Right now Salty is.....

[wrench1354]

You gotta work with what the parrot is offering. If its scritches then go for it. Greys are notoriously independent and hard to train, per se. THey do better if the training is made to be more of a learning experience then training. Solving an interesting puzzle, or problem is more their style. THis is why bird shows usually have an Amazon and not a Grey doing the talking tricks. Amazons are food whores. A Grey will talk better, but he says what he wants, when he wants to.

 

[wrench1354]

Since Geri's passing Salty has grown closer to me. Before, he would be content when out of his cage to play and hang out on his cage or the play chain we have stretched across the room. But like 2 weeks ago, he has started to climb off his cage, waddle over to me, and climb up onto my shoulder to hang out and preen my beard and face. Very comforting.

He's also started to knock his little treat bowl onto the floor and push it around over to me when he wants a treat or when its close to a meal time. I told him he is becoming a Dog!

Another new thing is; we always do our training at 8:45 PM. Used to annoy the hell out of the wife, to stop what we were doing (usually watching a movie) and do Salty's training session, but I firmly believe Parrots do best with a predictable schedule. NOW, at 8:42 or 43, Salty will start screaming like a banshee! Like he has his eye on the clock! Happens now every night!

And, the Wide World of Chop ! And the finicky birds that eat it! For years I've been making a huge batch of chop, like 2-3 months worth at a time, bagging it in 3-4 days worth baggies and freezing all them, thawing out each days portion. I vary the recipe on it each time. I mix in a few crushed Nutraberries with the thawed chop, and change the 'Berries from 4 different flavors. Salty eats it all, with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

But this week I am trying something different. I got 6 main ingredients: Habanero peppers, radicchio, broccolli, carrot sticks, baby spinach and diced sweet potato, and put it all thru a small size food processor, to make 2 days worth of fresh non-frozen chop. served with the aforesaid Nutraberries.

Salty chowed it down as usual. I suppose this method takes a bit longer then doing the huge batch thing (which takes a good 3 or so hours), with the fresh prep taking 10 min or so. Maybe it evens out. With the big batch thing, I incorporate many more ingredient, typically 16 or so.

So we'll see how this fresh prep thing goes.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I heard that spinach isn't good for birds because it I habits calcium absorption. My budgies love it.

 

[rheashard2]

I read that too. The key like everything: it is safe in moderation. Nameliss and I dislike it. So no problems here. Kale is loved.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I grow broccoli in the summer just for the budgies and they love the broccoli leaves more than the heads. They also love the yellow flowers that form when broccolini plants go to seed.

 

[rheashard2]

Why not grow some for you? Broccoli is delicious!

 

[Jcas52]

I heard that spinach isn't good for birds because it I habits calcium absorption. My budgies love it.

Same is true of kale. But both also have lots of good nutrients. As noted above; it’s perfectly healthy and safe as long as it’s not fed all the time and in large amounts. All three of my birds and my two guinea pigs love spinach, I just don’t give it all the time

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Why not grow some for you? Broccoli is delicious!

Of course we eat some ourselves but my budgies particularly love broccoli leaves and the only way to get these is to grow it. They like the leaves more than the florets. That's why I say I grow it for them.

 

[wrench1354]

Daily fresh prep for chop out the window! Made a new batch for the freezer.

 

[wrench1354]

Salty's animals. He can pick each one out by name. His favorites are the yellow truck, the bear and for some reason the sea turtle. And just llike every bratty 3yr old, some nights he is dead on and some he only wants to give me the bear,

 

[nkrbkr]

Salty's animals. He can pick each one out by name. His favorites are the yellow truck, the bear and for some reason the sea turtle. And just llike every bratty 3yr old, some nights he is dead on and some he only wants to give me the bear,
View attachment 84590

I need to start trying to train this with Ava again. I got her a handful of these critters, but it was quite soon after we adopted her. I think she was still trying to figure out the training thing in general. Now that she expects (and LOVES) training daily, maybe she’ll take to it easier. Any tips? Did you start with just introducing a couple, and repeating what they are? Ava is target trained, so I was trying to get her to “touch” the animals while I said their names.

 

[wrench1354]

Start with 2 objects, very different in shape, color and name. Like you wouldn't want to start with a ball and a bell. Salty's been trained from the start to hand me the trick, if its small enough, when he finishes the trick, like the small ABC blocks or rings things like that. At first many errors will happen - but don;t reward if it was not done right.

Its so hard to explain to folks how I get Salty to do any of his tricks, because at this point, he is so eager to please and so smart , he usually gets most tricks in 2-3 tries. Even really hard ones. My wife was amazed when he got the 'Saltycycle' down pat after 3 sessions and we only do a trick 2x in a session, max.

Another example of his cooperative nature - we were playing on the floor the other nite. I have a small cardboard box with a small hole cut into it (for him to hide in when the 'mood' strikes him). I wanted him to go inside to calm down a bit. I pointed to the hole with my index finger and told him to go inside, and thats exactly what he did. I've never done a directed instruction like that one before. with him.

 

[rheashard2]

What would you do with contradictory CAG?. She picks up the wrong one and laughs. I walk away annoyed after awhile. Then I hear her picking up and naming it correctly. If she knows the sound she makes it. She knows numbers to 5. Alphabet only her name. No interest in the others. Naturally she stops and goes mute when she sees me. I did train her to ride and operate a fire engine. Even the ladder! But it needed special rechargeable batteries. The out of country company went out of business. I'm not sure co-operation is a word my CAG agrees with.

 

[nkrbkr]

Start with 2 objects, very different in shape, color and name. Like you wouldn't want to start with a ball and a bell. Salty's been trained from the start to hand me the trick, if its small enough, when he finishes the trick, like the small ABC blocks or rings things like that. At first many errors will happen - but don;t reward if it was not done right.

Its so hard to explain to folks how I get Salty to do any of his tricks, because at this point, he is so eager to please and so smart , he usually gets most tricks in 2-3 tries. Even really hard ones. My wife was amazed when he got the 'Saltycycle' down pat after 3 sessions and we only do a trick 2x in a session, max.

Another example of his cooperative nature - we were playing on the floor the other nite. I have a small cardboard box with a small hole cut into it (for him to hide in when the 'mood' strikes him). I wanted him to go inside to calm down a bit. I pointed to the hole with my index finger and told him to go inside, and thats exactly what he did. I've never done a directed instruction like that one before. with him.

Thank you! Salty is such a sharp little fellow. It doesn’t surprise me at all that he picks things up so quickly, or that he understands exactly what you’re saying to him. Button is very much like that too. I can usually train him to do something after a couple of tries. Ava takes a little more time.

 

[wrench1354]

So pirate festival season is upon us, and with the passing of my wife, Salty will be coming with me to the shows. This means we are stepping up his harness wearing. When I do his training sessions, often as not, I will put the harness partially on him, just the head loop and drape the rest over his wings. As of yesterday, around 3-4 PM I put it fully on him, and we go outside for a bit. He doesn't really mind it once its on, no biting the harness or fussing, but he is not what you call eager to put it on and it still takes a good amount of treats. We'll be in Delaware at Bower's Beach Buccaneer Bash Sat and Sun and I'm bringing a new larger travel cage, See how that one goes. Wish us luck!

 

[Inger]

Hmmmmm the internet says Bowers Beach is only 2 hours away. Of course, Memorial Day Weekend will turn that into an 8 hour drive

 

[osklvste57]

Nameliss likes games. I play medieval stocks. I make my voice cheerful and strict altering. She thinks I am nuts. I call head, arms and tighten it as lock down. Before she knows it's on. This goes better then most. I don't know why. Another quirk. It doesn't stop the disassembly expert. Perfect disassembly, no alerting fraying. I keep it to remind me to watch. Normal appearance may be misleading. Someday I may fix it.

 

[wrench1354]

Hmmmmm the internet says Bowers Beach is only 2 hours away. Of course, Memorial Day Weekend will turn that into an 8 hour drive

Inger, we have shows at 10, 12 and 3 both days. Free event too, rare these days!

 

[Inger]

Inger, we have shows at 10, 12 and 3 both days. Free event too, rare these days!

This is really tempting! Maybe I'll see you there.

 

[wrench1354]

Just a wonderful day with Salty today, Fathers Day. I've been offering the harness to him for the past 3 days. Just offering it for him to put it on voluntarily like, no treats. Its been so nice out and I;ve been free all after noons. After a good scratching session, I offered it today again and he just put it on, no fuss, stuck his little head right in the head loop and stood patiently while i put the wing loops on and we went for a nice car ride to buy some toys and just hang out in the park for awhile. If this continues, I'll drop the harness from the training sessions.

Oh and new batch of chop, less ingredients but used a chopper instead of a food processer - chunky style! Salty seems like it.