How do you keep them from sneakiing out the door of the cage while you are trying to capture them?

Try to drape a towel over the entire cage. That's what I did when it was absolutely necessary to catch a rescue bird.

I decided to try the hunger method first. And, it worked! I put food and water in the travel cage, and put it next to their cage. The food was a special "Triple Baked Crunch Stick," which they very rarely get.

They climbed all over the outside of the travel cage for about twenty minutes. Then, they went in, and I closed the door.

I almost felt bad about how easy it was to fool them. They are still happily devouring the Crunch Stick.

They were very good today. Only went out to the bookcase once. This afternoon, both of them were perched on my lap for a long time. I think they might have known what was up, and decided to show me how good they could be without a clipping.

Did Silver and Emma mate or am I reading something wrong?

Silver and Emma have not mated. Emma masturbates, and Silver makes an annoying noise in her ear while she is doing it, which i I think may be a mating call. I don't think Silver has figured out what he is supposed to do, which is very good with me. They seem to be looking for nesting sites, which I am discouraging.

We all went to the vet today. The birds were very unhappy about the car ride. They were scared.

The vet was very nice. He said they both looked like they were in good health, and Emma certainly isn't underweight.

I asked him to just do a moderate clip. He said most people who come in for a clip want the birds not to be able to fly at all. He seemed glad that I want them to have a reasonable amount of flight.

He clipped the first four feathers on each wing. He suggested five, but I went with four. It's good. They can still fly. It just takes a little more effort. They certainly don't drop to the ground. I think it will slow them down enough to make them a little more manageable. We'll see.

I was surprised that Silver was much more difficult for him to capture and to handle than Emma. When the tech was restraining him, Silver was really, really mad. But, the vet was taking the time to calm them down before he went at them with the clippers. I thought that was good.

Both birds have been out and about since I got them home. No sulking in the cage like Emma did last time (about a year ago).

They are spending lots and lots of time preening themselves today.

When I got home, I opened the front door before I got the travel cage out of the car. As I was bringing the cockatiels up the driveway, the budgies started chirping loudly, and the tiels were flock calling back. It was pretty cute.

I see. Im glad the vet trip went well.

Beaker always acts grumpy, but when the cockatiels are toweled, Beaker is a weenie. Jaid is a little bitey anyways, but when he is toweled he squawks, hisses and protests the whole time.

It's funny. The seem to have totally forgotten about the experience and are back to normal. From the way the complained in the car, I thought it might take them days to recover. Actually, they were complaining less on the way home than on the way out. Did they sense they were going home? Or, were they just relieved that they had left the [horrible] vet, and everything else seemed rosy by comparison.

I am so glad I told the vet to only clip four feathers, rather than five. The birds can still fly, but they have to work harder to get any height. I think it will work out well.

I have the idea that they are a little bit confused about what happened to them. But, they are not sulking.