The Continuing Capers of Companion-ing Cotton
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OP
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He followed that with cork destroying then a series of beeps, looking at me after each.
The rescue never heard him use his voice other than crying when scared and telling off the Macaw. He found his voice!
Just in time for spring
The rescue never heard him use his voice other than crying when scared and telling off the Macaw. He found his voice!
Just in time for spring
Oh he has such a beautiful voice, and he sounds so happy!! You know, you could always enter one of these in this month's Photo Of The Month contest - the theme is "You're The Voice", and any one of these would be PERFECT, just sayin' 
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March 2022 Photo Of The Month Contest!!
March 2022 POTM Contest!! "YOU'RE THE VOICE!!!" Whether your birdie is a Valentino-style virtuoso..... .....a lover of show tunes like Fang.... .....a screamy, screechy squawker like Lilly Pilly... ...or has a vocabulary worthy of Shakespeare like Disco the Budgie!! ...the...
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more Cotton! ( edited incase that wasn't Clear )
Plus imho, the wing lift/ one side wing stretch is hello right back at you mom! Its see , let me join your flock all my parts work. Its nit just random. IMHO birds do this to greet, and to show you after you've been out of sight , see not injured, still healthy. Sure they can and do random stretches. My personal observations after repeatedly seeing this when I come home, go over to them.
If he has more if a tail, tail wags are a good indication of contentment, I just accomplished something I feel proud of, after a transition to a new activity.
I'm feeling so excited all the way down to Florida!
I actually expected several days of just being freaked out and overwhelmed by all the changes. A testimony to your bird mommy skills, his choosing you as his person, all those visits and time you put in getting y to know him before bringing him home. ❤
) Plus imho, the wing lift/ one side wing stretch is hello right back at you mom! Its see , let me join your flock all my parts work. Its nit just random. IMHO birds do this to greet, and to show you after you've been out of sight , see not injured, still healthy. Sure they can and do random stretches. My personal observations after repeatedly seeing this when I come home, go over to them.
If he has more if a tail, tail wags are a good indication of contentment, I just accomplished something I feel proud of, after a transition to a new activity.
I'm feeling so excited all the way down to Florida!
I actually expected several days of just being freaked out and overwhelmed by all the changes. A testimony to your bird mommy skills, his choosing you as his person, all those visits and time you put in getting y to know him before bringing him home. ❤
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OP
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I've only seen a couple of ARN videos where they were vocalizing and they weren't as high pitched as IRNs on YouTube so I had no idea what he'd sound like - he's so cute!!
Thank you, Laura, that's all so helpful! There was no doubt he was talking to me - when I wasn't filming he was really chattering right at me
Thank you, Laura, that's all so helpful! There was no doubt he was talking to me - when I wasn't filming he was really chattering right at me
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I've been taking bubble baths in the morning on work days during winter; a nice treat with my coffee. This morning I heard the cutest little "hello?" morning beeps from the living room!
Early morning investigation of my and Maynard's breakfast. Cotton is not convinced that quinoa and sweet potato is edible, but Maynard thinks this is the best morning ever
Early morning investigation of my and Maynard's breakfast. Cotton is not convinced that quinoa and sweet potato is edible, but Maynard thinks this is the best morning ever
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I checked in on my pet cam while on my morning break and Cotton is busy lol - he did a few chirp queries in the direction of the hallway, and then climbed to the front door of the cage and looked around, then back to a perch and lots of beep-boop-trill, then climbed allllll over the top of the cage upside-down, then down to the back corner he's mostly ignored so far, gave a few tugs on a preening toy, down to his food, back up to the corner.....
Now he's back on his favorite perch preening and making his beak nice and shiny-sharp.
It's a good/bad thing I have a full day of being in rooms because I'd just have this on all day!
Now he's back on his favorite perch preening and making his beak nice and shiny-sharp.
It's a good/bad thing I have a full day of being in rooms because I'd just have this on all day!
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I'm so glad I wasn't home in Cotton's view for this because he definitely would've seen my reaction - I'm working on a few office things and have the pet cam up on my phone. He's been climbing all over the top of the cage, and I just saw him hang upside down, streeeeetch then grab a perch below by the tippy tip of his beak and backwards somersault to stand on it 
My heart is still racing!
My heart is still racing!
kme3388
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Cotton is doing fantastic! He made himself right at home. He must be very comfortable with you. I think Cotton & you were meant to be, and were for sure meant to meet at the time that you did.
Is he starting to come out now?
Is he starting to come out now?
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Somebody woke me up with a squawk at 4:27am, then chattering, then promptly went back to sleep when I came into the living room
Rain storms woke all three of us up at different time overnight (which means me every time lol) so I'm going to be quite sleepy today.
Rain storms woke all three of us up at different time overnight (which means me every time lol) so I'm going to be quite sleepy today.
He's still very cautious when I'm near the cage but I hesitantly think he's no longer skittish or scared. I was expecting this level of comfort to take months and months! I haven't even set up anything outside his cage yet! I think I'm going to keep putting bits of walnut in different places and see if he'll start going for them sooner - I feel like I want to make sure I have a good bribe to go back in his cage before I start letting him explore. I don't want any reason to have to handle him yet if it's not dire as my hunch is that would set his trust back a lot :/
awwww....its hard having all these little ones. Same troubles over here when things go boom or bumb, or the seniors need Xtra trip outside in the night but 4 puppers, 6 parrots....
Drink some Xtra coffee. Hopefully its a low stress day. But its a lot more painful to get through than when we were younger!
Continue to follow your instinct with Cotton. Its only. Been a few days.
But for me I do try to have them start coming out, maybe on your weekend. I don't think any magic takes place in the cage. And to long caged and they can develop phobia and cage bound.
If he flutters off, nearly all the time they will want be willing to be rescued. You wait till they land. Then you can talk to them tell them how you will rescue them. Go over and offer your hand , even birds that don't know step up will often step up to be saved from floor or weird spot. If when you go towards him he takes off again, hold still till he stops, then try again. Walk them back to top of cage.. If I think they can have a hard landing I might lay out blankets on the floor, till I have an idea on what they can do. Also curtains or blinds so they can avoid windows. And dog in kennel or other room .
But I'm not rushing you
Go with your comfort level, your plan, how you think.
On returning to the cage, he will , even without treats , with patience because its what's safe and known to him.
Agree @you and Cotton are doing amazing! What you are doing is obviously working . He is so happy!
Drink some Xtra coffee. Hopefully its a low stress day. But its a lot more painful to get through than when we were younger!
Continue to follow your instinct with Cotton. Its only. Been a few days.
But for me I do try to have them start coming out, maybe on your weekend. I don't think any magic takes place in the cage. And to long caged and they can develop phobia and cage bound.
If he flutters off, nearly all the time they will want be willing to be rescued. You wait till they land. Then you can talk to them tell them how you will rescue them. Go over and offer your hand , even birds that don't know step up will often step up to be saved from floor or weird spot. If when you go towards him he takes off again, hold still till he stops, then try again. Walk them back to top of cage.. If I think they can have a hard landing I might lay out blankets on the floor, till I have an idea on what they can do. Also curtains or blinds so they can avoid windows. And dog in kennel or other room .
But I'm not rushing you
Go with your comfort level, your plan, how you think.
On returning to the cage, he will , even without treats , with patience because its what's safe and known to him.
Agree @you and Cotton are doing amazing! What you are doing is obviously working . He is so happy!
OP
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That's what I was thinking, too - on Saturday when I have more hours to hang out with him and can keep the dog in the other room, start leaving the door open.
When I put new perches inside, he'll go to the other side and watch but isn't overly fearful like he was at the rescue - flat feathers but normal body posture and cocking his head to investigate.
This morning when I changed his pellet bowl and water that are near where he sleeps, he flattened his feathers but facial expression looked curious instead of worried, and when I changed his seed/pellet mix on the other side he was making his way there as soon as I closed the gate. So big progress IMO
I think his waking me with talking so early today only helps; something woke him, I answered, came close and told him it was raining and he was safe, and he went back to head-tucked sleep.
Thankfully I'm a light sleeper after several years of elderly dog overnight potty runs
I don't think Cotton has enough wing feathers to fly yet so I want to get more stuff for him to be able to climb up the outside of his cage. He's proving to be quite the acrobat inside!
Oh! I realized this morning that since Saturday he's only plucked TWO feathers! Both that day. He does chew downy bits still, but wow! He's been chewing apart the cork toy a lot, and yesterday started attacking a preening toy I saw it on camera and for a minute thought he fell because the toy moved so fast 
.....I need my eyeballs and brain to recognize that he's not a heavy mammal when he's hanging by his tiptoes upside down
When I put new perches inside, he'll go to the other side and watch but isn't overly fearful like he was at the rescue - flat feathers but normal body posture and cocking his head to investigate.
This morning when I changed his pellet bowl and water that are near where he sleeps, he flattened his feathers but facial expression looked curious instead of worried, and when I changed his seed/pellet mix on the other side he was making his way there as soon as I closed the gate. So big progress IMO
I think his waking me with talking so early today only helps; something woke him, I answered, came close and told him it was raining and he was safe, and he went back to head-tucked sleep.
Thankfully I'm a light sleeper after several years of elderly dog overnight potty runs
I don't think Cotton has enough wing feathers to fly yet so I want to get more stuff for him to be able to climb up the outside of his cage. He's proving to be quite the acrobat inside!
Oh! I realized this morning that since Saturday he's only plucked TWO feathers! Both that day. He does chew downy bits still, but wow! He's been chewing apart the cork toy a lot, and yesterday started attacking a preening toy
I saw it on camera and for a minute thought he fell because the toy moved so fast .....I need my eyeballs and brain to recognize that he's not a heavy mammal when he's hanging by his tiptoes upside down
OP
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I suspect diet change is going to be a longer process than befriending He's had a seed/pellet mix since at least December but I really think he's picked out only seeds, and definitely goes for sunflower seeds first.
I currently have him on the same mix of seeds and Zupreem pellets that he's used to, but I pick out all but 2 or 3 of the sunflower seeds. I plan to pick up different pellets this week to offer different kinds. He has a bowl of the mix and then a second bowl with only pellets. Offering fresh foods in the mornings before I offer fresh seed mix. So far not impressed with whole, chunks, chopped, any, but definitely giving the eye to a dried chili I've offered twice now.
He'll get there
I haven't been able to weigh him - he avoided the scale perch and leaned waaaaay over from his boing instead but I've been weighing how much he eats 
He seems a little more interested today in what I'm eating and sharing with Maynard.
He's had a seed/pellet mix since at least December but I really think he's picked out only seeds, and definitely goes for sunflower seeds first. I currently have him on the same mix of seeds and Zupreem pellets that he's used to, but I pick out all but 2 or 3 of the sunflower seeds. I plan to pick up different pellets this week to offer different kinds. He has a bowl of the mix and then a second bowl with only pellets. Offering fresh foods in the mornings before I offer fresh seed mix. So far not impressed with whole, chunks, chopped, any, but definitely giving the eye to a dried chili I've offered twice now.
He'll get there
I haven't been able to weigh him - he avoided the scale perch and leaned waaaaay over from his boing instead
but I've been weighing how much he eats He seems a little more interested today in what I'm eating and sharing with Maynard.
Aww, stubborn lil Cotton! Keep those pics coming!!!I suspect diet change is going to be a longer process than befriending
I currently have him on the same mix of seeds and Zupreem pellets that he's used to, but I pick out all but 2 or 3 of the sunflower seeds. I plan to pick up different pellets this week to offer different kinds. He has a bowl of the mix and then a second bowl with only pellets. Offering fresh foods in the mornings before I offer fresh seed mix. So far not impressed with whole, chunks, chopped, any, but definitely giving the eye to a dried chili I've offered twice now.
He'll get there
I haven't been able to weigh him - he avoided the scale perch and leaned waaaaay over from his boing instead
He seems a little more interested today in what I'm eating and sharing with Maynard.
