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Thread: All my Salty threads til now, in one thread!

 
  1. #1
    Member
    Albert's Avatar


    Parrots

    Yellow shouldered Amazon, Salty

    All my Salty threads til now, in one thread!

    I decided to put all my Salty updates onto 1 thread, sorry I havent been posting much here. So ALL, enjoy some Salty stories.

    3/15/15
    So since I am in Hong Kong for 2 weeks, I set up a Skype account for my wife, so I can chat with her, and my little Salty (so he does not forget me or think I don't love him any more).
    He has picked up new words and phrases while I have been gone .. he says his name now, and 'where ya going'. And when my wife tries to do a training session with him, he takes the treat from her hand and runs around the training area, cackling his 'crazy bird' laugh. I miss them all so much, but only 3 more days to go before I fly home. Reading all the nice posts on this board has helped me not be so lonely or home sick , thanks everyone.

    3/18/16
    Got home today from 2 weeks abraod, in which time I was worried that Salty would develop disinterest or even hatred because to him, I abandoned him. I mean my family did lots of interaction and even training with, and I even set up a Skype account so I could have video chats with him. I am happy to say he seems OK with me by bed time. Initially he was standoffish, even pushing my hand and fingers away from him when I first got home. But a few pine nuts, and attempts at giving scratches seems to have opened the flood gates. Once again he is my shoulder buddy, wrestling like he loves and we had a 45 min scratching session. Wait til he sees his gifts from China . Some dried fruits and a beautiful little treat cup that clips between the bars. I am one relieved pirate, mates.
    __________________

    3/23/16
    So tonite we started color training, Salty and i. I got a set of brightly colored keys, baby teething toys actually. Salty has been playing with them a few days, so he was not frightened or scared of them. I selected the 3 primary color ones, red, yellow and blue. We did a few other tricks first. Then I placed them on his training area, about a foot apart. I picked each one up , held it up to him and named them a few times. And then I asked for the RED key, and I'll be damned if he didn't go to the red key and pick it up. We worked for 5 min on this and he got the colors right about 30% of the time. Not bad for a first timer! We'll work on this more in the coming days, but I was pretty impressed. He is such a smart little bird. I bet he will start to say the colors eventually, he says some of the other tricks he does (circle, shake hands).

    3/26/16
    Salty has been getting fresh vegetables everyday and fruit too. but just cut up into pieces. Today is the first day that I used the food processor to make chop. What went into it? Turnip greens, kale, bok choy, just the green part, red, yellow and green peppers and oh 6 or 7 jalapeño peppers, and carrots. Made enough for 18 days. Salty seems to like it so far. It is really hot though, I tried some. We froze 9 baggies and each baggie has 2 in it. The wife says that it will make good veggie base for soups or stews, if he turns out to not like it.
    What else is good for this? Nothing too crazy please , limited choices at the local store, so no Egyptian rabbit fronds and the like.

    3/27/16
    How destructive is your bird? Salty is not very. He likes to chew up small hunks of balsa wood, but harder pine he hardly touches. He is hell on bells, but not a real toy meat grinder. I see some of you folks talk about giving your birds a lot of toys but salty has 1 or 2 favs and the rest sit idle. Right now , he likes to tear up this tiny sneaker I got. Man, he hates that shoe. So how destructive is your flock?
    4/2/16 More Salty in your diet?
    No, I am not offering culinary advice, just an update on Salty.
    He is starting to go into his first molt, loosing some grey downy feathers, and I can feel the new shafts when I scratch the top of his head. Should I offer any specific foods to help him along with this? Is there such have a thing as an ingrown feather, like an ingrown hair?

    Salty continues to pick up words and phrases pretty easily. Right now we are teaching him 'Little Brown Jug' and he has the 'Ha ha ha, Hee hee hee, little brown jug' part down. We picked this cuz he has several laughs already. Says 'Good Morning' when you uncover him in the AM, but he refuses to say Nite Nite ... he hates nite nite time!

    Bells. Like a good parront, I went an bought 4 stainless tube type bells to replace the cheapo bells most toys come with. He hates them. To be fair I hate them too, they are really high pitched and ringy, like wind chimes almost. I am thinking about pouring some hot glue type material into them to mute them a bit, otherwise that's 50 bucks down the parrot drain.

    Salty trick training is going pretty well, but the color training is a hard row to hoe for him, he gets the colors right about 50% of the time. We are training him to step up onto a chop stick, so eventually he can be spun around on it. But his favorite trick is to roll over, he offers to do this anytime, not just trick time, it's pretty funny.

    He is liking his chop more and more, but he has an odd habit. We have 3 bowls, one for water, one for pellets and one for chop. He takes the chop out and mixes it with his pellets, to make mush, and then eats it. Odd. Salty has also discovered balsa wood, and zips thru 2" X 2" chunks pretty quickly now.
    I don't know if this a good thing or not... balsa wood is not cheap!

    Those flat concrete perches work great in keeping his nails trimmed, we have not had to touch them since we got one, a both 3 months ago. No more hypodermic needles on his feet, yay!

    Bored yet? Ok, later, friends.

    4/5/16 Babys first swear words
    Salty has a boing next to the kitchen table where he has dinner with us. Under it I attached a large stainless bowl to catch the bits of food and poops he drops. Its attached by 2 heavy, insulated wires, and he developed a habit of sliding down these to get what ever fell into the bowl. He is NOT allowed to do this, and he knows it, but parrots being parrots he will try it anyway. That results in my wife telling him to get his green feathery butt back up to his boing. That happened last night, but Salty had the last word. As he was climbing back up the wire ( which he does easily) we both heard under his breath
    'FuuuuuXXk You'. [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG] We both looked at each other and said 'Did he just say what I though he said?'. Laughed. And then thought a bit. Ack! Neither Geri or I are in the habit of swearing, much less saying that to one another, so we figure that Salty must have heard this on some TV show we had on. As we all know, that kind of language is all too common on cable TV lately.

    So now I guess we have to censor what shows we have on!

    4/10/16 B&G Babies...
    Yesterday Geri and went to Parrots of the World, to replenish Salty's supply of tiny sneakers (his favorite chew toys). They have a really wide variety of birds there; blue throat macs, a secretary bird, conures, caiques, many kinds of amazons - it's where we got Salty from. On one counter they had a tub with 3 baby B&B macs in it, 2 were really young, and one 2 months old. The 2 month old immediately waddled/crawled over to me and shoved his head under my hand, staring up at me. Well I just about melted. He had me at wadd. First scratch, his eyes closed and he leaned into my hand. I could swear I felt some tension leave his little feathered body and he put his head back a little more. I think I had been selected, but who knows, right? Could be a learned response from folks reaching in to scratch him. But much as I might want him, adding a second parrot to our household would be impossible right now. I could list a dozen very valid reasons on the con side, not the least of which is I am 62 and the baby is, well, a baby. I am not a macaw guy by any means, but I've always liked B&G's, they just look friendly to me, like they are smiling. They could be named Shreader, I will always give a B&G the benefit of the doubt, much to my flesh's detriment. And this baby was making it clear he liked me. But cooler heads have prevailed and we left the shop sans new parrot. It was close though, so close. I begin to understand how some of you folks have 5 or six birds! We got home, I took Salty out, and told him how close he was to having a brother. He nibbled my ear, took a poop and put his head down for a scratch. Yeah, one's enough.

    4/10 evening Dog vs Bird - who wins?
    I'm not even sure where to post this. We are dog watching my daughters dog til Tues. She's a designer dog, some exotic mix, very small, silky hair and very cute, named Jojo. Well behaved at home, but she has no other pets. We have SALTY of course and a cairns terrier named Tinker. Tinker and Salty get along, Tinker is afraid of Salty and Salty will bite Tinker at the drop of a hat. But Jojo is insanely curious about the parrot. Her eyes don't leave Salty from the moment he is uncovered til nite nite time. Problem 1.. Salty spends a good amount of time on his cotton ring/Toy chain and people's shoulders every day, but falls off occasionally. The one time he fell with Jojo around it was only my wife grabbing her that prevented Jojo from getting Salty. I should mention here that Jojo previously got Max, our old be be parrot, in her mouth a few years ago, before Max passed. So I know the dog will chomp Salty if given a chance.
    We are stumped. Neither animal deserves to be locked up for the majority of the day. Problem 2... last nite I happen to be up around 3AM. And I caught Jojo standing up, nosing the bottom of the cover on Salty cage. Salty woke up, startled, and fell to the bottom of the cage, thrashing about until I uncovered it, and slowly got him to UP, and softly reassuring him that he was ok, it's ok, Daddys here, got him back on his sleeping perch,covered him and listened for him to go back to sleep (lack of noise means he's asleep). So shy of staying up all nite, watching Jojo, I am stumped. And tired!

    We are at the point of checking Jojo into a kennel until Tues.
    We realize now that dog sitting was a bad idea, but in the past Jojo was ok; after the one incident withMax, she ignored him, but with Salty she is so focused it is unreal.

    Sorry, this is more of a rant from lack of sleep and worry. I can't wait for the wife to wake up so I can grab some pillow time.

    4/15
    Like the topic says Salty will talk , sing and mimic to mommy but refuses to let her give scratches or to play with her. But if she is not around Salty is as silent as a grave. I can scratch and wrestle with him and he is fine with that, when he wants it. Salty will step up for Mom and does not bite her badly, but def gives her a good pinch or 2 before getting up. He'll sit on my shoulder and watch videos, and just hang. Mom gets him on her shoulder for a minute or 2 and then he is gone. Any one else have a birdy who is, for a lack of a better term,
    bi-personized ?

    4/2` - TABLESIDE SETUP
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/yw3hepzimn...0_001.mp4?dl=0

    Shows the set up I made so Salty can eat dinner etc with us, but keeps him from walking all over our food.

    4/21 cOAUGHT sALTY LAUGHING

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/f8h5ulk2dc...0_004.mp4?dl=0

    Salty finally cought on video laughing, worth the time for uploading.

    4/26 Moody?

    Salty must have a switch hidden under all those feathers. He will go from full blown 'zon overload, head snaking, growling prehistoric raptor to calm little cutie bird, begging for a scratch, making little squeaks and offering to do a trick like rolling over in the blink of an eye. And you can't find the switch. It just happens, and in reverse, too. From daddy's buddy to ear chomping snare beast. Luckily he remembers his bite pressure training, most of the time, but occasionally not. It just so amazing to see the change happen so quickly. My Max was never like that, very even tempered.

    4/29 The Amazing Saltini
    Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, for your edification and curiosity, The Amazing Saltini , renowned Psittacine performer from far away lands did his show last nite to capacity crowds at the infamous Living Room ! The throngs thrilled to his dizzying steps, daring rolls , the wearing of the Restricting Bands of Doom and even simulating DEATH!

    Here he is, in the hands of his faithful but dumb assistant ! Notice at no time do his wings leave his body !
    [​IMG] This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 721x1280.
    [​IMG]

    OK, ok, so a few friends and the family watched as I put Salty thru his current training session activities, in our living room. First, he gets a whole pine nut, to let him know the session is starting. Well he knows anyway becasue he sees me gathering the materials and measuring the pine nuts and breaking them in half. So, whole nut down, first trick is to ask him to spin in circles a few times. I always say "Thank you, thats what I wanted" and give him a little scratch on the nares, along with the treat, to let him know he did the trick right, immediately after he does the trick. Next a few rollovers, which is his favorite trick to do. He will do this one just for kicks any time.
    Next we shake hands. Then his least favorite, laying in my hand, playing dead. Oddly, the first time we do it, he fights me. If i repeat it a few times, he does it docily and no nipping. Next I get him to step up onto a chop stick. eventually, once he is more comfortable , the idea is to spin him around on the chop stick, both horizontally and vertically. Max used to love doing this trick, Salty not so much, but he does cooperate bit but little bit. Next is his color training. I bought that kit, 5 plastic posts on a base, each with 5 colored rings. This is a hard trick to teach, becasue he has to know colors, and also develope the skill to put the rings on the posts. At this point, he and I will both hold a ring and put it onto a post. Slow going but we've only been at this one for 2 weeks. Last is his harness training. He loves this so far. Salty has progresseed to the point where he puts his head thru the harness and I lay the rest of it on his back and side, and he will stay with it on as I slowly feed him crumbled up pine nuts, just alittle at a time, then say OFF, and he backs out of the hardness and gets a regular treat. We spend maybe 10 min doing just this. And then he gets a whole pine nut, also crumbled up to eat out of the palm of my hand , to signal that the session is over. Last night was the first time he has done this with more then one person watching and he did really well, only a little distracted at times. And thats how he got the name:

    THE *** AMAZING *** SALTINI
    HI , I am Salty, a yellow shouldered Amazon, hatched June 15, 2015. I will be a pirate someday, just like my daddy!

  2. The following 2 users like this post:

    kendrafitz (05-22-2016), Mare (05-21-2016)

  3. #2
    Member
    Albert's Avatar


    Parrots

    Yellow shouldered Amazon, Salty
    5/2 Salty at Work

    He is being such a good boy today. 1-1/2 hour ride into work, and he is shaking hands with everyone, including my Boss! He is laughing and speaking in his travel cage and outside it when I am working. Everyone is laughing like hell with him. Man i wish I could bring him every day, work would be a lot more fun. He even did his trick routine for my boss who was blown away. 11:30 Dr appointment for wellness set up and look at his footies. Later taters!
    It was even better, my boss came back with the sales staff and Salty shook every ones hand, an went thru some of his training routine. A few minutes later the accounting department came in and he did the same thing , being very polite and even getting up on one very nervous lady accountants hand, much to the surprise and delight of the other ladies. He shook hands with them all too. What great visit to work.
    OK so we went to the Dr's and she took blood and stool sample. They did the Chem panel right there , all perfect, and the initial stool look was good too. Two other tests I have to wait for . 410 smackers and worth every penny. His footies.. he tends to shift from foot to foot some times , especially when sitting on top of my screen. She examined them closely, some tiny growths, none red or pink. She said no problems, the general redish look of the bottom of his feet looks like dye. He sleeps on a cotton perch that has red in it and spends a good deal of time on his round cotton boing, so I guess that it. He conked out as soon as we got home, for a few hours... not surprising, he got up at 5:45 am today, normally it's like 9 or 10. A really BIG day for a small little amazon, who won over more people today to liking parrots

    5/11

    We are super excited in our house, cuz it will be Salty's hatch day on 5/15!
    He has come so far from when I brought him home, scared little Amazon, still taking baby formula 2x a day, just learning to eat veggies and frutz and pellets and my nose.

    Last nights training session was a big breakthrough ! He and I have been training to place colored rings on plastic posts, and previously I did most of the work, with Salty barely just holding the plastic rings, and with a lot of guidance, get them onto the posts. Last night's training session opened like usual... ; circle, circle ; then some rollovers - he loves doing these. I decided to break up the routine and go to the rings and posts, instead of doing Dead Birdie and the CHopStick routine. I set the rings on the posts and took a blue one off to get started. Salty likes that color. I tell him "Salty get the BLUE ring" And .... wow. takes the blue ring from my hand puts it onto the post by himself, and then starts taking the rings off the posts so fast, I cant even reward him. Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, and before you know it, he has a dozen rings off the posts. All the colors. At this point in learning this trick, he is supposed to be learning the beak coordination to remove and then place the rings back on the posts. Man does he ever know that now! I was clapping my hands for him, since there was no way I could give him his piece of pine nut for each ring. Lots of high pitched praise. AND then he starts to put the rings back on! Not the right color sequence, but that will come . I was just so taken aback, because he was doing it really FAST!! It was like something clicked and he figured out what I wanted these last 5 weeks or so. Then we finished our training session with some Harness training ( also slow going) a few more roll overs and then a palm full of crushed nuts to finish off. Luckily my son saw the rings flying off and on, or no one would believe me. Cant wait to see how he does tonight.

    https://www.dropbox.com/home/Photos/...nut%5B1%5D.mp4

    Or try this one:
    http://s1360.photobucket.com/user/th...exx6n.mp4.html

    OK and a video is attached, with Salty climbing out on his chain, and attacking his peanut foraging toy. SHows his colors off well !
    So Salty Sez - almost my berfday! And Daddy is very proud of me!

    - - - Updated - - -

    5/15 How to end a training session gone bad?

    So Salty's usual training session was proceeding well, in fact better then well. Circles, rolling over, even the colored rings were stepped up a notch. Then we did his harness training. When I gave the Off command, he took a couple of steps back, and got really tangled an he freaked out. I managed to get him free. He was so upset, Salty wanted no part of pine nuts or further training. I put him on my shoulder an we went downstairs to visit my son Erik, to break the mood sort of..

    So did I do right? Should we have continued? I've read that you always want to end on a positive note. What do you folks do in the same situation?

    5/15 Ready for my close up, Mr DeMille... almost

    Another Salty update. After last nights disastrous training session with Salty, I was expecting him to be uncooperative, but pine nuts win the day. I left out his harness training, considering how badly that went. After our warm up moves we went into the colored ring training. And, WOW, did he do well.
    Here is a pic of the trick.

    [​IMG]

    Salty now accepts blue ring from my hand and places them on the post with the blue ring glued to the base. He is so eager to do this that in the time it takes me to get another ring and the treat, he has already taken another blue ring off the post and put it onto a different post. Remember we are not doing color training yet. He is so eager, he doesn't even want the treat. He is even pulling them off 2 at time because I'm so slow. Putting them on 2 at a time, too. So not quite ready, Mr. Demille, but soon!
    HI , I am Salty, a yellow shouldered Amazon, hatched June 15, 2015. I will be a pirate someday, just like my daddy!

  4. The following 2 users like this post:

    kendrafitz (05-22-2016), Mare (05-21-2016)

  5. #3
    Banned



    Thanks Albert , That was a good read . Next Chapter on the Adventures of Salty

  6. #4
    Nobility Member
    Mare's Avatar


    Parrots

    Sassy Goffin's girl, she IS Sassy Amigo, male umbrella cockatoo Chip! The cockatiel! The sweet, sweet Jellybean!
    Great stuff! Thanks for sharing, Albert! Salty is a lucky bird

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