Howdy - I'm new here and need help.

[liz]

Myrtle is so afraid of Greys. I guess I think that way because of her. She gets scared when one comes on YouTube.
She is a 1 1/2 year old BF. She is streamlined. Yours seems to be heavier.

[Shelby]

Whenever you get a new bird, you should quarantine them away from your other birds for about a month (keeping them in a separate airspace) so any illnesses the new bird may have has time to show itself before infecting your current birds. Since it sounds like your birds have already been in the same room together, it's a little late for that now, but if you should ever get another bird, keep this in mind.

Your amazons might be jealous. I've heard of people having a perfectly friendly bird that gets very aggressive when they get another bird they spend more time with. This may sound silly, but people swear it works - say hello to your original birds first and goodbye to them last. This makes them feel important and less insecurity means less aggression.

Also, I found this video demonstrating something called the "power pause" that you might find helpful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuERdlr2BZg

It is possible to start clicker conditioning with the birds inside their cage. You simply click and offer them a treat through the bars. Perhaps use something like spray millet (but I'm not sure if amazons like millet as much as smaller birds like cockatiels and budgies, so experiment), so your fingers don't need to be anywhere near the bird's beak. They learn to associate the click with a treat, and once they start looking for a treat after they hear the click, you can start other training like target training. Target training can also be done within the cage. Using a long stick, you won't need your fingers near their beaks. Once they become target trained, you can train them to step up onto a perch you're holding, so again, their beaks are out of reach.

Good luck!

[jrz2az]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will try to greet and also feed the Amazons first and see if that helps. I've kind of been doing that but will pay more attention to it and be sure to do it consistently and hopefully it will help.

This morning I let the Amazons out of their cage for about 30 mins, the house was calm and I was just watching tv so I thought it would be Ok. They sat on top, didn't try to attack me at all, and then when I asked them to "get back inside" they went right in without incident. Yay! The Grey was inside his cage and all 3 birds were quiet the whole time.

The way my house is set up I don't have many options as far as separating them further, unless I put one cage in a bedroom and then he'd be away from people most of the time. I'm thinking I'll just have to wing it (haha) with the way they are now, somewhat out of sight - Izzy is under the stairs (it's open) and the Amazons are next to the stairs and can only see eachother from certain positions in the cage. I'll need to be patient and stay as calm as I can when there is screaming, etc. Hopefully there will be no more bites.

I will look for a clicker the next time I'm at the pet or bird store, and try clicker training inside the cage. Thanks for that idea. I'll look at that video that one of you suggested too.

Have a great weekend everyone.

[Shelby]

Any old dog clicker will do. They're only about $2. Please let me know how trying the technique in the video works out for you! I am very interested!

[liz]

We have one member (my memory is so bad I can't remember her name) who can't physically use a clicker. She just makes a clicking sound.