Thanks Benbobola

OP yu just dug out my love for parrots from no where. kudos

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Sometime in may, my younger sister came back from school and being a lover of pets herself, I wanted to show her the pet that i just recently acquired, so in a bit of a show-off, i told her to go see what was in the room. As soon as she stepped into the room, the bird which I was beginning to address as a lovely bird, regressed to being that fearful and wild bird (infact at this point, I don't know who was more scared, whether my sister or my parrot? Because they both screamed ). Was it because she was an unfamiliar face? or was it because of the elaborate hairdo she was wearing that sparked his outburst? I couldn't tell, but one thing became clear, I was the only one he was comfortable with to a small degree. Prior to this time, I had read of parrot owners lamenting that their birds were 'one-person birds' but I never wanted that for Scofield, I wanted a bird that was well socialised with people. I observed that as soon as I rushed into the room to see what was happening, he seemed to gradually calm down, so I motioned for my sister to step out or stay behind me while I reassured him of his safety with a calm, soothing voice. Trust Scofield, he kept stretching his head to see who was behind me while still mumbling a growl under his breath as if to say "bros shift lemme see this person that is walking indiscriminately into my habitat"
Days past and I observed that whenever my sister and even my brothers came close to him, the response was always the same, so I devised a means of familiarising him with them. Whenever I was about to hand feed him, I would walk slowly into the room with a sibling closely behind me and just before he realises the presence of the second person, I'll slowly wave a palm fruit before him (did I mention that Scofield had acquired a new taste? Well he does and infact, it became his new favourite. It was one of those things that when I first presented to him, he just instinctively knew what he was supposed to do with it ). Just before I gave it to him, I made sure I teased him a little with it till he desperately wanted it to the point of even ignoring who walked into the room with me. As soon as he started to savour the fruit, my sibling would call out his name in a relaxed tone, that way, Scofield became confused, whether to stop eating and let go of the fruit so he can shriek at the person or to continue munching the fruit with reckless abadon? Well he made the right choice by sticking with his fruit (after all who quarell don help? ). Shortly after this episode he became more accepting of their presence and even moved on to accept food from their hands, howbeit with a little reluctance at first lol.
As at mid June there was little or no obvious display of fear from Scofield towards me or those around me since he now saw the hand gloves as the source of food and a means of transport to the great outdoors I observed one strange trait though, whenever I picked him up and he tried to steady himself by biting with his beak, as soon as he bit through the gloves and felt my fingers, he would deliberately reduce the biting pressure (as if he knew the proverb " do not bite the fingers that feed you" ). At this point I summoned courage to touch him on the back with bare hands...long story short, he bit me, but not with the intensity I had expected

I came up with a new strategy (Mr strategist oshey ) I'd wear a leather glove on one hand, then attempt to touch him with the bare hand, and just when he is within biting range, I'd intercept him with the hand wearing the hand gloves followed by a "shhhh" sound in an effort to startle him while avoiding a bite in the process. After a number of times, he understood the "shhhh" sound as me communicating to him not to proceed with that action. Though it took a few weeks, he finally understood what I meant. Thereafter I could use two bare hands to repeat the process and not get bitten (finally!!! )
I thought this same principle to my siblings and friends, it worked. The worst Scofield would do was to gently nip your hand when you handled him in a manner that was uncomfortable for him and by this time I was even beginning to forget what his shriek sounded like. I reinforced this process by not always having my way but always respecting his wishes, that way he became very much comfortable around people.

Chilling with scofield

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Scofield: one day one trouble miracle
In everyone lies a desire to love and be loved and this desire has made some of us to elevate some animals to the status of pets.
A whole lot of my view about birds changed since I got Scofield. Behind that beautifully decorated plumage lies a personality with likes, dislikes, desire for attention...and I have found this to be especially true for 'my boy', Scofield.
Mid July, I was ushered into the friend-zone of my bird and it all started one evening probably minutes past 7pm. The light in the room was a bit dim, and I was about to say my occasional "good night" to Scofield before turning off the lights when a thought came to me " why not try and touch him before turning off the light?"
P.S as at this time, Scofield's stand concerning touching on any part of his plumage was quite clear, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!! The best you could get was only the scaly feet and he would even occasionally push your fingers off with his beak).
I walked slowly towards his cage and reached out my fingers to touch his back. His next reaction was one that changed my entire philosophy of him...

For the first time in over three months, he made absolutely no effort to restrain me it was as though he froze for a moment there. This got me really confused. Is this not the same parrot that would push my hands off before I even got the chance to touch even a strand of feather? How can this be? Could he be sick or something? In my disbelief, I moved my finger upwards towards his neck and still no reaction, that was when it struck me that I've hit jackpot! Hurray!!! finally I can touch my pet! (Who celebrates being able to touch their pet ?). I went on to give him him a head and neck scratch just like I had seen some folks do to their parrots on YouTube. In fact that night, I went to bed feeling like Eddy Murphy in Dr Dolittle . In my mind "mehnn, tomorrow, I'm going to give Scofield all the neck scratches he has been missing for the past three months" .
6:30am the next morning, I was already at Scofield's cage to execute my plans, but to my utter surprise, the bird no even send me, all the time I tried to touch him, he'll just turn around to face his beak towards my hand in an attempt to push it off, all he wanted was his routine morning outdoor visit. I began to wonder, "what has come over him?" "Why the sudden change?" Throughout the day it was nearly impossible to get him to allow me even touch his feathers. I came up with a plan to re-enact the previous night's experience and see the outcome and as I had anticipated, his reaction was positive. It was at this point I confirmed a theory that Scofield was most docile and pasive in dim light, just when he was preparing to sleep. The next couple of nights saw me having neck scratching sessions with Scofield. As I scratched, I'd repeat the phrase "head scratch" severally to him. Over the next few days, when ever I said the phrase to him, he'd just bow his head and fluff his neck feathers so I could give him a rub. It became obvious that he enjoyed this activity so much that at certain times, he'd just close his eyes and enjoy the neck massage. Talk about a very relaxed and happy parrot

Awww! nice to know you 2 are bonding. you for snap your sister's hairdo for us na lolllll .

blackbelly ooooo

@jayned how and her pups? pls don't reply me here just go and update her thread I don't want to derail or am I derailing already? OP no vex Abeg I can't help it

Blackbelle ooooo
Comman finish ur story..
I so want to get a parrot right now

Jayned don't worry I'll create a special diary for the hairdo so as not to derail this thread
Rumenase, no derailing allowed.
Freezyprinzy don't get a parrot just because you're smiling while reading my thread 'cos there'll be times when you'd become very upset with the bird and I'll not be there to cheer u up. #hardTruth

Blackbelly:
Jayned don't worry I'll create a special diary for the hairdo so as not to derail this thread
Rumenase, no derailing allowed.
Freezyprinzy don't get a parrot just because you're smiling while reading my thread 'cos there'll be times when you'd become very upset with the bird and I'll not be there to cheer u up. #hardTruth

blackbelly if it's the hairdo derailing is allowed.

Blackbelly:
Jayned don't worry I'll create a special diary for the hairdo so as not to derail this thread
Rumenase, no derailing allowed.
Freezyprinzy don't get a parrot just because you're smiling while reading my thread 'cos there'll be times when you'd become very upset with the bird and I'll not be there to cheer u up. #hardTruth

I don't want to get it because of your story I love parrots

freezyprinzy:
I don't want to get it because of your story I love parrots

If that is the case it would be worthwhile 4 u 2 get one. It'll make yur life more fun

Blackbelly:
If that is the case it would be worthwhile 4 u 2 get one. It'll make yur life more fun

aww so cute. I'm already in love with your bird.
#following

Thanks baba sha come complete tori

Blackbelly:
If that is the case it would be worthwhile 4 u 2 get one. It'll make yur life more fun

Litter training a bird?
All new pet owners would agree with me that one of the most challenging problems we face is POOP PROBLEM. If you think chickens poop often, then my friend, you have no idea what parrot owners go through, because for parrots, poop business is serious business! A happy parrot can poop as often as every 10-15 minutes...eeewww!
I'll try to recreate some of my worst scenarios with parrot poop so you really understand what I mean

Imagine trying to show-off your pet parrot to friends, neighbours and passersby by placing it on your shoulders (probably striking a pose for your fans in your designer shirt ) and all of a sudden when you expect him to be in his best behaviour, he lowers his tail and drop a warm watery pile of poop on your shoulder.
You'll be like "lemme just kill this bird

Then your neighbours will be like "ah, ah, its just a bird, leave the poor thing alone"

The 'wicket' bird just wiggles its tail and be looking at you like

Scenario 2
Imagine picking up your parrot from its cage in the room, for a routine morning outdoor visit, and just when you're walking past the sitting room you hear SPRAAT!!! You look down on the tiled floor only to find something big and greenish scattered all over the place I believe you'll be like " kuku kill me"

Scenario 3
You're doing cage and room cleaning and after taking out the soiled newspapers and mopping up the floor, you turn around to quickly get fresh newspapers and seconds before you spread it, you hear your worst nightmare SPRAAT! on the clean floor. You look down and what you see makes you tell yourself "I will not cry"

You raise your head up only to see your parrot going about his business as if to say "wetin concern me"

Then you begin to ask yourself "na which kind wahala I go take my money buy so?"

If the producers of tissue papers gave prizes for their most frequent customers, I think by now I would have been on their payroll. Infact, if I were to give advice to intending parrot owners who would want their birds to run free within the house, the first advice will be to buy tissue papers; LOTS OF IT!
Time would fail me to narrate all the episodes of Scofield pooing at awkward moments, pooing on my clothes, pooing on furnitures, pooing at the wrong place and so on .
At some point, I began to do research about various methods of litter-training pets and almost all the advice I found did not work for Scofield. If you think litter training a dog or a cat takes time, then my friend you have no idea what it means to litter-train a bird!
Months after making the decision to let Scofield outside every morning, I observed one funny trait. Whenever I dropped him on his outdoor perch, the first thing he'd do is take two steps backwards, lower his rear end, wiggle his red tail and drop a big poo, followed by a coo of contentment. I figured that I might as well say "poop" just before he actually poops as a way of making him associate the word "poop" with his 'toilet business'.
Guess what Two weeks later, whenever I intended to place him on my shoulders, or any furniture, all I had to do was hold him out over an appropriate place and say "poop" after which he empties his bowel before allowing him roam free. Though I still have to calculate his 'safe period', but I'm positive that I'm very close to fully solving the poop puzzle!

Wow..... Am beginning to love the bird set....

But I do have their poop too..... it's mostly watery compare to rabbits own that's solid

Am keeping rabbits tho.... Not as a pet but for business

Tho I loved it as a pet at first but I see how people are making money from it and then booom..... I turned it to a farm

Lol

LilMarley, i kept rabbits for a few years too, made some small cash from it. The smell if rabbit can be very unpleasant.

Scofield bowing for a head scratch

Scofield getting a head scratch

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