Shadow hates me

[Dinosaurus]

I belong to the parrot club of Manitoba and about 6 months ago a member gave me a yellow headed Amazon female. She is 30 years old. She had her for a year and couldn't go near her. Shadow is just terrified when you go near her. She will take treats from my hand but nothing else. She doesn't play at all . She is very vocal and talks like crazy but will not let anyone near her. I have never locked her up. She likes to sit outside the cage on her perch. Sometimes she flies at night in the dark. I have had a bluefronted before so I do know what Amazon's are about. Question: do you think she was wild caught and if she is will she ever come around. I would love to interact with her. She is beautiful!

 

[sunnysmom]

Does she have a leg band? I know in the U.S. wild caught parrots have import bands that look different than regular breeder bands. I'll tag some Amazon people. (And I don't think she hates you. I don't think birds hate. She just needs to build some trust. )

@Love My Zons @Fuzzy @Clueless ?

 

[Greylady1966]

Thank you for giving her a home. I have two rescue zons both BF. I lost a YNA that we got from a terrible hoarding situation, he was under weight, blind in one eye and had most of his toes bit off, on toe only had skin holding it on. It took two years to get him to take treats and step out on his playstand. Please don't give up on her it takes a lot of time but it is well worth it. IMO no animal hates, they protect, survive and need to hurt, but hate, no.

 

[Fuzzy]

Renee! If you treat Shadow with consistent kindness there is no reason why she will not warm to you.

I have an Orange-winged Amazon called Ollie. The woman who rescued him couldn't go near him for the 9 months she had him. She had to to medicate him which didn't help matters, but Ollie would also not engage with her other parrots. She called him a mute statue and said he wasn't making the progress she expected. I suspect Ollie was an aviary bird before his health was seriously compromised by his ignorant previous owners. The woman who rescued him believed he is a wild caught as she knew the person who originally sold him, but I am not so sure.

That is GREAT Shadow will take food from you. Ollie too would take only a big palm nut from me to begin with. So I used it as reinforcement to gradually teach him to step up on a hand held perch. It took almost a year to do! Then I discovered he liked cashews, which allowed for much more behaviour, so training went faster as he could have a few pieces a day.

With Ollie I noticed eye contact was a problem. Eye contact would send him hiding. So no direct eye contact. I also got down lower than him when approaching his cage or cleaning it out. Reason being birds feel safer high up where they can more easily spot predators. Ollie couldn't get any higher but I could get lower - I used to crawl to his cage. I also used negative reinforcement to approach him at full height. I reinforced/rewarded his calm body language by removing myself (since I was the adversive). It went like this: I would start the other side of the room and take one or two slow steps towards him (no direct eye contact) and I would reward his calm body language by taking half to one step back (removing the aversive). Gradually over days/weeks I could approach him at full height and when I could reach him, positively reinforce with a treat.

You will have to teach Shadow to play as I did with Ollie. Try providing her with small, easily destroyed toys of a neutral colour. Balsa wood is great - really easy to tear apart. String pieces on paper rope or leather strips and tie them where she is likely to hang out. Then as she gets the idea, you can add more things and gradually harder to destroy pieces... cardboard, corks, wooden beads, woven palm, soft pinewood etc. I always remember the day when I eventually gave Ollie a coloured pinewood toy that was bigger than him. It took a few months to get there.

If she is vocal, answer her, see if you can have a good time shouting back and forth! The whole idea with a bird that is not tame is to try at every possible moment to pair yourself/your presence with something good, whether it is a treat, or talking if she likes that or..... You need to notice what she likes and build on those things/experiences.

Ollie has been with me for 9 years now, and all the time I notice little pieces of progress. He still has a phobia about stepping up on hands but that is ok. Maybe he will one day, maybe he won't but I love him dearly.

 

[macawpower58]

Poor girl. I wonder how many homes in the last 30 years. Do you know?
If the last one was for only a year, she's probably not very trusting.
If she ever had a loving home, she may be missing what she had at one time.
Or she could have never know the love of friendship and safety.
You'll just have to take it slow, and allow her the time she needs to realize she's in a good place and there for good.
She may never be a hands on bird, but with time she could well have some drastic changes.
Thanks for giving her a safe place to land.
Enjoy her as she is, and she'll end up blooming in her own time, and her own way.

 

[Rain Bow]

Buddy is a Mexican Red Headed Zon. He was nippy when we moved him from his home of approx. 25 yrs to our home. I can tell you the nipping was his way of telling us we were doing things wrong or too fast.

This April will be Buddy's third gotcha day w/ us. He's learned about a million new things that we taught him. We've learned about a million new things from him.

Remember that like human to human relationships you don't always trust that person initially, birds can feel the same way. Yes, you can make that mistake w/ a fid & they'll forgive you. I say keep trying, it takes time to build trust.

Like @macawpower58 asked how many homes & how fast? This can cause major instability just like an orphan that moves from foster home to foster home.

The one thing that seemed to help us most was getting Buddy on a specific schedule. I'm not saying like every day has to start @ 4AM (some may disagree). Just that you get them up @ a certain time. Maybe train in the morning or when you get home from work. Buddy gets up, we eat, then we putter around or he plays, then he may nap, then we have a snack, he plays & takes his late afternoon nap, after dinner or before bed we train or I put him thru a routine or 2... This is an example & not every day is exactly the same, but we only vary slightly day to day. I have my shopping day as an example, he does his own puttering on that day.

 

[Dinosaurus]

Does she have a leg band? I know in the U.S. wild caught parrots have import bands that look different than regular breeder bands. I'll tag some Amazon people. (And I don't think she hates you. I don't think birds hate. She just needs to build some trust. )

@Love My Zons @Fuzzy @Clueless ?

Thank you she does not have a band on her leg. I live in Canada

 

[Dinosaurus]

Thank you for giving her a home. I have two rescue zons both BF. I lost a YNA that we got from a terrible hoarding situation, he was under weight, blind in one eye and had most of his toes bit off, on toe only had skin holding it on. It took two years to get him to take treats and step out on his playstand. Please don't give up on her it takes a lot of time but it is well worth it. IMO no animal hates, they protect, survive and need to hurt, but hate, no.

Thank you

 

[Dinosaurus]

Poor girl. I wonder how many homes in the last 30 years. Do you know?
If the last one was for only a year, she's probably not very trusting.
If she ever had a loving home, she may be missing what she had at one time.
Or she could have never know the love of friendship and safety.
You'll just have to take it slow, and allow her the time she needs to realize she's in a good place and there for good.
She may never be a hands on bird, but with time she could well have some drastic changes.
Thanks for giving her a safe place to land.
Enjoy her as she is, and she'll end up blooming in her own time, and her own way.

Thank you so much

 

[Dinosaurus]

Buddy is a Mexican Red Headed Zon. He was nippy when we moved him from his home of approx. 25 yrs to our home. I can tell you the nipping was his way of telling us we were doing things wrong or too fast.

This April will be Buddy's third gotcha day w/ us. He's learned about a million new things that we taught him. We've learned about a million new things from him.

Remember that like human to human relationships you don't always trust that person initially, birds can feel the same way. Yes, you can make that mistake w/ a fid & they'll forgive you. I say keep trying, it takes time to build trust.

Like @macawpower58 asked how many homes & how fast? This can cause major instability just like an orphan that moves from foster home to foster home.

The one thing that seemed to help us most was getting Buddy on a specific schedule. I'm not saying like every day has to start @ 4AM (some may disagree). Just that you get them up @ a certain time. Maybe train in the morning or when you get home from work. Buddy gets up, we eat, then we putter around or he plays, then he may nap, then we have a snack, he plays & takes his late afternoon nap, after dinner or before bed we train or I put him thru a routine or 2... This is an example & not every day is exactly the same, but we only vary slightly day to day. I have my shopping day as an example, he does his own puttering on that day.

Thank you for your advice.

 

[Clueless]

Mine are both wild caught.

They can learn to trust but just remember, they are each different. Taking food from your hand is a GREAT start.

 

[T. gillii]

I would love to see the beautiful lady! Double yellow headeds are my favorite Amazons!

here are two photos I took at my local zoo, featuring a blue front. The aviary they’re in is huge, by the way! (I mean, huge for 2 birds that is)


I love the puff

 

[Dinosaurus]

I would love to see the beautiful lady! Double yellow headeds are my favorite Amazons!

here are two photos I took at my local zoo, featuring a blue front. The aviary they’re in is huge, by the way! (I mean, huge for 2 birds that is)

View attachment 323140 View attachment 323141
I love the puff
[/QUOShe is gorgeous

 

[Dinosaurus]

 

[GoDucks]

One of my friends bought a wild-caught Triton Cockatoo from someone on Craig's list He was not an aggressive bird but he did not trust people and would hiss at anyone who approached his cage. After three years of patience and encouragement from my friend, he will now fly to his shoulder and eat out of his hand. The fact that your baby will eat out of your hand in only six months of knowing one another tells me that you are making great progress in earning her trust.