Dodo's Flock (Ongoing Thread)

[sdodo]

So, lesson learned, if its after 6:30, its unlikely that I am going to get much done with ether bird. I did learn that Max will go down the ladder...when he wants to be done with clicker training and be with Kiger. On the flip side Kiger will just fly off when he is done. We managed upside down once I think before Kiger opted it would be better to be with Max.

So a question about my two favorite little flirts. When should I be worried about spring and hormonal birds? Should I remove anything with reflective surfaces (bells) for the time being? I recall reading that even with males if their hormones are going to run rampant for to long (past the typical season for this...) there can be health issues. Should I stick to veggies and veggies only (no sprouts) until they cool down a bit. Should I just wait and see for now? This is brand new uncharted territory for me as a budgie owner so I'm not sure what to do.

[FaeryBee]

I'd wait and see before changing toys.
If either of them become obsessed with a particular toy and are regurgitating to it frequently, then it will be best to remove it.
Out of my current seven males, only one of them gave me concerns on that score and all toys with any sort of mirror had to be removed from the cage permanently.

There is no reason to stop feeding sprouts -- sprouts are very healthy.
What you will want to do when they come into condition is limit the amount of protein (egg food) in their diet.

You can also limit daylight hours if necessary.

[sdodo]

ok
Nether boy is feeding anything aside from each other, and that is Kiger feeding Max. To my surprise we were much chiller this weekend then last. I moved things around Saturday night and Sunday they were far more interested in destroying the bird Kabob that was easier to get to this time round.

They are going after the mineral block a whole lot more then normal. I will keep an eye on them for now, this week is veggies. I rotate sprouts and veggies depending on the week. I'm glad I don't need to worry about the sprouts. They prefer sprouts over all other things except for dry seeds...and millet.

Anyway I will try and do some clicker training tonight. I'm not sure how I will pull it off but I might try and get a picture of Kiger waving and share the cuteness!

[sdodo]

So the magic combination to have a successful training session is bird 1 on play stand, bird 2 in carrier within sight of bird 1. Not in spare cage, not in bed time cage, not in the play area... only in the carrier.

With that done (kiger in the carrier Max on the stand) We had an interesting night. Max went down the ladder!!!!!!! Three time even! Each time followed by going back up the ladder. I'm so proud of the little dude. That was interrupted by him having an issue with the millet...he started shaking his head and adjusting his crop. It freaked me out. It passed, I guess the seeds didn't sit well in his crop? He was back to normal shortly after so I don't know...

Kiger is doing what Kiger does best. Being adorable. I took a video of him on my phone but short of uploading it to YouTube I don't know how I'd post it here... We are getting better about upside-down. I need to work on shake with him. He isn't nearly as sure bout what I want him to do with shake then he is with wave.
I am starting Max toward learning upside down as well. We shall see how this goes.

[FaeryBee]

You are amazing!!
How great that you've figured out the perfect arrangement of the two budgies for their training sessions.
I'm in total awe of you for bringing them both along so far so quickly. Well done!

[sdodo]

Thank you FaeryBee

With how fast Kiger is learning I'm trying to keep a going list of what I want to work towards with him. Max basically is just following what Kiger has learned, just at his own slower pace. I think once he gets going around the perch down I might try to get him to start working on a flat surface (cage top). That alone might be a challenge knowing how easily distracted Kiger is. From there I think I will work toward 'roll over' and picking things up/retrieving things. In the mean time I need to work on my own discipline to teach them to do 'wings up' on command. I just struggle to catch them in the act. Might need a second clicker to have by their main cage so I can start associating the word/act with treat...something like that.
Anyway I might do some training tonight, we will see depending on how things play out with the rest of the day and their mood tonight.

[sdodo]

Its been a while. I did try working with Max and Kiger last week but nether was in the mood for much. Real life stuff kinda exploded and I just have not had the energy of late to do more then let them out to fly around.

So instead of an training update I am going to mention something I saw the other day.
Some backstory for anyone who doesn't know. Kiger was a pet store bird. I got him almost a year ago (1 year in May). At that time he did not have baby bars, and had a very blue cere, and he had dark eyes as in no visible iris. (one could be seen if you took a picture with flash but that was it.) Fast forward 4 months and I adopt Max, the stray. Max is clearly over a year old (even if the place I adopted him from stated he was 6 months) He has very defined white irises. It was with Max that I first saw what eye pinning was (got to say it freaked me out a bit at first). So now lets speak on the matter at hand. I witnessed Kiger pinning his eyes at me the other day. He in his cage and was over by my chair, singing dancing and doing everything that is his way of begging for a treat. I noticed something with his eyes. When he wasn't dancing all over the place I realized he has dark gray irises, and was pinning his eyes at me. The eye pinning part isn't all that surprising. Kiger loves the treats. What surprised me was I could see the eye pinning, and in turn if I look and he is still long enough I can see the gray irises. A very small part of me is sad he doesn't have the cute black baby eyes I loved, but he still is adorable (and he knows it). Could this be a recent development? Or am I just oblivious/he only recently started pinning his eyes? I am curious.

I plan on training tonight if the two little goofs work with me. There is always the possibility they wont be in the mood.

[StarlingWings]

They sound adorable; I'm glad that they're doing well!

As budgies age (provided they aren't of a genetic mutation that causes them to never develop irises, such as recessive pied), their irises fade in to dark grey, then medium grey, then light grey, etc. These stages can take different times depending on the budgie. My girl also took a while to develop her "big girl" irises; hers were finally developed by the time she was a year and a half old.

I would say you're only just able to see that his eyes are transitioning to grey irises!

[sdodo]

StarlingWings, that's good to know. Thank you

So we managed to get some training done last night. Now we will see if this helps tomorrow when I work with them again but I work with Kiger first, while Max stays in the carrier. Kiger doesn't get bored or distracted and Max can get himself worked up for his turn (In theory) It worked out last night. Kiger did his usual routine. I foucesed on 'wave' and having him only wave on command. I am sure he has figured out that 'wave' is one of those tricks that human thinks is absolutely the cutest thing ever and as such he is quite willing to repeatedly do the trick even when he isn't prompted. The same goes for his 'dance'.
Kigers dance is him looking up and whipping his head from side to side. He will do this when he is happy about something like he just got millet. Part of me worries that its something I should be concerned about but he is otherwise fine so I let him do his thing.
Anyway so we did that and upside down. He is getting better about upside down but needs a bit more time before we move on to loop.

Then there is Max. Poor little Max. I think I might just need to shelf the work on the ladder. He has gone down it, he has gone down it to touch the pointer and to be a stinker and get to Kiger. However, now its scary once more. He made it half way down at one point last night before deciding, nope not doing this, and going right on back up to the perch. I did notice a tell when he is considering the idea. I will ask him to touch the pointer farther down the ladder from the perch and he will 'touch' the wood around him, so a wooden bead to another part of the play stand, a central post, maybe a wrung of the ladder. When none of that gets a response he then will start down the ladder/lean to touch the pointer. I worked on shake and 'up' commands with him instead last night.
I'm not sure what to think. I might try and find something else he might like as a treat to entice him more.
So that is where we are at. Progress is being made in its own way. We will see if this game plan of having Kiger go first with training will work consistently. Fingers crossed!

[sdodo]

Update time.

The new arrangement appears to be working so far. Kiger goes first with training, he is becoming more reliable about upside down. We are now doing 'upside down' clicky, 'touch' (pointer is farther back behind the perch causing him to start the loop around the perch) clicky and treat. He got tired of that fairly quickly though and opted to drop down to the bottom of the play stand and look for fallen bits of millet. So I moved the pay stand away and started working on the concept of working on a flat surface. That didn't go over well. I'll give it time and some more work.

So Mr. Max...I am still trying to figure out what is blocking him from the idea of doing anything with the ladder. I think its in part something to do with the pointer itself. Its a transparent red acrylic stick basically. I might try looking into a different kind of pointer, to see if that might work better with him. In the mean time for 'touch' tricks (ladder/upside down) I am going to just work on having him reliably move about the perch area without hesitation. Right now he has a tendency to hesitate for looong moments before starting to lean toward the pointer and eventually touch it. In the meantime I am going to work on things that I don't use the pointer for like 'shake' and 'wave'. Max already knows 'shake' fairly well so we started on 'wave' last night.
Its adorable!

I am continually amazed and amused by these two. Careful serious business Max will politely hop up onto my hand when asked. Kiger...well we need to work on that. Max while he likes millet will not be the one standing as close as he can to the human from inside the cage, signing/dancing (begging) for millet. You will also not see Max sprinting across the bottom of the cage the moment you hold some millet up to the cage bars. On the other hand Kiger will do all of the above for millet.