Jocko

What an excellent idea! Thanks for the suggestion. Jocko is always trying to use her water bowl as a bath also. I've been trying other items but with no success. Our last venture was a large shallow 'exo-terra' dish intended for reptiles. What would be really cool is something that would attach to her playstand!

You seem like a very level headed, intelligent young man - want to meet my daughter? lol, just kidding! But I do hope she finds someone like you.

awwww!!!! the pics are soooo cute! congrats on your new family member!

Here's a video of Jocko the first day she got her new playstand. She's gotten much better on it since this was taken.

Same with my Birdy. I went to the breeder's home, there four babies available. The other three were more interested in getting back to their cage, Birdy was perfectly happy sitting on me, even came back to me when he was put back in the cage. He chose me, not the other way around. He's been my 'loverboy' ever since. I'm sure once you're ready, the members here will help direct you to a reputable/responsible breeder. Don't rule out re-homing an older baby. Our Jocko came to us 3 months ago, is 14 yrs old and has no chest feathers but she has been a wonderful addition to our family. Good luck on your search!

Well, Jocko has been with us for only 3 months now but it feels like she has always been a part of our family. She's been coming along very nicely. We've been weaning off the seed diet. Had to soak the pellet to make mush and mix with fruits to get her accustomed to the taste. She's now up to getting dry pellet substituted for 1/2 of the seed while in her cage, and gets fresh veggies/fruits for breakfast/dinner while out on her playstand. We'll keep decreasing the seed gradually. She did drop about 5g a week the first couple of weeks, but now she's holding steady at 525-530grams. Next chore - learning to bathe somewhere besides her water bowl. We've also figured out the trigger to the 'screech owl' noise. This means it's time for bed and we're disturbing her. If we're not ready for bed yet, we roll her cage into the bedroom. I'm thinking about getting a smaller 'sleep' cage for bedroom - any suggestions on size and furnishings? Both of our lovebirds have 'happy huts' they sleep in, we were wondering if Greys like these too?

We've spent a small fortune on toys as well. Jocko's favorite - empty toilet paper roll, wrapped with a sheet of paper, twist the ends (like a piece of candy). doesn't take her long tear into it but she will spend a lot of time shredding and it's virtually free! Reminds me of a kid - $200.00 toy and they're more interested in playing with the box!

My apologies to all. I thought I had uploaded Jocko's story but realized it was not there. I have added it to the first posting in this thread. Thank you again to all for the encouraging words of kindness.

The first time it happened, I wasn't sure that's what was going on but had my suspicions. Wings drooped and she was making most pathetic whimpering sound I've ever heard from an animal or human. I felt so sorry for her. Sometimes she starts doing it for no good reason. I started trying to distract her with something else and if it doesn't stop I put her back in cage until it passes. She getting better and it hasn't happened spontaneously in a couple of weeks now. I'm wondering if the last family misinterpreted as her wanting to be cuddly.

Thank you Dawl. She is adapting surprisingly well. I was concerned she might get depressed but she seems perfectly happy. Part of the reason her previous family gave her up was because they could not spend as much time with as they knew she needed. With us, she's rarely in her cage unless it's bedtime or we need to go somewhere and we're always talking with her. I put her shower perch on the side of the microwave so she can be in the kitchen while I make her breakfast/dinner. Sometimes she likes to snack other times she's more interested in clearing of the top of it.

A big definitely on the peanuts judygram. She also only gets two or three a day, as I understand they're fattening. Although, yesterday she got a few extras to celebrate the new playstand. I'm very picky about what my bird babies get to eat. I have a huge list of 'NO' foods on the fridge and I've even trained my human companion to quit putting butter and salt in the veggies when he cooks dinner since the little one's usually get some too.

Thank you all for the kind words. She has been with us since Thanksgiving. I posted Jocko's journey on the profile page since it has been a long one. For past 4/5 years, she has been with my sis and her husband, so we're not total strangers. However, I have always been a little nervous with the larger birds. She did try to bite me once (not hard) a couple of years ago so it took us little bit to gain trust again. I now let her climb on my hand to get out of cage and she loves to be cuddled/snuggled, although I don't let her anywhere near my face She likes sitting on the arm of my chair to get scritches and I'm learning which ones 'turn her on'. Staying away from those! I've never seen anything more pathetic than when she's in her 'come-hither' mode. lol. She has her own facebook page (Jocko Burns) if you would like to see pics/video but I will try to post some here as well. This way her previous family can stay in touch. They clipped her wings for shortly after arriving because we had a little run in with the mirror, but now I'm thinking she might be more confident if she could fly and am thinking about not clipping again. My lovebirds are flighted and I enjoy them being able to come to me or go back to their cages on their own. No unacceptable behaviors other than an ear piercing 'screech owl' imitation we could live without. She doesn’t do all the time and we've been trying to see if there is something that triggers it, but so far it's starting to look like it's just part of her vocabulary. With any luck she'll forget it a few weeks/months.

Hello All. We are Jocko's third/fourth family so we don't know a lot about how she was weaned. She is 14 years old and while not well trained, she does know a few simple commands and some words/sounds/whistles. In coming to our home, she has aquired two new companions - Birdy (male(?) peach face lovebird) and Pudgie (male (?) fischer love bird). We are joining this forum to learn more about how to care for our new baby. She seems to be somewhat timid and unsure of herself, so we're also interested in leaning how to build her confidence. The story of how she came to be with us is long, if you're interested continue reading... I apologize in advance for the long story but here goes: We are Jocko's third/fourth family so we don't know a lot about how she was weaned. The first family purchased her as a baby and was told she was a male. When she was approximately 4 years old she laid her first egg. Her humans did not want a female and sold her to the second family. While in this family she decided she did not like the wife and got to where she would not trust females at all. When the couple divorced, Jocko went with the husband. When Jocko was about 9 years old, the husband met my sister. Jocko immediately fell in love with Sis (I think this may have helped him decide to marry her) and has since gained her trust in females again. Last Thanksgiving, we were asked to bird-sit so her humans could go out of town for a week to visit family. We enjoyed having her so much, we joked about keeping her. After another week, Sis admitted that due to medical and financial problems, they had been thinking about selling Jocko. We agreed to have a 30 day trial to see how things went. Suffice to say, Jock has found a new home and my checkbook has found a new black hole. We also have 2 lovebirds - Birdy (male(?) peach face lovebird, 8yrs) and Pudgie (male (?) Fischer love bird, 5yrs(?)). They have gone to stay with Jocko’s family several times while we went on vacations. Birdy is my ‘loverboy’. He has been with me since he was four months old. When he was 3, I purchased Pudgie to be a companion for Birdy. We were told he was about 3 also, but from his behavior and maturity, I’m guessing he more like 1. He had not been handled much and was on an all seed diet. He thinks pellets are treats and loves them. He still bites, but not as hard as he used to. Thank heavens he’s a small bird and can’t do too much damage.