they could glide into the street or jump into a stray dog's/cat's mouth. We're working on harness training them so they can go on walks with us. It's safer that way.

I've gone though the birdtricks dvds and the training diet is just giving your bird the amount of food normally eaten in a day but no more than that (it can take some calculating to figure out exactly how much he actually eats, and it's supposed to be his normal every day foods). That way he isn't overful when you begin a training session.
During the training session is when you would use the millet or whatever his favourite treat is. It has to be his favourite and something small that can be eaten relatively quickly. If he doesn't like millet, then that shouldn't be his training treat since they only do things for something they actually want! And only give him his favourite treat during the training sessions., so he's extra motivated.

Lauren pretty much covered the behavioral aspect. ^_^
And if it helps, ear plugs for you and your friends when Pi-ko is throwing a fit. It makes it easier to ignore him that way. I used to sit in my room (when Hane decided it was cool to scream for attention) with earplugs and read a book, ignoring him. When he stopped yelling for at least thirty seconds of time I would get up and play with him. No attention when loud, attention when quiet. Remember that yelling or getting upset or trying to soothe Pi-ko is all attention to him.

Perhaps Lauren or others will have some insight, but is it possible Pi-ko is territorial over his home since he has the run of it all day? Hane is a little teritorial over his cage (lunges at me when I'm cleaning and attacks paper-towels) but only his cage, since that is his home. I may be off, since our birds don't roam the home, but it may be an idea.

Tantrum when toys are put in his cage? Silly birdie. xD I'm stubborn.. so I would probably just put toys in and let him have his tantrum, but that's me!

Yep, sounds territorial. Since he roams the house all day, he might be thinking he owns it. As much as being in the cage sounds horrible. Maybe just a few hours a day in the cage so he gets used to it. I'm trying to get mine in the cages for a while each day because I really need to get a job and it will be a big change for them being stuck in a cage all day when I do.

Jibby thinks he owns his poops too. When I get the paper towels out he guards his poop and attacks if I clean it up. hehe. So I distract him for the second it takes to wipe it up. He hates anything new likes toys aswell. When he was young he figured out how to unhook everything in his cage. He used to throw everything out! Only ever had eyes for 'his' bell which actually was our tiels.

YE I would love to spend the whole day at home with Pi-ko, shame he follows me everywhere around the flat and if he cant see me he starts calling!! But i realise that i was so ignorant with him before-- walking around outside with him and all-- i just thought that he would stay like that always and not try and fly away-- but i know that now i must be very careful-- i also know that he is not trying to escape-- they dont know what they are doing and after all they are birds and flying is what they do best!

But im so blessed with having him back! I dont want any other bird-- i want my Pi-ko!! hehehe i think everybody feels like that about their kids!!

It takes so much time and effort getting them where they are now- esp with hand raised babies!! oh but they are the best! Shame the other day my boyfriend said that one of his workers has a parrot and he wants us to go look at it-- so he brought the little one and it was a green adolesent female-- could see it right away-- but they cut the wings horribly and the tail-- i mean WHAT THE HELL-- the tail!! But ye-- i got rather upset and all i wanted to do was take her home!! However he wanted me to pay R2000,00 for this bird!! That s like totally rediculous!!! Pi-ko is a turquios blue and this one was a green one!! i have never seen a price tag like that on a green IRN!! AAAWW but i felt so bad for the poor girl!! SHAME MAN!! Its so horrilbe when you seen these little one's not having a loving home and obviously this person was only interested in the cash than the well-being of the bird!! i had to leave her there, i didnt have the money....

I use to get so upset when some of my friends touch Pi-Ko's tail! HE HATES THAT!! GROWLS!! heheheh i can but not strangers-- and the more i say dont the funnier it gets! It was strange-- Pi-ko was birthday present from my best friend-- she parents breeds with IRN and have a whole range of colours and species-- so last year i October i got Pi-Ko for my 22nd Birthday-- they always had babies that we use to take care of--like 10-15 babies!! so much fun feeding--- and they get spoon fed-- no force feeding or anything---!! lovely experience and im such an activist!!!

hehehhe But Now my friens has her own baby-- Pi-ko's younger sibling from this year- they have the same parentals!! heheheh so she will be visiting me soon and then she will bring little Timmy with--- i want to see how Pi-ko will react with another IRN in his domain!!

See how i get chat chat chat... EXCUSE!! IM HOOKED!!! I LOVEMY BIRD SO MUCH!! anyways-- that was just some random stories!!

The comment about him being territorial about the whole house now makes sence-- THATS EXACTLY WHAT IT IS!!! THX for the insight!!

But i think that the best option is a bigger cage and a little less freedom during the day!!! When i leave the flat in the morning -- he makes the sound of the security gate closing-- like a little whine-- oohh makes me feel so so bad!!

I don't stop talking about the birds either. I think my family just ignore me now. Whats funny is I'm actually 'trying' to stop turning every conversation I have into something about birds. But I must be bird brained. I hate leaving them too and as soon as I leave I start thinking have I left something on that might cause a fire... I am the paranoid one here. hehe.

2000,00R is like 33000 (AU) here. That is ridiculas. I do hope the little girl goes to a good home or rescued. No bird should have that sort of price tag. Just makes for more greedy people.

LOL! My family ignores me too, except my sister since she has a bird of her own to obsess about now. xD
And I have no real life bird people I know. o_O;; So I save it all up for here. xD


Bigger the cage the better! It's Hane home and playground when he's in it! My life isn't fixed to a regular schedule, so he's become used to coming out whenever I go get him. I love how flexible he is!