Hi All... New here

[jellygator]

Hi to everyone. I'm new and incredibly stressed about two problems with my boyfriend's birds. (He's had birds for years, but I've never been exposed to any before.) I've been trying to find solutions and have read books, at least a dozen magazines, and many web articles, but so far, nothing works, and he is out of suggestions. These birds aren't greys, so please forgive me if I'm breaching etiquette, but I've noticed many bird owners seem to have more than one species.

 

Issue 1: Our home has a yellow-naped Amazon, and a Grand Eclectus. The Amazon was supposedly quite unfriendly, while the Eclectus was considered tame. Well, the Amazon adores me. She lets me hold and pet her, and has never bitten me except once, lightly, when she got spooked. The Eclectus meanwhile, has become highly aggressive toward me... but ONLY toward me. Others can pick her up and hold her, pet her, and carry her around without problem.

 

When I'm sitting in the room alone, she will lower her body and flutter her wings and come as near to where I am sitting as her cage allows - the same behavior she does when her favorite person is near. She will also step up immediately if my hand comes within reach of her. She then waits about 1-2 seconds, tilts her head, and then will bite hard and refuse to release. I have stopped giving her time out of the cage during the day when I'm home alone, as she sometimes flies and the last time, she did nerve damage to my finger when I tried to return her to her cage. I still feed and water her, though, and she attacks the cage bars as soon as my hand retreats (not usually while I'm placing food or water, however.)

 

It may have started as a fear response, but that's no longer the case, I think. She screams as soon as I disappear from her line of sight (she's caged in our dining room, with walls on two sides), and when she bites she will not release or leave my hand to return to her cage. At first I thought perhaps it was because my dog scared her when I brought her into the household, but she doesn't seem to have any noticeable response when my dog looks for treats on the floor near her cage. The first time I picked her up when others weren't in the house, she climbed right up my arm, which made me nervous and scared, and though I tried to turn my head away and lean toward her cage, she bit my face. She will bite repeatedly until she gets a good, firm hold. I've tried handling her with gloves, using treats, gentle scolding and praise for good behavior. I now completely avoid her, but I hate seeing her caged constantly even when I'm working in the room. I won't use a spray bottle or scream at her, and just learned a bit about clicker training.

 

Has anyone tried this? Will it work or am I likely to worsen the problem?

 

Issue 2: The Amazon never travelled about the house until recently. The Eclectus sometimes flies about 15 feet, usually staying in the dining room area. One of two things may be prompting/promoting this. Either it's because she's become more aware of the Eclectus (my boyfriend's daughter decided to try to introduce them by bringing the Eclectus into the room where the Amazon's cage is located) and now both of them seem to regularly be trying to get to the other's cage whenever one is out of their own cage. But they fight if they so much as set eyes on each other. There's also a safety issue as we have four dogs and two cats as well. Just this week, it has reached the point where the Amazon makes a beeline for the floor within moments of her cage door being opened. We've tried putting her back up on top of the cage, and using brief timeouts in the cage, but it seems only to make her more determined.

 

Is there a way to address this? I can't find any information at all!

[Morana]

Hello! :-)

Well you do have some serious problems. Please tell us how long have you known the birds? When did eclectus start to act differently? How old are the birds? Did they have a previous owner/s? These are just a few questions that I think are important, so please answer them. Second, I'm just a newbie so I recommend reading threads that already exist here (on this forum). Even if you get a straight answer here, it would be wise to start reading stickys and other posts. Many members have parrots that have been rescued and have issues of their own so their experience and their stories could help a lot. More experienced members will probably ask more questions and give some of the answers. Good luck.

These are links which I got on my mail because I bought many things from that site and it really helped much, so... just to get you thinking and to give you hope :-) Hope everyone is ok about posting this here(?) Hope other people will benefit too:-)

 

http://www.birdtricks.com/blog/fixing-finger-phobia/

http://www.birdtricks.com/blog/?s=the+phases+of++fear&x=10&y=11 (the section for you is below this first story. It is called How Fast Can Your Parrot REALLY Be Trained? and there is a section about thee phases of fear.

[judygram]

Hello Jellygator and welcome to our family, yes I would have to say that most of us who have more than one bird have different species of birds for there is just not one particular type we love the most.

Morana asked some pertinent questions that need answering, were these birds rehomes or rescued? If they are mature birds with previous owners then they came with baggage that will not change but you can learn to adapt to.

I don't have an amazon or an eclectus but we do have some members who do have either one or both so they may be of some help to you with your situation but in the meantime do read thru a lot of the threads here for information, we do have an amazon room so be sure to start there.

[jellygator]

Thanks! I've been reading at birdtricks.com (that's where I learned about the clicker training), and will check out those articles as soon as I answer your questions.

 

The Amazon was in a pet store when the store owner actually gave it to his ex-wife because the bird was so unfriendly toward others. I don't know the age of either, though both have been in my boyfriend's home for a number of years and are both grown. The Eclectus has had a number of previous owners, most of whom are known to by boyfriend. The earliest history I know is that his sister used to have her, but gave her to him when she got a different bird about nine years ago. His foster son took a liking to her, and "claimed" her as his until he moved out. Then a woman my boyfriend knows begged to have the bird, bought her, and took her to her house that had literally over 20 cats. The bird did not like her at all, and she gave the bird back to my boyfriend after several months. (Come to think of it, this woman speaks in a manner very similar to me, and a couple of people have remarked that we are a lot alike, so perhaps that's a contributing factor?) She's been here ever since, and my boyfriend's daughter is her favorite person - able to handle her to the degree of the bird allowing herself to be upside down and cradled like a baby.

 

The biting started the first time I ever picked her up without my boyfriend or his daughter right alongside me, and if they're present she's more restrained about biting, too. She's never bitten me or attacked the cage bars when one of them is there until just a few days ago, when his daughter finally saw this behavior. I've been dating him for 7 months, and moved in 2 months ago.

[Luvparrots]

Welcome Jellygator, so glad you decided to join us. We do have an Other Birds Room so you have come to the right forum!!!! I have both an eclectus (male) re-homed; and a male blue-front amazon rehomed. However, I don't have the same problems you are facing. My male ekkie prefers to be alone (he is about 10 1/2 years old at least) and he only wants to sit in his cage in the birdroom, or his travel cage in my office. He is very set in his ways. My zon is 3 years old and is a sweetheart but won't let me touch him but he minds beautifully and is very playful and will return to his cage when asked, most of the time! So please post your questions about the amazon in our Amazon Room and questions about your eclectus in the Other Birds Room and perhaps we can give you some suggestions to help you answer your questions. Welcome to the family!!

[birdhouse]

Ekkies, in general are pretty laid back birds. But they also internalize stress so they just aren't as easy to read as some breeds.

 

Most ekkies aren't comfortable with high energy & drama, especially the females. There are a number of people in this ekkie's world & multiple animals. If she has territorial issues with the zon, that's extra stress because she's always aware of him no matter where he is.

 

If you're the least bit unsure around an already unsettled ekkie, it can cause problems.

 

If you're a high energy, fast moving type person, an ekkie isn't going to be comfortable around you & it can cause problems.

 

If you move in on an ekkie's human(s), you may certainly have a problem. They can develop extreme bonds. And again, this may even be more true of females.

 

If you fear almost any parrot, it will mess with you, threaten you & provoke you until you leave it alone or conquer your fear.

 

A female ekkie can have some extreme hormonal swings which aren't limited to what we classically think of as breeding season. During those times, a normally sweet & well adjusted bird can have a total personality change. (I've refered to my ekkie as a cross between a teenager with PMS & a 2 yo with an ear ache!)

 

You're going to have to figure out the cause(s) before you can fix the problems. Given what you've posted, these are a few things that may be involved here.

 

Does any of this seem like it may apply?

[jellygator]

LuvParrots, should I reclassify this post or take your suggestions in the future but leave this here for now?

 

Birdhouse, what you wrote is similar to the articles I've read in magazines. I think she sensed my fear when I first had her out alone, but I think there is something more. She doesn't have problems being handled by anyone else - including friends to our home - and she does this anytime I am near her cage at all - like three feet away putting something away in a drawer, not looking at her or trying to talk to her. I no longer fear her, though I don't approach her at all. She obviously dislikes me for some reason, and I want to overcome that, but when I tried it only got my hand scarred up pretty badly from the three or four times I attempted to take her elsewhere and train her. (She'd take a treat, eat it, and then attack!)

 

 

Morana, I read the articles you posted and I loved the one about the stages of Maslow's hierarchy and how they relate to birds. We are planning to buy that set soon, as it appears to be a good one. (If anyone has had poor results with it, please let me know!)

[Morana]

And now when you mentioned it birdhouse.. They are prone to stress, right... Well, after so much back and forth between owners-and now you show up! Another new person, another insecurity in her life (because no of her previous owners stayed long enough..) .. IMHO this is a looot of stress for one birdie.

 

PS: if you already know about bird tricks then you must know that touch training would have to be first.. You can certainly use the clicker with that, but IMO this comes first.

Edited January 20, 2011 by Morana

[Luvparrots]

Just start a new thread in the Other Birds Room with any questionsyou have about your ekkie. This Intro post should remain here. We have different room for different topics.

[jellygator]

And now when you mentioned it birdhouse.. They are prone to stress, right... Well, after so much back and forth between owners-and now you show up! Another new person, another insecurity in her life (because no of her previous owners stayed long enough..) .. IMHO this is a looot of stress for one birdie.

 

PS: if you already know about bird tricks then you must know that touch training would have to be first.. You can certainly use the clicker with that, but IMO this comes first.

 

I haven't tried to work with either of them on tricks - I am just in a learning phase, really. I'm reading as much as I can get my hands on, watching videos, and talking to people. I had the same thought about a lot of stress, and my boyfriend and I have been discussing whether to move her cage from the dining room where there is so much activity into our office, which is where I spend a lot of time during the day, but the dogs only go into it to sleep. (They get loud whenever they hear noises outside.)