Questions about Capes!!

[Ivy Mom]

Beth & other Cape companions - as promised here is my first questions!!!

How long did your baby wean? And what foods did they eat (do they eat) when you first got them home?

What type of cage do you have for your Capes? What size? Playtop or dome?


That's enough for now :)

Thanks so much!!!
!http://www.birdboard.com/forum/images/smilies/clap.gif


Ivy Mom
SW VA
Baby - green cheek conure
Gabby - cockatiel
Tigra - 14 yo doggie
1 DH & 1 daughter (going to college in fall!)

[bethn]

Hi Ivy! The anticipation will drive you nuts waiting for your new baby! It is a good thing that you have other fids so that are not too lonely until she comes. It seems that Capes are slow to wean. Ours was not ready til he was a solid 5 mos old. I think because Maggie lets her babies be parent raised for 5 weeks before she pulls them, they take that much longer to completely wean, but if Jazz is an example, it makes for a wonderful bird, and hens are supposed to be sweeter, so you are in for a real treat.


Maggie said at her house he was eating mixed veggies & a few Scenic Hand Weaning pellets for breakfast. She said he liked mixed frozen veggies heated up. No such luck here. :(. I have found that he will eat room temp (not hot)
baby carrots, I cut Kale and chard into very small pieces and mix it with romaine. Romaine is not the best choice but he really likes that, so if i mix it with the other greens he gets a little of the good stuff. I throw some warmed
Scenic in with that and he eats that as comfort food it seems. I offer zupreem
garden entree in a bowl all day long. for dinner he gets golden feast california or madagascar blend. Notice I said gets not eats. Food is an issue
for capes it seems. He would rather play than eat, and is easily distracted from food. He does like nutriberries, pistachios, almonds, walnuts, pignolis.
Apples, pears & bananas are 50/50, sometimes he will sometimes he won't.

I'm not sure of the brand of our cage, it is one that housed our TAG. It is @ 27x27x30. He loves his cage and does not mind going there, but I work only
mornings, so if I am home,he is out of his cage and on his perch, stand,table,
shoulder...... The cage has a playtop that he likes very much as well.

Hope this is not too much info, but i know when we were waiting, i wanted to know every thing possible. I assume you have been to Thor's Page? Even tho it is inactive at this point, there are still lots of good stories and tons of information in the registration pages. I still am rereading every time he does something new to see if it "Capey" :)

[Ivy Mom]

Beth,
I guess I am like you - I want anything I can find about Capes (it is so much easier to call them Capes even though I guess the official name would be brown necked Cape parrot).

I have read Thor's site - this convinced me that I wanted a Cape

I just discovered these videos on You Tube yesterday about EMMA the Cape - have you seen them???

YouTube - EMMA Cape Parrot~4

Do you think she is the same Emma as "The Journey to Emma" on Thor's site?

[bethn]

Just checked out the videos! She is such a cutie! Of course I then went back to Thor's.
It said that Emma lived in Ca., and the video had palms outside, so it really could be the same one. The only thing that made me think twice is Thor's Emma is supposed to be a talker, and this one was quiet, but she might be camera shy :). Triedc popcorn this weekend with Jazz with very limited success, he ate a little but wasn't terribly , iimpressed. He is flying all over today driving me crazy, that is one scary beak to see coming at you with accompanying nails oustretched to grab you. I'm thinking of investing in a beekeepers hat. My children will just have to pretend they don't know me.

[sweetpeaches]

i absolutely love the capes! and if i were to ever have another parrot that would be the one! i'm jealous of you both! thanks for sharing the video and the stories! yes, bailey..i love you too..smile.

[Lefty]

I have a Cape named Harley, but I did not get him until He was 3. I would have loved to know him as a baby. Harley is a picky eater. He eats pellets and seed & some nuts. He only occasionally will eat a green beans and no other veggies. He likes to eat with me but when I give him the food he holds it in his mouth and then drops it. I am new to birds but he is great, and funny and playful. I am writing this in the dark because he likes to go to "Night Night" early in dark and quiet. He sleeps in my computer room so no sound or lights after 9 PM. But morning's are a glory
of talk and play. He gets so silly sometime I think he will pop.
I have a pretty big cage but he spends very little time in it but seems ok when I close it. I am very careful to supply him with lots of toys and hard shelled nuts. He loves the nuts in the shell and will spend time cracking them open and tossing them to the dogs.
Anything you can tell me about birds in general and Capes in particular would be appreciated. I have read a lot but get the most from 1st hand information.

[bethn]

Lefty, it sounds as if Harley is adapting well to you and your family. Jazz likes to sleep as well, when we first brought him home it seemed as if he would take a catnap every hour and a half, now he seems to have a quiet dozey time mid-afternoon,He sleeps late in the morning, and we are trying to stretch his bed time til about 10pm. My husband doesn't get home til around 7, so we are trying to give them as much together time as possible. I thought our TAG was messy, this one has him beat hands down, nutshells everywhere, half-eaten carrots...NEWSFLASH! I found my missing right arrow key from
my laptop that he dismantled the first week we had him, inside the outer pocket of my purse this afternoon. He must have thrown it, and it landed in the pocket that is very seldom used.


Most of the info I have read seems to indicate that they are happy playing in their cages
with tons of toys, today is the first day that he actually called for me to take him out. I had placed him back in his cage while I did some yardwork ( I have been bringing him out in his travel cage previously) and i could hear him calling piteously while I was on the porch. Guilt struck, so i got him & we spent an hour on his net.


Is Harley very verbal? Everyone is very interested to see if all the grumbles, squeaks, etc. that Jazz makes ever turn into words. He did give me a real kiss tonight, beak in cheek and smooch noise too. This boy is just too much!

[Ivy Mom]

Oh, reading about Harley & Jazz makes me want my baby now

Lefty, Harley sounds as adorable as Jazz. How did you bring him into your home? Was he at a pet store?

Lefty, could you give me specific measurements of your cage? I work part-time - but with the commute am gone about 7 hours at a time. My little conure & tiel are okay with me being gone so long. When I come home I open their cage doors (they are in my study/computer room) & I can leave them there with occasional supervision.

I am trying to figure out where to put Gertie - I would like to keep her in my study while I am gone so she can be around other birds (after quaratine of course). But I think I will have to separate her from my other birds when I am home - i.e. I should not leave them out alone as I do now. (please note that I don't leave them totally unsupervised when I am home - I check on them frequently).

Maybe I will use a couple of playstands or something. I also have thought of a smaller cage to use for when I am at home but can't be there to supervise her. That way she can play by herself in another room when I am at home but too busy to supervise her. And then with the larger cage in the study with the other birds she can have company when I am gone.

What do you think?

I think that Gertie (or Janie) my new baby (ha see I've already named her & it might be a year before I get her)...might need a large cage since I will be gone. My little green cheek has a 25 w x 20 d x 40 tall dome-top cage and she uses every single inch!

I"ve read that Capes need lots of chewing toys - is this true? Beth - thanks for your descriptions of Jazz's toys & also directions for the net - I think I might start making one now :0

[bethn]

Ivy, Jazz likes to destroy smallish wooden toys, not the size you might expect for his beak, I made him a binky, (fleece wreath thingy) that he likes to snuggle in. So far what he really really loves are baby keys !?! I tie them everywhere and he destroys them. He also likes things from the dollar store that are that plastic material that frisbees etc. are made of, also i got him mini ring toss games from dollar store in b'day favor section that he loves to carry around, dunk in his bowland chew apart. He really likes the immediate gratification of destruction, he doesn't weem to want to work too hard.

[Lefty]

Harley is very verbal and picks up stuff quite quickly. He has never said anything that I have tried to teach him just what he hears that is loud or repetitive. My dog is named Zippy and Har call him Ippy must have trouble with his zs. He ask for and give kisses. Says stop it if he does not want me to do something. Tells the dogs to Knock it off, if they rought house in the house. He says night night to go to bed. He also says What Up. My friends son taught him that. Lots of other things . He also sneezes and coughs, the vet checked him and these are just sounds he has learned. He will talk a blue streak to me but when my friends are around he shuts up. He will talk to one person at a time but not a group.
I would bet your guy will be saying things soon. He really picks up things that are loud or shouted. He also has a laugh he give when he things he has done something funny.