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kasiko the african grey

Discuss the methods and techniques of clicker training, target training and bonding. These are usually the first steps in training a young parrot.

Re: kasiko the african grey

Postby liz » Wed Jun 01, 2016 6:45 am

It is rare for my Amazons to bite. The only bad bites were when they were tangled or trapped and I needed to help them get out. I lost some blood over those times. Even with the blood letting I kept talking softly. They did not mean to hurt me but they grabbed my hands to help them pull out. They were not responsible for causing me pain and I did not react.

Some times while playing they will chomp down too hard and I say "owe". They have learned that "owe" was said because they went too far and they will back off. They have even asked me "owe?" if I do not say it. They were asking if they went too far.

My aunt on the other hand is a screamer. Poke her with a finger and she will scream and call it being beaten. Amazons like noise. They makes lots of noise and will play with the toys that make the most noise.

Rambo would spend hours behind the toilet waiting for my aunt to sit down then jump out and scare her or even hit her leg. She screamed and he liked the noise. It became a common thing.

Myrtle also likes her screams. She will fly over my aunt and grab her hair or even just smack into her while flying by. I have to work with them both to teach Myrtle not to do that and to teach my aunt not to scream. The situation is improving because my aunt is not screaming as easy as before and Myrtle is loosing interest in making her scream.

The worst bite I ever had was from a cockatiel. Cockatiels use bites to defend themselves but Rosie seemed to like causing pain and she did it any chance she got. Since I had multiple birds in the cage it was hard to defend myself. I returned Curley after a few years when his last human was ready to care for him again. I sent Rosie with him. Curley was very social. My only hope is that one to one Rosie picked up some of it. Of course I warned that human about Rosie's abuse.

Well that turned into a long post. I have a habit of telling old stories as a way to explain myself.
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liz
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Re: kasiko the african grey

Postby Wolf » Wed Jun 01, 2016 8:42 am

danamaynah wrote:a great protector u have may I ask if she gets jealous of your partner.

I have noticed his reaction to some of the ppl at home he will attack my dad as if he hates to even listen to him speaking, he would freeze if I go next to him and like I said he would pay a lot of attention to my sister in law but I know she is not able to train it .

I'm discussing with my partner of bringing him to my place but we haven't agreed on it yet


Kookooloo does not allow anyone to touch her other than myself, period, no exceptions at all. She, for all intents and purposes bonded with me at first sight. I try to consider that she was abused, mostly through neglect as far as I can tell, so she was pretty well plucked naked by the time that we met and in addition to that she had mutilated herself and had three rather large holes in her body from this when I got her. This was not the fault of the people that I got her from, although their parrot keeping would have only made it worse and I already had one bird that came from them that had been abused as well as neglected. Kookooloo, did not make it any easier on herself when she was delivered to them as she never accepted any of them or allowed anyone there to ever touch her. They only had her for about three months from time of delivery to them until they let me have her.

I had the self mutilation stopped and the plucking down to the level that she had regrown most of her feathers, but she never completely quit plucking. This last breeding season she plucked herself naked again, and I am to blame for that as I was having some major difficulties with my medications ( pain meds) and was not able to get up for more than just a few minutes at a time for a while and that caused some neglect of her on my part and that just added to the stresses of breeding hormones. We have straightened that out and her plucking has dropped back down and she is once again regrowing her feathers.

Anyway, Greys are like other parrots in many ways, but they are also very different than most of them. First of all they really do not like to be touched by anyone and this holds true even in the wild where the only other bird that they allow to touch them is their mate and that is highly restricted even in breeding season from everything that I have read on them. This by no means suggests that they are not loving or even affectionate, because they are very much affectionate and loving birds, they are also extremely social birds, at least as far as their mate is concerned. They bond very deeply and since the very first day with her, I have never been able to leave the room without her screaming for me. We have that down to her just whistling to call for me, which she does whenever I am home but out of sight. She does know that sometimes I have to go away and does well enough while I go to doctors appointments or otherwise am not at home as long as it is within reason ( in her mind, not mine).

I must say that if esp truly exists, and there is no scientific evidence yet that confirms this, then Kookooloo puts forth a very substantial case in favor of empathy as she is fully cognizant of how I am feeling as well as my state of mind and emotional condition almost as soon as I am and I must admit that on occasion it appears that she may be aware of these things before I am fully aware of them myself. She is truly a most amazing creature in her own right and I am totally fascinated by her.

I really have no way of confirming or denying whether she is jealous of me and my human mate, as she has never allowed anyone other than myself to touch her for any reason, nor will she allow anyone to touch me when she is out and on me. Not one dog, cat, or human. I have been able to get away with Kiki and Keeta being on me, (Kiki is my Senegal and Keeta is my Parrotlet), but that is not something that she allows, it is one of those things that happens because I protect them from her at those times. She has been known to bite me once in a while when I do this, but not very often and it is easy to tell that she is holding back when she does. That is the only time that I could attribute any of her behaviors to jealousy, but I do think that she is very much jealous of me. It would be easier to say definitively that it was jealousy if she allowed any one else to touch her as then I could say that it was standard jealous behavior, but the fact that she does not allow anyone else to touch her prevents me from saying that with any real certainty, but I do think that she is jealous.
Wolf
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Re: kasiko the african grey

Postby danamaynah » Wed Dec 28, 2016 8:59 am

update on kasiko,

he is with me right now in my current flat, whether he will stay here forever is in question(family drama), anyways he has been here for about a week now and might stay for another week depending on whats decided with the family.

I have been giving him so much attention but only verbal coz he attacks when he gets the chance, he used to get out of his cage back home but only on his cage, here he barely leaves the cage the furthest he will go is to climb the door when its open, its like hes not sure if its ok to get out. two days ago he started dancing and regurgitating even though I don't get the chance to pet or touch him, previously the only person he will allow to touch him is my sister in law which I think he wanted as a mate, so now he does it to me and to my husband today.

I'm feeding him vegies and fruits and mixed seeds, I wake them (kasiko and kiwi) at 6:30 that's when the sun comes up, I talk to them in the morning and offer them fruits and a bit of vegies, I let kiwi hang out on the window which he is still obsessed with, and I leave kasiko's door open for him to choose to come out and play( he doesn't ), btw I'm not sure its safe for kiwi to be with kasiko out of their cage because I'm afraid kasiko will hurt him, so I do my work and interact with them as much as I can, at 4ish I put kiwi back and talk to both of them and offer them their dinner and a bit of mixed seeds and by 6:30 when the sun sets kasiko would talk and whistle for a bit then sleeps, theyre both in another room when theyre sleeping coz we stay up late.

my question is since hes flirting with everyone could he be hormonal or is he just so used to biting, when ever he lunges and misses he would lough or imitate the reactions he used to get at home.
danamaynah
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Re: kasiko the african grey

Postby Pajarita » Wed Dec 28, 2016 11:31 am

Well, one week is nothing to them - NOTHING! All parrots take a looooong time to come around and, in my personal opinion and experience, grays are one of the worst species when it comes to this because they HATE change.

I don't know why he is still biting... he should have stopped by now so something is not right according to him. Parrots are not naturally aggressive so, when a bird bites, there is always a reason for it but, in the case of a bird without a mate or nest that needs protecting, it's always directly related to the human factor so, although you say you interact as much as possible, it seems to me that this must be the area where something is lacking. The light schedule you mentioned is perfect right now (I checked the sunrise and sunset times in your country) as long as you are not turning on the artificial lights at 6am and off at 4pm (they need, at least, one entire hour exposure to twilight). Thing is, grays are short day breeders so it is possible that your bird is hormonal right now. The diet is not good, I am afraid, as it seems to me (and correct me if I am wrong, please) that you are still free-feeding seeds.
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Flight: Yes

Re: kasiko the african grey

Postby danamaynah » Thu Dec 29, 2016 10:44 am

the seeds are used as treats and on some days I give them around 11 sunflower seeds as a nice gesture lol other then that their meals are fruits and vegetables.

I was watching a video of a guy explaining how to deal with a parrot that bites and he said that in the wild when the parrot hurts another or is too rough the other bird will scream and fly away, so today I got bit twice and I yelled ouch and left the room immediately he started calling for me and whistling and he seemed to keep his beak away from my hand and I rewarded him for that, its really terrifying for me when he lunges I still keep my cool and don't yell at him I just say ouch, the pain I can handle its just anticipating the bite is what gets me.

biting aside he is very sweet he talks to me and whistles for me and my husband when were in the other rooms, he seems to like my husband a lot but by the time he comes bk from work its almost time for them to sleep so he doesn't get to spend a lot of time with them. (hes regurgitating and dancing fo the both of us now)
danamaynah
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Re: kasiko the african grey

Postby Pajarita » Thu Dec 29, 2016 12:27 pm

I am confused... I am sure it's me being dense, misunderstanding or missing something but are you feeding regularly any source of protein aside from the sunflower treats? Because vegetables and fruits don't provide anywhere near enough protein for a gray and, if this has been his diet for a long time, I don't know how he could be hormonal right now or even have the energy to bite.

We all harp about not feeding too much protein but they all need a certain amount of it and African birds need more than South American ones because they tend to eat more fruits - but even birds that are primarily fruit eaters need protein or they die (we had somebody here from India who fed his IRN only fruits and, occasionally, some boiled chickpeas and he couldn't understand why his bird had died when it was nothing but malnutrition). My CAG and TAG get gloop and raw produce for breakfast and all day picking and a nut/seed mix (more nuts that seeds, actually) for dinner.
Pajarita
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
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Re: kasiko the african grey

Postby danamaynah » Fri Dec 30, 2016 2:42 pm

ill check for ok sources of protein
danamaynah
Lovebird
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 47
Location: bahrain
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: African gray parrot
indian ringneck
Flight: Yes

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