Dave007

""""As an example, Barney occasionally gets in a very chewey mood when in my lap or on my shoulder. I obviously prefer my clothing without giant beak shaped holes ripped throughout them. """"" Very simple solution --don't allow the bird to go to those areas. Some birds do and there's no problems. Some birds do go to those areas and go after clothing, ear lobes, jewelry, hair, cheeks etc. As time goes on they adapt very well to those areas and they become very difficult to get off. """"""Another example I would like to correct is maybe trying to get Barney and Onyx to stop shredding their droppings papers.""""" A grey and many other species rip and chew paper if they can get to it. Do they care of there's feces on it? Absolutely not. It's a bird's instinct to do that. """"4.) Never under any circumstances negatively punish your birds in a physical or vocal way.""""" That's been known by parrot owners for many years. Much longer than Chet has decided to tell people about it. Greys and other species don't know what punishment( physical). Vocal simply makes the bird do it again because what it's done has gotten a rise out of the person. """""Does anybody know if finding a sound to play to demonstrate a negative action and train them in a double fashion is plausible?"""""" Nothing like that exists

Most greys can put up with night time changes in the temperature as long as the temp is gradual. That also includes other species. The same thing applies when making the room warmer. Quick heat rise will cause extra feather molting. If you're worried about night time temps, you can simply put a cover on the bird's cage.

There's a big difference between a feather tether and an aviator harness. The aviator harness is used to allow a bird to fly and the length of the flight is changed as the bird gets better st it. Extentions are available for it. A feather tether is a rope, chain, or similar restraint for holding an animal in place, allowing a short radius in which it can move about. Usually, the length is about 7 ft and a bird can't fly with it on. It's used so the bird can't go anywhere. It's similar to what's used for a dog. The restraints that are used on predatory animals are used to keep the bird in one place, usually on a perch and are extremely short. The restraint is usually heavy duty leather. The bird always has a professional handler or trainer with the bird. The birds are also trained to not go anywhere except on command. More than likely, it's that same person who takes the photos of the predatory bird. There are no pictures of predatory birds flying in the wild with restraints on them. Feather tethers come with a number of clips that weigh a lot and make using it uncomfortable for the bird to use. Most aviator harnesses can be purchased online but I've seen them sold at Petsmart once in a while. Unforunately, there's only one type of feather tether sold. It's not that the aviator harness is just popular here--they serve a completely different purpose than tethers.

I think your best bet to find out the particulars of your lorikeet is to go to this site which deals with that type of bird and it's habits and body and health issues. www.upatsix.com/chats/lory-and-lorikeet<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/09/02 03:16

I'm not Dan but I do have an opinion--- I think they're one of the most awful things ever manufactured for birds. What purpose do they serve? I think their only purpose is to stress a bird and they are strictly made for people who also like to dress up their dogs and cats. Utterly stupid. I personally find a "diaper" or any article of clothing on any animal unattractive. Also, is this product an example of human selfishness?...an inability to accept a creature as nature created it (they poop frequently for a reason). Just like barking, or shedding fur. Shouldn't we just modify our homes for them instead of constantly trying to modify them? I personally feel that any creature that we bring into our homes should be able to flaunt it's worst possible habits. Otherwise we are doing it an injustice. The bird did not ask to live with humans so we should at least accept it the way it is. My birds, have play gyms and stands. They share them. Sometimes they shit on them and sometimes they don't. So, they usually dump in one general area in which I lay down newspaper. Of course, occasionally they roam and poop in unexpected areas. I don't mind cleaning up whenever it happens. I love em' and that's part of life with them. These are just some of my thoughts. I would never personally try to get one of my birds into one of these ridiculous things. There are certain products out there that make me feel that someone is simply out to make a buck.....this is one of the products that makes me feel that way. Just another item to disguise the fact that a bird is a bird. Diapers for a bird? Oh boy:(

You can go to a animal feeds store that sells all types of food for all types of animals and you can purchase a bag of oyster chips and give about 1/2 tablespoon of them mixed in his food ( once a week). That will provide the calcium that the birds normally get when eating different types of animal bones. Doing that will allow you to follow your feeding regimen. Make sure you get chips, not grit.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/08/31 23:34

I wouldn't exactly call your bird hyper. She fits the description of being extremely clingy which is not very common with greys. There's some things you can try but in your eyes, it may be minor. Concerning color--your bird is frightened of red. Many greys are frightened of certain colors, sunglasses, new hair color change, new colored dress, a new hat so that whole thing shouldn't be looked on as a problem. As far as perches--I don't know what types of perches you use but if they're the straight dowel type perches that usually come with a new cage, you should change them to branch type perches that are uneven, knarled, bent. They can be gotten from any area that has dead branches laying around. In other words, the same style perch es you see in a tree. Many people use those types of perches instead of what comes with the cage. You say that she has no desire to fly nor does she know how to fly. Try having her hold on to your index finger firmly and then take your thunb, cover the top of the feet firmly so she can't jump or fly off. Make sure your bird's body front is aimed at you. Extend your hand out and start to slightly wave your hand up and down approx 6 to 9 inches either way. She will flap furiously. Don't let her go. Stop for 10 to 15 seconds and do it again and repeat again. Your thumb will not let her fly away but by her doing that she will feel updraft. This should be done a few times a day. Stop rewarding her all the time for everything she does outside of her cage. She's flipping the treats so that should tell you that it's a waste of time anyway. """""I would prefer sometimes that she just sit still and perch on my hands or arms. She used to all the time. Recently, however, she just wants to climb to my shoulder........and then up and down, up and down, up and down, ad nauseum. It can get quite annoying.""" I'm afraid that's your fault. You allowed her on your arms in the past and it's a well know fact that as a grey gets older, the only place they wanna be is at the highest point of anything. You can't teach a bird to go back down when he/she is on your body.. Theonly thing you can do is put her in the cage when you need to concentrate on something else. Try some of these things out first and see if differences start then let us know and we'll continue with the next situation. You have many situations which can't be addressed by you all at the same time. Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/08/31 06:50<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/08/31 07:11

I'm so very glad that I remembered and found this post in this thread going all the way back to 2007. It makes it much easier for me to state a fact that I remembered about from a few years ago. From Lisa M Re:Bird Trainer and website - 2007/10/22 20:24 Just a word on Chet Womach...here is an article from this past May with him addressing his old training technique called "flooding", which was a "scare into submission" technique (yikes!), and his acknowledgement that although it may be an "effective" method, he no longer believes in this approach and now teaches positive reinforcement: ====================================================== He recorded this type of method on DVDs and sold them even though they didn't work. He never knew they didn't work but sold the DVDs as though they worked. He never offered any refunds or exchanges. ====================================================== Now for what I wanna say. Normally, when I make a statement I try to cover all sources before posting but in this particular situation I can only provide part of it but the ability to find out if I'm telling the truth will be here. There's a well known board located in NY which is unmoderated and has some very extremist views on many animals besides birds, Once in a great while, Bobbi Brinker or Maggie Wright or Dr. Metz will add a post to a thread. Not all the time but they can be found. A couple of years ago, Chet Womach was obligated to put in a long post apologising to all customers that had purchased his DVDs because there was information in them that really didn't work although he said that he didn't realize it at the time. There was more to his apology in the post but it's been quite a while and I can't remember it all but I can give you this information to further check it out in case you don't believe me. By the way, no refunds or exchanges were offered. The name of the place is called THE NEW YORK BIRD CLUB and the Site owner's name is LUCIEDOVE. She can remember about that post. Now on to Parrots/ Food Training/ Amounts of meals. Parrots are not domestic creatures. Open your window, let your parrot fly away and he's gone. In the wild, there is no breakfast, lunch and dinner. Parrots need to have basic food by them 24/7. It's the way they live and eat. They're scavengers. They'll eat just about everything they can digest and they do it all day. When a person comes around and says that he/she is gonna change it's methods of eating habits, that person has a problem. A bird's internal organs aren't made to work in the breakfast, lunch, supper mode. If a person can't accept a wild animal and it's instincts, it'sneeds and ingrained modes of personality then they shouldn't have a bird. NOW!!!!!!-----This was just said and the reasoning you gave was just to sell videos """"Yes he makes some... Exaggerated claims to sell his videos. (Make your parrot STOP biting forever!) or whatever""""" Do you have the slightest idea what happens when a person sees those magic words**Stop biting forever**???? Do you have the slightest idea how many parrots are in their second, third and fourth homes because they're biters and no good method was used in order to curb it????[/b] A statement like that said in order to sell videos??? Well, it's irisponsible, it's unthinking, it's uncaring, it's only worrying about the almighty dollar, with no real concern about parrot owners! Luckily, a person's thought processes won't be strained when thinking about what the answer is. Just ask yourself if you wanna take a chance and buy something that just may be wrong especially when it's done by a repeat offender?? Hey listen, There's a huge difference between getting ripped off by the guy on TV that sells Shamwow and the guy who pretends to know how to deal with an animal's way of living, thinking and changing it and also tries to convince the owners that they're in for a treat. Matter of fact, I trust the Shamwow guy a lot more cause at least he says "we can't be doing this all day long" Womach's real site name should be TricktheOwners .com Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/08/30 06:28<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/08/30 06:35

You need to search your brain thoroughly over and over ans try to remember the special things he took to way back when. Some of those things may have been more special than others and you need to rise those things to the surface. It will take time though but you need to remember on major thing here. The bird was bonded to you for one year and that bonding was going on when the bird was a baby. That's the easiest time to bond. Now 5 yrs later he's an adult and has bonded to others. Having an exact same bond that was from yesterday to the same bond today 9sn't easy if not impossible. You may have to bond with the bird in a different way now. He's not a baby now and what he liked back then may be totally different. Also, the basic personality of a grey changes by the time they get to the age of 5,6,7 yrs old. Look upon him right now as a new bird who you need to make friends with. Take it slow and easy.

Get a few items that are strange to the bird doing the attacking such as a teddy bear or other item that has eyes, Lay the teddy bear on it's back with eyes open on top of the other cage. That should stop your bird from flying to the other cage. It's the same method that's used when a person doesn't want their bird flying over to a piece of furniture or sofa. Put other strange things up there too. Clipping doesn't solve anything. Out of cage sessions?? Look, some birds don't like each other. That's pretty simple and common and happens all the time. One of the questions always asked is * I'm getting another grey. Do you think they'll like each other??* The answer is always the same. The birds may like each other, may not like each other or may not show any interest in each other. Clipping is never an answer to getting along and should be discouraged.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/08/29 19:11

It lived somewhere before you got him. I don't know how long you've had the bird but there's some things that sometimes work Gain their trust: Spend lots of time making friends with your new pet in a non-threatening manner. Don't approach him with your finger or your hand until a strong bond has been established - and even then, only when he's okay with that In fact, don't force physical contact at all. Gain his trust by talking and spending time interacting with your new pet in a manner that doesn't put any stress or demands on him or her. ( I don'ty know the sex) Until he's are okay with physical contact, only use a simple wooden stick or perch (like the "pick-me-up" perch) to pick them up and move them around. Do this away from the cage in a quiet room that has no distractions from other people.It should be start out being about 10 inchees and he has to see it laying around near him for a while so he learns to recognise it. With stubborn birds a pick-me-up perch or a simple wooden stick can be helpful in preventing painful bites. However, do keep in mind -- if you are using a perch / stick only to put your pet back into a cage, he or she will soon learn to hate the perch and will refuse to step up on it. One has to teach a parrot that something good will result from being picked up with a perch (like he is getting some personal attention by his owner or a tasty treat). Offering treats also helps gain his good will - but the goal is to have the bird come to you to get the treat, rather than you breaking through the comfort zone barrier to get the treat to him or her, which may result in a bite so that's another thing that takes some time. In the beginning you give it to him and use things like almonds and other items like honey balls. can't find any honey balls for medium parrots? Not to worry. Get some made for any other size parrot. They're all the same. In the beginning, don't try touching a bird that isn't bonded with you. Pet birds are prey animals and their only defense are their beaks. So if he feels scared he'll bite. From a distance learn to study your bird and let him study you. Let him see the way you do things. Let him check your habits. Talk to him and don't expect an answer. Even when bird are bonded, they may have their moments when they don't "feel" like cuddling and your attempt to force affection on them when they are simply not in the mood, is also likely to result in a bite. All greys and other species of parrots have their bad hair days although, once they are bonded with their owners, their bites will usually be no more than a pinch - a mere warning so-to-speak. It is important to be able to read your parrot's body language. When you see he is uncomfortable with something you are doing, either stop doing it or find another way to achieve that you are trying to do. We have a section here that's all about body language. Luckily greys are one of the few birds that express themselves before doing things like bitiing. Since the bird has past experience in another place, that means that certain things are registered in it's head from past experiences. The pet that you have may not be the cuddly, snuggly pet you anticipated. However, every parrot will have some personality traits that we really enjoy; like just being a buddy who likes to sit on our shoulder or lap while we are watching TV but all of that takes time to arrive at and not all of those things may happen. Talk to him calmly. Understand that your parrot may become aggressive as long as he or she doesn't know trust you and even afterwards if you ignore his or her body language. That's why learning body language is importantant to learn. There's also simple things you have to learn about---does your bird bite when you try to feed him when he's in the cage ? Or, is there no problem when he's outside the cage. Use what's best for you. Know that the inside of a bird's cage is it's personal space and they learn alot in the beginning when they feel safe in their personl space. Start off with these things and then let us know your progress.

Smokey--Tee--Jazz Baby--Lola

I don't remember any topic concerning the quality of powder coated cages being poor. The 3 most used cages are 1--a cage which is painted and can be chipped, bitten and rusts quickly 2--a powder coated cage which is rust proof, chip proof for quite a long time. 3--a stainless steel cage which can never have any problems at all If a powder coated cage costs approx $350, the same stainless steel cage will cost approx $750 or more. Powder coated cages are the ones most recommended because of price and generally good quality.

The amount of each dropping doesn't mean that the bird is sick but I will tell you something that will make your birds sick. If your birds are allowed to go to the bottom of a cage and eat the droppings, possible infections or digestive problems could occur. Most of the time, cedar shavings aren't recommended but I'm not totally against them as long as some type of grating is used that will not allow the bird to go down there. Another reason that themost popular covering in a try is newspaper because in case there's any type of blood that may drip out for loads of reasons, the blood can be easily seen on newspaper. ASnother reason that cedar isn't recommended is because it gives off dust that can rise up and affect the nasal passages of a bird. My opinion is plain newspaper and if you're worried about a bird eating the newspaper which they normally don't do, I can say that the type of ink that is now used in newspaper is not toxic anymore. That was changed about approx 15 yrs ago. Birds do like to get to the newspaperand shred it which isn't harmful. Cedar shaving are best used with out wild birds that build nests innest boxes. Those birds are usually small types.--chickadees, titmioce, buntings,house sparrows gold finches azure buntings etc.

Moogo If you took the time to read the original threader starter, you would see that very unusual bad things are occuring and little is being done to stop it although the person would like it to stop. Many people respond that they would immediately put their bird in a cage to stop this behavior. Anotherperson said that their bird wouldn't even be allowed in a area where things like destructive behavior may happen. Destructive behavior, attack behavior, unwarranted biting behavior, biting which isn't expected, lack of reaction on what to do when these things happen, putting a bird in an area and checking to see if the bird is in a better mood etc. Your only reponse is that time should be given to the bird before putting him back in a cage. People put their birds back in their cages a million times a day for a multitude of reasons. BUT--I'll offer a different sceniaro. What would you do if your bird was already in a cage and decided to seriously bite you and make you bleed? Would you wait a few minutes to let him out? Would you consider that disapline? If so, would you like that biting to be a constant thing just because the bird wants to come out?

AS far as what your grey is doing, there's nothing abnormal going on. Most greys hold their droppings in through the night when sleeping and the first one in the morning is very large, gloppy, greenish colored and comes out looking like diahrea. Eventually, that first bowel movement solidifies. The nest 2 droppings are similar but smaller in size and more solid. For the rest of the day, droppings are very small and that's when the urates can also be seenm. Almost all greys wiggle their tail for about 5 seconds before they go. They also crouch down at the same time. 3 to 5 seconds apart isn't abnormal just like 3 to 25 seconds isn't abnormal. It's just the way the bird's excretions work. You may have 2 greys but that doesn't mean that their excretions are the same. Baytril----is a broad spectrum antibiotic which is used for many things. In certain problems, it takes longer for a particular problem to get corrected even if Baytril is being used. Conures are also different from each other. They too may have a large amount of droppings in the morning and as the day goes on, the dropping become smaller and less frequent. The big problem to look for is the all day behavior of a comure or other species when internaldigestive excretion type problems are present. If you say that after the droppings are expelled, the bird acts normally all day, there isn't a problem. As far as timing--an active grey lets go of a dropping every 35 to 50 minutes. I'm not sure of the timing of a conure so I can only say that if he goes back to his normal playful day, there is no problem. One other thing---although you didn't say it, if you took those budgies with you and have the conure mixed in with them, there will be problems if the conure eats the droppings of the budgies. Budgies droppings are totally different and can cause digestive problems so if you have them together, separate them.

Plain and simple----a healthy bird will not starve itself. When the time comes and she's hungry enough, she'll find that the bowl of food sitting around is just as attractive as your mouth. If you use a white bowl, you may fool her into thinking it's a large set of white teeth.:ohmy:

I have 3 greys and 2 quakers. Everyone is flighted. One of the quakers( male) constantly flies all over and to the grey's cages and there's no problems. The other quaker( female) flies around to the grey's cages and tries to constantly cause trouble with one of the greys including biting the TAG's feet. Been going on for years.

Yes

More than likely, your bird has dry skin which is common for all greys. They need bathing, misting or showering in order to get as much of the skin as wet as possible. The feathers aren't itchy, the skin is. As far as dust particles, a grey has the second most dander that's produced. The #1 honors go to the cockatoo. What you see isn't dust. It's dander and bathing and misting needs to be done with water on a constant basis (1 or 2 times a week). The secret is getting the skin wet, not just the feathers. A grey's feathers are waterproof. The skin isn't. There's an item that you can purchase from Walmart called Aloe Vera Juice which can be sprayed on a wet bird and it will make the skin softer and not as dry. Above is SEARCH FORUM. Type the words in or look for my article on the juice. As of now, it's moisture that your bird's skin needs. The humidifier can be run on a slow to medium speed at 50 to 70 % humidity all the time or just during the whole day. The speed will have to do with the size of the room. The daytime is where humidity is most important. What else will judge the amount of time you use the machine has to do with the size of the machine. Some are 1 gal,3 gals, 5 gals etc. If you have lousy water use distilled water or spring water. Calcium in lousy water will mess up the machine and will make the filters much dirtier much faster and filters are expensive.

There's so much debate, arguments concerning that subject but I will say one important thing as far as your decision---you need to wait quite a while until the bird builds up breast and wing muscles and learns how to fly with accuracy. That may take 6 to 8 mts. Too many birds have been clipped to young and have suffered physically and mentally from having it done early. As far as me, I'm totally against clipping but read up on all the topics here about clipping. It'll help you make up your mind.

When most greys learn a word or phrase, they will repeat it constantly for at least a couple of days. That applies to young as well as older greys. Eventually they slow it down and start reusing the other words they already know. It's best to use phrases instead of single words.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/08/26 01:53

""""He is acting fine but they do until it is too late."""" Actually, that's not quite correct when the problem has anything to do with swallowing things that get stuck or obstruct the swallowing process. A bird will immediately go through the process of trying to get it up and it'll be extremely obvious. The movement won't look like regurgitation either. It will look like the bird has something stuck in the throat and will spend a lot of time getting it up or trying to swallow it down. Most illnesses that are not noticible until it's too late are usually digestive problems and very loose stool and lack of eating which makes the bird act strangly and the bird becomes extremely quiet and stays in a corner and stops activity. Low bacteria, high bacteria has nothing to do with what you're describing. Wanna get some good bacteria into your bird? Go and buy some flavored yogurt. All yogurt is loaded with good bacteria. Try out some different flavors.

That's really a question that should be answered by the manufacturer or the store you bought it in. You may find that by not following their directions, your warranty may be voided. Look it up on the PC --type in the brand name, model # and you could possibly get the info you're looking for concerning any treatments yo may wanna use.

The peanut oil is a thicker textured item that a bird may not like taste wise. The oil comes from peanuts which is used to make peanut butter. Many birds don't like the taste and texture of peanut butter. Also, the oil which is pressed from peanuts isused for cooking, in soaps, and as a solvent for pharmaceutical preparations. So, your best bet is to spray room temperature water on your bird in an area of feathers that aren't waterproof. If the water soaks into the feathers that means the peanut oil is thinning out. Repeat this for a few days. If you're one of the lucky people that can shower your bird or bathe him in a sink, do that instead. Make sure you use no other types of sprays except water. That also means no aloe vera juice. Things like aloe vera juice can be used in the future when your bird's skin has no coatings on the skin.