Parakeet

Year 2005 - 2008

Information in this site are mostly contributed by fellow Parrot enthusiast sharing their very personal experience of the feathered friends they have. Your contributions will be much appreciated too. You don't need to have years of Parrot keeping experience to share your experience. What we seek are firsthand experience and it can be both the wonderful aspects as well as negative aspects of Parrot keeping.

Moustache Parakeet
I got Kuaikuai (a name suggested by Lawrence), a juvenile but wild moustache parakeet. It was a pretty rash decision as I bought it rather early in my hobby. As they are wild bird but cheaper so i thought i give it a try, especially it’s a small-mid size parrot.   When I first got it back, I chained it up and started to work on taming it. I managed to start to pet it on its head and back but I was very wary of its powerful beak. But it did give me a powerful taste of its strong beak. I need to use a pair of heavy-duty gloves in order to get it out of its cage as it is extremely fierce inside its cage. Holes were made in towels used in handling it.
Soon enough I muster enough courage to try and handfeed it, which surprisingly was easy. I could also start to touch and hold its beak. Then over the next few days, I muster up even more courage and tried to let it perch on my hand. Based on some techniques which I read over the internet, I manage to anyway based on the techniques i learn from the net, i manage to overcome my fear and get to manipulate the parrot in a few steps and in a short time. Let it perch on my hand, petting it and no more biting.
Seriously i owe it all to Ken Globus and his articles (www.thebirdwhisperer.com). Just read through all his articles and you will have a totally different view on how to handle untame birds. His methods worked but are quite different from the usual stuff written in book. Based on the techniques I learned, I managed to overcome my fear and get to manipulate the parrot in a few steps and in a short time.    However it still was not comfortable on my hands and its constantly trying to get away. It’s a little harder to handle only because of its claws stabbing into my arms and its beak grip is strong. Over time I manage to get to perch on my hands more comfortably but it would still prefer its cage given a choice. Interestingly, it’s extremely tame on the hand and would never bite. But it would be rather fierce when it’s clinging onto its cage. I later on found out that if I opened the top of the cage, it would definitely perch right at the top, which made it easy to remove him from the cage. Furthermore it doesn’t try to escape or explore any other place but remain at its cage even when the cage it opens. Hence its cage top is open throughout the day and only covered when its sleeping time. It has a harsh call but mine only perhaps make one or two calls a day.
I still haven’t manage to fully tame it but at least I understand its character better now such that our relationship will not be affected by bites and unnecessary crossing of each others’ boundaries.
Two months back I met an amazing parrot lover who had vast experience in parrot rearing and parrot training. I decided that Kuai Kuai would fare much better with him than with me. My limited experience and ability has hinder Kuai Kuai’s progression into a fully tame bird that is comfortable with human. It was a decision I would never regret and perhaps, it is a life changing experience for Kuai Kuai.  After this person has adopted Kuai Kuai, he noticed that Kuai Kuai was actually chewing its feathers out of stress. Its development has not been as quick as compared to its siblings at the bird shop. After some grooming by him (plucking out tail feathers, filling its beak), Kuai Kuai was ready for its life to be changed.  Kuai Kuai is placed on a bird stand in the day and kept in cage to sleep at night. Within two weeks, Kuai Kuai is happily stepping out of its cage through the cage door (!) and yearning for its sunflower seeds treat whenever it does that and whenever it does step ups. It no longer chew its feathers and with daily morning sun, its feathers has started to look pretty.  Kuai Kuai also made a new friend. My friend’s neighbour got very interested in Kuai Kuai after seeing Kuai Kuai ‘dance’. In fact it was a act of stress as its head suay in a figure of eight motion. Well with encouragement, he went on to catch Kuai Kuai out of its cage. He got a bite but he did remove it out of its cage. This alone is unthinkable when Kuai Kuai was at my place. Soon enough, this boy has a new buddy parrot. Everyday straight after school, he drops by to visit Kuai Kuai. Then he started taking Kuai Kuai in a basket on bicycle rides. He even started doing homework with Kuai Kuai standing on his pencil case. With my blessing, Kuai Kuai will be adopted by this boy. I feel so happy for Kuai Kuai.
by Kelvin (Mar 2005)