neoow

I've done similar in the past- it was quite a few years ago and I was cleaning out Alfie's cage. He was in the cage as the cats were about. I took the bottom tray out and started cleaning that, then for some unknown reason I then took the grill out of the bottom as well and took that outside to wash it off. I heard some commotion because Alfie was jumping around his cage and knocking toys around, walked back in and saw Widget in the bottom of his cage having a good sniff around. I think it was a similar thing to your Wilson - he wasn't phased by or interested in Alfie, he was more interested in this space that he normally can't get to. So I quickly ushered Widget out from the bottom of the cage and put the grill back in place before apologising profusely to Alfie! 😬

I have two Bengal cats, Widget and Pixel who are both indoor cats. They will be 14 years old later this year but are still quite energetic when they want to be. They co-exist with Alfie quite well and both learned from a young age to leave him well alone. They pay Alfie no mind and don't harass him whilst he is in his cage and I separate them when I let him out- they typically get the upstairs and Alfie gets the downstairs. My living room door handle had to be taken off and put back on upside down to help with this, as otherwise Widget could open the door and let himself in. Anyway, this works well as the cats have everything they need upstairs and it gives Alfie enough room to fly around, get some exercise and generally cause all sorts of mischief. The other day, Widget was asleep on the sofa in the living room and I needed to let Alfie out so I woke Widget up, gave him some fuss and then shooed him out of the room. I let Alfie out as usual and he flew over to his tree on the dinner table. Then he immediately flew over to his standing tree at the other side of the room. He then flew back to the original tree. That was a bit unusual as he usually stops somewhere to stretch and preen first. All of a sudden, Pixel scurries across the room, looking a bit worried. Last time I'd seen her, she was upstairs and I obviously hadn't noticed her wander in to the living room at some point. Alfie was still flying around because he knew it wasn't right that she was there. Thankfully, I was able to get Pixel to stop running around and picked her up to remove her from the room. Phew! Alfie then settled ok and we carried on with our evening. I think Pixel was too scared of all the flapping to know what to do but I'm just so glad she didn't try and chase Alfie - or spot him before he spotted her. The stupid thing is, I normally do check around the rest of the room to make sure I got both of them out. That one moment of complacency could have ended very badly... although I'm honestly not sure who would have come off worse with that one... either way, I felt very guilty for a good while after! Have you ever slipped up/made a mistake and had a near miss as a result?

He definitely has a 'tude! If he's in a grump about something then stay well clear, because he will be damn sure to let you know otherwise! And he is SO quick as well.

Alfie spent some more time in his aviary yesterday after his routine vet visit to have his beak filed back. He has crossbeak and needs an appointment with the vet every so often to help keep it in check.

Summer in the UK so far has been a bit of a washout. Most of the hot and sunny days have been when I'm stuck at work. But this weekend we finally got some lovely sunny weather! Today I did a bit of gardening, scrubbed down the aviary and then put Alfie out there to enjoy the sunshine. This is only the second time he's been out there this year. He absolutely loves it out there... so much so that he's a right pain to get back inside. 🤣 But all that sunbathing, climbing, preening and watching/listening to everything going on around him obviously tired him out! 20240728_135615.mp4

No rings or nail polish as I don't wear either. He won't ever step up on my fingers/hand so I offer with the wrist closest to him. He'll step up for a wrist and will normaly stay there or a little further up the forearm. He's a "no shoulder" bird because he won't come off a shoulder easily and will usually try and find an ear to munch so I can't trust him there. So when we move around he'll stay on my forearm. I have tried to encourage him to stay on my hands instead in the last but he always shimmies up to my forearm. I read something about putting a thumb up so he can't get up the arm so I tried that during recall training once. He landed on my hand, bit the thumb and then when I moved it he went straight on to my wrist. 🤣 So he knows what he wants and he is not easily fooled! I typically keep my hands in a fist as well so that if he does decide to lunge then it's harder to get a finger or much of a grip. This evening he was on the dinner table when it was time to go to bed so I walked over with the dowel and held it about a foot away from him. He came straight over and stepped up. By comparison if I had done the same with my arm he would have walked the other way, despite treats being on offer. I think it's just an accidental habit/routine we've managed to form over the years. I'll keep working on it with him and see how it goes.

I did wonder if it was balance related as obviously my arm isn't going to be as rigid/secure as the dowel- especially if I have long sleeves on. I have no problem continuing with the dowel but it would obviously be more convenient not to have to have one to hand just in case. Also there are times where I approach him expecting him to lunge/bite- which obviously makes me nervous... so that doesn't help. I find on the times where I approach feeling more confident, he is more likely to step up on the arm. So that's definitely something for me to work on and improve. The daftest thing is, he hasn't actually bitten me in a long long time because I've gotten much better at understanding his cues over the years. I'm more planning ahead for this one because at the moment I have two indoor cats as well, so Alfie mostly spends time downstairs. But my cats are aging and not going to be around forever (as sad as that makes me) so I'm thinking more to when he has the run of the whole house and I may wish for him to step up somewhere else in the house. I don't necessarily want to have a dowel in every room or have to run and find where I last left one for him to step up. 🤣 I always offer a treat whenever I ask him to step up (or for any of his tricks/commands) but if the treat is too close he will just take it without stepping up. I've not managed to get him to step up from behind as he always spins round to face my hand/arm or the dowel. He always wants to step up going forwards, not backwards and he doesn't like being approached from the tail end, which is why he always turns. It's by no means a serious problem or concern, just I'm out of ideas of how I can try and encourage him top step up for my arm more readily. One thing I did think of earlier today is putting my hand/arm nearby but not asking for the step up. And just getting him (and me) used to having my hand/arm near him but not necessarily needing him to do anything with it. Almost to get myself more confident that he's not going to lunge/bite and him to realise that he doesn't need to resort to a lunge/bite. He can turn a bit aggressive if I am doing things near him, so I tend to keep my hands out of reach and redirect him away from whatever it is I might be doing- e.g typing, wiping a surface down, eating etc etc. So maybe that's something to try and work on first- with me rewarding him for being near my hands and not lunging or biting. Sometimes it's difficult to know exactly what's going on inside their feathery heads!

So I think I have managed to create a bit of a 'problem' with Alfie and stepping up. It's not major- but am just looking to see if anyone has any advice. Over the years Alfie has been known to lunge and bite if he didn't want to step up. We went through a time when our trust broke down a bit and I had to re-evaluate if I was the best owner/home for Alfie. Long story short, I was able to make some changes to my life and living arrangements to improve things for us both. I am still sometimes a bit wary of Alfie lunging/biting. Although he doesn't normally break the skin it still hurts and I feel it sets us back. So I always try and read his cues and avoid the possibility of a bite. It's been working well. One of the things I did during this time when we were rebuilding our trust was use a wooden dowel perch for him to step up on if I needed to transfer him somewhere else or get him back in his cage. That meant if I read it wrong and he decided to lunge, it would be the stick that would get the damage and not me. When I was more confident about things I would use my arm (he doesn't step up for a hand, only my wrist - always has). This was generally fine. Alfie gradually learned that he didn't need to lunge to tell me "no" - he could just turn away and I would respect that and back off. I've now noticed though that more often than not, he will refuse to step up on my arm but will willingly step up for the perch. So I'll offer an arm and say 'step up' and he'll back off/turn away. I back off (because otherwise I know I'll get bitten). I go and fetch the wooden dowel and he hops straight on it before I've even said "step up" Very occasionally he will step up on my arm and I will heavily praise this and offer a treat. When he steps up on the wooden dowel he gets a treat and a 'good boy'. It's not a major problem - but I would like to try and swing it back so he's more reliably stepping up on my arm- as this helps if we're visiting my parents or elsewhere where I don't have a wooden dowel handy. However, I know that if he refuses the arm and I go back and ask a second time, he's probably going to lunge... especially if I'm not confident in my movements and ask. (He seems to be able to read me SO well!) Any advice for trying to improve this?

Alfie used to sucker punch me by lowering his head, waiting for a scritch then then lunging. So I'm always a bit cautious and if he flicks his head to one side, I back off immediately. If he steps forward and lowers his head again then he definitely wants a scritch. If he doesn't move then I feel it's a 50/50 of whether he wanted a scritch or was going to bite. 🤣

Can greys get cataracts? That was my first thought when you mentioned they have turned hazy. As others have said I think the only way of finding out is to find an avian vet. I sympathise for trying to find a local one. Unfortunately avian care isn't taught as standard for vets- they have to take on additional studies to learn how to treat birds/parrots properly.

That's adorable! Alfie never goes on his back- and I'd probably lose a hand if I tried to guide him. I can give him scritches on his head and neck but if I try to touch him anywhere else he isn't happy about it. I was hoping to be able to harness train him over the years, but I can't touch his wings so I don't think it'll ever happen.

On Sunday I went to the 'Think Parrot' show and I took Alfie with me. It's the second time I've been to this show- the last time was back in 2019 and it used to be an annual event. But unfortunately Covid and Avian flu shut it down for a few years. This is the first year they've run it since then so I decided to pack Alfie up in his travel cage and take his trolley with us so we could get around. It's a great event with loads of different parrot/avian companies and organisations setting up stalls in the building. They run three "masterclasses" throughout the day that cover various topics about parrot/avian care and there's also a free flight demonstration outside. I managed to catch two of the three masterclasses and one of the free flight shows. I also stocked up on loads of toys and goodies for Alfie. Alfie always amazes with me how much he takes things in his stride and doesn't freak out. It was crowded and noisy inside the building with so many people walking past or stopping to talk to us but he didn't seem to mind and apart from being a bit wide eyed at times, he was absolutely fine. All in all it was a great day out and I will definitely go back again next year if it goes ahead. Although I think I'll try and see if there is a local hotel that will let me stay over with Alfie, as it was a LOT of driving in one day. It was a 246 round trip and I spent about 5.5 hours in the car in total... longer than I was at the actual event! At least if I know I have a hotel room nearby then I can stay later and see all of the masterclasses instead of having to leave early. The entrance to the show - there were so many people (and parrots!) Masterclass one - Parrot Awareness Week. This covered all sorts of information about parrot care. Masterclass two - around nutrition from the creator of 'Your Parrot' food. He seemed extremely knowledgeable and I have some of the food from his company to try with Alfie. The third masterclass was on Feather Plucking but I had a long drive home and was feeling really tired and headache-y by then so didn't get to see that one. Military macaws Hornbilled Toucan - this was his first outing amongst other people and there was a massive crowd! He was absolutely fascinating and so well behaved! African Grey- called Tomato because she once flew off, got lost and was found miles away in a greenhouse munching on tomato vines. This was her first outing in front of a crowd too - she was such a good flier and really well behaved! Galah cockatoo Mini macaw Long-billed Corella Showing off Alfie's wheels - plus his haul of goodies in the back! The haul!

I have never experienced an earthquake before as I live in the UK and I am thankful for that. Every time I read about them, they sound terrifying!

So bizarre when something like that happens. I don't think we'll ever truly understand what makes our parrots tick. Has Talon got a food or treat that she absolutely loves and will do anything for? I wonder if you can use that and only ever give it to her when she goes into her cage without being towelled. Or maybe you can break it down into steps. If she steps up nicely, treat, take a few steps towards the cage and pause, treat. Put her back down where she was. Then try again but get a bit closer to the cage, pause and treat. Assuming all goes well and she doesn't spook/fly off then eventually work your way up to getting her in the cage and she gets a big reward/treat and lots of praise.

Alfie decided to "help" me open a parcel today. This is now my favourite photo of him. 🤣