Wingy

I leave the radio on to reduce stress. I read somewhere that the silence can put our parrots on alert because in the wild when it goes quiet something is wrong. I have noticed that if I leave the room to take a nap Jake is perfectly silent and if I don't return he will start to call out for me and get agitated. If the radio is on he chatters away while I nap.

Jake likes metal or plastic toys and things that he can take apart or shred.

I had a 12 year old amazon that came into my home. He was mostly a closet talker. One morning I heard very loud and very clear bedroom noises complete with a squeaky bed spring coming from the dining room. Thank goodness he mainly vocalized when he thought no one was home. I would have had a difficult time explaining that to young children. I was told he knew several curse words but I only heard him use the F bomb once. He told the little birds to shut the f up. I ran to the bathroom so the Amazon wouldn't hear me laughing.

I get a lot of toys from Two Bird Lovers http://www.twobirdlovers.com/ and Naturesbirdperchantoys http://www.naturesbirdperchantoys.com/ I try and stock up at bird fairs but sometimes order toy parts off of Amazon.

I leave the radio on for Jake when I am not home and oftentimes when I am. I leave it on the soft rock station.

Ah yes substitute a sound that really can't be loud and grating. How about this....

Having the grandbirdie here for a week cured me of MBS. I do not have enough time or energy for 2 demanding birds. I felt like I was short changing them both and I was exhausted. Both Jake and the grandbirdie are onlies and are used to getting all the attention and to a degree are spoiled because they don't have to share resources or personal time.

Chances are the phrase "harm themselves" is not what you think. They need to be able to get around, eat, play, and be comfortable in it. If they get a toe stuck while trying to pull it off, or can't maneuver around playing like they normally do that would be dangerous hence the harming themselves.

Your story had me in tears and left me with a stitch in my side. Thank you for sharing it.

I tried swapping Jakes water and food bowls. I came home to find birdie soup in the water bowl. I don't know how long it took him but he moved almost everything from the food bowl to the water bowl because I obviously made a mistake lol. I found a good half inch of seed, Rowdybush pellets, dried pasta, and dehydrated vegies at the bottom of the water bowl. There was almost none on the bottom of the cage which leads me to believe that he did it patiently one beakful at a time. I am going to try moving the food bowl across the long side of the cage from the water bowl one day next week to see if he does that again.

How about hanging a net or very thin sheer around Koko's area so that Paco cannot get to it easily.

That perch might be stuck in place by poop or food bits. Try getting the sides around the screws and cage bars wet with warm water and letting it sit to soften up any "natural glue". Unscrew the wing nuts on each side and reach your hand in and pull on one side nearest the cage bars lifting up toward the cage top. You might need to put a bit of muscle in it. When it gives the other side might fall down and land with a thud so place a newspaper section or towel on the bottom so it doesn't land with a BANG!. Once you get it out you can clean the cage bars and perch. To put it back in tilt one side high, align each side and slowly bring it level. It sounds like it will be tight so you might be able to let go to place the wing nuts back on.

Covered or uncovered at bed time. Use of a night light. When is wake up, nap and bed times. What kind of music does he/she like. What household sounds frighten or stress the bird. How much cage time and out of cage time each day. Does the bird eat fresh/cooked food from fingers, plate, crock or food bowl. Does the bird eat with the family in cage or out. How does the bird come out of its cage and where does it usually go. What is the routine.

It is nice to see TAGS gaining some popularity. I think they are wonderful but I am a bit bias.

Was that a growl or should Misty say excuse me?

Lets see Jake is afraid of cucumbers whether they are whole, sliced or peeled, pine cones, toys that have large rings, snakes on the National Geographic channel, the broom and the rock band Kiss but I think the strangest is that he will growl if he hears voices behind a closed door but only if he can see the door. Voices and sounds coming from another room are fine. Door open is fine. Close the door and he growls.

You will never get her past her fear of storms. It is good and bad that she is coming to you for comfort, good that she feels safe with you but bad if she cannot self comfort at all. Hopefully in time you will find her a woobie that offers her some security. You can try wearing an old t-shirt to bed for several days and use that as a woobie in her crate when you aren't home. Something with your scent might be enough for her.

I have heard great things about the Thunder Shirt. http://www.thundershirt.com/ I to was the caretaker of a dog that was at one time a breeder in a puppy mill. They come with so many issues but want to be loved so badly. I hope you have taken her to the vet and explained her background. Puppy mill breeders are typically given little care and substandard food. They often have problems with their ears, skin, infections from having to many puppies, bad teeth and joint problems. Because she was probably housed outside and yelled at she may always be frightened. If she isn't urinating where she lays you are doing pretty good.

JMHO but wing clipping may not solve the problem. If she is determined to rule the roost and not go in her cage she will do so with or without the ability to fly. It is easy for me to say but try and think smarter not harder. There are many things you can try, putting her in her cage several times per day for varying amounts of time with something good, changing up your routine so she goes in before you start to get ready, changing the order so she goes in first and if she is good she gets a treat and praise if she isn't she has to watch the others get a treat and praise, making her earn time out of the cage (this really worked for Jakes biting), the use of a net to catch her mid flight or covering the high areas so she has no place to hide that you cannot easily reach. This is going to sound really crazy but you might need to reset the emotion of going into the cage. Your stress over getting her in could be reinforcing her actions. You want the big emotional high to be because she was a good girl not because she has exceptional evasion tactics. Put her in the cage, give a treat, praise praise praise make a huge deal of it, let her out after a few minutes and keep doing it several times an hour if you can. The moment she gives you a hard time get her in and turn your back to the cage, no treat, no talking, no praise, no emotion. After 10 or 15 minutes start the routine again. While this is just my opinion I believe that temporary shunning is quite possibly used by our parrots in the wild. The parents or flock elders have to have a way to teach the youngsters the ins and outs of proper flock behavior which would have to include a way to covey that a particular action is not going to be tolerated. They really only have a few ways to say don't do that (vocalizing, shunning, beaking or biting, body language and maybe by releasing a scent or vibration that only others of their species can understand).

I use the Snap-N-Go as the rolling base for a Pac-O-Bird. I use the Pac straps to secure it to the base from underneath. Last week I bought some double sided velcro lengths to make some sturdy but quick release straps. I am happy with the set up. He gets to roll, isn't to close to the ground and it is easy to set up. I was going to use the umbrella stroller base as suggested and used by Celltei but I couldn't find one wide enough and wasn't happy with how low to the ground they were. The Snap-N-Go stroller can also hold a travel cage and in an emergency I could put the Pac-O-Bird in the cargo tray on the bottom and a travel cage on the top to transport both the bird and the cat.

I have been thinking about this name thing and I think I came up with a solution. Have you ever watched those AKC dog shows on television? Some of those dogs have some long and fancy official names but they also have a daily use name or nickname. Why don't you each pick a name, throw it in a basket to randomly choose the order and give her a fancy name but use Miss Gilbert as her daily name. If someone asks you can let out a little chuckle and say well her name is Gwendolyn Martha Cassandra Bethany Elizabeth Stephanie your last name but she answers to Miss Gilbert. Another idea is to pick out names that when the first letter is used it spells Gilbert.

I would be peeing myself if Jake ever said that and then my partner would be forever banished to the dog house. I usually have to leave the room when Jake starts demanding that I "go cook" because I start laughing.

What a sweet little peanut. Congratulations.

I am not a fan of potty training. We never tried to potty train but my guy does not want to foul his cage and holds it from 9pm until 3:30pm. I worry about him holding it for such a long period of time but since it is his choice there isn't much I can do about it. I try and encourage him to go before I leave for work but since I don't let him out I am not usually successful. After his huge bomb when I get home he prefers to poop on his human slaves and will fly over to one of us, leave his gift and say go poops.

Honestly you might want to start looking now to allow the time to find a good match. Of course the move is something you should discuss with the rescue org as is your travel. A bird who is becomes really upset over new places or freaks in vehicles might not be for you.