Trained Parrot Blog

Trained Parrot Blog

Kili

Type: Senegal Parrot
Genus: Poicephalus
Species: Senegalus
Subspecies: Mesotypus
Sex: Female
Weight: 120 grams
Height: 9 inches
Age: 16 years, 5 months

Truman

Type: Cape Parrot
Genus: Poicephalus
Species:Robustus
Subspecies: Fuscicollis
Sex: Male
Weight: 330 grams
Height: 13 inches
Age: 14 years, 8 months

Rachel

Type: Blue & Gold Macaw
Genus: Ara
Species:ararauna
Sex: Female
Weight: 850 grams
Height: 26 inches
Age: 12 years, 5 months

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Nod
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Ring Toss
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Additional Top Articles

Stop Parrot Biting
Getting Your First Parrot
Treat Selection
Evolution of Flight
Clipping Wings
How to Put Parrot In Cage
Kili's Stroller Trick
Camping Parrots
Socialization
Truman's Tree
Parrot Wizard Seminar
Kili on David Letterman
Cape Parrot Review
Roudybush Pellets

List of Common Parrots:

Parakeets:
Budgerigar (Budgie)
Alexandrine Parakeet
African Ringneck
Indian Ringneck
Monk Parakeet (Quaker Parrot)

Parrotlets:
Mexican Parrotlet
Green Rumped Parrotlet
Blue Winged Parrotlet
Spectacled Parrotlet
Dusky Billed Parrotlet
Pacific Parrotlet
Yellow Faced Parrotlet

Lovebirds:
Peach Faced Lovebird
Masked Lovebird
Fischer's Lovebird
Lilian's (Nyasa) Lovebird
Black Cheeked Lovebird
Madagascar Lovebird
Abyssinian Lovebird
Red Faced Lovebird
Swindern's Lovebird

Lories and Lorikeets:
Rainbow Lorikeet

Conures:
Sun Conure
Jenday Conure
Cherry Headed Conure
Blue Crowned Conure
Mitred Conure
Patagonian Conure
Green Cheeked Conure
Nanday Conure

Caiques:
Black Headed Caique
White Bellied Caique

Poicephalus Parrots:
Senegal Parrot
Meyer's Parrot
Red Bellied Parrot
Brown Headed Parrot
Jardine's Parrot
Cape Parrot
Ruppell's Parrot

Eclectus:
Eclectus Parrot

African Greys:
Congo African Grey (CAG)
Timneh African Grey (TAG)

Amazons:
Blue Fronted Amazon
Yellow Naped Amazon
Yellow Headed Amazon
Orange Winged Amazon
Yellow Crowned Amazon

Cockatoos:
Cockatiel
Galah (Rose Breasted) Cockatoo
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Umbrella Cockatoo
Moluccan Cockatoo
Bare Eyed Cockatoo
Goffin's Cockatoo

Macaws:
Red Shouldered (Hahn's) Macaw
Severe Macaw
Blue And Gold Macaw
Blue Throated Macaw
Military Macaw
Red Fronted Macaw
Scarlet Macaw
Green Winged Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw

Glossary of Common Parrot Terms

Leaving My Parrots at Home While Traveling

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By Michael Sazhin

Wednesday March 5th, 2014

While I am abroad traveling through Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, my parrots are being cared for back at home. I am posting this blog from Terhan, Iran! Sorry for not being on top of my facebook and other pages lately, the dictatorial regime in Iran blocks much of the web because they are afraid of their people experiencing freedom and good things.

It has only been 2 months since I brought Santina home from the rescue but I already had a scheduled trip. No problem. I worked extensively during the time I had to prepare her as best as possible for my eventual absence. But not only that, I prepared her to receive care from someone other than me.

Kili & Truman are so used to the routine that they don't blink an eye so I won't be discussing them. Santina on the other hand is less accustomed to being cared for by different people. From what I know, she was accustomed to being cared for by a single person until she ended up at the rescue. Even at the rescue it was the same people all the time. Santina had little experience being cared for by different people. Bonding with her in such a short span of time was a major achievement but unbonding her so that she would tolerate someone else was an even bigger one.

In the weeks prior to my departure, I began the process of preparing Santina for the fact that nobody will be around for most of the day. I jumbled her schedule with me or didn't come entirely (except minimum food/water care) to prepare her for this change. I tried to socialize her toward people but at this stage this is complicated because she doesn't want others to handle her.

A week prior to my departure, I began having my brother come over during evenings to begin the transition process. The first time was so that he could watch what I do with her and subsequent times were to take on more and more of the process. Although it would conceivably be possible to change her food/water and wash the floor without ever handling her, this would be difficult. If she were so aggressive that her caretaker could not remove her from the room, then it would be awkward to impossible to get her dishes. Thus we set the goal of two step ups per session. One to come out of the cage room and one to go back in.

During my trip, Santina would be on pellet freefeed. She would not be provided with alternate foods because they are not essential and it would make more difficulty and mess for my brother to take care. The feeding is simple and a non-factor. What was more of a concern was how to get Santina to be good about stepping up for my brother without much motivation for food. If this were Kili or Truman, this would not be a problem as they are used to stepping up for anyone. But Santina is not.

So we decided to leverage Santina's favorite thing to get her to step up, nuts. She would not get any nuts the entire time I was gone except when stepping up. No foraging toys, no training, no freebies. The only way she could have her fill of nuts would be to by stepping up for my brother when needed. We practiced this before I left. Between my brother's confidence in handling her and her desire to get to have a nut, there was no problem teaching her to step up for him. Thus the routine became step up for a nut, eat it outside cage room and watch the clean up, and then step up for another nut to go back inside.

Just to play it safe we also did some practice of having my brother put Santina on a scale and in the carrier so that he would be able to take care of those things if necessary. It was much the same as the other step up exercises and proved to be no problem.

I showed my brother how to clean and take care of all other bird specific business and let him practice a few times before I left. This was both good for him to learn, for me to gain confidence that things will be alright, and to introduce Santina to the way things would be for a few weeks. Here is a video we recorded of the final practice session before I left that shows how my brother would be taking care of Santina while I was away.

Part of: Taming & Basic Training, General Parrot Care, Macaws
Santina Green-Winged Macaw Travel Home Absence Vacation

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Trained Parrot is a blog about how to train tricks to all parrots and parakeets. Read about how I teach tricks to Truman the Brown Necked Cape Parrot including flight recall, shake, wave, nod, turn around, fetch, wings, and play dead. Learn how you can train tricks to your Parrot, Parrotlet, Parakeet, Lovebird, Cockatiel, Conure, African Grey, Amazon, Cockatoo or Macaw. This blog is better than books or DVDs because the information is real, live, and completely free of charge. If you want to know how to teach your parrot tricks then you will enjoy this free parrot training tutorial.
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