Pet Forum / Birds / Parrots / August 2003

Well, it's been nearly three weeks since I got back from vacation and
retrieved a very sorry looking Yanco from being boarded at the pet
store.  Her feathers looked messy and gunky, and she was continually
shedding a dander snowstorm.

Much of the molt has completed, and Yanco has now replaced nearly 1/3 of
her previously clipped flight feathers.  When she tries REAL hard, she
can fly UP a nearly a foot!  What's really impressive is that she can
now maintain flat horizontal flight for about 15 feet.  True willful and
flexible flight still eludes her.

And about 1/3 of her broken tail feathers have been replaced.  She
really had no butt for some time, due mainly to plopping onto the ground
after each frantic flight attempt.  Now that Yanco has more flight
feathers, landings are far gentler, and are no longer snapping her tail
feathers!  Yay!  If I ever do again have Yanco clipped, I'll make sure
it is the MINIMUM needed to keep her from flying away.  Her first
clipping went a bit too far.

I finally realized why 'tiel owners really do need to learn to preen
their solitary birds:  Yanco's crest feathers didn't reappear until I
carefully and diligently preened her head MANY times.  I can't begin to
describe the drifts and banks of dander that formed on my lap just by
preening only the feathers on her head.

Despite being a glutton for head preening, even Yanco would eventually
reach the "ENOUGH!" point.  When I'd greet her in the morning, all she'd
do is bow her head toward me, which she soon trained me to recognize as
the 'tiel "Preen My Head!" command.  So I'd preen her while the water
for my coffee was in the microwave.  I'd preen her while reading my
email.  Even a moment's hesitation would be met by an indignant and
demanding squawk.

Then, right in the middle of my preening her, without any notice
whatsoever, Yanco would suddenly issue a bizarre low-pitched chirp that
sounded almost like a small growling bark.  If I didn't remove my hand
promptly, I'd receive a quick nip, which served to train me that her
bark was NOT worse than her bite!

Over and over, day after day, the cycle continued:  "Preen me NOW!"
Which some time later would always be followed by "Enough! Get your
hands off me!"

What right does Yanco have to act this way?  I mean, it's not like she's
my girlfriend or anything!

True, she does now have a truly splendid crest, far more regal than the
one she had when I got her.  But, I mean, what a demanding little
bitch!  I'm not her boyfriend, and I'm not her hairdresser!

How do I make her understand this?  Or do I simply need to persevere
until her molt completes?

Never again will I EVER complain about PMS and menstrual periods...
Human males have it EASY when it comes to human females!  For how much
longer will this $!@#$!$# molt continue?

Anyhow, back to the flight feathers:

I intend to try to flight train Yanco as soon as she can fly with some
control.  However, before I start, I do have a couple questions:

1. I intend to train Yanco using a clicker and/or snapping my fingers as
her "command cue".  While I've seen this achieved with over a hundred
larger parrots, I've never seen it done with one as small as a 'tiel.
Has anyone ever seen a parrot as small as a 'tiel respond to ANY command
cues, audible or otherwise?  I'm concerned her mental abilities may be
too limited to be up to the training task, and I don't want to bother
her if there's no chance of success.

2. A key part of the training process will be totally positive
reinforcement with small treats.  Initially, I'll simply do click-treat
click-treat while she's sitting on her perch, to condition her to
associate the click with a treat.  Later, I'll start adding small tasks
between the click and the treat.  Such tasks will start with simply
having her walk one step to get the treat.  Eventually the tasks will
include flying to my hand to get the treat.

The key is rapid repetition of the click-treat cycle.  Sunflower seeds
work great for larger parrots.  But Yanco tends to take several moments
to tear into a sunflower seed, which will interrupt the necessarily
rapid pace of training.  Does anyone know of an irresistible 'tiel treat
that would disappear in an instant?  Maybe sunflower seeds out of the
shell?

Thanks!

-BobC