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Mad Hamish posted:Is my girlfriend's bird coming on to me? Yep. Poor little naked goffin. If she still picks at all, give her lots of things to shred, that seems to help a lot. My goffin loves phone books.
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Oct 30, 2012 14:51
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| # ¿ May 4, 2024 19:32 |
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Mad Hamish posted:I really don't want her coming onto me, though. Petting below the neck is foreplay to a bird, so really you started it.  Confine your scritches to her head and face, that's pretty much the only way to stop encouraging sexy behavior.
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Oct 30, 2012 18:20
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Does she use sticks and stick-like toys to scratch herself with? If so, work on clicker training* to get her to allow you to scratch her with a stick, then work up to a head scritch with a finger. Make sure she knows that the head scritch will ONLY come with treats, never with any other unwanted touching (nail trimming, picking up, going back to cage, whatever). Keeping your hand curled into a specific position with only one or two fingers being used to scritch may help with that. *I don't bother with actual clickers, my goffin is afraid of them, I just say GOO'BOOY in a particular tone that I don't use any other time. Goffins are insanely smart. He's learned everything I've tried to teach him within a few repetitions. However, it HAS to be something he WANTS to do. No amount of sunflower seeds or mashed yams will get him to do something he doesn't want to do. If it's not, he'll make his whiney "nuh-uh" noise and sit there begging for the reward. But he learned to step up to go to "floor" and "window" and "back on house" in literally one repetition each. When he's feeling particularly bitey I offer him his reward off a wooden spoon so that he can't use the reward as an excuse to bite. He has a history of saying "gimmie kiss" and then biting people's noses.
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Oct 31, 2012 14:33
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Mad Hamish posted:We can't have toys hanging in her cage because she undoes the little screw-on carabiners holding them up. HO HO HO, do I have the thing for you. Parrots can't unscrew these. I have the "Chewable Hangers" version; in addition to threading chewable blocks onto it, I take off the carabiner that comes with pre-made toys and thread one of the welded rings onto the hanging bar so the whole toy hangs off it. Also try giant steel quicklinks. They're much harder to unscrew than the carabiners, Nim has several of these that he can't seem to undo.
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Nov 1, 2012 14:27
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Well for one thing nest boxes will INCREASE territoriality and hormonally driven behavior, not decrease it. Take it away ASAP. The "fighting" you describe (face pecking) doesn't actually sound like fighting. It sounds like normal "YOU ARE MY MATE PLEASE FEED ME" behavior. As long as nobody is losing feathers because of it, this should be fine.
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Nov 10, 2012 15:43
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Battle Pigeon posted:Oh man, I want one of those so bad. Both birds would love it. America gets all the cool bird things. Check Amazon...
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Nov 20, 2012 15:48
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Earplugs, man. The greatest invention for new bird owners.
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Dec 14, 2012 15:46
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Contact the non-local parrot rescues and let them know you're looking for finches. They almost always have finches and they rarely bother advertising them on Petfinder because most people don't think to check for rescues before buying! Checking petfinder, I see two parrot rescues in MN - one in Plymouth, MN and one in Lino Lakes, MN (lol at same url for two different orgs - that probably caused so much rescue drama!  ). Not sure how close either is to you but that's a good start! If they don't have any they may be able to recommend someone who does.Anyhow, let them know you're interested, give them a rough estimate of your time frame, and ask them to contact you if and when they get any societies in. Even more distant rescues might be good if you're willing to drive - they may be so grateful to adopt small birds to you that they'll waive a lot of the normal procedures - I adopted a cage full of keets from a really hardnose rescue here in WI and they were like "gently caress the home visit, if you drive here to get them you can have 'em".
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Dec 20, 2012 15:57
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Those of you who work with rescues/zoos who house parrots: any materials advice for building large parrot (macaw/cockatoo) flight cages? I've finally bought a house and am going to turn one room into a parrot flight for the goddamn goffin. I'm thinking about something like http://www.wirewall.com which I've seen recommended in a couple other places, but wondered if anyone had any practical experience with other wire mesh materials. Cost is not a concern, I just don't know where to start looking.
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Jan 4, 2013 15:57
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unprofessional posted:I was told that galvanized wire was an issue for birds that like to chew, but it wasn't explained to me why that is. Galvanization is the application of a zinc coating. Birds can ingest enough zinc from galvanized wire (either through direct removal of the zinc coating or through it leeching into food or other chewable materials) that it accumulates in their body and kills them from metal toxicity. Apparently some types of galvanizing are okay, but I'm leaning towards stainless steel or powdercoated steel options. unprofessional posted:How much is cost not an issue? If you're totally loaded, start looking through some of the suppliers on AZA.org. BITCHIN. This was exactly what I needed. Yeah not quite totally loaded, but I only need something like 10'x10'x8' (basically enclosing the inside of a room so he can't damage the drywall) so a couple-three thousand is fine. I've had this fucker for 18 years, whatever I buy is gonna have to last another 60+ so I'm willing to splurge.
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Jan 4, 2013 18:10
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I think I've read that wild 'toos tend to start congregating in the roosting area a couple hours before dark. They scream "HEY EVERYBODY GET BACK HERE IT'S ALMOST BEDTIME". They preen and socialize till shortly before sunset then everybody goes quiet. So it's probably innate behavior. Both my goffin and my mom's umbrella start screaming for bedtime by about 330. Mom's bird gets up at 6 and goes to bed by 330, my guy gets up at 7 and goes at 430 if I'm home from work. On days I'm working out of the house I get home around 630, so he has a dark corner in his cage draped in dark cloth (his "bedroom") and his light is on a timer to go out at 430. He goes in his bedroom as soon as the timer goes off, then when I get home we have dinner/cuddle time, and within 20 minutes he's telling me it's bedtime again. When I kept him up later in the evenings he was much, much more shouty the rest of the day. If he gets his bedtime when he wants it, he's usually quiet as mouse most of the day. The goffin is 18 years old and the umbrella even older, so it's not just a puberty thing.
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Feb 8, 2013 19:32
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Eejit posted:That's drat hilarious. Seems like he considered most of you guys to be pets, not just the cat My goffin is NUTS for phone books. Even better, the local company has started printing reduced-size phone books that are only like 8"x7", which are perfectly sized for him. I drill through near the spine, then hang a chain through them with both ends outside the cage so he can't pull it down except by removing every page. 
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Mar 8, 2013 16:47
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Joe Don Baker posted:That's a brilliant idea. I'm going to do that. Scope out the local apartment complexes when it's phone book season. They usually just leave a half-pallet of them near the mailroom, and they never all get picked up. I can usually snag 4-5 at a time, plus the ones I get at home and work, so he's never without.
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Mar 8, 2013 17:06
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Deadly Chlorine posted:^^It depends, I know someone who has the most snuggly goffin and you can just kiss her right on the beak aaaaa Yeah my goffin will give kisses too, but he has also been known to say "gimmie kiss" and then bite you on the nose. I used to be able to do birdphone with him but now as Eejit says that would be a short sharp call to the plastic surgeon.
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Mar 28, 2013 14:50
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Opera Bitch posted:Conures are supposedly more quiet HAHAHA what? I have literally never heard this. I was originally going to get a conure but I was told they are the loudest of the small parrots!
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Apr 15, 2013 16:23
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Chaosfeather posted:Bird Crazies I hate to make this post. Until you can find/afford a behavioralist, a short-term solution is to stop letting him get into a position where he can bite you. I have an 18 year old goffin's cockatoo who, about once a year, gets incredibly bitey. It's usually right about this time of year. When Nim is in his mood, bites are almost always directed at hands that he is standing on. So he gets a week or month where I NEVER pick him up or let him stand on my hands. Sometimes this means we don't get any cuddle time except with him hanging off the side of his cage and me sitting on the floor scritching him. Sometimes I'll offer him a knee and he'll get in my lap without a problem, but then to get him off, I have to get him on my knee again and move him over without hands. If he's being a toe-chaser, the base of his cage gets blocked off so he can't get on the floor, or I sit on a chair with my feet tucked up, and I focus on playing with him via a playpen that is right up against his cage so he can get on and off without help. I've found that I've had to drastically change the way I interact with him in order to get to the point where I don't get bitten as often. For one thing, I can never multitask. It used to be that I could read or look at my phone during cuddle time, but now if he is within reach of me, I have to have 100% of my attention on him. Part of this is making sure that his attention is always directed at something other than me. If he drops his foot toy, stops tugging at his blanket, stops reacting to a toy I'm offering, or whatever, and his attention turns to me, within a second he gets offered another distraction. If he refuses that, he goes up on the cage and I initiate a hands-free game, or I move out of biting range if he's on his playpen. I had to start doing this because earlier this year, for only the second time ever, he bit me on the face. He stopped playing, I was looking at my phone, and he ran up to my shoulder and bit me on the cheek, and also on the hand as I tried to get him down. I've added several new toys to our playtime routine, toys which only come out during this hands-free interaction time, and which focus on him doing behaviors that don't involve touching me. One is a foraging wheel that he has to work to get a sunflower seed out of (he's a crack addict for these things). We also play a fetch game with a little knotted rope, I throw it up somewhere on his cage and he runs and gets it and flings it away for me to fetch. I'll hand him pages out of a phone book to fold and tear. I bring out the sunflower seeds or toys that he really likes (like those baby keys) ONLY when I've just placed him on his cage, so that he always thinks being put on the cage is a chance at a highly desired toy or treat. You've noted that he's just had a lot of major changes in his life. He probably will take about 2 months of strict adherence to the new routine to get a bit more comfortable. Nim always starts being bitey and screamy when the spring sunrise starts getting him up earlier, and then just as he's getting settled, I always have to take a 4-5 day business trip in April/May and that gives us a huge setback. One thing that really seems to help, is I use a light on a timer in his room to cue him to when he's going to go to bed. I don't get home till 530-6 most days, and he really wants to go to sleep around 430. So his light goes off at 430 and he usually is pretty good about going into the dark corner of his cage (his "bedroom") and napping quietly till I get home.
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May 3, 2013 15:37
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Chaosfeather posted:Edit: Alucinor, thank you so much for that information. I think I have a few ideas on how to interact with him until I feel fine with my fingers around him again (if ever) due to your post. It also is encouraging to hear that your bird seems fine with this kind of interaction and instills a bit of hope. He does seem much, much happier with this kind of interaction. Not only on the biting, but on the screaming. I think it gives him more of a sense of control, because I'm not forcing him to move around where _I_ want to carry him. He asks very clearly to "Comeup" if he really wants lap time, and I've noticed that he doesn't ask when he's really bitchy. He moves where he wants to move, we play whichever game he chooses based on what toy he goes to on his cage or playpen. He also gets to tell me when he's ready for bed - I have a very repetitive vocal routine that I go through both morning and night, and he'll tell me "Bye bye!" or "What time is it?" when he's ready for me to go away and let him sleep. The major downside is that I really don't spend as much time with him. It used to be that he would come be with us in the evenings and on the weekends he would come out to the living room and hang out with us all day. But then he started screaming any time we weren't in the room with him, and also screaming during the work week before I got home and sometimes even after bed. Now weekends are exactly the same as weekdays - he gets time in the morning and evening only, at the exact same times of day as if I was on a work schedule. It kinda defeats the purpose of having a pet - he's basically more of a roommate whom I only see twice a day. I have a cage of parakeets in there to give him constant birdy company. But it does seem to work. I've been at home all week and other than quiet play vocalizations, he has been DEAD quite apart from a half hour where he starts with his bedtime calling around 4pm.
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May 3, 2013 16:39
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| # ¿ May 4, 2024 19:32 |
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If you feel like schlepping up to Milwaukee, there's a nice rescue named C.A.R.E.. I've adopted a half-dozen parakeets from them, including a mostly finger tame English budgie who is freakin' hilarious. They are overwhelmed with larger birds so they're very excited when they hear from someone who wants a tiny bird. They also have lots of cages and supplies and food for sale. You don't have to be local, either - I'm in Madison - you just have to be open and communicative about what you want. Go up one weekend and meet the people and birds, without expecting to take a bird home; that makes a real good first impression because they figure if you'll schlep up there twice you're serious about doing it right. Edit: I should add most of their smaller birds are not listed on their Petfinder page. alucinor fucked around with this message at 02:49 on Nov 15, 2013 |
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Nov 15, 2013 02:42
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