Béa's (BFA) Progress: 2 months

[M&M Ninja]

I'm going to switch to monthly/occasional updates.

Prior threads:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Weeks 5 and 6

Summary of progress to date:

May 18, 2025: Brought Bea home
-Day 4: She started eating.
-Day 7: She started using her perches.

-Week 2:

• She is consistently target training with the stick and sometimes touching my hand. Mostly, we were reinforcing being comfortable with hands nearby.
• She started playing with her foot toys
• She is happy to eat her sweet potato balls, which are heavily powdered with Harrison's pellets.

-Week 3:

• She took a bath in the water dish. After some cajoling, she allowed a bath from the mister.
• I got a few clumsy step-up's from inside the cage, but neither resulted in her putting her second foot on my hand; she only allowed herself to leave the perch and be transported a few inches up.

Week 4:

• She came out of the cage on her own and sat briefly on a new perch. This was the first time she came out without bribing/encouraging and seemed moderately comfortable.
• She definitely knows the request, "Go to your perch", and will do it when asked.
• Her touch training (with the target stick) is solid and she will pursue it all over the cage.
• Late in the week, she came out of the cage on her own and stayed out for a couple of hours.
• The daily screaming FINALLY stopped. Previously, it was 2-4 hours of screaming every single day.

Week 6:

• We've settled into a bird routine that gets both birds outside-of-cage time and outdoors time. Both get daily training, and both get to hang out with us when we prepare dinner.
• We added a cage-top play-stand to Bea's cage, and she sometimes uses it. She does not exit her cage every day. She comes out willingly if we are preparing food, but returns once the food prep is over. She also comes out to train (if she sees the treats), but goes back in after 3-4 repetitions.

Week 7:

• She stepped up from the cage door and placed her second foot on my hand. I clicked, rewarded, and placed her back down immediately. She is happy to practice this, but her concern with being picked up is clear. I'm not traveling with her yet or asking for an extended period of time on my hand.
• She stepped off the cage onto the kitchen counter (we relocated the cage for this purpose) and took a pistachio off the new perch we made. This took a long time and several attempts. The new perch was built to go on the scale so that we can weigh her.
• Later in the week, she was reliably stepping up with two feet. I was able to give her more than one treat while she sat on my hand, but I didn't try to move her. Around this time, she also made it to the scale perch. We now only give her her freebie snacks if she has climbed up onto the scale perch. I am SO EXCITED to have a weight for her, finally. She weighs 374 grams.
• By the weekend, I could get a real step-up without a bunch of fanfare or caution. Hand gently presented, bird stepped aboard, I relocated her to the scale perch (6 feet away on the kitchen counter), put her down, stepped her back up (this one was more difficult as she hasn't quite generalized the trick to other locations), and placed her back on her door.

Bea on the new scale perch. She weighs ~374 grams.

According to this avian website, she is very light. It don't know if she is underweight or if she is just small for a blue-fronted amazon.

Week 8:
We had a bit of a setback. We had successfully done a few morning weigh-in sessions. I don't know what changed, but at the next weigh-in, Bea panicked between the cage door and the scale perch. I didn't have a good grip on her foot and she flew into the blinds.

She didn't clunk the window, and nothing bad happened. Trying to step her up was unnerving, however, and it resulted in her climbing the blinds. Each time I got her feet somewhat on my hand, she jumped up several 'rungs'. I gave up once she was above my head and just took a hold of her in a football hold (both hands closed gently around her whole body).

She didn't bite me, but she flapped really hard and my grip wasn't tight. She ended up landing on the soft, plush carpet and waddling back to the cage.

Similar to past fearful events, she retreated/regressed in her confidence. I didn't even try to weigh her the next day, and instead, just offered her small snacks from my fingertips.

Later in the day, after working with the dog and having Bea wave her foot at me (probably because she was jealous), I decided to try some step-ups. She ended up biting me HARD; the hardest she ever has. It resulted in her losing her balance and flapping to the ground.

I turned my back on her and completely ignored her waddle back to the cage. I did not celebrate her recovery of her cage position (as I had done previously). That bite was totally wild and not nice. I hadn't been pushing her. In fact, I had been very carefully waiting for her to advance toward my waiting hand before I eased toward her.

It almost makes me wonder if she was perceiving me as meek.

In any case, I worked with the dog for a few more minutes and she ended up coming out again. I was able to get a few, very low-key, one-foot-to-hand repetitions and one full step-up. After the full step-up (for which she got a HUGE snack), I tried for one final rep and she bit me. [I probably shouldn't have asked for the last one, but I was curious if the jackpot snack had had any sort of impact on her thinking.] This was not a savage bite, but was again, kind of unwarranted. I spoke soothingly to her and ended with a one-foot-on-hand rep.

I'm very tempted to just "ignore" her and let her be. "Settle in" and whatnot. But she weaves around and begs for attention, lifting her leg and very willingly chasing the target stick around the cage. I think she is nervous and insecure. She wants to interact but she wants her space. She wants to step up and play the training game, but she doesn't fully trust me. She wants to fly but she lacks confidence. She is conflicted!

Training
She now knows how to step-up with both feet (i.e. a normal step-up), turn-around (turn one way), spin (turn the opposite), touch, go to perch, and sit on the scale (we haven't resumed this one since the setback, but it'll be fine).

Here is a video of an early step-up training session. You can see she was still delayed in bringing her second foot up (she wanted it down because she anticipated she'd be immediately returned to her cage door, which is what we had previously been doing). The video is overly long because it took a little while for her to follow-through on the second step-up. As of this morning, she will step swiftly up with both feet.

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

In other news...

Nutrition
I'm becoming more and more drawn to making our own food. Our dog is on all 'fresh food'; the humans are on all fresh/real food. Why not the bird?

Both birds are doing well eating breakfast - beans, semi-uncooked rice, and some dehydrated veggies scrambled in egg; topped with uncooked quinoa. They get some sweet potato, bell pepper, broccoli, and random bits of our food at dinner time. They have their preferences - Bea doesn't eat the broccoli and Cord isn't a fan of beans.

I'm going to continue experimenting with food types and how to present them. Bea is living up the Amazon reputation and is very willing to try everything in her food dish (except seeds ).

 

[Clueless]

I've been there with bites.

That's why we only transport with a T stick. I'm a chicken.

 

[M&M Ninja]

I've been there with bites.

That's why we only transport with a T stick. I'm a chicken.

I know what you mean! Bea is scared of the t-stick/perch options I have presented her with, though, so it encourages me to keep working on my hand. I think I will go back to t-stick training, but I'll do one at a time. Hand now, stick next week.

Does your bird bite the perch/stick once she steps up onto it?

 

[Clueless]

Does your bird bite the perch/stick once she steps up onto it?

No.

by the way, you can be a bit adventurous and use like a rope circle or other item if he's scared of the stick

 

[melissasparrots]

You might try doing some step up training with the dog at a good distance. The most common reason I get bit by an amazon is displaced aggression toward the dog. I got bit a couple nights ago for that reason. Diva was sitting nicely on my hand getting scritches, then reached down and bit my thumb when the dog walked next to me. Both dog and bird have jealousy issues toward each other. The dog is less violent about it though. He usually just wants to be close and remind me that he is there and that triggers the bird.
How is the screaming going? Have you tried any foraging toys? Amazons are not the problem solving geniuses that greys and cockatoos can be, but some easy foraging toys might be a good thing to keep her occupied. Starting out with something very simple like an almond partially visible in a coupled paper cup would be a good start. Even that might take a few weeks of exposure to get her started on them.

 

[M&M Ninja]

No.

by the way, you can be a bit adventurous and use like a rope circle or other item if he's scared of the stick

I love this idea. Thank you!

[Bea was biting the stick once I got the one foot on it. I couldn't tell if she was enjoying herself - wow, nice, wood to bite! - or if she was being aggressive/scared.]

 

[M&M Ninja]

You might try doing some step up training with the dog at a good distance. The most common reason I get bit by an amazon is displaced aggression toward the dog. I got bit a couple nights ago for that reason.

This is a great point. Most of the time, the dog isn't in the room. Sometimes, she is on the opposite side, and rarely, she'll be right underfoot. The dog has her big nap in the morning when it tends to be bird time, so she is asleep in another room.

Now, if she happens to be nearby and Bea doesn't want to engage, I might try training with the dog first and then gauging Bea's reaction.

So far, Bea seems disinterested in the dog. She goes down to the bottom of her cage to eat, the door of the cage is open, and the dog is sitting 2 feet away watching the bird eat. In this way, they 'get along'.

The conure is jealous of both the dog and Bea and will happily attack either of them. For that reason, Bea's door is not open if Cord is out. And the dog leaves the room if Cord is out.

My worst bite from the conure was when she was in attack mode at Bea. Bea was safely in her cage, but Cord got jealous, launched herself at the cage and tried to be the aggressor through the bars. When I tried to remove her (gently and carefully), she really got me. Turd!

How is the screaming going? Have you tried any foraging toys? Amazons are not the problem solving geniuses that greys and cockatoos can be, but some easy foraging toys might be a good thing to keep her occupied. Starting out with something very simple like an almond partially visible in a coupled paper cup would be a good start. Even that might take a few weeks of exposure to get her started on them.

Omg, I am so glad you acknowledged the problem solving thing. I was beginning to think that Bea was just *cough* a bit slow. So it's just an Amazon thing; interesting!

I've hidden some pistachios in transparent tissue paper. She doesn't understand, YET. I have had to rip the paper open and make the pistachio quite visible to get her to engage. And when I show her the nuts in the foraging toys, she repeatedly reaches for my fingers. Even if I insert the nut into the toy directly in front of her face!!

We're working on it.

The screaming is WAY WAY WAY WAY better. We were having some issues with afternoon screaming when she had to come inside into the bird room. [It is now 100 degrees outside in the afternoons and even the covered porch is too hot. She comes inside around 4pm and goes into the bird room with the door closed.]

Her first week or two in the bird room was annoying (for me) and distracting (for my students). Last night was incredible. She did her annoying call once or twice, very briefly. And of the whole three hours she had to wait before it was family time, she did some happy/loud chatter for maybe 30 minutes. That was a first. Up to this point, it has been belligerent, desperate screaming.

Fingers crossed for a repeat performance tonight!

All steps are heading in the right direction.

 

[Clueless]

[Bea was biting the stick once I got the one foot on it. I couldn't tell if she was enjoying herself - wow, nice, wood to bite! - or if she was being aggressive/scared.]

Don't forget, they also use their beak for balance

 

[M&M Ninja]

Don't forget, they also use their beak for balance

True...but this was savagely gnawing/ripping.

 

[M&M Ninja]

How is the screaming going?

Last night was even better than the day before, and that was despite going in there much earlier than usual. I've been rolling her inside, giving both birds some fresh foods (which includes some of their favorite items - e.g. chicken, sweet potato, cranberry), and closing the door. I think they are relieved to be in from the heat. They nap, eat, and nap some more.

Napping is, apparently, incompatible with screaming.