- [Jamieleigh] So, unfortunately,
I mean, I think it's unfortunate,
Bean is like this on the stand just constantly.
He doesn't mellow out.
And I'm probably anthropomorphizing,
but I really feel like he wants outside.
And the reason I feel this way,
'cause he looks like he wants to fly,
but he knows that there's a window there,
is because from the other side of the room,
he has always flown into this corner,
and, obviously, there's a window here.
And he lands on the sill.
It's not like he tries to, you know,
just face first through the window,
but, I feel like he wants to be outside
if he steps up or flies at any point
where I can get him on my hand.
I think I might see how he does in just
this extra cage that I don't put anybody in over here.
So, I might see how he does out there,
because he is just,
he really seems like he wants to get outside.
I just don't know if it'll be
over the top crazy for him outside,
or if he'd really love it.
I'd actually really love
to put him in my giant aviary out there,
because my plans changed for Rocco,
and Rocco's at my parent's house.
So, I have this big aviary I could use for him
if he really wants to get into it.
My only problem is getting him down
if he doesn't want to come down from that aviary.
It's really tall.
(upbeat music)
So, right after I took that video,
he wanted to step up and I brought him outside,
and look how content he is, you guys.
I went to put him in the cage,
and he didn't seem to want to go in there.
So, do you want to go in here?
Oh, now he does.
What do you think?
What do you think about this?
Wow, all right, I'm gonna get him some breakfast,
and some stuff to play with in here and see how he does.
He seems like he wants to be out here.
Hey, I brought your breakfast out here.
Brought your breakfast.
You got a big breakfast like Crissy does.
Gosh, I really thought that being outside would like,
be senses overload for him,
but he seems super happy out here.
I might expedite the outside process for this guy.
I just have to be really careful of temperatures,
and make sure it's warm enough and short enough for him.
I brought a couple toys out that are his faves.
We'll see.
So, because I've been moving Bean around so much, my stands,
it hasn't been as easy to feed him as consistently
as I would do a diet conversion.
Always having pellets around,
because then he might be on a different stand,
and it's not as easy to put stuff there.
So, I don't know if he's quite eating the pellets yet.
Yesterday was kind of only his,
really only his chance to do it,
but he loves the birdie bread that I made for Blueberry.
So, this is definitely working as my diet conversion tool.
It's awesome.
So, he eats the fresh food really good,
and then he eats the birdie bread great.
So, right now that's his two meals.
He gets the fresh food in the morning,
and he gets birdie bread,
'cause it's easier to put around,
and hopefully he'll be eating pellets here soon.
Hi, just checking on Bean.
Look at that face.
Look at that messy face. - [Capri] Hey, Mom.
- [Jamieleigh] Look at that empty food dish.
- [Capri] What?
- [Jamieleigh] He ate everything.
- [Capri] Oh my gosh, he did.
- [Jamieleigh] Definitely likes this enclosure better.
Oh, my gosh, Capri, he's letting you pet him.
- I offered to pet, and he was like yes, please.
- [Jamieleigh] Aw.
- He feels exactly like Crissy.
- [Jamieleigh] That's awesome.
- [Capri] Also, I couldn't find the other picture.
- [Jamieleigh] Okay, that's all right.
Bean, do you want to come in?
- [Capri] He's like more pets please.
- [Jamieleigh] Just more petting.
Okay, well the weather's still nice, you can stay out.
I'm glad he's liking it out here.
- [Capri] Yeah, I'm glad too.
Want some, bud?
- [Jamieleigh] I think he's just eating
whatever he can get his beak on.
(laughing)
It's a nice day out,
and Bean stepped up real nice.
So, I'm gonna see if he wants to hang out outside.
It's his first time in an aviary.
I know, kinda scary.
Oh, there you go.
Look at you.
I'm gonna reverse the camera.
Got some fun stuff out here.
I just put fresh new kabobs out,
put some wheat grass out.
There's some real good stuff in here you can play with.
It's all brand new for you.
It's all brand new.
I expect to see a total mess on the ground when I get back.
Oh my gosh, he's so funny.
He's like dinkly putting his foot like, reaching for stuff.
I put in some birdie bread for him.
Yay!
Just 'cause he loves that, so I thought it would
make him feel good out here.
Okay, Idaho weather, it ended up raining,
so Bean got a bath.
So I rushed out to get him,
and he actually didn't wanna come inside.
but, I had to leave, so I put him inside anyway,
and now he's happily eating a second meal
of my seasonal feeding system,
and he's by the fire, so he's nice and happy.
Oof, I'll show you guys real quick.
There he is.
Super happy.
So, yeah.
Just head scratches.
Do ya wanna go outside today?
Will you come?
I know you just want head scratches.
Oh my goodness.
Will you come?
Good job.
Let's go outside.
Wanna go outside?
It'll be good.
Well, I came out here and look at this proud boy.
He ate his pellets, woop, woop, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Celebrate, celebrate, woo hoo!
He ate his pellets, ate his pellets.
How many days has it been?
This is awesome.
- I don't know, I haven't been keeping track.
- [Jamieleigh] Yay!
- [Capri] I think he's up to letting me pet him.
- [Jamieleigh] Pellet success, finally.
- [Capri] And some cute feathers.
- So, I had Bean on this stand in the window,
and he saw me sneaking a fruit snack,
'cause Capri's asleep,
and he tried to fly over here.
He's not super skilled at flying though,
so he ended up by the trash can behind me,
and then he walked over on the ground and came up,
and now he's hanging out.
Are we hanging out?
So, now we're just hanging out.
I think he thought there was gonna be
some human food goodies,
which, no, they're not.
I made sure I was done eating them before I picked him up,
but now we're just hanging out,
watchin' a little TV together.
Not SpongeBob, though.
He has not been talkative yet,
and he hasn't made any clicking bar sounds,
like Laura talked about being really annoying, that he does.
Luckily, he hasn't done that either,
but yeah, we're just hangin' out.
Right?
We're just hangin' 'til it's bedtime.
Capri sacked out early tonight.
So, it's a little quieter around here.
Got it?
Fingers not in the way?
Oh, Bean.
Good job!
Let's go inside.
Up to you.
(chuckling)
Do you want up there?
Good job.
Over here?
Look how well he's steppin' up.
Go up there?
Okay, good. (chuckling)
- [Capri] He is so sweet.
- [Jamieleigh] Little head pet break.
- [Capri] He's like, what about more?
- [Jamieleigh] Do you want to go to a different stand?
(laughing)
- [Jamieleigh] You're so good.
Now he's good.
- [Capri] 'Kay, here. - [Jamieleigh] Thank you.
Oh, my gosh, can you guys see Blueberry
just goin' to town on this toy?
She has had to learn,
to play with all the Macaw
and medium-size bird toys,
because that's what we have around here.
But just kinda goes to show,
all toys for all sizes.
Okay, anyways, totally distracted,
So, what I'm really excited about that you guys
got to see in this video
is the progression that Bean has had.
His step up and step downs are fantastic.
We are communicating super clearly.
One of the things that was really important
in his journey is allowing him to fail.
And what I mean by that is he would flap his wings
and wanna go somewhere,
and I could tell he wanted to go somewhere,
and every time I would offer my hand,
remember really early on,
he even lunged at me.
But most of the time he would walk away or ignore me.
And, I kept offering and I kept being like,
hey, do you want me to take you where you wanna go
is basically what I was communicating,
and he didn't trust me.
And he would, basically say, no.
So, I would say, okay,
and then he would end up flying,
ending up on the ground,
and I would go and help him.
Sometimes I made him walk to me,
and I would just kinda wait around for him to come around.
Sometimes I would go pretty much to him.
It was just always kind of varied.
A lot of the time, I let him walk around a little bit,
and eventually find me and ask me to step up,
you know, for him and stuff.
And I would step him up and then take him
where I thought he wanted to go.
And we were kind of learning
how to communicate to each other,
and he was learning to trust
that I understood what he wanted, because I did.
I knew he wanted to go somewhere,
and kinda when birds communicate through their body language
of like leaning towards where they wanna go.
That's kinda what he was doing,
and I was being very receptive to it
and trying different things.
If I walked to a play stand,
I could feel through his feet,
'cause I've been holding him from day one,
that holding his feet,
I could feel through his feet whether or not
he wanted to go there or stay with me.
So, it was really powerful and then eventually,
he started to learn and he stopped failing.
So, instead of choosing to fail every time,
and being like this human doesn't know what the heck I want,
he started being like, okay, I'll step up on you,
and give you a chance.
And that's when the communication really began,
and now he rarely says no.
When I see that he wants to do something,
and I offer, he's right there.
That made all the difference in the world,
and that's why he steps up and steps down so nicely.
It's really cool, I'm so excited.
I just feel like our communication is on point.
So, I'm excited that you guys get to see that in this video.
The other side of getting this clear communication
has been figuring out Bean's reinforcement.
I really haven't been using treats.
The treats that he takes is my birdie bread
and my seasonal feeding system.
I have to say this is the first time.
This is the first time I've ever used my healthy diet
as the actual treat,
but he's so excited about this food that it works.
Face (laughs), I swear I have the male version of Crissy.
You are.
(laughing)
He wiped off his beak and it did nothing.
It did nothing, Bean, your face.
Your face still looks like that.
You got a little somethin'.
That makes your beak look like it's growing food.
(laughing)
Oh my gosh, look at your face.
Too funny.
I made new birdie bread muffins today,
but you wouldn't know it, 'cause it's what he ate first,
and now he's going for this.
(laughing)
It's still on there.
Ah, he's like I'm tryin'.
There you go, you got it, you got it.
So, my reinforcement has been seasonal feeding system
over here, birdie bread muffin over here,
or half a birdie bread muffin.
Also outside has literally been a reinforcement,
has been a reward to him.
I think that the clear communication,
taking him to a play stand that he wants to be on,
has been a reward for him.
So, he is a bird that I am using multiple reinforcers
that I would say I don't normally.
I can tell that he really likes to be
on that play stand to sleep.
He likes to be on this play stand to eat,
or this one to eat.
He likes them all, and I make sure
that they all have some type of reinforcement about them,
and then also he's showed me
that they have certain reinforcement about them.
I literally turned a whole play stand around
that was not on wheels, and he didn't freak out.
I mean, before I wasn't even able to get him
close to these play stands.
Now these play stands are self-reinforcing to him.
Like it's an amazing, amazing transformation
that I'm so excited about.
So, kinda has you thinking outside the box,
and really plays into my family-friendly parrot formula
for those of you that watch it when I say,
it's up to the bird to determine what is punishment,
and what is reinforcement.
You don't get to decide that.
You don't get to decide, I'm gonna punish you,
and put you in your cage.
It's up to the bird to decide, is that punishment,
or is that reinforcement?
And that's something that we always have to be aware of,
so that we're using that training quadrant
that I talk about in that formula to our best ability,
and understanding how our behavior
influences their behavior.
It's such a powerful, powerful tool.
And always being open minded that it changes
from one bird to another.
It's really important because I have a Congo African Gray
that I don't treat Bean as though he is Crissy,
because they're two different birds
with two different personalities.
And what he finds reinforcing, may not be
the same thing that Crissy would find reinforcing.
Although, I do feel like they're both total foodies.
So, there are some comparisons, but at the same time,
for those of you with multiple birds,
make sure that you aren't treating them identically.
Because, what one bird views as reinforcement,
the other one may view as punishment.
So, it's really important that you don't get locked in
to any one thing.
And again, this could change.
Outside could become punishment.
A play stand could become punishment at anytime,
if misused or some things happen.
So, it's something to be aware of
that it could be always constantly changing.
So, it's up for evaluation every time.
So, really interesting.
I hope you guys gained a lot of insight from this video,
and enjoyed it because I feel like it had a lot of little
tid bits of knowledge in there.
It was really cool to be able to see how Bean
was interpreting everything.
So, thanks for watching.