Twitchy Folger

In an effort to avoid continuing to write the last 5 pages of my law paper that is due tomorrow I will give an update on Folger:54:

So he has been wearing the collar for a bit now and the poor guy is extra twitchy. We are describing him as a junkie going through withdraw. He jumps if you even look at him funny right now and will shake like a leaf if you twitch in his direction. He is super panicky about the slightest things these days. He has even started to run from me like the world is ending. Then, when he realizes he ended up on the ground he comes running back to me. I reached to give him his favorite nut the other day and he ran the other direction. Took him a bit to realize it was a nut...

I have been told this is normal for the cockatoos after they have been restricted from mutilating. It takes them awhile to calm down and find new ways to deal with the issues that make them mutilate. He has definitely lost some weight from the stress but nothing overly concerning. I do hope he calms down soon though... I'm pretty sure the poor guy is going to give himself a heartattack. I guess these issues happen when you take away his coping method...

The good news is that his shoulder and chest look very good right now! He only has a thin line left on his shoulder He has a bunch of new feathers in too. Today he actually let me put the collar on without me having to towel him so I guess he is getting used to having it on You can see a slight scratch from one of his panicky moments on his front.





The extra good news is that he has been showing interest in my stepfather...and not the I would really like to rip a piece of your flesh out interest. So I finally convinced my stepfather to ask him to step up from my arm. And Folger stepped right onto his arm from mine After about a minute he did a run leap back over to me but no blood was shed and over all he was fairly calm about it!

Pic of the moment and me hovering off to the side...


You can see the collar has gotten kind of stretched and funky looking so I have to get a new one soon...

Way to go Folger. Awesome to hear about some new feathers.

Hopefully he calms soon for you and he realises that he is at the best home with the best mom.

Folger has really made some progress both with feathering and not tearing into your stepdad! That's awesome news to hear! Yay Folger!

He looks wonderful... and a lot less bald than I remember in early photos?

Jayyj, yes he has grown a lot of down into his wings which make him look less bald overall. Under his wings has a lot of down now too. On his back he has grown a lot of regular feathers back in. He actually had about 4 blood feathers on his back fairly recently that I was nervous about since I figured he would find some way to tear them out when I wasn't home... but he left them alone

I was actually thinking some training to focus the nervous twitchy energy might be a good idea now since he isn't as angry about life anymore! He does do a hand shake but I'll have to be more consistent for him to do it all the time I know the twitchy jumpy thing might seem like a setback but I think its actually a step forward for him. Now he has to start figuring out other more healthy ways to deal with his mental issues. He is actually just starting to play with other toys besides his basket so I think he is starting to figure it out

I did some target training today with him and he learned it within like a minute! Well it only took a minute after he figured out I wasn't going to beat him with the red stick... Makes you wonder if he was trained at some point in life or he just got good at picking up cues from peoples body language after years of abuse He stopped shaking like a leaf the couple minutes he was focused on me and what I wanted him to do I definitely think training will be good for him now that he isn't angry just twitchy and unfocused because of the habits the collar doesn't allow him.

So what tricks do you think I should try first? Of course I want to get him more comfortable with the stick and going to it but just wondering on opinions for different simple tricks that won't frustrate him I do want to get the handshake down since he does a version of it sometimes!

And some pics of the feathers coming in on his back. Definitely think he will grow all these back in at some point!

Yay back feathers! I think the handshake is an adorable trick. I used to say "shake hands" to Robin, but I think maybe he just put his foot to step up and I'd hold and shake it haha.
I also have always thought it would be funny to train a bird to "sit" then "stand". The difference is only about half inch lol. That might not be as simple to clearly convey what you mean though.

Wave and turn around would be basic and more simple ones to start with.

Hmm for the sit and stand thing... Folger likes to stretch up to reach my hand when it is above his head for a scratch so I could probably teach him to crouch (sit) and then stretch tall for a stand.

Definitely will have to take it slow and not flood him with different demands or expectations. He gets so jumpy when he doesn't understand what I want like I'm going to get mad at him or something:20: One of the reasons I want things that will be easy for him to get almost immediately

Folger is looking so much better! And I am so thrilled at all his new feathers he has coming in

I'm quite thrilled too I'm hoping for everything but his belly feathers to come back in! I figured the belly area is probably a lost cause but I guess you never now.

WTG Folger!!!!!



Here are some behaviors you could teach. This list is from Melinda Johnson's Clicker Training for Birds book. (I just copied and pasted this from another thread)

Climb a Ladder
Ring a Bell
Retrieve
Basketball
Rings on a Peg
Pull a Toy Car or Wagon
Agility Course
Ride a Scooter or Skateboard

Big Eagle
Holding Out One Wing
Dance
Take a Bow
Nodding Yes
Head Shake for No
Flap Wings on Cue
Foot Wave
Shake Hands
Upside-Down Swing
Roll Over

Which ones would you say are really simple? I think Ring a Bell will be easy for him because he likes shaking them quite a bit. Waving too and he already knows shake hands a bit. Probably climb the ladder too once he gets more comfortable following the stick around! He was starting to move down my arm a bit to get to it Had to start on the arm because he felt safer near me with the stick near him then on the chair Even putting the stick on the table freaked him out like it was going to eat him at any moment. I had to take two or three minutes to talk to him with the stick in my hand while he curled in the bend on my arm. Once he settled I brought it closer for inspection and he touched it and curled back in the corner. He wouldn't take the treat at first but praise and comfort seemed to work just as well for when he touched it. By the end he was moving towards it and taking the bits of nuts to eat as reward! I don't even want to know why sticks freak him out to such a degree though...

Okay so once I get him comfortable with the stick and chasing it around we have...

Shake Hands
Waving
Ringing a Bell
Sit and Stand
Climb a Ladder - I should probably buy a ladder for him...

Well that is probably a good start overall

I think you've got a good start up list, of which I would recommend to include turning around in a circle!

You may find some things easier to teach than others, and if you get stuck on one trick, you might try teaching another trick before going back to the one he was stuck on helps.

Even Alice has mastered turning in a circle - perhaps she and Folger can sit next to each other in remedial class?!