Teaching Lucy to forage and an update!

[MammaKim]

Aaaahhhh....Lucy continues to amaze me. It has been quite a few years since I had a zon, things previously thought about birds have changed, but I think we are doing great with learning and bonding. Aside from the fact that she is back into "hormonal Lucy" she really is doing great. However, the minute she hears my voice, her little bottom goes up in the air and she starts groaning. She will do what I call her mating dance for me, and sit in her bowl and flutter the tops of her wings at me. It is cute, but I know what she wants. LOL! Definitely not encouraged behavior... Her feathers are coming in nicely - her down is now opening to nice sporatic green feathers on her chest, between her legs is completely green, but the top of her wings are still bald as a plucked chicken! I have been using pluck no more, hoping that if she was plucking even just a bit, that she would stop. (That being said, I have not seen her pluck at all!) When she is sprayed with the pluck no more, she does not preen at all. I assume that must be like bitter apple for dogs, and that is why...

We have been working on foraging for her, which seems to be something she does not know how to do! I have tried covering her feed dish with a paper towel. She refuses to eat! I tried putting paper in the bottom of her cage with treats, but she will have nothing to do with that. (She does not like foot toys or toys on the bottom of her cage either!) I have now started putting her foot toys, some plastic chain and bits of white paper towel in her bowl on her perch mixed with a seed blend that she found one day and LOVES. (It is a small bird seed blend that was on the counter and she went after that bag like a kid in a candy store!) She is now atleast sticking her head into the bowl and threw one toy on the floor, but not really foraging. Any other suggestions on how to teach her? I also got a foraging box, put treats in it but the only ones she took were the ones sticking out of the box. The box is still perfectly intact, with no tears and still has treats inside! (My GCC has tore up his box....) But, Lucy does not play with toys either. She is a perch potato!

Overall, she is doing great! I think she is very happy and she is definitely thriving. The vet has said she looks great. When I told him that she really had zero interest in any fresh food, he said that she could be on a pellet only diet because she has had weight problems in the past. He (vet) said that the pellets would provide complete nutrition and there would be no reason to worry about her missing anything and it would keep her weight under control. (Uummmm, no, I believe she needs fresh food!) He may be an avian certified vet, but I do not think he is a parront.

One more question! I am getting her a harness/tether so that I can take her outside with me. How will I ever get it on her? I keep thinking that since she seems to have fears over things like paper towels, what will she think when I go at her with a harness and leash! Will my hands and arms survive?!? LOL! Aaaahhhhh....the joys of a zon!

[expressmailtome]

I am glad that things are going well! Double yellow headed amazons are beautiful birds but I am not sure that I could handle one during their hormone period if they get as aggressive as I have read. The only idea that I have is to just leave the harness near Lucy when she is out. Over time she may grow to accept it as just a normal item. This may help with the process. Best of luck!

Matt

[MammaKim]

Thanks Matt. That is a great idea. Heck, since she does not play with the toys in her cage, I could even fasten it there so she would see it...I bet she would discover something to play with though and chew right through it!

I read the article posted in another thread on here about hormonal zons, but it really related to males. So far, she has only drawn blood once - but it was right after a shower, she was on my arm and thought she was slipping and grabbed me. (She was not slipping, but I turned coming down the stairs quickly and she panicked.) The one thing I do see from her with her hormones (which are high for some reason right now!) is that she does not want to step up to come out of her cage. I use a perch and she steps right on and take her out of the cage and then she steps up with no problem. I still put my hand/arm in the cage in an effort to prevent cage aggression, but while hormonal I will give her the perch. (She sees my hand and lifts her bottom!)

[Tom Lawless]

It sounds like things are going nicely for Lucy and improving every day.

When I started my boys on foraging I just partially covered the bowl with paper and after they got the idea of tossing that aside I began increasing the coverage a little here and there. Now I can actually tape a piece of paper on Bing's bowl and he will tear into to eat. Dave would rather starve then do that much work so we have only worked up to taping one side of his so he only has to lift it up. Funny, he can tear other stuff no problem. There is a nice DVD on foraging that is out that has a lot of good ideas how to introduce this practice to you birds (Captive Foraging DVD). It is called 'Captive Foraging'. I would also start the foraging stuff on her treat bowl as there might be more of a desire to work for a nut, seed or something she will eat beside a pellet.

The Aviator Harness comes with a nice DVD that explains how to introduce the harness to your bird. Bing wears him but I started putting it on him before he was ever weaned and home from the bird store. Dave thinks it will steal his soul and even after all of the suggested tricks will not let me near him with it.

Good luck.

[Bellco]

Check out this site http://www.parrotenrichment.com/. There are a lot of good ideas there and the two downloads on the bottom of the page are a great read.

[Bellco]

double posted sorry

[jylu97]

It took me a few tries to get Tori to realize that there is a small sliver of almond wrapped in a piece of paper. She would watch me wrap it and then she would initially give it a good squeeze then drop it. The problem now is that she doesn't know what to do if I put a piece of dried papaya and wrap it. She has just started to realize that paper is harmless and that she shouldn't be startled by the tearing sounds. I realize that she will eventually figure out to forage but it's going to take a very long time.

[jenseits]

It can take a while for a bird to figure out how to forage. Don't worry if they don't catch on right away. It sounds like you're introducing the concept exactly right: start off easy, show them what you're doing, and just keep giving her opportunities (especially with high-value treats or when she's hungry)... eventually she'll get it and get better and better at it. I guarantee it.

Glad she's doing well!

[debbielabella]

I like tying metal buckets with foot toys in their cage for them to rumage through. The paper pinata's are a hit too, as are the Tiki huts, they are straw huts on kabobs that you can stuff things in, they can see the stuff so it's not as much as a challenge as the other ideas.

I would never attempt to get a harness on Tiki. But you may have better luck. I use a backpack carrier for him and take him for walks and outings that way. Sounds like your doing a great job with her.

[MammaKim]

Lucy foraged today! YAY LUCY! I was so excited. Of course she complained the entire time...grumbling and throwing stuff on the ground...and her persistent mamma putting the stuff back in the bowl.... And then, she finally played with a foot toy too! OK, I say played, it was more like destroyed! She held that stick and chomped threw, chewed. Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh...it was a moment of victory for me!

Now, to get her to eat fresh food...the next endeavor!