Howdy everyone, I’m back with a good news. Bryan’s Angels is one of the TOP 10 FINALISTS in the BEST DESIGN CATEGORY of OMY.SG’s Singapore Blog Awards 2008!

Kiki, Kermit and I are excited and honoured to make it through as the Final 10 in the Singapore Blog Awards. Can our blog be crowned as the BEST DESIGN BLOG?

We need supports from everyone and make this dream comes true.

Please vote for us at:
http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/finalists/?blogCat=design

Do take note my voting avatar is actually parrot, a picture of the Senegal Parrot and that is Kermit. Ensure you are voting for Bryan’s Angels - http://bryansangels.ohitsuji.com.

Voters also stand to win travel packages to Bangkok, Vietnam and a luxurious resort accommodation package in Phuket. So hurry and cast your votes!

Last Friday was Kiki’s one year old birthday. Although I wasn’t really sure about Kiki’s actual hatch day, even the breeder who I got Kiki from wasn’t sure too, but I decided to make 27th June as an official date for Kiki’s birthday.

Neither did I throw a party for her nor invite other feathered friends to the celebration, but a simple one.

Kiki was offered a big treat for the day, offered “Junk” foods only for that day just to please Kiki. She’s certainly a happy and lucky parrot!

Not forgetting about Kiki birthday presents. I made two presents for Kiki, sunflower seeds and the whole spray millets sealed in green packets respectively.

I managed to capture a short video on Kiki scavenging for millet from her birthday present. I still pondering why Kiki insisted to enjoying the treats from these tiny hole shred open by her. Why didn’t she just tear up the green packet and opened up everything? It’s always hard to understand a bird’s mind.

Kiki was really enjoying herself throughout the day. Especially Kiki enjoyed the spray millet alot, because I rarely offer the spray millet as a whole. She’s toally delighted. To her millet are everything, it’s like french fries so “addictive”.

After the main course (which is the seeds and millets treats), it’s time for some healthy salad. I prepared some alfafa sprouts, diced carrots, grapes, corn cob and sweet peas in her salad bowl, but she always goes for the sweet peas and leaving the rest untouched. But it’s didn’t really matter, since she’s the boss of the day!

Happy Birthday Kiki! We are really happy to have you for the past twelve months. You bring us fun and laughters! Days are never boring with your presence!

Love you always.

For past few days when replacing the Kiki’s cage linings, I noticed quite a number of feathers (mainly primary and secondary) lying at the bottom of the cage. The feathers are complete with no sign of any plucking and picking. Kiki seems to be going through a serious feather molting process, definitely a tough period for Kiki.

Furthermore, many of Kiki’s flight feathers were fully regrown. She definitely in for another grooming session to have her flight feathers trimmed.

By the way this coming Friday will be her one year birthday. Three more days to the big day, I’m still deciding what treat I’m going to prepare for her. Everyone in the family is truly excited, especially my mum.

Related Post:
To Wing Clipped or Not To?

Last Sunday after I posted the article titled “Are Punishments Accepted in Parrot Training?”, I received a few emails about their honest opinions on negative punishment.

Rick, one of my reader brought up some points. He indicated he also uses negative punishment in parrot training with his lovebird, and found that using punishment did eliminate unwanted behavior effectively and almost instantly. Furthermore, he indicated he had yet to see any behavior problem arise from his lovebird. He felt that since negative punishment seems to work out pretty well in his training routine why consider stopping this technique?

Well true, I do admit negative punishment can be effective at a stage and it does eliminate the unwanted behavior instantly. I saw the effectiveness when I conducted negative punishments on Kermit and Kiki before, but I also see other problems start to surface like increase in excessive vocalization (i.e Screaming Problem).

What we see are just the surface, a temporary remedy to the problem. In a long run, we are bound to see numbers of behavior problems arising. I will still insist don’t take the risk, try making all trainings positive will be ideal.

I’m sure many readers might be asking isn’t there any workaround for the negative punishment? There is a workaround which is to enforce the punishment without your presence. That means giving the punishment where your parrot cannot see you giving the punishment. By doing so, the parrot will link you up with all the hatred and fear caused by the punishment, thus this will not put the relationship and bond at risk.

In fact, I shared this technique on previous post labeled “Curb that Kermit Scream“, I highlighted on the steps how i carry out the workaround method in the post under section labeled “Method 2 - With Negative Reinforcement”.

Just to summarize, in the post I was trying to use negative punishment to reduce Kermit’s arising screaming problem. I tried a technique to enforce the punishment with a negative reinforcer without my presence, by doing so it will not put my relationship with Kermit at risk. In this technique, I use a desk bell (as Kermit is very afraid of the distinctive sound from the bell) as a negative reinforcer. Whenever Kermit start to scream, I will sound the bell from the other room. He will stop almost instantly, he understands that everytime he screams the bell will sound off. That’s the workaround I’m trying to emphasize.

Every technique come with pros and cons including this workaround. The benefits of this technique is that it remedy the problem instantly with a negative reinforcer without putting the relationship bond at risk, so you don’t have to worry that he will hate you for ringing the bell. In fact, he even didn’t know that you are the one ringing the bell. The disadvantage is that the technique can only be used in certain situations (e.g. you can’t be running back to your room and ring the bell when your parrot is already biting you). Next, using the technique in long run can result in a more fearful and less confident parrot.

The constant fear instilled in the parrot, will result in anxiety. Worst still, instead of improving the behavior problem this might lead to a screaming problem due to stress and anxiety.

Remember there’s no 100% fool proof method where you can remedy a problem almost immediately and instantly. The only best recommended by animal trainers and effective way to remedy a behavior problem permanently is to use proper positive techniques with time, effort, love and care, this way will bring you a more well behaved, lovable and a happy parrot!

Related Posts:
Are Punishments Accepted in Parrot Training?
Curb that Kermit Scream

I’m back again to share with everyone a new trick from Kermit. I’m proud to present to everyone Kermit’s very own Somersault Trick.

As Senegal Parrots are very acrobatic by nature, thus the trick shouldn’t post much difficulty to these african queens. Kermit learned the trick almost instantly.

Basically I used the similar steps and techniques that was used when teaching Kiki, my lovebird, the somersault trick. The only difference is that I used a wooden dowel pole as the hand perch, soon after Kermit was able to perform confidently under my hand and vocal cues, I replace the hand with perch with my right hand. Kermit progress really well during the trick training.

Any parrot owners interested in teaching this trick to your parrots, can refer to my previous post labeled Kiki’s Somersault Trick. The post highlighted the clear steps on how I guided Kiki into doing the somersault flip.

Related Post:
Kiki’s Somersault Trick

On my previous post, I shared about Kermit uttered the word “Peek-a-Boo”. Till now Kermit has been trying very hard to learn new words, and he has been constantly mumbling.

Yesterday when I was giving Kermit some nice head rub and massage, he mimics some funny sound. Below is the sound clip that I captured:

Kermit’s Baby-Like Mimicry

He does sound like a human baby uttering some noise. At one part of the sound clip, my mum thought it was a human baby giggling away! Well done Kermit!

Related Posts:
Kermit’s Addiction to Peek-a-Boo
Kermit’s Mimicry: Peek-a-Boo

Most of us including myself, regard our parrots as our kids. Like any other kids, they sometimes get nasty and cranky at times and many resorted to punishments to stop the unwanted or negative behaviors immediately.

Are these punishments accepted in parrot training? Are they really that effective?

I’ve identified some common punishments adopted my majority of owners (including myself in the past) whenever the parrots misbehaved:

1. Jail the parrot into a cage with no toys and isolate him whenever he/she misbehave.
2. Squirt water on his/her face.
3. Whenever the parrot misbehave (like biting your finger) while perching on your hand, giving him/her a strong firm shake also known as earthquake to stop the negative behavior.
4. Yelling back at the parrot.
5. Throwing things at the parrot.

Some owners might see effectiveness in the beginning but in actual fact it’s not going to help in the long run. Why is it so? Punishment is a form of negative reinforcement, and taking note that negative reinforcement is never recommended in parrot training.

No one likes to be punished, including ourselves we never like to be punished by others. Not only it may affect us physically, but the damage done emotionally can be difficult to remedy then after. Emotional damage are usually permanent, especially parrots are highly intelligent animals they can clear remember the negative punishment conducted on them, thus affecting the parrot and owner’s bond and relationship.

Below are some possible consequences of using punishment in the long run are:

1. Negative behavior can be accidentally reinforced.
2. Biting problems and aggressiveness.
3. Damage the bonding and the relationship between the parrot and the owner.
4. The parrot can become more fearful and less confident.

I hated myself in punishing Kermit and Kiki in the past, the negative behaviors did stop immediately, but I also felt that they were afraid of me and avoiding me after the punishment. It’s not a fantastic experience, and they totally ignore and avoiding me for the whole day, and I had to end up rebuilding the trust all over again the next day. From then I’ve stopped all negative punishment and tried using other positive method instead. Why putting the bond and the relationship at risk?

Many will asked if punishments are not accepted, what other method can be used to stop the negative behavior?

Simply ignore it or using distraction. These are two best methods to help reshaping and eliminating the negative behavior, but of course it requires sometime and consistency in executing these methods whenever a negative behavior arises.

So when to use them and at which situation? Well it’s definitely important to know which to use and at which situation. I’m not expecting you to ignore your parrot and endure the pain when he tries to bite or is biting you, that could be the silliest way that I doubt anyone will do. For example if the scenario is when your parrot tried to bite you when perching on your hand, try using the distraction method. Distract the your parrot with his/her favorite little toy (e.g. Little Bell, Balls, Chewable Wooden Toys). I will recommend a bell toys cause the sound catch his attention. Offer the toy to him or her whenever he/she tries to bite or even chewing at furnitures that he/she not suppose to. That’s one way you can stop the behavior positively. As for unwanted vocalization like screaming, ignoring it (not giving any eye contact) will be advisable. By doing so you will not accidentally reinforce the screaming problem.

These are some ways to help managing negative behavior positively in some situation. Always access the problem and try identify the possible cause of the problem before executing these methods.

Personally I’ve one great book to recommend for reading. I ever mentioned this book on my earlier post, but I guess it will be great to recommend the book again:

The Parrot Problem Solver by Barbara Heidenreich

Finally got to showcase Kermit, my Senegal Parrot’s first prop trick, the Kermit’s Retrieval Trick. Compared to Kiki, Kermit took a longer time to understand and master the trick, but he didn’t disappoint me in the end.

In comparison, Kiki seems to be a fast performer in her retrieval trick whereas Kermit seems to be a little laid back, slow but steady. Overall I’m still impress with Kermit’s performance, it’s already a big step and great progress in his trick training.

This round, I used the usual training techniques and similar teaching concept that was enforced on Kiki, instead of using the clicker method. Initially, I planned to use the clicker method on Kermit for this prop trick, but I found it rather difficult to manage. Difficult as in, I will appear to be “handicapped” during the training. A use of clicker in the training means an additional hand required in the training, thus I decided to use back the usual training techniques I’m more familiar of.

Related Post:
Kiki doing the Fetching Trick
Introducing Clicker Training
Clicker & Target Training for Kermit
Introducing Target Training

Many people who have never own a parrot or have very little knowledge on parrots will misunderstand the concept of Wing Clipping. Some even mistook as deliberately clipping the wings with cloth pegs or any foreign object so that the parrot will not be able to fly!

This might sound funny, how could someone come out with such crazy senseless explanation? But it’s true, that crazy senseless explanation actually came from a friend of mine. He had great misunderstanding about the concept of wing clipping and rating it as an immoral act.

Misunderstandings happen because of ignorants or little knowledge in parrots. So overall, we can’t blame people for labelling wing clipping as an unmoral ethic.

Thus, starting this blog to share my parrot training experience, parrot tricks and stories of Kiki and Kermit are not only my sole objectives, but also as an informative channel to educate and share knowledge on parrots, correcting any misconceptions in the aviculture.

Back to our topic, so what’s actually wing clip?

The term “Wing Clipping” in aviculture doesn’t refer to clip the wings of the parrots with cloth pegs or whatever foreign objects. To be correct “Wing Clipping” is actually trimming the primary feathers also known as flight feathers trimming.

This led to another question, so what are flight feathers? What are the purpose of flight feathers?

I found a better answer to these questions on Wikipedia. Flight feathers are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (singular remex) while those on the tail are called rectrices (singular rectrix). The purpose of flight feathers provide aids to lift and thrust during flight.

So to conclude trimming flight feathers is just a painless procedure and it shouldn’t cause any injuries or harm to the parrot at all. Trimming of flight feathers is of no different from any other grooming routines. It’s just like people visiting the barber to get a hair trim. Flight feathers do grow back over time just like human hairs. Flight feathers return back to its original length after each molt.

Back to the general question which most parrot owners always pondered about: To wing clipped or not to wing clipped?

Personally I feel that it’s a personal preference, up to each individual to decide after considering and weighing on the possible pros and cons of wing clipping.

Below are some of the pros and cons of wing clipping that I’ve identified:

Pros of Wing Clipping

• Easier manage and tame during trainings (That’s why Parrot Tricks Books or Video CDs always tell owners to wing clip their parrots).
• Ensure safety and prevent any accidents or injuries caused by household hazards. (e.g. Crashing into mirrors or windows / Fall into toilet bowl, pools or boiling water)
• Prevent escape.

Cons of Wing Clipping

• Overly dependable on owners (Less independent compared to a fully flight parrot).
• May result on “One Person Bird” behavior also known as Overly bond issues.
• May result in screaming behavior.
• Trigger biting behavior and other aggression (A full flighted parrot usually fly away if he encounters any dangers but parrots with restricted flight abilities will use biting as a replacement action of flying away).

I hope with the list of pros and cons will assist parrot owners in coming out with a wise decision on whether to wing clip or not to wing clip.

For me, I trimmed Kermit’s and Kiki’s flight feathers. The purpose is not to take away their flying abilities completely but restricting their capabilities to an acceptable distance and elevation. Kermit and Kiki are housed indoor and I lived in a high rise apartment. By doing so, I can prevent my parrots from fatal accidents caused by household hazards and ensuring the safety of my birds.

So you’ve decided to wing clip but how to wing clip your parrot?

Wing Clipping is conducted by trimming the first five to eight flight feathers on each wing. I wouldn’t recommend wing clipping your own parrot if you didn’t have any prior knowledge on how to identify the flight feathers and trimming them. The results of improper wing clip are fatal (e.g. Parrots won’t be able to glide and land safely / Injuries of the leg joints or impact on the keel bones due to crash landings).

Thus it’s always advisable to get someone experienced or knowledgeable like your own avian vet to show you.