Overcoming aggression, possessiveness, territorial

[Pajarita]

Well, as much as some people would be more than willing to change their lifestyle, it's often impossible. She seems to be a young person, going to high school (which means doing homework and studying) and working part time PLUS she has a boyfriend - and that leaves not enough time for a parrot no matter how you look at it. As to changing her lifestyle, I would guess that she would have to quit her job and reduce her boyfriend time significantly as well as relying on another person to help out with her parrot (winter days are so short that even though I am home all day long, I find myself running against the clock every single day trying to fit enough daylight hours to spend with the birds).

[LightFlashA]

Yes that's it Wolf, I realized I should change her diet. The specifics are, a lot of nuts and dried fruit, and some baked pellets that are supposed to be nutritionally balanced. I gave her a sample of steamed vegetables and she seemed to like them so I will be adjusting her diet to those, and I also switched the pellets to a lifetime diet formula and the change will be slow and smooth hopefully. I've been having my family members turn the lights on and off so she's been getting some more sleep.

I take your suggestions to no offense, don't worry! And the opportunity for my hours being cut has just opened up, but I'm not sure if it will be enough. The change will allow me to be home at 6:30.

I'm very happy, because today she let me pick her up in the grab during our training session! And she has been more open to me touching her back. I have lots of hope, I feel that things will get better.

Thanks for everyone's advice!

[Wolf]

Is there anyone in your family who would be willing to open Yui's cage and spend a couple of hours sitting with her and then put her dinner in her cage, wait for her to go back in and close the cage again?
I know that this would still not be the amount of time out that she should get, but she needs some time out each day. She really needs a minimum of four hours free out of cage time and at least one hour of one on one time, but even a couple of hours of free time out of the cage would help her a lot.

[liz]

With my solar light I am able to adjust the days. I have closed the blinds in the sunroom so my cockatiels get a very long dawn and I turn their sun on at 10 am when I go out to let the boxers run. I turn the boxers loose again at 4 pm and don't put them back until 5. I turn the birds sun off at 5 which gives them a dusk. It may still be too long but it is better than summer when it is daybreak at 5:30 am and sundown at 10 pm.

[LightFlashA]

Yes Wolf, if my new schedule plan I have works out, then she will be getting the amount of time you described! She is out and about with me right now happily flying around! I take comfort in the thought that she's had lots of sleep, and that she won't attack me out of nowhere. She's going to get spoiled rotten over Christmas break as well.

[Wolf]

Which amount of time are you referring to the 4 hours of free out of cage time that she really needs or the other?

[Pajarita]

Please don't touch her back, it's a no-no with birds.

[LightFlashA]

I was referring to the 4 hours, and as she can be unpredictable and she isn't perfectly behaved yet, my family members tend to avoid her and wouldn't be comfortable with taking her out of the cage. They do go down to my room and talk to her though. And perhaps it's not precisely what you described, but it is definitely a lot more than before. And this tight schedule is only because of high school. During breaks and as soon as I am out of high school, I get excited about all the time I will have to give her.



A new question popped into my head.
Yui loves new people mostly, which is unusual for a senegal as I have heard. The problem is, she won't leave the new person alone! It's not even necessarily a new person, it is also people she doesn't see as much as she sees me. Like my sister or my mother. She picks people though, for example she doesn't constantly try to fly to my father or to my boyfriend's friend. However she becomes quite a pain to any guest, like my best friend, because Yui just wants to fly to her head, or mess with what she is doing, or just sit on her shoulder or head. I am just curious of there is a good way to keep Yui satisfied with playing on her tree while new people are in the room? Also some new people become quite frightened by her flying at them, thought she usually has good intentions.

It's a bit off topic.

[Wolf]

The same thing happens here with Kiki. If anyone new or an infrequent visitor arrives, I must warn them before entering the living area of the house as they will acquire a new cap or hairpiece with green and yellow feathers. I have one of those "Magic Screen"s in the doorway between the living area and the dining room/ kitchen. Sometimes having Kiki on my shoulder helps, but not always. So just tell visitors about Yui and that she might do this or don't take them where Yui can do this, the only other option is to put Yui in her cage for the duration of the visit.
She is a parrot and she will probably never be perfectly behaved in the manner that a dog or cat would be, but as long as she isn't biting that is pretty perfect for a parrot.
I think that you are fooling yourself about how much more time you will have to devote to Yui when you finish high school. After high school there is either college or work. But I could be wrong. Four hours of out of cage time spent with you will help her out a lot as long as you get her on a healthy and varied diet and put her on a solar light schedule.

[Pajarita]

That's strange... none of my four senegals ever went to anybody else but me - well, unless you count Zoey who used to fly to my husband's shoulders so she could bite him