The Difficulties of Handling a Handicapped Parrot

When a bird is handicapped in some way, we tend to "baby" it. Treat it differently then we would another bird. And sometimes this is necessary (different types of perching for specific injuries, softer foods for beak deformities, etc.) but most of the time, it is not necessary and we are only making things harder on the bird to be a bird.  Such...
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The Big Day: Will Morgan Choose Her Trainer Over Her Owner?!

The day is finally here - asking Morgan to fly to her current owner over her trainer for the past 2 weeks and 6 days, Jamieleigh.  Her owner, Patty has had Morgan for 4-5 months and in that time had her toe amputated and toweled Morgan to give her meds for two weeks.  Her trainer, Jamieleigh, has had Morgan 2.5 weeks and has become her favorite...
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Transferring The Bond of a Parrot to Someone Else

During this whole journey with Morgan the macaw, I was getting a ton of people saying things like, "But what if Morgan NEVER likes her owner again?" and "What if Morgan has chosen YOU over her owner forever?! Then what?!"  Here's how I was ensuring the switch of affections: What Patty did to EARN the bond:  Daily Care Patty was 100% in charg...
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Crashing During Flight Training: The Important Lessons

Reminder: Morgan is a 7 year old camelot macaw with a foot defect she was hatched with. To catch up with Morgan's story, please click here.  Lessons from this video: Always end the session on a positive note and while the enthusiasm is still high!  Crashing is part of the learning process - just like a toddler looks to its parents for how to re...
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Foot First vs Beak First (The Language of Parrots)

Because Morgan has a left foot defect, she has always had people who had no clue how to properly handle her. Do they treat her as normal? Do they compensate for her, or does she do that? The questions become endless.  Morgan has not been able to speak a common language with her previous owners and I'm determined for this to come to a stop. How? ...
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Remember to Take a Day Off Training (or More)

It feels like weeks have gone by to me, but its just been day by day... so day 12 got its own video.  There are numerous reasons to take breaks from formal training. I was just in a funk that happened to coincide with when I thought Morgan might need a physical break from working muscles that have not been worked on a consistent basis in the pas...
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