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SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!

BigSkyMT

Walking the driveway
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Good morning!

Day 4 of Hercules being home! Yesterday was a big break through! After eating millet from my hand thru the cage bars, I put my hand in the cage with some millet & he ate from my hand. He then stepped onto my hand to eat the millet. I stayed still as a statue. He no long has fear of my hands if I move very slowly. Then he flew out of the cage door and landed on the floor! My husband & I just sat really still & talked to him gently. After about ten min I got him to step up & put him back in his cage & gave him more millet! Going to continue to feed millet from my hand for the next few days!

Here he is eating his breakfast.
 

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TikiMyn

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He's doing well. Getting him ready for bed.

Question- sometimes when he seems afraid when I talk to him, he puts one foot up. Do your birds do that?
Never heard of that! Does he put his foot straight up? Or does he pull it ‘inside’ like when they are sleeping? He could also be really comfy!
 

SquawksNibbles

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I agree with @TikiMyn, birds pull one of their feet up inside of their feathers when sleeping and comfortable. My birds do this all of the time. Other than that, I’ve never heard of them doing it when afraid. Are you sure he’s afraid when it happens?

Glad he is doing well. :)
 

BigSkyMT

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Day 5 of Hercules!

Good morning! Hercules is doing good. When I leave the room for awhile, he will chirp. Maybe calling for me? I read up on him raising his foot. From what I got out of it, is they raise thier foot when they are scared, I guess especially males do this. So maybe Hercules is a boy after all. He us still accepting treats from my hands with the cage door open. Taking it one day at a time. Can't wait until he is tame & wants to hangout with me outside the cage. I can't even imagine how wonderful it must be!

I will try taking a pic of him eating from my hand later. Hope you are all feeling blessed today & know Jesus loves you!
I'll keep updating daily.
 

TikiMyn

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I love the Diary you keep here!:heart: Keep it going! You are making great progress, I think he Will want to hang out soon! Fëanor was quick with everything too, he Napped on the tip of my finger by week two so who knows! You are doing a great job not rusting anything, you are such a responsible parront already, I wish all people who got a new bird home were like you!:hug8:
 

BigSkyMT

Walking the driveway
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I love the Diary you keep here!:heart: Keep it going! You are making great progress, I think he Will want to hang out soon! Fëanor was quick with everything too, he Napped on the tip of my finger by week two so who knows! You are doing a great job not rusting anything, you are such a responsible parront already, I wish all people who got a new bird home were like you!:hug8:

Thank you for those kind words!

Today is day 6

Hercules is doing awesome! He will take treat from cage bars anywhere. He eats the millet kind of aggressively tho lol. Today I am going to work on him stepping up onto my hand for treats. Maybe this time next week he will want to come out & explore. I would really like him to be really comfortable with stepping up first tho. Incase I need to pick him up. I will Def get a pic today of him eating treats from my hand. Love posting everyday. It is also fun to reflect on our progress. The tiniest bit is so rewarding. He chirps when I leave the room, I'm hoping because he's starting to see me as part of his flock!
 

TikiMyn

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Ahw wonderfull progress again! Stick training is really useful too, with Fëanor I just didn’t work on stepping up for a week, but he was so fast and climbed up my leg to my shoulder on day 5:lol: But he learned to climb onto a stick really quickly, I had a big branch with two small branches attached to it that allowed him to climb up his cage(he was very clipped), and I used it as an improvised shower perch too. He went with me in the shower on day four I think when he had never even touched my hand:D
 

BigSkyMT

Walking the driveway
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That's great advice TikiMyn! I will start doing that as well. I was able to take a video of one of his training sessions a few min ago. It won't let me upload video, but I was able to take a screen shot.

He's has gotten really good at stepping up on my hand for millet. Here he is & I tried to slowly move towards the door so you could see better. He's done so awesome today!
 

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SquawksNibbles

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Wow, @BigSkyMT, that is amazing progress! Keep up the good work! :)

Oh, and what a big cage he has! What toys and/or perches does he currently have in his cage?

Also, how's everything going with the diet?
 

TikiMyn

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That's great advice TikiMyn! I will start doing that as well. I was able to take a video of one of his training sessions a few min ago. It won't let me upload video, but I was able to take a screen shot.

He's has gotten really good at stepping up on my hand for millet. Here he is & I tried to slowly move towards the door so you could see better. He's done so awesome today!
Yay!:bounce4: That is great! I remember the first time all my birds stepped up, it’s such a special moment! Congratulations!!
 

BigSkyMT

Walking the driveway
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Wow, @BigSkyMT, that is amazing progress! Keep up the good work! :)

Oh, and what a big cage he has! What toys and/or perches does he currently have in his cage?

Also, how's everything going with the diet?
Thank you! So exciting!!! For perches he has 3 different sizes of rope perches, one wooden dowel that came with the cage, it is closer to the bottom. He also has a couple natural branches we made for him. He loves to chew on those & a couple store bough wood branches. ( tried not to have ro many incase if he had a night fright, but he has been sleeping soundly all nights so far) we also attached a couple smaller sized wooden dowels on the corners by his food & water & couple by his toys so he had an easier time reaching them. His wings are horribly cut short, so he doesn't have much confidence hopping from perch to perch, he's getting better tho

For toys- he has 4 store bought toys in his cage. As of yesterday he started to really play with them. I think the colorful popsicle sticks are his favorite toys, besides the natural perches we made him out of mountain ash. He likes to sit on them & bounce as he chews them. It's the cutest thing!

As for diet & converting to pellets, he seems to eat around them lol. He eats his seed & leave the pellets alone, but over the next few weeks I am going to start gradually adding more pellets & less seed. Hopefully he will adjust.

Also about the vet app. It was scheduled for this Thursday, but I've made so much progress that I don't want to completely freak him out just yet. I called & rescheduled my app for 2 weeks from Thursday. I want him to trust me first before bringing him to the vet. Will be terrifying for him, I also want to do a DNA test, so they will need blood or a few plucked feathers.
Kind of seems unfair to him poor little guy, but that's the only way they can do it. So I'm going to wait couple more weeks for the vet, unless I feel something is wrong with him.

How do your birds do on vet visits & any advice to make it more pleasant fir him & when the vet examines him & takes blood, should I leave the room, so he doesn't think I know what the mean doctor did to him? Lol
 

TikiMyn

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How do your birds do on vet visits & any advice to make it more pleasant fir him & when the vet examines him & takes blood, should I leave the room, so he doesn't think I know what the mean doctor did to him? Lol
I always stay with them, I usually talk to them when the vet is holding them. I have seen Some people that just let their birds fly in the vet’s Office but I wouldn’t do that, way too dangerous and stressfull, being grabbed out of the carrier is less stressfull then being chased around as well I think. My vet Lets the birds hop out of the carrier into a sort of tub to weigh them, then she grabs them out of the tub gently to examine them. I guess with bigger parrots who are ‘slower’ she let’s them step up, but I have small birds and they are quick as thunderbolts and take off in a split second lol! I just try to comfort them as much as possible, keep sunflower seeds in their carrier mixed with seed(usually they only get sunflower during training) to comfort them, I use a cat carrier that is closed on all sides except the front and I keep a few favorite toys in there with a cotton perch. Sometimes a ladder and natural perch too, but it is tricky making those steady in that carrier. A towel at the bottom to make for a soft landing should they fall. That is what I do, it has worked for me so far, usually my birds are a little shook up after a vet visit but that is all. My cockatiel was the worst, but the vet needed to take blood from him and he only liked me so he was really quiet after we came home. But overall they have never been affected more then a day. Good luck with taking little Herculus to the vet! I think it is good to wait, that way your bond Will be stronger and he Will probably find comfort in you being there!
 

BigSkyMT

Walking the driveway
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That is fantastic advice, thank you so much for replying. I will Def stay in the room with him then. Poor little guy. It's probably like me going to the dentist!
I am so afraid! Haha! I had to get a tooth pulled a couple years ago, few days after our wedding. I was so afraid. My hubby massaged my feet throughout the entire process & that really helped a lot.

I will comfort Hercules like my hubby comforts me
:hug8:

Just figured out how to use these cute little things! :hehe:
 
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