Bird Junky

Hi Can I suggest you read all the Taming posts, select one & stick with it. Yours B.J.

Hi the idea of quarantine is to give a new bought bird a chance to show any symptoms of any disease it may have before you allow it to mix with your birds. As Granny didn't buy her bird last week, you can let them live in the same room & even fly together. Yours B.J.

Hi Your birds are acting quite normal. Re nest box, Some hens are a little fussy about the nest box. You could try another box or move the existing box to a different position. If as your worried about her laying on the floor, wait till she does put them in the box & put the box in the same position on the floor. Mating, you cant watch them 24-7 they don't wait for an audience they'll mate as often as they want. Which they have to do if she is to lay fertile eggs... Yours B.J

Hello . You won't have any trouble no matter how old your bird is. Just follow B.J.s Taming blog on this site. Simple!......Yours B.J.

Hi Jacko I meant look at my taming post on this sight. Yours B.J. PS I'll go & have a look what's-up PPS Seems to be working okay now......

Hi, the scent of prey to a hunter is more often than not , all the incentive they need to ignore any repellents even those that cause death. Me, I would run two lengths of copper wire across the garden. with a plug on one end.. So when they crawled over it. ZZZZap the B*******s.Any snake lovers here? I'm joking. Yours B.J.

Hi Jacko, Please take a look at my Taming post.. All your questions will be answered.. Yours B.J.

Hi Maddy. There shouldn't be any trouble. your chick has to cut his way out of the shell himself from the inside. Any interference at this stage usually proves fatal. Extracting or helping a chick from the final remnant is okay. It normally takes some time for a chick to exit the shell. Nature lets the chick work at his own pace. Yours B.J.

Hi Jen, I think maybe Blueberry Ash isn't the correct name. If we had its Botanicals, It might be easier to trace. I was also wondering how many on that long list, do have edible fruits. Yours B.J.

Hi I don't want you to think I'm picking on or insulting you in any way but some things have to be said Kaz said " He's trying to get your attention" So why let him out & ignore him? It's your job to convince him your the most interesting thing on the planet. Not just a climbing frame. Finnie said "Remove him every time etc." Every time is the operative bit. You should give him something else to do like having a little millet treat or play with him & a ball on a table. Anything that is better than climbing on your head. I'm sure you will think of something to amuse the both of you. If you want to watch TV then put him in his cage. Budgies have too a short an attention span for TV watching. As for your thumb. Well it could be worst. Yours with good intentions B.J.

Hello After reading through problems. I suggest that you start again from scratch. You bird has you well trained. Now its your job to train your bird. See Taming Blogs. Yours B.J.

Hi Have you tried a cheap plastic tablecloth. Use it when the bird is out & any mess can be removed with a damp cloth. Yours B.J.

Hi . As me old granny used to say. "If in doubt, leave it out" Yours B.J.

Hello Hammer. So sorry about your problems. Re Snakes, We're lucky in Manchester. G.B. we don't get many. I was wondering if an electric fence of some kind might be a better deal. Every thing is expensive if you have to repeat buy on a regular basis. As for the holistic approach. My understanding is that it is used to cure illness. If you have to buy it on a regular basis its just a repellent so it can't be Holistic. They just call holistic so they can charge more for it. Yours B.J.

B.J.'s. SUPER BIRD. SAVE MY PUPPY! Picture the scene Outside a pretend burning house a little girl is crying, her puppy is trapped inside. She tries to re-enter but she's beaten back by the heat & smoke. The bell at the fire station rings out, a fire engine carrying several avian crew members races to the scene. The engine comes to a halt outside the burning house. The crew jump off as water is squirting from the engine onto the flames. The heat is so intense none of the firemen can enter the building. "If only Super Bird were here", cries the little girl, sobbing loudly. With a screeching of brakes Super Bird makes his entrance. He drives his car up against the burning building, beneath an open window leaping from his SUPER BIRD CAR & without any hesitation S,B, disappears through the window. Meanwhile his SUPER CAR turns itself around & away from the flames ready for SUPER BIRDS departure. After a few moments S.B. emerges via the front door clutching the puppy, which he hands to the little girl & without waiting for any thanks, he climbs aboard his SUPER CAR & disappears as quickly as he came. The firemen put out the fire, climb aboard their engine & trundle back to the fire station. Our hero SUPER BIRD, has once again saved the day. You will need. Two pieces of cardboard painted to represent. The fire station & the burning house. The station has a door big enough for the engine & birds to exit. The house has an exit door & a cut-out window at the same height as the roof ot the super car, So S.B. can jump down into the house through the open window. One plastic pull-along fire engine, glue some little perches on its roof. One or two of those squirty flower tricks from a joke shop. The ones you ask a pal to smell, & you squirt water in his face. These are to put out the, 'not real' fire out. A cut-out card shape of a puppy, or a stuffed doll if you prefer & a little girl glove puppet. S.B's vehicle I bought a plastic pull-along double decker bus. I sliced of the backend to make an entrance, & for an exit I cut a portion from the roof at the front. So S.B. could ride inside looking out. I stuck on some plastic bits & painted it to look like a car fit fora super hero. To both vehicles,tie two lengths of string to the front end. One string pulls them towards the house & the other turns the vehicles round & pulls them back again. Simple!............ Teaching your birds. Riding. Birds just love to ride once they have had a go, so no problem there. The crew ride to the scene & dismount looking for the few millet seeds scattered about. It makes them look busy. The little girl is a glove pupper. Fetch. Teach this wearing the puppet. So the bird reacts to it, hide a seed treat under the cut-out pup so the bird has to remove it to get the treat If he insists on just pushing it aside, Hold it down with your finger. Release it when he picks it up & take it off him, give a treat via the puppet. Once he gets the idea, pick-up pup, give to B.J. get reward. Simple! Now just add those simple tricks together. ..................................Have fun with your birds....Yours B.J.

Hi Glad to hear your little friend is on the road to recovery. Don't mind me. I'm always putting my foot in it.....Yours B.J.

Hi Louise I just read through this post & noticed when Kaz mentioned Iodine block. You didn't say that it was already in place. Was that just an oversight? Yours B.J.

Hi Nadine. How do the chicks look , ie listless or healthy If may help you if you get a cheap set of scales. So you can monitor the chicks weight. Then you'll know whether to worry or not. Yours B. J.

Hi I would follow Finnie's advice. That may be your best option. Did you apply Olive Oil to the Egg bound hens vents? If you didn't It has been known to help. okay.. Yours B.J.

Hi there's a lot of rubbish on the web. Lucky you asked on here. Now you'll get some sensible advice. Yours B.J.

Hi It's hard to see on the photo's But are those birds Tuffties, poor relations of the crested birds? Yours B.J.

Hi There is a possibility your hen isn't yet in breeding condition. The cere colour is only an indicator of condition. Not a dead cert. I suggest you remove one of the cocks & the nest box. & allow the remaining pair to get acquainted for about a week. Menage Aux Trois . If that's the right spelling will never work out ,except in exceptional circumstances Yours B.J.

If your new to birdkeeping, Please aquaint yourself with the knowledge you need to look after your bird before you attempt any taming or training. Wing clipping makes the job of taming easier & is safer for a bird being introduced into a new family environment. The feathers will regrow at the next moult. B. J.'s Easy Taming, Step-up, & Hand feeding. Remove all food from the cage except the water. If you have more than one bird per cage to be tamed move a perch close to & parallel to the bars so that all the birds can eat at the same time. From now on you feed your bird or birds by hand through the bars. Use as normal a diet as possible, ie. seed, fruit, veg, eggfood etc, & talk softly to the birds at all times. If your bird is a biter or afraid of hands, use tweezers & gradually move your fingers closer to the bird. Use the birds reaction to gauge the timing of this. With small birds use a millet spray for the seed part of their diet. Canary seed is too fiddly to feed through the bars, unless you have a mustard spoon. Keep feeding as long as the birds will take it. If you have to go out, then feed by hand before you go & leave the birds with enough food in their cage until you return. Remove it & continue the feeding through the bars. Take your time. Don't be in a hurry. Offer food several times throughout the day & only when the birds are happy to eat from your fingertips, are they ready for STEP-UP, inc feeding from the hand. When working inside the cage always use a hanky fixed to the bar above the door with clothes pegs to act as a safety curtain to prevent a bird from escaping via the open door. Feed the birds by holding a spoonful of loose seed on the palm of your hand & a small piece of millet spray or fruit/veg, held by your thumb so you don't drop it. Open the curtained cage door & put your food filled hand slowly inside. Hold your hand close to the perch so the birds can reach the food. Offer the food, don't try to force it on them, If no bird approches & eats after a few minutes, withdraw & try again 30min later, repeat until they eat. Keep filling your hand until they've all been fed. Gradually over the next few days hold your hand further away from the perch so the birds have to step onto your hand to reach the food. If your bird bites withdraw your food filled hand & try again 10min later. Don't wait for the bird to bite you, learn to anticipate the birds actions. When you have them happily feeding by hand, offer them all their usual foods. Offer small titbits to individual birds & talk softly to them as they eat. Hide a small treat under your thumb & reveal it to show that a hand that looks empty is still worth investigating.When they perch on your fingers take this opportunity to gently stroke their toes wth your thumb, occasionally pressing lightly so they get used to it. This will come in handy at a later date, to keep a bird on your finger should it want to take flight at an inappropriate moment.. When your happy, they have completed step-up to your satisfaction.Your ready for 'OUT TIME'. Take your time, it may take a week to get to this stage. OUT TIME Prepare by first bird proofing the room. Put together a portable perch on wood blocks, raised a few inches off the table top. Birds should be discouraged from perching anywhere except on a cloth covered table or your hands. So other family members, friends etc. don't have to worry about where the birds are. Before the birds are hand fed either their morning or if your busy their evening meal. Sit at their table with just a little seed or millet in hand & open the cage door. Put your hand in & allow them to step up & eat, slowly take it out of the cage, let them stay on your hand until they realise they're out & can walk off. Let them explore & have a taste from a plate of treats while you enjoy a cup of tea. If you have a bird gym encourage them to play on it. THE RETURN Fix the cage door open & fill the cage seed pots & add fruit or veg. Remove all food from the table. Hold a treat & as each bird comes over for a taste, teach them to run around the table, luring them with the treat. A short distance the first time, gradually increase this to right round the table. onto your home made perch & give them the treat & return them to their cage. Never chase & catch a bird it is better to let him go than ruin the trust already built up. don't let a mishap turn into a catastrophe. Encourage the bird to step onto your hand with the aid of a treat & put him away with it. Feed all foods in the cage as normal, but save a couple of treats as specials only to be fed by hand as training treats.......Yours B.J.

B.J's MIND READING BIRD First I shall describe this bit of showmanship from the audiences point of view. On a table are a pack of cards. A glass of water & a bird in a cloth covered cage. Ask a volunteer to check the cards. Take the pack & ask another volunteer to select any four cards & suggest that, not wanting to strain his brain you are only going to ask him to concentrate on one of the four cards. Allow the punter to select his one card & tell him you're going to lay them on the table face down, & while he thinks about his chosen card. The bird will read his mind & select the right card. To show no trickery is involved, the punter can select the position of his card placed in the row of four. Make a big play of not letting the bird hear the punters choice, as you lay out the cards on the table. Tell him to start thinking hard as you take your bird from his cage. As the punter thinks really hard about his card. To thunderous applause your bird selects the correct card. The act looks better than it reads, especially with a couple of glamorous assistants. THE HOW IT'S DONE BIT For this little bit of patter you will need a bird that enjoys the taste of Peanut Butter or Cottage Cheese with millet (the bait). Your glass has a little lump of this bait stuck on the side of it. You secretly collect this bait onto your finger tip. Bend the four cards slightly along their length to make it easier for your bird to pick them up. Scrape the bait blob from your finger onto the face edge of the chosen card. & lay the cards face down. In the punters chosen order. The treat blob should facing the bird raised off the table by the bend in the card. Only the bird from his low vantage point will see & smell the tiny blob of bait. Retrieve the card before the bird eats it & show the chosen card to rapturous applause. Dependent on your birds temperament you can add a little biz or play between the volunteer & your bird .......... Easy when you know how... Yours B.J.

Hi Daryl. Well I reckon between us we give that post a good airing. Lol Yours B.J.