Got myself an Amazon!

[tim west]

Hi, im Tim, i have just taken on my mother in laws Amazon called Bill. Have wanted a parrot for years and i think Shelley (mother in law) thought i would give more time and attention to Bill, so received an Email from her asking me to take him on. He will still see Shelley alot as she pops round quite often. Ok so i now have him, the fun starts. I pictured buying my own parrot as a blank canvas, but i have now taken on the BOSS! He ruled Shelleys house for 13 years and now we have a bit of training to do so that i can improve his lifestyle. Hes fine when away or off the cage, but step up from the cage is a no go at the moment, but hopefully he will be fine with time and patience. He seems happy living with us as he loves dogs and we have 3 of those, plus 3 cats and 7 hens , so he always has something going on and is only in his cage if no one is home, which is very rare. Any advice on getting him to trust me more and what to find as a treat he really likes would be much appreciated. So far Ham is the only thing ive treated him with and got his full attention!
Cheers

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[captwest]

hey Tim, congrats , Bill looks like he might be a Yellow Crown, great birds usually not aggressive and good talkers, As far as a treat to train him with? depends... is he on pellets? Maybe give him a dish with different stuff and see what he picks out, my birds, sunflower seeds work good , but what ever you use don't make it a part of their regular diet. Look on through this site , you can find alot that will anwser most of your questions, and of course there are lots of people who big into training that can help.

[tim west]

Hi, he doesnt have pellets he has a parrot mix which by the looks of things has just about everything in it! Tried berries and fruits and hes not that keen as a treat, he likes nuts but only small amounts at a time. Ham and small bits of bacon work really well but not sure if this is a good thing to feed him as a treat?

[captwest]

No ham and bacon aren't the best for him, amazons don't need a lot of extra fat in their diet and the added sodium (salt) is bad too, that's why i only use seeds as a treat and not part of their regular diet of course a flighted bird that gets lots of exercise can handle more fat than a clipped bird in a cage. look around under Health and Nutrition you can find all sorts of good info there and ask questions.

[tim west]

Thanks for the help, I watched him eating tonight and his favourite is definately sunflower seed, so I painstakingly just removed all the sunflower seeds from his next couple of days food! Hopefully he might really want them as treats tomorrow evening. Will let you know how I get on with that.

[captwest]

i think your on the right track now.

[Mom2Rico]

He's a beauty, congrats and I hope the training goes well

[javelin]

That bird looks magnificent!

[snakesentwined]

Hi Tim,

our Isis is a yellow crown too - although she's still only a wee baby, she's already showing that fiery-willed temperament of an Amazon It looks like Bill loves his showers as much as Isis does too!

captwest is on good form about watching the seed intake for Amazons: they do have a tendancy to obesity, so you have to watch their diet. Isis was weened on a similar parrot-mix to the one you describe Bill being fed on, but we switched her to pellets soon after getting her (Harrison's and Optibird mostly, supplemented with *lots* of fresh greens, veg and some fruit) - we've noticed she's calmed down a lot since we took her off the high-fat seed mix, and our avian vet has also noted how much healthier she looks.

The extra bonus is that she has also quickly learnt that being gentle and friendly is a good idea, since she only now gets seed as a training treat for being good...

[tim west]

Yeah have been thinking of putting him on pellets but he has been on this mix for 13 years , but I think I will give it a go! Just got to find somewhere that sells the pellets. Is there a pellet that's better than any others?