Spring time boy CAG

My newly rehomed CAG to me appears to be taking shredded cardboard etc...to a corner of his cage and under his cage to the same corner. He also regurgitates on his favorite toy. And barbing\plucking. A little. Is this normal for spring time ? or is it him dealing with his new situation? He appears to be happy even though he deals with a 2 cats and a dog which he has never seen before (ever 18 years old ) in this old home. He has only been with us 2 weeks.

We are experienced bird owners (red belly and conures) but nothing like a grey hope we are doing the right thing.

Thanks

Hello and welcome!

Definitely hormonal behavior, though on occasion a new situation had been known to trigger certain behaviors like regurgitating for new owners.

Give it some time, but follow standard hormonal control practices: reduce sugars (which includes fruits!), at minimum 12 hours of sleep, dont touch anywhere except the head, food shouldn’t be a warm mash which simulates regurgitation (food should be room temp or cooler), don’t give access to dark locations that can be interpreted as nesting locations.

This should help take the edge off the hormones until dreaded spring passes. Though if this is puberty instead of seasonal, this could be a bit more protracted, but like seasonal hormones it will pass.

Oh boy he really only eats grapes and warm broccoli besides pellet based food. I have been making him chop with mixed results. Hope he adapts I suppose. He's a little cage bound. Comes out with a perch then I can handle him but he gets very nervous. I move around the house and show him things. I hope he mellows out. Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, definitely not helping your situation with grapes and warmed broccoli.

Keep trying with the chop, he’ll take to it. You just have to try different preparations. Let’s use carrots as an example: some birds like my eclectus won’t touch carrots period. Others won’t touch CUBED carrots, but may eat a whole carrot. Or they may only eat them julienned, or as matchsticks.

They may only eat them warm, or cold, or room temperature.

Now extend that to other foods (broccoli, cauliflower, squash, etc). Try preparing them different ways to see what he likes.

He’ll settle down, promise. Just move at his pace. Greys are unique, in that they tend to be naturally phobic birds, compared to the curiosity of other parrots. You have to expose them to new and different stuff every day. Start target training, it’ll come in handy when getting the bird onto hands or get him to fly.

Scour this African grey sub forum, and pay attention especially to the stickies and anything posted by Birdman666 (a former rehabber/trainer for parrot rescues who specialized in greys and macaws).

Thank you so much. I have been practicing target training 2 times per day for about 20 minutes. He's never done it before I suspect. He goes for the reward sometimes and sometimes not. Mostly always goes for the stick though. Ill keep pressing on with the chop. And putting less grapes in it.

Wait, so he’ll touch the stick but won’t take the reward afterwards?

Yes exactly about 25% of the time

Try shelled pine nuts as the reward. Available at most supermarkets in bulk. It is a favorite treat of many parrots, inclding my Salty. Take a look at what can be done when the right treat is applied:

[ame="https://youtu.be/hHUqmbrRejE"]https://youtu.be/hHUqmbrRejE[/ame]

Thanks for the video and the reply. Do you think I should take the toy away ? It’s a baby toy ball and according to the former owner it’s his favorite thing in the whole world. I’ll pick up some pine nuts.

Good old salty . Ever impressive, my friend!

I’ll admit I’ve found pine nuts to be hit or miss. My boy won’t touch them, and I know others in the same boat.

But Mr. Wrench is right, it’s possible you haven’t found the right reward. Try different foods, different nuts, and see what he responds to.

However, he’s sounds more phobic than picky. If it were a reward issue, he wouldn’t do the trick. Almost sounds like he’s afraid of your hand.

As an experiment, offer the food in a different way - in a spoon or other method that keeps the hand and fingers farther away. See if he takes it more often that way.

I’ll give it a try. I gave him only one grape with breakfast chop today he seems a bit calmer. He’s sitting on a counter top right now and not getting to nervous. I’ll try the spoon later today.

He is new to me and I don’t doubt he’s scared of my hand. He won’t let me get him out of cage without a perch. Then he will go on my hand but, he’s nervous most of the time. It seems to be getting better he seems a little more curios and less nervous as the days go on I have only had him 2 weeks. He spent 18 years at his old house which had no other pets. And no young children. I have a dog, 2 cats, red belly parrot and a 4 year old. The cats and dog could care less about him they know about pet birds. Although, I always put them away when I take him out.

That's the beauty of target training. You can use Targeting to teach him that hands are good! Simply rest your hand on the perch or surface he is sitting on, and have him target the stick within 6 inches of your hand. Then 4 inches, once he is comfortable consistent at 6.

Eventually he'll get to a point where he has to get on your hand in order t get the target stick. This is where the trick transitions from targeting to step up - you reward him for even slightly NUDGING your hand hesitantly with his foot as he tries to get around your hand to the stick. He'll learn that touching your hand gets treats.