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| Gracie Lou (TAG -11) |
The training and diet regime are going very well. Gracie is blossoming! She and Coco love this new stand in front of the window, but Lucy's still scared of it and Bobby is in hyper-phobic-hyper-hormone status, so we'll wait until he calms down to give him the "window seat."
I weighed the birds to see how they are doing. It's been two weeks since they went on a training diet (of sorts) and weren't allowed free access to seeds and nuts... but only got those during training.
October 1 October 15
Lucy 432 grams 428 grams
Bobby 286 grams 278 grams
Gracie 312 grams 306 grams
Coco 276 grams 274 grams
Their weights are essentially the same, which doesn't surprise me as I have been very careful to train them until they "lose interest," a status that tells me that they are well-fed. One "poop" can weigh 15 grams for Lucy and maybe 10 grams for the other three. I feed Bobby a little extra non-training diet because of his condition.
UPDATE:
Coco: We had a great training session on the T-stand in the morning and the cage top in the evening. When he's hungry, he steps up on command and comes running to target. We're also doing "come'ere and gimme a kiss!" which he does very well at... when he's hungry. He flew off the t-stand, so we decided it was time to trim the 6 flight feathers that had grown out. Gotta be careful! Prefers Natural Gold to Harrisons, but still offering both.
Bobby: Whew. (Sigh!) I love Bobby AKA Bobert with all my heart. He wants to train, wants seeds, wants to come out, but is trapped in his phobia. He doesn't train well at all on top of his cage... too scared. Inside his cage, we're doing better. *not* targeting with stick as it's still scary, but continuing on with simple waves, kisses, and meows... sort of "treading water" until he gets his mojo back. Prefers Harrisons to Natural Gold, but eats both.
Lucy: Ran all over the top of her cage yesterday, targeting and giving kisses... she was waving with enthusiasm and turning round and round and round when I asked her to. No outbursts of frustration. Finger still healing from her last "grump" earlier this week. Trying to ignore bird kibble altogether, but seems to prefer Harrisons.
Gracie: Turning around quickly on command most of the time now, both on cage door and t-stand. Energetic, positive, quick to respond, and affectionate. Go, old girl! She prefers Natural Gold to Harrisons. Chewed up her calcium perch (pink), so that got replaced with a new wooden one.
Conclusion: All 4 birds seem to be thriving under the diet and training attention. We are continuing with the shower-a-bird-a-day thing and it's 2 birds when Peter is home on weekends. I cleaned all of the air filters (hepa, all 5 of them!) and am hoping that the showering will cut down on the dust. The training diet "posture" is to provide the birds with AMPLE food, but in a controlled manner. I'm noticing about an 80% DECREASE is wasted food and a 80% increase in enthusiasm for fruits, vegetables, and training treats.
So, am I finally being a good parrot mom? I think I'm on the right track. They are more than cute little feathery toys; they are spirits in need of leadership and cohesive relationships... We're going to work on that from now on, until forever.
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