Adopted older CAG and BFA

[Smokeyandjake]

Hi! My name is Ashley and about a year and a half ago my boyfriend's grandfather gave us a 20 y/o CAG, he was a very mean bird honestly. If you even approached his cage he growled and bite his toys aggressively.(this is why his grandparents gave him away) for months i just opened his cage let him out and talked to him and copied his body movement. One day he actually just crawled off his cage and crawled on the arm rest of the couch and put his head down to be pet. Little by little I could pick him up from on top of the cage, and now I can just put my hand in his cage and get him whenever I want. We have a pretty good relationship but he is definitely more dominant, if he's on my shoulder and he's not ready to get off he reaches to bite me, or runs to the other side. If I'm petting him and my boyfriend talks to me he snaps at me. He seems to want my eye contact the whole time im petting him(which sometimes last for hours) He will also bite me if he sneaks off the cage and makes it to the bathroom. Im not sure what that's about but he gets mean in the bathroom! But very sadly my boyfriend's grandfather recently passed away and we adopted Jake, his 23 year old BFA.Jake is a social bird but doesn't like to be held or touched. He has been re-homed a few times but always made it back to his grandparents because of his agressive behavior/screaming. He apparently would bite people when they were trying to fill his bowls, but I haven't experienced this. He only bite me once when I went to pick him up to put him on his stand(now I use a stick) Jake and Smokey grey up together and get Long pretty well they usually just ignore each other, climb on top of each others cages, they sometimes clean each other's feathers or even almost kiss with their beaks. Jake loves to talk and when I copy his movements. He doesn't growl when I stand next to him anymore and has stepped up on me 3 times and bite me once. But when I talk to Jake, Smokey fluffs his feathers and then when I go to pick him up bites me :/ or sometimes will even bite Jake if he's talking to me. I don't want to ruin the relationship I have with smokey, but I do want a relationship with Jake. Also I'm trying to clicker and target train them, Smokey seems to be catching on, but the clicker seems to really scare Jake he will just run away and not even take the treat. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

[GaleriaGila]

WELCOME!
You have found The Place for information, advice, support...

My advice... take any issue or topic which interests you, and use the Search Tab to read, read, read about it. I do that a lot. The people here are an amazing source of information, advice, and support. I'm glad you found this place!

Lots of CAG lovers here.

 

[Terry57]

Ashley, bless you for taking these 2 older birds in
I am so sorry for the loss of your boyfriend's Grandfather, but I'm sure he was comforted to know that his birds would have a wonderful home.

Is it possible to work with Jake in a different room from Smokey? It sounds like Smokey was happy to have you all to himself, and now he has to share you.
If Jake is afraid of the clicker, I wouldn't use it. Perhaps you could use a word instead?
Have you seen this thread? There is a lot of wonderful info in there.
http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html

 

[LeaKP]

Yes, agreed, work with both birds independently. Since your grey was there first, I would suggest working with him first before Jake. It will take time but if you are persisten, and it sounds like you are, I believe in time things will settle into a routine and there will be peace. Birds need to feel very secure and know where they are in the pecking order (sorry, too easy ha).

I do think the Smokeys dominant behavior needs to come down a few notches. I'd keep him off the shoulder until he calms down. There are a great number of threads I the African grey forum about these very topics. The shoulder is a privilege for my grey. He came home insisting on the shoulder. It's taken literally months to overcome that habit. I rarely, if ever, walk with him on the shoulder as if he slips or gets a fright, he may accidentally bite (although I've never been bitten by him believe it or not).

I'm so happy for all of you! My prediction is that you all will do wonderful. Welcome!

 

[Flboy]

Welcome, welcome! Make this forum your second home! With your determination, amazing, and guidance, you will do wonders for your new babies!
What part of Florida?

 

[Scott]

Welcome to the forums! You will receive lots of great advice, hope it collectively makes your relationship with Jake and Smokey better.

 

[Smokeyandjake]

Thank you all so much, training them in other rooms is very doable, and I always do make sure to greet, and work with smokey frist! We Live right outside of tampa! I'm so happy I found this forum there's so much to learn about our two beautiful boys!

 

[SirEdwin89]

I'm a little late to the party, but welcome to the three of you! I have a similar issue with my CAG disliking the clicker much like it sounds your BFA Jake does. She isn't scared of it, she just thinks it's a threat and attacks the person holding it lol. So, no clicker for her. I just replace it with a single, short command that doesn't get used in normal conversation to help avoid confusion.

Personally, I'm a fan of using a word in a foreign language because it isn't likely to be used otherwise.

Can't wait to hear about how everything progresses, and to see pictures! Welcome home.

 

[Smokeyandjake]

A foreign word is a great idea thank you! And the thread about bonding is the best! im learning so much, thank you!!!

 

[Scott]

You can also download a "dog clicker" app to a smartphone. They usually have multiple sounds so you can choose one possibly less offensive!