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What does it mean? (Newbie alert!)

Hipcricket

Strolling the yard
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3/4/21
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88
Location
Cricketville ON
@Hipcricket -- Sure hope he wants all those pinfeathers preened!!! That will definately put you on his good side! :xflove:
He seems to! I had him out today while I did a deep cleaning of his (too small but larger on on the way) cage. When done, I added a perch to the outside of the cage and he really likes it! As you can see, preening is a favorite thing for him! AB9DBF8B-96C9-4F2E-A127-10818BBD4F0C.jpeg
 

Hipcricket

Strolling the yard
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Messages
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Location
Cricketville ON
Babalooey Blues playground is expanding daily! He still isn’t completely comfortable with it - but did have a nibble on the millet in the bowl while I was cage cleaning today. Slowly but surely, step by step...lol (my natural state of being is that instant gratification is just not fast enough - so this whole endeavor is teaching me how to relax, breathe, center myself and use PATIENCE!!! Who knew I had that?! Not me!
 

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Hipcricket

Strolling the yard
Joined
3/4/21
Messages
88
Location
Cricketville ON
Beautiful pics!

Take your time, sometimes like human kids they regress... Your fid will make a turn around again.

Treats help greatly in the beginning! Some birds don't go for food oriented treats, when they don't, strong praise is considered the "Treat"

Reward to good & try to ignore the bad. Huge mantra around here.

Welcome to AA!

:hug8:Rain & Buddy :mrha:
Like a dog!
 

Hipcricket

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Cricketville ON
Ok so, at the risk of sounding like a petulant child, I want to ask - when do they start to WANT to be with you? I mean, roughly, how long is “normal” for taming to the point of wanting to be out and about? I can coax him, I can place him in various places, such as my shoulder or knees, on his external perches etc. but he still shies away for the most part. Once he’s on my finger/hand, he’s ok. But convincing him this is a good idea is still hit and miss. It has been 18 days of short, frequent tries using high value treating, (millet), am I asking too much? Keep in mind I’m used to dogs - who always bond with me in the first 10-20 minutes! Any ideas what else I can do to make myself more palatable to the little guy? Thanks!!
 

Ripshod

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It's only been 18 days. What is there for him to do once he's out? What exciting/interesting things are there to stimulate him and keep him interested? Human interaction sometimes just isn't enough.
Is he playing with the toys in his cage yet?
 

Hipcricket

Strolling the yard
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Messages
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Location
Cricketville ON
It's only been 18 days. What is there for him to do once he's out? What exciting/interesting things are there to stimulate him and keep him interested? Human interaction sometimes just isn't enough.
Is he playing with the toys in his cage yet?
I have a playground, and offer millet, a bathing station, fresh food like lettuce, orange, apple ( no seeds) etc. I have a pad of sprouted seeds as well. So far no interest in any fresh food but I saw him taste the orange and he shook his head in a very comic fashion! He has just started to investigate the toys. Sadly, his favorite was a rope toy that just didn’t feel safe. I’ve ordered some paper shred toys and a foraging ball. I did say I knew I was gonna sound like a petulant child!! Lol! 4F74F998-6E92-4DEF-BF90-740644B2879E.jpeg
 

Rain Bow

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18 days to a floof is a very short time period to parrots! Go slow & be patient, I too thought that taking in my Buddy was going to be like a dog or cat & it wasn't even a little bit. Birds are a whole different fellow in their own right!

Buddy's an amazon & it was touch & go. Everything was & is, like dealing w/ a 3 yr old human on crack! They're crazy to love you one day & pee'd off @ you the next for seemingly NO apparent reason. It takes a long time usually for them to make you a Respected & Trusted member of THEIR flock. The fact that Babalooey Blues will eventually step onto your finger is a good indicator that your on the right path.

Every bird needs to go @ the pace they feel comfortable with to start (I'm told) & have read repeatedly on AA that this is the time to coax not to force & let them lead. This also wk'd out between Buddy & I once I began to not try to treat him as a dog, & just do it his way for awhile. Earn his trust & respect instead of pushing my agenda on him. Later after that Flock member status of you as an individual has been earned they're more likely to go w/ the flow. Then your training to them will become a bigger priority, as they will want you to be happy w/ them also. Just like humans it's a give & take relationship that goes like a finger to foot handshake (so to speak).

I ,hope this helps simplify some if the Earning Respect & Difference to other pets. Please keep us updated as you go!
 

Hipcricket

Strolling the yard
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Messages
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Cricketville ON
Thank you so much! It really helps to hear your experiences as I’m really, truly a novice bird owner (caregiver?). We had two Budgies when I was a little kid (7/8 age) but they weren’t my responsibility at all and so I just got to enjoy watching them. I’m really trying not to break trust with him. But yesterday, I had to hold him against his will in order to extract a string from being tangled in his foot! I have NO IDEA where he even got hold of a string! But needless to say - it had to be done. So today is a hands off kinda day. I’m definitely feeling his displeasure! (Although he was happy enough to accept my millet peace offering) lol
I’m home almost all day every day so I’ve got nothing but time! I’ll keep moving forward and learning. And I’ll heed your advice on the patience bit!! Thanks again for your reply!
 

Pat H

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Apple River, IL
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Pat
Thank you so much! It really helps to hear your experiences as I’m really, truly a novice bird owner (caregiver?). We had two Budgies when I was a little kid (7/8 age) but they weren’t my responsibility at all and so I just got to enjoy watching them. I’m really trying not to break trust with him. But yesterday, I had to hold him against his will in order to extract a string from being tangled in his foot! I have NO IDEA where he even got hold of a string! But needless to say - it had to be done. So today is a hands off kinda day. I’m definitely feeling his displeasure! (Although he was happy enough to accept my millet peace offering) lol
I’m home almost all day every day so I’ve got nothing but time! I’ll keep moving forward and learning. And I’ll heed your advice on the patience bit!! Thanks again for your reply!
Yes, a piece of string can be very dangerous... I once found that a finch had one of my long hairs wrapped around her leg, cutting off circulation. [she had picked it up to add to her nest]... was a real process to remove that!
 

Rain Bow

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Ps. Here’s Babalooey Blue in his new digs!
I absolutely love Babaloey's little face, SO much personality in all those feathers!

I'm glad your fid is ok from the string incident! Like Pat, I worry about my hair & Buddy's little toes, I have terribly long hair (I amost sit on it) & he's always getting his legs & feet tangled up in it. Thank goodness, nothing's ever happened.

I'm glad your here asking all the new parrot questions. Many do not even try. :grumpy:

It sounds like your getting in the habit of being the parrots companion! Lol!
 

Pat H

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@Hipcricket -- in #27 you said you had a 'pad' for the sprouted seed... I bought some organic Chia seed to sprout for my M. Doves cage-- what is your pad? thx...
 

Hipcricket

Strolling the yard
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Location
Cricketville ON
Oh, ok I was referring to the tangles sprouts themselves which naturally formed into a pad as being a ‘pad’ rather than any actual pad, sorry! I use paper towels and change them out daily. I rinse twice a day. But the pad is the actual sprouts themselves!
 

Hipcricket

Strolling the yard
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Messages
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Cricketville ON
A breakthrough of sorts! I think I mentioned that I had decided to back up a bit? Yes, the bird would sit on my finger and yes, on my shoulder. But that’s after several adventures in flying as far away as he could! He’d fly away and land behind the tv or under the sofa or some other not great spot, I’d offer my hand to help him out of his predicament and eventually, he accepts. But yesterday, after several days of heightened tensions due to having had to extricate the string wrapped around his tootsies, I saw him take a step towards my hand! Yes, there was millet in it as well. But he stepped towards me and not away! I very slowly, gently tickled his cheeks and breast feathers, not for long and oh so light a touch. I let him eat some millet and then slowly he started to perch on my finger. His idea! I was happy to just have him step towards rather than away! I think it’s a breakthrough? I feel like I really went too fast at first. I’m on a course correction of sorts. Trust must be earned. I understand this concept much deeper now. Of course, after touching him, he had to spend ages putting those feathers back in place! lol A706E22E-AEDD-4117-B7C6-D2310DF16F8A.jpeg 8C702848-1CEB-4DC9-80FC-2269763B2E9D.jpeg A706E22E-AEDD-4117-B7C6-D2310DF16F8A.jpeg EC40CFAA-1F08-4EBE-9B9C-E5E94BE06D23.jpeg 8C702848-1CEB-4DC9-80FC-2269763B2E9D.jpeg
 

Rain Bow

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If you're feeding sprouts from the grocery store you shouldn't, they can be bad for your little guy because they often have bad bacteria on them. Sprouts that we talk about on AA should be grown from scratch...

If I misunderstood what was being stated, & you are growing them, I apologize. I don't want Babaloey to get sick from those type of sprouts.

As for the stepping up, congrats! Millet involved or not, you're making headway & sounds as tho a recovery from that string incident
 

Hipcricket

Strolling the yard
Joined
3/4/21
Messages
88
Location
Cricketville ON
If you're feeding sprouts from the grocery store you shouldn't, they can be bad for your little guy because they often have bad bacteria on them. Sprouts that we talk about on AA should be grown from scratch...

If I misunderstood what was being stated, & you are growing them, I apologize. I don't want Babaloey to get sick from those type of sprouts.

As for the stepping up, congrats! Millet involved or not, you're making headway & sounds as tho a recovery from that string incident
Hi! Thanks for caring! The sprouts are from his seed. I wash them every day, change paper towels too. Then, I wash them again before feeding. If I see any signs of mold at all, poof! Gone. So far he’s not at all interested. But he did have a taste of papaya! Kinda beaked it a bit. Good news is I am eating much more fruit and veg these days! lol
 

Hipcricket

Strolling the yard
Joined
3/4/21
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Location
Cricketville ON
Super excited to tell you all that we definitely had a breakthrough! Mr. Blue was watching his favorite bird video on YouTube when the signal went out. I was cage cleaning and he usually takes a stroll about when I’m in there. So anyways, the signal was out so I put my phone on the YouTube video and next thing I know, Babalooey comes a runnin towards my phone! I placed it on the floor and he was kissing it and playing all over the screen! I let him have at it while I finished up and then turned on tv again. Babalooey got up on the TV stand and landed behind it. I waited awhile to see if he could get himself out front again and he started calling! I offered my hand and he stepped up!! He didn’t run away!! We stood watching tv like it was his own private drive in show!! Then he wanted to go home so I took him up again and showed him the door. He flew in and I gave him some millet as a reward. IT FEELS SO GOOD!! I think maybe we’ve started to turn the corner! He’s been here a month next week. His little personality is just starting to show. Oh! And I found out he likes Pavarotti!! Here’s a shot of him singing with him!! lol 0637D75A-F6BA-4CE8-8637-2C68F5F38165.jpeg
 
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