Perjo not such an angel lately

She's 16mos, so I know she is very young, and we've had great trust and a great bond up until last week or 10 days. But she has suddently not been very keen on me handling her. Particularly during the meat of the day. At the end of the night when I turn off radio/tv, and the first of 3 lights she understands and seem to want to perch on my hand for the end of the night talk. I still say the protocol command "time for bed" and she really doesn't seem to like to have to accept the fact the day is over, she groans but steps up. Once she's in cage and door closed she is fine with it being end of day, does her crazy climb around the cage top upside routine. She usually steps up with little problem in this scenario. But she is very reluctant to during the day, to the point she is very aware of when I raise my hands toward her (b/c she's always perched on top of cage door, if not on rope perch about chest high for me) and starts to get ready to move away. She's not fond of me petting her back much anymore either, she used to let me do that anytime. I still try to start the morning off by opening up cage and getting her to step up right away, but it's becoming hit or miss.

I don't believe I have changed anything that I use for personal hygiene, I haven't changed commands, nor changed routine really either.

My gut tells me she's really found her place and is taking whatever freedoms she can, and is a bit territorial. She's bit me twice in the past week, one at about a 7 on the hand, and yesterday when on my shoulder she bit my nose at about an 8.5, we were just talking in usual fashion while I had company and she was fine with the company as she on my shoulder but I was in between her and the closest person 6 feet away.

I'm thinking maybe it's time for less out of cage time, or rearrange her perches on the inside of the door (that's her waiting area when she knows I'm letting her out, about abdomen high for me. As soon I unlock the cage she start climbing toward top of door.

I'm getting a bit frustrated and bummed out. I don't do time outs with her, maybe it's time, I never yell, and only negative I say is no, I never say bad girl. She's been eating fine, actually better this past 10 days than previous month.

Being "testy" maybe? Comfortable in her surroundings and now seeing how far she can push the envelope..Yep..Smokes was just like that..it was HER way or the highway..NOT!
She was very stubborn,and if she didn't want to do something,she wouldn't..period.
Even with time-outs...she'd be good for a few days..then...
She was a very challenging creature lol


Jim

I gave her a timeout about an hour ago. She went and finished her dinner. So I opened her cage and she climbed to the top of the door right away like always, but I extended my hand and said "come with me, step up" a fairly common way I ask her to and she complied slowly. Then we had a nice 20 minute sit down watching Greys on YouTube. She's been up since 5:15am so she's tired and I think she gives in a bit when she's tired.

What did she get time out for? Was it done immediately after a transgression?

It's very common for greys to assert themselves. Stay consistent. Whenever any of my greys have "gone grey" on me, I have kept consistent and if they didnt want to step up I I'd walk away. In time things would settle to normal.

Nemo is 20 months old and has been behaving exactly the same as what you're describing. It's a bit annoying, but the way I see it is that as they grow, so will their personality. We all have days where we just want to be left alone and I definitely see that with Nemo.. some days I just have to leave him alone whereas other days he's lovely and cuddly and playful. It changes a lot. I have found with all my parrots that restricting fruits has altogether had a positive effect on their moods.. much less hysterical. I've also seen a positive impact since switching to pellets.. and like with humans.. a bad diet does affect your mood.
But i think Nemo is pretty good with communicating when he's in a bad mood. When I come over and he doesn't want to play he puts his head down and goes 'Oi'! Quite cute and really handy. So I don't know if Perjo shows something similar that can let you know to back off and leave her alone?
Nemo is also starting to be a bit nippy, but I have been following the advice of the forum.. if you get bitten is something you've done.. it's never the parrot.. and as hard as it is it seems to be working to be honest. When he's nippy I just let him be for himself for a bit and sometimes he comes around and sometimes he doesn't. But the bad mood never lasts more than a day or so. They're kids.. they will start becoming defiant and trying to break the mould. Was just a matter of time.
Personally.. I'm dreading puberty.. but that time, that hellstorm !

Wrench she refused to step up, and made a lunge at my hand. So I closed the door and said "no, now it's time out".

Perjo has two very obvious tells she is not happy and/or doesn't want to be touched. She lowers the head, slighty puffs up and makes a clicking sound. In the past I would hold my ground and leave my hand there to allow her to make the next move, she would kind of act like a bull and lower the head again and slowly get a tiny bit closer. Never bit or lunged to bite if I just stayed in my spot. The other tell is she moves away from me whether inside or out of the cage. That is when I just give in and accept it b/c she is not doing anything wrong and reacting wrong, she's reacting exactly as she should considering what she is.

She's very height dominant, as I type this she has been atop her cage door for 40 minutes. Today she has been fine, very vocal, she stepped up first thing in the morning and we did our thing. When she wants back to her cage it is obvious, as she stands on my shoulder and focuses her attention on the cage and hunches over trying to gain the courage to fly to it from ten feet away. When I get within 3 feet she makes the jump.

I've heard of some owners having a designated 'time-out' cage, like a dog crate that rests on or very near the ground. Having them lower to the ground during these 'time-out' times takes away their ability to be up high, so it may work well for some birds who are particularly assertive and gives you back the control.

Perjo has been improved the past 2.5 days. I have balanced out her time in and out of the cage, leaving her in for 15-30 minutes longer at certain periods of the day. Going up to the cage and talking to her more often. She's been more acceptable of stepping up and I've been able to place my arms in between her and the cage when we talk (as she's perched atop the cage door) which subtly forces her to move toward me and feel the need to step up to my shoulder or my hand.

Also taking her into the other room to watch YouTube more as well.