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
Since the vet confirmed that Truman's pelvic bone has healed, I have begun more intensive physical therapy with him. This involves several things. First off, I hold him on his back and move his leg up and down. I begin by testing on his good leg to check how far it should normally move. Then I repeat the same on his bad leg. I apply mild be definite pressure as it is this that stretches and exercises the muscles. Other exercises include side to side motions of the leg, step ups, and now also wave trick.
I have been doing progressively more and more step ups with Truman every day. Not only am I encouraging him to step up, but I am also alternating between stepping with the good leg first or the bad leg. Either way, at one point he must hold his entire weight on one leg but by alternating which leg goes first, it effects the muscle groups that are being worked. He seems to prefer to step with his bad leg first so I am trying to force more step ups with the good leg first by putting my finger specifically in front of that leg.
Truman's reward for these exercises is predominantly negative reinforcement. I am forcefully applying the exercise upon him but stop at a random time if he is cooperative. Since it requires little positive behavior on his own part, it is mainly a matter of him not resisting. Since he is used to being handled, this is not too stressful for him and he just needs to endure for a little while and then knows I will stop. I am also providing praise and petting as a mild positive reinforcement upon completion. I do fewer repetitions but repeat frequently throughout the day.
Finally, the first major sign of recovery is that I was able to retrain Truman to wave again. For a month and a half he did not wave because it would force him to put all of his weight on his bad leg which he could not do. But with the good news from the vet, I decided to try to get him to wave now. I realized that it may take longer to train it again this time not because he would have forgotten the trick but because he would need to recover strength in his leg to be able to stand this way.
At first the training progress was slow and he wouldn't even so much as try to lift the foot to wave. Clearly he wasn't doing it on cue. I tried to repeat the wave training method in order to reteach him what I want for him to do. I would reward even if he so much as would lift the foot off the perch. Surprisingly though, he was picking things back up very quickly and within 5 tries he had a sort of wave going and by 10 he was already waving on cue as good as ever. This demonstrates much greater strength in his bad leg than previously anticipated.
The recovery progress had probably already been happening but accustomed to the pain, Truman did not try to use his leg in full. But with my encouragement through positive reinforcement training, Truman is regaining function of his leg much more quickly. With today's progress he is back to 90% of his original state and I would guess that at this rate he should be back to 100% within 2 weeks. This was an exciting breakthrough in Truman's recovery progress. You can expect to see more trick training updates soon. Here is a video of the physical therapy exercise and how I retrained Truman to wave again.
I was carrying Truman through the office on the first floor to bring him out to the aviary when suddenly he took flight. He flew to the back but seeing no place to land and the wall coming up awfully quick, he turned around and flew the other way. He zoomed past me and continued toward the front. I wasn't worried and figured he would turn around once more and come back to me. But instead he slammed straight into the large front window at high speed. He bounced off the glass with a loud thud, fell onto the chair below and then resumed flight once more. He flew toward me but quite low this time and landed on my hand while catching his breath.
Truman had never once flown in that space before and I had carried him through on my hand without any restraint or trouble many times. I was surprised that he flew off because there was no loud noise or anything startling that I could think of. Kili on the other hand had flown in the space before and she always avoided the window. I guess Truman learned to avoid windows by seeing the framing of the window rather than generalizing it to the properties of glass. Well hopefully this will be a lesson learned for him that will carry on for life.
I had already been pondering whether or not to bring Truman in for a followup vet visit about his leg injury. His recovery has been a roller coaster the whole way. At times I will notice improvement and then he may get even worse until there is any new improvement. A few weeks back I was seeing a lot of improvement so I decided to move him back to his cage. But for nearly two weeks since moving him to the cage he had not been getting any better. At times he even seemed to be standing worse. I even ended up calling the breeder and telling her that I am worried because he stopped getting better even a month and a half since the injury.
Finally in the recent most days Truman had exhibited a big step in recovery. He was standing better and walking with less of a limp. On occasion I even caught him standing on one leg scratching and that was the bad leg he was putting all the weight on. When he crashed into the window, my absolute biggest concern was about him hurting his leg again but luckily the leg took no impact and was unaffected. I decided that this was as good a time as any to bring him in for a followup exam, not only to check the leg but also to verify no damage from the new crash.
Other than scraped skin between his nostrils, I did not notice any damage or trouble with Truman. Nonetheless, I had already made an appointment and wanted to make sure. I brought Truman to the vet's office by subway and had him examined. He was really upset because they toweled him. He is much more used to hands but I never really bothered toweling him so it was stressing him out. Upon preliminary examination, the vet noticed tightness in the bad leg but said it appeared good otherwise. She recommended an xray and I said to proceed but only as long as they do not put Truman under anesthesia. I do not believe the risk of complications from anesthesia outweigh the importance of a confirmation xray when substantial behavioral improvement had already been observed.
Interestingly, this was the first time that Truman had demonstrated any sort of bond or preference for me. Previously he was always friendly to any people and pretty indifferent to me vs others. However, today he twice flew from people at the vet's office to my hand. Add two points to negative reinforcement based recall training! The previous times I had taken him to the avian vet, he had no even so much as tried to fly. This time he flew once on top of another bird's cage and then twice back to me from other people.
Upon examination of the xrays, the vet stated that the bone has healed and suggested more exercise and physical therapy for the bad leg. Otherwise, there is nothing more that can be done. This third and final vet visit for Truman ended up running $165 which brings the total cost of all of his treatment to $1044 (though $247 was refunded).
On the subway ride back from the vet, Truman was extremely sleepy. Despite all the noise and swinging, Truman slept through the whole ride back. I noticed that every time I take Truman back from the vet that he is abnormally sleepy. Last time I thought it was the result of blood loss from samples and injections, but this time there was no blood work of any kind. At this point I can only suspect that the exhaustion is either from stress or from the fumes. They had rubbed him down with alcohol both times and I'm uncertain if that could be the cause of the sleepiness. So the good news is that Truman's bone has healed and it's just a matter of recovering his muscles back to normal shape. As for the crash into the window, except for a minor scrape he has come out of it unharmed.
Scraped skin as the result of crashing into a large window at high speed
Subsequent vet examination
Truman marveling at himself in his xrays and confirming the healing
Previous xray showing the pelvic fracture on left leg (right side of image)
Something is abuzz with Kili and Truman. My brother came by and flew a remote controlled helicopter past the parrots. They both started intently but held somewhat different intentions. Kili was being aggressive and defensive of her perch. She did not wish to have her space impeded by some buzzing black whirly bird. Truman on the other hand had completely different intentions. You could tell that he wanted nothing more than the opportunity to play with the toy. Nothing would please him more than to be able to shred that plastic helicopter into unrecognizable pieces.
The parrots definitely were not scared of the flying toy. They are both flighted and could fly away at any time. Instead they stood their ground and gazed with pinning eyes at their aerial competitor.
I bought some new toys and swings for the aviary and a large water bowl for the parrot's to take baths in. Truman dove right in and enjoyed a bath outside. Kili on the other hand preferred to explore the new swings. I added a circular rope swing to their extended collection of aviary perching places. While I have to put Truman on each toy individually, Kili hops fearlessly from toy to toy.
The first time I heard that someone else's Senegal Parrot could crack almonds, I was simply astonished. It just did not seem to me by the look of that beak that a Senegal could take an entire almond shell in its beak and snap it in half like a nut cracker. Likewise I was surprised that my Cape Parrot with quite a suitably sized beak for the job couldn't crack almonds either. Read on to find out how I taught both of my parrots to crack almonds on their own and how my Cape Parrot can even crack open a walnut now.
At first though I could give the parrots a nut and they would play a little bit but then eventually discard it. They were not motivated to spend a lot of effort chewing the nut because they were unaware of the fantastic reward inside. This is where I needed to provide some help.
I learned that baby parrots do not come with the knowledge required to just break open a nut so some assistance is required on our part. The first step is to introduce the parrot to the food within the shell itself. By letting the parrot play with it, it will quickly realize that it tastes good and want more. The next step is to let the parrot play with the shell. Parrots are destructive and naturally enjoy breaking things so no doubt they will enjoy chewing up the shell itself. Use a nutcracker to break a nut and just give the shell to the parrot to experiment with.
Next start introducing the parrot to the concept that there is a tasty nut inside of the shell and it requires breaking open. At first try to break the nut directly in half and let the parrot eat the nut out of the half shell. Once it is has figured this out, you should be able to crack the nut progressively less and less until you no longer need to crack it at all. When introducing your parrot to its first uncracked nut, try to find the smallest one possible and that has some defects pre existent in the shell (such as small chips/cracks). If the parrot can succeed at breaking an easier nut on its own, it will be more motivated to spend long spans of time working on the difficult ones.
It turns out that my Senegal Parrot can crack open an almond and my Cape Parrot can even crack open a walnut. I realized that they do it somewhat differently than a nutcracker. Instead the parrots learn to chew open a hole in one side of the nut and then use the tip of their beak to scoop out the nut from inside or chew the hole wider. This is why parrots can still eat a nut that would otherwise seem too large to break with their beak. So go ahead and give it a try and just make sure that the parrot continues being rewarded all along the way.
This process probably happens naturally in the wild. Young parrots learn about nuts and difficult to reach foods by watching other parrots eating them. Furthermore the juveniles can find leftovers discarded by older parrots and nibble out what's left from the shells cracked by adults. We can simulate this same process by letting them watch us consume nuts and pre-cracking some for them to try.
For anyone wondering how to touch your parrot's beak or what is the best way to develop personal confidence handling a biting parrot, this article should be particularly helpful. This is a taming technique I have rarely seen discussed but has helped me personally with all parrots I've ever interacted with. This taming method is for everyone beginner through expert and can be used on any parrot from tame to aggressive as long as you can safely approach the parrot. This should apply to all parrot species except for the smallest ones.
This incredible parrot taming technique is beak touching. The first step of hand taming a parrot is to be able to touch it without getting bitten. The only place on the parrot's entire body that you can safely touch and not get bit is the maxilla. This is the upper beak on a parrot. The reason you cannot get bit when touching the maxilla is because you are too far from the mandible (bottom beak) but too close for the parrot to be able to move and get your finger in its beak. By touching the upper maxilla, you are safely out of range of getting bit. Touching the parrot's head, tail, wings, feet, or head are far more likely to result in a bite if it isn't accustomed to being touched. And don't think you can touch its back. Parrots can turn their head over 180 degrees and will bite behind them in a flash.
When familiarizing myself with a parrot that I'm uncertain of, I like to start by touching its beak and seeing how it reacts. First as I approach my hand slowly towards its beak (from the front and above), I am gauging the body language and trying to see if it is aggressive or calm. I check to see if the parrot opens its beak and leans in for my hand or stays still. I continue holding my hand above and just far enough that there is no way the parrot can reach to bite. Then I move steady and deliberately right to the upper maxilla and put my hand or finger on it. I like to get my thumb and index finger around the beak and kind of hold on. I may add a scratch from my finger nail. The parrot cannot bite me in this position and I can safely retract my hand upward at any moment and out of range if I need to.
Besides the fact that this is the safest place to touch, the parrot is actually likely to enjoy it. It's one of the places they can't reach to scratch when they want to. The parrot will really like you for scratching off bits of food stuck or beak that is flaking off. So the act itself becomes positively reinforcing. The parrot will learn to remain calm and let you handle its beak. This serves as a behavior alternative to biting. Any attempt at biting will be negatively punished by the termination of beak scratches. As the parrot becomes more accustomed to this sort of hand to beak relationship, it will be less likely to bite the hands because it is used to hands touching the beak rather than the other way around. I'm not suggesting that this will eliminate biting all together. Other taming methods are certainly required, but this is a great supplement to them.
As you touch the parrot's beak more and more, you will develop more confidence around it yourself. Both you and your parrot will have less fear of each other. While you worry about the parrot using the beak for biting, the parrot also fears you using hands for grabbing or hurting. But as you practice the beak touching/scratching, you will both learn that beak/hands are not meant for harm. As you gain more confidence you can scratch the lower mandible as well and move on to the cheeks and head.
Besides the mutual trust this technique develops, it also serves a practical application. This allows you to file your parrot's beak if needed and to scratch off any dirt. So instead of fearing your parrot's beak, turn that around to a game that results in positively reinforcing beak scratches for your parrot.
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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