Suzzique

Alex was almost 2 before he said anything. He did do a few sounds. But mostly just natural chrips and whistles. I totally know how you feel wanting her to talk. Just enjoy her as she is and when she is ready she will talk. Then there will be no stopping her.

LOL that is great! Yep now all the fun starts. You never know what they are going to pick up next. Alex does a pretty good fire truck. Along with tons of other stuff. :woohoo:

If you have the time and are a bit creative you could also cover the hula hoops in cotton rope, jute ect. But I like the vet wrap one as well! I'm sure once she gets use to seeing it Tigerlily will love it! B)

That really is just to cute!

When Alex was a baby and learning to land ect I got my share of head landings. He was always picked right up and set on my shoulder or set back down if I didn't want him on me right that second. Now at 2 1/2 the head landings are more of a once in a blue moon and has more to do with where I'm sitting than anything. Sense he does so much flying around I just don't pay attension so don't know a head landing is coming until it happens. If you want to let Issac stay out while you are doing stuff but don't want him with you he needs to be distracted. Set him on his cage or playstand and offer a toy or treat that will keep him busy. I love Alex to death but I wanted him to be independent. To know how to entertain himself when I can't spend time with him. He still gets cage time if we are doing something that we don't want him flying around while we do it because even trying to distact him wouldn't work.

Alex has a few feathers that have a red spot on them. They didn't show up until after his first molt. Sense I know he gets more than enough lycine (lack of this enzime is what can causes the red feathers)I figure it has to be a bit of the red factor. You can't see the spots unless your giving head scraches and mussing the feathers up. It is really very odd. It truely is a spot like he had a drop of red dye in the center of his grey feather.

Judy already got greyfeathertoys. I love them! I make most of my toys so look for parts more than premade toys. http://www.birdsnestonline.com/ www.bird.com http://www.nalanitoys.com/

It would be great if we had the room to let him have a sleep cage but we just don't have it. In my case I'm the only one that gets picked on. He likes and is nice to everyone else in the family. I am already the primary care giver so no help there. The clicker training is slow going. I'm not going to give up we will get there. Once breeding season is over things might go more smoothly.

Oops forgot to say congrats on the trick! B) B)

I know there is nothing cooler than hearing your bird talk! B) Just remember that some never will. If Yoshi likes to sing/talk when there is music playing then leave it on. You might even try different kinds to see what she likes best. Enjoy her baby sounds while you can they go away all to soon. Alex was almost 2 before he said anything. He had lots of sounds and still does but not one word. He went from nothing to about 30 or so words/phrases in just over 6 months. Most we did not teach him. He decides what he is going to say. He has picked up anything and everything about the dog. He decided that he likes the sound of my youngest daughters name which is Coriander. He yells it! He calls her like he's calling the dog. lol He will do it over and over agian when she is home until she yells WHAT? Then he shuts up or moves on to another word. He talks in both mine and my husbands voice.

Congrats on your first outing! Alex has chewed all the way threw one of the straps so it's now time to get a new one.

Thanks Dave, Martini came from a good home. And over the last year and a half we have seen more and more of Martini's personality come out. It is so cool to see. He went from being a very quit almost timid bird to one who is bold as brass. He use to run from Alex now he stands up to him. He joins in the morning "singing". He has started talking when totally by himself (closet talker). He goes to the playstand to play. He goes and eats Alex's food out of his cage and plays with Alex's cage toys. Martini has far more freedom than he did in his old home. He came to us clipped. We built up his wing musles and tought him how to fly. We worked with him getting him to eat with the family at dinner time. His old home wasn't bad just very different from how we do things. I truely am dealing with a bully. He likes and gets along with everyone else in the family. He can be nice to me when he feels like it. He does come and sit with me when I'm in the living room sitting on the couch. He does this all on his own. He is not interested in head scraches ect from me which is fine. He does take treats from my hand without bitting me. When we take him out of the living room and into other parts of the house he is less likely to bit me. So working on tricks will happen in the office. I am not expecting mericals. Those have already happened.

That is to cute!

I heard back from my behaviourist friend. What I have is a bully. Here is what she said. Sooooo he gets along with everyone except you??? If so you are dealing with a bully!!!! If that is the case you have two options.... 1) trick training works wonders!!!!!! it will help you to build a working relationship with him. It is obvious that he sees you as a rival. So if you change the dynamics of the relationship, you will alter how he sees you. Trick training turns emotional bonds into working bonds which is healthier. A working bond gives him the chance to use his brain and be rewarded for it. Instead of using his hormones and bitting. Once he establishes a working bond he will no longer see you as a threat. 2) establish dominance, show him that you will not take any of his crap. if he bites at dinner, than he spends dinner in the cage. If he bites you when no one is around than he is not allowed out when you are alone, and so on...... the second option will work depending on the bird, some birds learn very quickly and readjust their actions, others are too pig headed to get it, and it will make the problem worse. I suggest trick training, but have more often then not used the second method. Sometimes you need to establish the dominance first and trick train second. It all depends on the bird. A parrot has the right not to like you, but that does not mean they have the right to abuse you. What needs to change is your behavior, not his. Both options do this. It will jsut be a matter of which works best for him. Maybe some combo of the two???? So sense we already do the second option I am going with the first. I had already odered some hemp seeds to try and work with Alex. So I will now just work with both of them. The hemp seeds came yesterday and I went and got a clicker. Someone on this forum suggested a yahoo group for bird clicker training that I am going to go and check out. I will keep everyone posted on how it goes.

That is a great toy!! I'm sure you birdy loves it! B) This is a great diy bird toy site http://www.cheepparrottoysntips.com/