Green cheek con are my favorite species
of parrots. They are incredible little
birds and we are very lucky to share our
lives with four rescue rehomed green
cheeks. This is pickles and scampy and
then we have the rest of the flock
including my other two green cheeks who
are just hanging out in the other room
right now. But today I'm going to tell
you all about what it's like to look
after green cheek cones. But if you have
any questions after this video because
I'm trying to pack in as much
information as possible, please do leave
them down below in the comments because
I'd love to chat to you. Let's talk all
things today about green cheek conates.
The typical lifespan for a green cheek
cone is 20 to 30 years. There can be
some fluctuations there, but it is a
long-term commitment. Now, they have
some really interesting behaviors and
quirks that are somewhat unique to green
cheek cones. They are very cheeky and
inquisitive and this is of course a
generality because every bird is an
individual. So, if you are seeing birds
on social media, not every bird is going
to act like them. They're all totally
unique with their own wants and needs
and likes and desires and personality
traits as well. But generally speaking,
I haven't met a green cheek who isn't
very cheeky. They love to get up to all
sorts of mischief and want to know
exactly what you are up to as well. They
also have a bit of a reputation for
being nibbly and that's because parrots
do explore the world with their beaks.
They are very beaky and sometimes that
can then escalate into biting. If
they're trying to communicate with you
and maybe you don't know how to listen
to them, that can sometimes lead to
biting. But know that parrots in general
do tend to investigate the world with
their beaks. You may also read online
that green cheeks are one of the quieter
species of parrot. And whilst that's
true, that doesn't mean that they are
quiet. They can be very loud when they
want to be, if they are alarm calling,
if they're flock calling for you, if
they're just generally making a bit of a
racket like they like to. So, if you are
looking for a quiet species of parrot,
maybe parrots aren't the right type of
animal to share your life with because
they can absolutely be very loud. And
another thing that's not just specific
to green she conas is they're very messy
as well. They love to throw their food
everywhere. They poop roughly every 15
minutes or so, so lots of poops. They
malt, so their feathers will be
replenished once or twice a year. So,
you'll have feathers everywhere. They'll
be chewing their toys. There'll be toy
pots everywhere. So again, if you're
looking for the clean life, then green
cheeks are definitely not an animal to
share your life with because there is
mess every day. The cleaning never ever
stops. If you are going to be sharing
your life with a green cheek, cone, then
expect to have no expendable cash
because they are a very expensive type
of animal to live with. Not only are you
replenishing their toys regularly,
buying them really high quality food for
them, you need to get them lots of
different supplies throughout their
lifetime. And also, aven vet bills are
more expensive than dog and cat vet
bills because they have to go through
extra training and it's a specialist
service. So, anytime your bird needs to
go to the vet, it's going to cost a lot
of money. So, there are lots of things
to consider when it comes to having a
parrot in your life and the mess, the
noise, the money, and all those sorts of
things are definitely some of the
downsides to them. But, there are a lot
of awesome things. Like I mentioned,
they're curious. Many of them, not all
of them, but many of them may be a bit
more cuddly than some of the others. She
likes to kind of cuddle up here. You're
so silly. Um, they're very inquisitive
and they're just a real delight. I just
really love them. So, they can be
incredible animals and there are an
awful lot of them in rescue and rehome
centers. So, if you're watching this and
you haven't got a green cheek yet and
you're thinking about it, please do
check out your rescue centers wherever
you are in the world or you can reach
out to me and I'll see if I can help you
because there are just so many waiting
for their forever homes. When you bring
a Grinch into your life, it's awesome
and you get so excited because they are
so incredible. However, they don't know
who you are yet. They don't know how
awesome you are yet. And they may be a
little bit scared because they are a
small little prey species coming into a
brand new environment with new humans,
new experiences, new cage, different
sights and sounds and all those sorts of
things. So, it can take a little bit of
time to build up a friendship with them.
So, don't be disheartened if it takes a
little while. And if you do need help
bonding with your bird, you can reach
out to David and I at Best Behave Birds,
where we offer unique and personalized
parrot training consultations so we can
set you and your bird up for success.
Now, we're going to talk about one of
the topics I'm really passionate about,
which is what should you feed your green
cheek cone. We here at Bird Nerd HQ
promote a raw whole food diet. That
means they're eating real natural foods
and that keeps them nice and healthy. I
do have a video on what my co eats in a
day if you'd like to watch that.
There'll be loads of different video
links and resources down in the
description for you to watch after this
video, but it kind of shows you the
sorts of things that we feed our birds
here. So, in the morning, we'll start
with a big varied chop mix and that will
have a variety of different vegetables
in there of different colors, especially
dark leafy greens and red and orange
vegetables, which are packed full of
nutrition. Then, we'll also pair that
with soaked and sprouted seeds, grains,
and legumes, which are low fat but also
high in protein, which is essential for
feather health as well. We'll also feed
our birds different things like fresh
herbs, fresh flowers from time to time
as well. And we'll have aven tea blends.
We even here at Best Behave Birds have
our own range of parrot foods because in
the evening we feed what we call dry mix
which is a variety of different dried
foods to keep our parrots healthy. And
just like that, I have one of our mixes
here. This is our cogna and small parrot
mix. This can be paired with anything in
our range. We have a variety of
different blends. We have cocktail
blends. We have seed mixes. We have
vegetable garden mixes with vegetables
and flour in. We have freeze-dried
vegetables. We have all different kinds
of things that can suit your bird. We
also stock things like aven teas, whole
food supplements as well. So, do check
out our store. Again, links will be down
below. If you need some inspiration for
your chop mix as well, things to pair
together. We also have a variety of chop
recipes on our website. Again, so many
links down in the description because I
want to keep this video concise, but
there's just I could just talk about
green cheeks for hours and hours on end,
couldn't I, pickles? Now, whilst there
are loads of safe foods for parrots,
there are also some that are incredibly
toxic. For example, avocado is
incredibly toxic for parrots. Please
never ever feed avocado to any parrot.
It is extremely toxic extremely quickly.
It is very, very dangerous. I can't
stress that enough. But there are lots
of things you can feed your bird. And
again, down below will have the safe and
toxic list that we refer to a lot. So if
you're ever unsure maybe is mint safe
for parrots, you can type it in the
little search engine and it will tell
you yes, it is safe for parrots and they
can enjoy some tasty mint. So where
should your green sheet cone have their
bedroom or cage as we most commonly call
them. This should be a flight cage. We
don't want to be looking for the
smallest possible. We want to be looking
for the biggest possible cage and
usually flight cages are some of the
best to look for for your bird.
Obviously an avery would be incredible
for them and so would a dedicated bird
room. But for those of us who are aren't
able to do that, having a flight cage is
really important for your green sheet
con. So there's plenty of space for them
to explore and be enriched as well and
lots and lots of things to do in their
space. The bar spacing is also important
to consider. It should be no more than
about 5/8 of an inch, which is roughly
1.5 1.6 cm anymore, and they run the
risk of getting their head stuck in the
bars, which is obviously a safety
concern. But it can be smaller than that
if you happen to find a nice big cage
for your bird to enjoy. And what do you
put in this cage, I hear you ask? Well,
we want to start with some stainless
steel bowls, which are easy to keep
clean and good for your bird, for their
food and their water. We also want to be
looking for lots of easily shreddable
toys. This will be things made out of
palm leaf, bulsa wood, yucka, solar
wood, cardboard and paper, mahogany
pods, lots of soft woods because many
parrot toys are really hard woods and
whilst some cones will enjoy those, most
of the time they need to kind of build
up to that skill level and many cos will
enjoy much more softer woods that are
easy to shred. Also, parrots spend most
of their time on their feet. So, we want
to make sure that we are providing some
really comfy perches for them to sit on.
Many cages will come with a really
smooth dowel. You can keep that in there
as one perch that they don't really use
too often. So, we want to be looking for
other perches which are going to keep
their feet nice and healthy. That'll be
perches with the bark on. You can get
some really cool cork perches, which are
my guys' favorites. Other natural
perches with different thicknesses and
diameters and textures so they can
exercise their feet. Because when you
use the Dow perches that come with many
cages, their feet are stuck in the same
position all day long. It's really
smooth and they end up getting sores on
the bottom of their feet. Whereas when
they have lots of ways to exercise their
feet, it keeps them a lot healthier.
Conjurs also really enjoy platform
shelves or platform perches. These are
great places for them to hang out.
They're great places for them to enjoy
little foraging experiences, too. And
just break up the different amount of
perches that you have in the cage. So,
if you can find a platform uh to pop in
your bird's cage, I think they'll really
love it. Here's a controversial one that
you may not be expecting me to say in
the cage setup, and that is if you see
these kind of cozy huts, these snuggle
huts, whatever they may be called,
hammocks, anything that's made out of
fabric, please don't buy one of those
for your bird because they are dangerous
for them for a variety of reasons.
Although they look cute and cozy and
cuddly and we think of our cones as
being cozy and cuddly and we think
they'll love that, they may enjoy it for
a while, but it ends up being like a
dark enclosed nestlike space. And if you
provide a nest to your bird, they are
going to go into what we call breeding
mode or showing hormonal behavior. And
we don't want that in our homes. We want
our birds to be in a kind of nice, chill
as possible, relaxed state of mind. We
do not want to encourage any kind of
breeding with our parrots. The other
risk when it comes to these cozy huts is
they're made out of fabrics. And if your
bird is chewing all these fabrics,
that's going to go into their crop and
they're not going to be able to digest
it. So all of this fabric is going to
get built up in their crop and create
quite a problem. There is no need for
your parrot to have one of these cozy
hearts in the wild. And I've been very
lucky to go to the wild to see parrots
sleeping on night tours. They are just
sat on a branch. They do not need any of
these fuzzy things that are more
marketed towards humans than they are
for the actual use for a parrot. When
you have your green cheek home with you,
you're going to want to do lots of
enrichment for them. Enrichment is a way
of mentally and or physically
stimulating them. So, that can be like
the shredding toys that we've already
mentioned, but another thing that's
really important is foraging. In the
wild, green cheek cones, as well as all
other parrot species, would spend around
50 to 70% of their day foraging. And
foraging means they're looking for food.
So, we can try and replicate that in our
homes by providing a variety of
different foraging experiences. We can
make foraging trays with crinkle paper
and toy pots and dried flowers and
things for them to enjoy. We can also
make mini foragers like little foot toys
like little paper straws that they can
extract some yummy seeds from. They can
also play with lots of other little
foraging experiences and puzzle feeders
as well. Now, your bird may not know how
to use them immediately. So, I do have a
video on how to teach your bird to
forage, so you can build up those skills
slowly, and then they can have a great
time looking for all those tasty snacks.
Training your parrot is one of the most
rewarding things that you can do with
them as well. And I highly recommend
engaging in a variety of different
training exercises with your parrot. If
you didn't know already, I'm actually a
certified professional bird trainer, and
it's another topic that I'm really
passionate about. Now, there are a lot
of key skills that you need to teach
your parrot when they come to you. That
is things like stepping up onto your
hand voluntarily. We don't want to be
pushing our hands into them so they have
no choice but to step up to avoid the
pressure. We want to be asking them,
will you participate in this? And allow
them to say yes. We also want to teach
them to target train, which is really
easy, really simple, but incredibly
useful in terms of communicating with
your parrot. It's a way of communicating
in the same language. They know they
need to touch the stick really gently
with their beak and you know exactly
that's what you're after from them. And
then they can have a tasty training
reward afterwards as well. There's lots
of stretchy wingies going on here, isn't
there? My goodness. We promote positive
reinforcement training here, which is
where we give our birds treats for doing
the right thing. We don't use force to
work with our birds. We allow them to
say no as well. And that leads into the
next point I wanted to make which is
starting to understand cogna body
language and sounds and what they
actually mean. Now we are not born
speaking cogna and these guys don't know
how to speak human. We have to find a
way of understanding what they're trying
to communicate with us. I mentioned
already that biting is actually a form
of communication where they've been
pushed so far that they don't know how
else to express themselves. Sometimes
they'll do it out of fear or stress as
well because they've reached the last
resort. But there will often be many
behaviors that lead up to a bite. Like
with any animal, they don't just go in
and bite because it takes a lot of
energy to do so. They may change their
feather position on their body. Their
eyes may pin. They may even back away or
lean away from you to kind of be like, I
don't like this. And if we don't know
how to read their body language, mean we
might miss all these subtle cues. So,
it's time to start understanding what
con body language and their sounds as
well actually mean. Now, my partner
David, the parrot teacher, has a variety
of really awesome videos about what
these cone sounds and behaviors actually
mean because you may see videos online
of well-intended people who maybe
misinterpret some of these behaviors and
sounds. So, we have got these videos on
David's channel that you can check out
to start to understand what your bird is
trying to communicate with you. If you
haven't got your bird yet or you're
thinking about how to meet their social
needs, we are very pro- multi-bird
household. We have a large flock here
and that's because we can do our very
best and love our birds and give them
all different kinds of things but
ultimately we're not conjurs and in the
wild they would live in very large
flocks. So if you do have the
opportunity to rescue a second or more
into the flock then there's a good
chance that you will be meeting more of
your bird's social needs. Now birds
don't love each other immediately just
because they're the same species. It
took Pickles and Scampy here 8 months to
love each other but we did get there in
the end. So, you do have to do a lot of
formal bonding work, but it is very
rewarding when we actually give our
birds a companion of their own because
when they're on their own, sometimes
they can be a little bit stressed,
especially if we need to go to work,
school, university, or whatever else it
may be that we need to do during our
day. These are social creatures who
thrive on having companions around them
to give them safety and also lots of
scratches. Now, because these guys are
prey species, they're very good at
hiding signs of illness. they will hide
it right up until the point where they
can't hide it anymore because it's quite
serious. Make sure that you find your
bird an aven vet before you need them.
And if you do need any help finding an
aven vet in your area, please do send me
an email cuz I'd love to help you
because it is essential that your bird
sees an aven vet if they're not feeling
their best. Providing your bird with a
healthy diet and a very clean
environment are both essential for
keeping them nice and healthy as well.
But you do need to start to get clued up
on the different signs of a sick bird.
so that you can recognize that at the
very early stages so that you can get
them the help that they need. Some of
these signs, and it's not limited to
this, but some of these signs can be
things like weight loss. It can be gunk
coming from any of the holes in their
body. It can be inactivity. It can be
their tail bobbing when they're
breathing. It can be a sound from when
they're breathing. There are lots and
lots of signs of a sick bird. So, please
do make sure you've got clued up on that
before anything does happen to your bird
so that you're well prepared to help
them. Exercise is also essential for
keeping our parrots healthy. We don't
want perch potatoes. We want nice,
active birds. And that's why I'm
strongly against clipping birds wings.
It is detrimental to their mental and
physical well-being. So, if you are on
the fence about clipping, I highly
recommend not doing it. I will
eventually do a video on clipping, but
it's a controversial topic. But
ultimately, if you don't want an animal
that flies, don't get an animal that
flies. You can also provide your bird
lots of bathing opportunities, which is
good for their skin health, feather
health, their respiratory system, and
it's just good fun as well. There are
variety of ways that you can do that.
Whether that's bathing under your
kitchen tap in the sink, whether that is
being sprayed and misted, whether that's
going in the shower with you, there's
loads of different ways that you can
bathe your bird. It's about finding the
way that they enjoy the most rather than
forcing them. Because again, forcing is
going to create a very stressed bird. So
our guys here, Pickles, likes to bathe
in her own water dish and make a big
mess, whereas Scampy likes to bathe in
this really cute play sink that we have
in the kitchen. So working out what
works for your coe is really important.
And when we have any kind of bird living
in our home, we need to be really
careful of the different dangers that
they can be exposed to in our homes. I
already mentioned that avocado is a big
one. It's incredibly toxic, incredibly
quickly. So, never give your bird
avocado or have them in, you know, any
vicinity to them. The other thing that's
incredibly toxic, incredibly quickly to
birds is non-stick. That's things like
teflon pans, like air fryers, toasty
makers, waffle makers, doughut makers.
The inside of the bags that you popcorn
in in the microwave are also covered in
a non-stick coating, which when heated
is potentially very, very toxic to
birds. There is no need to have any kind
of non-stick cookware in your homes or
anything like that when you have birds
because it doesn't take a lot for there
to be a problem and it's very hard to
bring them back from it. There are many
hidden dangers in our homes. If you have
a self-cleaning function on your oven,
there's an extremely high likelihood
that that is incredibly toxic to your
birds. Uh things like ceiling fans, if
you have those and you have them on when
your bird is out flying, then there's a
good chance they could fly into them and
injure themselves. Open windows as well.
If you're not communicating with people
in your home and you open a window and
your bird is out, then that is obviously
a recipe for disaster. If you have dogs
and cats, their saliva, their bites,
their scratches are all also very
dangerous to parrots. Not only because
of the size difference, but also because
of the bacteria that live in their
mouths as well. It's really, really
dangerous. So, I don't recommend having
your bird interact with any kind of
mammals, to be honest, because it is
really quite a danger. And then you have
the fact that parrots have a very
efficient respiratory system which is
great for flight and fair exercise, but
it's terrible for living in our homes
when we have lots of artificial
chemicals and scents going around. So if
you share your life with a parrot, then
unfortunately you're not able to have
things like candles, wax melts, air
fresheners, diffusers, um strong
perfumes and things like that. Anything
aerosol as well is very dangerous. You
can't use typical household cleaners as
well because they are also toxic to
birds whether they breathe in the smells
or it's used around them. It really is a
lifestyle change when you share your
life with a cone. So bear that in mind
that if you already have your bird or
you're thinking about bring them in,
please make sure you check everything in
your home. Again, there are loads of
different resources for what is safe and
what is toxic to birds. And we want to
keep our birds happy and healthy for as
long as possible. And that sometimes
means that we can't have some of the
things that we used to have in our homes
before life with birds. If you have any
other questions about green cheeks,
please do drop me a comment as I'd love
to speak to you. And I'd love to know
about your green cheek cone as well. So,
please do tell me all about them down in
the comments of this video. Don't forget
to check out the description for loads
of resources to help you and your bird
to thrive. But from me and Pickers and
Scampy who have taken themselves off
over there to get up to all kinds of
mischief, thanks for watching. Take care
and I'll see you in the next one.