An old bird

[galeriagila]

Blessings upon you for helping this wonderful old fellow. I have a 30-year-old Patagonian Conure whom I may not outlive, and I can only hope that I find him as great a home as YOU!
Sincerely,
Gila
P.S. I'm new here, too, but I can see already that there are experts galore here!!

[Wolf]

There are indeed a great many experts here concerning parrots and parrot behavior, but they are not who you are thinking of and they rarely say very much here on the forum. This is due to them all, everyone of them being parrots. There are no parrot experts among the humans that post here. We are all just people like you, some do more research than others and in various areas, and we then come here to share what we have learned, as well as to share stories about or parrot friends.

[Pajarita]

Indeed! Wolf is 100% correct -and, I'll add something else to the statement: whenever I see or hear somebody referring him/herself as a parrot or avian expert, I automatically dismiss this person's opinion as nothing but blind arrogances because anybody who has been studying/keeping parrots for a while knows VERY well that, like Socrates, we only know that we know nothing.

[galeriagila]

I love how you put that, Wolf!
Thank you!

[Georges mom]

Totally gave up on the floor enclosure idea. All who enter now keep their shoes on when they don't see him in or on his cage. He's such a character, he sneaks up behind people then nips their shoes then screams mama for me then runs over to perch on a kitchen stool. It's his game. I've had George now for 6 months and I still probably have only scratched the surface on learning about Amazon parrots. George may be old but I'm thinking he's in better shape then when I first got him. He doesn't breathe real hard anymore or become winded when he's been out and about as he did when I first got him. I think he's a little thinner now too because of all the exercise he gets. The vet said he was a little plump back in the winter so she'll be happy to see he's not a big green ball anymore. I'm learning that everyday can be different with George. I don't know if it because he's old but some days he's just riveted to me and other days he just wants minimal interaction. I let him decide. For the most part though he's always up for one on one. George has taken to biting my husband though when he gives him treats. He's always been able to give him treats but now George will go right for his other fingers and bite hard even if it's a treat he likes. He hasn't bitten me yet and I hope he doesn't. Any ideas as to why the aggression towards my husband?? He still will talk to George but won't feed him anymore. George gets all fanned and puffed out when he gets close to him too. ??????????

[Wolf]

I don't think that we are clear of breeding season just yet, so there may be some hormonal issues right now, but by and large it sounds to me like George may be jealous of your husband. If he sees you being affectionate towards your husband or making physical contact with him. If Georges has chosen you as his human then he is defending his rights to you as his according to his way of thinking. So the biting of your husband would be his attempt at protecting you from his rivals attentions, so to speak.

[liz]

No matter how many parrots a person has they can't call themselves experts. It would be like a parent with a bunch of kids saying that he or she is an expert when it comes to kids.

My half sister thought she was an expert on kids because she had 5. Her kids were one after the other and she never really cared for the first. My Momma would take care of them a month at a time to give my sister a break in hopes that she would do better after a rest.

She treated her kids like posessions. They were dirty and hungry all the time. When someone would give her advise her response was "they are mine and I will treat them anyway I want to".

Momma was in NJ because my Grandma was having surgery. I was 16 when my sister decided she needed a rest and dropped them off for me to take care of so she could go on vacation. Momma finally talked my sister into rehoming a couple of them. Momma adopted the 2 girls.

No one, no matter how together they are, can be an expert on children. Same with parrots.

[Pajarita]

Oh, we are MOST DEFINITELY still in breeding season! Naida BFA is sitting on her second clutch as I type (she didn't sit on her first, she ignored the eggs completely).

It seems to me that he chose you as his human and is making sure your husband understand that you no longer belong to him

I had to laugh reading about his 'game' when he sneaks behind people's feet, bite them and then rans away calling for Mama (smart cookies, aren't they? - they do something wrong but they are so cute about it that you can't help but not be mad at them).

And I had a very strong feeling that the enclosure was not going to work so I am not surprised at all. They like to be in the middle of things and isolating them, even if they can still see us, is never regarded as a good thing by them.

[galeriagila]

Smart cookies, indeed.
As I have said elsewhere, the Rickeybird hates my husband. He suspects we have something going on behind his back (or beak, if you will) and takes any opportunity to scream HELLO NO NO HELLO at him. He'll bite if he gets a chance but he hasn't GOTTEN one in about 10 years. I have tried to arrange a truce between the two. My husband feeds him and goes in and out of his room to turn a tv on or off. That much the bird will usually tolerate. Hey, sometimes family members just can't get along.

[Wolf]

Parrots like to feel that they have some control in their lives and establishing schedules and routines help them to feel that they are somehow in control of their lives, they don't like change and that is where the routines and schedules work so well for them, They also like to be where they can choose how much they interact in any given situation ranging from just watching what is going on all they way to being the center of attention, but they want to be able to make that choice themselves.