justinlm24
New member
I am sorry this post is so long. I tried to keep it as short as possible. Ok, so we are on day 4 of having our baby home. We finally agreed on Jasmine as her name. She is so beautiful but we just have a couple questions. So the first couple days we basically allowed her to get used to her cage and surroundings without trying to handle her or push her too much. It was obvious she was unsure and scared which is to be expected. I still talked to her and fed her treats and some food from my hand which even that she was very unsure of. Yesterday I finally tried to see if she would want to step up. That was a no go. She was immediately in what looked like defensive mode with her beak half opened, and owning a Grey I am well aware what that means. So I backed off and tried again later with some food. Still, a no with my hand. She was however comfortable stepping up on my forearm. I praised her and did it a few times and rewarded her for it. Now today, day 4, I opened her cage this morning while i prepared her breakfast. She climbed out and sat on her door. As I walked towards her cage she flew to me. This caught me off guard but I was able to get my arm up in time and she landed on my forearm. I allowed her to sit there for a few minutes and eat from her bowl. I eventually put it in her cage and let her eat her breakfast. After she was done, I tried again to get her to step up on my hand, but she still isn't having it. I was able to get her to fly to me on my arm a few more times, but she seems so frightened of hands. I allowed her to sit on my lap and I slowly worked her up to allowing me to touch her beak and even kiss her. But she still is very against hands in general. So my question is why and how can I get her to allow me to pick her up with my hand. I am starting to question if her opening her beak when I put my hand near her is a biting thing, or if she is expecting to be fed. She doesn't lunge or growl, just open her beak halfway and makes a calling noise. The breeder said she is fully weaned but having hand fed my Grey for a a month or so I am not so sure. She is 14 weeks old. Any thoughts or opinions on that? She eats well. I've been giving her asparagus, romaine, green beans, celery, corn, apples, carrots and red peppers. So I'm a bit thrown off by her behavior towards my hand. My other question, all day today anytime I walk by her cage she flies to my shoulder. However one time she beaked my ear, did not bite down, but obviously not a behavior I am ok with so I immediately put her back on her cage. I want her comfortable coming to me, however I have never been a fan of parrots on your shoulder for any reason. But her not allowing me to use my hand to step her off my shoulder leaves me in an awkward position. I just want to make sure I am doing what needs to be done to build a relationship with her. I did some target training today and that went well. I want to teach her "gentle" to discourage the rough play. I'm open to any advice you guys have or maybe things I am doing wrong or could do better!! Thanks!
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