Brand New GCC - Need Advice

[rasputinette]

I've had my new girl, Eris, for a couple of weeks now. She's around eleven months old.

We allow her out of her cage daily, for at least two to three hours; she has free reign of the living room with access to natural perches. So far, she has elected to stay far away from me and my partner and mostly spends time with the budgies, either on top of their cage (which is next to my computer set-up) or on top of or in her cage (which is behind me). She is not the least bit aggressive towards the budgies and is very curious about them -- and they love her! Gnosis, one of the budgies, has tried preening her a few times and offers her food.

I think she's a little lonely -- she's very loud, calls very often and she wing flips (shrugs her shoulders and bats her wings in small movements, while cocking her head), which I've read is a baby begging behaviour. However, she absolutely will not take food from me or my partner.

Today, I put my hand in her cage multiple times, holding treats (seeds, millet, her pellets) and talking to her softly and she sat on a perch, looking at me intently and wing-flipping and occasionally calling, but did not venture near. I can tell she craves social contact, but I can't give it to her because she doesn't trust me and it breaks my heart.

How should I approach this situation? What can I do, if I can't handle her yet?

Also: we gave her plenty of toys of all kinds, but she's been ignoring them all. Is this normal?

I just want to do right by her, but my only bird experience is with my English budgies, who have each other for company and who started eating out of our hands almost immediately, so I'm rather at a loss here.

[Wolf]

Every bird is different and what works for one may or may not work for another. This is just a thought that you should always keep in mind because it becomes apparent in so many places and ways that it is impossible to list all that it applies to/ The issues that we face with our birds playing with toys, foraging and in eating a variety of foods required for good health all stem from the same source, that the bird was not taught about these things from the time that it was a baby which is when its parents would have taught it about such things.
If you want your bird to use and play with toys then you need to teach it how to use them, what they are and what they are for. For example, if it is a foraging toy, which can be as simple as a nut wrapped in a piece of a coffee filter to some complicated plastic ones, you need to show the bird the food and have it watch you place the nut in the coffee filter and then see you wrap it up, providing you use this one, and then watch you tear it open and eat the nut. You then have it watch you make another one which you give to the bird. If it tears it open then you can make more of them for it some with a nut and some without. If it does not go after the nut you may need to help by tearing it some to start the bird opening it. Repeat as much as needed to show your bird how to use it. With teaching a bird to eat a new food that it has never seen before, my preferred way is to eat it in front of the bird and when it wants it bad enough to try to take it to give it to them. These will help you more a little more later on, but first we need to get your bird to start taking treats from you.
When a bird does not trust me enough to come to me and/ or take a treat from me, I try offering the treat through the bars of the cage, I do not reach into the birds cage as this just frightens the bird too much to be effective. I begin the process of earning the birds trust by spending time talking to the bird and even singing to the bird and slowly approaching the cage only when the bird is relaxed and stepping back when it begins to get nervous. I do this until I reach the cage. This helps the bird to trust us because it sees that we are listening to its body language and responding to what it is trying to tell us. Then still talking to the bird I offer a treat through the bars of the cage and if the bird takes it, then I can move to the next step, but if the bird does not take the treat I place the treat in the birds dish where it can get it on its own without feeling threatened by me. When the bird will take the treat from me through the bars while I am talking to it, and is comfortable enough to come to the side of the cage that I am on when I approach the cage then I open the door of the cage , while talking to the bird and offer the treat at the cage door, but I do not reach into the cage. Always let the bird come to you, the bird will only come to you if it trust you enough to do so, without this trust you really have nothing as everything that you can do with your bird is dependent upon it trusting you. Earning the birds trust is the single most important thing that you can ever do with it. When the bird will come to you on its own at the door of its cage then it is ready to learn to step up for you. I normally just hold the treat in such a manner that the bird needs to step onto my hand or finger to get to the treat while I am talking to it. It is also at this point that you can begin target training you bird.
I hope that this will help you in taming your bird.
You should do some research on your birds diet and then we should discuss the birds diet and not only for your GCC, but also for your budgies as well.

[liz]

the budgies came to you because they felt secure having a buddy with them. it sounds like a possibility that she could have a backup buddy in the form of a budgie. she will learn from the buggies as well as you. she will depend on you long before she trusts you.
I never reach into a cage unless it is an emergency. I open the door and let them come to me. (myrtle came to me for help long before she allowed me to touch her.) I ask them often if they need help. they learn the word and use it to ask me.

[rasputinette]

Thank you for the replies! I will work on getting Eris used to my presence without putting my hands into the cage.

How do I tell if she is nervous? When I approach and talk to her, sometimes she lays her whole body flat against the perch she's sitting on, looks at me and sometimes makes soft, raspy noises and sometimes small "eek" noises.

Other times, when we're around, she does the baby begging behaviour (wing flipping, etc.) while pressed up against the side of the cage.

I am not sure what either of those mean. Can anyone offer any explanations, please?

Wolf: RE: diet. Both the budgies and Eris get Roudybush pellets in the appropriate size (the smallest for the budgies, the "mini" size for Eris) and I free-feed them, i.e. I give them a bowl of pellets at the start of the day and refill it if it gets empty before the evening.

I'm working on introducing fruit and vegetables into their diet and in a few months I plan on switching them to a mix of home-made parrot chop and pellets, but I can't do that yet because we've yet to get a freezer.

[Wolf]

It is kind of hard to say what your bird is trying to tell you through its body language without being able to see it because it entails such things as the general posture as well as feather positioning and any movements that the bird makes at the time. Here is a link that can help you to begin to understand your birds body language, it shows budgies but the body language of your GCC will be similar to what is shown http://littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/ ... guage.html
A scared bird will either try to get away or it may freeze, a nervous bird may pace or climb the cage but it will generally move away from you in the process The feathers may be held tightly against its body or it may briefly stand them up to appear larger than it is. A bird that is relaxed will not move away and may be slightly puffed giving the feathers a soft look and it will many times stand on one foot.
The baby begging behavior is just that begging and it could be for attention or it could be for food. Even though this bird is nearly an adult it may want some soft food just the same as a baby bird for reassurance. You could try giving it a little warm, not hot oatmeal, or whole wheat bread soaked in warm apple juice or even warm vegetable baby food when it does this begging behavior. Eating is a bonding behavior as well as a social one so it is always good to share food with your bird.
I have no idea as to the layout of your home or the room that your bird is in, but I would place my birds cage near a window with one side against a wall with the highest perch in the cage close to eye level. then I would place a chair and some sort of small table next to the cage. The reasons for this positioning is that the bird need the light from the window and will be able to see out of it without being directly in the sunlight, with one side against the wall it helps the bird to feel more secure as it can see anything approaching from three sides without worrying about something coming up behind it. The table and chair is largely for you and it give you a place to sit and read and talk to your bird as well as a place to put the treats that you have brought to share with the bird while you are doing this. It also gives you a place to fiddle with any toys that you want your bird to learn about such as shredding toys, puzzle toys, foraging toys and so on. It gives you a place to bring some fruit and vegetables to nibble on and as your bird gets curious enough to share with the bird and it gives a place near the bird where you can sit and look like you are not paying any attention to the bird where it can satisfy its curiosity about you by sneaking up to you and as it gets braver to start climbing around on you. All of these thing are to help your friend to forget about being afraid of you and learn to trust you in a manner that does not feel threatening to the bird. Later on it will give you a place to make toys for your bird or to introduce new toys to it as well as a place to begin training your bird.
Eating fruits and vegetables in front of your bird is the quickest way that I know of to introduce new foods o your birds and get them to start eating them. I don't like the current diet and from what you are saying it would appear that you don't either and based on where you want to go with their diet we are basically in agreement as to what they need to be eating. it might take a little bit of practice to adjust the amounts, but you could make a cooked blend of four or five whole grains and cooked vegetables with some cooked white beans and lentil so that it works out to about 40% cooked whole grains, 40 % cooked mixed vegetables and 20 % cooked white beans and lentils in small enough amounts to last for three or four days in a refrigerator and maybe and equal amount in the freezer of the refrigerator. I am encouraging this as free feeding seed mixes or pellets are not good for the bird, but they also interfere with finding and using any treats to help you gain your birds trust or for training it. This is due to the fact that for your bird a high value treat is one with protein and both seed mixes and pellets are high in protein. In this respect what you are currently feeding and the manner in which you are feeding it is working against you.