Joolesgreyuk

I think this is day 4 now and Argyle is allowing me to feed him, stroke his feet, head and beak through the bars of the cage and he also closes his eyes when I speak softly to him. I think he likes the new position on the cage and he seems to bask in the sunshine when it is on his cage I feel it's time to take the next step but wanted to put it to you first, is it too early? What is the next step I should take? I'm thinking of opening the door and offering a treat, is this the best approach? Argyle doesn't (has never) stepped up but I don't want to try this until I've tried opening the door and getting him used to my hands first because this seems to be his fear. Is this the best approach or does anyone have any better ideas? I really feel I need to get this right and can't afford any slip-ups which might lead to the loss of Argyle's trust. Any help would be appreciated, thank you.<br><br>Post edited by: Joolesgreyuk, at: 2010/02/12 14:56

:woohoo: Jay that is wonderful news! :woohoo:

Precious picture, enjoy your sweet baby because they don't stay this cuddly for long and quickly become more independant - even stubborn but you will no doubt always love him.

Jeez how did I miss this??? Fantastic pictures and a wonderful spread thoroughly enjoyed by the looks of it. That fruit looks great, I wouldn't have minded sharing that with Alfie More karma on it's way for the wonderful pictures and for making Alfie's hatchday so special.

I've decided that this year we are gonna get fresh pancakes (lots of 'em ;-)) from the bakery section at Asda, yipee we will get our pancakes after all!

Sounds encouraging Jay, keep up the good work with Spock. Still hoping for a full recovery for our feathered vulcan

That cage is awsome and your baby is so sweet, no wonder you are in love. B)

Thanks Janet and Xtreme, I thought it might have been a fluke yesterday because Argyle does have the odd good day but no he has continued to take food from me without lunging. I'm going to continue doing this until I feel we should take the next step. Stay tuned for further reports :laugh:

It won't hurt him not to fly but you will have to watch he doesn't fall or he could seriously hurt himself, he may not realise he can't fly lol. Don't blame yourself you are a new parrant and still learning (I've been a parrant less than a year myself) it could be as long as 2 years before he replaces those flights but maybe only a year. You may find the flight stubbles annoy him and he may pluck them himself but as Dave has said, give him a spray of aloe vera juice to the affected area to sooth any irritation.

Ah she is lovely. I don't remember Beau making those cheep noises as a baby but I guess he must have.

Well that is a good sign, it would seem he has just broken a few feathers but you have been lucky that they haven't broken at the skin or you would have bleeding to contend with. Should he have another accident you can use cornflour or just old fashioned flour to help stop the bleeding. You will also need to put something at the window ie. a large sticker, a suncatcher, net curtains or a beaded curtain to let him know the window is there. Birds do not see windows and think they can fly straight through them - sometimes killing themselves in the process, this is probably how he came to break his feathers and he will be lopsided until he replaces these flights with new ones.

Emma is so agile and fearless now if I gave Beau an atom it'd take him about 6 months just to go in the same room as it leave alone play on it! He's such a coward :laugh:

How old is your grey? Have you had him long? Is it possible for you to post a picture of the area you are concerned about? It does sound like your grey is either plucking or has had a bit of an accident and broken his flights but without a picture we are unable to confirm this - it may be a normal molt. Is your bird clipped?

Jill, I still give peanuts to my birds mainly because they aren't that into nuts except for peanuts. Having said this I always check them first and never give them in their shell because that is where bad ones can lurk undetected. I think we are a slightly paranoid parrot owners on this forum but better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks for the tip Greywings

I thought it must be 3 hence the title but I could only pick out 2 lol so sweet.

Oh how adorable! Love the dog bowl :laugh: Is it two or three you have there?

Amazing video of Emma, she seems so fearless.

I had a long chat with Caroline last night about Argyle's problems and I reached the conclusion that I've been trying too hard with Argyle, making things more complicated than they are. Caroline suggested moving him into this adjoining room (seperated by an archway) next to where I sit and interact with him to get him to trust me and my hands. This morning I did just that and there has been an immediate improvement, I can't believe how moving him into this room could have such a positive affect on his mood! I realise that he might just be having a good day and tomorrow may be different but I'm so happy. As soon as I moved him he came over to this side of his cage, allowed me to stroke his little feet (I think he would've allowed me to stroke his head but I couldn't reach lol) took pine nuts from me and is now closing his eyes making contented noises. I gave up the clicker training, it didn't help when Jordan found it and started clicking it :evil: talk about confusing the birds! So for now I'm going to continue getting Argyle to trust me before moving on to the next stage and opening his door.Only downside is that Beau is on his own now because there is no way I can get another cage in here.

I love Emma's sweet voice - so cute.

You are so right Janet, the trouble with using a non-stick pancake pan is that you need to make it very hot to make pancakes, it just isn't worth the risk of doing that. My birds aren't in the kitchen but they are in an ajoining room with no door so I don't think it's a good idea.

All parrots occasionally bite but it is up to us to "read" when this is about to happen, sadly it is not uncommon for parrots to take a disliking to young childen and personally I wouldn't recommend a young child being in close contact with one. Is your parrot a grey? How long have you had him? How sad that he has to be re-homed again. I hope you can find a good home for him and he can finally become settled and secure.

Makes you wonder if they can tune in to our feelings as some suggest doesn't it? So funny how Paco had to put him in his place the next day :laugh:

Something I touched on earlier and I would like some opinions on is hot & spicy foods such as chillies, do they actually calm birds or is someone pulling my leg?

I'm glad you touched on seed mixes Dan, on another forum I frequent they did a survey to find out what most members feed their fids, the survey included seed mixes and pellet mixes, tidymix came in top by quite a big margin. Tidymix is seed-based but it is superior to most in that sunflower seeds are minimal, about 10% but this mix has some great additions incl. banana, papaya + several other fruits, peanuts + other nuts, pulses, oats, wheat, barley, chillies - the list is endless, it is relatively inexpensive and is a good alternative to pellets and given by many rescue centres. I don't like the way seed mixes are dismissed by some, everything in moderation. I am a firm believer in variety, I offer the tidymix and a pellet mix. I have tried Harrisons and am atm giving Zupreem wild & Spicy because I have heard that spicy foods have a calming affect on the birds - not sure how true this is lol. My fids also like their daily piece of toast and a piece of biscuit before bedtime LOL. They also have fresh fruit or vegetables daily. Beau has scrambled egg weekly (Argyle doesn't like egg) chicken & cheese are given occasionally. Neither of my birds are huge nut eaters but both like peanuts. In the wild our babies would be enjoying a huge variety of foods which is why I believe the wider variety you can give the better it is for them.