upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

Greetings to the board,
I am a groomer at our local pet store which sadly sells animals. Obviously, they have birds and one of which is a DYH female. She is a year in May. She was very fearful of people and hands in particular. She would bite people if they pushed her too far (she ran away in the cage).

NOW, she is doing very well, after weeks of me working with her. I can now put my arm in the cage and ask her to "up-up", she right away comes running over and gladly hops on my arm. I can pet her sometimes but only if she doesn't realize it right away, as she is still nervous of hands but has developed trust in me.

My question, today I had her out around the store, as I do all the time, and she was very vocal with her eyes pinning and tail fanned. I think she was excited since I hadn't seen her in a few days and she ran to me when I got her out of the cage. Overall, I slowly made my way back to the grooming room so she could relax and stop her excitement as I didn't want to get nipped although she didn't show any overload of excitement which may lead to aggression.

Was this simply Amazon overload like I've read that she was too excited? I already am owned by a TAG and obviously I don't want to support pet stored selling birds but I am going to buy her within the next two months. I'm saving my money and waiting for them to let me know how much they will reduce her since she is a pet store price and way over priced for a bird which needs work, and they know it.

I've been doing as much reading on behavior as I can find but additional support would be great. She hasn't said much out of her cage and she says a little in her cage. But she was very vocal tonight, hello, a purring monkey ooo sound, whisltes and she kept nibbling on my shirt for support, but I could see she was having fun and not overwhelmed. Is this perhaps just her personality emerging now that she trusts me and is confident with me around her?

THANK YOU and any info would be greatly appreciated

It seems to me the two of you have clicked very nicely I would suppress the urge to stroke her. 'Zons don't usually like it, and you don't want to force her to bite to make you stop. When you've gotten to know each other better, you might explore to see what touching she's happy with, but it's one thing I would avoid right now when you're working at building trust with her.

Her behavior does sound like excitement at seeing you and getting attention from you. While carrying her to the play area away from her cage, talk very calmly and softly to calm her a bit as you're walking. Maybe you could offer her a spray bath as a special treat with her special friend.

I surely hope you're able to buy her. Connections are good!

Paca

Ditto on the not petting part. Generally 'Zons are happy with head scratches, but not body touching. Does sound like she was excited and happy to see you. Overload is when they are out of control with excitement and you will get bitten. You will learn to tell the difference between happy-excited and crazy-excited. Amazons are pretty easy to read when you get to know them.

Have you read this?
http://www.parrottalk.com/amazona.htm

sounds like you have a new friend Kia (my female DYH) is the same way. She'll fan her tail and pin when I get her out. Then she has to yell and let everyone know there is an amazon in the house..lol

Sometimes she gets over excited and I get a hard nip (I don't really consider anything a bite unless it draws blood) Nearly all of my t shirt have holes in the shoulders I guess Kia isn't the only one that does that....lol good luck and keep us informed!

Yeah, as far as the petting thing has gone, I have not touched her too much as I know she is fearful of hands. When I do she enjoys it but after a while I think she stops being so relaxed and then realizes my hands are doing the touching. When she does she simply moves but doesn't nip in the process. Therefore, I stop and go on to something else.

I wonder if she is nervous around men, last night she started her vocal stuff around our male manage and then tonight I had her out again and a male customer asked me a question as I passed. She did her loud pitch noise and began eye pinning. Not in an excited way, more of a I am here and be aware of it type of deal. We'll see.

I will keep you all updated and I greatly appreciate the post.

I just remembered something. Well...not that I forget, but it's second nature to me. Whenever I scratch kia under the neck or help her with preening her head, she ALWAYS beaks my finger. I guess I would describe it like a suckling sort of thing. I have no idea why she does it, she just always did. It's sort of cute.

She likes getting scratched when I"m preening her, or maybe around the eyes, but not for longer than a few minutes. That works out fine for both of us though. She's a sweetie and will snuggle a bit, she just doesn't like to be petted much. She's 4.5 btw and I've had her 4 years. They are a joy.

We have 3 amazons, 2 Double Yellow Heads, one male and one female, and also a male yellow nape. I guess ours must be the exception to the rule. All three love getting preened by us and full body petting just like you would a cat or a dog. Our handicap DYH (Papa) loves nothing more than to sit on my chest and chew my shirts to bites, while getting preened and petted for hours. He has arthritis in both legs and is only comfortable sitting or should I say laying down on my chest. I walk around the house with him against my chest holding him with my hands cupped around him and he is happy as a clam.

Our female DYH loves having her noses scratched until she sneezes several times. FOr some reason she loves that.