domyoburk

Thanks so much for your response, Dave. Thanks for taking the time to send a careful response to a newbie. It was very heartening - especially the part about "the young grey may outgrow this problem!" We have followed all of your advice and she hasn't bitten off a feather in 4-5 days... there really seemed to be no reason for it at all except, as you mentioned, the "wow, I can bite these right off" mentality. You were exactly right - the ends of the feathers look like sharp "v's." Multi-pronged approach: chewables in cage at night, not too long in there so she doesn't get bored, baths almost daily. We had backed off on the baths because she freaked out at any attempts to get her wet. However, because of your advice we persisted and now we spray her chest, avoiding her face, and she tolerates that. Spraying her back (where she was chewing) is NOT tolerated, but my husband found he can fill a cup with water and pour it over her back! No actual bald spots (she left downy stubs). It's really nice to have this forum.

My favorite youtube videos are of Sylvia. You can find her three videos by searching on youtube under "very talkative parrot," or use the following address. Clearest speech I've heard from a parrot! (African grey)

Ursula is only 6 months old and seems healthy and happy in every respect except... she is starting to chew feathers off! It's at about a rate of one feather a day, but she's developing a bare spot on her back. It's not a molt - the feathers are clearly broken off near the base; the feathers we find have sharp and broken ends down where the down starts. She's lost about 10 feathers this way so far, over the last week and a half. We expected this behavior later, or perhaps when she is left alone when we are at work. Instead, this happens mostly at night. So early in life!

Thanks for your responses! We expect a molt at some point, so we'll see. (And thanks for the advice about misting the trays before cleaning - brilliant!) My concern was the sudden quadrupling of down in the sleeping cage, plus 3-4 body feathers (from chest, back or base of the tail) each night that were broken off at the base - not molted, but broken just where the downy part starts. It's been two nights in the cage now without broken feathers or a huge amount of down... and she has chewed up her toy each night. The "toy," for anyone who is curious, is a bunch of chewables on a knotted string of sea grass - yucca slices and tufts of unbleached paper towel. They are stunning, classy-looking birds, aren't they? I think they are the most beautiful of all the parrots. Steve and Misty - thanks for the story about the dramatic molt! it may help if we get a similar shock!

Well, no one has responded with any advice... so here's an update for what it's worth. Last night no feather chewing that we could tell. We tried everything we could think of: getting her more wet in the shower; keeping her up later she's more tired in the sleeping cage, and putting a destructible toy in the cage with her. She chewed on the toy a little, and not - so far! fingers crossed! - on her feathers. I figure she just might have gotten bored and had nothing to do but overpreen herself.

Help! Our beautiful 6-month old CAG Ursula has apparently been chewing feathers at night in her sleeping cage! The last three mornings, in the bottom of her sleeping cage we have found unusually large amounts of downy feather debris plus two or three larger feathers broken off at the base (not plucked). Otherwise, the sleeping cage has been successful. It is about 1.5 feet tall, 1.5 feet wide and 2 feet deep, with one perch. We put in water but nothing else, and cover the cage. Her large cage is in the living room, and we put her in our bedroom in the sleeping cage from 10pm to 8 or 9am. We can hear her moving around in there at night, but she seems happy to go in at night and doesn't seem to like to be woken up early. However, we figure she must be getting bored in there, at times throughout the night. I understand that if they get the habit of chewing they may never stop! Help!

Ursula (DNA sexed female) is 6 mos. old and working on vocalizations but doesn't say clear words yet. However, if anything she is more responsive to my husband's deep voice (he's a classical music radio announcer) than mine (an emotive female voice). Amidst her whistles she's frequently practicing low grumbly sounds that sound like rudimentary masculine hellos. My husband John almost always talks in fairly quiet tones to her, often holding right near his face and almost whispering at times (I've read they are soothed by whispered tones). For what it's worth!

Order from the Womachs and you get detailed instructions (sometimes a book, sometimes audio or video, sometimes all of the above).

We got the custom grey one for our Congo, but Celltei recommends the regular medium for a Timneh, and that sounds right to me; the problem with the medium for a COngo, I think, is that their head might touch the top. Check it out, though, but be sure to get the steel mesh. http://www.celltei.com/pakobird.html It's really like a mobile cage with some privacy above and on the sides, which allows the bird to feel safe.

We have a pakobird from the maker Celltei, it's great. A great pet carrier, and could be used in addition to a harness to keep a bird safer (not the harness in the pakobird, but alternating). We have lots of hawks in our neighborhood, for example so would always have to be wary with Ursula on a harness. We haven't gotten the stroller - yet! But it would be nice, walking with the backpack makes it rock back and forth a little much.

luvparrots wrote: Thanks for the advice on what thread to check out. I had searched for "touch" and all related things I could think of, but not cuddle! Also thanks for everyone's feedback on touching and cuddling. It gives me confidence to continue to be patient and encourage Ursula to let us touch her all over, but also to trust my instinct to respect her personality and wish not to be touched at times. (By the way, we can always ask her to step up, and we can always touch her feet.)

We use clicker training with Ursula (as taught by the Womach brothers of Birdtricks.com). It is very fun and successful - it establishes a system of communication between you and your parrot. I echo TinyTimneh in everything s/he says. I have used it to reinforce the step-up command, to start teaching Ursula to wave, to encourage her to check out new toys, and she's quite good at target training already (moving to touch the end of a thin dowel with her beak, no matter where we put the stick). I am confident that as long as I have a clicker and some pieces of banana around, I can (eventually!) get Ursula to do just about anything. Birdtricks.com at first seems a bit like a con, but we've been impressed with their teaching materials and happy with our purchases from them (including the clicker). Part of me thinks it's corny and undignified to teach a parrot tricks, but the truth is it gives us something to do together! I can only sit stroking Ursula or speaking to her for so long; this gives a different, stimulating activity to face-to-face.

Anyone know why we need to sterilize the branches or kill any (hidden) bugs?

Ursula is only 5 months old. We've had her a month, and we are all still getting used to each other, although she is hand-raised and completely attentive and tame and loving. Both my husband and I tend to err (if it can be called erring) on the side of only touching her/petting her where and when she feels like letting us do so. As people we prefer that kind of treatment ourselves. However, maybe it is good to keep on working on this and getting her to tolerate and then appreciate more and more contact? At this point we refrain from whole-hearted snuggling and playing, instead simply scratching on the back of the neck when invited and occasionally on the breast. We do want to train her to wear a harness, though, so we'll need to get her used to us manipulating her wings. Any thoughts on this? Are there good reasons to train a bird to snuggle and tolerate touch all over?

Thanks for quick response and the useful list of safe tree species - especially the explanation for why some trees are toxic! But - any thoughts on the sterilization in the oven (on 250 degrees for and hour and a half)? It would be great if that wasn't necessary - it takes time, energy, the branches have to be small, and it stinks.

I've read several different sources on safe branches for parrots (to collect fresh and let them play on and chew). Sometimes the lists seem arbitrary, but naturally we feel very cautious. Can anyone on this forum give us some live, fresh advice about branches that are definitely safe? Our parrot Ursula would LOVE to explore fresh branches, especially if they could retain their leaves. One source (a great book on parrot play stations) instructs us to sterilize all branches in the oven first. On the other hand, I've seen photos of people using fresh pear branches on their parrot play stands. Anyone have any feedback? Thanks!