Becoming Friends With Drayton

[shae]

Drayton is my 10 year old Congo African Grey Parrot. He hasnt been sexed, but calls himself a him, so thats what I go by. I am his second owner, and when I got him about 5 moths ago, his previous owner told me of some problems he has, that I would like to overcome.

Drayton doesnt like anyone. I've been reading the forum today, and I've seen many tips that I'm sure would work if he had a favorite person, but he doesnt. He cant fly (his first owner clipped his wings wrong as a chick, so the primaries on his right wing fall off when bumped), and he wont come out of his cage. He used to eat from my hands ( he likes oranges and pommegranite) but wont even come close to the cage bars anymore. We moved him downstairs to my room, away from all the noise and activity as it seemed to stress him out, and he got better for a while (would talk and whistle while I was in the room, and came out of the cage to walk around on the floor, ate treats, and spent a lot of time letting me scratch his head- though no stepping up), but now if I walk into the room wrong ( not all the time) he screams and throwns himself to the floor of his cage. He does this thing where he tips himself forewards and vibrates his wings, supposedly as a warning. He relaxes some after a while, but still no talking, or whistling, no scratching ( I know hes itchy because he has a swinging toy that he will push and let it rub on his neck- should I remove it so that I am the only thing he can get scratched by???), no coming out to play, and I am not allowed to put my hand anywhere near him in his cage. At night he will sometimes come to the bars if I offer to scratch him and will tip his head, but then he cracks his beak and growls, and if I keep my finger there he tries to bite. Oh and he is really scared of boys/men. Changing his perch arrangement and toy placement freaks him out.

He will eat, and drink, push his toy (though he isnt very playful), and take baths, and if I go slow I can clean his cage without a fuss. I've read that Greys like to destroy things, but he doesnt, and he isnt messy either. He used to do summersaults from the roof of his cage, and laps to get exercise, but he doesnt anymore. He isnt listless, his feathers are bright and clean, and he doesnt pluck them, and his stool is normal.

I'm not sure what to do, every book I've read about African Greys assumes a friendly bird.

Drayton was hand fed as a chick, but his previous owner had all the same problems that I do (though not as severe).

I really want to be friends with him, I have always loved African Greys, is there anything I can do to get him to the place where he will bond with me the way other people talk about?

[liz]

He is insecure because he can't fly.

Try putting tempting things on the outside of his cage. Even a paper bag with a few peanuts. Does he have a bell? All of mine like playing with bells. They like to make noise.

Have you tried www.YouTube.com to get his attention? I key in BF Amazon for Myrtle. She watches all Amazons but prefers BF. My tiels love to watch the tiels.

[shae]

I have tried youtube, he doesnt like noises coming from in the room, but he loves listening to planet earth- especially the birds of paradise chapter- from the next room over. He has two bells and a dangling toy that rattles, but he wont play with them. I've been thinking about settin his food dish up next to his cage door so that he has to come out to eat, perhaps that would work some for getting him out of the cage.

[Andromeda]

Re-homing is a very traumatic experience for a bird. His first owner had him for 10 years and that is a long time so even though you've had him for 5 months he's still adjusting.

It's hard to say for sure why he was friendlier and more active when you first adopted him but one possibility is that he was going out of his way to try to "fit in" with the new flock. When a bird is re-homed their reaction is often to do anything they think will facilitate their being accepted by the "new birds" and later once they are more comfortable their behavior returns to what it was at their previous home(s).

Liz has some good advice. You can try her tips and see how Drayton responds. I'm sure she's right in that one reason he's insecure is because he can't fly.

Try clicker training. Birds respond very well to operant conditioning and positive reinforcement. You can start by teaching him to target a stick and this can be done while he's inside his cage. It's usually very easy to teach a bird to target because their natural reaction to the stick is to bite it and that's exactly what you're trying to teach. If they bite hard at first that's okay; you teach them over time that only a gentle nip is what gets a reward.

If he will no longer accept treats from your hand you can drop them into his food dish (inside his cage) instead. My brown-headed parrot bites hands so when I work with him (outside the cage) I put his treats in a measuring cup with a handle so I can reward him without having to worry about a bite. My long-term goal is to use clicker training so show him that hands aren't scary or bad, but rewarding him "hands-free" works well for me in the meantime.

Read "How to Teach Parrot to Step Up and to Come Out of Cage". Michael's posts and vidoes are excellent.

If the bird is not even tolerant of your presence at all (growling, throwing himself on the floor, etc.) you might need to condition him to calmly tolerate your presence before you start target training. Michael explains in the post I linked how to "use negative reinforcement to reward the bird to tolerate you"---in the end you only want to use positive reinforcement but you might have to start out with negative reinforcement with Drayton.

It will take time but if you work with him consistently you will see an improvement in his temperament.

I'm surprised he doesn't like to shred things; it sounds like he might not have had toys in his first home and he's unfamiliar with them. Do you know if that's the case?

[shae]

Ok thank both of you!

[shae]

Drayton came down from his favorite perch (which I'm not allowed to touch ) to take an orange from my hand across the cage. THANK YOU for yoru advice, and for the link to the how-to article. They're fantastic!!

[Andromeda]

Drayton came down from his favorite perch (which I'm not allowed to touch ) to take an orange from my hand across the cage. THANK YOU for yoru advice, and for the link to the how-to article. They're fantastic!!

That's great news! It's also a big step forward in just 3 days!

So glad to hear this. It will take time but you and Drayton will become friends.