by Wolf » Fri Feb 26, 2016 9:32 am
It sounds as if the two of you are doing very well together, the fact that he is doing all of these things with you, this early on in his adjustment period, suggests that he was one of the ones that was treated well.
Has he a name? Names are very important to a parrot, so important that the mother bird gives all of her babies a name and uses that name for them for the rest of their lives. So if he has a name, it would be a good idea to use it often when speaking to him, in exactly the same manner that you would if it were a small child.
As with all parrots it is best to proceed in all that you do with him at his pace and you will know when he is ready because he will normally make the first move towards you. With birds, the only things that you have that is of any value is their love and their trust and these go hand in hand with them, so if the bird does not trust you then you have nothing.
Letting him come out of his cage on his own is a very good idea and it is how my birds come out of their cages. I never go into their cages while they are there, I allow them to come out and then I clean their cage. I put food and water in from the outside as the cages that I have all have feed and water doors. Since he is new to you and this new place the easiest way to get him to go back in his cage is to wait to let him out until a couple of hours before he gets his dinner and then have him watch you put it in his cage, I show my birds their dinner first and them put it in the cage, they go in on their own. If he is not accustomed to this it will probably take a little time for him to make the mental connection, but he will.
Now, I don't have any GCC's so I must say this next is based on my research as well as from talking with people who do have them. GCC's are a very hands on species of parrot and they would rather spend time on you than just about anything else in the world and they will get very angry with you if you do not allow them enough time on you, in their opinion, not yours. That may sound adorable and it can indeed be so very adorable, but it can also be a double ended dagger. Due to the fact that we don't understand parrot as well as they feel we should, most parrots learn to show their ire and frustration with us by biting and if you GCC becomes angry because he does not get enough time on you, in his opinion, he will bite you until he feels that you have gotten the message. It is very difficult to let a biting bird remain on your body while you try to protect yourself, through distraction. But with this species that is exactly what sometimes must occur or it will not get past its anger and quit biting. Now this is an extreme reaction but there have been a couple of these cases that have occurred on this forum from GCC's that were mistreated and came from rescues. But it is a good piece of knowledge to have as with knowing about it you have a much better chance of not allowing things to ever reach those proportions. They are the epitome of a Velcro bird. And you will find that they are very loving birds and this one thing is the only thing that I have ever known about with them that I could consider a negative.
Although I don't have GCC's, I do have a Senegal parrot who came to live with us and it took her about a year to get past her anger from the mistreatment that she went through before coming here, so for a year I was covered with bites, but once she got it out of her system she has been the most loving bird that one could imagine.
I always try to give honest opinions both for the good and the bad and I hope that you will find this to be useful for the two of you,
