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First off, I have never really done any 'formal' training with Alfie. Apart from step up, he doesn't really know/respond to many commands. He sort of knows 'wave' and used to know 'turn round'. I think he understands what I mean when I ask him to fly to me- but he ignores it unless he wants to. 😄 He mostly comes and goes as he pleases. He is good with stepping up to a perch. He is mostly fine with stepping up to an arm but will occasionally refuse or sometimes bite if he's not happy about being asked to move. I've had some 'issues' with Alfie - he took a dislike to me a while back and favoured my housemate who recently moved out. Whilst Alfie will interact with me he no longer wanted to sit with/on me and no longer asked for head scritches. If my housemate was in the room Alfie would follow him and want to sit with him. He also went through a short period of flying to the back of my neck/head and biting me... but thankfully that was relatively short lived. However, things still haven't got back to how they used to be. I've been working hard to regain Alfie's trust and build our friendship back up again... especially now my housemate is no longer living here (he does visit though). I have been trying to start clicker training with a target stick for a while but Alfie usually ignores the stick completely or gets aggressive with it. I've only tried this when he's been in the cage so far. I also have to watch my fingers/hands when offering treats as sometimes he opts to lunge at my hands/fingers instead of taking the treat. This has knocked my confidence with Alfie somewhat, which I know is a problem in itself. So I'm working hard to find ways to improve things for us both. Yesterday I managed to get Alfie to touch the target stick a good few times whilst he was out of his cage. I put the stick close to him, used the command 'touch' then clicked the clicker as soon as any part of his beak touched the stick. I then put a treat down for him on the window sill so he could get it. I didn't quite trust him enough to offer him the treat directly, but putting it down nearby seemed to work. I kept the 'training session' really short and asked him to repeat the behaviour about 5 or 6 times at most. I also managed to get a couple of clips of our attempts which I uploaded to the forums just now. Hopefully these should be available below, assuming I did everything correctly!

I'm not going to advertise for anyone, but after the issues I've had with Sukei lately, I decided to try something, and even though I don't believe 99% of the crap I read about parrot additives on the internet, I decided what the hell, and ordered some feather "Enhancing powder" off Amazon. I swear after 48 hours he stopped picking his feathers, doesn't try and bite me as much and over all seems to be in a more calm state of mind (no more biting his toenails either) He doesn't seem as pissed off as usual. So without turning this into an advertisement thread, and please don't mention specific products, have you guys ever bought anything "Claiming to calm Parrots" and get them to stop picking at themselves? I figured I just wasted some money but had nothing to loose. He was really making me think, there is something else I can do. I took Spring time into the thought process as a lot grays seem to loose their minds in spring with the horny deal, but he started to act up in mid winter. I just cant explain the change in him, and it's not just my perception of the situation, but the folks that interact with him, that have no Idea I changed anything I was doing. Also keeping in mind he is an African grey, as in, he came from Africa and not domestically bred, and I dont know if that has anything to do with it, but tried to consider all the variables. Anyways just curious as to anyone that tried something like this with supplements and your experiences. Keep in mind this is not a Parrot on a sunflower seed diet, he gets the high dollar nutritional feed, fresh fruits and vegetables and everything the experts recommend, and then some, apples, grapes, oranges, lettuce, corn, he eats more healthy stuff then I do. LOL

If by sunroof you mean it's in two halves that opens up (and can be propped open with a perch) then yes, it has one of those. However, I have some fairly heavy toys hanging from both sides so that Alfie can't push it open. He has tried messing with the top of the cage but there is too much weight for it to go anywhere. Thankfully, he's not much of an escape artist!

That's disappointing. I'm guessing they won't even entertain the idea of a refund either...

Glad you found something that helped! Alfie over-preens on his sides under his feathers so they look a little tatty, but he doesn't seem to pluck. They just look messy as opposed to ripped out. So I don't have much experience in this area.

Funny you mention it, because after 7 years of living in my current house, I finally have a dining table! I had a housemate up until recently so my PC and other stuff was downstairs where the dining table would normally go. After my housemate moved out I was able to turn his bedroom into an office and my parents gave me their old dining table and chairs! I only got it at the weekend but Alfie has already been exploring it. BUT! He shows absolutely no interest in my food- never has done. I can pretend it's the best thing I've ever eaten, I can eat it in front of him and I can try and hide it from him and be secretive... he doesn't care! He even sat at the dining table on Sunday with me and was more interested in throwing the coasters around than what I had on my plate! His favourite treat of all time is cedar/pine nuts. They take a while for him to crack open but they are the only treat that really motivates him. So they are the treat I am using and reserving for training. He also likes walnuts... but he will someitmes leave them and they are not as much of a motivator as the cedar nuts.

Hi, Just a cautionary tale, don't bother trying to register your birds with CITES it's a con, i bred Ella from two birds i bought at Stafford show (Staffordshire show ground) at the Parrot Society official show, i was supplied with two Cites certificates and paid a considerable amount of money for them, it turns out that when i tried to register Ella their chick, that the male had his certificate altered to show he wasn't rung but microchipped instead and a sticker with his microchip number had been stuck on his certificate. I paid £31.00 to Cites with the application which they refused and i sent them the proof of purchase and all documents they asked for, they replied with pay another £31.00 and a new application for the male and it would be sorted out. It turns out that Julie Berry from the Cites office has deemed that they cannot issue Cites certificates for Ella (the chick) or her father. To cut a long story short Cites have stitched me for £62.00 and i have lost the price of the chick plus i have an unsaleable pair. They do not deserve honest people to register their birds, it's a scam 😡 P.S. Not that Ella will ever be for sale.

I dunn know much about clicker training, and the videos don't work for me. But! I can say with a thousand percent certainty, that the quickest way to a bird's heart is through their stomach. Whenever you eat, let Alfie hang out on the table and eat off your plate. Talk to him! Sing to him! Tell him jokes. I share all my meals with my Timmy. He loves it. I've never done any formal training with Timmy at all, but he's fairly well-behaved, while still being mischievous, which I like.

Same here, that is a problem I haven't dealt with. I'm trying to remember, there was a long time member here who used something and said it worked. Was it Dee? Maybe if Talon sees this she will remember. At any rate, if it isn't harmful (and I'm sure you've done your research) and it works, that's great news!

I don't have any pluckers (yet) in my flock, so unfortunately I don't have any first hand experiences to offer. There are some avian organic teas on the market that are believed to help birds experiencing various behavioral issues. I actually use some of those teas to steep grain blends for some of my freeze dried products.