New and hoping to improve

[Sphinx]

Hello all! I have been stalking these forums for months now, and have finally decided to join in the discussions. I have recently brought home a hand fed female CAG whom I have named Quendi. She picked me in early February (our eyes met, and it just clicked), and I will admit, I debated strongly about getting a Grey before I finally gave in (three visits to hang out with her and days of obsessive researching later). I was able to visit her several times a week before she was weaned, which I like to think helped her transition when I brought her home as she was already familiar with me.

She has been home with me for 2.5 weeks, and has been doing fabulously! I purchased an excellent play gym from a local bird store, and she is out at least 2-3 hours each day. She is happily destroying toys in both her cage and on the play gym, and eating well, so I assume she is content with life at the moment.

As far as training, we are working on step ups to/from the cage, perch, and also from hand to hand. I would say she has them down, but she occasionally decides she doesn't feel like leaving her cage/perch (Grey stubbornness at work). Lol. It's a work in progress. I am using positive reinforcement through verbal praise and treats, but I have invested in the training kit sold by Michael, and intend to utilize target and clicker training in the future.

If anyone has any words of wisdom or other advice for helping me to enrich Quendi's development, learning, and our lifelong relationship together, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum. My only advice for now is to offer 2 or 3 different types of soft foods daily as well as fruits, veggies and leafy greens and not to train too much -she is still a baby.

[Sphinx]

Thanks! So far she has been great about eating variety with her fruits and veggies. What types of soft food recipes do you recommend? I've seen several egg food recipes out there...

As for training, step ups are all we are doing right now. I am also in the process of desensitizing her to her aviator harness. I'm taking it very slowly since I want to make certain she remains confident and doesn't become fearful of it and me. Right now, it's just hanging out in close proximity.

[Pajarita]

Soft foods mean exactly that. You can use whole grains (wheat, oats, barley, brown rice, kamut, etc) that have been cooked until they are soft (not completely mushy though), you can mix them with cooked beans (I only use small white beans because they are the lowest in the bad lectin) and cooked and diced or mashed veggies or fruits (apple sauce, bananas, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, butternut squash, corn, peas, etc). You can also use polenta (cooked corn meal), cooked steel cut (aka Irish) oats or even plain oatmeal (but make sure it's the old fashioned kind, not the instant or the ones with sugar). Make sure you use foods rich in betacarotene (sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, pumpkin, dark leafy greens -like kale, dandelion, broccoli, I don't feed my birds any collard greens or spinach because they are too high in oxalates)

[Sphinx]

Thanks so much for these recommendations! It's funny that you mention the oxalates, because I like to make fruit/veggie smoothies, and that is one of the problems that people run into when using too much spinach. I will definitely take these into consideration and incorporate them.