Gilbert is home

[kittykittykitty]

I have to agree. It is Dee with the patience and love. I surely do enjoy reading about all the successes and little steps back as well. This story would make a wonderful book! Hint, hint! I really like the name Miss Gilbert.

[katana600]

Thanks ladies. I guess what I mean with Miss Gilbert is that I had to take my can-do attitude and back it way down to stop "doing" things and give her the space to feel safe to come out from her state of lock down. No amount of coaxing or trickery was going to help. She has to be able to say stop and know that she isn't going to be overpowered, toweled or otherwise steered into what anyone else wants. Once trust is built, I think we can move mountains together and we are getting so close. David was remarking again today how much it startled him to feel her beaking his toes. It is interesting that she is more likely to come off her cage and roam on the floor when he is home. Finding out she is a girl has been sweet for him. He talks to her different, softer and more understanding. Usually his conversation with Gilbert has been "be nice to LuLu, she cooks your beans". I try a new name every day. Today she was Lilly. Silly Gilly Lilly. LOL. I think she will let me know when the right name sticks. I did get the mini ice cream cones. I have never seen such a thing, wouldn't have know to look for them, thanks. The introduction was textbook normal grey. She flung it to the bottom of her cage. Then with great effort she went down to get it, carry it to the play top, then flung it emphatically down for the dog. I didn't have nutriberries, so she might have been protesting the empty cone. Hahahaa... I will keep trying. When anyone suggests I "write a book", I think it is a kind way to say I talk a lot. LOL. It would take an audience of grey loving people to understand how much it takes to change the habits of a grey with "issues". Gilbert is so close now to being just another normal grey.

[Wingy]

Silly human, the write a book idea is because you could help others and give inspiration to those thinking of or walking the walk of rescuing a grey.

 

The mini cone can be hung by a skewer, a leather lace or really anything. You can add some small foot toys, dry treats, anything at all. Two stacked on top of one another and hung can be a foraging treat toy. Make a hole and hang one over the handles of the measuring spoons. Wrap one in a piece of paper and tie with a bow. Those mini cones are so cool that if someone comes up with a cone maker I might just buy one. I don't do unitaskers so I heard a gasp when I mentioned to the family to keep an eye out for one.

[kittykittykitty]

Oh, no, you don't talk too much! The story of this darling timneh is so exciting, so rewarding for me to read I think others would enjoy it also. And yes, it is full of what others could do for another bird that needs a loving forever home.

[Luvparrots]

I read all the parrot books I can find. I have several. If you were to send me an autographed copy, Dee, guarantee I would read it. To be honest just write it, I will buy and read it no problem. I am also waiting for a book on Dayo, Dan........

Edited September 10, 2013 by luvparrots

[birdhouse]

I did get the mini ice cream cones. I have never seen such a thing, wouldn't have know to look for them, thanks. The introduction was textbook normal grey. She flung it to the bottom of her cage. Then with great effort she went down to get it, carry it to the play top, then flung it emphatically down for the dog.

 

Yep. We all got a perfectly clear picture from those couple of sentences. lol

 

Don't you love it? You'd think we'd learn. It's almost a guarantee that whatever we're excited for them to try is going to get pitched at least in the beginning.

 

Next time (there is going to be a next time, right?) you could try a bit of peanut butter, a couple of drops of anise, some apple sauce or something. But if you were feeling a little more ambitious, you might try w/some (slightly more exciting) derivative of this

 

Pellet and Oatmeal Ice Cream Cones

 

You will need:

1. Your parrot's daily pellets

2. All natural oatmeal (Quaker Oats)

3. Ice Cream Cones (sugar or regular)

 

Cook a half-cup serving of the oatmeal by the package directions. Leave the salt option out of the oatmeal. You want the oatmeal to be more on the sticky side so you can roll it into a ball. Roll the oatmeal ball in some of the pellets your bird eats so that it looks like it has been covered in sprinkles. Then place the rolled ball of oatmeal on to the cone to look like an ice cream cone! You can find regular ice cream cones in different colors to make the snack even more fun!

 

http://www.birdmedicineandsurgery.com/homemadetoys.php

[Wingy]

I love how Ms Gillybert (yes I made up a name there) used the dogs as her royal testers to make sure the new food item was not poison. Just the fact that she touched it is a huge deal, then to go down and get it is just awesome.

[katana600]

You all have me laughing out loud this morning at the vision of the Lilliputian Queen first using the royal testers to be certain her captor is not attempting to poison her. When we are on a roll, we are on a roll. As I was nearly empty handed with the boring plain mini cones, I was thinking of the time I made fortune cookies. We could make the round fortune cookies with the waffle cone recipe all changed up for the parrot and put a toy or surprise treat inside. You cut the cookie round, bake them flat and then shape them as they cool. Now I am thinking of making Wingy a stainless steel press to form them over tiny little cups. I went almost six months thinking I didn't have what it takes to understand a complex "used" parrot with issues and why it wasn't my problem anyway and how much pain I already endured to "fail" with the first two. Then my family spent another two years with a scary, unpredictable and breathtakingly ungrateful "captive". To watch in the short time since Miss Gillybert has decided to dazzle us with her cunning plan to win us over and then wait for the opportunity to make her "escape" I am in awe of the cleverness and emotional capacity of this little bundle of grey feathers. We will keep the book online for now as we let the plot develop. LOL. I have a feeling my husband is about to become smitten with his little girl. When she came under his chair and nibbled on his toes, he was delighted. Well first he was relieved that she only wanted a nibble because he witnessed my toe following an inadvertent chomp by Java and she is a fourth of Miss Gilbert's size. She and I have him right where we want him now. The first step is in getting him to name her. She isn't the only one with a cunning plan. LOL. Last night he laughed when I suggested "Sybil" and it wasn't entirely a nervous laugh either. He is 'different' now that he feels like a protector of a darling little girl who has been misunderstood. Of course, she is the only one up in the morning at 4:30 when he is getting prepared for the work commute and she sends him off with a cheery "bye bye, see ya later, back soon".

[Greywings]

Harry Too with a stuffed ice cream cone-a mix of sprouted grains, organic yogurt and finely chopped veggies, fruits and nuts. Use your imagination knowing what your birds enjoy.

[katana600]

Jill, I took a few minutes to go look at the photos of Harry Too and the others on that site. What struck me was the look of the parrots outside watching the photographer with interest and how it must have brightened their day to see a familiar friendly face. I liked the male red bellied parrot and I especially liked the black and white parrot with big green eyes at the bottom of the cage nesting in the adding machine tape. The phrase being in the cat bird seat now has a visual for me. Little Miss Gilbert is getting to be a normal grey minute by minute. Yesterday she climbed down from her cage and headed to the dining room as if this was just a daily routine forever. I quietly crept in my stocking feet to the opposite doorway to watch over my furniture legs after the wooden chest incident. She simply strolled from one place to the other under the table and around the room perusing her kingdom. After a bit, I offered her a step up and she waddled toward me and just as I expected her to lift her little foot for a step up, she surprised me with a lunge and a swipe at me. I was a little taken aback, that is usually only for inside the cage and when she already has had a snit on for one reason or another. I was completely surprised by the next move. She spread her wings, put her lower beak on the floor like a little steam shovel and she charged me. She tried to bite my feet and she jumped flapped and chased me like a mad goose, hissing even. I held my ground, sat in the doorway and watched to see what she was doing. She really WAS going to chew the feet of my dining room chairs. After a minute, she started her charge again but this time she spied a spider and before I could even think she ate it and looked me directly in the eye with what I can only describe as malice. Could be my imagination after witnessing her eat a spider. I had to remind myself that birds eat insects and just remained calm to watch her turn and slowly walk away around the corner, back to her cage and onto her floor stand. I had to laugh at myself thinking about all the times I have read others on this forum say "what can I do with my grey, it is attacking our feet" etc. I used to wistfully think that if Miss Gilbert would only interact with us, even if it meant being naughty, it would mean the world to me. Hahahahaha, as they say, be careful what you wish for. I just see a new day dawning in our household as she plots her takeover.

[Ray P]

Hey Dee, I think the takeover has already happened. You haven`t caught on yet.

[birdhouse]

I'd have to agree w/Ray, Dee. Given her current level of reconnaissance, I'm guessing she's currently implementing phase 3.

 

Also, when you think about it, that spider could translate as a slightly Mafia style message. Just sayin.

Edited September 11, 2013 by birdhouse

[Greywings]

Little Grey alien has taken control of the house, mind control is the next step "Resistance is futile". Glad you enjoyed the photos of the birds and the green eyed catbird as well.

[birdhouse]

Harry Too with a stuffed ice cream cone-a mix of sprouted grains, organic yogurt and finely chopped veggies, fruits and nuts. Use your imagination knowing wht your birds enjoy.

 

I have to admit to a moment of sublime envy when I read this. If I were ever to start Phenix out w/anything that "exotic", he'd be calling for the Royal Tasters for sure!

 

Which of course translates into it being inhaled by the dogs who certainly wouldn't appreciate the time & effort I took. I've always hated that! So does that mean when you come down to it, it's really all about me? lol

 

The recipe is admittedly a snooze. But it's 2/3rds familiar ingredients & so hopefully, that much less threatening for a start point. When I proposed something "slightly" more exciting, I was thinking more along the lines of adding something like crushed nuts just to make it a little more of an enticement. Although plain, warm oatmeal really is a surprising favorite around here.

[Greywings]

Anything warm is a familiar consistency from their "childhood" I think you may find any warm moist foods with out salt - like Grits, Oatmeal, polenta, cooked rice, mashed potatoes, Cooked grains- Quinoa, Barley, Kamut ect. will all be received happily. You can sneak in some Red Palm oil, finely chopped veggies, shredded unsweetened coconut, chopped nuts or cook with fruit or veggie juices to add more nutrition.

[birdhouse]

I'm also convinced about the warm, gooey stuff being comfort food. It gave me a big leg up w/Phenix when I was getting his diet on track. But it does seem like oatmeal is the bestest except maybe my w/Quaker. Charm is just too fickle to pick a favorite & stick to it. lol

 

I won't even try to explain this. But something like an ice cream cone is likely to read toy w/Phenix vs food. He's uber-chicken when it comes to new toys. So even though he's a really great eater, he'd fling something like that in a heartbeat unless he saw me eating it & I "let" him mooch. 99 out of 100 times that would work on the first try!

[katana600]

I am slow on the uptake. Miss Gilbert has been way ahead of me since the first day. LOL. I have been talking myself down from the spider thing. LOL. It WAS a message. "If I would inflict upon myself to eat a spider, imagine what more I can do to you." LOL. Then, the rational side contends that she is a wild animal... I have seen chickens and other birds eat spiders and worse. It was just a natural reaction. Hhahahaha.. She has me right where she wants me. As I awakened this morning it was with the Billy Joel song "She's Always A Woman To Me". THIS is Miss Gilbert's theme song. It says it all. I was remembering how much Miss Gilbert likes to share a little oatmeal with me and then read your posts. I was even willing to give her some of the instant oatmeal but discovered someone already ate the last one. I was determined to give her a peace offering this morning to continue the trend so I found some baby food with spaghetti 0s. I filled up a cone for her and one for Java. Java snatched hers right up and was devouring it. Ahh. Success. Miss G was not to be swayed so easily. I took a bite and offered her a bite. She snatched off an impressive size chunk and flung it to the floor. The dogs were on point immediately. I tried another bite and offered her another. She got a little pasta in that bite, and promptly flung it too. At least she didn't seem afraid. I set it carefully on the top of her cage and walked away. I heard her toenails on the metal bars as she didn't even wait for me to be out of sight to clamor right up there to get her treat. And splat, down to the dogs. However, it wasn't seconds later that she was trying to climb down to retrieve it from them when she had second thoughts. Too late, there wasn't even a scent of it remaining. Now she is on the floor, on the move, exploring. Only now... like the spider incident I am not so sure of her intent. She has a new swagger, a sense of purpose. She looks like a little thug in a pinstriped suit. I am going to put on socks.... and maybe steel toed boots. This is a delicious new chapter in her book of redemption and I am not so sure if it will be me that becomes her tale of warning to the next unsuspecting do-gooder in her path. LOL. She is blossoming, she is coming out. I am fervently hoping the blooming little soul isn't one of those stink flowers. Not a chance.

[Ray P]

Remember Dee Orchids or stink flowers, A flower is a flower.

[danmcq]

The important thing is she is out, roaming, raising hell and exploring. I love reading of her adventures and step by step accounts of her actions and responses. She is starting to realize she has a will she can actually exercise without being tormented and locked down for life in a cage. But, she has her more friendly moments as well and I thinks she's doing GreYt. You have done a wonderful job in giving her all the time and patience she has needed.

[katana600]

You know I am teasing about her being a stink flower. She really is my rare and beautiful orchid. I feel such elation when she swings down off her door to the small cage on the floor which serves as her basement apartment and a bridge from the stand to the floor. It has been there for months, but she is just getting the notion to roam. The dining room is her exotic location of choice every day this week. She goes in one door and I go around to the other and just lie down on the floor to keep guard of my furniture and her safety. The dogs are curious at her new mobility and she chases them too. Even though they run and get out of her way, I am not going to be complacent. She is getting pretty sassy about telling me I wasn't invited to her adventure. She goes so far as to put her lower beak on the floor and giving me the "bull rush". Today she almost scared me. I was lying prone at her level, I had my arms crossed and she bluffed me and then made a run that I was sure would end in contact. I kept my fingers safely hidden and she came close enough I could feel her breath on my arms but she didn't bite me. She has done this to me with her cage, she is very possessive of the cage. I have had to get very innovative to get her food in when she gets in one of these modes. Strangely she will give me the business for a day or two, I remain consistent. She may have her domain, but certain things like feeding, cleaning up or safety are not negotiable. Neither is leaving her alone on the floor in the dining room with no supervision. She was on the floor for over an hour. It is the cutest thing down there on her level. After she postured and charged at me, she was marching around "stamping" her feet so hard it sounded like she had little hard sole boots on! After she looked in every corner and satisfied herself that I knew my place, she matter of factly, left the room, rounded the corner and climbed back up on her play stand. She slept for more than three hours. It must really be exhausting to her to be so adventurous. I can hardly wait to see what she does next. The days of permitting a placid, flightless parrot to have an open door policy all day may have to change, but I have time to allow it to morph into bringing her to wherever I am spending my time.

[danmcq]

Oh, I know you are enjoying and soaking up every second of her new adventures. I love the Bull Rush! That and the boot stomping. I believe you have a punk rocker there.

 

I would imagine her adventures takes a lot out of her, as she is fearful, happy, bold and yet not letting the fear overcome her desire to explore, be free and discover life as it should be. No doubt that heightened alertness, fear and stress she pushes past takes a lot out her. But, you can imagine she is rim sleeping and visioning the wonders the world has to offer for her to explore and enjoy.

[Greywings]

What a brave adventurer she is becoming, kudos to you both!

[katana600]

Dan, I hope she is dreaming about what once was and that she had a first home that gave her wings and freedom and love and she will remember that and want more. Punk rocker is a good description, she was willful, stubborn and anti establishment yesterday and I was watching from a distance, keeping her safe and letting her get it out of her system. If she were a teenager, I would be thinking Goth, black eye shadow, lipstick, nail polish, a studded dog collar and threats of tatoos. LOL. In my sleep, I dream of great things too. Like getting PVC cut to 10 inch lengths and slipping those collars over the legs of all my furniture so she can roam to her little heart's content. My home is getting more beautiful all the time. I have blankets draped over the wooden chests and have lots of little surprise baskets for her to find with cardboard and other things to destroy. I have to admit, it makes me wonder who in their right mind would be so eager to give this little bird the full run of the house and live around her obstacles? Ah.. that's right, no one ever said I was in my right mind. Hahahaha. I love that she is challenging me and feeling more brave. Every foray out of her comfort zone increases her self confidence. I know there is a little Timneh in there with a big personality and a great outgoing attitude. She just needs to feel safe enough to let her hair down. Life for Miss Gilbert changes every day. For anyone else considering to adopt an older parrot, I have to say that there were months that passed that made me wonder if I was up to this task and if she would be okay. I am so glad I committed forever no matter what because I am now beginning to see what others have said that it is hard but the rewards are worth the time and effort. Every day I have big messes to clean up and I rejoice that she isn't stationary in her cage with a little mound of bird poop growing up from the floor as the only evidence that she is not a stuffed animal on the perch. She is awesome. She has come so far and now we are looking back to see that reflecting how much room she has to grow and get better and better every day. One thing I have to admit is that as she gets braver and seeks greater horizons, the more she is cussing at night. I really think it is letting off steam and testing me to see if she can get me to turn my back on her. I think it is part of that punk rocker phase and I am not going to let it bother me but if her tongue was the wet kind, I would be whittling a piece of soap just her size. This too shall pass.

[kittykittykitty]

She is one fortunate bird to have you! She surely is acting like a teen ager. How long are the teen years for a timneh? I hope not as long as for humans!

[Ray P]

The teen years for a grey are until death do us part.