New Amazon owner

[cvyas20]

Hi all, happy holidays to you all! So as the title says, I just bought a Red-Crowned Amazon last weekend. I have had few "cheaper" breed parrots years ago and always wanted an Amazon or Macaw who talk. So my parrot is only 5 months old, I bought it from a breeder. Here are a few things I want to get familiar with...

1) How to create bond with him and have him trust us? Right now he gets scared when we go near him and opens his beaks in defense when I take my hand or finger near him... When I offer him food with my hands, he just stares at it, only eats from his bowl in the cage. I just whistle at him and keep saying "Hello" or "Bye" to get him started...

2) How often to bath him?

3) Is low 50 deg too cold for him, I was planning to keep him in my garage at nights where it gets into 50s at night... I thought it was too cold for him so I make him sleep in my bedroom.

4) I know this is controversial, but as a not so familiar parrot owner, I want to get him clipped as I plan to train him to go in and out of the cage.

5) Is it normal for him to be noisy in the mornings after waking up and then becoming super quiet throughout the day until evening when it gets dark, he becomes quiet when lights are turned off in the room?

These are a few of my questions but you guys are more than welcome to share more opinions with me and guide me on how to behave with him and get him familiar to his new home. Thanks

 

[TikiMyn]

There is absolutely no guarentee he Will talk..
1) do not force anything, talk to him, back off when he shows signs of fear, and drop a treat in a special bowl whenever you walk by his cage. Some great resources:
Free Training Resources | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum
Some things to do with a new bird.... | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum
Understanding Your Birds Body Language | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum
An Introduction to Clicker Training | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

2) he Will bath himself. Once he trusts you, you can try taking him with you into the shower to see whether he would that( do not force him to bath) and try a spray bottle. Lightly spray Some water above him and see whether he likes it and moves closer. Do not try this yet as it Will probably scare him.

3) Uhm why do you want to keep him in the garage?? Parrots are highly intelligent and need a lot of toys and foraging opportunities to thrive. Not to mention interaction with humans. It sounds like you want to stuff him in the garage whenever convenient, please explain so I can understand better as I hope this is not the case and I am wronf

4) do *not* clip him. It Will do your bonding ablolutely no good. All my birds are fully flighted and even live cage free. There is no need for clipping wings You can have him come out of the cage to fly and play perfectly fine.

5) it is, but he might get louder as he matures Though a lot of birds only make noise in the evening and mornings! reinforce sounds you like now, and ignore sounds you don’t like

 

[Clueless]

Please don't rush anything with him. It takes time for a parrot to learn they can trust you.

The garage is NOT a place for a parrot in my opinion. They long for companionship and they are smart. A severe change of temperature is not good. In addition, a garage is filled with chemicals and exhaust fumes that can kill a parrot. If the parrot should survive, think of the harm caused to him (and the expense you've incurred because there will be vet bills).

My amazons can get noisy in the morning, quiet during the day and sometimes they will be noisy in the evening. They always get quiet when it's dark.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Give him time to adjust to his new surroundings. Let him be your guide when it comes to stepping up or coming out of the cage. Sit near him and talk or read to him, drop treats into his food dish. If you are trying to teach him to talk be patient and realize that he may or may not talk. Name objects, tell him what you are doing and describe what he is doing. You can even read to him. The garage is not an appropriate place for him unless it has been converted into an aviary so it's no longer a garage, it can be heated and cooled and you spend a lot of time in there. Best that he remains inside the house. It is normal for birds to sometimes be quieter during the day. They have sleeping periods during the day. He will probably get more vocal as he gets older but loudness varies with the individual bird.
Congrats on getting your new friend. What is his name? What does he have to keep him busy? What kinds of toys?

 

[Feather]

You create a bond with lots of time, patience, and understanding. Spend time near him, read to him, let him get used to your voice and presence. Offer him treats from your hands. Always be gentle and kind and move at whatever pace he sets.

The garage is really not a great place to leave any family member... You are his flock, now. He should be with you and part of the pulse of the household. Aside from being cold and drafty, garages can have a lot of fumes in them that can be very dangerous to a bird.

Clipping does not help train a bird any more than it helps create a bond with a bird. I've never needed to clip any of my birds to get them to go into their cages on command, and I'm certainly no expert trainer.

They're very smart. You just have to work with them rather than against.

 

[cvyas20]

Thanks much for the reply guys! And don't worry as I DON'T keep him in the garage, he is hanging out in my backyard which is full of greenery almost all day while I or someone else go swing beside him when home in the afternoon, sometimes I make him sit next to me when I watch tv, I just wanted to make him sleep in the garage as it is quiet, and it is very clean, as we just moved into our new house(which I won't do or even think about lol). I always make him sleep in my room, typically I set him to sleep at 7 PM and he wakes up at about that time in the morning.

The cage has a ladder, a circle bell, branch, mirror(which he loves to check himself out) and food... and he enjoys food the most along with the mirror! He doesn't eat fruits, he loves sunflower seeds, and nuts. The guy I bought him from has a big, over 5ft long cage which I will pick up in a day or two along with new toys, right now he is in a medium sized cage.

I don't force anything on him and try not to make eye contact when I am close to him to not scare him, But he does get comfortable with me as the day goes by and knows I won't harm him.

Also, guess I won't clip him, he is used to the cage anyway, but I will have to make sure everything is closed in the house so he doesn't fly away when I take him out to transfer him or something. lol

 

[Anita1250]

Ok, sunflower seeds are not good for parrots. They are very high in fat and have little nutrition. A diet of them can shorten the birds lifespan considerably. Try and get your baby to enjoy some parrot pellets. They are formulated especially for these birds, and have maximum nutrition. Use the seeds and nuts as treats and training tools. In addition, try adding vegetables and fruits gradually. Usually, one at a time so the bird can get used to it. He may not even try it the first 10 times. Eventually, he will come around. Most of them who start as babies love all of the fruits and most of the veggies.

I have a 35 year old BFA named Sam. I have had him since he was 11 weeks old, and hand fed him for a month. When he was a baby, parrot pellets were not readily available. My vet had me feed him a small amount of puppy food instead of the seed. He said even though it was formulated for another species, it was close enough and better for the bird than seed. I credit those decisions when Sam was a baby somewhat for his long and healthy lifespan so far!

 

[BirdField]

I agree with the others, quit feeding him seeds for anything but treats or foraging rewards. Seeds are incredibly fatty if fed alone and that can cause your bird all sorts of damage. Feed a more balanced diet of pellets, veggies, and some fruit. There's lots of posts on here about parrot diets and you can even start one yourself if you want. Also be sure he's getting calcium in his diet (cuttlebones, high calcium foods, etc) as well as plenty of D3, which doesn't seem to be an issue as you said he was outside a lot.
When you say out in the backyard, is he in his cage out there or out of his cage on a harness or out of his cage with nothing on him? This is extremely dangerous if he's outside without any restraint and has not been trained by a professional to be outside. Even if you do clip him (which I do not recommend, it just creates a fearful bird) he could still easily fly away. If any thing spooks him, he could be off. Even if you don't think he can fly yet.
If he's outside in the backyard in a cage all day, please be careful. If he's supervised it should be fine, but if he's unsupervised, what would happen if he unlatches his cage? If a predator (or human) sees him as an easy meal? If he gets spooked by sights or sounds and breaks a blood feather or has a heart attack (which arent super uncommon in birds, especially those eating lots of seeds)?
There's just lots of dangers to going outside but I'm not sure what you meant by your statement there. Please elaborate so we can give you advice.

 

[MommyBird]

Some quick comments as I must hurry.
1. Check out clicker training, also called positive reinforcement. Barbara Heidenreich, Lara Joseph are 2 big names to google.
2. Parrot diets are often deficient in vitamin A. This causes many health problems especially with the skin inside mouth and sores on their feet.
Be sure to feed broccoli, red/orange things like red peppers and carrots, small amounts of red palm oil are great. These foods have beta carotene which is converted into Vitamin A and cannot be overdosed.
3. Best nuts are walnuts (omega fatty acids) and Almonds (calcium). Do not feed peanuts (aflatoxins) and limit sunflower seeds to just use in training.

 

[Clueless]

My Amazons were fed sunflower seeds by previous owner. Secret is now on daily medication because of that and sees a vet every 6 months for blood draws.

I fed mine pellets (roudybush) and chop (vegetables like peppers, carrots, and zucchini that are cut in small pieces).

 

[Clueless]

I forgot to add if he's alone in a cage in a yard, you should be aware that predators can get to him. He's vulnerable when he's alone. He knows that.

I don't know where you are or I would mention what type of predators.

 

[Wasabisaurus]

If you want to bond with him, you must have him in your house or permanently, except for trips to the vet.

Why do you not have him in your home all the time? If you want to make friends, you must have him in your house. There is no way around that. Birds will nap even with ambient noise around them, like a TV or music. I have classical music on for my Amazon and cockatiels all day. They nap as they want to.

Also, he needs natural wood perches for the wellbeing of his feet. He needs more than one.

 

[cvyas20]

Thanks for feedback guys, he is always under some supervision in the yard, we take him in during the afternoon around 2-3 PM and he is by me on my couch or by the window where he sees traffic pass by. I will try to make him eat fruits, veggies, and pellets.

 

[BirdField]

Thank you for clarifying. Still, if he's not on a harness or in a travel cage I don't think it's safe for him to be outside loose like that. Even under supervision, he could get spooked and bolt.
I'm glad you're changing his diet, there are lots of threads on converting birds from seeds to pellets and fresh food diets. It can be a challenge so feel free to post or read up on changing his food.

 

[cvyas20]

So guys I just took out all the seeds from his container and filled it with pellets, tomatoes and cucumbers. He is a bit cranky right now because of that lol but he eats a lot and gained some weight because of sunflower seeds... Is it okay if I just leave the new diet in his container and wait for him to get hungry so he eventually eats? Thanks

Ps I am on my way to get him the bigger cage and will post his pic once he is in his new one!

 

[BirdField]

Keep the seeds in there for now! If you just switch all of his food over to something he doesn't recognize as food, he may starve before he eats any of it. Also, tomatoes are highly acidic and very bad for parrots! Not poisonous but definitely not something that should be fed much at all. I'm going to find a few threads on changing his food, it can be very, very difficult to change their diet. Keep what he eats in there for now, I'll find some threads to help. But don't change his food yet, he may starve and you have to be very careful. Hopefully some amazon people will reply soon, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding.

 

[BirdField]

Here's just some info on diets.
Here's how to start to change his diet.
Here's two threads with chop recipes: 1 & 2.
When it comes to pellets, there's lots of brands. Roudybrush, Goldenfeast, Zupreem, Harrisons, TOPS, and Higgins seem to be the ones I see the most.
Their diets must be changed gradually because they likely won't recognize something as food or be stubborn about eating it (think about a kid not wanting to eat their veggies). You can try a few things that I've seen people do before.
1. Eat the veggies in front of them.
Take a bit of whatever you're trying to get them to try and eat it in front of them while giving them their own piece (don't feed anything with your saliva on it, it's bad for them). Since parrots eat in their flock groups, if one eats something then the others will be more inclined to try it and recognize it as food.
2. Crush up pellets into his seed.
You can put seed-sized bits of pellet in his seed to at least get him to have to taste the pellets while he eats his favorite seeds. Or you can make it into nearly a powder so whenever he eats the seeds, he has to taste the powder as he breaks them.
3. Add things gradually.
You can start to add one new veggie every few days to get him used to seeing them. Be sure you always remove fresh foods after an hour or so because they spoil very quickly.
4. Sprout some seeds!
Sprouted seeds are super healthy and are often the key to get seed-only birds into eating veggies and fresh foods. There are all sorts of bird-specific brands of sprout-able seed mixes on places like Avian Organics which are your safest (yet more expensive) bet. They taste closer to seeds but they are much MUCH healthier for your bird.

Changing his diet will take a while, it's not going to happen overnight. Please put his old diet back in his cage ASAP for now.

Eventually, you can start to feed pellets as his staple diet and veggies as another big part daily. Always be sure to remove and fresh foods after an hour or two, they spoil very quickly. Please put his seeds back for now so he doesn't starve, also read up on some chop recipes, there's all sorts of ways to get healthy foods for you bird! This is a very basic overview of changing his diet and what he should start to eat, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding about removing his seeds. Just posting this before the amazon people show up, hopefully someone more knowledgable will respond with more information.

 

[cvyas20]

I just shifted him into his new cage, he actually was eating the other snacks lol, but after shifting him, I treated him with some seeds and he was busy again

 

[Clueless]

I bought some small stainless containers and I add a small amount of veggies in one of those and put that container in their food dish. You have to remove it after a while because the food gets bad.

Pellets can be added to the dry food dish.

 

[iamwhoiam]

You can try Avicakes and Nutriberries. They are both healthy. Avicakes are a combination of seeds and pellets.
My Amazons like Avicakes and these are the ones I get them....Lafeber's Avi-Cakes for Birds | Pet Bird Pellet Conversion Diet I purchase the parrot size for them.