Quigley

[mikella]

Thanks so much for the kind note, Chantilly. Aww, you have a Cinnamon too? How old?
Yes, Quigley is much more than a pain that's for sure... But I took him on... Can't go back now. I just keep telling myself that one day things will be ok.

My husband is only home one day a week (today), and Quigley is desperately in love with him, but is so nasty to him... Finally after a very stressful couple minutes of Quigley at the neck of his shirt with him bending over, he got inside his shirt... Was tight in there happy as anything, snuggled by his armpit, peeping... Then a couple minutes later a MASSIVE bite and he held on for dear life.......

Husband is at his wits end with him.

[Pajarita]

Yes, when they love you to pieces and you are not there as much as they want you, it can go two ways: they either cling to you and love you to pieces while you are there or they get annoyed because you are not living up to their standards.

I couldn't feed my birds dinner last night because I had promised one of my grandkids I would take him to Chuck E Cheese and the couple of errands I had to run took longer than I thought so I sent my husband home with detailed instructions on what to feed to whom, in which bowl and in which order (and he still screwed up -ay ay ay) and, this morning, Zoey Senegal was very cool to me, she climbed on my shoulder just to fly off while Freddie Too was like a maniac, he jumped on me clinging so hard that I had to take off my T-shirt with him hanging to it in order to be able to leave the room after I was done.

[liz]

The worst pay back I ever had was when I scared Myrtle really bad. She did not speak to me for 10 days.

[seagoatdeb]

GGC are really fast too, my daughter's conure is smaller than her Pois but the conure can grab something out of the birds beak and keep out of their way when they try to get it back. He will often jump on top of them when he is angry. They are gutsy little birds. No wonder so many love them. Post us a new pic of Quigley when you can.

[Chantilly]

Thanks so much for the kind note, Chantilly. Aww, you have a Cinnamon too? How old?
Yes, Quigley is much more than a pain that's for sure... But I took him on... Can't go back now. I just keep telling myself that one day things will be ok.

My husband is only home one day a week (today), and Quigley is desperately in love with him, but is so nasty to him... Finally after a very stressful couple minutes of Quigley at the neck of his shirt with him bending over, he got inside his shirt... Was tight in there happy as anything, snuggled by his armpit, peeping... Then a couple minutes later a MASSIVE bite and he held on for dear life.......

Husband is at his wits end with him.

Mine is only 1 1/2 years old, we got her unweaned,
They are so cheeky!! Tilly also likes to go down shirts! she will do it continuously going down and back up, pokes her head up and goes back down. and then she will crawl into the space beteeen my armpit and sleeve and bite and it is hard to resist putting my arm down (If I did I would crush her) to get her out(lol instincts)!
Things will continue to get better, you have given him a wonderful life whilst a lot of people would have given up on him, thankyou the world needs more faithful people like you in it. Dont give up

[mikella]

Thanks for the replies

Quigley can now fly about 30+ feet in a straight line.
He's now coasting a little which is nice to see - not just pure bat-out-of-hell flapping haha
He still hates it though, only does it to get to me and is a touch irritated with me after (only for a second).

[mikella]

Will this nastiness with my husband persist as long as he isn't getting the time he needs with him? I'm assuming the answer to that must be yes. He is a monster with him, but NEEDS to be on him every second. Incredibly stressful. He's had two bad bites already this morning. Sundays are miserable for everyone because of this, and it's my husband's one day off.

Because of the solar schedule, I'm the only one with him every other day of the week. He's asleep once husband gets home, and only sees him from in his cage for a quick chat early in the morning before he leaves. Obviously frustrates him in the mornings... Yesterday he thought my husband was staying home because he came in to Quigley's room with a hoodie on (hadn't gotten dressed for work yet). He pined all day and was irritated with me.

Another question, Quigley CHIRPS when being uncovered before sun is up, also when being covered up in the evening. And at night after covered, he chirps when doors squeak. Hopefully waking doesn't disrupt the endocrine system - only light. ???

[Pajarita]

Yes, it's only light so don't worry about him waking up and chirping.

Now, couldn't your husband set up a short routine for him to spend some time with Quigley in the morning before he goes to work? Even if it's just half an hour, it would do his relationship with Quigley a lot of good because he would not be sooooo desperate on Sundays (and it will take the edge off his anger at him for not been there all the time). Something like his showering with Quigley perching somewhere in the bathroom, for example? (I put Zoey on a towel rod that is next to the shower and leave the curtain open a tiny bit so she can see inside and I talk to her and peep out to her every few seconds -I go: "Where's the birdie? Where's my sweet Zoey?, then I move my head so she can see me and I go: "Peekaboo! I see you!") Or getting dressed with him in the room? Even shaving with him on his shoulder (it took my husband quite a while to be able to do this with Isis because she kept on trying to eat the foam off his face ). If it's very early, he might have to do things with only a dim light enough for him to see and, at the beginning, it will be a real pain in the neck because he will have to constantly remove him from him perching on his person to put him on a perch but he will eventually learn and, as long as he is always paying attention to him (talking, singing or whistling, giving him a little something to eat -like a small piece of a good quality multi-grain bread, for example, or a birdy cookie you could bake for him), he will learn the 'morning routine with Daddy' and accept it as such.

[mikella]

Yes Pajarita..... This is what we have to do. I'm going to do some thinking and figure something out. The problem right now is that my husband gets up at 6, the sun doesn't even come up until about 7:45, and he is out of the house by 7:30...

Is this what you mean by waking him up but keeping the light dim (as in, spending time before sunrise)?

[Pajarita]

Yes, that's what I mean. I get up at 6 am and this time of the year, it's still dark then but, by 6:30, the sky begins to get light and you can see enough to move around and do simple chores without turning on the light so, if he can, say, shave with a good light in the bathroom but then take his shower at 6:30 am or so with only the light from the window or a soft red light in a lamp, he could bring Quigley with him to the bathroom and get dressed while interacting with him. Then, at 7 am, he could turn on a low wattage white light, if he needed it and by the time he leaves at 7:30 am, he would have spent a good 45 minutes interacting with him. And, don't forget that we are, literally, days away from the winter solstice so the days will start getting longer very soon.

They are really good at learning they have to have different behaviors at different times. Sweetpea, the male Senegal, comes out at 6:30 am and, although I turn on the dining room chandelier (I unscrew all but two bulbs) at 7:30 am and he can see very well by then (there are three windows in the dining room and the chandelier on top of the table which is in the middle of it), he stays on his cage or flies back and forth between it and the cardinals cage because he knows this is not his time with me as I am doing chores and have Codee on one shoulder and Isis either on the other one, on my head or flying around following me while I do chores but, when I come out of the birdroom and open his cage again (I put him in to eat his breakfast), he is a royal pain in the neck because he knows this is HIS and Zoey's time with me so he jumps to my lap, climbs over the front of my top to my shoulder, chews on my apron neck strap, flies down to the floor -so I have to stop what I am doing and pick him up, stands next to the computer and bumps my hand so I give him scritches, etc. A completely different behavior that he has in the early morning! They are very smart animals and, if you are consistent about routines, they learn them very well.