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Hi, I'm Nancy, I'm glad I found you guys. I look forward to learning and sharing experiences with everyone. I adopted two 'tiels about 6 weeks ago and things are coming along pretty well I think. They are 3 and 4 years old and from what I can gather from their history they've been togeather for almost 3 years. I think they've been doing a bit of breeding so even tho we might try that again someday they're gonna get some time off while I fully educate myself on the whole process and decide if it's something we really want to do. They seem like they've been loved and well cared for, even tho they're getting used to a new home and dogs (inc. a grumpy chihuahua) they are already letting their guard down with us and becoming pretty friendly. They had their first shower yesterday with me in the "real" shower and I think they quite enjoyed it. They aren't too sure about the playstand yet, but we're working on it. Basically we're just taking things slow and they seem to be working out. So, here are the questions I've had...

All of their perches are not actually perches, the cage we have comes with two "shelves" made out of the same thing as the bars of the cage, so basically thin metal bars, evenly spaced... they seem to prefer sitting on these rather than their perches and I'm wondering if it's ok on their feet to allow that or if I should just take them out?

Also, I have them on a seed/pellet mix right now (working towards making that a pellet only - or at least with as little seed as possible mixed in), my problem is - I can't get them to hardly even look at any real food, sometimes they run to the opposite corner of the cage even like I just put the devil in there. I've tried hand feeding stuff to them, they just act like they want nothing to do with it. We did come kinda close to one of them taking a grain of rice last night, but no. Any suggestions on how to entice them a little on some of this stuff that's good for them that they should be eating?

Ok, one more quick thing... Is it gonna set us back in earning trust if I clip their nails? I know it won't make them happy but they need it so bad. I know how, I just don't want them to hate me.

Ok, I'm done. I promise, LOL. Thanks for letting me share and I look forward to getting to know everyone.
Nancy

Hello Nancy and welcome!

First, clipping their nails shouldn't affect their trust of you. I would go ahead and do it, but make sure to use clippers as a dremil tool, while good, is very scary for birds.

I too feed a pellet/seed mix. After having one of my tiels develop kidney problems on a pellet only diet, I cut back to about 50/50 mix in the dry dish and feed fresh foods on plates as they are easier to clean.

I see you are trying to feed fresh foods. Tiels have a hard time trying new things, but I've found that finely chopped veggies mixed with rice on a plate works well for mine. I put the mixture on a plate, and put it in the bottom of the cage for them to explore. It may take months of doing this, just don't get discouraged. When I cook spaghetti, I will take the cooked noodles and hang them though the bars at the top of the cage, making it a toy and food at the same time. Wet dandilion greens, carrot tops, kale and other green veggies are given this way too. The birds play in the wet greens then nibble on the greens.

Platforms are good as it gives them a place to relax their grip. What are the other perches in the cage? I use a mixture of the dowel perches, rope perches, and natural wood (in addition to swings.)

I would suggest you take your birds to a vet to get their nails done. If you are not experienced in clipping their nails it could be a serious problem. You could clip too short and the bird could bleed to death. (I'm not trying to scare you but I take it from your post that you are 'new" to having tiels for pets!)
Pet shops that specialize in birds also do nail trims as well. That is my suggestion to have someone that has experience in nails do it..

Hi Nancy,

About those platforms, my bird's cage door opened down to form a platform and she sat there all the time--it doesn't seem to be a problem. She's in a new home now and there she has a little "shelf" roughly 4" square or so made from slate or something similar that attaches to the side of the cage like a perch. The birds really like them . She has a cage mate and they had to have a second one installed because they kept pushing each other off of it. They should help keep their nails under control, too. I don't know if her new mommy got them in a store or on-line.