Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Coloration of Blue & Yellow Parrotlets

Hello,

I live in San Francisco and am looking for a Pacific blue parrotlet that is the bright aqua blue or bright canary yellow color.
Do you happen to have any available? If so, I would love to drive down and take a look!

Thanks much,

Jessica

Dear Jessica:

Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately, parrotlet mutations have not been around long enough for us to ‘perfect’ coloring on the birds. Blues can run the gauntlet from light blue to teal to aqua to dark blue or even gray or silvery blue. I always say its like blond hair in humans. Some people have honey blond, some are strawberry blond, some are platinum, etc. But they are all blond. Sex and age can also have an influence on color. A young bird that has not yet molted may be a very different color from what it molts out to as an adult. This the same with the ‘dilute’ or what used to be called yellow. The bird is not a true genetic yellow and therefore can be anything from a light lemon yellow to chartreuse greenish yellow. Also, females tend to have a more uniform and ‘true’ coloration than males. This is because of the natural coloring of normal male birds which are often various shades of color or even different colors such as gray. I am telling you this because I don’t want you to be disappointed or feel like you were taken advantage of but even looking at the parent birds cannot guarantee the color you want will be the color you get.

That being said, I always have a waiting list for birds and right now it is more than five months long. Even then I cannot guarantee when I will have birds available as I have received some news regarding my health that may affect my ability to breed birds. I can recommend a wonderful woman by the name of Marianne who has been breeding parrotlets for years and has a wonderful reputation. You can reach her at yosemjd@aol.com

Good luck and be sure and tell her that I gave you the referral!

Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
The Parrotlet Ranch, Owner, www.parrotletranch.com
Join the International Parrotlet Society, – the World’s Largest and Oldest Parrotlet Organization www.internationalparrotletsociety.org
A Chattering Bird Builds No Nest.
Camaroonian Phrase

Full Spectrum Lighting For Pet Parrotlet

Hi there,

Just wanted an expert opinion on full spectrum lighting for my parrotlet. We live in an apartment and therefore the parrotlet is kept indoors as one of the family. He is in the living area with the family. I have read about the importance of natural sunlight for our bird and I am concerned that the lack of this will have a detrimental effect on him. I don’t know much about what is available and would greatly appreciate any advice you could give me. Thanks

Ann

Dear Ann:

Thank you for your email. Almost everyone that keeps parrotlets in the US keeps them indoors as pets. Even breeders generally do not keep their birds out of doors. There is a lot of controversy regarding ‘full-spectrum’ lighting and the need for it with pet birds that are not breeding. I do recommend it for people who breed their birds as they do need vitamin D to metabolize calcium which is vitally important for breeding hens. However, pet birds, especially males that are an otherwise healthy and balanced diet who also receive vitamins probably do not need it. In fact, it has been my experience over the last 30 years of keeping parrotlets that too much light is the problem and it often leads to prolonged molts, aggression and feather destructive behaviors. Also, I have never heard of a pet bird having an issue because of the lack of full-spectrum lighting. However, if it makes you feel better, you can certainly get one and use it. Light is light so it doesn’t matter which manufacturer you use just make sure it isn’t too close to the cage as it can cause cataracts and eye damage nor turned on for more than 12 hours a day or his hormones will go into overdrive and he can start having the problems I described above.

Hope this helps!

Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
Secretary, International Parrotlet Society

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Untamed Adult Pair of Parrotlets

Hello Sandee!

I am the owner of 2 Parrotlets (pacific, male and female) for about 3 days. My husband purchased them for me at a Farmer's Market and we have little knowledge of their background or even age. They are very skittish around people (won't allow me to touch them) although they have started looking at me when I talk to them and whistling (which I am assuming is their way of talking).

I am not an avid bird lover but find these little creatures so adorable that I want to make an honest effort to make them a part of my family. I'd love to be able to hold them and teach them tricks and so forth but have NO IDEA where to start!

If you could provide any help on how I can first gain the trust and confidence of my newfound friends, I would certainly appreciate it!

Sincerely,

Sandra

Dear Sandra:

Thank you for your email. I just wrote a blog about the chances of taming an adult parrotlet and it is very detailed and extensive so I ‘m not going to go back into it other than to say that whether or not you will be successful depends on a) how old the birds are b) whether or not they were hand-raised c) the birds’ own personalities d) whether they are bonded to one another (which I can almost guarantee they are) and e) how much time, effort, patience and skill you are going to devote to taming these birds. The fact they are a pair probably means they are bonded to one another and that just makes this situation all the harder for you. This why breeders spend so much time, energy and effort to hand-feed parrotlets every 4 hours for weeks in order to make them good pets.
As for the necessary skills as well as environmental conditions – separating them, clipping their wings and dealing with getting bitten are things that are too extensive to put into a blog and is why I write books. Taming an untamed parrotlet is not something a novice bird owner can usually do – even experienced bird owners are not successful but if you want to try it, you are going to have to do more than just read a blog. My latest book is The Parrotlet Handbook and it is available at amazon.com or off my website. I also recommend you purchase Rebecca O’Connor’s book “A Parrot for Life” and if you can find it, Mattie Sue Athan’s Guide to a Companion Parrot.
Best of luck!
Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
The Parrotlet Ranch, Owner, www.parrotletranch.com
Join the International Parrotlet Society, – the World’s Largest and Oldest Parrotlet Organization www.internationalparrotletsociety.org
A Chattering Bird Builds No Nest.
Camaroonian Phrase
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Hand-Feeding Day One Parrotlets

Occasionally I have a Parrotlet egg that I have to hatch in the incubator. It seems that I can successfully raise an incubator-hatched baby about 50% of the time. For the ones that don't survive, it seems like they never develop. They don't get pin feathers, their eyes don't open, and I usually lose them at about 3-4 weeks old.

I feed all my babies KayTee Exact Handfeeding Formula. Do you know of anything I can do to encourage the baby's eyes to open? They eat well, and their crops get full. Their brooder is set to 89°. For the ones that survive, their eyes open on time, at around 12-14 days old.

Thank you for any advice you can give me.
Pam

Dear Pam:

Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, there are things that Mother Nature is much better at than we are and that is raising baby parrotlets from Day One. You can try different supplements, Probiotics, vitamins, etc., but nothing can replace a hen caring for chicks. They are just too tiny and too difficult. They probably also receive certain necessary flora, bacteria, hormonal or other things from the parent bird that we don't know about and can't duplicate. I know we as humans always think we can do things as well as Nature or even better but it has been my 30 year experience that no human can duplicate what a female parrotlet can do when it comes to raising chicks that are less than 4 days old.

Sincerely yours,


Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
Secretary, International Parrotlet Ranch

Hand-Feeding Day One Parrotlets

Occasionally I have a Parrotlet egg that I have to hatch in the incubator. It seems that I can successfully raise an incubator-hatched baby about 50% of the time. For the ones that don't survive, it seems like they never develop. They don't get pin feathers, their eyes don't open, and I usually lose them at about 3-4 weeks old.

I feed all my babies KayTee Exact Handfeeding Formula. Do you know of anything I can do to encourage the baby's eyes to open? They eat well, and their crops get full. Their brooder is set to 89°. For the ones that survive, their eyes open on time, at around 12-14 days old.

Thank you for any advice you can give me.
Pam

Dear Pam:

Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, there are things that Mother Nature is much better at than we are and that is raising baby parrotlets from Day One. You can try different supplements, Probiotics, vitamins, etc., but nothing can replace a hen caring for chicks. They are just too tiny and too difficult. They probably also receive certain necessary flora, bacteria, hormonal or other things from the parent bird that we don't know about and can't duplicate. I know we as humans always think we can do things as well as Nature or even better but it has been my 30 year experience that no human can duplicate what a female parrotlet can do when it comes to raising chicks that are less than 4 days old.

Sincerely yours,


Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
Secretary, International Parrotlet Ranch

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Boarding Parrotlets

Hi Sandee,

I was wondering, do you board parrotlets or know someone in Northern California that does? We have a 6 month old parrotlet and are planning to go on vacation in October. He's well-behaved and friendly. We are having difficulty finding someone willing to watch him while we are gone as everyone we know is unfamiliar with birds. We live in the Sacramento area. Thank you for your help!

Sincerely,
Lea

Dear Lea:

Thank you for your email. I have a blog on my page that goes into great detail but I would never board a parrotlet anywhere. Its too stressful and I can't think of a better way to expose your bird to diseases. Its much better to find a certified pet sitter who is licensed and bonded and will come to your home to take care of the bird.

It has been my experience with my big flock that its better to have someone who is NOT familiar with birds taking care of them because a) there is no risk of them exposing your bird to a disease from their birds and b)they will take care of the bird exactly the way you show them NOT how they think it should be done.

Best of luck and I hope this helps!

Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
The Parrotlet Ranch, Owner, www.parrotletranch.com

Join the International Parrotlet Society, – the World’s Largest and Oldest Parrotlet Organization www.internationalparrotletsociety.org

A Chattering Bird Builds No Nest.
Camaroonian Phrase

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Taming an Adult Parrotlet

Is it possible to tame an adult parrotlet? I like the idea of giving an adult a home, but I also want him to be my friend.

Thanks,

April

Dear April:

Thank you for your email. It has been my experience that parrotlets either bond with other birds or they bond with people. Nature has designed them to bond with birds and perpetuate the species. Human beings have overcome this instinct by imprinting birds to accept humans with which bond and socialize with instead of other birds. This is done by hand-feeding them from when their eyes are open at about 10 days of age. They are handled, touched, spoke to, fed and completely immersed in human interaction until they are weaned. Once they are weaned, the imprinting process continues when they are sold as pets, go to a new home and are trained and handled. Parrotlets that do not receive this further imprinting once the birds are weaned, almost always revert back to their wild natures and will not allow handling by humans. This is actually what people who work with rare and endangered species do in order to have birds breed successfully in captivity. The birds are hand-fed (but usually not handled or socialized) and once they are weaned, they are placed with other birds so they can readapt to being birds and accepting birds as mates and going onto reproduce. These make the ideal breeding birds because they are not afraid of people but they are still bonded with birds and will accept them as mates, breed and raise offspring.

While there are exceptions to every rule, in 30 years I can count on one hand all the birds that can be tamed as adults if they were not imprinted from a young age. If it were that easy, no one would spend the amount of time, energy and dedication to hand-feeding, socializing and training a baby parrotlet. People would simply handle them once they were weaned like budgies, cockatiels and lovebirds.

With all that being said, I cannot answer your question about this particular bird since all birds are individuals. It may be possible with a tremendous amount of patience and skill that you might be able to tame this bird to the point where you can handle it. I am assuming when you say you want the bird to be your 'friend' you want to be able to take it out of the cage and handle it. I can't make that determination. It may respond to training especially if it was hand-fed at one time but only time would tell. I can tell you that being handled isn't that important to the bird. Many parrotlets can live a very long and happy life in a big cage with lots of toys and interacting with the humans in their lives not in a physical manner but by chirping and responding to eye contact, treats, food and a person's voice. The only question with that would be does that work for you and only you can answer that.

Sorry I don't have a cut and dried answer for you but I hope you now have enough information to be able to determine what will work for you and this bird if you chose to bring it into your home.

Best of luck and thank you again for your email!

Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
The Parrotlet Ranch, Owner, www.parrotletranch.com

Join the International Parrotlet Society, – the World’s Largest and Oldest Parrotlet Organization www.internationalparrotletsociety.org

A Chattering Bird Builds No Nest.
Camaroonian Phrase

Mutation Green Rump Question, IPS Dues & Bands

I sent you (or someone else - I can't rememeber) an e-mail a week or 2 ago asking about mutated colors of Green Rumps. And I received some information on the subject. But my computer was hacked and I lost everything. I remember that there are breeders of Green Rumps who have dilutes. What I have is a solid white bird. It has not completely feathered out yet but so far everything is white. I guess I need to know of any breeders anywhere (the closer to Texas the beter) that has dilutes or whites. I would like to work with someone with more experance than me to develope this new color. Please send any information you may have.

I expect I to be joining the IPS for 2012. How soon should I send he membership fee for next year? And are bans availabel through the societ?

Thank you,
Randy

Dear Randy:

Thank you for your email. I sincerely doubt you talked to me because the information I have on mutation Green Rumps is not what you are reporting. I only know of two people who bred ‘dilute’ Green Rumps (they were never correctly identified so I will use the term only for ease of communication) and that was back in the late 1990’s. None of these people bred these birds to the second generation and my understanding is the mutation died out.

As for other color mutation Green Rumps, I am unaware of any ‘naturally’ occurring mutations other than the ‘dilutes’ that were produced in the 1990’s. I do understand that some people have hybridized the Pacific mutations with Green Rumps and are now producing blue, dilute, white and other colors. I would be very careful about whom you are purchasing these birds from and I would insist on photographs if not DNA verification of the mutation and the purity of the species. I’m not saying it isn’t possible, but as someone who is truly at the forefront of parrotlets in aviculture – I co-founded IPS, have several First Breeding Awards as well as Rare and Difficult Species Breeding Awards, have written 3 books on parrotlets, bred them for 30 years from wild caught stock and speak all over the world on them, I’m pretty much aware of all the things going on in the parrotlet community. I have seen too many people put up a lot of money and not get what they paid for. I would like to see a photograph of the bird since I can tell you if the bird was hybridized at ANY time in its pedigree.

IPS dues at this time are $25 a year although we probably will be changing that for next year. We are going to an email format for our journal and for those who want a printed journal, we will probably raise the dues, although at this time, that decision has not yet been made by the board. And yes, all IPS members can purchase registered bands through our organization.

Hope this helps and feel free to contact me with any further questions.

Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
The Parrotlet Ranch, Owner, www.parrotletranch.com
Join the International Parrotlet Society, – the World’s Largest and Oldest Parrotlet Organization www.internationalparrotletsociety.org
A Chattering Bird Builds No Nest.
Camaroonian Phrase