http://www.restarea1mile.com/ravens.html
This site was useful in that it confirmed quite a bit of what I have already learned and discovered about Fig.
Two things I completely disagree with the author about in addition to the very idea of having a pet corvid to begin with are feather trimming and poop in the bath.
Trimming a Crow's feathers to any degree cannot be the correct decision. I would not trim any bird's feathers in fact. I would like to state the previous sentence emphatically. Please don't cut birds feathers, instead learn to train, handle, manage and keep them safe. Because Fig is injured though I mulled over this for months, and finally decided that doing it would endanger Fig in a high glide, or fast descent in which Crows naturally break their fall by extending their wings to create a cushion of air, like a hovercraft, to land on. If you trim the feathers birds cannot safely break their fall, and they will get injured, breaking a wing, or breastbone, or a beak. I will try to post about managing birds without trimming their feathers another time.
If you have a pet Crow or Raven, which Fig is not, she is an injured bird that I am doing my level best to tame and care for, then you ought to have a large enough space for them to jump around and fly in. Fig cannot fly well, but she still has a large enough outdoor living space to exercise and fly in, and I still take her outside to do a measured amount of exercise, even in the winter. I usually wrap her up in a scarf to warm her between runs, jumps, or short flights depending on what we are doing as having a broken wing makes it hard for her to keep as warm as she would normally. She likes to run, while flapping her wings. She likes to fly up on low walls, benches, and me. She likes to climb trees, and other things. I am only beginning to understand how to meet her exercise needs as an injured, captive bird.
If I wanted a pet, I would get a parrot, NOT a corvid of any kind, they are very difficult to care for well. Parrots are from warm climates, with endless fruit to eat, so they can sit in the sofa all day. Crows are much more active, probably because they need to move to find food, and stay warm. They store up a lot of energy during the day, and become wound up like a dog if they are contained, even in a large aviary. Been to the zoo? It's like that. Everyone feels sad looking at zoo animals. They need to be able to dissipate their naturally super high physical, and psychological energies. They cannot be caged, period. This is what I have discovered about Crows. I raised Fig in a cage which gradually got bigger and bigger as she demanded it, and that was an intentional process implemented in hopes of helping her to adjust better psychologically to the imperfect captive bred situation she inevitably has to live with. It seems to have worked well, but even she could never be kept caged, she simply would not put up with it, so eventually the cage went. A corvid bird kept in a large aviary will still require time outside the enclosure to remain sane, they simply are not pets.
Regarding poop in the water. If your bird is pooping in the bath, or drinking water, tossing food around, or other messy things, then your bird is not happy. Listen, and make the necessary adjustments. If you do your bird will forgive you for your past crimes. Consider leaving the cage open at least when you are around. Birds often like their enclosures, they just don't enjoy feeling confined, ignored, or neglected. Fig has never pooped in her bath or drinking water, in part I suspect, because she grew up in a cage where she habituated to using a toilet tray, but it is also that her enclosure is large enough that she is not feeling too cramped, and that I keep a regular schedule to socialize with her morning afternoon, and evening, so she is not rebelling now. After the cage got tossed she has successfully retained the habit of using the tray as a toilet. You can train your bird to do this too. Place the toilet tray under their favorite place to sit. Set the tray back so it covers the space "behind" the perch. Corvids will naturally go to the bathroom in the same spot, in the same direction. Don't make the perch longer than the tray is wide, but don't suddenly change your set up either. If you have a long perch now, get a long tray, and gradually reduce the perch and tray size at the same time. The favorite perch is now the toilet spot. Give your bird another perch close to the toilet perch. They will eventually learn that the close perch is close enough to the favorite spot, that they will venture away from the toilet perch and sit there sometimes too, and they will feel not far enough away from the toilet perch to have an excuse not to habituate the toilet perch when they need to go to the bathroom. Corvids have a naturally guilty conscience; develop that, and use it to your advantage. In time they will become habituated to "going to the bathroom". Your next challenge is to design a system of perches to get him or her off their favorite perch, out and about exercising independently. At first they will poop here and there a bit, but eventually they will stick to the toilet with a high or perfect score. If you make a big fuss about cleaning up, they will clean up their act because they don't like mom cleaning their room any more than you do; scrub away for ages with a big scowl of disapproval, and your big bum in their face and make them go sit somewhere off the favorite perch while you do it; they will clean up their act just to get you out of their life.
I will post more about exercise perch systems, as I am still learning and experimenting with Fig. More than likely though, your bird will willingly return to the toilet perch to do business as birds are creatures of habit just like you and me. Don't underestimate their desire for cleanliness, and personal space. Birds will usually only step in their own poop when fleeing. Gradually the toilet perch can be made shorter and shorter, and the tray smaller and smaller too. You can install a simple filter system to continually flush the tray. I will post about how to construct this later. For anyone considering a pet Corvid, Corvid poop and Parrot poop are two different things all together. For this reason, I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would want to live with a Covid in the house unless they had a filtering toilet tray, and a well toilet-trained bird. If you don't have a pet corvid yet, please drop the idea, and get something more domestic suitable. Parrots will read a page of newspaper a day. A Crow will read the whole sports section, the funnys, and the the classified ads, and depending on what she eats, the smell is not pleasant because they eat meat. The consistency is also not a nice agreeable package like Parrot poop is. That is as poetically as I can put the topic. Please choose your companion bird wisely; there is nothing easy, or sensible about having a Corvid for a pet. It is just mean to the bird.
This site was useful in that it confirmed quite a bit of what I have already learned and discovered about Fig.
Two things I completely disagree with the author about in addition to the very idea of having a pet corvid to begin with are feather trimming and poop in the bath.
Trimming a Crow's feathers to any degree cannot be the correct decision. I would not trim any bird's feathers in fact. I would like to state the previous sentence emphatically. Please don't cut birds feathers, instead learn to train, handle, manage and keep them safe. Because Fig is injured though I mulled over this for months, and finally decided that doing it would endanger Fig in a high glide, or fast descent in which Crows naturally break their fall by extending their wings to create a cushion of air, like a hovercraft, to land on. If you trim the feathers birds cannot safely break their fall, and they will get injured, breaking a wing, or breastbone, or a beak. I will try to post about managing birds without trimming their feathers another time.
If you have a pet Crow or Raven, which Fig is not, she is an injured bird that I am doing my level best to tame and care for, then you ought to have a large enough space for them to jump around and fly in. Fig cannot fly well, but she still has a large enough outdoor living space to exercise and fly in, and I still take her outside to do a measured amount of exercise, even in the winter. I usually wrap her up in a scarf to warm her between runs, jumps, or short flights depending on what we are doing as having a broken wing makes it hard for her to keep as warm as she would normally. She likes to run, while flapping her wings. She likes to fly up on low walls, benches, and me. She likes to climb trees, and other things. I am only beginning to understand how to meet her exercise needs as an injured, captive bird.
If I wanted a pet, I would get a parrot, NOT a corvid of any kind, they are very difficult to care for well. Parrots are from warm climates, with endless fruit to eat, so they can sit in the sofa all day. Crows are much more active, probably because they need to move to find food, and stay warm. They store up a lot of energy during the day, and become wound up like a dog if they are contained, even in a large aviary. Been to the zoo? It's like that. Everyone feels sad looking at zoo animals. They need to be able to dissipate their naturally super high physical, and psychological energies. They cannot be caged, period. This is what I have discovered about Crows. I raised Fig in a cage which gradually got bigger and bigger as she demanded it, and that was an intentional process implemented in hopes of helping her to adjust better psychologically to the imperfect captive bred situation she inevitably has to live with. It seems to have worked well, but even she could never be kept caged, she simply would not put up with it, so eventually the cage went. A corvid bird kept in a large aviary will still require time outside the enclosure to remain sane, they simply are not pets.
Regarding poop in the water. If your bird is pooping in the bath, or drinking water, tossing food around, or other messy things, then your bird is not happy. Listen, and make the necessary adjustments. If you do your bird will forgive you for your past crimes. Consider leaving the cage open at least when you are around. Birds often like their enclosures, they just don't enjoy feeling confined, ignored, or neglected. Fig has never pooped in her bath or drinking water, in part I suspect, because she grew up in a cage where she habituated to using a toilet tray, but it is also that her enclosure is large enough that she is not feeling too cramped, and that I keep a regular schedule to socialize with her morning afternoon, and evening, so she is not rebelling now. After the cage got tossed she has successfully retained the habit of using the tray as a toilet. You can train your bird to do this too. Place the toilet tray under their favorite place to sit. Set the tray back so it covers the space "behind" the perch. Corvids will naturally go to the bathroom in the same spot, in the same direction. Don't make the perch longer than the tray is wide, but don't suddenly change your set up either. If you have a long perch now, get a long tray, and gradually reduce the perch and tray size at the same time. The favorite perch is now the toilet spot. Give your bird another perch close to the toilet perch. They will eventually learn that the close perch is close enough to the favorite spot, that they will venture away from the toilet perch and sit there sometimes too, and they will feel not far enough away from the toilet perch to have an excuse not to habituate the toilet perch when they need to go to the bathroom. Corvids have a naturally guilty conscience; develop that, and use it to your advantage. In time they will become habituated to "going to the bathroom". Your next challenge is to design a system of perches to get him or her off their favorite perch, out and about exercising independently. At first they will poop here and there a bit, but eventually they will stick to the toilet with a high or perfect score. If you make a big fuss about cleaning up, they will clean up their act because they don't like mom cleaning their room any more than you do; scrub away for ages with a big scowl of disapproval, and your big bum in their face and make them go sit somewhere off the favorite perch while you do it; they will clean up their act just to get you out of their life.
I will post more about exercise perch systems, as I am still learning and experimenting with Fig. More than likely though, your bird will willingly return to the toilet perch to do business as birds are creatures of habit just like you and me. Don't underestimate their desire for cleanliness, and personal space. Birds will usually only step in their own poop when fleeing. Gradually the toilet perch can be made shorter and shorter, and the tray smaller and smaller too. You can install a simple filter system to continually flush the tray. I will post about how to construct this later. For anyone considering a pet Corvid, Corvid poop and Parrot poop are two different things all together. For this reason, I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would want to live with a Covid in the house unless they had a filtering toilet tray, and a well toilet-trained bird. If you don't have a pet corvid yet, please drop the idea, and get something more domestic suitable. Parrots will read a page of newspaper a day. A Crow will read the whole sports section, the funnys, and the the classified ads, and depending on what she eats, the smell is not pleasant because they eat meat. The consistency is also not a nice agreeable package like Parrot poop is. That is as poetically as I can put the topic. Please choose your companion bird wisely; there is nothing easy, or sensible about having a Corvid for a pet. It is just mean to the bird.
