Darwinsmom

I have an article list and a book I can email you if you want to shoot me an email address via pm.

Darwin African Grey ;-)

It stands for Applied Behaviour Analysis. This site has a bunch of info and I can post more if you want them... http://www.behaviorworks.org/

Well sure, Mav bit, Eric retreated, Mav won. He"ll continue to do this every single time he wants his own way. He's 5 months old, if you let him away with that now, you're doomed to live with the monster you create. I have lots of links, articles, groups and info if you want it, just pm me and email addy to send it to. there are some fabulous resources out there. I believe Sarasota is also a fan of ABA, and her bird was a biter too so maybe you can ask her for ideas as well. P.S. if you have an ereader or a way to read epub files I also have the Understanding Applied Behavior Anaylsis An Introduction to ABA and I can send it to you. Its obviously for humans, as all psych books are but the principles are identical and it helps understand the ABCs of ABA and is the foundation book they use for teaching the course for birds.

Great story. These people do some incredible work, its amazing what behaviour training using ABA can accomplish and how many rescued lives it can help.

These guys are flock animals, he wants to be with you and his call is a scream right now, which is HIGHLY annoying. I have a guy a few weeks younger than yours and he started the same thing. You MUST ignore him when he is doing this. If he screams, tell him goodbye in a firm voice and walk away. I say "too loud, goodbye" and leave. When he is quiet for a bit of time I come back, tell him good boy and give him attention. As soon as he screams I do the same thing, same voice, same phrase, and walk away and ignore him. When he is quiet I reward with attention. If he makes pleasant chirping or whistling noises (which he is just starting to try out) that I want to encourage as a contact call I will respond and call out to him and tell him "good whistle, good boy". He will learn to associate his screaming with the reaction he doesnt want, which is you ignoring or leaving him. He will figure out quiet behaviour earns him attention and a pleasant noise will reward him with verbal reassurance that you are near by, which is important to a flock animal. It only took Darwin a few days to figure this out. He occasionally screams but I walk away and he stops almost immediately. Remember to never, ever approach him or make contact if he is screaming. If Darwin started to squawk when I approached then I said good bye again and walked away until he was quiet and then I re-approached. If he's bonding to you rather than your BF you need to have your bf take him from the cage and pass him to you. You need to be consistent in this so that he learns that allowing your BF to handle him gets him his reward, which is being with you. After he's gotten to the point of allowing your BF to handle him or pick him up from his cage you can substitute the reward (getting to you) every few times with another high value reward like a favorite nut or treat so that he learns your BF = lots of good things. if your BF is hesitant about picking him up, he will sense this. I suggest trying a hand held perch and seeing if that will be acceptable to him rather than an unsteady hand. If your BF is not scared of him and has a steady hand then its just a matter of being consistent, but never force him. He will learn the only way out of his cage is through your BF. I also recommend you do some research on target training, which makes it much easier to get them to go to other people. Both of these techniques employ Applied Behaviour Analysis. There is a massive amount of research about ABA on the net if you're interested in reading about it. Its being used with great success to modify behaviours in parrots and it works incredibly well. Here are a few links to get you started if you're interested: http://www.behaviorworks.org/ http://featheredangels.wordpress.com/positive-reinforcement-and-training/articles-on-applied-behavior-analysis-by-bev-penny/guidelines-to-understanding-applied-behavior-analysis-for-parrot-people-by-bev-penny/ If you'd like more info, links or articles just pm me.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Too funny!

Funny!! I have Dobermans, 3 of them. The ones I bred and raised dont bat an eyelash at having nails done, but the girl I got who was 2 and had her previous owner but her her toes on a regular basis is a nightmare. Better now than when I got her, but I still have to sit on an 80 lb dog while she screams.

I have cats and 3 dogs who will cuddle until I am purple, but I'll take a Grey over that any day. Darwin is actually extremely cuddly, but he's a baby so that my change. I dont need something slobbering all over me to have a great friend... heck I have a fiance for that! lol The longer he is with me the more I realize every day how terribly I missed having a Grey in the house. I probably should have gotten another after Garth passed, but then I wouldnt have Darwin now...so....

This is the one place you can rattle on about the things they do or post 10000 pics and people LIKE it....lol After the 40th Facebook post my friends ask me if I have anything else to say other than bird stuff...lol He flies to me constantly now,I just put out my hand nad there he is, then I toss him up and he flies back to his perch, and sometimes he just boomerangs back and lands on me again and will do this over and over and over again. Great exercise and reinforcing a good recall at the same time. He's got great control, dead perfect mid air turning, and terrific landings now, after just 2 weeks of flying in the house. *mutters clumsy Greys my ass* I need to take more video, its been crummy and overcast here today. Yesterday we put his harness on twice, not a peep of resistance, and we went for a walk around the block and saw dogs and kids and things. He just sat on my hand and looked around. The only thing he does now is a sort of baby squawk that can be grating on occasion, usually if he is hungry or wants my attention but its mixed with a mutter and he has the syllables and inflection down for "hello" but not the actual word yet. The 2nd day he was home he started digging like a mad man and squawking but it didnt last long. We took him in and out of his cage constantly to show him if we put him in he would get to come out again, reward for quiet behaviour and ignore the squawking, and lots of quiet reply to his communication calls. Its hilarious, when I whisper "hello" he "whispers" back a squawk...too funny!

I am on that site, and the FB page. Did you join the Parrots Pantry, Parrot Workshop and Parrots Feather groups on FB? Some excellent people on there. Also I am on some fabulous yahoo email groups too for Greys and parrot behaviour and training etc...

I as a professional groomer for 15 years, before I got divorced and went back to school. I used to think being a groomer was a dirty job, until I got my law degree...lol lol

I like watching him figure things out for the first time he sees them. He's not shy and really pays attention to new things.

???????????????? Thats just ridiculous!!!! A dremel with a sanding band and drum, which is what you use when grinding nails, would not in a million years cut off a leg, it wouldnt cut anything, though it could cause a friction burn to a tongue. That product Jayd linked, btw, IS a cheap dremel with a plastic guard. It has the very same sanding drum I use on my regular dremel. The plastic guard is dangerous, its falls off, can trap the toe nail and pull it in and easily gets hair wound around it when grooming long haired dogs. Its a dangerous piece of garbage. My mother bought one for her dogs (why I have no idea since I have been grooming her dogs for 20 years) because she thought it would be easier. I threw it out.

Lots of things *may* cause upset to them, they are all individuals, and what one likes another wont but its inaccurate to say it will cause blistering of the mouth or there is a real danger to letting them eat peppers, that simply is not true. If you dont wish to feed hot peppers, or your parrots dont like it, so be it but to scare Wingy or others into getting rid of the things his bird does like is wrong or to imply there is a danger in feeding something hotter than we would eat ourselves is unfounded. I wont even put ground pepper on my food but my faince can eat things that would make other people wither. I looked for hours and I couldnt find a thing that says hot peppers are bad or dangerous for birds but I found hundreds for articles and posts saying they were just fine and most birds enjoy them. There is very little you can buy in the average grocery store that would be so hot that it would be a danger. Its VERY important to remember a lot of information posted here is simply personal opinion and NOT fact, and one should always do research and decide for themselves. I have seen lots of outdated, inaccurate information posted here as "fact" simply because no one has bothered to look it up or contradict it. An awful lot of what applied a decade or two ago is not valid any more, specially with companion parrots.

I think some like 'em hot, some dont but they dont pose a threat, though too many could perhaps cause digestive upset, but that goes for all foods. If I have learned anything, some days they will wolf down a certain food and then some days they wont touch it, or they like green beans but not yellow....odd little creatures. lol The article, as well as a hundred a hundred others, is clear though, they do NOT respond to peppers the same way humans do, Jake can have his peppers if he enjoys them Wingy, dont take them away from him.

AH ok, I had visions of curled around claws after a year. If they take a while to get sharp you really could introduce a file, it just need to be done slowly using positive reinforcement. Do you know anything about target training?

Birds dont blister when consuming hot peppers like mamals can, here is a good article written by an actual ornithologist on birds and peppers... http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1857/are-birds-immune-to-hot-pepper-enabling-them-to-eat-vast-amounts-and-spread-the-seeds

I cant imagine letting my bird go a year without having nails done, is there any way someone at home could help you towel them loosely? As in wrap them up and not squeeze the bejeezus out of them so that you could file them or use a dremel, more as a distraction rather than forceful restraint? Then if they tried to bite they would get a mouth of towel, no big deal. I would think part of the trauma is going too long between visits and having to actually cut a piece off, no? That cant be comfortable, its pressure and risk of bleeding/hitting nerve where as a slight touch with a file or dremel simply removes the sharp tip and if done regularly prevent the nails from growing to a length they need actual trimming. In 13 years Garth never needed his nails actually cut.

I was surprised he didnt even think twice about me putting it on him. I think I got lucky, just need to maintain it so he stays used to it.

Talon, you might want to start with an emery board on an older bird. A dremel can be dangerous if you're not used to it or the birds try to bite it and cut their tongues. Darwin doesnt bother with it at all, neither did Garth or my GW, but all were started as babies. I find the dremel faster and easier but I do it every 7-10 days or so, so I am only ever blunting the tip and not really ever cutting much off so there is never a bleed. I literally only dremel the nail for a second or two. That said, I also was a professional groomer for 15 years and have a massive amount of experience on dogs and birds, having done my previous birds for many years (my dogs are still a bigger pain in the butt fornails than the birds ever were/are). If you decide on dremel you"ll need a small cordless one, the larger corded ones are awkward and the cord gets in the way. Set it to low and let the bird hear it for a few days without touching them, show it to them with it off and stroke the feet if you can. If you can get near them with it just do one toe and walk away for a day and then do another toe the next day. Work up to multiple toes slowly and as well as having styptic powder on hand (which you wont need if you're just blunting the tip), make sure you have lots of high value special treats. P.S. I hold the toe over the top and dremel from underneath so if they did try to bite it they get the back of my hand and not the spinning dremel.

These may be the only photos I have of my other birds. It seems like a few lifetimes ago. Garth would have been 20 this year. According to the date these were taken in 1997, so Garth was 5 and Rio (Greenwing) was 3. The photos of Darwin taken this morning ere in the very same crabapple tree.

Careful what you wish for Judy...lol. I take a lot of pics! Sadly I have only a few of Garth and my Greenwing, digital cameras were not the norm 20 years ago. I just made a batch of birdie bread with quinoa, veggies, pumpkin, oats etc... I'm hoping he likes them. The chicken thigh bone was a HUGE hit this morning, he demolished it, I could barely find a trace of it on the bottom of the cage! P.S. I'm an idiot, I noticed afterwards that I manged to get his harness on inside out and he still put up with me...lol

I just noticed how dirty his face is...lol. We went outside right after breakfast, guess he needs a wipe down before going out in public....lol

I figured Darwin needed a thread of his own rather than the intro one, because his mother takes LOTS of photos and video! lol Darwin is has been home for 2 weeks now and he is getting quite settled so we decided to start working with the aviator harness. Well, what I thought would be an intro to the harness was actually all of 90 seconds to get it on him, he couldn't care less. I shouldnt have been surprised, he lets me do anything to him, even rolling him on his back, playing with his wings and dremmeling his toe nails. I cannot believe how easy going he is. In his outside cage, getting some sun Hanging out in the tree out front, after we picked tomatoes (which is harder to do with a Grey on your hand)