Daisy, the rescue

[MsDaisyMaisy]

Hello. I have a double yellow headed amazon parrot who was caught in the wild and then mistreated. I rescued her about a year ago without any knowledge of her past or age. ( is there a way to tell age?) She has warmed up greatly in the past year, huge improvements. She loves talking and toast lol.

I guess my question is, what's the best way to work with a bird that I swear is bipolar, loves attention but doesn't want you any closer to her then 5 feet away. My fiance and I want her to be able to explore and join us in relaxing, but we have terrified we are going to traumatize her more by trying.

 

[Birdman666]

No.

You won't traumatize her if you do it right.

Be patient. Take your time. Win her over.

Somewhere I've got a "how-to" on this one... I'll have to look for it.

HERE YOU GO:

This was written for a conure, and Amazons are a bit more stubborn than conures... at least at first. But the concept is the same.

http://www.parrotforums.com/conures/58235-my-new-nanday-very-scared-me.html

If you haven't read my post on amazon body language, I recommend that you do. Understanding their non-verbal communication is a critical factor in working with these guys.

With zons, you have to get them "over the hump." They will stubbornly refuse... until they actually do it. Then they do it all the time. (They're just naturally contrary that way.)

When stepping them up ALWAYS BE SURE YOU TUCK YOUR THUMB. That's what they tend to go for if they bite.

Also you might want to try the towels under a long sleeve shirt trick... which I've discussed on this site many, many times.

 

[Birdman666]

Sit next to the cage and read, just completely ignoring her. Let her get used to you more than five feet away, and figure out there is no threat there.

Then talk to her and feed her periodically.

Then try stepping her up.

I assume she's been caged this entire time. So she's probably cage bound/cage territorial. Which could be what you're seeing. Approach the cage, she goes into defend the nest mode... What is her posture when you approach? (That will tell you what's going on in her head...)

Also, if she was, in fact, wild caught - assuming she was legally imported, that would probably be at least a 20 something parrot. If she was a smuggled bird then there's no way of knowing.

My little wild caught girl is 43 years old.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Hi there, and welcome to the forums. How do you know that Daisy was wild caught? Is she banded with an 'open band' that gives you info on what important station she was brought into? If she has no band, unfortunately it will be quite difficult to guess her age, unless she was an extremely young bird.

 

[MsDaisyMaisy]

Thanks birdman, I'll check that out.

When she is approached, we have our hands behind our back and speak softly and calm. She leans back and tries her fastest to get away.

She has no band, but word of mouth, the "original owner" had bragged about her being wild caught.

Daisy will only kind of step up when she takes flight and lands on the floor. When you go to scoop her up, she leans her body away from you and with one foot, she will grab your hand. You have to scoop her up, she won't use her other foot to step up.

 

[Birdman666]

Sounds like a smuggled bird then... god only knows the kind of psychological trauma they go through in the smuggling process.

That body posture is not aggression, that's normal fear.

The advice I gave you is correct. Sit next to the cage. Get her used to you being there. Let her learn that you aren't a threat.

Step two, hand feeding treats and talking to her. No only aren't you a threat, but it's kinda nice having you around.

LET THE BIRD COME TO YOU... PEAK HER INTEREST. TAKE YOUR TIME.

WILD CAUGHT BIRDS ARE FIGHTING THEIR SURVIVAL INSTINCTS. IT TAKES LONGER.

 

[MsDaisyMaisy]

We have moved her into the living space, where we hang out the most....mostly playing video games or bing watching netflix haha.
She has started interacting, playing with a ball that has a bell, but we can't tell if she wants the ball or our fingers lol.

Why does she sit and sometimes sleep in her food bowl??

IV seen videos of birds loving showers, how do I introduce this...she is a bit smelly, not bad smelly though.

 

[Birdman666]

Well, first she has to trust you enough to step up... so until then, I would get a spray bottle and mist her...

I am assuming she doesn't step up, or get outside the cage, if she freaks out when you're five feet away.

With my guys, I just turn on the water, pick them up, and stick them under it until they are soaked.

Two of my three zons love bathing, and open their wings and do the amazon happy flappy dance.

One of them gets nervous, and tries to fly off on me. She gets weekly soakings anyway.

 

[MsDaisyMaisy]

Her cage is always open, she will perch on the doors but won't touch the wooden posts on the outside of her cage. She climbs up and down the outside of her cage, but will haul butt back in

 

[Birdman666]

Her cage is always open, she will perch on the doors but won't touch the wooden posts on the outside of her cage. She climbs up and down the outside of her cage, but will haul butt back in

Okay, well that's better than I expected.

The cage is her place of safety. It's her nest.

You need to gradually enlarge her world. First she has to accept you guys.

Then accept handling.

Then, show her the house.

Then, once she's trained, show her the world.

If she's wild caught, she already knows what it looks like, AND SHE WILL FLY OFF GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY. SO CLIPPED OR HARNESSED IF YOU TAKE HER OUTSIDE.

 

[Birdman666]

We have moved her into the living space, where we hang out the most....mostly playing video games or bing watching netflix haha.
She has started interacting, playing with a ball that has a bell, but we can't tell if she wants the ball or our fingers lol.

Why does she sit and sometimes sleep in her food bowl??

IV seen videos of birds loving showers, how do I introduce this...she is a bit smelly, not bad smelly though.

My Red Fronted Macaw has done this since she was a baby.

Don't ask why.

There was a TAG down at the rescue (Timmy African Gray) Who used to empty out his food dish at mealtimes, and sleep with his head in his dish.

They just do stuff like that sometimes.

It's a personal quirk.

 

[MsDaisyMaisy]

What are some good treats to try with parrots?

 

[Birdman666]

With a zon?

Unsalted cashew nut pieces are the favorite around here.

Pine nuts.

Peanuts.

Pistacios.

Walnuts.

 

[Amanda_Bennett]

Pecans & Almonds are Zilla's favorite nuts.

 

[MikeyTN]

Does she come out of the cage at all???

 

[MsDaisyMaisy]

She will climb around the outside of the cage. If we grab her, she puts up a little fuss but chills out once she is seated somewhere. She scared the hell out of me earlier today. She took flight off her cage down the hallway, felt her wings flap across my face and then landed at my bedroom door. Was crazy....

 

[MsDaisyMaisy]

I have a two bedroom apartment, so it scares me when she tries to fly in such tight quarters....she is clipped but that doesn't hold her back lol

 

[MikeyTN]

You'd be amazed how well they're able to navigate even in such tight quarters. Coming out of her cage and goes around is a good thing but it can also be a pain when they do fly around too as they can be little terrors. Did she come to you when you try to reach for her on your bedroom door???

 

[MsDaisyMaisy]

She picked up one foot to grab my hand, but still having to scoop her up.

So I just walked in from work, and as always we say hello to daisy and show her some attention before bed. Well she came up to me and kissed my lips and liked my nose. It took everything in me to not get all excited and jump around.

 

[MikeyTN]

It's very cute and sounds like you two are doing very well together. But always be cautious with a large parrot in your face, they can be unpredictable as you just never know what they might do. A lady I know had her grey since he was a baby as she hand raised him herself since hatching. She had him for over 27 years and she leaned in for a kiss as always and he bit her lip off as she had to hold her own lip to her face while driving herself to the ER to have it stitched backup.