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Paco is progressing! Still need advice...

Snowghost

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ok back on lap top, photos aren't too bad. The grey ones are they broken?
 

Snowghost

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oh good, glad its not plucking. He has lost his left wing feathers, and I see 3 growing in.
 

Rain Bow

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oh good, glad its not plucking. He has lost his left wing feathers, and I see 3 growing in.
I was going to say molting too! That tail feather (assuming) looks like he may have backed into something. I had an issue last winter w/ Buddy jamming his tail into the cage because he didn't want to step up & leaned back to tell me "No" w/ out biting. The perch was @ a weird angle @ the time. The only other thing I can think of is maybe a humidifier near his cage but they look like it was a break on how the barbs on the weaved inner workings of the feathers mesh together not humidity to me.

As for the playing, I agree w/ training & it may help pull him out of his shell a bit. Buddy is best when he's working & going thru his nightly routines & paces. If he's having a bad birdy day putting him thru even 1 of his paces can turn the whole day around & make him be a good floof.

Toys take time. I had different arrangements of cupcake wrappers on a short skewer. Buddy did nothing but walk under it for a year. Then one day he reached up & just grabbed it w/ his beak. I told him he was a good boy. Next time he got a beak to my hand "high five". Then a sunflower seed. Praise is just as important as the treats. A treat is something that you give ONLY when he's doing good. For Buddy its broken pieces of pumpkin seeds, sunfliwer seeds bith small & big... Pieces of cashews, egg noodles. Mix it up but be sure to try to only use it during a item or routine. Only give it when je does it. Not for attempting & failing. This is how Buddy learned how to step up w/out biting me. I built from there. In & out of travel cage then we built on the step up & step down stuff.
 

Rain Bow

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The birds love yucca. It is part of the succulent family. It is on the softer side like Balsa and Sola.
Thank you Miss Ann!
 

Snowghost

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@Rain Bow Don't think he has backed into anything, his other tail feathers look scruffy. I agree training would help him come out of his shell and we could communicate better. To be honest I don't know where to start.
 

Rain Bow

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You can start anywhere but the place is probably to have him step up. I am saying on a perch or you but w/ you my concern is him biting & riping you up or worse, going for your hand, wrist or fingers. If you can't control him in an emergency then he may get hurt or killed (like a fire). I know you don't want to push him past his comfort zone but... In these situations it's critical... Which is the 2nd thing I taught Buddy. The 1st was teaching him about allowing my hands into his nest cage.

After I taught him to step up & down, & turn around we worked on getting in & out of the travel cage for transport to the vet. Good thing too because he when got to the vet he had a salmonella infection in his mouth. He was acting off just a few days before the appointment, I didn't even know @ that time how fast a bird could die from something as simple as this type of infection. Now I know & if Buddy ever acted off he'd be into the vet alnost immediately.

I've never used a clicker w/ Buddy he works w/ me using verbal cues like Awesone, Excellant, Good boy! With the addition of sunflower seeds & other treat incentives. I know most hear use a clicker but I got Buddy 25 years in & I know my Dad gad used a training perch when he was young. I believe there was a clicker on the table but I'm not positive. Although Buddy barely says anything he has a fantastic understanding of the english language, I got lucky w/ him being an Amazon. Paco isn't thought to be as old but being a Grey, you may be surprised how well he understands. (I didn't really know how much Buddy understood till I trained him).

Find some really good Yummy's & have at it w/ Paco. Just try to be consistent w/ times to start. I do Buddy's stuff after dinner before bed. There's a few hour span in there. After you 2 understand training time = him working then you can do it when ever but to start try to make it as close to a scheduled thing as you can. Keep in mind if he's very food motivated you may have to do it before a meal then later add in the verbal praise w/ less treats.
 

Snowghost

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You can start anywhere but the place is probably to have him step up. I am saying on a perch or you but w/ you my concern is him biting & riping you up or worse, going for your hand, wrist or fingers. If you can't control him in an emergency then he may get hurt or killed (like a fire). I know you don't want to push him past his comfort zone but... In these situations it's critical... Which is the 2nd thing I taught Buddy. The 1st was teaching him about allowing my hands into his nest cage.

After I taught him to step up & down, & turn around we worked on getting in & out of the travel cage for transport to the vet. Good thing too because he when got to the vet he had a salmonella infection in his mouth. He was acting off just a few days before the appointment, I didn't even know @ that time how fast a bird could die from something as simple as this type of infection. Now I know & if Buddy ever acted off he'd be into the vet alnost immediately.

I've never used a clicker w/ Buddy he works w/ me using verbal cues like Awesone, Excellant, Good boy! With the addition of sunflower seeds & other treat incentives. I know most hear use a clicker but I got Buddy 25 years in & I know my Dad gad used a training perch when he was young. I believe there was a clicker on the table but I'm not positive. Although Buddy barely says anything he has a fantastic understanding of the english language, I got lucky w/ him being an Amazon. Paco isn't thought to be as old but being a Grey, you may be surprised how well he understands. (I didn't really know how much Buddy understood till I trained him).

Find some really good Yummy's & have at it w/ Paco. Just try to be consistent w/ times to start. I do Buddy's stuff after dinner before bed. There's a few hour span in there. After you 2 understand training time = him working then you can do it when ever but to start try to make it as close to a scheduled thing as you can. Keep in mind if he's very food motivated you may have to do it before a meal then later add in the verbal praise w/ less treats.

Well believe it or not, I have gotten him to step up onto my arm with out any biting. I backed off for a while and I only attempt this in the eveing, no stress from me, I don't have to go anywhere, so I just take my time. When I do have to work, I keep the same routine, eat, feed him, shower and I talk to him the entire time, "I have to go to work, time to go bye bye, etc" I bribe him with a treat in his bowl. In addtion to improving our relationship, I want him to spend more time away from the cage as well. I hope to work up to getting him on the T stand but that's a ways away. He is still scared, I just hate to think his world consists of the corner of a bedroom on top of his cage. Another reason to start advancing trust and improving his world.

I think a clicker might scare him. He has learned to know that a treat is special something other then his morning and evening "goodies, Yum yum" LOL lordy I sound silly.

I do worry what if I had an emergency or had to get him into a smaller cage in order to get him to a vet. It would be quite a challenge and would put us back in trust by miles.

Thanks everyone for your tips. With 30 days stuck at home it's a perfect time to work on this.

Oh and I too had a Wild Caught White Front Amazon. Even though she never uttered a word other then hello one time we could communicate really well. She even learned to fly to her cage on her own when I was leaving. At first I thought she saw me put on my coat, but I later figured out that she heard my keys jangle. Parrots are amazing no matter what the breed.
 

Rain Bow

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goodies, Yum yum" LOL lordy I sound silly.
No you don't! I think we all sound sort if odd talking to our parrot's. When Buddy & I eat I ask him if it's "Yum Diddly Dum!" Too much Simpson's when Buddy 1st came. Darn Flanders (the Simpson's next door neighbor).

Trust is something that's earned between 2 individuals, IMO. As you teach & treat your earning that trust. The ability to pop out seeds like a pez dispenser @ every turn. Lol!

You may have to dispense meds @ some point in Paco's life. Toweling will be necessary to do this. You may want to look into the proper way. Buddy needs drops in his eyes, so I had no choice. I wouldn't start it right away w/ Paco but you may want to research while you have time. I used the vet & a shelter or SPCA tutorial to help me & lotsa practice.

In bird time it can take 30 days just to evil eye a carrier. Lol!
 

Snowghost

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@Rain Bow I know we will have to learn toweling. One time my daughter and I toweled Bugsy my zon in order to trim her nails, never did that again, the screaming was horrendous. Is there a specific tutorial that you would recommend. The meds I have dispensed are eye drops in a parakeets eyes, and intramuscular injections in the breast of a cockatiel, trust me that was an adventure, however they were smaller birds.

Thanks for the reminder that is something we will need to work on.
 

BertAllen

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@Rain Bow I know we will have to learn toweling. One time my daughter and I toweled Bugsy my zon in order to trim her nails, never did that again, the screaming was horrendous. Is there a specific tutorial that you would recommend. The meds I have dispensed are eye drops in a parakeets eyes, and intramuscular injections in the breast of a cockatiel, trust me that was an adventure, however they were smaller birds.

Thanks for the reminder that is something we will need to work on.
My Blue Fronted Zon used to lay on his back on my left arm. He liked this but when he saw the nail clippers he would tuck his head between the buttons of my shirt and hide. He would then scream so bad you would have thought I was pulling his claws out not trimming them.
When I was finished I would say ok Gus it's all done.

He would then stick his head up and say "Treat Treat", he always got a walnut.
 

Snowghost

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@Rain Bow Awe he sounds adorable. I have to remind myself that it will take time. I forget that Bugsy was with me 25 years and Paco and I have only know each other for a year. Patience and time and I know he will be a great feathered friend. He sure has come a long way from the terrified skinny bird that was on Hartz Parrot food and wouldn't eat any veggies or fruit at all.
 

Snowghost

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Happy dance, we are now stepping up and NOT biting. I am now taking him to my bed and letting him explore the other side of the room. He grinds his beak at night now. Such a happy sound and I can now reach in his cage and retrieve his locked water bowl with no bite. Great progress, it has been a year now.
 

BertAllen

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Happy dance, we are now stepping up and NOT biting. I am now taking him to my bed and letting him explore the other side of the room. He grinds his beak at night now. Such a happy sound and I can now reach in his cage and retrieve his locked water bowl with no bite. Great progress, it has been a year now.
Just keep up what your doing and everything will fall into place. Of course there will be set backs.
 

Rain Bow

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This is GREAT news! I'm so happy for you because you've been working so hard w/ Paco. :happydance:

Happy Gotcha Day too!!! :iwon:
 

Snowghost

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Everyone here has been so helpful. I admit I have had some discouraging times with my boy. The rewards are so worth it. He is still fearful of a lot of thing but I have noticed that he is starting to play more and more with is cylinder bell, even swing it, and has squawked at it so loud it had me running to see if he i o.k. Lawsy I hope Greys' don't do that a lot. He is also playing with other toys, lifting the rings from the top of the cage. I have tried introducing more toys but he will just it on the other side on top of the cage and won't move, so I have put them away for now.

I do believe his bare chest is finally getting some pin feathers, I hope he will be fully feathered soon.
 

Rain Bow

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I have wind chimes in my living room & dining room. I taught Buddy to "ring the bell & play me a song". He only pulls the pendulum piece but he will do it on cue. He gets praise but I started w/ sunflower seeds while I trained. It's funy how that little black seed teachs them. Yes, they're high in fat but a few to learn is like the grease on a wheel. There are vitamins & minerals they need. Just don't overdo. No more than 2 teaspoins is what I try to do each day. That includes the seed time seeds. I've read the actual proper exceeded amount us 2 tablespoons, so 2 teaspoons is WAY under what our guys can actually have.
 

Snowghost

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Awe how cute that you were able to teach him that. I didn't know they needed sunflower seeds. The seeds I do give Paco are Higgins Safflower gold. He doesn't eat much of it. It has dried carrots, banana chips, some strange looking brown lump of something and pineapple, he doesn't eat any of it. I don't blame him that stuff looks terrible. He has to be the only parrot I've met that does not like red peppers. I might try the sunflower seeds. Every once in a while not often I have to bribe him with a peanut to get him in his cage. We are working on stepping up still and no bites. I just have a hard time getting him onto his perch. I think it's me. I might not be positioning him to step up at a very good angle if that makes sense.
 

BertAllen

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When Tinkers in the mood he will step up and step down.
I have him now stepping up backwards when I can only get my hand under his tail.
 
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