Question...

[Peeko]

She isn't close enough for me to visit regularly unfortunately, especially with her and her boyfriend's crazy work schedules. I cant drive either, which complicates things. Maybe in the summer, they might be willing to pick me up and bring me over more often, because their inherited 'daughter' spends more time with them but they don't always have time to play with her while she's there. Of course, she's terrified of the bird too (she's 7 or 8 and has been told ever since she knew them that he'll bite her fingers off) so I'm not sure how much time I could spend with him vs her. I could try, though.

I actually did try touch training a tiny bit on Christmas, but he puffed up and attacked the chopstick any time it got within reach. So I thought maybe a foreign object is too scary for him, and I noticed he had a dropped flight feather on the floor. So I tried with that, and got the same reaction. After 10 or so minutes, he calmed down some and tongued the feather instead, but was still puffed up. Does it sound like the feather touch training would work for him? Or at least be worth trying?

I've bought her one or two bags of pellets to try with him, Zupreem Harvest Feast (I used to feed that to my conure, until I found out that it had artificial colors in it [the website I bought it from didn't list any in its ingredients, so I thought the colors were from veggie dyes]) and she said he wouldn't touch them and she threw them away. So I bought her more bags of the Kaytee pellets he seems to like more, thinking maybe if she had more pellets vs the seed mix, she'd give him more. I'm not sure if that worked or not, but I did see pellets in his bowl under the seed mix while I was over there for Christmas.

I'm told AGs are one-person birds, and my mom says he would never be 'okay' with me because he's already 'okay' with my sister's boyfriend. But I know that isn't all true, because he used to be 'okay' with me when my sister lived next door to us. I visited him every day to talk to him and play Peekaboo with him through the cage (move back and forth and say Peekaboo! when I'm facing him, and he would do/say it with me) and he would talk to me (scarily in context sometimes - he IS a smart bird, his brain hasn't rotted away like my mom said it would by now) but now I'm back to square one with him because I can only see him once in a great while now. I think it would be better for my sister to work with him, but she's terrified, so maybe her boyfriend? He might be more willing to take advice if its to build his relationship with Smokey.

Since they're in their 40s and he's only 16 or 17, there's a chance he'll outlive them, right? I want to offer to be his godparront, but I don't know how to go about it... "When you die, can I have your bird??" wouldn't fly, ahaha, I'm not the best at wording things. What do you guys think?

And one mostly unrelated but still relevant question. He's never been DNA'd, but I found a vet's website awhile back and they said AG's gender can be guessed by their tail feathers. Males' are all red, females' have gray tips on the end. Is there any truth to that, or is it a myth?

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

what do you think she would do if she had a tame bird she could bond with? I ask this question honestly, because I occasionally trade one rehome bird for another. Basically I try to help people and birds in any way other than this, but frequently just changing the bird (species included) will help a great deal. So, I have to ask because depending on how you think she would care for a tame bird, it may be possible to trade her a tame bird that's more within her learning skill level and we could bring the grey here for rehabilitation. Obviously this is not an option if she is too stubborn to take care of any bird properly, but dealing with a scary aggressive grey could certainly be limiting her willingness to change anything. So, what are your thoughts on this option?

 

[Peeko]

She's made it clear that she isn't willing to give him up. But I honestly think that her fear of him would extend to other AGs, and parrots in general, even if they're tame. She's afraid of my green cheek conure and acts like he's an eagle divebombing her with talons at the ready if he flies near her.

 

[Terry57]

In the picture of his cage, it looks like it is in the middle of the floor? It may help a little with his aggression if his cage is against the wall. Hopefully something gets through to your sister.

 

[Peeko]

Oh, his cage is normally against a wall - they had moved it out of the dining room just because we were there for dinner and they needed to put leaves in the table. I forgot to mention that, my bad~

 

[Freespin]

Keep going with the touch training, if he is biting it he is touching it so reward him eventually he will associate touching it with a reward so he will learn to stop attacking it and start touching it quickly so he can get his reward.

 

[Katiejayne]

This is so sad to hear and people shouldn't get angry with you at least u care enough to ask and try but unfortunately if your advise is falling on deaf ears there's not much u can do about it. Here in England we have the RSPCA which is an organisation to ensure proper care of animals and they would advise her and help get do u have anything like that there?

 

[Peeko]

Are you sure rewarding him for biting it wouldn't encourage him to keep biting?

We have animal cruelty organizations like that here, but his treatment isn't considered cruel by their standards :/

 

[Katiejayne]

That's a shame they can't help as someone official may have made ur sister listen
And I'm not sure about rewarding biting but maybe he would just realise that hands mean something good.

 

[Shayner]

It really sucks that she wont let you take him! He need TLC and some time being trained so he can be a happy hands on bird again you have to talk her into letting you have him somehow! Hahaha bribes can work sometimes!

 

[Ambermai]

Can you start clicker training him when you visit? It might not be every day but it might help his aggression. You can do it through the bars of the cage and it will definitely stimulate his mind a little. If your sister sees progress, she might be inspired to do more with him?
Also, would she read the book about Alex, the African Grey? Or watch a YouTube video about him?

 

[Ambermai]

Touch training doesn't reward him for bitting...remove the object as soon as his beak is near it.
If he's puffing at you when you approach, you might try working on reward him when he depuffs and calms down. That's the first step. We're working at that with my conure, my mom and I tried the other day and by the end of the day he was pretty calm with my mom in the room. I really think it could help...I'm a convert to this kind of training. When things are really really bad, anything is worth a try!

 

[Ambermai]

Sorry guys, I just figured out that there was a page 3 that I didn't see...my apologies, I appear to be having a conversation with myself!

 

[legal_eagle]

The bird in your picture looks healthier than Alex (Irene Pepperberg's late parrot), IMO.

 

[KevH]

think you need to go out and buy your own bird you sound obsessed with your sisters bird there is worse birds getting treated a lot worse than that bird looks in good condition so get saving and stop stressing

 

[JerseyWendy]

think you need to go out and buy your own bird you sound obsessed with your sisters bird there is worse birds getting treated a lot worse than that bird looks in good condition so get saving and stop stressing

Please familiarize yourself with THIS: If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.

The OP is obviously a VERY caring person, there is absolutely NO need for input such as this.

 

[Terry57]

think you need to go out and buy your own bird you sound obsessed with your sisters bird there is worse birds getting treated a lot worse than that bird looks in good condition so get saving and stop stressing

Please familiarize yourself with THIS: If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.

The OP is obviously a VERY caring person, there is absolutely NO need for input such as this.

Well said, Wendy.