tracie

My CAG Lilo gets on the bottom of the play top on his cage and bangs away. He also bangs windows sometimes when he gets a chance to sit there and watch the outside birds at the feeder. I have come to the conclusion that he either likes the noise or the sensation of banging his beak on certain surfaces. You have found that your bird wants something when he does this, but could it be that he does it because, like all birds, he wants to explore and above all make noise?

I am also going through this with a LS Cockatoo. We got her around the same time that you got your bird. She hates me. When I open her cage she frantically flies past me to the floor and runs. If my boyfriend or my son open her cage she scrambles up their arm and cuddles with them. She also calls for them and talks like crazy when they are in the room begging at her door to come out. When it's me she goes to the highest perch in her cage and doesn't make a peep. I no longer try to bring her out. I am respecting the fact that she is unsure of me, as forcing myself on her will cause more fear. Instead I sit close to the boys she loves and ask to pet her. If I reach and she shows fear I back off. If I reach and she allows a scratch I give her a wonderful head massage and give her a treats. Now, as long as I ask first and she understands my intention she allows me to touch her whole body and will walk towards me to get a massage. She is still not willing to step up for me, but I can see the trust building day by day. I hope that she comes around at some point, but unfortunately we cannot control who living beings choose to love. However, we can change fear by fostering trust. So my advice is for you to figure out if it might be fear or insecurity that makes your bird fly from you. One day the cockatoo flew to the floor and I was the only one home to get her. I had to chase her to put her away. This chase was scarey for her and sent our relationship right back to the very first day. Though the human emotion of jealousy and the need to be loved in return is strong, it is important to love these birds for the complicated beings that they are no matter how they feel about us because as they grow and mature the way they feel about us changes to some degree many times over through the years.

I can tell you that I went through exactly the same thing when Chicken hit his terrible twos stage. It felt like nothing worked. I became fearful of him. My boyfriend had a similar aggressive "man" reaction as your husband. One day I decided that I would just ignore his bite and return him to his cage. When he would bite I would do my best to not react (terribly difficult) and put him away. I would let him out shower him with love while he was good and if he bit someone they were to be still and not react while I retrieved him and put him in his cage. He actually looked at us like we were nuts when we stopped reacting, I'm not kidding. It didn't take long with this method. He still has his moments, they all do, but nothing like it was. Unfortunately you all have to not react or it wont work. Sorry I have no advice on how to train the people you live with. The only option is to cage him when people are around that can't control themselves. Trust me though, this works.

Hi Guys- Not sure who is still around from a couple years ago, but thought I'd stop in and say hello. To jog your memory I have Chicken my TAG whom I had gotten when I first started posting here. I was hand feeding him and you all helped me through my nervousness even though you were all worried too. Then I adopted Lilo (CAG) who had gone to live with Judygram for a short while before I got him. Lilo was more than a handful and we all got busy, so I was unable to post. Now that I am home full time and getting my bachelors degree online I seem to be on the computer all the time. So I thought this would be a good time to say hello again and hopefully be able to add my two cents now and then. Enough about me, you just want to hear about the birds. Chicken went through his terrible two's and after more bites than my family can count, he is now settling down with me as his favorite but pretty tolerable of everyone else as well. Chicken doesn't talk he only mutters under his breath very quietly and says shh constantly. I don't know why he chooses not to speak. His best friend Lilo on the other hand repeats everything and has recently learned the dog toy squeaker which is awful and drives my pomeranian crazy as he thinks someone has his toy and barks about it. Lilo was very spoiled before we got him and had zero limits so as some of you remember he had to have a wing clip when he first arrived, or he would have killed himself. Unfortunately soon after that he began pulling out his feathers and after he was nearly bald he went to work on Chicken too. Needless to say he didn't get to play with his friend Chicken for a bit. After several months Lilo got more calm and grew most of his feathers back. Now we have to be very careful with Lilo. Any change at all and he frantically pulls out his feathers. We can't move his cage, put up a Christmas tree, rearrange the furniture, or do anything different or he will remove all the feathers he can reach in a very short time. I know that this began because he was spoiled and left without any rules and then forced to move to new homes. I still blamed myself and still do sometimes. Lilo does still pick at the feathers on his chest, but he is much better now (as long as we don't change anything). It was difficult with Lilo at first, and sometimes it's difficult to make sure his life stays exactly the same every day, but I can't imagine my life without him (even though I am not his chosen one). I have learned a lot as I tirelessly researched what I could do for him and saw several parrot behaviorists. My family also added a Lessor Sulpher Crested Cockatoo to the flock. My son got her/him for his birthday several weeks ago. The greys have decided she doesn't exist lol. They ignore her completely even if she is on the same playpen as them. It's better than fighting though. Okay enough babbling from me. I hope everyone and their fids are doing well. I look forward to hearing how you all are doing. Tracie Oh, and I know how you all love pics so I will make sure to get some fresh ones together for you.

That has got to be the cutest picture ever.

My Chicka will only eat the Zupreem fruit. He refuses all other pellets I've tried. Unfortunately Lilo wont eat pellets at all though I continue to offer them.

Happy Hatchday Talon!!!

Ollie is adorable. Grats to you and your new baby!

Lilo has been with us nearly a month now and is doing well. His vocabulary is pretty amazing and is quickly picking up my voice. His new favorite thing to say is "Where's Chicka?". Chicka is what I call the baby TAG Chicken. (he will get his own update or he will get jealous) He has also changed his phone dialing noise to the sound our telephone makes. Someone taught him the noise that a balloon makes when you let the air escape from it and boy is that loud.:blink: Lilo has started seeking out more attention from me in the past few days. He asks for a scratch and allows it for a second then whacks me with his beak. He asks again and does that again. I think he really wants a scratch but still isn't sure if he wants to trust. Either that or he is evil and just wants to keep nailing me. His relationship with Chicken is a little strained. Chicken really wants to be friends and flies to him any chance he gets. Lilo on the other hand isn't as excited to be friends and nips at him any chance he gets. As soon as Chicken lands on his play area he quickly starts saying wonderful things like "come here" "scratch" "are you a good bird hmmm?" while he stalks him, he gets close enough, nails him, and then he says "ouch" "no biting" "dont bite". :lol: I have to admit it's an amusing sight but I do wish they could become better friends. this is Chicken getting ready for a peck from his buddy Lilo. Jason obviously trusts Lilo a little more than I do.

Lilo bangs his beak alot. He also likes to throw his bowls around. He is a noisy bugger.

Ingredients: Flower essences: Aspen, Camomile, Dill, Holly Impatiens, Red Clover, Chicory.

Lilo seems to be in a much better mood this morning. He came right out of his cage this morning and played on the top. He is talking a lot today. He puts his head down and says "scratch". Though I don't scratch him. Last time I tried he struck at me. He doesn't bite but he whacks me quite hard with his beak so I figure he just isn't ready yet. It seems he has learned to feed the dogs and seems to enjoy dropping food to them.

Chicken is 14 weeks old now. His hatch date was July 12.

As some of you may know Judygram took Lilo into her home. After much consideration it was decided that he might be a better fit for my household. We brought him home last night. As soon as we brought Lilo into the house he was saying hello and asking for water. He didn't seem to mind the curious dogs or his new environment. Lilo is flighted and we knew that he didn't like his cage so we decided to try and carefully transfer him from his travel cage to his big cage without letting him out. We had just gotten home and weren't ready for him to be free yet. Let me just say that it didn't work out the way we wanted. He quickly scooted out of his travel cage and squeezed his way out and flew to my sons shoulder. He was very sweet and seemed to go to everyone in the house. After spending about an hour with him we decided it was time for Lilo to go back in his cage so we could clean up from our trip etc. Well, Lilo was not going to go in his cage on his own. If we made any kind of movement toward his cage he was off and flying. Needless to say after a frustrated hour and with lots of help from us Lilo was returned to his cage. I know that many on this forum do not agree with clipping a birds wings. I am one of those people actually. My TAG is not clipped and I can't imagine ever having to do it. That being said, I did give Lilo a very slight clip this morning. I talked to a few people about it and after considering the stress it was causing everyone including him, we decided it was the best thing to do. He was absolutely going to hurt himself while he was frantically trying to avoid his cage with no regard for where he was flying in a new environment. Ever since his clip we have had his cage door open. Lilo has gone in and out of his cage on his own all day. That of course is the good news. The bad news is that obviously we lost a little trust. I can't begin to explain to you how horrible that makes me feel. However I am confident that we will quickly earn that back. I am sure by the time his feathers come back in he will understand some rules and limitations and be flying once again. I want to thank Eve and Judy for trusting me with this beautiful Grey. He is a wonderful addition to my family and I know we will bring each other much joy. Pictures coming soon I promise.

My heart goes out to you. I'm so sorry.

Oh my goodness. Chicken already acts just like this. What's he gonna be like at 2 :laugh:

I actually had a wonderful laugh. Thanks for that.

Chicken has been such a quiet bird. He really didn't make much noise at all. I thought he was gonna be one of those greys that would never talk (which was really fine with me). Well, a few days ago he started "stretching" his voice. He would go from low grumbling noises to loud screeching noises. He was only doing it for a few minutes in the morning until today. Today he has been making noises all day. He almost has a perfect whistle already. He seems to do it more if I talk back to him and mimic the noises he is making. It really is the funniest thing :lol: I wish I could record it for you all, but I know he would stop the minute the camera came out. I tried to get him to do it for someone on the telephone and he shut up and looked at me like I was nuts.

My baby TAG was also shipped to us from FL. He didn't growl until we got home and the dogs scared him. It took a couple days but he eventually acted like he had always been here. I left him alone in his cage for the most part and talked to him alot. I kept his cage very close to the action in our home so he could see all that was going on and get comfortable with it from the safety of his cage. I am sure your baby will come around with patience. Can't wait to see pics of your new baby.

Chicken is now 10 weeks old and has been with us for 2 weeks. He is getting much better at flying now. Unfortunately he already prefers my fiance. As soon as his cage is open he flies through 2 rooms and around a corner to find my fiance at his desk. If he brings him back to me he flies off again. Figures he didn't even want a bird, but now they are best buddies. He is still fussy with hand feeding. He wants it when he wants it. No schedule for him. He is finally starting to eat better on his own so I am not worried about it too much. His weight has been stable at 300g. I swear that he says "what". It's not in his baby squeaks or any of the other baby noises that he has made. It's in that I'm trying to speak human tone. (you know what I mean) He repeated it when I said it to him a few times today. Of course no one else heard it. Here is a pic of him stretching his wings.

Oh my goodness that baby TAG is the cutest little thing!!! {Love-0002011D}

As I mentioned before, my baby TAG decided to stop hand feeding. I cut him from 3 feedings to 2 thinking he might eat better. Well, that didn't work. All he wants to do is fly. He is crazy about it. If I close his cage door he scratches in his food bowls and throws his pellets every where and climbs up and down the door begging to get out. When I open the door he flies to my shoulder and climbs on my head. I return him to his cage and he does it again. He has taken a couple long flights as well. He has even managed to turn some corners to go into other rooms. I am very proud of him obviously but it is driving me a little nuts. He weighs in at 280 and I am going to monitor that closely since I can not get him to sit still long enough to hand feed him. He continues to eat his pellets, millet, and cheerios. He doesn't seem to like fresh foods but I still offer them. I tried to give him his formula in a bowl but he looks at me like I am crazy. I better go let him out of his cage before the nut hurts himself trying to get out. PS- We have been calling him Chicken. I don't really like that name as I feel he deserves something better. I just can't help it. No matter what Chicken is the name that comes out when I talk to him. lol

He is in 3 feeding but I am cutting him back to 2. He has lots of food available to him and he picks at it all day. His crop has been emptying nicely. As for a scale, I was planning on picking one up today. So I will start weighing him tomorrow morning. Thanks for the advice.

Our baby TAG has been home a week now. He is 9 weeks old. He is perching, climbing, eating pellets, and millet. However he isnt hand feeding very well. I was about to type that I know they slow down for flying, but that I thought he was too young. Well guess what, he just flew. He wants to be on my computer desk and I have returned him to his cage 3 times and he keeps flying back to my desk. {Feel-good-0002006E} So I guess I shouldn't worry about the eating too much. It's like having a new human baby. I worry about everything.

It Monday 11:30 PM and it is HOT and HUMID at 78 degrees. It is awful. I am never going to be able to sleep.