About a month ago something very painful happened in our house.

My father had forgotten to close the small door of Champu’s cage the previous night. Early morning, when all of us were still sleeping, my mother woke up and opened the main door of the house like she does every day before going for her morning walk.

Because the small cage door was open, Champu quietly came out of the cage, went out through the open house door… and flew away.

None of us even knew it had happened.

Normally we keep a bedsheet over the cage at night and remove it around 9–10 in the morning. That day when we removed the bedsheet… Champu was not there.

At first we thought maybe he was somewhere inside the house. But slowly it hit us that he had flown away.

We searched everywhere. Streets, trees, nearby houses… we walked around calling his name. We searched like that for almost a week.

The saddest part was that Champu had been sick recently and had just started recovering for about 3–4 days. He had become active again, and right during that time this mistake happened and he flew away. It made us feel extremely guilty and sad.

The house felt very empty without him.

For almost a month we had no idea what happened to him.

Today something unbelievable happened.

I went to a small ironing shop near my house to press my shirt. While standing there I noticed a bird in a small cage. Something about it looked familiar.

I went closer.

The moment the bird saw me, it became excited and started giving the same kisses it used to give me before. That’s when I realized… it was Champu.

After one month.

I honestly couldn’t control my emotions at that moment.

Someone had found him and kept him there. They had clipped his wings so he couldn’t fly away. He has become very thin now, and his feathers have lost their charm. He doesn’t have as many feathers as before and looks weak.

He tried flying inside the house today but kept falling because his wings are cut.

They were keeping him in a small cage along with lovebirds and feeding only one type of seed for the past month. I don’t blame them though. They probably rescued him and may not have been in a position to give him better care.

Seeing him today made me feel both happy and sad.

Happy because he recognized me immediately, started giving kisses, eating, playing, and sitting on my shoulder again.

Sad because he looks thin, tired, and his feathers don’t look the same anymore. He also seems a little scared to stay alone and keeps looking for us with an emotional face.

But at least he is home again.

I just wanted to share this story for anyone who has lost a bird. If your bird flies away, don’t lose hope. Search carefully in the nearby area — even within 1 km around your home. Sometimes they end up somewhere close, waiting and hoping to see you again.

Life surprised me today.. i have attached before and after photo of him

So it's been exactly a year since I posted for advice when this fella decided to con his way into my home.

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Was I a bird person? No.

Was I looking for a pet? No. (Also never had one in my life)

Did I know anything about birds? No. I haven't even heard of the term "conures" until I had to Google what species this bird was.

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But here we are and it's a Yes to all 3 questions.

His name is Kiwi (how original, I know!).

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I tried to find his (or her) owner through Perroquet Secours, SPCA with no luck. I live close to an SPCA so if a bird owner was unfamiliar with the first resource, they could have definitely tried to check the SPCA.

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There was a lady in my city who lost her bird a few days before and asked if she could adopt Kiwi. I asked how she would take care of the bird, how often she would let him out and decided not let her adopt him as I was doing more. Probably a good idea because she lost her bird twice and her bird was ultimately found deceased 😞(most likely due to being lost too long)

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I did see an avian vet about 10 days later even if I had no intentions to keep him. He had a clean bill of health. (Though it was noted he self plucked a lot of his feathers). He's doing great! A total sassy smart bird.

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I still have issues with him stepping up onto my finger. He only did it that first week. He's good with hand-feeding and head scritches but will draw blood on my finger (for step ups). If anyone has tips on this, I welcome them! I know I need to invest more time in training.

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Now I've become a fellow bird owner and openly judge people who buy/adopt birds without doing research 🤣. It makes me so mad seeing the most basic questions asked about bird care. I had a crash course (from this community so thank you) but also through googling and I learned 80% of what I probably needed to know in 24 hours. But maybe I just lucked out with a healthy affectionate bird!

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I do from time to time think about if Kiwi would be happier in a home with an aviary or with other birds. Things I cannot provide.

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Anyway that's all. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. 🙂‍↔️

So this has been bothering me for a while. Since I got my birds 2,5 years ago, people basically stopped coming to chill out anymore. Most say they don't mind the birds, but 1 friend straight up said it gives him anxiety and is afraid he gets attacked by one (who is just mostly chilling up his cage or in his tent occasionally screeching)

Other thing I noticed is how always everyone makes mean jokes about my birds or just straight up say mean things, even if they have met themnonly once or never at all.

Sure, one of them is territorial and judges you from a distance, but the other one is just very curious and clingy, but both of them will eventually calm down if you don't give them attention.

They always roam free, I don't want to lock them up, and even if I did, they would scream from the top of their lungs until you release them.

Just to be clear, I don't need advice on this, it is what it is. But I am curious how my fellow bird parents experience this. Same problem or nothing at all?

Also bird tax included

I read the rules it didn't state if I can do this or not so I'm posting.

Hi we need help naming this pretty male mooncheek. We are truly stumped!

Update: We tried out several of the names. Last week I thought of Coda (music reference) and dismissed it. We had Kona, Coda, and Nova made the final list and we decided on Coda. Although, Taco Bell was super tempting. Thank all of you so much!

Does not matter if I am depressed. As long as she is safe and comfortable I am happy. I will protect her fiercely with all my heart.

My boy Koji, already 8 years old, is my light that has endured so much with me! Wouldn't trade him for the world, even when he tries to murder me whenever I have my hair in a bun, or in a bath towel!🩹

Yes, he has a velociraptor claw. I have no idea how exactly that happened.🔎

Little guy in front is fine. He just had a bath and always floofs like this to dry.

I just wanted to share a recent experience I had with losing my bird, in hopes maybe it could shed some positivity and potential hope for anyone. (and maybe some advice)

On the 9th of October this year, my dad had accidentally let my bird, George, out of his cage while outside. He was gone immediately, I heard him and watched him fly past my bedroom window like a little green roadrunner. I was devastated, walking around my neighbourhood for hours barefoot and sobbing. He had flown away around 6pm, I lost light very quickly and of course it was peak hour for the local wildlife birds flying around. I was furious with my dad, even though it being an obvious accident, it was just a silly little mistake that had left me grieving. He obviously felt horrible about it and helped.

He was lost 3 days before my 21st birthday and I had only had him for 5 months, I was totally destroyed. It felt like the worst luck, I had posted for him EVERY WHERE. I’ve had to mourn the death of past pets before, 2 of my last pets have had to be put down out of pure bad luck as well, I felt like a bad omen. But this one sucked because it happened over something so small and preventable, and it wasn’t even my fault. I thought he would’ve been killed by wild birds or neighbourhood cats.

He was gone for a total of 9 days, I was sure he was dead or someone else had just claimed him.

Around 8pm one night, someone had commented on one of my posts a screenshot from the RSPCA website. I couldn’t believe it at first, I almost didn’t want to as I had been given a few false alarms from other conures being found around the area. But it was him.

Turns out, he had flown to someone’s house literally a street over. They had kept him for a number of days before handing him into a vet, which then resulted in the council collecting him to then take him to the RSPCA. I was ecstatic, I loved him before but I believe my obsession with him grew even more once I had him back. I cried as I signed forms and paid for his collection. Shoutout to the staff at the RSPCA, apparently he was a fan favourite and extremely friendly. Everyone had a turn at handling him and taking pictures with him the afternoon he came in, they were so happy to put a name to him when I called.

I just want anyone who’s lost their bird to try and think positively. Keep hope for their safety, even if they aren’t with you pray they are found by someone else and at least being kept safe. I had completely lost hope, I kept telling myself I was accepting the fact that he was dead. I will always think of other lost birds out there and keep hope for their safe return to their family 🫶

Please feel free to share any of your personal stories of anything similar or even a picture of a bird that hasn’t come back yet ❤️

I just got a new mooncheek conure, dna sexed male and I’m struggling to find names I like for him😞 he’s a very cuddly and vocal boy. I have another 2yr old gcc and her name is Cleo so maybe something to go with that?

I have been hand chopping nuts and veggies for a while and finally decided to buy one of these. I prepared a month worth chop and nuts in like under an hour. I use paper craft style tubaware to set up foridging for nuts and dried fruit. I use hay for them to dig through. I also use cafeteria trays for messy activities to put under them. The raised edges are nice. These also become good shallow bird baths. I like to let them roll balls stuffed with treats on these and other play activities that involve mess.

Do you have any game changers?

I got this little guy yesterday, and he's very friendly (with the ocassional new person bite) and I'm stumped on what to name him. Any suggestions? I'm trying to avoid the more common names if possible.

• "4 - Treat Others with Respect and Kindness

Posts and/or comments that are intended to insult, hurt, or disparage another may result in the user being banned."

I would like to remind EVERYONE of this rule that you agreed to when joining this sub. We have been focusing on this more but quietly behind the scenes. This past week alone we have had 34K visitors and 2.4K contributions. Moderating can be a daunting task, but one well worth the effort in helping a community be a positive and safe space for people to come regardless of the nature of the post, as long as they follow the rules set in place.

We have an incredible wealth of knowledge in our community. We also have an incredibly passionate community that care for the health and safety of the birds we see come through here. Sometimes that passion comes out negatively to the poster. This has to stop. Some members are already being addressed. Some have been banned.

I get it. It IS frustrating when posts are about "I just bought a bird and don't know what to do" or "My bird looks sick. Can you help me?" or the worst one; "Why did my bird just die?" The level of angry I personally get can be off the charts. Compassion for the poster is always secondary to the animal. Running my own rescue for 15 years (many years ago) brought the neglect and abuse to the surface and I became very intolerant of the lack of knowledge excuses. I have had to turn my responses into a helpful engagement FOR the animal, rather than AGAINST the OP. It keeps the OP here. It gets them engaged in better choices. The bird (or animal depending on the group I'm in) just might survive. We also have rule #1 to fall back on for those who are repeat negligent and abusive in the care of their wards.

As moderators, we are here to help. If issues arise with a contribution, whether a post, or a comment, please report it. We have an auto-mod bot that catches much of the content that breaks the rules. We check throughout the day to either confirm the removal or approve what the auto-mod removes that didn't need removal.

Please help us help those who come in without a clue. Make them feel welcomed even though you want to shred the OP. I'm not saying we need to coddle. I'm not saying they don't need to hear the truth. What I am saying is that we don't need to punch them in the face with meanness.

Thank you for your understanding and for the wonderful contributions this community has given and has yet to offer.

Emoji - the watch-bird.

perfect for my girl who loves to climb and swing off everything in the house, going to hang some toys off it as well just to make it even better for her, highly recommend if your birds also an acrobat

My mom wants it’s name to be mongo, but I don’t know if it fits her, haha

I used to have budgies but all that changed to an obsession with conures when I noticed a conure receptive to recieving an ear scritch. Usually this is my parameter for selecting a conure being receptive the rest does not matter. After mysteriously losing my first conure which was my best I could not fill the void or replace it with any other conure. Although they were receptive to nipping my finger in the cage they did not like to be handled or touched. I would replace them in a week if I did not find them compatible. Then I was told by a breeder to buy conure babies which are easy to tame.

Since I had experience of hand feeding older conures that were about to wean, I thought I will give it a try. I raised a baby conure and he grew very bonded and attached and I never cut his wings. just 1 month to his first year he escaped when I was not at home. I was devastated. Searched and cried to no avail.

I bought another conure baby. Since I was out of touch of feeding babies, I decided to research again and give my all. Rather than just feeding I did research on quality of life, healthy development and everything to keep the baby warm, healthy and content.

But there was still an issue. Even after feeding the baby and keeping him warm he was constantly screaming and not calming down. This is not a submissive baby but a wild one that has a fight in him and bites me really hard for his feeds. I was surprised how a 3 week conure can bite this hard. 1 week of feeding and still the screaming persisted for 45 mins after feeding which doubled when I was present. The frequency of feeds for a 3 week conure is at max 3 to 4 but I saw his crop was emptying way too fast every 2 hrs instead of 4 to 5 hrs. His weight came down drastically in 2 hrs. I researched conure baby normal weights. That is when I came across the conure reddit page and I became more aware and educated about why it is bad to buy conure chics. I felt guilty. But now I had him I decided I will do my best to take care and raise him.

I used AI, digital weighing machine, thermometer to track his daily weight and formula temperature. I educated myself about sour crop, burnt crop, etc and became precise about temperature, quantity, timings, etc. However perfect I tried to be there was still an issue. The baby was still screaming for food. I knew about not overfeeding as it would lead to sour crop. The baby would digest food so fast his crop gets emptied really fast and he kept begging and crying every time. I felt something is not right as my previous conure always relaxed and felt content after feed. When I weighed him every morning he was 59g and he felt very light and limp. I used AI to track weight before and after feed ask reasons for constant screaming even after feeding and every 15 mins to see how much weight he kept losing to prepare for next feed and analyse poop pics. Then I decided on the 2nd day when he dangerously went down to 57g from the usual 59g with a raspy screaming and limp and weightless body I freaked out and decided to visit the vet after feeding him before its too late. The feeling is like lifting something without weight and resistance and having air inside the body.

Because I know its normal for a baby to go entire night of 10 hrs without food. But since this one digests so fast I cannot leave him for even 3 hrs without food in his crop.

It is very hard to find good avian vets in my country or one specialised for aviary. There was a dog/cat vet 10 mins from where I live I had my previous conure in icu incubator and not the best experience. This time I decided to find someone specialised in avian vet and a bird clinic rather than a dog/cat clinic look into the issue. They were very far away but I decided its better to invest in an avian vet than a regular one.

I initially thought it was a baby with high metabolism turns out his crop swab identified presence of increased bacterial activity. Now it made all sense the AI said something like muscles getting lost it is like a tapeworm inside the bird.

I trusted the process and was given couple of medications to follow for 3 times a day for 10 days. I asked for the name of the bacteria for my research which he was not sure about but called it ‘Psittacosis’ which cause gut infection in conures. It might be the safe general medication for birds. I was prescribed liver tonic, meloxicam, gut health probiotic, enerfoxin with the dosage and timings. The screams continued everytime I was present even after being fed. He was receptive to anything he could eat so medication was easy to give. There were times I felt if this is behavioural and he is going to be the same in his adulthood or he is screaming of extreme hunger, pain and discomfort. I decided to wait for the answer after 10 days till then I religiously followed the medication dosage and timings, replaced low quality local bird formula to the one suggested by the vet and on the 8th day, this is the first time he stopped his excessive screaming and looks content. His weight gradually increased and now he is doing well. I may take him for a checkup again and try to get the gender DNA.

But from this experience and the conure community posts, I now understand why visiting the vet is necessary for even the most tiniest things. Anything suspicious, abnormal and unusual needs Vet intervention before it goes to the extent of being too late.

Comparing my 2 conure babies one was silent and the other wild and vocal about his issues. We neglect the silent ones that hide their issues and the wild ones thinking it is behavioural or from personality. And I now understand if conures scream unnecessarily and not content it definitely has to do with diet, liver, gut, hormonal or any internal issue or pain.

It is possible the breeder would have neglected the babies needs or not taken to the avian vet. I saw he strictly fed them 3 times only. I realised buying babies is not the right thing.

I love her sooooooooooooo much.

Thank goodness it’s molting season. My bird was attacked in June and buy another bird in my flock and usually they’re separated, but anyhow my Birds feathers are already regrowing.

Hi fellow conure folk! I just wanted to share a really positive experience.

My father is in a senior's home a few provinces away (we're in Canada). I had some concerns about his health and made an impromptu road trip to surprise (and check up on) him. Coco (pictured) has come with me. She's an excellent traveler and this isn't her first time making this trip. Two full days of car travel makes her a hero already!

Coco is a superstar around here. Everyone loves her and is so interested in her. I bring her around in her travel cage but in my dad's room I let her out. She sticks to me the entire time. When we're out and about the residents are so excited to see her and have many questions.

After a couple of days Coco is feeling at home and starting to bond with my dad. They shared a pear this evening and I was so pleased to see the smile it brought to his face. (you're getting a facsimile for privacy)

I'm thinking about taking her to the local nursing home when I get back home. I think the seniors will really enjoy the engagement.

Just wanted to share in case this interests someone else in the community to engage with their local seniors.