Why do Poicephalus get rehomed?

[MandyG]

I can not carry him on my shoulder anymore, as he can fly off and bite.

Have you thought about clipping him? If working with him wasn't working that would be the first thing I would do. That way there is no danger to your husband and you can still interact with the bird.

We did work with him, nothing helps (unfortunately).

I'm not sure what you've tried, but here are a few suggestions:

If he truly hates your husband's presence there are many training programs out there that help with that sort of problem, such as birdtricks.com's 'Power Pause' technique. I haven't had to use it myself but I've heard good things about it.

If you clip the bird and your husband works with him to the point that they can be in the same area together you could try hands off training such as target training, that way they can start to build a bond but your husband's hands will be out of biting reach. Also you can work on getting the bird to step up for your husband through target training. I recommend reading Michael's post on training your bird to step up and come out of it's cage http://theparrotforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=227

If they can get to the point where the bird is stepping up for your husband you could limit your interactions with the bird and always have your husband bring the bird to you. It will learn that the only way it gets to go to who he wants he has to cooperate with your husband.

My amazon doesn't love my husband, the rare time Mojo does fly to him he's rewarded with a good chomp to the thumb (this is improving though). They do get along enough so that my husband can usually take Mojo out of his cage, or put him into his cage. He can even usually take him off of his play stand without any fuss. Usually when he picks Mojo up he gives Mojo a treat, and he always hands Mojo to me so he realizes that stepping up for him brings him to who he wants to be with. Even though Mojo can fly he will let my husband bring him to me. They get along well enough but he does get bit fairly often still. We're slowly working on it as time permits.

There's a lot of good information on this forum and also on other websites. I really hope that if you put enough time and dedication into making things work with your bird that you will be able to keep him.

Good luck!

[Ginks]

thanks Mandy,
I'll try these techniques,
I didn't sleep whole night, and just simly can not do it. I'll give it another try
Did you try any "tame your pattor" videos that are on sale throughout the internet ?

[MandyG]

I've bought a lot of videos that sound really good, I just haven't had the time to watch them yet

I just bought a new one that my husband was interested in trying and I have high hopes that once he learns a bit more about birds and starts working with Mojo they're relationship will improve significantly. Unfortunately he's quite hearing impaired so I have to have the time to watch the videos with him and I haven't had the chance to do that yet. I think Mojo's biggest problem with him is that he treats him like one of the dogs, and Mojo quite clearly is nothing like a dog!

There are other members on this forum that have birds that they have some issues with, like Natacha and her Meyer's, Petey. Maybe she would have more advice for you!

Every bird is different though, it usually just takes time and finding out what works for your bird. It might help if you start a new post and specify what problems you are having with your bird and the things that you've tried. I'd also recommend talking to an avian vet, parrot breeder, or an educated pet store employee about getting your bird clipped so it's not a threat to your husband.

[triplebbirds]

I am going to agree with MandyG here with the clipping. If anything it might help increase the likeyhood that your husband might start to be able to be less threatening. Also watch out for shouldering if your near hubby. Sometimes they bite the thing that is close to them when they are mad at something far away. Dont ask it goes with that whole "exotic" thing. Figure out your birds favorite treat. And stop giving them to him. Get your husband to give them to your bird. I think a very reasonable goal would just be to get the bird to tolerate your husband. Less agressive behavior. Then maybe when he stops trying to go after your husband then you could start giving the bird TONS of affection by your husband. Start with him in the room and just move closer. Hope we can figure something out to make your family a bit more in harmony.

[windharper]

Rehoming isn't always the easiest thing for the owner. I know this from my own experience. I rescued 2 cockatiels. For Teyla's safety, it was necessary to separate her from her nestmate Tico. I don't have a spare room for birds. They are in our living room which is where we spend most of our time. Through the actual separation of the two birds, one was caged in the master bedroom and the other a bathroom on the far side of the house. This was by no means an ideal situation. As much as I tried visiting them regularly, I felt very badly for isolating them.

I realized that there would be no possibility of putting them back together in the same cage again. They both needed training as they had absolutely none in the first 9 months of their lives. The avian vet said they would have until about the age of 2 to get desensitized to humans. If it didn't happen by then, they would likely ~not~ change. (I would question that now in hindsight, after observing so many training videos. But hindsight is hindsight.)

Do I understand the sadness one feels to rehome a bird? Absolutely! It was the hardest thing I've ever done to find an owner for one of the 'tiels! As far as that goes, Tico was chosen by his new family because he was less anti-social than Teyla. I couldn't be more happy to know that Tico is well loved by his new family!

Meanwhile, I see these listings for birds needing to be rehomed and I want to take every one of them in and love them! Yet I know to do so would be so very unfair to my 2 wonderful babies! I mentioned I work 3 jobs. It takes me out of the house more hours than I want to admit. I really wish I had more time to be spending with both Tamber and Teyla. If my husband wasn't with them while I was gone, I'd have to do some serious consideration about what is best for them.

I guess my point is that sometimes rehoming happens in consideration of a better life for the bird!

Deb
a.k.a windharper

[triplebbirds]

Yes i understand rehoming isnt easy to do. I understand that sometimes its the best thing to do for all involved even if it doesnt feel like it at the moment.
Totally understand that.
I also unfortunatly understand the guilt of rehoming them for one reason when you find out later that well this MAY have helped. Unfortunatly when we "re-home" (you can tell were craigslisters here) an animal that sometimes can add to their baggage. Would I like to see every person get the right bird the first try. YES. Does it happen every time? NO Unfortunatly there isnt any way to totally avoid this. A certian kind of bird would be great for this person. That doesnt mean that every one of this kind is right for that person.

[Michael]

I disagree with clipping here. It's not the bird's fault. I know this might be difficult to get through to your husband if he's not a bird person and doesn't like the bird but it is the people's fault for not properly handling/socializing the bird. You see parrot's really are all wild animals. The best we can do is train them what behavior is rewarding in our artificial environment. However, if nothing is done or if it is done incorrectly, they will probably fall back on their wild instincts.

Unfortunately for you, Senegal Parrots are very territorial. I have observed this with my parrot and have heard the same from other owners. My Senegal Parrot loves me but never liked Kathleen. You can see in my video how Kili was biting Kathleen for coming near her climbing tree and then some techniques we used to get Kili to step up for Kathleen.

Kathleen is still a bit uneasy about getting Kili to step up on her bare hand so she uses a glove. When Kathleen is more confident around the bird, the bird is less likely to bite. In the recent months it seems that the antagonism between Kili and Kat has also mellowed out a bit. I think it may have something to do with Kili getting a bit older but mostly I think it is because Kili can fly. Kili has more confidence now because she knows she can just fly away at any moment if anyone bothers her. Also Kathleen has learned to read her body language better and stand her ground. Often times Kili will test a person by biting them and if they don't back down she'll let them handle her. The key is to pull your hand out for the first bluff bite and then handle her after that. Backing down though is really bad because it teaches the bird to bite.

Here are three more things we've done that really help the situation. First off, Kathleen has been involved a lot in Kili's recall training. It seems that Kili will more readily fly to Kathleen than step up. I don't think Kili has once flown to Kathleen and bitten her. This is probably because Kili "chose" to fly to her rather than be "forced" to step up. The step up aggression probably came from when Kili was clipped and Kathleen would improperly ask her to step up.

For the last few weeks, all of Kili's meals have been coming from Kathleen. When Kili is out and Kathleen picks up Kili's food bowl, the biting stops right there. Kili will readily step up for her or fly to her so that she can get put away. Kili knows that any biting will hinder getting put back in cage with food. So Kili has learned to tolerate Kathleen because that's the only person who is feeding her. She is already bonded to me but she has to put up with Kathleen and not bite if she wants to get what she wants. This works very well.

Finally we've been taking Kili out on outings and there were times I'd leave Kili with just Kathleen. The environment being so unfamiliar, Kathleen would be the most familiar thing to Kili so the parrot would gravitate to Kathleen and not bite. Because of her fear of the new environment, spending time with someone familiar that she may not like that much was still more reassuring than being alone.

Maybe Kathleen will want to present her take on it but I think it's been getting much better.

Finally, since Mona hasn't chimed in yet, I'll say this on her behalf. Mona adopted two rehomed Senegal Parrots and one was not particularly fond of her and would fly over and bite her. She wrote about how she overcame these problems without clipping in an article on her website:

http://flyingparrotsinside.com/

[Cozzy]

[quote="triplebbirds"]Would I like to see every person get the right bird the first try. YES. Does it happen every time? NOquote]
On this topic, I have to say, when one consider buying a bird, one should do some research about the Species, if possible discuss as much as possible, with other people that have experiences with that Species of parrot.

My friend got a as first bird, he still love the after so many years. As he had done enough research and understood what he was getting.

NEVER BUY A PARROT WITHOUT THINKING TWICE.

[triplebbirds]

Absoutly do the research but that only gets you a general idea of the kind of animal your getting.

[Michael]

Yes, indeed they are still individuals. However, when someone buys a species knowing that they tend to be noisy or that they tend to be one person birds, it's not exactly their right to complain if they turn out that way. And if they don't they just got lucky.