Sarasota

There are a couple of ways to do it. I found this to be the easiest: Hook up a webcam to your computer. If you have one already built into your computer, that works. You need an account with UStream - it's completely free. Aim the webcam at the birds, hit the "start broadcast" button and go. It's really that simple! Of course, it does mean others can peek in on your birds (so you have to turn it off when you get home, or risk being caught in your underwear singing to the animals!). Feel free to check mine out. The yelling in the background is one of the toucans. He's been at it for a few days. I think I need to redesign his cage, poor critter. Live Stream Video

Wow, I've got it easy! All I've lost so far is a webcam (that hurt) and many pens and toothbrushes!

It's always a bit of a shock the first time they get air...imagine what she was thinking..."Oh so that's what these things are for!!"

Pumpkins are fabulous enrichment for parrots. I used to give large ones to the macaws (check out the miligold, Big Sam that used to live at my house) and they will rip them to shreads in minutes. They greys got the smaller ones and rolled them around for a day or two before getting the idea. You can also cut holes in the sides, stuff the pumpkin with toys, food and other goodies and impale them on kebobs. Fall has great fruits and veggies for parrots! Edit: Here's a great idea for Pumpkin/Parrot Enrichment: http://www.parrotenrichment.com/images/PumpkinForagingToys.pdf

Amen to that. My TAG has 30+ of behavioral baggage. I'm perfectly fine working on his timeline. My CAG has an annoying "gnawing" behavior. It's not true biting (in fact, he does the same behavior with my TAG when he tries to mate with him), but it's not acceptable. I've tried various forms of differential reinforcement with no luck. Finally, I realized that the antecedent was simply, "Get on hand, chew on finger." So, now I am going to get him off the hand and on to perch and then teach the DRI. Sondhi is an awesome bird and picks up new behavior in a snap, so I hope this training plan works. Right now his big behavior is trying to run up my arm and mate with my head. Needless to say, you can see how annoying this can be!

That's great! You've inspired me to start working again with Sondheim on his step up. With Burt, I use something similar. It's a rope swing toy...like the one in the photo below.

He is most likely confused by all the new sights and sounds. You are very lucky to know he is nearby. Don't give up the search. Keep using famiilar phrases. *If you can, put his cage or playstand out where he can see it - like your front porch. If he sees it, it might draw him down.*

Yikes! That does sound like a lot. If you are ever concerned - please immediately call/see your vet. You'll get a lot of good advice on the boards - sometimes, competing advice and that can be very confusing - but there's no subsitute for a vet examination. Good luck! Keep everyone posted on the progress.

The only way you can know this for sure is to have your vet do a complete blood panel. If you bird is getting a good diet of pellets, vegetables, fruits, grains, etc. there is no need for a vitamin supplement. In fact, they can do more harm than good. Try stopping the supplement and see what happens over the next few weeks. If the behavior is that significant, I would take the bird to the vet for a panel.

Whitney is lucky to have found you. Judy is right. In a year or so from now you'll be saying "Huh? What wing problem?? She's perfect!"

You are so very lucky, Nancy! There's a few single people on the board (me, included). I am the cage cleaner, trainer, snuggler, singer and dancer all rolled into one! I love it, but it can be very exhausting.

I keep forgetting you are a dog trainer!!!

How HORRIBLE. I'm so sorry. This is why I have stopped buying treats. I make my own for the doggies...and they seem to love it, so all I good. Geez, with the birds and the dogs....I'm becoming quite the cook!

Good news! He doesn't sound like "active plucking." I would let it go for now. It may only be a comfort behavior - like humans brushing teeth or plumping a pillow at night. We all have our rituals, birds are the same. I have a CAG that climbs to the top of his cage, hangs upside down for about a minute before going to his sleep perch. Every night. Just seems to be his routine (I always watch for it, and then I know it's safe to turn out the lights).

Patience is the key here. Is that his full time cage? It's on the small side. Birds can be very territorial. When you offer treats with the open door, you invade the entire territory. Also, I would move the cage from the area into a more active area of the house. He needs to get used to seeing people in his environment. Another thing I noticed. Is his cage always by the window? Some birds can feel very uncomfortable this way. If they are by a window, they have to constantly scan for predators such as hawks or cats. Try moving the cage so that it has a solid wall behind it. I would try this: put a treat bowl inside the cage. When you pass the cage and he doesn't growl or lunge, drop the seed in the bowl. Continue this until the growling stops. This is the hard part: you are on Grey Time now. This process may take weeks. When the growling stops, move to passing the treats through the bars, then move towards feeding them with the cage door open. Try some of these suggestions and see if they are helpful!!

Oh I bet that little Stinkpot is!! Sondheim is a wild one. He's the one that bites my thumb, cocks his head and said "Wanna cuddle??" With perfect parrot hindsight (let's all laugh our heads off on that one) - I used to let him sit on my chest for hours, cuddle him while he nibbled on my fingers. Boy, did I set myself up for that one!! If he starts yelling "Here comes Honey Boo Boo!!" I'm packing!

What a beautiful story. Thank you so much for sharing! We have so much to learn from these amazing creatures.

It sounds like a displacement/comfort behavior of some kind. Are they any patches of missing feathers/baldness in the areas he is plucking? If not, I don't think you have anything to worry about. Sometimes our "over attention" to something can make the problem escalate. My suggestion is just to leave it alone for awhile, proceed as normal and see how it progresses.

Sounds like a wonderful morning. That's a great idea! I have a long, homemade perch/playstand that I keep on my desk. In the early days, I kept it on the desk, right up against Burt's cage. He started climbing down on his own to get treats and interact. He then progressed to climbing down the stand and on to the desk to work with the ring/peg game. The tiny steps forward feel so great!!

Ahhh. No one on this board thought you were being rude. Trust me, we all felt your pain very deeply. We just express it in different ways and voices. Everyone on here is a bird/parrot lover. Whatever your decision (sounds like you are leaning towards keeping Whitney)....hang in there, Sweetie!

I had the opportunity to see Chris Biro's Pirate Parrot Show at the LA County Fair yesterday. He travels around the country with his birds, so if you aren't in the SoCal area check to see if he'll be around you. It's not to be missed! Chris trains all of his birds with Applied Behavior Analysis. They are all free flighted (some prefer to hang out in the trees during the show). Rather than a show with tons of "tricks," it's more educational. Good times! He also has facilities in Washington and Utah where has free flight instruction. Links: http://www.libertywings.com/about/the-pirates-parrot-show/ http://www.facebook.com/thepiratesparrot

Wow....that sums it up perfectly. That is the relationship I have with my rehome. He's an older bird, lived in a terrible hoarding situation for years and is wild caught. That's a lot for the little guy to process. I'll never punish him for the behavior he's had to learn to adapt over the last 30 years.

The target training is a great step. It's the first step I took in training Burt and building a relationship. One of the big things I got from the Natural Encounters workshop: When you approach an animal with a "scary thing" (i.e. a target stick, a dremel), always give the bird the power over the object. If they show distress, move the object back back just a tiny bit. Giving the animal power over its environment is huge. Also, make sure the reinforcements are present. I wish I had video of this...but an amazon was being trained to have its toes done with a dremel. After the first step described above, the dremel remained motionless. The bird was in the cage. In order to gain a sunflower seed, the bird had to approach, get the seed, and then hightail it out of there if it desired. Very powerful training. Sounds like you've got it down with the target stick! Here is the method I used with a Kea (training a Kea is like training a raven on speed). I first trained her to target a metal clip. Once she was targeting, I moved the clip onto the cage. In very small steps, I moved the clip to inside the cage. If she stopped working, I moved the clip a step back. In order to get her inside the cage, I dropped a few pinenuts into a food bowl. She had an aversive experience with going inside just before we started working, so the training was slow going, but we got there. With Burt, I was already using a sunflower seed lure to get him to go in his cage, so the phyisical act wasn't difficult for him. I used the same method of targeting a clip. It went so fast I had him on a verbal cue in under 5 minutes. Here's a link to a video. It's sloppy training (I was too eager to get it on tape) as I repeat the cue, but if gives you an idea of what it looks like (he does a couple other behaviors on hand cue before the cage behavior):

I have 12 molting pigeons. I should start making wings to go with those sexy slippers!

Too funny! I call Sondheim "Boo Boo Bear" all the time. Now when I enter the room he yells "Hi BooBoo!"