₦airaland Forum

Hahahaha...rumenase, don't worry, I'll update on Scofield shortly

Baroba:
Palm nuts is actually one of there favourite foods, African Grays are known to raid palm plantations, another good food for them is Sunflower seeds.. I use to have one back in the day but it flew away thanks to my careless brother..It was 25k back then.

Baroba where can one find sunflower seeds?

Chilling with scofield

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.

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

Here's my boy, scofield

Thanks Benbobola

Anchor84:
Wow,Adecamp sold dis?ill contact him for mine immediately.guess scofield was very young.

Based on the yellow colour of Scofield's iris, I'm guessing he's not less than 4 years old. I'll advice you go for a much younger bird

Who says you can't teach an old dog parrot new tricks
From the very first time I attempted to transfer Scofield from a small cage into a bigger one, my hand became a target for Scofield's sharp and pointed beak. I could somehow feel his frustration in not having had the opportunity in getting back at me for my rough handling of him the first day, so I came up with a plan.
Ever seen a scenerio where two equally matched people fight and nobody makes any move to separate them? After they have each given and received the due reward of their fists, they usually settle themselves and agree that peace is better than war. This was the back bone of my plan.
I went to the market, bought a pair of thick leather hand gloves came back home, wore them halfway and allowed Scofield to vent all his anger and frustration on the gloves ;. With all joy, Scofield pounced on the gloves.
Five minutes later I observed that my boy was gradually getting tired, then I rubbed his beak with the gloves, encouraging him to continue and not give up just yet. I did this over and over till he had not one ounce of strength left to bite. Even when I touched him with the gloves, he just sat still looking at me like " u dis boy I wee bite you o, its just because I'm tired that am allowing u to touch me, lemme rest fest, u will see" (p.s by this time the hand gloves were already a shadow of their former selves lol)
After a couple a days doing this, Scofield showed that he had made peace with the gloves (there was neither victor nor vanquished) so much so that when I touched him with the gloves, he'll just growl a little kinda like saying "na because na u ooo, if not... "
After a while I said to my self since he is now at ease with me using hand gloves, why not I try with my hands, maybe he'll not mind...what followed next was a sore reminder that the phrases 'being at peace' and 'being friends' are not to be confused
My daily effort proved productive as I could now easily pick up Scofield with hand gloves without any hassle, he even began collecting grains of corn from me (howbeit with the hand gloves). Whenever I wanted to pick him up with the gloves, I'll gently nudge him on the breast bone and say " step up" after stepping up I'll praise him by saying "good boy" followed by a reward of a grain of corn. Sometimes I would repeat this process for up to ten minutes at a time.
Weeks passed and I observed that he no longer greeted me with the ear piercing shriek each time I made eye contact with him, walked towards him or picked him up. It was now clear that Scofield was gradually yet steadily evolving into a friendly pet or so I thought...

ah ah, wait na, e still dey fire. Ermm waiter bring one plate of catfish peppersoup for hoodboy

@Anchor84, Nov. 15th makes it 7months scofield has been with me. @sexysegxy thanks for stoping by, your comment is appreciated. The petlander who sold Scofield to me resides in Lagos as well. search for the moniker 'Adecamp'

My boy: scofield, posing for the camera. BOSS BIRD

When the silver lining appears
My experience with Scofield has taught me some lessons: some things in life cannot be attained by any formula, just rest in quiet patience and they'll come to you
After giving up on all efforts to make my parrot chirp or whistle, I made a decision that no matter what, I'll still give it the very best of care a human can provide for a bird so I made it a point of duty to always allow him spend a minimum of 3 hours everyday outdoors at least to enjoy the morning sunshine and the evening breeze (p.s the wings of Scofield had already been clipped so no threat of it making any sudden flight).
On a warm and sunny saturday morning (sometime in may), I brought him outdoors as usual while I went about with my laundry. I observed him behind me sitting still looking at birds flying overhead and then I heard something that brought one of the most intense feeling of happiness I had ever felt...it was a SQUAWK!!! omg! must I be dreaming? could this be for real? Somebody please pinch me!!! While I was still racing in thoughts and doubting the source of what I just heard, Scofield gave an even louder squawk...ooh I felt like vaporizing into bliss! (Expectant mothers and fathers who hear the cry of their first child can relate to what I'm talking about ...) For the first time since I got him, I saw him at ease. He went on to flapping his wings for quite a while and preening his tail feathers as though he had momentarily forgotten about the fears he had for me or anything in the world.Talk about freedom!!!
This opened up a new chapter in my friendship with my feathered friend. I later came to realise that the warmth of the sun and the exuberance of the birds flying and chirping all over the place unlocked the parrot in Scofield, something I couldn't do! From this moment onwards Scofield gradually became a chatterbox once I bring him outdoors, filling the air with all kinds of whistle stunts and squawk combinations. One particularly interesting trait about Scofield that distinguishes him from other parrots I have read about or seen is that once he is inside the house, he just seems to understand that its time to be calm.
Over time, I grew fond of Scofield that I nicknamed him 'my boy' and he just seems to relate with it.
Next post: how I got an old, fearful, bitey and very aggressive parrot into a very docile creature that doesn't bite or shriek at anyone who touches it (even complete strangers)?

Hahaha...@klabi don't worry I'll make out time to update soon. @kunle...the Heartbeat Of The Nation

When a parrot is quiet
It is popularly said that when a chicken enters a new environment, it stands on one foot. This statement has never been more true to me like when my house became Scofield's new home.
As a young man who finished NYSC in recent past I had wanted a pet that could enliven the environment I reside. I didn't want a dog 'cos of their size, cost of maintenance, barking at night, etc. A parrot just seemed to do the trick for me as it seemed to fit into all my requirements and this was what led to Scofield coming into my life.
After getting Scofield, my expectation of a parrot that will enliven my domain with chirps and whistles seemed to have been deflated. Alas! I had bought a very quiet parrot. Aside the occasional shriek Scofield made when he felt frightened, HE DID NOT PRODUCE A SINGLE SOUND FOR THE FIRST FIVE WEEKS!!!
I tried every trick I knew to make him chirp or at least whistle (I'm not even talking of mimicking sounds o) all my efforts met a brick wall. At some points I began to ask myself some strange and funny questions like "you sure say no be dumb parrot you go buy so?" "what if na like this e go always be?" etc lol
I made as much research about this problem as I could even to the point of reading several dog threads concerning new dog owners complaining about their puppies refusal to bark or dogs being too quiet, thinking to myself that at least what is food for the goose will also be food for the gander (chai! I read thread sotay I tire )
As days turned to weeks, I called the petlander that sold the parrot to me that 'his' parrot is not meeting expectations in terms of being a chatterbox. The gentleman reassured me that I should be patient with the bird and that it'll definitely come around. It got to a point I resorted to taking a giant leap by bringing my bird outside the house to observe other birds, peradventure his parrot instincts will kick in. After enduring some serious biting even with hand gloves, my parrot was still as silent as silent could be. At the height of my running out of patience, I resorted to starving it for some hours if perhaps it will cry out to God for food ...yet no results.
At some point in all this I reclined to fate. I reasoned: "perhaps, this was not meant to be and there is no need in trying to force out something out of this poor bird" and on that note I gave up on the hope of ever getting to hear my parrot whistle or mimick my voice . Then one day...
To be continued!

Scofield looking at me like: "you this boy, you haff come again to disturb me" lol

Pics of Scofield coming soon...

Who said feeding is easy?
16th of April 2017 being a Sunday, I had to leave for church pretty early, so I bought some shelled groundnuts, emptied a handful into scofield's feeding can while ignoring his shriek, poured water into the watering can. All should be well (or so I thought), eating groundnuts should be as simple as ABC for Scofield after all I had seen a parrot eating groundnut prior to this time and off I zoomed to church.
Coming back home and seeing an untouched meal was not what I envisioned, so I thought to myself "maybe he's not in the mood for groundnut right now". A picture of a parrot eating an apple I had previously seen on Nairaland flashed in my mind and quickly I dashed to a provision store to get an apple (after all, who doesn't like apples?). To my greatest surprise all the chopped pieces of apple I brought to it were rejected, then it began to dawn on me that what I had read about the difficulty in getting parrots to try out new foods was nothing but truth.
I virtually tried out up to ten different foods (apples, groundnuts, peppers, cooked beans, carrots and the list goes on) I had read that parrots eat, still no positive response (which kain animal be this sef?). After perusing through some parrot threads again I found soaked corn as one of the options I hadn't tried. So I went to the market bought fresh corn, soaked it for around 3 hours and tried it. Eureka! I had finally solved the feeding puzzle at least one food for a start!

Scofield: one day one trouble.
The night of 15th of April seemed to be one of the longest nights of my life in recent times. The excitement of waking up to meet a lovely pet, the bliss of having a parrot mimick my voice, the thrills of having a feathered creature wake me up with melodious chirps and sonorous whistles...all of that made my night one of fantasy (Only new pet owners would understand this feeling) but little did I know I would wake up to meet a rude shock!
Did I mention that my feathered 'friend' slept in his cage positioned in a corner of my room? (Talk about a pet lover). What shook off the fantasy from my mind was the shriek of scolfied as I attempted to get off my bed.
It now became apparent to me that every sudden movement, every prolonged eye contact and every sound from me was greeted with a shriek. Over the next few weeks it became clear that the videos of cute and cuddly parrots I spent hours streaming on youtube was not anywhere close to the parrot I had in reality. Like the popular saying 'who no go no know'

Baroba you're right. I initially desired a chick as a starter but as the saying goes, when the desired is not available, the available becomes the desired

Getting home I brought out the small round cage housing my pet which by the way I call scofield and was warmly greeted by his shriek (which I was gradually getting used to). I observed that the cage floor had cashew nuts, groundnuts, etc littered over it which I presumed must have been peace offerings from the passengers that travelled with it probably so they could have a quiet journey.
Next came the big challenge of removing a bird with a fierce looking black curved beak out of a small cage. I had read stories of some parrots capable of breaking the kernels of palm fruits and I had no intention of sticking my fingers inside that cage (who no like him finger ) So I reached for some thick gloves and within 2 seconds of putting my hand in the cage I retracted my fingers (I'm guessing you already know why). The struggle must have lasted for some 20 minutes before I made a breakthrough...whew!!!
Parrot wahala!

If you think transporting a goat or dog using public transportation is difficult, then my friend, you have no idea what it means to transport an old, untrained and fearful parrot .
Because of the persistent shriek it made each time we made eye contact, I had to put the cage with the parrot in a big 'ghana must go' bag, just to make this creature quieten down and not cause panic to those around, but little did I know that parrots don't understand quiet lol. Inside a public bus, waiting for the bus to get filled with two more passengers or so, the parrot seemed too calm to me. I became suspicious of its safety inside the bag so I decided to unzip the bag a little to take a small peek to check up on my parrot (na who send me ) what I heard next threw both me, the driver and all the passengers inside the bus in commotion. An elderly woman and two young ladies sitting in front of me flew out of the bus as if they saw someone wearing a suicide vest . It took a great deal of persuasion on my part to make them believe that there was no cause for alarm and that it was just a bird (see me that didn't want to stand out from the crowd...lol) the series of embarrassments that this small feathered creature caused me is not what I would ever like to experience again!

We chatted and he sent pictures and videos of some birds. I requested for a 7 month old male but the picture of the bird didn't really appeal much so I went with an older more appealing parrot. Since we resided in different states, I called a friend of mine to check out the bird and help me out with the logistics. After payment the bird was sent to me on the 15th of April this year. I was quite excited when the driver called me (sounding pissed) to rendezvous at a popular junction to pick up my NOISY BIRD. At first sight of the bird he gave a deafening shriek (the first of many I had to become accustomed to over the next few weeks lol) which caused a conflict of emotions in my head: the joy of seeing my new pet, the fear of having to live with this kind of noisy creature, the confusion of how to transport this creature home without becoming a public spectacle...in spite of all this I was happy I got a healthy and vibrant bird and not something dull and sickly. Next post: The tortuous journey of taking it home

I had always hoped, fantasized and even dreamed of having a parrot as far as I can remember. This desire made me read so many articles about them, so much so that I read the entire thread of "No parrot owners here?" thrice! I decided enough with the reading and fantasizing about them and actually made a move to get one. While reading about a thread on pet section, I got the contact of a petlander who deals in exotic birds and voilà!

As far as I can remember I've always been fascinated by animals and I spent a great deal of my childhood nurturing different animal species from common pets like dogs, birds and rabbits to more weird ones like fish, snails, giant rats, and even grasshoppers (yea you read correctly grasshoppers... ). Of all the different species, I am most intrigued by parrots, and of all parrots, I'm especially fond of the African grey Parrot. Whether this interest is because of my encounter with one during my adolescence or because of its sheer ability to mimick human words I can't say, but what I can say is that there are not so many animals with the beauty, curiosity, intelligence and sound mimickry as the African grey parrot.

Infact I'll Just Create A Diary Of My Experience With My Pet Buddy African Grey Parrot

I Read All The Pages Of This Thread At Least Thrice And Found It Very Educative, Comical And Interesting. I'll Add My Opinion To It Very Shortly