Hello all, I am looking forward to meeting the folks here on the forum. My name is Jessi, I am an RN and also train racehorses with my other half. Had "inside" birds previously (parakeets and cockatiels) and have lots of experience with farm animals and "outside" birds (chickens ducks geese). I am a Mom of 4, with 2 teenagers (14 & 12) still at home. We are experienced with training and caring for mammals (horses dogs cats etc etc) but right now with this yellow nape Amazon I "inherited" about 10 days ago I am in great need of assistance of those more experienced with these particular birds and their mindsets.
A neighbor asked if I wanted this parrot, she needed to find it a new home and she knew of my reputation for finding animals a soft spot to land in. After seeing the situation I agreed to take the bird, who she has had for 5 years, he is approx 18 years old per her. If he didn't work out at my house I would find him a home. She mentioned she had run out of food and had been feeding him bread for a few days, so I phoned the other half to grab a bag of parrot food on his way home. We researched, approached him slowly, fed him (we also feed wild birds so he had quite the buffet to choose from). We slowly introduced fresh fruit and veggie clippings, and with each encounter he became friendlier until he jumped onto my hand and was gentle and friendly and walking all over every family member within 36-48 hours.
After about 3 days of wonderful interactions and friendliness, Buddy became grumpy and aggressive. After nasty bites to 3 family members I decided to remove his food bowl/buffet of wonderful goodies and insist he only eat from my hand. Not sure if this was the politically correct thing, but he was in no danger of starving and was not mistreated in any way. I approached him frequently to offer a single shelled peanut (at appropriate times, based his body language). At his first attempt to bite (usually after 20 -ish seconds of contemplation of my offering on his part) I said "that's not nice" and immediately turned and walked away, putting his treat in a spot he can see but not reach. After a few minutes I would repeat. After about 36 hours he displayed less aggression overall (eye flash, shoulders hunched, tail flare) and showed interest in my offering, and with a softer eye he began to gently nibble at the shelled peanut. I left with it and came back a couple minutes later, same interest and gentle nibble (like he acted initially once comfortable), so now he is accepting shelled nuts, sunflower seeds, fresh greens from my hand about 30% of the time. If he tries to bite I just turn and walk away, but come back within a few minutes to try again, as often as possible and/or appropriate, like every 2-5 minutes if my time and his body language permit.
So I'm looking for some guidance on where and how to proceed from here, I really want to be able to keep Buddy here and get him happy and healthy again. He hadn't been out of his cage for approx 3 years per previous owner, he has had a few sprays with a warm water bottle and we managed to clip a few of his incredibly long nails a wee bit shorter, still a long way to go there. At our house he is allowed loose pretty much 24 hours a day, he usually stays atop of his cage. We have 2 cats and a bulldog, everyone gets along well. Kids are intelligent and follow orders regarding the animals, and generally understand the WHY of things.
So after an amazingly long into, my name is Jessi and Buddy is our Yellow Nape Amazon. Nice to "meet" you all.
A neighbor asked if I wanted this parrot, she needed to find it a new home and she knew of my reputation for finding animals a soft spot to land in. After seeing the situation I agreed to take the bird, who she has had for 5 years, he is approx 18 years old per her. If he didn't work out at my house I would find him a home. She mentioned she had run out of food and had been feeding him bread for a few days, so I phoned the other half to grab a bag of parrot food on his way home. We researched, approached him slowly, fed him (we also feed wild birds so he had quite the buffet to choose from). We slowly introduced fresh fruit and veggie clippings, and with each encounter he became friendlier until he jumped onto my hand and was gentle and friendly and walking all over every family member within 36-48 hours.
After about 3 days of wonderful interactions and friendliness, Buddy became grumpy and aggressive. After nasty bites to 3 family members I decided to remove his food bowl/buffet of wonderful goodies and insist he only eat from my hand. Not sure if this was the politically correct thing, but he was in no danger of starving and was not mistreated in any way. I approached him frequently to offer a single shelled peanut (at appropriate times, based his body language). At his first attempt to bite (usually after 20 -ish seconds of contemplation of my offering on his part) I said "that's not nice" and immediately turned and walked away, putting his treat in a spot he can see but not reach. After a few minutes I would repeat. After about 36 hours he displayed less aggression overall (eye flash, shoulders hunched, tail flare) and showed interest in my offering, and with a softer eye he began to gently nibble at the shelled peanut. I left with it and came back a couple minutes later, same interest and gentle nibble (like he acted initially once comfortable), so now he is accepting shelled nuts, sunflower seeds, fresh greens from my hand about 30% of the time. If he tries to bite I just turn and walk away, but come back within a few minutes to try again, as often as possible and/or appropriate, like every 2-5 minutes if my time and his body language permit.
So I'm looking for some guidance on where and how to proceed from here, I really want to be able to keep Buddy here and get him happy and healthy again. He hadn't been out of his cage for approx 3 years per previous owner, he has had a few sprays with a warm water bottle and we managed to clip a few of his incredibly long nails a wee bit shorter, still a long way to go there. At our house he is allowed loose pretty much 24 hours a day, he usually stays atop of his cage. We have 2 cats and a bulldog, everyone gets along well. Kids are intelligent and follow orders regarding the animals, and generally understand the WHY of things.
So after an amazingly long into, my name is Jessi and Buddy is our Yellow Nape Amazon. Nice to "meet" you all.