cutlass5268

Hi everyone, I recently came across a new Canadian web site offering toys, food, etc. So I tried ordering some stuff (ok, lots of stuff, $150 worth). Just got the box full today, the shipping was fast and the toys and food are excellent. The web site is www.brattybirdbeaks.com in case anyone is interested. And no, it's not my web site, just thought I'd post because good Canadian sites are hard to find.

Thanks eveyone! I'll keep working on her. She's been a bit grumpy today, but she has a ton of pin feathers coming out, so I'm guessing that's why. But she still turns in to a cockatoo just before bed and wants scratches for as long as I'm willing to stand there and give them to her. My favorite time of day!!

Thanks. I had a bit of a breakthrough on Sunday. I had gotten her another rope purch (cause I can't leave the pet store without something for her), but haven't put it in her cage yet. So I held both ends so it was in a u shape and held it up to her and said up. And damned if she didn't step right on it. Tried it a hundred times with dowels and such with no luck. So we kept practising a few times a day. Yay!! I think she probably liked that it was out of her personal space area, and holding with two hands, it is nice and sturdy. I'll just keep inching my hands closer to her and walking around a bit to get her used to the movement and hopefully have her stepping up on my hand soon. <br><br>Post edited by: cutlass5268, at: 2009/12/09 02:01

Thanks. Kind of figured I was being played, but I always have been a sucker for girls! Guess I've been a little naive too, thinking that because she is hand raised, she should be willing to step up even though she may not trust me fully yet. I'll give your suggestions a try, I'm getting better at reading her body language, so I don't get bit to often any more. Except last week when I had to pick her up to stop her from biting holes in the couch :blink: just one more reason to work on the stup up!!

Thanks for the replies. I have learned not to touch her back or under her wings from reading info from the forum. I didn't know this when I first got her, so I was touching her back and playing tickle tickle under her wings. But I have been carefull not to do this the last 3 weeks. I don't think it could have been a game, because the second I let her hold my finger when she's upside down (she actually holds her foot out) she clamps down HARD. Then I have to pry my finger out of her foot grip and then she unclamps her beak from whatever part of my hand she could get hold of. Needless to say, I don't fall for it anymore and if I ignore the outstreached foot I can still scratch and touch her.

Thanks for the replies. I have learned not to touch her back or under her wings from reading info from the forum. I didn't know this when I first got her, so I was touching her back and playing tickle tickle under her wings. But I have been carefull not to do this the last 3 weeks. I don't think it could have been a game, because the second I let her hold my finger when she's upside down (she actually holds her foot out) she clamps down HARD. Then I have to pry my finger out of her foot grip and then she unclamps her beak from whatever part of my hand she could get hold of. Needless to say, I don't fall for it anymore and if I ignore the outstreached foot I can still scratch and touch her.

One other question I have is about a behavior. Pretty much every day the last couple weeks or more, my CAG Avy will slide down her cage door to come and see me when I am sitting on the couch. She reaches for me and if I try to scratch her or touch her she will grab my finger with one foot and the attempt to bite it off. She will actually hang upside down on the bottom of her cage door and reach out with one foot for me. If I fall for it, she just grabs by finger and sinks her beak into it. Is this just rough playing? She does it on occasion when I am giving her head scratches when she is on top of her cage door. She will reach up as though she wants to hold my finger, but if I fall for it, she grabs, flips over upside down and then bites my finger half off. Is this sexual frustration maybe? She does call for me with her wings spread and drooped, which I just ignore, or change her attention to something else. And I thought human females were the hardest to understand!! <br><br>Post edited by: cutlass5268, at: 2009/12/06 00:17

Hi, I have read so many articles on the subject of teaching to step up I'm going blind. The problem being, they are all geared to younger birds that seem easier to handle or at least have a basic knowledge of the command. My problem is, my CAG is just over 1 year old and I am her second owner. After having her a month and a half, she trusted me enough to scratch her all over, touch her feet and enjoys being on my shoulder leaning against me and resting and walking around a bit. She has flown a few times and crash landed, but luckly not hurt. But ti get her off the floor I have had to let her climb me up to my shoulder, where I keep her until she calms down. But I can't get her to step on my arm or a dowel in order to take her around the house with me. She will only get on my shoulder if I sit on the couch next to her cage and she will come down and stroll around a bit and then eventually step onto my shoulder. Once there she is perfectly content to preen, nibble my ears & watch my goofy kids. But try to get her to step up, no way. As soon as I try she just lowers her head right away to block me or initiate a head scratch, same thing if I use a dowel. How could a bird that would step up for her previous owner seem to have abandoned all thought of repeating it for me? Most reading I have done says to take the bird to another area for training, but if I can't get her to step up, how do I get her to another area? And most likely she would be scared even more as she has not been in other rooms in the house but a couple of times. Do I towel her (not something I have tried yet) to get her into another room to try and train her? Or will she just be mad at me for towelling her? I'm at a loss as to how to even get started on the first very basic step of training. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dave

Had the same flying problem again yesterday when I got home. Avy was out of her cage walking around on the couch and when I got to the top of the stairs, she suddenly decided to take flight. Not sure if she was trying to fly to me or what. She wasn't startled by anything and I was talking to her as soon as I came through the door. She crashed right in to the wall. She wasn't hurt as far I could tell. She was fine after she calmed down and stopped shaking. I'm going to have to stop allowing the wife and girls from allowing her out of her cage when I'm not there I guess. I hate to do that, but I'm worried she's going to get hurt. How do other people with flighted birds let them fly around the house without having them crash in to things?? On another note, I decided to accelerate my plans on getting her a new, bigger cage. I was going to wait until I could afford it, but the cage that she came with is much too small to meet her needs. I can't stand to think of her being in that cage any longer. Worst thing is, cages in Canada are not cheap, so I'm going to have to shell out about $1,000.00 for a decent sized cage. :blink:

That's an awesome picture!!

Thanks for the info and insights. I've read all of the other posts about the shoulders thing and realize that is more about trust and personal preference than anything. I do trust her on my shoulder, and she is good about getting off when she's had enough, which usually isn't long. Now that I'm a little more educated, I know I haven't received a bite that wasn't my own doing!! Last night was a bit of an exception because she was scared. But when she was ready, she hopped right back on her cage when I took her to it. The first couple of tries she wasn't ready yet, and I didn't mind having her there (although I do have to wash my shirt, she's not that well behaved yet!). My main concern was letting her up there before she trusts me enough to step up for me. I have to admit, I'm usually the sucker who is offering the shoulder to her;)

Not sure where to start without making this too long of a question. The main question I have is, have I made a mistake letting my baby girl up on my shoulder? I have let her on my shoulder a few times now. Twice I had no choice because she decided to test her flight skills and the only way I could get her back on her cage, was to let her climb me up onto my shoulder. She won't step up for me yet. She also has started to like sneaking onto the back of the couch and coming over and hopping on my shoulder if I am sitting down. So far I've just walked around the house a bit to show her the other rooms and the basement. When she starts to get goofy, that's my cue to return her to her cage. Last night we had a scare because she decided to fly across the living room and crash landed on the second last step in our entryway. I was just getting home as it happened, so I'm not sure if she was trying to follow my wife, or if she got startled by something and just flew straight out from her cage. I suspect it was the startled scenario. So when I walked through the door, there she was standing there to greet me. Thank god she wasn't hurt. So of course she wouldn't step up for me, she just went charging up me and onto my shoulder. I didn't mind though, I just wanted to comfort her and make sure she was ok. Which she was, because she startled babbling and woo hooing for me as soon as she got up there. I let her stay on my shoulder for about 20 minutes. Once she calmed down, she made herself right at home and snuggled against my ear while watching my three wives (one wife, two daughters = three wives!). Sorry for the long story, I just want to make sure I don't start any bad habits even though I love having her snuggling and nibbling on my ear. Thanks, Dave. ps. She also has some weird fixation for my wife's hair. My wife, who never pays much attention to Avy, (so she says) was freaked out last week. She was sitting on the couch and Avy decided to join her. My wife is still quite scared of her and Avy walked right over to her and was eyeballing her spiky hair. Then she checked it out for taste a few times and was standing with one foot on the back of the couch and one foot on my wife's head. I almost fell of the chair laughing. My wife is now known as nest head in the household!!!:laugh:<br><br>Post edited by: cutlass5268, at: 2009/11/19 23:26

Thanks, they have a lot of excellent looking food and treats. I emailed them to see what they suggest for CAG's and she emailed me right back with some suggestions. I just ordered a few different things and will post an update on how my fid likes them once they get here.

Thanks for the info. I will make an appointment to take her to the vet. You are right, she is probably due for a check up anyway. I did (now that she is finally not scared of it) add a cement perch in her cage hoping to at least keep them manageable until I could clip them or have a vet clip them. When she is out of her cage, the only place she will stand is on the door though. There is a play center on top of her cage, but she rarely goes up there, and when she does, she completely ignores the dowel up there and stands on the side of her food dish holders.

She is for sure not testing to see if my finger is strong enough to step on. More like testing it to see if she can bite right through it!! As soon as I touch her and try the step up command, she just reaches down and bites. Which I'm guessing means, I don't want too. She will sometimes grab my finger and then flip upside down to play, but she still ends up eventually biting hard enough to draw blood. Even though I am just standing talking to her calmly as she plays her upside down game. She did step up nicely for her previous owner, so I'm confused. Last night when I was playing with her she seemed to get over excited and was blabbering and squeaking with her wings lowered and trying to regurgitate. So I just left her alone until she calmed down. She always wants to come with me when I leave the room and gets her wings ready to fly, so I have tried going back to her to see if she will step up and come with me. But she still just bites. I have added a nice new puzzle toy for her to play with and chew on. Her previous owner only had a couple of pathetic little toys in her cage for her. I'm hoping maybe she can get rid off some biting aggression with the toy and maybe be easier on me. I'm running out of band aids!!:laugh:

I have a one year old CAG that has only been with me a week and a half. Her nails are quite long and do need clipping. The problem is, she doesn't trust me enough yet to do anything close to nail clipping. So the question is, do I wait it out until she will let me do it, or take her to the vet and run the risk of her being mad at me for having to towel her into her travel cage and then put her through the ordeal of having a stranger touching her? Thanks.

I've only had my CAG for 11 days and this weekend while I was playing with her and trying to get her to step up, she was all excited and whimpering and gave me a nice offering of regurgitated food. From all the reading I have done in the forum this is a good thing, because it means she likes me. But so far, not matter what I have tried, she just won't step up. She just bites me right away, so I give up after she starts trying to rip my finger off!! Any ideas? Or do I just need to what longer? Thanks.<br><br>Post edited by: cutlass5268, at: 2009/11/10 01:09

Thanks everyone for all the welcomes! It's nice to see such a helpful happy forum where no one puts anyone down or makes replies with statements such as "did you do a search before you asked this dumb question".

Hi, my one year old CAG has only been with me for a week and I seem to be making a nice bond with her. One thing she does which has me a bit confused is when I have been with her for quite a bit scratching and talking to her, she doesn't want me to leave, and looks as if she is going to fly to me by crouching and getting her wings ready for take off. I'm not ready to have her flying around the house yet for her own safety. But when I return to her she gets very excited and seems like she would like to come with me. So the last 2 nights (when this behavior has been happening), I have tried to get her to step up and come along with me. She will grab my finger or hand with one foot and then start blubbering and muttering very fast and sometimes turning upside down while holding my finger. At first she will just give me little beak holds on whatever part of my hand she can get a hold of, but eventually she starts biting very hard. I do stay very calm with her and tell her to be gentle, even though I'd like to scream out like a little girl. That's when I just step back (in pain) and give her back her space to calm down. Although she does stay revved up for a couple minutes afterward and acts like she really wants to come to me, but is not quite sure I'm that trustworthy yet. But so far she won't step up. I have read all the books and internet articles I could find on greys before finding my new friend. My guess is she is torn between wanting to trust me and come with me, or she is finding this quite amusing. Anyone have any ideas? Am I trying to hard? She has really taken to my family quite quickly and seems to want to fly to anyone that leaves the room, even if there's still two or three of us still around. Oh, and her cage is in the living room which is entirely open to the whole side of the house, kitchen dining, etc. I chose that spot so she would be with us and part of our flock, she is out of her cage as soon as anyone of us are home and we know she won't be on her own. Even though her previous owner used to leave her cage open all the time, even when he was not in the house. I'm much too fearful of her safety to leave her that much freedom! Sorry for the long post!!<br><br>Post edited by: cutlass5268, at: 2009/11/04 22:01

Sorry, here's the second one.

Here's a couple of pictures of my third kid!

Just wanted to say hi to everyone, I just joined today. We added a new member to our family just under a week ago. A CAG named Avy who turned 1 on October 22/09. She is a hand raised bird by a lady in Calgary that has been breeding Greys for 40 years. I asked her previous owner if he had her tested to know for sure that she was a female. He told me the breeder has been looking after Greys for so long that she could tell from the shape of their heads. With that much experience I'm guessing she's not often wrong. Besides, who cares, she's a beautiful grey and that's all that matters. In the short period of time I have had her, I have spent as much time as possible with her. So she will already let me give her scratches around her neck and face, as well as under one of her wings. Just the left one, not sure what the deal is with the right wing! She cat calls very well and says hello a million times a day, which is quite amusing. She also puts herself to bed at night by climbing down from her perch on the outside of the cage, and slamming the door as she goes in. Which I've figured out means I'm going to bed, get the heck over here and cover my cage!! I know I'm probably being impatient, but I can't get her to step up for me, even though she did it fine with her previous owner. I'm not too worried yet, I do have experience with birds and patience, as I used to own a wild caught Umbrella Cockatoo. I spent about the first 3 months just sitting by her cage with the door open, letting her get used to me. After about six months, she would let me scratch her pretty much anywhere, clip her nails and wings. Never did get her to step up (hence the impatience with a hand fed). Although it killed me to give her up, I did end up letting her go for her own good, as I was single at the time and worked too many hours a day. So she went to live with a retired couple and another beautiful Umbrella Cockatoo. I haven't been this excited to get home after work since we had our first human baby 11 years ago!! I'll post a picture of her soon. Thanks. Dave.<br><br>Post edited by: cutlass5268, at: 2009/11/03 22:49