Hormones emerging... >;

I've noticed that all of the birds are having spurts of hormones... just "spurts," but never the less, making life less peaceful.

Bobby (TAG) is in heightened-fright mode and training is limited because he drops the seed.  He's too scared to do his stuff right, and then acts so desperate.  For now, minimal training every day followed by a portion of seeds to munch on, for the pacifier effect.

Gracie (TAG) is panting and wagging her wings for attention and is a bit distracted.  She's doing her stuff for treats, but almost bit me when I went to replace her into her cage. Gracie bit me lightly ONCE just before she came to live with me.  She bites everyone else, but has always respected me.

Coco refused to train despite going all day without his favorite sunflower seeds.  He is madly chewing boxes to shreds.  He did step up and got a seed ball this morning.  He got  6 sunflower seeds "free" in the cup.  He needs a "primer" sometimes to get him started on the bird food.

Lucy, yesterday, bent her head for a scratch (yes!  She's learned to trust me from the training!) and then lifted a foot to step up...  retracted her foot and bet down and bit my finger!!!  It wasn't a big bite, but just a little one, but it hurt and drew blood.  She got returned to her cage, placed gently on the floor of her cage, and didn't hear from me for a little bit.  (Grrrr!)

... I've started to introduce "shaking the head NO!" with the two girls, but just barely.  We manage to get through every other trick we've conquered, but just barely.  It's hard not to just feel discouraged, but then I have to remember that hormones are natural and will diminish over time until everyone is happy and pleasant again.

Now, I am giving the 3 greys juice (Coco hates it) to get some fruit in them.  They've all decided fruit and veg are not good.  I give Coco papaya squares for his fruit.  The greys throw that stuff on the floor.  I fixed some nice canned salmon (wild caught) and all the birds liked it AND the dog. 

We will continue to train and play every night for as long as hormonal birds can hold their attention.  I shall not get discouraged!!!  Hahaha!  These birds can live very long lives and giving up is just not an option even if they are spoiled rotten and grumpy!

Happy Valentine's Day next month.  Hopefully, these guys will be "over it" by then.  :D

Just a little update...

There isn't a thing going on that is exciting, but there are some subtle changes around the bird room.  The timnehs both seem a little "needy" lately and I'm wondering if hormones are kicking up again.  We're still doing the training with both and Bobby (phobic Bob) is improving every day.  During "brave moments" he will cross his entire cage to "target" now and he's definitely clued into the training sessions... able to focus and put his "fright" to the back while he does stuff for food.

Lucy says "hello" all day long, hoping for a treat.  Getting her to sound like a chicken on command has been totally without gain, so far.  Her attitude about training is soundly positive and she runs all over the place for a sunflower seed... something she threw away a few weeks ago.  I'm just giving the PRIZE PISTACHIOS randomly now as a sort of jackpot and you should see her eyes light up when one pops up after a simple trick.  (Earlier I showed her the treat and then she would only respond if she saw the pistachios.  Now I put my hand into the treat bag, but do not show her what her reward will be.)  Anyway, Lucy has not shown any aggression for weeks.  I did note that she was nervously chewing on a spongy toy last night and my intuition tells me that foraging birds still need that "forage" to eat and relax at the end of the day.  She got a small dish with pine-nuts (in shell), cashew pieces, and a few safflower seeds.  The other birds got seed mix as they prefer, but no sunflower seeds, because those are exclusive to training.

Coco taking a nap on the bird stand.

Coco is plugging right along, doing as requested during training.  He still refuses to step up most of the time if I don't show a treat.  When he does step up without a treat offered, I make sure to give him a really good experience... a trip to the kitchen counter, a visit to the back door window, a mom-play time, and a little seed-ball when he returns to the cage.

What I want from my birds is to see them happy and interactive.  What I am getting is an amazing amount of affection back!

I do switch it up with the training.  We were busy this weekend, moving 7 tons of rock and dirt to landscape with, and I was simply too tired to do much with my birds.  Instead of training, they got clean cages, a pat on the head, a "training" at intervals as we were inside for lunch and dinner... and a nice bowl of their favorite seeds to much on before bedtime.  We got chickens at Sam's Club and the timnehs got leg and thigh bones to marrow out, something they all love.  Again, it's foraging work and good for them.  Coco doesn't like bones, but he loves the double-thick-glossy boxes from Sam's Club, so he gets those to keep him busy. 

Personally, I think the silly birds look forward to training and running like silly chickens to give me a kiss for a sunflower seed.   I can't believe the difference in our little flock!  We will always do training because it is the best time we spend together and so rewarding.

Happy New Year! An even better bird year!

Bobby, the hyper nervous Timneh Boy!

He has been improving, Bobby, that is!  When I started the training, he was too afraid to step up and could hardly accomplish his old tricks of waving and meowing on command.  He had been absolutely too afraid to walk toward me to get a kiss.  He panicked whenever I introduced the "target" stick and was too scared to "turn around" or "flap your wings" on command.

Guess what?  He is still "always shaky-nervous,"  but now I've got him approaching the target-stick (nervously!) and walking the 6-10 inches towards it to target for a treat!!!   I started asking him to "flap your wings" when I had him out for his 10-count-step-up and after a few frightening failures, he actually did it!  He also realized, by himself, that it was too stressful to try to do training when he was on top of his cage and now... when he sees that treat bag come out... he makes a beeline for the inside favorite perch.

Baby steps, but steps in the right direction.

We have been practicing the same-old-stuff with all of the birds, but stretching them a little bit by targeting a little farther away and asking for 2-times on tricks now and then... instead of once... to get the treat.  The bird should realize that it has to do stuff to get stuff, but it also has to understand that "sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you win a really big prize!"  So, occasionally, I hide the treat in my hand and they don't know what they'll get for the "trick."  Lucy was startled when she got a big old pistachio for simply waving and then later, got just a sunflower seed for saying "hello" on command.  It is a gambling thing.  People play the lottery, hoping for a win and sometimes a big win.  They keep coming back for more unless they lose too often.  I'm hoping that I can interest the birds in gambling a little bit so that they will do stuff on command, not knowing if they will be treated (or not) or if they'll get a really big treat.  <%  I NEVER let them become frustrated with the game.

More later.  Happy New Year!