If you missed Storm’s introduction, you can find it here. He is the Blue fronted Amazon we are taking in for 1.5 months who might die from severe obesity and malnutrition. We have 45 days to save him, or lose him.

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The night Storm got to our Florida home, we moved him to his new cage… it was a BIG change from his usual home, especially for a bird with no real experience playing with toys.

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Read the rest of this entry »

Chet here with a quick question for you…

Do you have a parrot who seems to be NON food motivated?

I’m asking this question because I think a lot of the reasons people fail to train their parrots is because they are never able to find a reward that their parrot will work for.

So I’m thinking about doing a short online webclass on this topic where I’d like to teach you about 10 different strategies for finding your parrots unmet emotional needs and how to set up and discover rewards you can use on your parrot to fill those needs… that your parrot will WORK for.

I’m not sure if this is a program we’ll create or not, but if there’s enough interest then I’d be willing to teach this type of a program to a few people.

If that’s something you’d be interested in please leave me a comment on this post and I’ll keep you updated on whether we create this program or not.

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This is Storm… and his current diet is so bad that he could literally die from a random heart attack any day. Actually, his owners are expecting it! So, Dave and I have taken him in to work with him to lower his chances of dying from a?heart attack from his obesity and malnutrition.

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Many Amazon parrots die from fatty liver disease because of being on an all-seed or extremely high fat diet. For Storm, it has been cheeseburgers and cooked chicken… among other human foods that are high in fat, salt and fortified sugars.

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How Storm Came to Be with Us: Storm is a sexed male, blue fronted Amazon parrot who is 35+ years old. Storm was living happily with a family on the gulf coast of Florida when a hurricane hit and he was torn from his family, the home he knew and everything else rendered familiar. He remained in Florida alone until one day an elderly couple was camping?and in a tree above their heads they heard a very clear, “Hello!”

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They looked up and saw Storm’s cute face looking down at them. “Hello…” they replied, and with that, Storm climbed down the tree and perched himself on one of their arms. They took the bird with them on their adventures after that, for 10 years they traveled around with him in their RV.

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However, the couple was around 70 years old when they got Storm and at 80 they just couldn’t care for themselves and Storm too. They gave him up to a local pet shop nearby where he sat for a solid year without being sold. He didn’t take to anyone and the pet store feared they’d never sell him.

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Then one day a woman walked in and Storm stepped right up on her. The manager begged her to take the bird, explaining their dilemma. They agreed and has had Storm for the last 10 years old. Her vet told her Storm was around 35 years old but it was hard to tell the exact age so a lot of it was based on his rocky and unclear past.

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Dave and I will be housing and working with Storm for the next?45 days?before we meet back up with his owner (who is in Virginia). Dave spent a couple days in Virginia around Storm but not interacting with him much as he didn’t like anyone but this one lady in the household… and it was a last minute decision to take on Storm and bring him back to Orlando to stay a while.

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Storm sat in a car with Dave and our cockatoo, Bondi, for 13 hours for the drive back to Orlando. He was quiet for the most part while Bondi talked, and he let Dave touch his feet through the cage bars. When they got home in the night, we let Storm climb out of his travel cage and perch himself on top as I was eager to meet him. Within a few minutes, he stepped up on Dave’s gloved hand. There was no forcing, it was pretty much an accident, really. Dave’s hand was behind Storm and he literally stepped back onto it with no problem.

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We both looked at one another with shock… thinking… it can’t be this easy…

And Storm proved it wouldn’t be that easy. He convinced us that step up was a fluke that happened and every day after that would be a learning experience, for both us and Storm. I plan on keeping you all closely updated with Storm’s progress so check back soon!

I have just adopted an 18 month old Congo Grey names Ashye. It has taken her several weeks to be comfortable and happy in her new environment. Her owner hand raised her and has now left her to go back to Paris. She started plucking feathers, but I seem to have diminished that behavior by giving her lots of love and toys. Read the rest of this entry »

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my cockato screems when she cant see me we tell her to shut up but she does not do so i know she knows it wrong because she tells the native ones to shut up when they screem.

- Anne

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In the wild, birds have what is called a “flock call” where they yell (or scream) to their flock and their flock members call back.

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Parrots don’t have cellular phones, the only way for them to communicate from distances is to scream and rely on their voices to carry far enough to reach their flock members.

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In captivity, this instinct is still intact, but now YOU are their flock members. When birds scream to you when they can’t see you or know you are far away, they are flock calling to you. When you scream back, you are communicating with the bird right back. It’s like answering the telephone with someone obnoxious calls. If they know you’re going to eventually pick up every time, it will be easier and more fun to annoy you and you’re simply telling them to keep calling at that point because you keep picking up!

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The same goes for birds, the more you yell back, the more they will call to you. This is a form of communication they are using. Screaming at your bird for screaming is about the worst thing you can do it you’re attempting to put it to a stop.

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If you want to learn how to put a stop to your bird’s screaming once and for all, check out Chet’s free?video Stop my Screaming Parrot and our Secrets to Stopping Screaming course.

I have a 7 year old (female I believe) African Grey Congo.
She screams when she has no fresh water or food, (she is very picky) no complaints on that, lol. Problem is that even though she knows that every morning she will get her fruits, she MUST be the one to be served first! or else she starts screaming till I get annoyed and give in to her demands. What can I do about teaching her patience?

Thanks in advance!
- Valerie

Our Swainson Toucan, Fiji, does this too. She screams whenever she is out of food, water or wants the light on or off. We reinforced this on purpose so that she tells us when she needs something and those are the only times she screams.

However, some birds are dominant over food and water and things like that. Our Camelot Macaw, Tusa, is this way. He must be fed first AND last, otherwise everyone will hear about it. He will turn aggressive towards the person providing the food, and the other birds around.

It’s necessary for you to do the same for your Congo Grey parrot. Make sure you feed her first, before all the other birds, as well as last. For example, when giving your birds a treat; give your grey one, then everyone else, and then go back and give your grey another one at the end. This will keep your grey from feeling like it has to fight for what it wants. You will notice a change after making this a habit in YOUR actions.

After a while your grey will realize the new routine and won’t feel the need to keep up the old habits. Just make sure you do it everytime for positive results.