Alexandrines

[bettyboop]

I agree with Zooman , it's just going to take a little time and the idea of placing your hand along side the perch with a treat sounds like a good way to entice him . I bet if he sees the other birds on your hand , he will pick it up . Sammy and Zsa Zsa have learned from each other , like how to ride around on my head. They love to fight over who's on top . Drives me bananas....HA HA

The Spaghetti Squash is better than you think . Just try it once. Ha Ha

I'm not sure about a playstand , I have always thought everyone I have seen is lacking something abd look so unnatural(SP?) . I will think about it .

To give Karma , or decrease Karma, the two thumbs over to the left under how many post we have made , the thumb pointing up , click on it and it adds a Karma for the person and the thumb pointing down , decreases their Karma , if you dislike something they have written . So now you can Karma away .You are not a Dummy...

Have a great day .

M

[bettyboop]

Pat , Zsa Zsa was so protective over her cage , I took it away from her .She went to a sleep cage at night in another room , in the daytime she was on the playstand , if I had to leave then she would go to her big cage which was in a room away from the playstand , but only while I was gone . Then when I returned I would open her door and make her step up , she would bite and I never gave up , it hurt , but I was determined she was not doing that to me and it worked , she steps up perfectly for me , everytime . But I kept her cage and still do out of sight and she does not have the opertunity to be there while I am home , I shut the door.

[Tycos_mom]

Thanks I may have to do the same thing with Gizmo if he doesn't start comeing out on his own and stepping up without a fight. Gizmo has only bit me hars enough to break the skin once and that was just a couple days after I got him. He won't come out of the cage on his own unless I start giving him a bath then he comes out and sits on top of the door to get a good soaking thats when I shut the door and lock him out. I'm trying to get him to stepup from ontop of his cage I think with a liitle time and work I;ll be able to do that if not I may have to do what you did. I have to be able to pick hm up. its important in case of an emergency so one way or another even if it means a few good bites he's going to learn That I mean what I say when I tell him to step up. I just hate getting bit I allergic to pain:laugh:

[bettyboop]

You are correct , it is important for safty concerns.

He won't bite you as much if he doesnt get a reaction .With Zsa Zsa another thing , I could get her attention with anything and just very quickly slide my fingers under her feet , so quick it startled her and I would lift my hand high which took her more off guard of biting me .Worked like a charm .When you do get him off the cage , take it out of the room , or take him where he can't see it . If they can't see it then they are in a neutral situation and become more workable . It will work out , I have faith in you .

Hugs

M

[Tycos_mom]

I've actually been doing that when I can get him out of his cage so that he's on top then I just walk over to him and push my arm under his feet so he either flys or steps up I don't care which one he chooses because once he flys hes off his cage and will step up no problem then I take him out of the room. I have another problem with him also once he has stepped up he wants to head straight for my shoulder he doesn't bite me at all anymore we've gotten past that pretty much he dooes like to hold my fingers in his mouth though if he goes to bite me and I don't budge he will grab my finger but there's no presure at all. He's just a big bluffer. so I don't even worry about him biting me anymore. I definatly don't pull away. But he does not like to come out of his cage and I hate it when he's trys everything to get away while he's in there I'm afraid he's going to hurt himself. The only way I can seem to get him out is to give him a bath then he will come out while I'm spraying him. Tjen I shut the door of his cage and lock it. Its jst going to take some time he's a sweet little bird that really wants to be loved and scritched he lets me scritch his head all the time now. actually I think he would just sit there all day and let me do that. Even when he's in his cage If I say you want some scritches he right there with his head down waiting. He's just been in that darn cage to long and he's terrified to leave it. Thank you for your help I'm sure we will get there one way of another. Time and patients and lots of love thats the key to happy healthy well rounded birds. so I'll keep at it and he will get there 2 steps forward 1 step back. You have done wonders with Zsa Zsa I hope I can do as well with Gizmo. I reallt must get his wings clipped I think that will help alot also. Raja's doing good he's giong through a bit of a bluffing stage I just ignore it and tell him not to be so silly. then he's back to his old self snuggling up and wanting me to give hime scritches and pets. he's so cute when I pet him he practices all his words when he's getting pets. He says baby sweet baby cutie its very sweet

[zooman]

both of you have done wonders with your birds i guess ive been lucky with mine, but you both taking in re-homes is a big deal and i commend you on it. She has given you a great idea of getting him in neutral ground is very important. Take him somewhere he doesnt know and practice the step up. To this day once a week or so i have both birds do step up from hand to hand over and over till they give me the little bit of beak saying "heyyy enough already i get it!!" I figure it'll keep them knowing whos boss. With tiago i used to get nasty bites the first few weeks as well getting him out of his cage. He is veeerrryy possessive of the cage as well, i cant change the toys in there when hes around with zuri he could care less he just hops on my back while im cleaning it and comes for a kiss. Try as i might to get tiago to get over it he doesnt. But after a few days he steps up no problem after i did the technique i described to you. Zuri was a breeze and after that first day he's a little baby. guess different breeds different traits. Its too bad gizmo was so cage bound before it'll take time and patience.

 

As for the squash maybe one day ill get the nerve to try it, but right now ill pass

 

Thanks for the karma technique i thought only the admin people could give that, and its so plain in sight there too..haha oh well

 

have a great weekend.

[bettyboop]

Alexandrines can be very jealous of other birds. Perhaps Raja is jealous of Gizmo . Why has he started to bite or bluff at you ? Is this a new reaction ?

How does Gizmo react to a playstand ? Give him a reason to want to come out . If he has fun playing , maybe this wil entice him to come out .

I would , wait a while to clip this guys wings , if it were me.You are trying and doing such a good job of helping him become independent of his cage , now you want to clip him , which might be devestating .Also perhaps would send mixed signals....

You have no idea what we have been through with both of our birds , biting us , even attacks from Sammy. I don't always think clipping is necessary for attitude adjustments .Z has only had one vanity clip, that was when she was 4 months old , it didnt change her attitude , maybe it made her worse .That was the time when she was making me bleed daily.

Sammy really doesnt fly a lot , he will come over to visit , or go to a perch or playstand , but he will stay wherever he goes for hours , just talking and talking and talking . He really doesnt have to have a toy , he just likes to talk ....So , clipping him would do nothing to help his attitude .He is an arrogant bird , who has been here 9 months .He has come a long way , and he has a long way to go. He is sweet , but can change in an instant....

Just get him away from the cage , and the cage out of sight .It will get better.<br><br>Post edited by: bettyboop, at: 2008/11/15 11:40

[bettyboop]

Zooman ,

That is very smart of you to do the step up practice with your birds . You do good with them , and it is very important to continue training sessions to help them to remain tame . I don't always do that but you helped to remind me of something very important, so I will begin again today. Thank you...

My birds do step up , so I guess I just didnt think about training .

I have taught Zsa Zsa to fly to me on command. I sit across the room and tell her come to me , and she flies over .I sometimes will go into another room , and she will come to the other room, as if we are playing hide n seek .haha.... We do this everyday ,in case God forbid she ever flew out the door . Sammy doesnt quite get it .....more work ..

[Tycos_mom]

Thats great training I think all birds should fly to their owners on command. My Amazon and my Green cheeked Conure are both trained todo that. Ièm trying to get Tyco to do that now she know what I want because she watches Fergie do it all the time Tyco is still not totally ready yet Iève had he 14 months now and she has come a very long way from when I first got her but flying to me on command is not something she wants to do yet. I donèt think it will bbe long though she sees the fuss and love Fergie gets when she comes over to see me. she watches so close. Tyco and Fergie are good friends so that helps allot with Tycos training Greys seem to learn best by watching other birds. For that matter I thing all birds learn that way best. I let Gizmo watch as I pet and scritch Fergie and Raja and Ièm sure thats why Gizmo lets me scritch him and pet him. I donèt let Raja see me spend time with Gizmo at all really When I take Raja into see Gizmo Rajaès the one that gets all the attenion I put him on the boing and spin him and swing him he loves it. Ièm trying to get Gizmo to try different toys that are not attached to his cage. Iam almost tempted to take all his toys away from him and put them on the play stand so if he wants to play with them he is going to have to leave his cage to do it. I think Raja is just growing up and testing his boundrys his bluffing isnt towards me so much as it is towards my daughter she loves to play with the birds but lately Raja wont let her pick him up from inside his cage. he would never do that with me but she get intimadated easily and I think Raja sences that so he will bluff and she backs off. I try to tell her just to tell him(no) step up but if he bluff she gets nervous and doesnt want to try again so Raja gets away with it.

[bettyboop]

You are probably correct that she showd fear and that is why Raja shows dominence towards her , that's what they do .

Our birds seem very close to us right now , they both just want to grow on us .HAHA

[bettyboop]

Hey Zooman , any ideas on the playstand yet ? We purchased a wood playstand , large for Sammy and added large branches of Grapewood branches onto it .Check out Grapewood , my birds love it and you can buy all sizes.He has had it for 8 months and hasnt chewed anything up yet .I think you can just type in Grapewood into your search engine.We purchased ours at a birdshow.

[Tycos_mom]

My birds love to chew on lilac trss branches the chew all the bark off first and then chew the rest into bits I have a huge lilac tree in my yard. and I cut big and small branches depending on which birds are getting them my cockateils I try to cut branchs that have lost of off shoots and I the main branch in a bucket of rocks to hold it up and its like a tree with no leaves they just love it the chew and play I hang toys from it and when they finsh chewing all the branches up I just get them a new one You could do the same thing with a larger bird safe tree with larger branches mabie with three or four branches as the trunk that would make a wonderful play stand you could hang toys fron the smaller branches and your birds would have something to chew as well as play on. I don't have anyplace to put something that big right now but if I did I think I would.

[zooman]

Never thought of grapewood ill have to check it out. Im not sure if its available here in Canada. I was planning on using wood some how but the thing is i want to make it more compact im not sure if you 2 had seen my stand it was 4 feet long and 2 feet deep and reached about 4 feet high with the branches and levels and found they both never really used the whole thing. Like would perch and play as hihg as they could and come down to eat and drink, so i just felt it was a waste of space. So I wanted to make it easy to clean but straight up instead of wide. Problem is its been soo wet here and we got our first dumping of snow so my parents backyard has really good bird safe trees and my dad keeps the trimming and branches but now they are soaked and covered in snow. So im trying to design one from bird safe wood at home depot and pvc. I recently built a portable one using just pvc but found it was really flimsy and ok for tiago whos light but zuri while playing and hanging upside down etc, he really rocked it around spilling the water dish.

 

You both have good ideas and i looked into the java tree ones but wow they are expensive so def a no there. Its a pain moving the stands room to room now but its ok for now. I talked to the lady yesterday in the elevator and she seems really happy her CAG loves it. I made her some toys too, made a few im going to try and sell on the web locally here too, see how that goes worked a quite a few this weekend.

[bettyboop]

Grapewood is not expensive , you can purchas it on line . We bought our stand from Drs.Foster and Smith .It is wood and rolls around , so then we just made some changes to it , like adding the Grapewood branches . You can go to Foster and Smith to see the one I bought . They don't use all of it but they love the Grapwood .I also have a large metal one , Zsa Zsa loves it , she does use the whole thing , she runs up and down the ladders and plays on the bottom , but I don't want another one , so that is why we bought the wooden .

Sounds as though you are working the imagiation , thats good , you will figure it out .

Yuck , it's Monday , haha back to work .

 

M

[Tycos_mom]

No work for me this is my week end I don't go back to work until Wed. at 5:00 pm Like I said I work Wed. Fri,and Sat. night thats it. 3 days a week 6 hours a shift thats enough I don't need or want to work any more than that these days. I really want to retire but I can't afford it yet. Mabie when my youngest leaves home I'll be able too she's 13 so another 5 or 6 years should do it.

[zooman]

ive been looking at them but they are a little expensive and then shipping here would hurt a bit, and the darn duty at the border..haha. Geeze when you see something on their you go hmm good price but then think our dollar has sunken fast in the last month to your dollar when ours was worth more for a bit there...oh well ive been really busy so im trying to fit in some designing time but dont want to take away time with the boys so ive just coped with what i got. IM trying like im sure you all are to save my pennies these days and christmas is coming oh boy $$ everywhere going!..

[bettyboop]

Boy , I understand about the money , and Christmas on it's way .....

I suggested you take a look and since you are so creative , copy the design . They are pretty simple .

Do you guys not have a store for Bird stuff in Canada?

Take Care ,

Hope the boys are good

Mary

[Tycos_mom]

Hi Zooman I don't know if you have seen this playstand or not but One of themembers here built it I copied the picture because I loved it and thought I'd like to build something simalar for my birds I hope who ever biult it doesn't get angrey about me taking a copy Its not copywrited so I didn't think they would mind. I thought you might like it also.

[zooman]

We do have stores but the closest one is really about an hour away so its not worth it, especially with gas plus i went once when i was coming back that way and its a small place nice but more toy parts than anything. That is a really good idea copying a playstand i see. But those java ones are hard to do. Tiago actually has been a pain im trying to figure out why hes being so bity all of a sudden. I know hes in his 2's but i have never been nervous to give him a kiss but the other day i swear he went for my lip to bite, i just saw his eyes in time and i pulled away and he had beak ready for a nip. Maybe hormones or something.

 

And tycosmom wow that is a really nice stand wow that must have been some work and a half. I like it. The one thing i want in this one is a bottom that can catch the stuff falling. like a seed catcher design that lips up to stop sooommmee of the stuff, god knows they can fling stuff!

[bettyboop]

Hey , I read an artical the other day that said when your birds disposition changes to check their diet .Make sure they are getting all the food groups , like from the pyramid that we try to follow. Just a thought.....Way to watch the body language !!!!

I do know hormones can make them act funny , just as molting can also. Is he molting ? Zsa Zsa is having a light molt at the present . Great , company is coming for Thanksgiving and there is fluffy white feathers floating around...I do know when she molts , I do try to give her more protein . Like little bits of egg white.She also likes peanut butter.

Yes , that is some playstand , but what do they do with the bottom section , and what about the bottom to catch the poop .It wouldnt work for us. The one I bought has a floor under everything and my birds rarely ever use the bottoms or lower part . Zsa Zsa has a large metal one and she does go up and down the ladders to get a toy dropped and then right back up . Not Sammy , he is a perch potato.If he drops it , he just says uh-o .....(SP?)or oops....

[Tycos_mom]

I think if I were to build it I also would add a sheet metal try for underneath but it looks like fun and there are lots of places to hang toys plus it wouldn't take up more than about 3 square feet

[bettyboop]

That would work . Gotta cover the bottom . Yes , there are lots of places to hang toys , but my guys always stay on top , or unless Zsa Zsa drops something , like the highest perch .

[zooman]

I just want to make it very sturdy and the sheet metal would solve that problem. Id have to say Zuri being a TAG ive heard are more ground feeders than other parrots so he comes down to the bottom well when i had the old stand and eats from the bottom what he drops or toys and climbs up. Tiago yeah hes like a perch potato too, he is just fine sitting high up preening himself ALLL the time, its like ok you look fine do something with your life..haha and yeah i think its just a bad day with him its not food i mean im 98% sure hes getting what he needs and as for molting he finished zuri is starting too again so me too white feathers everywhere!! and now hes starting to enjoy flying again.

[bettyboop]

I think it is cute , but scary , Sammy likes to walk around on the floor and he does climb down and play at the bottom of his cage . Our TAG , also walked around on the floor .I was always so afraid we were going to step on him .

But, when Sammy is out of his cage , he doesnt go many places at all , he flies to the playstand but then he just sits there and talks .He will fly some , but he is a pretty much stay in place guy.

I have never seen Zsa Zsa on the floor.

[bettyboop]

Just wondering where you guys are ?????

We are getting ready for our Thanksgiving on Thursday , so we are shopping and digging out recipes, getting ready to cook our hearts out .

How are the birds ?

All is well with Zsa Zsa and Sammy , they were eye balling the big bird as it slid into the fridge and I assured them , don't worry you don't know him ....Ha Ha...I am sure they will enjoy a few bites , when they are served their T Day dinner .

 

Take care,

M