My week with a Princess

[bird-brain]

Wow, I was totally unprepared for how [I]different[I] this bird is compare to every other species I've owned or had regular contact with. There are things I like, there are things I could do without. First things, I changed his name to Remy as a simple spelling change will make it work for either gender and Remy LeBeau is my favorite x-man. (Yes I'm a comic book geek). Secondly, I decided to forego quarantine as I know the bird had a clean vet check just a week before and other factors.

The likes include ease of handling. He's so far not cage or food protective and it's nice not to draw back a nub when I have to clean the poop out of the water (Skyy, I'm talking to you here.....).

His noises. His little sounds beat all I've ever heard. There are times during the day that I swear R2D2 has come for a visit! He also has sounds that remind me very much of what I call Skyy's "goblin speak". She used to do this a lot before she started talking and it's actually kind of scary sounding if you pay attention because it can sound like many voices at once. I always thought it was her imitating the drone of voices in the store she was in for long. I think this sound is normal for a princess parrot though? (Linda chime in anytime). At any rate, after hearing this "goblin speak" from Remy, Skyy broke into hers and they have seemingly complete conversations that I'm not sure anyone understands. Skyy has however informed me (with much excitement) that "he talks".

His volume. He gets nowhere near the volume of conures or lovebirds and I'm good with that. :happy:

He's a Velcro birdie. He seeks you out and just wants to be on his people. That's great. I like it but there's a caveat that will appear in the don't like section.

He has very limited beak strength compared to my conure or my lovies. No way that is a bad thing.

He's not aggressive at all, and avoids conflict gracefully. Doesn't flip out and fly and get dramatic, just steps away and finds something else to do.

He does attempt to be near the other birds and is making a genuine effort to be part of the flock. I had read conflicting opinions on their opinions of other species so I am glad that this is happening.

Things I'm indifferent about.... he doesn't like to be petted. I can do beak rubs and sort of pet his chest but they dont preen each other so don't understand that type of contact. I knew this going in so no biggie. Cabo hates fingers, Kenya eats fingers and with Skyy it's day to day.

Now the don't likes.

There's really only one thing about the bird and it's the caveat to the Velcro bird situation. He is beaky as the dickens and chews like a puppy :omg: Fingers, ears, cheeks, lips arms, shoulders. He is infatuated with pulling and tugging bare skin. It's not aggression, it's not exploration it's not attention seeking. I'm not sure what exactly it is because I've never experience it with any other bird. He grabs your skin, pulls it up and tries to shake it like a puppy would a sock! I thank my stars he doesn't have the beak strength of Skyy or the lovies. I would have 50 stitches by now if he did. :x. That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. He's drawn blood from all of us. The day he met Wayne he almost immediately flew to his shoulder, grabbed his ear and started trying to pull it off Wayne's head. :omg:

Another dislike is that he is very conditioned to sit on your shoulder. Not his fault. His previous owners also tried to do trick training with treats so he is quite demanding about wanting you to feed him, constantly. Again not his fault. This species does feed its mate so I wonder if some of the biting is stemming from this. In any event, because I see problems with later aggression when he sexually matures, I'd rather not encourage him to believe that I'm a mate by feeding him from my fingers. :roll:

I have a lot to learn about this species so much is going to be trial and error. Thoughts and advice are welcomed.

Regards,

Jamie

[linda040899]

Now the don't likes.

There's really only one thing about the bird and it's the caveat to the Velcro bird situation. He is beaky as the dickens and chews like a puppy :omg: Fingers, ears, cheeks, lips arms, shoulders. He is infatuated with pulling and tugging bare skin. It's not aggression, it's not exploration it's not attention seeking. I'm not sure what exactly it is because I've never experience it with any other bird. He grabs your skin, pulls it up and tries to shake it like a puppy would a sock! I thank my stars he doesn't have the beak strength of Skyy or the lovies. I would have 50 stitches by now if he did. :x. That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. He's drawn blood from all of us. The day he met Wayne he almost immediately flew to his shoulder, grabbed his ear and started trying to pull it off Wayne's head. :omg:

Another dislike is that he is very conditioned to sit on your shoulder. Not his fault. His previous owners also tried to do trick training with treats so he is quite demanding about wanting you to feed him, constantly. Again not his fault. This species does feed its mate so I wonder if some of the biting is stemming from this. In any event, because I see problems with later aggression when he sexually matures, I'd rather not encourage him to believe that I'm a mate by feeding him from my fingers. :roll:
I have a similar problem with Chewy, my Quaker. He LOVES to chew on anything, and I mean anything! And he can be aggressive about it! What I'm trying to do is have something in close proximity that he finds more interesting than my person and will chew on the more interesting thing. I have to button the top button on any shirts I wear and hide my ears to protect them if he decides they are his next "target." I think distraction is probably the best option and rewards for behavior you want. You can't punish because they don't understand but a reward for doing what you don't want him to do is fair game.

I've been trying, slowly, to teach Chewy that my shoulder is not an acceptable perch. Whether he will ever "get it" or not is too early to predict. Georgia, my female Military Macaw, finally learned shoulders are off limits but it took me a while to teach that lesson. She's aggressive and I tend to like my facial parts, wanting them to remain as they are!

[bird-brain]

I guess I should be thankful he doesn't have a beak the size of a Macaw :omg: I had heard quakers were chewers lol. We can't have them here in Georgia but they've always been on my list of birds I'd love to have.

I try to distract him but he's honestly just not that into toys. Just twisting my hand and putting him off balance a little seems to be a good deterrent as he gives up after about three bites now. He will only allow me to put my hands in his cage. He hissed and lunged at my son when he tried to take him out today and I hope that's not about to become a thing but I have to use perches with all of them sometimes.

Cabo's immediate reaction to any new bird is clicky dancing all over everywhere and gacking like a crazy bird. Lol. He doesn't want anyone to feel left out so he goes to every birdie and dances and gacks. Poor little guy wears himself out. Kenya has plucked all of her tail feathers out which she always does when she wants to nest. And Skyy has gone hormonal as well thanks to Cabo's behavior. I'm trying not to put too much pressure on Remy because he really seems to not quite understand what's going on. He has decided my head is the coolest place on earth and I'm trying to change his mind. :roll: even if I lie down so that my head is lower than my knees he wants to be right next to or on my face:omg: He's very affectionate in his own way. His behaviors are just unique to anything I've dealt with and we are learning together. I may try making a birdie toy necklace to keep him occupied as the shoulder is more pleasant than the head.