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bird-lover34
Egg
Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 8
Location: Granbury Lake Development |
| Need advice w/rescued DYHD |
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Hello Everyone,
I am new to this forum and am hoping that I can get some good advice on handling and taming my newly acquired DYHD. His name is Romeo.
I am a senior lady on Soc. Sec. only so I couldn't afford to buy a baby as they are way beyond my means. I found an AD on Petfinders.com where a man had some Amazons and thru emails etc. I travelled the 500 miles to get this bird. I was appalled at the conditions he was living in. The guy had hundreds of birds in a tin roofed shed with very little natural light. He had them paired in rabbit wire cages. Romeo had a LOG for a perch. It was about 12" in diameter. He was paired with a female that he had pecked her head bald. They constantly climbed all over the top and sides of the cage. He was fed a seed diet only. The other YN bird was a female and had no toenails. Why I don't know. I bought Romeo for $350. which I know is way below the normal prices, but I considered it a rescue.
We stopped at our Vet on the way home and she trimmed his flight feathers and said he was in good condition, a strong healthy bird. Since then we have been trying to get him tamed down since he basically had reverted to a wild state.
We have had Romeo a month now and we have made progress. He perches most of the time but does his Jackie Chan routine every so often. He will come out of the top of his cage but we can't get him off the top of the cage. He will step one foot on a perch but hangs on the cage with the other foot like it was welded there. He takes seed from my fingers but will not step up. He won't take seed from my fingers through the bars of the cage.
I tried toweling him to get him into another room for training but he is so quick, by the time I got him in the towel and in the other room he was so mad, he wouldn't cooperate at all. So I stopped toweling him and he is alot more calm when I approach him, but he still is fearful of getting on the perch or the T perch.
I let him out each morning and try the perch training until he gets tired and cranky. I then entice him back in his cage w/ seeds and then feed him his fresh veggies, fruits and a few nuts (not sunflower seeds).
Is this correct? What should I do be able to get him on the T perch so I can perch train him in another room? He just will NOT get on the T perch of his own free will, even when I entice him with seeds on the bottom.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Vel  |
Thursday September 1, 2005 12:43 pm |
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Chaquita's Mom
Experienced flier
Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 1028
Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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Hello bird-lover!! Aren't we all  Welcome to the forum!! There is much much information here and feel free to look around as there is so much to learn. Everyone is very helpful to the best of their knowledge and personal experiences. I don't think we have an avian vet in the forum, YET, but hopefully one day we will.
Well, it sounds like your hands are pretty full! What kind of amazon do you have? I have a yellow nape, 26 years old and I've had her only 3 months with excellent progress. But she didn't live in the conditions that your bird did. Very sad  I feel you're going to need more time with your new fid and lots and lots of love and attention. It can take months to teach a bird to step-up and develope a trust with you. Especially if they lived in the conditions that your bird did. Give him time. It takes a lot of patience. Also, he could be a bit resentful being removed from a mate.
The only advice I can give to work with him to step-up is to use one of his perches and press it up against his chest and intice him with a peanut or one of his favorite treats. Pressing the perch against his chest will knock him off balance almost forcing him to step onto the perch. I would practice this in his cage first. If he's climbing around inside his cage, wait till he gets on his perch again and try again. If you successfully get him onto the perch in your hand, then the next step is getting him out the door without grabbing hold of his cage. To do this, place your hand over his head, not on it, just before he passes his doorway. This distracts him, getting his mind off the doorway and onto the hand that is above him and he'll more than likely duck and out the door he goes. Once you get that far, we'll teach you more.
As far as diet goes, amazons are prone to obiesety. So peanuts and seeds are to be given as a treat and are helpful for training. You want to feed him an organic diet. I feed Chaquita Exact from Kaytee. A lot of others feed their birds Harrisons. As you mentioned, you're on a fixed income and Harrisons can be expensive. I can get a 2 lb. bag of Exact for about $7-8. Find out what your birdie likes as far as fresh fruit and veggies goes. Not canned stuff, these are high in sugar and salt.
Well, that should be enough to get you started. Keep us posted and send some pics if you can. You can check out Chaquita just by clicking onto my diary  |
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Thursday September 1, 2005 1:37 pm |
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Patricia James
Egg
Joined: 17 Mar 2005
Posts: 2
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Kudos to you, BirdLover 34, for rescuing Romeo from such dreadful conditions. Before my little Max came to me, he lived under similar circumstances.
Romeo was neglected for years. So it will probably take him many months even years to trust you completely and for his personality to emerge. Patience and gentleness. Keep up the good work! |
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Thursday September 1, 2005 3:05 pm |
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shells picasso
Flier
Joined: 29 May 2005
Posts: 900
Location: Sydney |
I let mine run around the house when they are not co-operative or scared and give them lots of toys to play with, I just go about my normal business and play passive games like calling them from another room or copying things they do, I let them have some of my food too. I've been rewarded with their trust. It's a big thing for a bird to trust a human that is so much bigger, especially a bird that has only seen the worst of them. |
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Thursday September 1, 2005 5:34 pm |
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bird-lover34
Egg
Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 8
Location: Granbury Lake Development |
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Hi Chiquita's mom, Patricia & Shells, To answer your questions, Romeo is a Double Yellow Headed Amazon. He is gorgeous. I've been trying to convert him to a high quality pellet diet with lots of fresh fruits, veggies and some birdie bread I got the recipe on one of the forums. Has lots of veggies and good stuff in it. He is slowing beginning to accept these foods. At first he only wanted seeds and nuts. I only give him 2 or 3 just so he won't refuse the rest of the goodies in the dish. He still hasn't eaten many of the pellets yet.
Excuse me, but what is a fid? Shows my ignorance but I admit I am.
I don't think Romeo was crazy about his cellmate. She was completely bald so he had to be the one who was pecking her, She couldn't have pulled her head feathers out herself. I have tried to use the push perch method like you do with parakeets and smaller birds, but Romeo is so big and stout, he just leans backwards until he thinks he's going to fall and then climbs on to another perch. I started out trying to perch train him inside the cage. That is not working at all. He would step on the perch with one foot and with the other foot grab the side of the cage and would not let go. Same thing he is doing on top of the cage now. The only time I got him to step up with both feet was when I had him in the bathroom on the T perch (after toweling) and he would only stay on it a scant second before he either flew off or stepped back down on the T perch. I can't even get him on the T perch anymore. I think the toweling really set things back because he still is wary of me when I approach him when he is out of the cage. He goes to the very back of the cage and I have to coax him forward which takes about 10 minutes before he will walk toward me and put one foot on the perch and hangs onto the cage with the other. I am still persevering though. Today he came up and tested my fingers in his beak and the clicker and I steered him back toward the perch. Later I decided to push the envelope a little and put my hand sideways in front of him still with the clicker in that hand and he put one foot on my hand, then retreated. I clicked and treated him so maybe before too long he will trust my hand enough to step up on that instead of the perch.
I can't leave him out all day because I have 4 dogs and a cat that can't be trusted. I make them go in the bedroom while Romeo is out in the living room and I let him stay out about 1/2 hour and do what he wants after the training. He hasn't learned how to play with toys yet. He has started to do some loud calling in the mornings and evenings now and sounds like he is trying to sing or talk. He has a short little laugh and he says BO BO every so often. So I wonder if that might have been a person or family dog in his past??? Maybe that was his name? I don't know. He loves music and really sings (squawks) loudly with the music.
Compared to the life he had a month ago, he is living the life of the Trump Tower! LOL. I am trying to learn how to do the website to post his picture but am having trouble getting things where I want them on the page.
Thanks for all your help and advice.
Vel[/img][/u] |
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Friday September 2, 2005 5:56 am |
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ksue
Flier
Joined: 05 May 2005
Posts: 484
Location: Melbourne Australia |
I just saw your homepage he looks beautiful nice and shiny and bright so he is obveously very happy good job....i think alot of it is trust as said above and as the trust builds he will become tamer Good luck keep us posted |
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Friday September 2, 2005 6:22 am |
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shells picasso
Flier
Joined: 29 May 2005
Posts: 900
Location: Sydney |
I find it best to work with the birds natural behaviour, there is a good book out that I used called "guide to a well behaved parrot" by Mattie Sue Athan. Fids means feathered children |
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Friday September 2, 2005 9:17 am |
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Chaquita's Mom
Experienced flier
Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 1028
Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
It sounds like he's coming around a bit. He's feeling more relaxed if he's singing and chirping. I still say he needs more time. He's never been really handled by the sounds of things. Just don't force him too much. Lots of praise for even the simplest things. Tell him how beautiful he is and what a good bird he is. Don't worry, he'll come around in his own time with a little encouragement from you.
Oh yeah, HE'S BEAUTIFUL!! Thanx for posting the beautiful pics!! |
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Friday September 2, 2005 5:55 pm |
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Sue
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 10102
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I just saw your homepage, what a gorgeous bird Romeo is!
He's awesome!! I can't believe the smootness of his feathers..  More please!
By the way, I think I forgot to give you my word of welcome on the forum..
Welcome here! |
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Saturday September 3, 2005 10:01 am |
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bird-lover34
Egg
Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 8
Location: Granbury Lake Development |
| Thanks for the support and compliment on Romeo |
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Thanks for everyone's help and support. I didn't intend anyone to visit my website until I got it fixed where it would look nice. I will have to read up on html language because the pics aren't placed the way I wanted them and I didn't finish my story about Romeo either.
But thanks for the compliments on Romeo. He really is such a beautiful bird. I love it when he fluffs his feathers out all over, he is so cute.
Not making much progress with the perching. Tried to use my hand today but oh no, not having any of that! He wouldn't get on the T perch either. I may have to resort to the towel again! LOL. One thing I wasn't doing when I towelled him, I wasn't covering his head up. I read someplace that his head should be covered up so he can't see who is the bad guy restraining him. When you turn him loose on the floor, he feels vulnerable so he will step up on the perch because you have "rescued" him from the nasty towel.
Don't know if that is right or not. I am so confused with all these different methods of handling.For all I know Romeo might continue for the rest of his life and mine putting one foot on the perch and cementing the other foot on the cage and we NEVER will get to the point of getting him on the T perch so he can stay longer out of the cage, get showers, etc.
Meantime, still hanging on, trying to gain trust. |
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Saturday September 3, 2005 5:59 pm |
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