Rescued CAG.. I need advice!!

I ran across a CAG in a bad situation and he is now in my home. He has not been handled or out of his cage in over a year. Im wanting to get this bird back to the sweet nature he had before but I have little knowledge of AGs. I do not want to bond with bird.. just get him ready for a new home. He seems cage bound an no desire to come out on hiss own. It was a challenge getting him in to a transport cage and he IS holding a grudge right now. My amazon only holds a grudge for a few minutes. This AG does NOT like a T perch either. Should I just put on some body armor and force the issue? I do not want to stress this bird any more. He was in a sad situation when I got him. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. This is a species I know almost nothing about... thanks

No! Don't force the issue.

CAGs are very very different birds. He will take a long time to get through this.

Sit by the cage and talk to him with the door open. They aren't touchy feely cuddly birds usually. They're very smart and interactive but in their own way.

Thanks for the input. He has been on a horrid diet too. Surprisingly he looks healthy. Yesterday treats were being tossed on the floor.. today he actually ate some pecans and nutriberries and took them from me gently). He seemed to do ok with the introduction to my BFA.. at least thru the cage. And mercy, the sounds this bird makes are amazing. Quick study too.. he copies words and sounds about as soon as he hears them

You should probably keep him separate from your birds for quarantine and also if you are rehoming him anyways you don't want any friendships made only to be broken

Try putting his favorite treats on the outside of the cage so he has to come out to get them, but move away or step out of the room so he's not pressured. It'll take a little while to get him used to just coming out, and handling is going to come later. Be careful that he doesn't nip you through the cage when you're giving him treats.

Use your BFA as your model for behavior, start having him step up, take nice, or whatever you say to him in front of the CAG because he's going to be very observant and will hopefully learn by example.

But it sounds like you really picked a winner and I'm sorry to say you MIGHT get attached!

Our CAG hadn't been out of his cage for about 7 years and had been kept in a dog crate. He continued to live in the crate until his new cage came in. We did force him into the new cage (which he took to fine) and while we were home we left the door open and I put treats and toys on top of his cage. He is located in the living room where we could talk to him and he could be a part of family activity. Didn't take him long and he started coming out on his own. He also puts himself up at night (which is good because he still wants to eat me.)

The other day you could see he really wanted to climb off the cage and go to my partner. There are some birds that need to be pushed. I generally don't think that's a great idea with greys unless it's an emergency. They are very slow and cautious about stuff.

Really depends on the bird and the body language. I've done both with AGs...given them space and forced them out. My foster grey I forced out of his cage kicking and screaming because he didn't show fear. He was just one angry bird that didn't want to get along with anyone and was holding a grudge against people in general. He still is holding a grudge against people but it's leaning more towards general distrust these days. To this day I'm still the only person he likes (yes the person that dragged him out) and will let me scratch him and cuddle him to a degree.

Our other current foster grey we take it slow(well he is mothers foster). Just open the cage door and he comes in and out as he likes. He interacts with us but doesn't want hands near him, though he did fall on the floor one day and almost forgot that he doesn't step up onto hands. When he realized what he was about to do he froze and then hightailed it back to his cage and climbed back up. Greys are some weird ones

I find it so hard to believe that people can do this with such beautiful creatures but its great you saved him . Give him a few days to get used to the nice new environment. Then let him come out on his own. Also you should put your hand in the cage multiple times a day to build trust with him. After you have done this then hold a sprig of millet in your hand and get him to eat it. i have found this to work with most birds. Once he is used to you doing this you can then try to get him to step up in the cage by pressing on his abdomen. if he wont step up hold the treat just behind your finger so he has more incentive to step up. if this works repeat the action. From this point do what you would do with your other birds. Eventually you should be able to handle him without those painful bites. Good luck and i hope this will help.

Btw have you kept him away from your other birds as he might have diseases/ worms or parasites (just a precaution)

WilliamKenyon said:

I find it so hard to believe that people can do this with such beautiful creatures but its great you saved him . Give him a few days to get used to the nice new environment. Then let him come out on his own. Also you should put your hand in the cage multiple times a day to build trust with him. After you have done this then hold a sprig of millet in your hand and get him to eat it. i have found this to work with most birds. Once he is used to you doing this you can then try to get him to step up in the cage by pressing on his abdomen. if he wont step up hold the treat just behind your finger so he has more incentive to step up. if this works repeat the action. From this point do what you would do with your other birds. Eventually you should be able to handle him without those FAbites. Good luck and i hope this will help.

Btw have you kept him away from your other birds as he might have diseases/ worms or parasites (just a precaution)

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A note on quarantine there.. No I haven't. My reasoning is that he has seemed to survive very well for 20 years.. still looks healthy/ all things considered... so I figure if he had any problems it would have already shown.
His last wing trim and trip to vet was about a year ago. So he is flighted nowl if he wants to...so I have to take care also he doesn't hurt himself in a panic flight. This bird once was a spoiled rotten sweetie that went everywhere with daddy.. I know it'll take patience and a lil bleeding on my part to hopefully bring him back.
He has allowed me to pet / preen him a bit and seems to like it. But 2 minutes later he tries to nail me. My BFA is LOTs more sane ).

riddick07 said:

Really depends on the bird and the body language. I've done both with AGs...given them space and forced them out. My foster grey I forced out of his cage kicking and screaming because he didn't show fear. He was just one angry bird that didn't want to get along with anyone and was holding a grudge against people in general. He still is holding a grudge against people but it's leaning more towards general distrust these days. To this day I'm still the only person he likes (yes the person that dragged him out) and will let me scratch him and cuddle him to a degree.

Our other current foster grey we take it slow(well he is mothers foster). Just open the cage door and he comes in and out as he likes. He interacts with us but doesn't want hands near him, though he did fall on the floor one day and almost forgot that he doesn't step up onto hands. When he realized what he was about to do he froze and then hightailed it back to his cage and climbed back up. Greys are some weird ones

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Can you give me an "idea" on the body language? All I can read now is his "calm" demeanor and his "you better back off" all fluffed up look. I get a lot of head bobing too... which I take is a threat but not sure. My cockatoo did the same bob but he was just havin fun, or getting ready to break dance.

Aquila said:

Try putting his favorite treats on the outside of the cage so he has to come out to get them, but move away or step out of the room so he's not pressured. It'll take a little while to get him used to just coming out, and handling is going to come later. Be careful that he doesn't nip you through the cage when you're giving him treats.

Use your BFA as your model for behavior, start having him step up, take nice, or whatever you say to him in front of the CAG because he's going to be very observant and will hopefully learn by example.

But it sounds like you really picked a winner and I'm sorry to say you MIGHT get attached!

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Yep Im using Cookie as a model... Cookie had never seen a T-perch until yesterday. Never needed one with him. but he took right to it in front of Fester..(the CAG). On the subject of treats, he is taking them gently thru the bars so far. Only thing he will eat (so far) is nutriberriess, but that beats the junk he was being fed. I really cant keep this bird tho. Just give him a little quality of life until I get a new owner. He could easily kill or injure my Sun Conure and I think he would and I can not risk that. Thanks for the input.

I can relate to your situation as my boy Romeo came from a very similar situation. It took a long time. But slowly I have earned his trust. Now. I can do pretty much anything with him. I started out very slowly and spent an obscene amount of time with him. Hahaha. But. Patients and understanding can go a long way. You can do this. Don't force him. Be confident. Even when you're not lol. Don't even try to handle him if you are not confident. You'll only set yourself and him back. Kindness goes a long way.

Well made a small amount of progress. He eased out of his cage slowly last nite... and started flapping his wings like crazy.. first time in a while hes ha that chance. It was war to get him back in later. He decided to fly, bad idea in my little den. Ended up getting him with a towel to put him back in. Got tired of bleeding on the floor (hah) He seems no worse for wear this morning and actually trying some veggies.. YAY!!. Considering clippin his secondaries for his own safety. Im sure that wont go over good, but not sure I have a choice.

Sounds like he doesn't need any force to come out. My foster was hostile in every way and he would curse and insult you while hanging upside down so you couldn't try to get behind his neck and toweling him was harder. He definitely knew how to curse in context! But once he was out he was easier to deal with because you had more room to maneuver plus he had to be taught how to step up still. He also knew an open cage door was a trap and inside he had more control and trouble getting him.

If he bites you coming from the front for a step up try going from the side and behind. You can distract him with your other hand while getting the hand you want him to step up on behind him. You find that birds have trouble keeping track of both hands and while focused on the one will step up onto the other (for some). I'm not sure I'm entirely describing this correctly! I've used it on all types before but it does tend to work pretty well on greys from what I've worked with so far. And some birds find it more comfortable to step up backwards....don't ask me I've just come to the conclusion that birds are weird creatures...

Yah he is getting more use to me... that's why he came out finally. I figured it would be a trainwreck the first outing.. him being flighted and all. Did u start with yours clipped? Im also wondering how personal he will take it if I clip him myself. My Amazon would get over it in 10 minutes.. heck I don't need to clip him anymore he is so docile and laid back.

I think he was clipped. I do remember him running and not getting very far so I'm guessing clipped. Jeanne tends to clip everyone anyway because she believes in clipping, so him being clipped would be a good guess.

I think either way he is going to hold a grudge about clipping because you are going to have to stuff him in a carrier to go to the vet or towel him yourself. So either way he is going to get all huffy about life. It is always best to get all the grudge worthy stuff out of the way at the beginning. So when he came home you should have just toweled him out of the carrier cut his wings and nails. Just gotten it all over with so you could work on the trust without any setbacks so early.

Also, the grey I worked with must have been dropped a lot because part of his issue about people is nervousness about hitting the ground. So once he got that first foot on my finger I grabbed his foot because he would flap like crazy (trying to stay on the finger) causing himself to fall. Smart bird but no common sense in him lol. Every time he fell he got more nervous about the whole process, so grabbing his foot stabilized him for his crazy flapping and he would calm after he realized he wasn't going to go falling because I had him.

Gotcha... I guess hindsight is easy. Just didn't wanna stress him more.. heck he had been in solitary Just a bit handicapped from lack of knowledge of this species. Cockatoos, Amazons, Conures, no problem.. Its probably more my learning curve than the birds at this point. Thanks for the help

We do the clipping with pretty much all the rescues when they come in. Mostly because we don't have time to go chasing them all down while they are still being worked with. Really the clipping in the beginning is up to you. I'm not trying to say you did it wrong or right, just that if you plan on clipping to just get it all out of the way at once since we have found it easier

There are some birds you will find that you want to leave them flighted because they damage themselves more with a clip than with flight. My own cockatoo is that way. While he would be easier to wrangle clipped he breaks every single blood feather when the clip starts to grow out. I think we went through 10 or more blood feathers while he was growing them back in. I will never clip him again because I know the chances of him possibly bleeding out are greater than him breaking his neck flying into a wall. Plus, listening to him cry as they pulled out 3 or 4 broken blood feathers in one vet visit wasn't fun. He is nervous and tries to run away clipped or flighted which is how he breaks them. He is now a really good flier and only missteps when in a panic and overshoots the landing sometimes. So you have to try and guess what kind of bird you have from the initial interactions.

Understood.. yeah I have a conure sized den... Thanks for the input. Fester and I will have a rematch tonite!

Depends on the head bob, but it's more than likely a threat if it's accompanied by poofy...