Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
the vet comes to M&B
Finally, I got the girls vetted. Phew! And they did so well! that's what the vet said anyway.
I would have liked to have had them totally prepared for a vet visit...but that will not be the case for years with these two. So Dr Bowles and her tech JC came and had to towel them in order to do the exam. She exclaimed that they were very calm and quiet--so she said they must have been towelled without to much trauma before.
Their funny necks are probably, as reported, the result of an incubation error. DrB said that even very large and well-run bird farms cannot do as good a job at incubations as the bird parents do and that neck problems are one of the anomalies that show up.
DrB said that neither bird is likely to have learned to fly at the appropriate time as a juvenile, so they may never fly well. Miracle has no flight feathers on her left side and may never get them back, so DrB trimmed the other side so at least she wont be off balance.
Neither bird has molted in over a year. DrB took blood sample from their neck veins (Yikes)...but really they did great) and will know if there is something medically that is causing them not to molt or causing Blessing to pick. She also took fecal samples and will do sexing.
When it was all over, the girls were really fine--not perfectly calm but better than when I put the stupid foam rubber on the floor!!!
One little difficulty is that DrB did trim their nails which were very long and very sharp, but until they get them shaped up again, they are a little clumsy and this is especially trying for Miracle who has been very shy about climbing around on the vines and then today fell.
But my total response is that I am very relieved to have this done and maybe someday they will be exemplars of the Good Bird video on vetting.
I would have liked to have had them totally prepared for a vet visit...but that will not be the case for years with these two. So Dr Bowles and her tech JC came and had to towel them in order to do the exam. She exclaimed that they were very calm and quiet--so she said they must have been towelled without to much trauma before.
Their funny necks are probably, as reported, the result of an incubation error. DrB said that even very large and well-run bird farms cannot do as good a job at incubations as the bird parents do and that neck problems are one of the anomalies that show up.
DrB said that neither bird is likely to have learned to fly at the appropriate time as a juvenile, so they may never fly well. Miracle has no flight feathers on her left side and may never get them back, so DrB trimmed the other side so at least she wont be off balance.
Neither bird has molted in over a year. DrB took blood sample from their neck veins (Yikes)...but really they did great) and will know if there is something medically that is causing them not to molt or causing Blessing to pick. She also took fecal samples and will do sexing.
When it was all over, the girls were really fine--not perfectly calm but better than when I put the stupid foam rubber on the floor!!!
One little difficulty is that DrB did trim their nails which were very long and very sharp, but until they get them shaped up again, they are a little clumsy and this is especially trying for Miracle who has been very shy about climbing around on the vines and then today fell.
But my total response is that I am very relieved to have this done and maybe someday they will be exemplars of the Good Bird video on vetting.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
The girls "branch" out
Well, progress is slow in grey-land, and that's the way we like it. Right now as I write, it is a little after 9 am, breakfast has been eaten and fruit shredded; preening done; naptime. Blessing is in the cage, her usual perch when she is not out exploring branches. Miracle is on top of the cage facing out toward the living room. Miracle still will not go much past the cage. Blessing spends a good bit of time inside the cage but is the one to venture out and she will perch and remain on some of the furthest branches--lured there by pine cones or almonds wrapped in paper.
I work with them once maybe twice a day. Their interest in training varies and is not reliable. And I haven't been able to push them very much. Blessing will now allow me to touch her beak (in preparation for scratching her head--dreaming on!) and will lift her foot rather than have me touch it...so we work with that. Miracle is so skittish but has maybe gotten the idea that I want to touch the top of her beak....and 1 out of 5 times that works. I probably need to write up a plan so that I can see what I might be leaving out--and send it to lee.
I am still worried about their feather condition: when Blessing opens her wings it looks like moths have eaten out parts of all her long feathers. I know that she has not lost any of these feathers in over a year and same with most of Miracles....Lorita has done more molting in the last year than both greys put together.
I work with them once maybe twice a day. Their interest in training varies and is not reliable. And I haven't been able to push them very much. Blessing will now allow me to touch her beak (in preparation for scratching her head--dreaming on!) and will lift her foot rather than have me touch it...so we work with that. Miracle is so skittish but has maybe gotten the idea that I want to touch the top of her beak....and 1 out of 5 times that works. I probably need to write up a plan so that I can see what I might be leaving out--and send it to lee.
I am still worried about their feather condition: when Blessing opens her wings it looks like moths have eaten out parts of all her long feathers. I know that she has not lost any of these feathers in over a year and same with most of Miracles....Lorita has done more molting in the last year than both greys put together.
Monday, April 12, 2010
What we are working on now
The girls seem to enjoy my company especially to try out new things. We now have 4 1x96 boings; the gym made of tortured pvc; and wandering forked grapevine that is about 1 1/2 inches in dia. Some of these perches are attached to the cage and to the beams in one way or another. Miracle is not too interested in venturing out but Blessing is up for any new perch...but really only for eating the almonds I have tied to the perch wrapped in paper.
I have found that I can sometimes point out a path for them to take and then they are able to take it. What is interesting is that sometimes they are willing to take guidance and other times not...but is it because they don't understand or that they are exerting their autonomy.
I have my chair arranged across from their cage with a boing passing directly overhead. Blessing has on two occasions come just far enough so that she can see my face and what I am doing and then hangs out there for a while. The other day she got stuck on some chain and I offered her the pvc gym to climb onto and she did and then I ferried her to the cage.
The cage has not had a door on it for about a month. Usually when at rest, Blessing is inside and MIracle outside. This morning Miracle was nipping at Blessing for some reason and forcing her to take a different route out of the cage. Wonder what that was about.
I have found that I can sometimes point out a path for them to take and then they are able to take it. What is interesting is that sometimes they are willing to take guidance and other times not...but is it because they don't understand or that they are exerting their autonomy.
I have my chair arranged across from their cage with a boing passing directly overhead. Blessing has on two occasions come just far enough so that she can see my face and what I am doing and then hangs out there for a while. The other day she got stuck on some chain and I offered her the pvc gym to climb onto and she did and then I ferried her to the cage.
The cage has not had a door on it for about a month. Usually when at rest, Blessing is inside and MIracle outside. This morning Miracle was nipping at Blessing for some reason and forcing her to take a different route out of the cage. Wonder what that was about.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Lots to learn
I just looked up a book "The Souls of Animals" and began to reflect on the different animals that have touched my life--even saved my life at times. I wish I could go back and be as honoring of them as they were of me.
So that brings me to the girls MnB--what am I missing about them what am i getting about them?
One thing is that when I come into the room and sit and get busy with something they begin to preen. If I meditate they sit still. If I leave and am still in the house they call out to me...sometime shrilly, which probably is not fun for any of us. yet they still don't trust me much....yes more than this time last year when I first met them, but still not very much. And at the same time we are all trying. I wonder how much I trust them????
The observable is that Blessing is venturing out considerably....onto the long sisal boing, onto the 7 ft long grape vine that is suspended from the ceiling. Miracle will not come out that far...surprising since she was the only one who would come out of the cage initially. It is clear that Blessing is pleased with herself....some of her feathers are growing back. She has flown several times over to Lorita's cage (4ft) I think to get the cracker on top of the cage that I was feeding Lorita a bit at a time.
I have been doing the following things with training: tracking with a chop stick, clicker and treats; having them come to my hand and tap it with their beak, click, treat; turning around (miracle only--still a compulsive movement with her but much less); touching blessings toes, click, treat. She is now raising her foot, click, treat. Yesterday, while I was doing the foot thing with Blessing, Miracle spontaneously raised her foot!!!
So that brings me to the girls MnB--what am I missing about them what am i getting about them?
One thing is that when I come into the room and sit and get busy with something they begin to preen. If I meditate they sit still. If I leave and am still in the house they call out to me...sometime shrilly, which probably is not fun for any of us. yet they still don't trust me much....yes more than this time last year when I first met them, but still not very much. And at the same time we are all trying. I wonder how much I trust them????
The observable is that Blessing is venturing out considerably....onto the long sisal boing, onto the 7 ft long grape vine that is suspended from the ceiling. Miracle will not come out that far...surprising since she was the only one who would come out of the cage initially. It is clear that Blessing is pleased with herself....some of her feathers are growing back. She has flown several times over to Lorita's cage (4ft) I think to get the cracker on top of the cage that I was feeding Lorita a bit at a time.
I have been doing the following things with training: tracking with a chop stick, clicker and treats; having them come to my hand and tap it with their beak, click, treat; turning around (miracle only--still a compulsive movement with her but much less); touching blessings toes, click, treat. She is now raising her foot, click, treat. Yesterday, while I was doing the foot thing with Blessing, Miracle spontaneously raised her foot!!!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
and the beat goes on....
I am sitting here right now--needing to go to sheila's workshop--watching blessing decide the best way to get back from loritas cage to her own. she flew there about 1/2 hr ago and I have made her a bridge from a boing and added her gym toy but she is testing it and is not
convinced that she likes it very much. I feel that I should stay until she gets over because she is my feather picker and whatever adds to that--scarey things---I want to avoid.
I may try offering her the bottom part of the gym again....
I noticed today that the papers outside the cage which I changed in the middle of the week are a complete mess while those in the cage are not and I changed those last weekend. They are spending more and more time outside the cage and I plan to make the whole room a bird room so they can go anywhere they want anytime.
Training is good but oh so very very slow....they give a toenail and take it all back when they get full of goodies. And I am reading books and gleaning here a tip there a tip.
If money comes through for ins. payments I will buy them an outdoor aviary to be set up right outside this room.
convinced that she likes it very much. I feel that I should stay until she gets over because she is my feather picker and whatever adds to that--scarey things---I want to avoid.
I may try offering her the bottom part of the gym again....
I noticed today that the papers outside the cage which I changed in the middle of the week are a complete mess while those in the cage are not and I changed those last weekend. They are spending more and more time outside the cage and I plan to make the whole room a bird room so they can go anywhere they want anytime.
Training is good but oh so very very slow....they give a toenail and take it all back when they get full of goodies. And I am reading books and gleaning here a tip there a tip.
If money comes through for ins. payments I will buy them an outdoor aviary to be set up right outside this room.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
MnB sticking necks out ;~)
In their very grey-way, which is to say only as much as they have to to get a treat....
That having been said, they are definitely a big hop from where they were last year.
This week I put a pot saucer (12" in dia) on top of their cage with sanitized sand....then I placed wrapped nuts in the sand...they got all of those...then I put in unwrapped unshelled nuts in....they buried some in the sand along with beads....I don't know how much investigation Blessing did but for sure Miracle got them all.
I keep reading that I should only give one or two nuts a day...but right now they need to get big goodies or they will do nothing at all. During training sessions I try to give the most minimal amount of biscuit or cracker with almond butter.
Targeting is going fine ...but they are not willing to go much further in their reaching than right where they are standing. So progress there is slow....
In fact "progress is slow" is our watchword!
I have a little tv table next to the cage where I cut up my treats and have my stick and clicker...yesterday I "caught" miracle going down the side of the cage to raid the goodie table...and it is funny because I have never ever scolded them for anything but I can tell
by the way she scurries back up that somehow she must figure the table is off limits to birds. Maybe it is a matter of territoriality--and she sees that as my territory?
I decided to try palm oil again in their morning food because I read somewhere that it is good for feather pickers....they are taking to it ok but I think I still need to put a little pb in it.
I'm not sure what is going on with Blessings feather picking...maybe at a standstill...but she is still bothering her neck because it continues to be bright pink....her chest and back are growing pack....but will she pluck them again. She does have lots of moments of shaking in fear (?)....today I brought my nordic trak closer to the door and she was so visibly shaken that I pushed it back,
Right now it is very late but they are both preening. They almost always preen when I am in the room sitting and typing.
Also they sometimes do more exploring when I am in the room.
I want to build them an outdoor aviary and have been looking up info on that...on the other hand how likely will they be to go in it???
That having been said, they are definitely a big hop from where they were last year.
This week I put a pot saucer (12" in dia) on top of their cage with sanitized sand....then I placed wrapped nuts in the sand...they got all of those...then I put in unwrapped unshelled nuts in....they buried some in the sand along with beads....I don't know how much investigation Blessing did but for sure Miracle got them all.
I keep reading that I should only give one or two nuts a day...but right now they need to get big goodies or they will do nothing at all. During training sessions I try to give the most minimal amount of biscuit or cracker with almond butter.
Targeting is going fine ...but they are not willing to go much further in their reaching than right where they are standing. So progress there is slow....
In fact "progress is slow" is our watchword!
I have a little tv table next to the cage where I cut up my treats and have my stick and clicker...yesterday I "caught" miracle going down the side of the cage to raid the goodie table...and it is funny because I have never ever scolded them for anything but I can tell
by the way she scurries back up that somehow she must figure the table is off limits to birds. Maybe it is a matter of territoriality--and she sees that as my territory?
I decided to try palm oil again in their morning food because I read somewhere that it is good for feather pickers....they are taking to it ok but I think I still need to put a little pb in it.
I'm not sure what is going on with Blessings feather picking...maybe at a standstill...but she is still bothering her neck because it continues to be bright pink....her chest and back are growing pack....but will she pluck them again. She does have lots of moments of shaking in fear (?)....today I brought my nordic trak closer to the door and she was so visibly shaken that I pushed it back,
Right now it is very late but they are both preening. They almost always preen when I am in the room sitting and typing.
Also they sometimes do more exploring when I am in the room.
I want to build them an outdoor aviary and have been looking up info on that...on the other hand how likely will they be to go in it???
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Every day the barest new behavior
The girls are resting right now after an enjoying tearing apart a wiffle golf ball to get at the
treat inside...almond in shell and a few plastic beads. I cut a small opening in the wiffle/golf ball and stick in the almond and the beads and hand it over. They were completely engrossed for about 20 mins.
Other news: we are now working on tracking...finally. The challenge with the birds is that I also have a learning curve and mine is steeper than theirs and I get more impatient. So the tracking is going well and I can see that this is what we should have been doing since I first met them.
We continue with handy dandy and turning around. The change is that I do not show to them the treat but give it after the behavior...which has therefore made it easier to use a clicker and I'm doing that with both the targeting and this.
Blessing, sadly, is having a pretty bad urn of fear based feather picking. And I'm pretty sure that the fear is the basis. But I also wonder if both of their feathers aren't in need of a good molt. The wing feathers on Blessing are tattered. And I've been told that probably Miracle's wing feathers have not been tampered with as that would necessitate a surgery which it would be very unlikely anyone would have paid for.
I heard that one of the bird magazines has monthly articles on helping birds to fly...so I will be interested in seeing those. Blessing has been spending a lot of time each day
flapping her woe-begone wings and hanging on tight to the cage.
I've been letting them decide whether they will be in or out of the cage as often as possible, which is nearly every day.Right now one is on the top of the cage and the other inside, having a snoooze.
I've been playing soothing (for humans anyway) music several times a day as recommended in an article I read. And I got some flower essence, omega three oil, and have been giving them palm oil in small amts in their breakfast cereal. All of these were recommended as well as chamomille tea. I need to find out how to give them the fish oil and the flower essence.
They definitely prefer that I sit in here with them which is not difficult since I spend a goo bit of time writing and working on various paperwork stuff or reading. When I leave they hoot and holler and when I get back the quiet, sleep preen eat play.
Oh my! I do realize that I have taken on an enormous task of retaming them...they are very sweet and so it is rewarding to think that they will become more accessible and happier birds slowly but surely....still it is very concerning that Blessing is picking...altho I do know that that was in response to the padding I put in the room and the travel cage which I put too close to their cage.
I have found someone who I think will be a good avian vet for whenever it happens that I get them transportable...another year! And I made friends with the avian vet at the Aquarium who it happens was also in the class online/teleconference that I took with Susan Friedman. She was very helpful to me and is going to start some groups of people who will be devoted to learn and put to use behavior training.
The other day I watched Miracle as she came to the edge of the cage door from the ceiling of the cage grabbed a hold of the bar with her beak held on then let go of her feet and twirled her body, lifted her feet up to the bar and pulled herself upright....quite the acrobat!
treat inside...almond in shell and a few plastic beads. I cut a small opening in the wiffle/golf ball and stick in the almond and the beads and hand it over. They were completely engrossed for about 20 mins.
Other news: we are now working on tracking...finally. The challenge with the birds is that I also have a learning curve and mine is steeper than theirs and I get more impatient. So the tracking is going well and I can see that this is what we should have been doing since I first met them.
We continue with handy dandy and turning around. The change is that I do not show to them the treat but give it after the behavior...which has therefore made it easier to use a clicker and I'm doing that with both the targeting and this.
Blessing, sadly, is having a pretty bad urn of fear based feather picking. And I'm pretty sure that the fear is the basis. But I also wonder if both of their feathers aren't in need of a good molt. The wing feathers on Blessing are tattered. And I've been told that probably Miracle's wing feathers have not been tampered with as that would necessitate a surgery which it would be very unlikely anyone would have paid for.
I heard that one of the bird magazines has monthly articles on helping birds to fly...so I will be interested in seeing those. Blessing has been spending a lot of time each day
flapping her woe-begone wings and hanging on tight to the cage.
I've been letting them decide whether they will be in or out of the cage as often as possible, which is nearly every day.Right now one is on the top of the cage and the other inside, having a snoooze.
I've been playing soothing (for humans anyway) music several times a day as recommended in an article I read. And I got some flower essence, omega three oil, and have been giving them palm oil in small amts in their breakfast cereal. All of these were recommended as well as chamomille tea. I need to find out how to give them the fish oil and the flower essence.
They definitely prefer that I sit in here with them which is not difficult since I spend a goo bit of time writing and working on various paperwork stuff or reading. When I leave they hoot and holler and when I get back the quiet, sleep preen eat play.
Oh my! I do realize that I have taken on an enormous task of retaming them...they are very sweet and so it is rewarding to think that they will become more accessible and happier birds slowly but surely....still it is very concerning that Blessing is picking...altho I do know that that was in response to the padding I put in the room and the travel cage which I put too close to their cage.
I have found someone who I think will be a good avian vet for whenever it happens that I get them transportable...another year! And I made friends with the avian vet at the Aquarium who it happens was also in the class online/teleconference that I took with Susan Friedman. She was very helpful to me and is going to start some groups of people who will be devoted to learn and put to use behavior training.
The other day I watched Miracle as she came to the edge of the cage door from the ceiling of the cage grabbed a hold of the bar with her beak held on then let go of her feet and twirled her body, lifted her feet up to the bar and pulled herself upright....quite the acrobat!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
bird food
In my efforts to give the girls as much experience as possible with food and fun...
I made them a burrito with an enormous tortilla...ww organic....filled with an
assortment of tasty delicacies they like (scrambled egg with cheese, beans, pear pieces) rolled
it up and tied it with a string...then skewered it with two kabobs and hanged it in their cage near
their food bowls.
They were terrified. Good going, Mom!
OK so then I made some holes in the burrito and stuck in some whole almonds
tucked a couple of whole almonds wrapped in tissue paper (a highly favored foraging treat) and spread
a bit of almond butter on the outside.
They still wouldn't eat..so I came in and sat with them....Miracle took the nuts out and tasted
a little burrito (they love whole wheat tortilla). Then she got busy with the burrito....it broke and
fell to the floor so I got it and broke it in two and put it in the bowls....then both birds had at it.
Living with my grays is one step ahead of boredom and a very discreet hop skip and jump away from fear.
Thank you for letting me share!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
In and Out
When I first met Miracle and Blessing at the animal rescue, only one bird, Miracle, would come out of their cage. Blessing stayed inside. The only way to get M back in was to bribe her with goodies, especially if she saw that B was enjoying them.
On one very terrible day I arrived at the rescue and decided to start working downstairs with the big birds....macaws and cockatoos. But I needed something from upstairs. As I approached the room, I could hear all kinds of screeching....the quality of which seemed different from normal.
When I entered....havoc! The night before someone had left a cage unlocked and now several cockatoos were out of their cages running from cage top to cage top, displaying grandly and screeching at top volume. Blessing--the grey who never got out of her cage--was on top of the cage near the door quivering and bleeding.
At one point in time long before I arrived, a goffin cockatoo named Jimmy, completely feather free from neck down, had been allowed out and he had gone into the cages of several of the greys and bitten their toes off. Blessing and Miracle are both missing toes. That must have been a horrible, horrible experience.
When M & B first arrived here only M would come out. But then soon, B came out too.
And then all too soon they both would NOT get back in the cage for anything except dire hunger. I spent a couple of nights in a recliner near the cage afraid for what could happen if they fluttered down which they often did.
Now, altho it is not something they enjoy, they do accidentally fall from the cage...Blessing has more wing feathers than M and so she has an easier landing. M has only one fully fledged wing...the other appears to have been permanently clipped (?)...
and so she plops to the ground with no intervening flaps. And it would seem that that would hurt.
So I decided to pad the area around their cage....which has led to B plucking out all her chest feathers. Both of them have plopped down but I dont know if it resulted in a better landing.
What I have noticed is that they are both more fluid in their comings and goings in and out the cage. I have left the door open for several days and last night one slept in and one out. Blessing still is more likely to be in the cage and Miracle out.
The way I would like for them to be is to remain with the cage open most of the time, free to come in and out. I am hoping to make the room very bird friendly with all kinds of perching opportunities, and lots to explore....but a little at the time is the rule with these guys.
On one very terrible day I arrived at the rescue and decided to start working downstairs with the big birds....macaws and cockatoos. But I needed something from upstairs. As I approached the room, I could hear all kinds of screeching....the quality of which seemed different from normal.
When I entered....havoc! The night before someone had left a cage unlocked and now several cockatoos were out of their cages running from cage top to cage top, displaying grandly and screeching at top volume. Blessing--the grey who never got out of her cage--was on top of the cage near the door quivering and bleeding.
At one point in time long before I arrived, a goffin cockatoo named Jimmy, completely feather free from neck down, had been allowed out and he had gone into the cages of several of the greys and bitten their toes off. Blessing and Miracle are both missing toes. That must have been a horrible, horrible experience.
When M & B first arrived here only M would come out. But then soon, B came out too.
And then all too soon they both would NOT get back in the cage for anything except dire hunger. I spent a couple of nights in a recliner near the cage afraid for what could happen if they fluttered down which they often did.
Now, altho it is not something they enjoy, they do accidentally fall from the cage...Blessing has more wing feathers than M and so she has an easier landing. M has only one fully fledged wing...the other appears to have been permanently clipped (?)...
and so she plops to the ground with no intervening flaps. And it would seem that that would hurt.
So I decided to pad the area around their cage....which has led to B plucking out all her chest feathers. Both of them have plopped down but I dont know if it resulted in a better landing.
What I have noticed is that they are both more fluid in their comings and goings in and out the cage. I have left the door open for several days and last night one slept in and one out. Blessing still is more likely to be in the cage and Miracle out.
The way I would like for them to be is to remain with the cage open most of the time, free to come in and out. I am hoping to make the room very bird friendly with all kinds of perching opportunities, and lots to explore....but a little at the time is the rule with these guys.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
we like our treats...everything else terrifies us
Sometimes when I offer Miracle a treat she opens her beak and waggles her tongue side to side. So funny.
I think I have underestimated the fear factor with these guys. And I have read that birds associate the feared whatever with the person who happens to be there. So a lot of my trust building goes out the window when for instance I try to make the cage safer with a hammock...Blessing plucked out all her growing in feathers and more. How do I learn to balance their safety with their well-being?
I think I have underestimated the fear factor with these guys. And I have read that birds associate the feared whatever with the person who happens to be there. So a lot of my trust building goes out the window when for instance I try to make the cage safer with a hammock...Blessing plucked out all her growing in feathers and more. How do I learn to balance their safety with their well-being?
Friday, February 5, 2010
Stories for parrots
Miracle and Blessing both love to be talked to....especially in whispers. They also seem to enjoy the sounds human mouths can make. Their eyes are very expressive and when I am in "story-telling" mode their eyes seem to register various responses, which, because I am not allowed by Susan Friedman to anthropomorphize, I cannot say are: surprise (eyes wide lifts head), annoyance (the top of the eyelid goes horizontal, delight (eyes grow wider and she leans forward), curiousity (cocks her head), boredom (heavy blinking as if to fall asleep) intense interest (turns head so that one eye looks intently).
Right now it is time for bed and the ladies are getting comfy on their heated perches and are preening gently, grinding their bills, and cluckleling.
Earlier I was trying to get them to do their "handy-dandy" work...meaning doing things in exchange for treats. I try very hard and usually succeed in not being impatient with their glacierly slow pace....I've been working on the same stuff for almost a year and have gotten barely a bit further--I keep thinking of ideas to make things easier for them to accept me. I tried tying almonds to my hair and arm thinking that more familiarity with various parts of my body might help. But, no, it mostly just terrified Blessing altho Miracle was willing to pull an almond or two from my hair.
Well, tomorrow is another day...
Right now it is time for bed and the ladies are getting comfy on their heated perches and are preening gently, grinding their bills, and cluckleling.
Earlier I was trying to get them to do their "handy-dandy" work...meaning doing things in exchange for treats. I try very hard and usually succeed in not being impatient with their glacierly slow pace....I've been working on the same stuff for almost a year and have gotten barely a bit further--I keep thinking of ideas to make things easier for them to accept me. I tried tying almonds to my hair and arm thinking that more familiarity with various parts of my body might help. But, no, it mostly just terrified Blessing altho Miracle was willing to pull an almond or two from my hair.
Well, tomorrow is another day...
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
toys and goodies
Most mornings I make MnB a new foraging toy....something simple using perhaps an empty food box, paper towel roll...something they can tear up while picking off the paper wrapped whole shell almonds that I tie to the box or hide inside it. I try to make it a little bit more difficult than the last toy/forage--sometimes it is more difficult because the item I am attaching the nuts to is something they are not familiar with...such as the home grown loofa "sponge" today that if it didn't have goodies on it they would not go near--even if they would enjoy tearing it up.
I string cardboard on kebob skewers and sometimes embed nuts so they get a little surprise as they tear up the cardboard.
The almonds have to be scarred or whacked with a hammer once so that MnB can get them open. Despite the fact that their razor bills could (and have) sliced my fingers and haven't but could sever a finger, they can't seem to open the nuts.
I am constantly keeping my eyes open wherever I am to look for possible parrot toys...they need to chew and tear up things, that's for sure....also they need to figure things out. MnB are not so good at the latter....so I have to help by figuring out what they can do to lead them to the next not so obvious step.
One example of that is that they will both take baths in their water dish...a comical enterprise....but they will not bathe in their "swimming pool" which is next to the water dish. The pool is just a large saucer that goes under a plant filled with rocks (which they like to pick up carry around and throw down to the ground). But, no, they just wiggle their big bodies around in the the water dish and actually do quite a good job of getting very wet all over. So maybe these birds don't have a problem so why solve it.
Which of course brings me to the most challenging, puzzling, mysterious, and sometimes delightful task I have: that of learning "bird" or specifically "African Grey bird": Miracle and Blessing. They are as sparing as possible in letting me learn much about them. Or are they? Perhaps they are, actually, giving me lots of cues and I am not bird enough yet to understand.
The reason I think the latter may be true is that they show all the signs of liking to have me around. They get quiet, preen, sleep, look excited when I come to their cage, call me by their name for me "Ouch!" and play with things that they have left alone before hand.
more later....
I string cardboard on kebob skewers and sometimes embed nuts so they get a little surprise as they tear up the cardboard.
The almonds have to be scarred or whacked with a hammer once so that MnB can get them open. Despite the fact that their razor bills could (and have) sliced my fingers and haven't but could sever a finger, they can't seem to open the nuts.
I am constantly keeping my eyes open wherever I am to look for possible parrot toys...they need to chew and tear up things, that's for sure....also they need to figure things out. MnB are not so good at the latter....so I have to help by figuring out what they can do to lead them to the next not so obvious step.
One example of that is that they will both take baths in their water dish...a comical enterprise....but they will not bathe in their "swimming pool" which is next to the water dish. The pool is just a large saucer that goes under a plant filled with rocks (which they like to pick up carry around and throw down to the ground). But, no, they just wiggle their big bodies around in the the water dish and actually do quite a good job of getting very wet all over. So maybe these birds don't have a problem so why solve it.
Which of course brings me to the most challenging, puzzling, mysterious, and sometimes delightful task I have: that of learning "bird" or specifically "African Grey bird": Miracle and Blessing. They are as sparing as possible in letting me learn much about them. Or are they? Perhaps they are, actually, giving me lots of cues and I am not bird enough yet to understand.
The reason I think the latter may be true is that they show all the signs of liking to have me around. They get quiet, preen, sleep, look excited when I come to their cage, call me by their name for me "Ouch!" and play with things that they have left alone before hand.
more later....
Monday, February 1, 2010
will the human ever learn
Last night I tried some training with the girls and surprise surprise Blessing was not only quite willing but presented her shy foot first...her right foot. And she did the same this a.m. Just as soon as I register an honest despair, I am answered in a loving way. And honest despair is one in which I don't throw blame on anyone including myself for the outcome of something.
Susan Friedman writes that she has one bird that is not trained for the vet exam so it is always traumatic. However, she has logged on enough positive time with him that he is quickly to forgive and she is quick to restock the damaged trust.
It would of course be very handy if I knew the ways in which these two of mine had had their trust breached....hands are definitely the enemy and so is almost anything new. The joke among grey human companions is that greys like all parrots are neophobes....only more so.
So how much hubris must I eat before MnB decide I'm trustworthy. Probably just the right amount. I hope they know it when they see it.
Susan Friedman writes that she has one bird that is not trained for the vet exam so it is always traumatic. However, she has logged on enough positive time with him that he is quickly to forgive and she is quick to restock the damaged trust.
It would of course be very handy if I knew the ways in which these two of mine had had their trust breached....hands are definitely the enemy and so is almost anything new. The joke among grey human companions is that greys like all parrots are neophobes....only more so.
So how much hubris must I eat before MnB decide I'm trustworthy. Probably just the right amount. I hope they know it when they see it.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
progress not perfection
Right now the only direct training I am doing with M&B is 2x a day reinforcing two behaviors: Miracle turning 360 and Blessing coming to my outstretched hand allowing me to touch her toes with my fingers. Their particular treat of preference right now is small pieces of mcvitties digestive crackers; unsalted corn chips; water biscuits with almond butter.
The most I can get out of Miracle is the turn for a bit of cookie.
Blessing will willingly approach my outstretched fingers resting on her perch, placing her toes just barely under my fingers so I can touch them, lean over to get the cookie and hurry back to eat it away from me. She will only do this now with her left foot...she used to do it with her right foot but not as readily and now makes sure she is turned so that only her left foot touches my hand.
She had occasionally put her foot on my hand, but this past week ceased doing so.
So moves her foot next to my fingers to be able to reach over to get her treat. She tries sometimes to manage this without touching my fingers.
I feel like the proverbial dirty old man when I reach out to touch her or lure her to me to touch her.
When I read about people who manage to train a caged wild bird to perch on their hands in one afternoon I do get a bit discouraged.
The most I can get out of Miracle is the turn for a bit of cookie.
Blessing will willingly approach my outstretched fingers resting on her perch, placing her toes just barely under my fingers so I can touch them, lean over to get the cookie and hurry back to eat it away from me. She will only do this now with her left foot...she used to do it with her right foot but not as readily and now makes sure she is turned so that only her left foot touches my hand.
She had occasionally put her foot on my hand, but this past week ceased doing so.
So moves her foot next to my fingers to be able to reach over to get her treat. She tries sometimes to manage this without touching my fingers.
I feel like the proverbial dirty old man when I reach out to touch her or lure her to me to touch her.
When I read about people who manage to train a caged wild bird to perch on their hands in one afternoon I do get a bit discouraged.
a few step backs
We have taken a few steps back...
Blessing's feathers were almost completely grown back and now she has denuded herself once again and more this time.
I believe it was because of my attempt to make the room and their cage safer for the birds because neither can fly very effectively...actually Blessing can flutter down better than Miracle who basically plops on the ground sometimes very hard.
So I made a hammock in their crate about 6 inches from the bottom (they never go down there anyway) and then covered it with newspaper. But Blessing (who is more
cautious in certain ways) noticed and I could tell her eye was looking a little wild. That's why I put newspaper over the material I'd used.
Then I got the brilliant idea--I do think it is a good idea really--to pad the surrounding floor which is unforgiving slate--with foam rubber covered by old sheets and bedspreads.
I just took out the offending hammock and now have an opposite reaction: "oh my G'd she took out the hammock".
I will allow myself one despairing moment: here it is....blecchhhhh, groan, grrrrrrrr,
hopeless-hopeless-hopeless.
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