1. GET TO KNOW ABOUT PARROTS BEFORE YOU BRING ME HOME - I am not a domesticated pet like a dog or cat. I still have the spirit of the jungle in me. I have special needs, which you may find hard to fill. Please don’t learn these too late for my well-being. And please don’t acquire one of my cousins wild from the jungle – it will jeopardize his survival and well-being, and that won’t be a party for you either!

2. GIVE ME THE LARGEST HOME POSSIBLE - I am used to flying through rainforests or savannas. I have given up this great gift for your pleasure. At the very least, give me enough room to flap my wings and exercise. And I need toys for my amusement and wood to chew – otherwise, I might confuse your Home with the forest and its trees.

3. GIVE ME A NUTRITIOUS DIET – I need a wide variety of fresh and nutritious foods, even if they take time to prepare. I cannot survive on seeds alone. Take time to learn what my needs, and preferences are.

4. LET ME HAVE A ‘SOCIAL LIFE’ – I am a gregarious flock animal – but I am not one of you. I need lots of socialization to learn how to act with you, and with my siblings. I also need to have adequate quality time with you every day – no matter what your schedule or other needs are. I am a living, feeling creature. Above all, I need to be able to have complete trust in you, and count on your predictability in looking after me – every day.

5. LET ME BE CLEAN – I may like to drop food or even throw it, but I need meticulous cleanliness to be healthy. My skin itches without frequent showers, the barbs of my feathers won’t seal if they become oily and, worst of all, I may become ill if my food or water is not always sanitary.

6. I NEED MY OWN DOCTOR – You may not understand my physiology and therefore you may not recognize it early on when I get sick. And it may be too late when you do, because I hide my illnesses (remember what I said about my being an animal of the jungle, where there are lots of predators). And I need an avian vet – a specialist (no HMOs for me please). If you can’t afford one, perhaps you shouldn’t have taken me home.

7. PLEASE DON’T PUNISH ME – Just as I don’t always understand your peculiarities, you may not understand mine. I don’t TRY to get in trouble – remember, a house is not the jungle. If I do screw up, don’t yell at me and never hit me. I have sensitive ears and I may never trust you again if you strike me. Hands are sometimes scary things to us (why in the world would you not be zygodactylous like us?). Even more importantly, we don’t learn by punishment. We are gentle creatures who only strike back to protect ourselves; we learn through patience and love.

8. SPEAK MY ‘LANGUAGE’ – I know you get upset with me when I knock over my water bowl, throw food, scream or pluck my feathers. I don’t do these to annoy you – I am probably trying to tell you something (perhaps that I am hurting, lonely, or sad.). Learn to speak MY (body) language. Remember that I, alone of all creatures on this planet, learn to speak yours!

9. SEE ME AS AN INDIVIDUAL – I am a unique and feeling being. No two of us are alike. Please don’t be disappointed in me if I don’t talk like you wanted, or can’t do the tricks that your friend’s parrot can do. But if you pay close attention to me (and I always empathize with you, whether you know it or not), I will show you a unique being who will give you so much more than talking and playing. Give me a chance to show you who I am; I think you’ll find the effort worth it. And remember – I am not an ornament; I do not enhance ANY living room décor. And I am not a status symbol – if you use me as such, I might nip at your up-turned nose!

10. SHARE YOUR LOVE WITH ME – Above all, please remember that you are my Special Person. I put all my trust and faith in you. We parrots are used to being monogamous (no bar-hopping for us!). So please don’t go away for long periods or give me away – that would be a sadness from which I may never recover. If that seems to be asking a lot, remember – you could have learned about my needs before bringing me home. Even having a baby or taking a new job isn’t a fair reason – you made a commitment to me FIRST. And if you think that you must leave me because you might die, provide for me forever after you leave. I may live to a ripe old age but I can’t provide for myself. Remember I’m in a small cage amongst people who are not of my blood.

11. YOUR RIGHTS – You have lots of rights, but I can only assure one. And that is, if you treat me the way I described above, I will reward you with unwavering love, humor, knowledge, beauty, dedication – and a sense of wonder and awe you haven’t felt since you were a child. When you took me home, you became my Flock Leader, indeed, my entire universe – for life. I would hang the moon and stars for you if I could. We are one in Heart and Soul.

Source: http://www.cleos-corner.com/Rights.html

Steve Dale writes :-

“I know a parrot in New York called N’kisi (a Congo African Gray parrot) who knows 971 words. He isn’t counted as having a new word until he’s used it at least five times in a proper context. In other words, if he just repeats a word, that doesn’t count. Before I met N’kisi, his owner, Aimee, was showing him pictures of me and chimps. When I walked into the room, he asked, ‘Got a chimp?’ Aimee broke a necklace, and he said, ‘What a pity. You broke your new, nice necklace.’ He uses grammar and initiates conversation (all skills once reserved for people). This bird even has a Web site [sheldrake.org/nkisi]. I don’t think he’s an exceptionally brilliant parrot; I do think we’re only starting to understand how smart they are.”

To read the full article, go here – http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/nicko62/vpost?id=2575336

My wife and I have two Amazon yellow heads, one is 40 and the other is 20. Both are males and are different kind of yellow heads.

They go in and out of screaming modes, thanks for the advice.  We are trying to get them on a better path of behavior.

The younger bird Cyrano has started to pick the feathers out of the front of his neck. We have had him for 31/2 years before this behavior started. We have taken him to the Vet for a physical and advice.

We spray the birds with aloe Vera and water every day and they get weekly showers. We have changed their diets on the advice of the Vet and our bird groomer.

Cyrano will let the feathers on his neck get almost grown back and then he will pick them out during the night. The next week or so he seems to be in some pain from the picked area and the spot looks kind or irritated.

Do you have any other advice for us?

Thank you

Pat and Bob Young

**ANSWER**

If the vet has done a complete physical did that also include a CBC blood test?

And was this an avian vet?

There is a difference between regular vets and avian vets. Avian Vets are required to take more extensive training in Avian Medicine.

My concern is if he doesnt have a medical issue then have there been any different changes in the home? Such as a change in location of his cage or new changes in the home such as a new family member.

If the parrots owners are under stress and displaying negative feelings or arguments will cause the bird to stress out and it could cause behavioral problems and plucking at its feathers.

Its important to find what is causing his stress in order to stop the plucking.

Does he had toys him his cage? and if so does he have a favorite one or do you rotate the toys from time to time? How much time does he get out of his cage to play and socialize?

All of these are important, because boredom and frustration will also cause plucking. It just I do not see many pluckers in amazons as much as I do in cockatoos or african grays.

I personally would have to spend some time with him to pin point what he is feeling or bothering him.

[youtube width="425" height="335"]http://youtube.com/watch?v=sYk-wE18BTo[/youtube]

Around 0:42, the cockatoo lies on his back and wrestles with the plastic lid, haha.

Check out the ending too where the bird throws both of the lids off the table and then seems to get upset over it, haha -

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkw6XBCktqE[/youtube]

I have always want a cockateil. My freind’s cockateil had babies and I received my “Precious boy” He is so cute. I recently have been able to feed him some seeds by placing them on a little stand in his cage. You see precious bites and I don’t know what to do to get him to stop. In order for me to give him the seeds on the stand, I tell him to go away and then I will give him the seed. He goes over to another perch and allows me to put the seed down on the stand and then I tell him to come and get his seeds and he does. We do this every day about three or four times. He also says hello. However when I go to touch him or get him to step up, he hisses and goes to bite me. Why?

I have Cerebral Palsy and sometimes my hand shakes could that be frightening him. Any suggestions, I certainly would appreciate them. Thanks, I love my “Precious” so much, he is such great company and we spent a lot of time together, I just want to be able to touch him without getting bite.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Judy Waller

***ANSWER***

I have yet to see a young baby bird that doesn’t bite or nibble, this is a much different reason to why older birds bite.

Baby birds remind me of puppies because they like to chew and nibble, they don’t know that it may hurt someone’s finger, but they are learning about the owner by taste and smell.

Now the actions of hisses and trying to bite sounds like the owner is putting her hand in his cage and that is a very normal reaction that most birds will do to their owners unless they trust their owner. A bird’s cage is their safety zone, and anything or anyone the intrudes into the cage will get that reaction.

If you could work with your bird in another room away from the cage you should be able to teach it not to bite, but it is also important to have the wings clipped so you would have better control of training the bird.

As for her Cerebral Palsy I don’t feel that is a major concern, because many birds and even other animals can sense health issues in people and they seem to undertand the person’s special needs.

The shakiness to the bird would be no different then the bird sitting on a rope perch or the wild birds that sit on power lines that can get shaky from the wind blowing.

I have taken many of my birds to special needs groups and it seems the birds just knew these people where special and there was a lot of TLC given to the people by my birds.

hey I have another question?. is it true even though I bought my bird
from a pet store and they told me the breeder they get there birds from is
very good as out of the 15 years of dealing threw him they said they have
never had any birds that were sick. so if I have a very health bird can I
catch bird disease from her even though she is my pet. And yes she comes
outside with me everyday, she is walking around the grass most of the day
and likes to sit up on the wild bird feeding bowl I have outside for wild
birds. is that ok for her too eat from the wild birds bowl too, or is that
how she can catch bird disease.
Kim. Mosbey

***ANSWER***

You can never been guaranteed that you couldn’t catch something from if your pet bird if it was to exposed or carried a disease that people could catch.

Many diseases are air borne and you could catch it from just going to the grocery store from someone who owns an infected bird. I am more worried about catching something from the local pet store and bring it back and infecting my birds.

Allowing the pet bird to walk around outside will greater the chance of catching something that wild birds carry. One of the most common wild bird disease that people can get is called Histoplasmosis here is a link about the disease - http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/histoplasmosis_g.htm

I have another link I give to my clients who are concerned about catching something from their pet birds. http://www.mybirdpix.com/disease_facts.php

Due to the fact I have been hospitalized for histoplasmosis it went undiagnosed by my Doctor for almost a week That disease will only respond to one type of antibiotic, and it could be fatal to humans if not treated correctly.

 ”Intruders smashed the front window of Pet Palace in Leominster, about 45 miles west of Boston, and as they entered the store the bird began to shout, said store manager Lori Oltman on Thursday.”

Get the full scoop here -

http://www.thenewsvault.com/cgi/xtra.pl?go=120029462920

Here we have an indian ringneck parrot performing some cool tricks-

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=y1CmuPkmURs[/youtube]

Here we have an african grey bird talking up a storm -

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=JVwzLVv_NRg[/youtube]

i have a 16week old galah cockatoo. brought her at 10weeks lod hand reared from a pet store, she is very loving but is starting to bite alot tawards me and my 3 girls when we all want to pick her up,or if we are playing with her, she has no proble stepping up to come to us when she feels like it or to come ut of her cage, but my biggest problem is when she is sitting on y shoder or o the floor playing she is really biting hard with all of us.i have tried the technieck of putting her in her cage when she bites and walking away and coming back 5 or 10 mins later to see if she has learnt her lesson, so il open the cage to pat her again and she loves her head rubbed but then all of a sudden she will bite again really hard. and yet other times she is so loving and gentle and still lets out that little baby bird sound and loves me patting and kissing her, and now all of a sudden she will just lunge out and peck me in the eye or my nose or face for no reason. how do i stop this befor she gets 2 rough.

Kim. Mosbey

***ANSWER***

At 16 weeks old it should be easy to break it quickly. My question is, when the bird bites what kind of a reaction is being given? Reacting verbally can be reinforcing him to bite more.

All baby birds go though their nipping and biting phase. I believe it is their way in trying to test their independence and try to show dominance over the family. As long as the family reacts it only feeds the bird to bite more.

The baby bird needs to know the handler is serious about the “no biting” rule.

From what Kim said about how her bird loves to be petted and love on and then to turn around and bite her shows that the bird is telling her “I am done with the hugs and kisses” and “I am the Boss – The Boss is always the handler of the bird”

The first thing I would do in breaking the biting is not to allow it on my shoulder. He would only be allowed on my hand or arm. Having it on her shoulder gives the bird too much control over the handler, and until he understands who “The Boss” is he will have to earn his place back on the shoulder.

Please post any questions or feedback you may have in the “comments” section below. Thanks!