Whats Chikki thinking..

[karunk]

All.. Chikki is coming along fine.. i am sure he likes the conservatory, his cage.. the cute little tent i got him.. and also the rope with the bell that he loves to climb and sit on.. few things i have noticed in the last month of Chikki at home are as follows.. just wanted to see if there is anything i am missing that i should take care of..

 

1. He is generally very sweet, but likes to spend a lot of time in a day alone.. sitting on his play top perch/ roof or the bar under his cage.. he wouldnt step on to my hand if i ask him.. and i dont force him to as well. but i hope he is fine staying alone.. please clarify on this behaviour..

 

2. He steps on to me most times.. esp when he sees me after sometime, or after he has spent his time in his blissful solitude.. he also steps on to my father in law's hands at times.. but when my wife goes near him, he literally chases her away(at times).. she is already a bit nervous in handling him and tries to break the ice.. but he chases her away or sometimes flies at her and she has couple of times screamed in fear, jumped (a bit of a overreaction really) and left the place.. that really doesnt help things as Chikki gets a bit nervous at the reaction of my wife.. any reasons why Chikki does it at times.. did anything that my wife did caused such behaviour.. may be she shud ignore him and try avoiding such scenarios to stop reinforcing such violent movement??

 

3. also when left alone, he sometimes goes crazy and growls wildly(for a very few seconds though).. i dont know why he would do that.. it sometimes makes people a bit nervous.. but i am more worried about his environment.. is he feeling secure in the conservatory?? please let me know why he would behave like that.. he doesnt do that looking at the sky in fear though.. he keeps playing with his rope and suddenly growls.. or walks on the floor and suddenly growls and comes round and round at times.. is he fine??..

 

but these are rare occurrences, but i didnt want to ignore them.. otherwise, he is doing good on his training.. doing a few things on cue already.. and he is happy to accept new toys happily.. think thats because he is still young.. and also loves cudding when he is happy to be cuddled..

 

please advise..

 

Arun

[Eckobird]

1. Sometimes they like to have their alone time and don't want to be bothered. I would just leave Chikki alone when he doesn't step up to you, give him his space, he will be fine.

 

2. It sounds like he prefers men to women. This could be just a stage he is going through or it could be permanent. The best thing your wife can do is ignore him and show no sign of fear. They can sense our feelings so tell her to stay calm around Chikki. Will Chikki accept any treats from her? If so, have your wife be the one giving him treats so maybe they can form a bond.

 

3. So are you saying he growls when your not in the room? Is he playing with a toy? Sometimes they get overly excited with their toys and growl at them. Is there something particular he is growling at?

[chimaysmommy]

Chimay is similar in his alone time...though his alone "quiet" time isn't all that long, he does sometimes enjoys simply sitting on top of his playtop or Atom and admiring the realm of his "kingdom." Ha ha.

 

I agree with what Caitlin said about your grey preferring men over women...we have the opposite problem at our house. When Chimay first came home he would almost have NOTHING to do with my boyfriend, and would constantly look for ways to avoid interaction with him. But as soon as we noticed this behaviour we began spending as much two-on-one time with Chimay as we could so that he could associate my boyfriend with positive interaction just like with me. He still prefers me over my boyfriend, but he can handle Chimay MUCH better now and has not been bitten in quite a while.

 

When it comes to growling the way you describe, my guess is that Chikki is having a disagreement with one of his toys. Ha ha. Chimay does this as well...he gets into frequent disagreements with his wiffle ball and will transform into a taradactyl in what seems like an instant. I wouldn't worry, he's just showing his toys who is boss around that house

[Christina]

I agree with all that has been said. The treat idea for your wife is a great idea and no reaction when Chikki runs at her. Most birds can be bribed, albiet, greys not as easily as others. :-) Finnigan also enjoys her time by herself. Although, she wants to be in the room with us, her favorite place is on the ceiling fan observing what is happening and will often stay up there for hours as long as we are in her range of vision. Finnigan also does the growling thing...although, hers is more of a screaming, screetchy kind of wild jungle yell as she flies in circles. It's the funniest thing, but scared me to death when she was first doing it, I thought something was terribly wrong, turns out she was just making her joyful noises.:laugh: You are doing a great job...sounds like Chikki is a happy grey.

[karunk]

All.. thanks for the inputs.. ya, i dont force chikki to do anything unless he is willing to do it..

 

about the growling, he seems to growl at anything he plays with.. may be a rope he is climbing, or his tent he is playing in.. or even a piece of paper that he is chewing.. he just goes crazy and makes the noise..

 

yep, sumi and chikki are slowly becoming friends.. for a start i dont let sumi alone with chikki.. he is on my shoulders or arms and i keep chatting with sumi and chikki is fine.. today sumi also handfed him a bit of his dinner.. and i make her chat with him at times and we spent sometime in the conservatory when chikki is on his roof top or inside the cage.. so that he is used to sumi being around.. its coming along well so far.. will keeep u all posted with updates.

[karunk]

Hi all.. our chikki is getting a bit nippy these days.. he came home around 5 weeks back, and on the second weekend we had guests and he accepted them happily and stepped on to them.. its almost a month since then..and i have noticed a marked change.. he is aggressive to almost everyone except me..

 

this is how it happens.. he is happy and composed when he is with me.. but once someone comes around he gets aggressive.. they need not necessarily ask him to step up, or try handling him.. they would be just talking to me when chikki perches on my hand and chikki nips me.. dont know why he would do that.. anyone experienced this before.. the only thing i can tell people is to remain patient.. but meanwhile i want to understand if i was doing anything wrong that acts as a reinforcer to such behaviour from chikki.. please advise!!

[danmcq]

karunk wrote:

but once someone comes around he gets aggressive.. they need not necessarily ask him to step up, or try handling him.. they would be just talking to me when chikki perches on my hand and chikki nips me.. dont know why he would do that..

 

That is normal Parrot communication. Chikki is telling you he wants you to move from the area your in. They will do this when uncomfortable or sense a threat. Sometimes the bite to get you to move can by quite hard.

 

Your Grey is still young and has attached itself to you it seems as the favored. He no longer needs to get passed around to guests and is not going to readily accept it any longer unless he decides he is interested in them.

 

The honeymoon is over. Just pay close attention to his body language and also instruct your guests on proper Parrot etiquette, no sticking fingers at him, faces in his face, fast movements etc.<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2009/07/26 23:52

[karunk]

many thanks danmcq.. as long as he is fine with me, for the time being it should be fine.. the others can slowly get to him in due course.. i had guessed this, but wanted confirmation from the gurus.. thanks again..

[Tycos_mom]

Dan gave excellent advice I don't need to add anything except that it may get to the point where it would be safer for your guests and you to put Chikki in his cage when they come over.

[karunk]

Tycos_mom.. i will try to make sure people are safe.. but i am really surprised.. chikki is now slowly getting used to my wife being around.. she gives him treats every now and then and i make it a point to talk to her when chikki is on my shoulders.. think i should take it slow with my brother and others as well..

 

thanks for your inputs folks!!