Meet Snickers and Sophie! They're parakeets. We got them from a pet store this past Wednesday, August 21. They are approximately 4 months old, maybe a bit younger because they haven't molted for the first time yet.
Age
You can tell their age by their stripes on their foreheads. If they are present, then they haven't molted for the first time and they are less than 4 months of age.
You can also tell if they are still juveniles by the look of their eyes. The iris is only present if the parakeet is over the age of 8 months. Otherwise, their eyes are all black.
Gender
The green one, Snickers, is a male and Sophie, the blue one, is a female. We know this because of their cere, which is the soft fleshy part above their beak. In males, the cere is light purple, blue, or dark blue and in females, it's white, brown, or light pink. Sometimes, in young birds it is hard to tell, but with ours, it's very clear.
The Plan
For now, Snickers and Sophie are fairly wild and untamed, but it's a work in progress. It's only natural for them to be distrustful of humans.
My plan is to give them a few days to get familiar with their surroundings and their new cage home. Then, slowly I'm going to see if I can reach into their cage while talking calmly and quietly to them. If that goes well, I may try holding an apple slice for them to try. Coming from a pet store, I don't think they've ever had fruit, so they're in for a real treat!
Eventually, I'm going to teach them to "step up" and "step down", which are commands when you want them to step on and off of your finger. Our parrot we had prior to these did this automatically when you put your finger near him. I'm sure Snickers and Sophie will too once they're older. All babies need to learn and you just need to have patience with them. This holds true no matter what species you're raising.
I know some people don't agree with this last one, but I don't like poop all over my home so I'm going to train them to wear a flight suit (bird diaper). The last parrot we had wore one every day while he was out of his cage and he never minded it at all. In fact, he waddled over to me when I said "let's get your diaper on" or "let's change your diaper". He would shake his little tail and happily come on over.
I think it all depends upon the bird as well as how young you begin their training. It is definitely not something you can simply pick up the bird and put it on. The bird has to be extremely comfortable with you and completely trust you before you can ever begin to put them in a flight suit. Every bird is different just like us. They all have their own personality and individuality. If this is something you plan on trying, then please give them time to adjust first. The last thing you want to do is to cause them stress. These things take time and a lot of patience.
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