Advice/Help for an Adoptive Family of Two 25 y/o Amazons

[shellmel777]

Hi everyone! I am new to the forum and new to owning birds. I will try to make my story as short as possible. Any help and advice you may have as your read through would greatly be appreciated.

I have always wanted birds (just ask my husband....he was getting tired of hearing it lol) Sadly, a friend of ours passed away and her husband asked if we'd take them (Rodney is a male YNA and BeBe is a female BFA). She had inherited them from her parents who passed away and they moved them here to New Mexico from Pennsylvania. They are both around 25 years old. So after much research and preparation, we got them last Sunday. I know that Rodney and BeBe are probably still feeling the effects of being shuffled around. BeBe is the passive one, she has not spoken, just purrs, coos, screams (sometimes) when Rodney screams too. Rodney started talking almost immediately when we got him home. He says, "Hey Bird," "Hey Baby," (or Hey BeBe....we're not quite sure), "Rodney," "What 'cha doing," and "Hello." Yesterday Rodney said a full sentence, and I couldn't quite catch it but it sounded like he was saying, "There's something about blue eyes." The previous owner told us he sings "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," but we have yet to hear it.

They are both sleeping through the night in uncovered cages without a peep. They both seem to be eating just fine. We are using the seed/pellet mixture the previous owner gave us supplemented with organic spinach, apples, grapes, bananas, etc. BeBe loves to take food from us and grapes seem to be her favorite. Rodney does sometimes, but most times when he takes food from us he drops it, usually into his bowl. I have mist showered them twice and they love it.

They both have come out of their cage on their own and hang out on top. Rodney loves to go to BeBe's cage and she sticks her head out for him to come over and "love on" her. Every once in a while they have a little spat. lol They cannot be put in a cage together, and we have not let them out at the same time. The main question I have regarding this is I have heard that you are never to let them come out on their own? Does anyone have an opinion on this?

I am concerned that they will never warm up enough to step up or even to let us pet them when they are in their cage. They still nip at our fingers, although Rodney every once in a while and with some slow movements, will let me rub his belly. Once I rubbed his beak and his head, but not for long. BeBe will not let us touch her at all. Could this be a territorial issue? Or am i just being impatient and need to give them more time to get used to us?

Thanks everyone for "listening." I know this is going to be a learning experience for all of us. We already love them so much and are so glad they are now a part of our family.

Shelley

 

[shellmel777]

Here they are! BeBe is pictured on the right, and Rodney is on the left. I am so proud of them!

 

[SandyBee]

Aww, they are beautiful.

I adopted a male DYH amazon who is 35 about a year ago now.
I believe you should let them come out of their cage on their own. I believe the idea for never let them come out on their own is when training young ones.
Let them come to you, My Bosley would climb down his cage to me if I had food, and I would share with him that started the bonding process.

It is also very helpful if you have a playstand or java tree that they can be on instead of always on their cage, I got one on wheels and placed it right outside our amazons cage, once he got used to it I would wheel him into other parts of the house.

It took him a few days before I could touch him at all, a few weeks before I could touch him even more. It took about 3 months for him to even step up once, and till about 6 months before he would do it all the time. Now we are the best of buds and steps up if my hand or arm comes anywhere near him whether I ask or not.
Trust takes time, learn their body language. Try not to get nipped or bit, back off if they want you too for the time being. Make them want to be with you.

 

[MikeyTN]

Welcome to the forum! Beautiful Amazons! There's plenty of Amazon owners here to help. Just give them time as they are rather new to you yet. There's different training methods that everyone goes through as not all training methods works for all. The top pick for most is doing clicker training and you can find the videos of how all over YouTube, just any one of them would do cause it shows you the basics on how to do so. They're pretty self explanatory! I own clickers but I train my birds differently and it's worked for me for many years. Good luck!

 

[shellmel777]

Thanks Sandy! We are planning to make gyms and tree stands over the next couple of weekends.

 

[shellmel777]

Thanks Mikey! I will definitely go to YouTube and look those up. Have a great weekend!

 

[Gizmomania]

Welcome! I, too, am new to Amazons, but have already learned SO MUCH from the members of this forum.

I've had my Pan Am for 6 weeks now. It took several weeks of treats and even clicker training to get him to step up. At first he'd step up with only one talon, and it took almost 3 weeks before he felt comfortable enough to launch his second talon. I fed him treats the entire time I was working on getting him to step up. Now he looks forward to it, and he even asks to step up!

My guy was very reserved and shy when he arrived. These amazing birds require TONS of patience from their owners as they become acclimated to their new surroundings and people.

Two days ago, my baby finally let me give him head scritches through the bars of his cage. Please keep in mind that it's taken him 6 weeks to allow me to do this. My next goal for him is be comfortable enough for him to allow me to give head scritches while he's out of his cage.

Patience is everything. In return, your new babies will bring smiles and laughter to your home for many years to come!

 

[SandyBee]

Oh and amazons love attention and food. Talk to them often, include them in as many day to day activities as possible. Socialize them too and as you handle them more and more get them used to a travel cage or harness(not easy with older zons). i take my amazons on outings as much as possible, he loves it.

 

[Birdman666]

Okay, that's a lot of information to deal with, but you have come to the right place. I have fostered Napes, BFA's, Double Yellow Heads, Red Loreds, Mexican redheads, green cheeks, lilac crowns, and mealeys, so I have worked with quite a few species. So, this I've done once or twice...

First, they are still getting to know you, so it's not at all unusual for an amazon to "say no" to touching. Especially if they didn't get handled much to begin with. (Birds that do not get handled do not stay tame. Birds that get caged too much become cage bound and tend to be more territorial.) How often were these birds handled? How much out of the cage time did they get? If they never allowed much touching to begin with, you may have to start from scratch...

Second, you need to read up on amazon body language and non verbal communications. Amazons are UBER expressive with their body language and most of it means something... if you don't understand their "language" you could have misunderstandings that end in a bite...

Amazons are pair bond birds, which means they will generally pick a "favorite person." It also means they need to be handled by multiple people, or the favorite person will end up being the only one who can handle them...

Napes and BFA's are both Hot 3 amazons. So the time you have to watch out about having both of them out at once is during breeding season. Properly socialized amazons should be able to get along. (I had six, plus three macaws on one playstand before, without incident.) I wouldn't try to cage them together. They each need their own nests. The key words there are "properly socialized." So this is very much an "it depends on the birds" situation. Usually where the problem comes in is when you have two males in the same small proximity during breeding season, where they are trying to establish territories.

Amazons are prone to vitamin A deficiencies, so carrots, and sweet potatoes are a good fresh food staple with these guys. What I do is bake a sweet potato, cube it, and then freeze the cubes in plastic bags. Zap them in the microwave for 20-30 seconds, and toss a few cubes in the food bowl each day and you're set. One sweet potato generally lasts about a week or two that way, and it's a cheap and nutritious... Another favorite around here is fresh oatmeal. (Just make sure these things aren't too hot. We don't want any burned crops!

And anything else you need to know, just ask, we are here for you!

 

[shellmel777]

You guys are awesome! Thanks so much for all the help and advice! I am sure I will have more questions as we all get in to our routine!

I am not sure how much they were handled or caged. Our friend, their last owner, and her parents, the owners before that, are all deceased. It's like I have to start from scratch even though the birds already 25 year old! I know patience is what I will need to have.

 

[Birdman666]

The two perch method.

Generally speaking, work with them one at a time. Take the bird into a room where he is contained. (Oddly enough I used the shower perch for this cuz he had nowhere to go in the shower.) Practice step ups.

Then try getting two small perches or sticks, and use those until he accepts you touching him with them. Then work on touching him all over, particularly the tail area. (Untamed birds tend to get defensive and bitey when their tails are touched. They have to learn to get over it!)

Then when he accepts being touched, slowly work your fingers down the perches or sticks until you don't need them anymore, and he lets you scratch his head.

I guarantee you the first few times you do this he will bark and growl and throw a fit, but by the 3rd to 6th time you do it, the bird will gradually accept it more and more.

Every time he accepts it he gets good bird praises, and some sort of a training treat. (Cashew pieces are usually irresistible to a zon!)

Since he's getting favorite treats, he will begin to look forward to "training time" and you...

AND THEN once they accept touching and step up, you can use the time to work on new behaviors... though zons tend to not be the best trick birds, they can learn a few tricks.