Taming Mishka (Green-cheek conure)

[Ladyeclectic]

I think once I get the money together and have a bird that will let me touch it, I think one of these will be the cage I'll get:

Parrot's Deluxe Duplex bird cage - Model PC-4226D by A&E Cages Everything for Birds

or

Corner Deluxe XL Bird Cage w/Playtop CC2525 by A&E Cage Co. Everything for Birds

Bigger is better with cages, no?

I'll be honest: the last several days I've been a tad frustrated with my progress so far: Mishka remains very handshy, yet I can tell she's already bonded with me. Maybe not deeply and of course the trust isn't there yet but that'll come with time. Spending nearly my whole afternoons with her, just laying beside her cage, and still unable to touch her... When I'm with her it's not an issue, I (hopefully we) have fun interacting but when I'm by myself and thinking about it frustration still creeps in.

I know, I know, it's only been a week - barely enough time for her to get her bearings. I keep telling myself that, but it's still hard when it feels like we want to both play but can't with the hand issues. I've stopped moving things around in her cage (I was adding or moving things at least once daily the first several days), hopefully the stability helps her along.

I just needed to vent a bit. She managed, in a very short time, to worm her way into my heart. I'm just at a loss on how to get her over the hand issues except with time (hence the frustration, I hate being clueless on a subject).

 

[Ladyeclectic]

Breakthrough!!!

Eight days after I brought little Mishka into our lives, a huge (to me) breakthrough: she took treat out of the hand! Four times!!! Twice with me through the cage bars, once outside the cage when I let her out, and once for the Dude through the bars.



She also has a vet appointment for next Tuesday. I'll be picking up some Harrison's High Potency Fine when I get there too, as well as having all fecal and blood work, and sexing done. Can't wait!!

 

[wildheart]

Although I havent posted recently on Mishka's thread I just want you to know that I do read it and enjoy your excitement and progress immensely. So far you've been taking all the advice and practicing it - YOU ARE A SUPER MOM!

A breakthrough usually happens when we hit the bottom out of frustration and your 2 posts above are an exact example of it.

I like both cages, but the duplex is better looking but it seems like it is two cages? You are right BIGGER - BETTER.

When you take her to the vet ask him to clip her wings so that she can not gain height. This will help immensely on the taming and you can allow her to come out of the cage without the dangers of her flying into something and chasing her around. I usually say that she must first learn to step up before you allow her too much freedom.

How is the fruit and veggies going?
Once again, WELL DONE with the progress and keep us updated!

 

[Von1983]

You know....Cal was the same as Mishka....she came from an aviary aged 3 months.

I've had her for 8 weeks on Sunday and she's my little cuddle bug.

You've had some amazing results - keep at it! Our personal breakthrough was when Cal decided one night to preen me from her cage during out time with no warning. I cried buckets that night! I'd had her for approx 3-4 weeks and it just all come together from there.

2 months is nothing, we've 20-30 years of this to go and many changes ahead. We will never stop learning.

 

[Ladyeclectic]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone, I've been a real sissy the last several days. I'm so excited to go home each day, it's just such a wonderful feeling!!

Found another cage that would be PERFECT for my teeny-tiny baby:
A and E Cage Co CC4242 Extra-Large Corner Cage
Like I said, can never be too big. :52:

Re: veggies. She still isn't too keen on the fresh veggies (I'll admit due to money constraints this week they haven't been as varied as I'd like) but is loving the tropical dried fruits I give her. Favorites so far seem to be small pineapple, mango and papaya chunks. I about died when a few nights ago she had papaya all over her beak; she's taken to dipping the dehydrated fruits into her water dish and licking up the sugars that come out before she noms them, but this one got out of control and ALL over her face!! She's still camera shy or else I'd have gotten a pic, it was SO stinking cute!!!

 

[antoinette]

Hi there Sarah, proud mama to Mishka. The meaning of Mishka is "gift of love"
Seems like you two are a match made in heaven
Great advise from the above members.
I am in the dried fruit and nuts business, stock the same products you mentioned pineapple, mango and papaya chunks

Precaution, when purchasing dried fruit

All dried fruit is treated with sulphurdioxide, which is extremely dangerous for birds.

PLEASE DO NOT FEED IT TO YOUR BIRD

 

[Ladyeclectic]

Okie-dokie, no more dried fruits with sulfur dioxide! (wonder if Whole Foods or an organic market has dried fruits sans SD?)

My "Parrots for Dummies" finally arrived by mail and I'm already 1/3 through it. Even brought it to work to study on any free time I may have (not looking so good though lol).

I've also started to make a mash of sorts in the mornings using some oatmeal and fruits. I made her some yesterday afternoon and while it obviously confused her I did notice her pecking at it. Can't wait to get her started on Harrison's, I'm tired of her seeds being her main diet! I tried Zupreem (twice!) but both bags had cobwebs (with bugs caught in one!) so I'm just going to wait until Tuesday's vet visit to get the right pellets and starting the conversion. It'll be nice to have money again to experiment with different foods (no joke, I spent all my $$$ on bird supplies this time around!).

She still doesn't like hands (despite taking treats now, but only rarely and on her terms) and I posted a question in the training forum about it. I'm a question-asker: I have no shame in asking for advice, especially on something totally foreign to me (like birds). I'm so glad for this forum though - everyone here is understanding and SO willing to help out!! *hugs you all*

Also: a certain Dude made cryptic comments yesterday regarding a certain Sun conure I cannot bring myself to stop visiting at Petsmart (he's just the most precious thing! Plus my friend works there and always let's me play with him!). I don't know if anything will come out of it (the birdie is a bit out of both of ours' budget) but, yeah. Temptation is tempting.

 

[Ladyeclectic]

It's a start!

So this afternoon, after giving the subject a bit of thought, we decided to start actively handling Mishka. I opened her door and let her wander out on top of the cage, then set about trying to catch her.

Tricky notion with a bird that can fly! But it was done with surprisingly minimal biting too! She ended up, of all places, on top of my head - seemed quite content up there too. We got her onto our hands by the end of the first try and managed to clean her cage while she was on my head. I let her out again this afternoon and, while it was again difficult to catch her once she took off (bogo1, I'm *definitely* taking your clipping advice, at least for the time being!) when I finally got her in my hands I didn't even get a nibble. I do hope it stays that way.

The main reason I decided to take the plunge was two-fold: I'd found the website of the late Ken Globus, aka The Bird Whisperer, and was fascinated by his hands-on approach to taming birds. Tuesday is also Mishka's first vet visit and I refused to allow her first time being handled be when she's going to get poked and prodded by a stranger with sharp implements.

Tomorrow I'm going to work a bit more with her but only if she'll come out of the cage on her own. I can already tell she trusts me a bit more than the Dude, which makes sense since I've spent probably four times as much time with her. I'm definitely taking it slow - Rome wasn't won in a day, and anyway I don't want to damage trust (part of today's exercise was to prove hands don't have to be bad). She's a bit more reserved this evening but she got a lot of exercise (she's a good flyer, and wow that bird can climb around the outsideofthe cage!). Hopefully tomorrow will be even better.

 

[Pheonix Rising]

Good luck
I agree with your decision about handling her before the vets I just hope she's ready for it and it don't back fire
it sounds like she's taking it ok though and with some wing clipping things should progress a little quicker also

 

[Von1983]

Thanks for the reminder on sulpher dioxide Ant! I made a faux paux with forgetting to advise another member on it!

I forget we're so lucky to have sulpher dioxide free dried fruit here. I have to buy it from an expensive shop but it's worth it of course

I was so delighted when the assistant knew what I was on about and advised me brilliantly. All completely natural with the honey and such like. Cost me about £20 for several different bags to make a mix!!!

 

[bogo1]

Glad things are going well!
Clipping will help and isn't forever.

 

[SharonC]

I'm happy to see the progress being made...good work!

 

[Ladyeclectic]

This weekend I feel some progress was made, although I'm not certain yet how much. She still flies away as much as she can, is very agile (and fast!) on both the ground and climbing around the outside of her cage. But once she's in/on my hand, I'm so pleased to find she isn't a biter at all. oh, she nipped the first few times to be sure, but after she realized hands weren't going to hurt her (they were just big and scary), she mostly just sits still until there's a chance to escape.

At first I was mostly letting her come out of the cage, handling her a bit (more like chasing her; clipping her wings ought to help) and putting her in her cage, but yesterday she flew out of my hands to her rope perch atop the cage and I let her stay up there, hanging out below her reading PFD while she watched me. Dude handfed her some seeds once we finally got her inside the cage so it seems the trust is still there.

An interesting side note: Petsmart had a Green-cheek of unknown age for sale and my friend who works there let us try to work with it. Watching it was the oddest thing: it's mannerisms were totally different than my baby's, I could tell it was a different bird just watching it in the cage. It was handshy in a different way too, more prone to bite than run. I think this one would have/will take more work than my Mishka did, just for the bad habits it already has.

Dude got to finally play one-on-one with the sun conure, and last night he was looking up Sun videos on YouTube. I'm pretty sure a Sun is in our future, even though I told him he didn't need to get that particular one. He likes to think he doesn't rush into things, which makes me laugh.

Despite having my vet appointment tomorrow I'm going to head into the city to fetch some Harrison's pellets today, as well as shop for more fruits and veggies. The GCC at Petsmart was a good size larger than my Mishka while being approximately the same age or younger. She's also been scratching her head a lot and has quite a few pinfeathers up there whose shafts aren't sloughing off - when she bathes in her water bowl (she seems to prefer that dish despite being given other options ) she doesn't seem to get her back or neck too wet so I'm also getting a spritzer bottle to begin bathing her fully. Any ideas on how I can help her groom her neck? I can feel the shafts there and see them around her face and eyes, and if I can help loosen them or wash her in something to soften them so she can more effectively groom.... I'd love any ideas!

 

[Von1983]

hehe!

That's because Sunnies are BRILLIANT!

Lovely, playful, gentle, little clowns <3

What? I'm not biased or anything!!!

 

[Ladyeclectic]

hehe!

That's because Sunnies are BRILLIANT!

Lovely, playful, gentle, little clowns <3

What? I'm not biased or anything!!!

Biased? You?! Nah not possible!

I've found I can take a bit more noise (my GC barely says a peep!) and really, they really are too flipping adorable. I think the Dude was humoring me before about getting another bird/the Sun but based on his research yesterday (there are some CUTE videos on YouTube!!) I think he's fully on board! And poor Mishka's pretty lonely - you should see it when she hears the birds outside!

 

[Von1983]

awww! Funniest thing about Cal is, she's all about the humans! She's seen birds outside from the window and she ruffles her feathers and flies to the nearest human.

She hears a sun conure on youtube and she replies, then tells it off in the same manner she tells the dogs off for barking....ho hum! When she hears me coming out the pc speakers on the videos of her on youtube, she just looks at me like I've gone crackers!

Seriously though, playful as puppies and so sweet natured!

She wasn't hand shy like Mishka was....more....hmmmm let's bite! She's scared of nothing this one - doesn't flinch. Scary!

 

[Ladyeclectic]

It's interesting, I have a puppy (well okay, small dog since she's almost 5 years old lol) that's similar to Mishka. Scared of everything, if cornered will let you do what you want until given a chance to flee, etc. I almost feel bad about clipping Mishka's wings: it's her one way of feeling secure, of being able to get away from what she fears. It isn't us she fears (she'll sit on shoulders, shirts and other body parts just fine - doesn't even mind getting kisses and nuzzles) but our hands, and I don't know what in her background, if anything, could have caused that.

Yesterday she sat on the Dude's collar while I "preened" her neck area. Poor baby has a bunch of pinfeathers with shafts still attached that she can't get to, and I helped alleviate a few. She seemed to like it although hands still obviously make her nervous. I actually got her to step up a few times although it took a while (and some gentle prodding).

Today's her first vet visit, wish us luck!!

 

[Von1983]

Best best BEST of luck with the vet visit

They are just aaaalll different. Cal loves a preen but it took a few weeks for her to stop automatically giving warning bites everytime you went to stroke her. Even now if you take her by surprise she turns her head like: what the...?! Oh...ooohhh....OOOOHHHH that's great....bit lower.... lol

Did Mishka come from a pet shop? (sorry, my memory is like an actual sieve!)
If so, I can vouch for people and fingers in cages.

I have a big sign up asking people not to put their fingers in the cage but thankfully our shop is relatively small and I can see Cal at all times. I've had to tell a few people not to put their hands near all the same as I can see they're about to do it. It's not that it frightens Cal (I honestly don't think I've seen ANYTHING frighten her yet) but it's respect. She doesn't know them (or where their hands have been) and they're poking fingers into her home!

Sadly in pet shops, it's not always easy to keep an eye out. I just wish people would show a touch of respect for the birds' feelings. Also the person who homes the bird has teething problems like this.

 

[Ladyeclectic]

Yeppers she was a pet shop birdie. Spent at least 3-4 months in her cage with two other siblings surrounded by noisy cockatiels, getting no human attention except pokes through the bars. Honestly I'm surprised she's not that bitey - she's more prone to freezing up than going on the attack which I actually find promising. The more I think about it the less I like the idea of clipping her further but I really do want her to learn trust - I'm simply not sure how taking away her one point of confidence (her ability to get away) is going to engender trust. Still, it's a temporary thing only and I'm nervous having her flying willynilly around my apartment with no limits or real knowledge/goals on where to go.

 

[Von1983]

Am I right in saying Barb was advising you on this? If so, you can't go wrong. Honestly....so much experience!!

It doesn't have to be forever and sometimes some fids do need a little direction. With Cal, she "called the shots" and that was absolutely fine too. It's what's so great about these fids of ours <3