Axel and me

[Tman007]

2 yrs ago today I bought Axel. Axel was 6 months old when I got him.
I read everything I could on how to take care of him, train him, and bond with him. Well not until I got him home did I realize the learning has just begun LOL. It started by the size of cage I bought him. It was a kings cage 32x26x60. After about 2 weeks I realized that Axel was a very active parrot. At this time he was clipped (the only time he was) He would hang upside down and spread his wings out and yell and just have a good time. But he would do this no matter were he was in the cage, and sometimes he would hit hi s wings against the side of the cage. So I got online and ordered him a bigger cage. Now mind you at this time I only had him for two weeks. I bought him what they call a corner cage. From the front to the back of the cage is 54inches and 84 inches high. Now he has all the room to act silly. So I will say this the bigger the better. Dont get me wrong he has out of cage time but he still gets silly in his cage. We have bonded quite well. But every day we still get closer.The one thing that I have done is I just didnt read a book and say now I know what to do. I study the books that I read. Watched the videos.
I wanted to really know what I was doing. Axel also has taught me a thing or two.
He has brought so much joy into my life. To this day I am still learning new things about him. I have taught him a few things ( you really cant say tricks because each one is value added).
The wave you are asking your parrot to hold up an area that is a vonrable stop to a parrot. In the wild when parrots fight they go after the feet. So for a parrot to wave he is saying he trust you. Being able to hold Axel in my hand upside down I am able to look at his feet his chest and just be able to che k him out.
To me every day we are teaching each other some.
Ok I better stop for now. This is getting to long.one thing I was going to post pictures but my ph one makes them to large to fit.

[Loriusgarrulus]

Parrots are wonderful and the longer you keep parrots the more they amaze you with how smart they are.
I have found in keeping parrots the learning is a two way experience.

[Tman007]

20170103_111114-1.jpg (26.04 KiB) Viewed 2947 times

THIS IS AXEL

[Loriusgarrulus]

Galahs are a lovely colour.
I am avoiding my Granddaughter seeing one as she is into pink at the moment and she woud nag my Daughter to death for one.

[liz]

When my kids were small and learning every day I watched them and enjoyed seeing things through their eyes. Always a fresh look at something I took for granted.
My feathered babies are giving me the same as children.

[Pajarita]

Yes, if one loves them and spends enough time observing them, one can learn almost everything one needs to know from them - well, except what constitutes a good diet. And you will continue to learn and he will continue to change because he is still a young boy and as he grows into an adult, there will be changes.

And, as an interesting note, the word 'Galah' (which, by the way, is not pronounced the way we do with the accent on the first syllable GAlah -like 'gala' as in a big party- but GaLAH, with the accent in the second syllable) was used as an insult in Australia (I don't know if they still use it as such, my sources all said 'Old Australian Slang'). It means a silly person who talks a lot ('jabbering fool' or 'loud-mouth idiot' were the two explanations I found) but the bird's name, itself, comes from 'gilaa', the name Australian aborigines from New South Wales gave it. See this:

"From this sense arise a number of colloquial idioms. To be 'mad as a gumtree full of galahs' is to be completely crazy. To 'make a proper galah of oneself' is to make a complete fool of oneself. A 'pack of galahs' is a group of contemptibly idiotic people"

So, there you go, the parrot trivia of the day

And they used to eat them! See this:

"Some early settlers used the galah as food. In 1902 the Truth newspaper reports: 'The sunburnt residents of at that God-forsaken outpost of civilisation were subsisting on stewed galah and curried crow'. Some writers report that galah pie was a popular outback dish"