Parrot Training, an adult flock

Bobby's shredding again... ):

Poor  Bobby, AKA "Bobert," has started clipping off his chest feathers again.  This is what he looked like before.  Now his chest feather looks more like 1/4 inch fur. ):  At least 30 chest feathers are on the cage bottom.  Last time he was hormonal, he clipped off all of his tail feathers, too.  I'm just waiting for that to happen.

Modified target training for Bobby.  Instead of the stick/target and him shaking violently in his heightened and sensitive state, I'm reinforcing his already-learned tricks, clicking, and rewarding.   I'm mostly using tricks that do NOT require him to come close to me as it appears that this increases his phobia.  I want him to feel good about the training and successful, so we are focusing on waving, turning around, and responding to "what does a cat say?" with meow.  I'm abandoning the "kiss" until he's calmer.  His phobia, associated with the hormones, seems to have high and low days.  For now, steady-as-she-goes with Bobby.

Yesterday there was minimal training as I was away all day.  Target training/clicking/treating were done just before the birds went to roost.  (Hee hee!  I LOVE CHICKENS) 

This morning, I noticed that the vegetable and fruit blend got a lot more positive attention from the grey parrots.  Even the picky cockatoo capitulated and dug through the veggies for a bit of my homemade birdie bread.  The training diet does seem to make the whole flock more "glad to see me" and generally more interested in food.  The dry bird food is not terribly well-received, but it's getting more and more attention as the seed-nut-treat-train that I usually provide... stopped running by their cage every hour or so.

Gracie<TAG:  Put her on a stand, in the kitchen, away from other parrots so Lucy wouldn't get jealous and grumpy.  She successfully targeted all over the place (click/treat) and she did two things she already knows... give me a kiss and come here!  We played and laughed and clicked for just a few minutes.  She's a foodie!

Lucy<CAG:  On the stand, she refused to train with seeds, so I brought out the peanut butter.  She targeted successfully several times, but she is lazy and doesn't want to go to the stick... she'd rather the stick was moved closer.  I have to remind myself to give the command/request once and shut up!  It's tempted to say "target, target, target..." until she gets it.  One should request once, shut up, and let the poor bird think and respond, right?   We also practiced kiss, wave, and turn around with clicks/treats upon successful completion.  I put the "target" training in between the other tricks.  You could see her wheels turning behind those beautiful grey parrot eyes.

Coco<LSCC:  Coco is my hardest nut to crack.  He is angry that he isn't being fed seeds constantly in his bowl.  I put him on his cage top I said, "come 'ere!" and he repeated "come 'ere!" and walked over to me, so he got a click/treat.  I alternated this behavior with "target" and "give me a kiss."  He still, at times, attacks the stick with irritation some times.  At those times, he gets no click and no treat.  I just turn to the next bird in the room.  He still refuses to "step up" to go out onto the play stand.  I'm gonna be patient and teach him to want to do what I request. 

Progress is slow, but steady all around.  I love these little guys and it's fun to see them thinking about what to do.  I just got the training kit with CDs and DVDs in the mail.  I'm going to read, listen, and ponder the course before I start trying to do everything at once.  I think all 4 birdies need to continue slowly with what we started this week while I "train the trainer" by reading and thinking.  Each bird is unique and I want to plan their training uniquely to fit their needs and abilities.

PS  I don't want to name the course yet.  I don't know if it's any good!  And, if the course is good, and I'm not, perhaps the makers of the course would prefer that I not mention them.  (Giggle!)