GCC a few questions

Hi all,

We have had our GCC for a week now, sorry, still no pics, I have taken some but haven't gotten around to putting them on the computer.

She has made a couple of higher pitched screech sounds, but I just ignore her, anything more than a quiet chatter I just don't respond, I am hoping this will teach her that she can talk to me it just has to be quiet. Our house echos so badly that she needs to stay quiet - we can still hear her from the other room even when quiet Am I doing the right thing ignoring her? She hasn't screeched long, just 2 or 3, and talking to her is what makes her do it more, so I am thinking ignoring her will work?

I made up a blended fruit mix and vege mix as per a couple of recipes and froze them into small portions. I want to be able to put them in her cage for the day and have her eat them, but I need a smaller bowl or something as the ones I have are a bit big
I put lots of apple, nectarine, orange, plum, grapes (I think that was it) and she loves it, quite happy to eat it out of my red spoon, walked away but kept coming back for more.
For the veges, I put a lot of sweet potato in as I know she likes that, but hadnt really taken to other veges so they are in disguise So we have sweet potato, corn, brocolli, carrot, red capsicum. Again, there may have been something else but I can't remember, I wrote it down at home though. Shes still not overly keen on the veges, is trying it but isn't taking to it like the fruit, I'm sure she will in time though. Hopefully

I was going to either make her a perch to keep near us in the lounge (her cage is in the dining room which she can still see us, but thought a perch to have her closer when out of her cage), I thought I could either make one (not spending the $100 on one that they sell for here seems a bit excessive) or buying a tree for the corner - but I worry she will just strip all the leaves off the tree as thats what she does when I give her branches.

She seems to be happy, has a radio during the day, I say good morning, good night and see you later so hope she will learn those words or at least link them with knowing I will be back.

My partner seems to be struggling with understanding that the deep scary voice when she does something shes not supposed to isn't going to help with dogs they learn, but I dont think its the same with birds is it? Just a firm NO if anything and time out.

How much time should I spend with her each day for her to not be clingy as such, but not get bored/untame as thats the last thing I want. I just want to make sure that I'm spending enough time but not too much with her. I don't want to set her up to hate me by giving her too much now and finding it changes in a few years when we have kids, but if I get it right now she will be happy forever

I don't think a deep scary voice will work with birds...

Max would sometimes bite, and I would use a very soft, gentle, soothing voice to tell him 'gentle', and that worked... Max is only 6 months old, but he'll lessen the pressure of his beak, as soon as I say 'gentle'...

How much time should I spend with her each day for her to not be clingy as such, but not get bored/untame as thats the last thing I want. I just want to make sure that I'm spending enough time but not too much with her. I don't want to set her up to hate me by giving her too much now and finding it changes in a few years when we have kids, but if I get it right now she will be happy forever

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You'll have to start spending the amount of time with her, as you can when you have kids... Make sure her cage is large and have a lot of enrichments, as in toys and foraging toys/stations.

I don't know, when you plan to have kids, but if it's 10 years down the track, you might be able to spoil the bird a little... Slowly pull back on the attention, as soon as you know you're pregnant, but increase the enrichments of her cage...

I'm not sure you can stop birds from making any loud noises. It's kind of who they are. They vocalize to express emotions, and to talk to their flock. I did teach my conure to say, "Hey hey" instead of screech when she contact calls. But, throughout the day she talks, she yells at her toys, she chirps and she has one happy sound that sounds like, "Uh oh! Uh oh!" that is pretty loud, but not unpleasant.

I think most birds prefer fruit to veggies, but veggies don't have all that natural sugar and generally have more nutrients. Keep giving the veggies, and eventually she will probably start trying them and eventually liking them. You may have to experiment between raw and cooked ones.

As for the deep, scary voice, my new Grey sometimes speaks in one! She sounds like a monster when she says, "How are you?" So she picked that up from someone or the TV. So the bird may decide it likes the deep, scary voice and use it, lol!

Yeah, they're not like dogs. Birds tend to meet aggression and anger with the same (or outright fear which isn't any better). Yelling at them, punishing them, that stuff doesn't work, it backfires.

When Kazi does something 'wrong' he gets a short frowny, firm 'no' or 'knock it off', a second or two of 'stink eye' and then we're done. No punishments, or 'bad dog' voice (I have 3, I know the voice), just no, a second of stink eye and we're moving right along.

I think I've been relatively lucky as far as the noise goes. I know darn well Amazons can rival large macaws in the noise department, but Kazi only seems to want to get noisy when we have loud music playing or the TV's volume is slightly elevated. Otherwise he's pretty quiet. He does make one noise that grates on every nerve I own. I don't know where he picked it up, but he will make a noise like a crying infant. I am not a kid person, I'm definitely not a baby person. I can't tell if it's something he heard in his previous life or if he's just piecing together parts of his 'squeaky back door' sound and it just sounds remarkably like a squalling infant, but either way, it sets my teeth on edge pretty much immediately. That one gets outright ignored, although I have said to him, "Look, we don't have kids for some very good reasons. That crying baby number isn't going to fly around here so cut it out, bird!" Not that it did much good, of course. But yeah, that sound I ignore completely even though what I want to do is run screaming from the house.

Heres a photo