Re: Who needs a FF Senegal?

["Mona" <Dougandmona@KmdN21alLRWn65RAoltTsNDeveEySRghPqhko9npYbH8j4FAjNGCIwVZdJ9PTvURCS6-QpurZTydpPZDRA.yahoo.invalid>]

Janet asked:

" But I
can't seem to find a safe way to get her in and out of her cage when
her cage
is
in the same room with him. At any time she can just take off flying
onto--and with wide cage bars-- into--his cage.

Maybe Rex, Mona, Gay or others have some ideas."

Well Janet...I introduced Bailey Senegal to Andrew....Andrew has a
lot of big M2's....

I agree with you that this behavior of "flying at other birds and
people" seems to be an innate quality with Poi's.   I still believe
it can be modified but you have to work at it and like you write,
control the environment to some degree.

I'm bird sitting a sweet African grey this weekend.  I thought
Babylon would be okay with a grey, but sure enough....she swiped
over once or twice and chased the grey off the cage.   I admonished
her and grabbed the nerf ball gun.  Now, every time she gets near
the grey's cage - I grab the nerf ball gun - Babylon eyes me and
we're fine.   It just means I have to keep an eye on the Senegal
when all three birds are out - but that works.

My four point plan for modifying innate problem behaviors is:

1.	Identify the trigger (Sexual, territory, water)
2.	Avoid the trigger (work arounds)
3.	Reinforce behavior that you want
4.      Train an aversive

That all requires manipulation of the environment and vigilance.  I
have no idea how to do it without vigilance.

I do think that it can be done....that you can modify these sorts of
behaviors, but I also think that it is A LOT harder once the bird
gets away with the behaviors and learns that they can do it. It's a
lot easier if you can avoid the behaviors as much as possible.  The
more often a behavior occurs, the harder it is to modify and the
more likely it is to escalate into aggression.

Babylon and Phinney get along GREAT.  I can absolutely trust the two
of them together unattended.   When Babylon was a baby, she did
these "fly-by's" at Phinney....The first few times Babylon knocked
Phinney off her perch but once Phinney figured out what was going
on...she held her ground and sparred back with the Senegal.   I am
very fortunate to have compatible birds because once the beak
sparring was worked out.....both birds came to some sort of an
understanding and although they are certainly not bonded, they are
great companions.

The advantage I have with Babylon is that she's been mine since she
was a baby and I recognized the problem behavior immediately and
worked very hard to modify it quickly.   She still does the "fly-
by's" but they are not particularly aggressive.   It's more like in
her mind, if you are a bird and you are in this house - you MUST
fly.  The problem is more that she pushes other birds into flying
rather than that she attacks.

By the way, I absolutely DO NOT have this problem in the fly
building.  In the fly building, she flies WITH other birds and
always flies back to me.   She has never attacked another bird in
the air.   She is a lot of fun to fly in the building and I honestly
think she's a joy to have as a trained flyer.   IMHO, Joe could
easily train a Senegal.....they just are so small, people usually
aren't particularly impressed to see them fly....but Babylon is SO
much fun to fly.....I love flying her with other birds.  She really
seems to enjoy flying in circles with other birds.  The hard part is
finding other parrots that can keep up with her.

She's also "complicated".....HUGE poisonality....LOL

Thanks.

Mona in Seattle
Phinneous Fowl (aka Phinney) TAG
Babylon Senegal
Doug (spousal unit)