Elvenking

Hi guys. My and my boy have been doing just great and we are as happy as ever. One thing i was thinking about was a larger cage for Isaac. Two things hold me back at the moment though. The first i think he would get over pretty quickly which is a new bigger cage. Isaac tends to adjust pretty quickly to things like that. The other is "cage flapping". So what I am worried about there is that in his smaller cage, he occasionally gets startled and flaps in his cage like he is a little out of control. I'll come over and calm him down with a calm voice and ask him what's wrong....tell him things are okay. In a small cage he can't get much velocity from any direction enough to do much more than the infrequent scrape on the head. In a new larger cage, I worry that he could pick up more speed and do damage to himself. Looking for thoughts on this. I always have a towel to pad the bottom of the cage for him, but I don;t want to create a situation for him to do more harm for himself. I also want him to have as much space as i can give him when I am not home to care for his little butt. Advice? My dream is getting him a larger room and\or aviary to spend his time in. However, I want something for the near term. I live in apartment so it's a little way off for a full room for him.

As others are saying. They are certainly shaken up by huge transitions like that. Everything he knows is totally and completely gone. Scary as hell. And...he doesn't speak in a way that you can communicate what is happening to him. So he has no way to begin the process of feeling secure in his new surroundings. It has to happen naturally which takes time. Find out as much as you can about his relations with the owner and try to find the things that make him happy. Be upbeat, cheerful and very accepting of his need to feel things out, growl a bit, and not be the happiest parrot in the world. Be all accepting and hold off on expectations for the moment. Care for him, and see him through this tough transition. Even if his owner wasn't super close with him, he probably really depended on his owner. Sentient beings they are. They do attach themselves to us. It is natural. Stephen

Yeah...I think that is the feeding response. I would try to not encourage it, but he is just trying to "share" with you. This may at some point escalate to a regurgitation. When I get out of the shower, Isaac is always trying to feed me. I love him...but I tell him I am okay and that he can keep what he has for himself. Thank you anyway. LOL.

Thanks for watching my little guy and I am glad he could bring some fun to the day. He actually has about 3 or 4 different styles of toots. He does em exactly like I was doing too. I have to get him to do his chicken impression...and the turkey one too. He also does a great Crow, humming bird chirp, sparrows.....I am not sure what the names of the other birds are. He doesn't have a big vocabulary...but he really picks up....EVERY sound. My least favorite at the moment is what I call the 'Hearing Test'. It literally deafens me for a couple minutes...actually...come to think of it...maybe my hearing never fully returns....maybe I am slowly going deaf. Ohhh well...ya can't take your hearing with you after you die anyway eh? LOL! Anyway...thanks for watching. Hopefully I can catch more of him doing some more funny things. He is quite the entertainer around here.

I managed to capture Isaac playing our toot game today. You can hear him say "Hi littah boooooyee" before I walk in the room too. Along with his Dove impression in the middle. He basically toots and laughs with me. http://vid952.photobucket.com/albums/ae6/Elvenking71/A4AA8074-E052-442D-8CDE-A893B5914487.mp4

I will never forget raising Isaac and the first time he flew from his baby days. It is what really sealed the deal and made me make the decision to let him keep his wings and not trim him. He would be trotting around on the ground flapping wildly and sometimes getting a few inches of loft. Then one time we were playing on the ground and he starts to do it...but this time...with excitement like he finally thought it was possible. And then whhheewwww.....up...uppp...up to the highest point under my vaulted ceilings in my old apartment with me following under with my hands outstretched. I did end up catching him the first time and helping a little. He was breathing heavy but with a look of amazement in his eyes. How can ya not let him fly. Now.....if you are standing near an open door in a room along the hallway. You will sometime see a grey blur go by. Then the first time they fly to you and land on you....so awesome. Oh yes....it can get old sometimes now though.....but it is still amazing! LOL.

That longer tip will narrow down soon enough...no worries. Just watch your hands.

I follow this style with Isaac too. He 'hangs out' and flies around at his own leisure. I am just there to save the stuff of mine I want to keep and to make sure he doesn't get hurt. My daughter and I were watching a movie last night and he was either hanging our on his perch beautifying himself or flying down for some scratches. And of course....playing with kitchen utensils. Full blown family member. I always try to make stuff for myself that he can eat too and he will kick back plate-side and have my meals with me. He's there on the shower curtain rod in the morning serenading me with his dictionary of sounds and words. I thought I loved parrots when I was looking for Isaac....HAhahhhahahhahha! Ohh my gosh...compared to now....I knew nothing. They are all great ambassadors for their species if you are a good listener. They can teach anyone with a heart so much respect for parrots and life in general. Something which I have always had but grew immensely greater when Isaac entered the picture. When I get a bigger place, I want to build him a larger aviary and get him some more friends! I don't even think I am willing to leave him for even a few days until I can be certain he will get the love and attention he needs. In return, I feel so appreciated by him. The way he mimics me, repeats things when I laugh at them in order to get me to laugh again. Flying down to my shoulder and rubbing his head backwards up the side of my face multiple times. It never ever gets old. Yeah...hanging around the house and doing nothing isn't really so bad.

Is that him saying "Hello" at 1:02-1:03?

One of my favorite challenge-response games with Isaac. I say, "Google", he does the sound...."What's the weather like?" then the follow up sound. Yes...fun game!!

LOL....Oh yea...my kitchen......the playground. That's right. You'd laugh. I have the 'real' cabinets either child locked or taped shut with gorilla tape. The others...I load with kitchen items....spoons, bowls, cups...ice trays...you name it...then he flies around to all the cabinets tossing them on the floor. I get about 10-15 minutes of me time in those moments. Yeah....50% of the kitchen....a bird playground. I'll never have a girlfriend. LOL!

Thanks for the well wishes for my little buddy. Definitely knocking on lots of wood. He seems to be doing quite well. I'll never think he can't do it again, but I am super happy to see him filling in like he is. I cannot fully tell but it looks like the tummy ones might be gradually filling in too. If he does completely fill...I'd totally faint. HA! Ray...you mention the idea of being tested. That is funny because it does cross your mind. It is a sort of test of your love for them. Kind of like, "Will you love me even if I am not the prettiest bird in the world." Ohhh yes my little friend...I will....I always will. My heart goes with that bird. He is as the sunrise and the sunset in my day. What a truly amazing experience when you look at it. When he does come for head scratches...daddy gets all the good areas around the lower beak and ears. Light backwards pets on the top. Mmmmmm I just love the little bugger. He got some good scratches tonight while me and my daughter were watching TV. I definitely must have been a bird at one time in past lives or something. Every time I smell him, I am in heaven. It is seriously one of the sweetest smells ever! Anyway. Thanks for coming to see Isaac in his hopefully longer lasting suit. Keep going little buddy!

I am actually doing less about it than I ever did. I am giving him chicken bones (legs) every once and a while and keeping a steady flow of veggie pasta noodles with Red Palm Oil. Otherwise his diet is the same with lots of veggies, fruit, eggs sometimes, and seed\nut mix. His diet is great. I am pretty sure he could flip anytime if he was properly motivated....but he is doing great. I'll accept the beauty as it is. Happy days. I just love the little guy up as much as possible. He is soooooo loved.

Isaac has been leaving his plumes alone a bit. Looking cute!

I shall try 15 minutes of direct sun and a chicken leg from time to time. I'll let ya know. He has left em alone for three weeks now. Not a single mishap. With no changes at all. I will see if this helps keep him on the straight and narrow. He's been known to leave himself alone for a couple months.

I happen to have proof Isaac can see what is on the LCD screen. He makes a gulp sound every time I drink my cup of water or anything really. We were watching a show and the lady on TV was drinking a martini. When she did so, Isaac made his gulping noise. I was amazed. There is some chance it could be coincidence..but I tend to believe otherwise. He has followed my mouse pointer all over the computer screen as well. I have an older Surface with a built in video cam. I can set that up next to him. I am yet to get to this task but it is coming soon. Just been busy the last couple of weeks. I'll let ya know how it goes.

Yes...I imagine I'll have to find a similar soul to come stay with Isaac. If I knew someone would come over to talk with him, let him out and genuinely care for him..I would be 100% perfect. I am not sure who has the guts to let him out though for some fly time. I have to find someone pretty special and unafraid...plus trustworthy. Any strategies you know of?

I LOVE Isaac's beak! I love to kiss him right on it all the time. He has gotten so used to it that if I move my face close to him....he will walk up and mash his beak into my lips for a kiss. I love him! I believe in the healing powers of the beak!

Ohh my do I know your pain. I have described it in any of my threads about Isaac's plucking in such detail as to how it haunts me. This has been EXTREMELY difficult for me to negotiate psychologically and as a lover of my bird. Like you say....they are perfectly happy otherwise. As if they are like, 'What...a couple of feathers...ahh whatever..they keep coming back'. The best explanation I have is that it is like nail biting in humans. In short.....rip my heart out paaahhhlease and just step on it a million times over. That's what watching your baby pluck is like. It's hard not to feel totally responsible...but it really is a switch that is so casually and suddenly turned on inside of them. They realize it feels good and persist in varying and confusing ways. Isaac can preen hours and days without touching a single feather. It's been about three weeks since his last pluck. But I am not buying the false alarm this time. I still have hope...but I don't excited that this is going to be the time that he keeps em anymore. Cause one day...out of the blue...and for no reason I can find or observe...he does it. Then maybe a binge. Kind of like a little druggie. LOL. I feel the pain man....really really hard. Don't be hard on yourself cause it is easy to blame yourself for a myriad of reasons. It's absolutely, uncontrollable by any known means.

Of course I have dreams of an aviary or a bird room for Isaac. I do have a few things that are taking precedence over that at the moment and it is currently not an option for me right now. About the best I can do for now is to get him a bigger home...and I am looking into that. These aren't changes I can make over night. Isaac does have my Green Cheek Conure Pedro home with him all day and they can see each other. Pedro doesn't like how friendly Isaac gets though. He chases after Isaac's feet. Anyway, I agree on both accounts. I give Isaac 4-7 hours of out time a day. He flies like an ace during that time and almost always uses his locomotion to find me and what I am doing. I imagine it sucks being in the cage after some time like that. He knows how to ask for out and when you hear your best friend say, "Out"...well you know. Uhhg it kills. Cages suck balls. My appreciation for him has far outgrown the idea that a cage is right for Isaac....it does complicate things. He is super happy though...I got that. And his life will only get better. He's good.

All of this is great to hear. So people are thinking along the lines of something similar which is nice to know. It's also nice to know that I might be first to set up a remote conference with my bird. I just think it would be sweet to be able to pick up the phone...and in essence...Face Time (or Beak Time as I like to say) Isaac. I will let you know how this goes. I will try to set it up over the weekend.

HA! Is this the boards way of saying that I am off the deep end?

Okay...so I know that I am not the first bird crazed person in the world so come on tell me....who has set up a bird cam or established a system of having bird video conferences with their pet while at work? I have an old laptop that I want to set up on a desk next to Isaac so that I can remote video conference him at will from a desktop or from my phone. I need it to be automatic so he doesn't have to do anything. This would be so I could check in on him during the day and say hi. I have to start thinking this way if I am ever to go on vacation or leave him at all. I have not a soul who is going to replace me when I am away. I do not know anyone who would come over and talk with Isaac for hours. I would get him used to it at home at first...so he could understand that all he is doing is seeing an image of me and what I am doing...then I would show him myself to let him know that I am not somehow trapped in the phone. Then after a while...I could talk to him while I am away. I HATE leaving him alone. I have not been gone for more than a day or two stretch since I got him. But I am at work all day and would like to just say hi sometimes. Thoughts??

I was thinking about this very thing last night. Overall, we create a very unnatural bonding situation between us...a human...and a parrot which is very intelligent and very much a flock member. I imagine it plays interesting games with the natural instincts to bond. I was wondering if Isaac thinks he is going to evolve into a human..and maybe he thinks....well first of all..this guy doesn't have feathers...but I love him so much. Maybe it is very frustrating for him to feel so attached to me but to have no understanding of how this relationship works given his natural feelings. In short, we create an unnatural situation which yields unnatural results. Explains the variety of result. I am VERY bonded with Isaac and I can feel his dependency upon me as a companion. I love him for it. However, I think that he has instincts that likely do not play well in a life where all his needs are met without any effort ton his part. I feel like I bond with him really well, but at the same time with having to work and all, I also draw lines in our 'together time' because it just isn't practical to be with Isaac 100% of the time. In flocks...they are always together. Lots of stuff possible in their heads for sure.

Really nice to hear from you again! I was wondering how Dayo was doing. Yeah....I think the game with me is over. I just really had to understand that I was thinking about it in the wrong way. I had come to this point many times before....and if he starts a bad picking spell...I do get a bit taken aback. He mainly sticks to the tummy feathers...but branches out every once in a while. I don't believe that he is suffering from anything. He expresses so much love and joy when he is around. Always filling the air with pleasant noises a la everything he has learned around the house. It is something to get used to though. Very very hard for me. I think if I remember that he is really okay, I'll be okay. Even if I do have everything to do with it, I cannot with all the power of the world and the internet, figure out what it is I could ever do to help him stop. I think that if I ever move from this place, there is a good chance he would stop at our next home. Habits tend to change when the environment does. Anyway, I am going to go love the little bugger up now....making us chicken for dinner.