Girltron

Francis does this but in slow motion...he lifts his leg and straaaaaains as high as he can. He prefers his right over his left, but he'll do both. Sometimes he works so hard his little eye gets all buggy and he has to shake out his leg to relax it. I was told he's always done it...best I can figure is it's his weird form of exercise. We call it "doing parrot-ups".

Thanks Spock, I read that and that's why I was wondering if Dave would object. I'd like to know what illnesses I might need to worry about that I wouldn't see in his droppings resulting from eating yogurt. The plain greek yogurt I buy is quite tart BTW, and I imagine it's been pretty thoroughly digested by the cultures. It's not like some of those sweet commercial yogurts. I don't have problems with it myself, and I don't eat any other dairy so otherwise I'd have discomfort from it.

I bet he wouldn't...Francis love boxes too. The first week he came home, we had built him a box shelter on one side of his central perch so he could hide if he felt uncomfortable. He did use it for that for about one day, and it was so funny to watch him get in because we forgot that tails get in the way: he had to do an exaggerated 3-point turn to get his butt in there. Soon thereafter, he'd chewed that box to bits and has had a new one each week since then.

They can eat cinnamon sticks? I've got a ton.... For the yogurt, I found this: http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/dairy.html would you consider this advice suspect, Dave?

He moved. That's all. The object behind is more stationary than his toe. Cute feet!

Wow, Francis LOVES Greek yogurt. He'll eat as much as a half tablespoon at a time if offered. Sometimes he picks it off the spoon with his foot and munches at the glob until it's gone...then looks at his sticky foot as if to wonder why he did that! I don't suppose dairy is all that fantastic, but the extra calcium is bound to be helpful. I've started giving him a teaspoon or so of it each morning. Does the live bacteria maybe help with the digestion of the milk proteins, the way it seems to in humans? I haven't noticed much of a change in his droppings.

That sounds like a great schedule! I think I'll imitate you, but stick also with my morning time outside. He seems to enjoy talking to the wild birds. His grey feathers look so beautiful in true sunlight, too! No comparison to any kind of indoor lighting. I'll look into building my own fixture, because the bulbs are a lot less than the specialized lamps...do you have any tips for me?

Hey all, My new Avian Sun bulb stopped working after 2 weeks and even though I'm getting it replaced, I no longer trust it to give Francis enough UVB to keep his vitamin D levels up. I've been setting his sleep cage outside every morning between 7 and 8 a.m. to supplement. It's the only time of day that I can do this. I can't find any information that seems helpful to tell me if he's getting a decent amount of UVB at this time of day. Do you think this will be good enough for him to manufacture vitamin D? Related: what about those lamps sold to S.A.D. sufferers? They look like they have better stated performance than the avian bulbs. I could set up one of those lamps beside his cage for an hour in the mornings, on a timer. Bad? Good?

OK Chezron, I went back and read your first post on this thread and I think I'm going to try your advice. I started thinking that spraying him when I see him biting his feathers might constitute a "drama reward" and it's true that daily bathing isn't supposed to be a great idea. I don't want his skin to get more irritated because of that! I made some colloidal oatmeal and I'll probably mist his belly and under his wings every third day with a mixture of aloe and oatmeal. I found that the oatmeal mixed into the aloe or water didn't spray very well but the trick is to put a teaspoon of finely ground oatmeal into a cup of aloe and let it sit in the fridge for a day, then strain the mix before putting it into the spray bottle. I'll try putting his sleep cage into the shower once a week for a nice deep soak like you recommended: it's one easy way to clean that cage, too! Finally, I can bring his sleep cage outside for 20 minutes or so while I clean his big cage, make his breakfast, and so on in the morning. I can be right there watching him if he's on the front porch, and still get those chores done at the same time. As you said, the bulb wasn't enough for you so it might not be enough for Francis either. Meanwhile I just have to get into the habit of ignoring him when he bites his feathers. It's so hard to do. We stayed home yesterday for our anniversary and just like on the weekend, Francis was talky and playful and happy but still picked certain times to bite his feathers.

I'm sure that would be great for him. But I'm mostly not home during sunshine hours! Also we did get him a full spectrum light bulb so as far as vitamin D is concerned I would hope that would take care of it. I've started increasing his sleep time. We're up to 11 hours a night. I read somewhere that that can trigger an end to a hormonal period.

I know this isn't really helpful or anything, and I just need to learn to be patient...but I am SO unhappy about Francis's feather picking. He was grouchy-bird yesterday and tried to bite feathers both yesterday and today. I sprayed him with aloe at the places he was biting each time, and it stopped the activity. I hope in the long run that pays off, because I can actually see some bare wing on his right side and it's all nibbled back to such an extent that we've nicknamed him Halfwing. It's definitely hormonal and centered around my husband. We were out of the house all day until dinner: Francis didn't chew his feathers all day until after we got home. Frank's been having far less contact with Francis lately but I don't know how long I might need to wait to see some improvement. Even with me, Francis is prone to regurgitating and bobbing his head when I talk to him through the cage bars. I'm pretty sure that's mating behavior too. But it's hard to even interact with him without seeing some of that. We try not to get close to him when he's out of the cage, so he stays distracted by toys or chewing pieces of my kitchen to shreds.

Thanks so much! I'm not new to rehabbing "secondhand" critters, but very new to birds. Francis is the one who befriended us in the beginning...I used to talk to him when I was at my friends' house, and he got to where he'd make contact calls to both of us the whole time we were visiting, even if we were on the other end of the property. He could hear our whistles from there! I'll admit some things probably won't change. But when it's vet time it's vet time, after all. For everyday stuff I let him move around at his own pace. He has a ladder I use when I want him to move from cage to cage or from floor to cage. A couple of almonds placed on the ladder work every time! I shoot competitively sometimes and I happen to have a match this weekend. So no fingers to play with until after the match...the bitten one is actually my trigger finger. Luckily I have full mobility. But after that we're going to start working on handling again. I'll start by touching his feet and beak through the cage bars.

yeah I notice that's just colloidal oatmeal! I can make that myself. I'll try it this weekend. Cheers! So I understand about frequent bathing not being good, normally. But it does work for Francis. So his first bath of the day starts with water and then finished with aloe, and his second bath is just a light aloe misting. We'll cut back when we see nice feather growth, and by then I'm sure he'll be over his little obsession!

Just found this club, and boy do I belong! It's not Francis's fault. His previous homes must have taught him that he gets left alone when he bites. Both my friends that I adopted him from confided in me that they have scars from him. I learned this AFTER I got my first chomp-down. We're not talking gentle warning nips (I do admit to his right to resort to those if I don't understand what he's trying to tell me. It's happened twice, and I complied with what he wanted both times) but beak-grinding, blood-flowing, ouchies. He was on his perch at the time and I was offering to move him out for playtime. My husband was in the room after being gone most of the day, and like I've said elsewhere Francis seems to have all his behavior problems in relation to my husband. Of course I still need to teach him alternatives to biting, because this isn't going to be the only stress he ever comes across...but for now, that seems to be the only cause. So far my short-term solution has been to not offer soft bits to bite on. I even bought a pair of tan leather gloves, but they're scary so oh well. I want to teach him step-up using a stick for those times when he really needs to be moved and he's giving me the squint...but the stick's still scary too, I've been showing it to him every day, giving it kisses and gnawing on it like a goon to let him know it's safe.

Actually I think he loves it...he walks around the kitchen dragging his beak and toes, and sometimes will stop, look around at the floor, and then softly bump! his beak down onto the linoleum. It's grey. He looks for the corners, I wondered if maybe it appears similar to newspaper to him? Shredding newspapers is his least-expensive favorite hobby. Tonight when I let him out, I'll have to barricade that spot with toys. Maybe I'll tuck a spinach leaf in there. Guaranteed to lose interest that way!

Do most parrots tend to like Dandelion? I've tried Francis on kale, collards, bok choy, and chinese spinach so far. He chucks it out of the way so he can get to the beans...he loves his beans or peas! The rest of the veggies get a bit of a nibble here and there. But the leafies, I think, I end up throwing away with the paper or vacuuming off the floor for the most part.

Great thread! I joined because I've never interacted with a bird before, and suddenly I've adopted a 14-year-old problem child from a friend. I've rehabbed all my pets, I'm a very strict one for only adopting animals that need help. But dogs and cats are relatively easy (okay, if you'd asked me that while I was trying to find the one and only food that kept my cat alive and well, or trying to teach an adult wild pitt bull not to eat the other animals, I'd have said different) and birds...ah, Francis tries to tell me things and I don't understand them. I need bird people for that. Every adoption is a challenge, and every challenge ends up giving us a loving, grateful, and happy pet. I'm still at the challenge phase with Francis, but things will fall into place and I know this forum will be a big support for me.

Yeah, it's my linoleum in my kitchen. He's been poking his head into one particular corner a lot. I thought he was just having a bit of a nibble on the baseboard, but when I looked, he'd gnawed a nice chunk out of the flooring.

Hey Greywings, your bathing idea does the trick! Worked like a charm both last night, when he was nibbling a bit on a place he'd no doubt irritated earlier in the day, and today, when I gave him a lunchtime bath to prevent his afternoon issues. He doesn't pluck or chew on damp feathers for many hours! Hooray! To update on the causes behind it, we've gotten that figured out I think. It's definitely hormonal, related to his stress about my husband not responding to his sexual advances. I'm sure he'll get over it and become "good friends" to both of us, but in the meantime my husband has to be very limited in his direct contact with Francis, and I need to be ultra careful of my fingers during high tension times, like Saturday afternoons after my husband's just come home from work. Francis is asking me to handle him again, whistling to me from his playtop and shuffling up to my feet to try climbing my leg. I still haven't actually offered any digits for consumption yet, we're letting Francis come and go more or less as he wishes until I'm sure he's cooling off about Frank. I bought Hubbard's The New Parrot Training Handbook and Blanchard's Companion Parrot Handbook, and figure I'll find plenty of basic trust-building exercises and games in those, which we'll start playing as Francis noticeably calms down. On a side note, for bite sufferers, those Band Aid advanced healing gel strips seem to be pretty awesome. They don't absorb much, so stop most of the bleeding before you apply it, and wash carefully, because you can't use antibiotic creams with them. But I haven't had any pain from my bite and it's in a very mobile part of my finger, and I credit that gel stuff that's keeping it moist while it heals. The package says it stays on until the wound heals, but that's pretty much garbage-I've had to replace mine daily. It starts to come up while I do dishes. Still, very good stuff.

Jeez, I never thought of this. Actually Spock's response was the first thing that popped into my mind. Not a bad idea, though! But my vet will microchip birds...is there some reason not to do this? As opposed to letting my pet spout my private information wherever he goes...

The light is new. My friend who had him never took him outside and didn't have a light. I hope fixing the calcium problem will also fix the feather chewing! I'm sure it'll take some time. His poor right wing is all stubby after Sunday's stress. I don't know what came over him! He's only done this a time or two since we brought him home, but it was so bad that day.

Oh, he's a poor handmedown fella...unhappy in his first home, unhappy in his second...he's 14 now, and we're hoping to help him out some.

Yes, he turns out to be a red-factor Grey. He's got a bit of a collar!

Ah, so here we go. We told my friend from whom we adopted Francis that he bit me on Saturday, and she mentioned to me that both she and her husband had scars from him. I'd seen him nip, but never break skin until he took a beakful of my finger this week and grimly ground away with his lower beak until I could wiggle my hand away. That was my fault for reaching into his cage without looking for good body language. He obviously learned a long time ago that this behavior gets him what he wants. He does enjoy both me and my husband (he likes my husband better) but that's clearly no immunity against the biting. So! I need a little confidence here, I think. I'm concerned that my new reluctance to put delicate body parts near him is going to reinforce the behavior, heh heh heh. I had Francis out for playtime and he kept chasing my feet-I think just to be nice-but I had such a vision of him biting my toe that I kept walking away whenever he got close enough. I think eventually I made him nervous because in attempting to help him up into his sleep cage, I offered a (gloved) hand and even though he'd given me one or two polite beaks a little earlier, he gave me a warning nip that last time. So I gave up on handling at all, and coaxed him into the sleep cage by main bribery, with almonds placed on the ladder and perch. He's nervous about stepping up on a stick. I think I'm going to try to teach him that though, instead of always having to wait until HE decides to go back home. My husband can handle him, but Francis is so in love with him that it becomes a mating ritual when Frank tries to pick Francis up off the floor. Francis doesn't want to step up, just hang onto his finger and squeak. On a good night he does that to me too, while on a bad night I'll get a nip.

Thanks. Francis's calcium is a bit low. I've got an avian bulb near his cage, which I hope will help solve that problem.