training hill mynah

[Rabb.D]

hello everyone i hope you guys are having a good day,

new guy here, i'm from malaysia, I just recently purchased my second hill mynah, i have license to keep this bird so all is legal, which needs to be renewed every year, i returned my previous one to the bird shop after i realized it was too wild, with no refund,(they guy who owns the shop is an honest living guy, so i had no qualms losing RM450) so now i have a tame hill mynah which is 6 months old, it is very tame likes to interact with me and perch on my shoulder, likes to be touched and likes to be handled as much as possible and gets frustrated if i leave it alone for too long...

but after a few days of keeping it under my care i notice one problem the past few days... it really likes to bite my ear... really hard... as if it finds my ear annoying and needs to be removed... it really hurts... and i'm wondering why is this and how to correct this behaviour because i like it when its on my shoulders.... its name is Moby, as in moby dick

i bought this bird for RM1000 on the 7th of this month so its just been under one week, it was hand raised in the bird shop hence the exorbitant price and excessive tameness, still hasn't learned to speak but has already bonded with me strongly.

on a side note it does say herro! once in a while

i haven't done a DNA test so i can't ascertain whether its male or female... but any advice on correcting this behaviour is appreciated

thanks, and have a good day...

Rabb.D

 

[msplantladi]

No shoulder to any new bird is always my golden rule-when they are up high you have no control. Congrats on your new baby.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Congratulations on your new mynah. Post photos when you get a chance.
As for the shoulder....I would just avoid letting the bird have access to it.

 

[sunnysmom]

Welcome! I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of your bird.

 

[Rabb.D]

oh i see had no idea of the no shoulders rule... thanks for the advice will definitely keep that in mind, thanks a lot... as for the photos i'll post them tomorrow... now is night time and bird is sleeping don't want to wake him up... any other no no's? and advice thanks, have a nice day everyone...

 

[Rabb.D]

also i have been searching on articles pertaining to training mynah and have found almost none... which is a sad thing because i'm quite certain its not the same as a parrot... its a very stubborn bird though very smart said to be like a 5 or 6 year old, recognize faces and keeps grudges which is a big worry for me... my previous one really hated me because i made some mistakes, even though i could hand feed it on a daily basis inside the cage it refuse to be touched, and because i tried handling it it really disliked me... and as i'm quite certain you can't tame an untame wild hill mynah just due to the fact that its a stubborn species... at least that's what i heard from shop keepers and online... so i have to be certain i'm not making any miss steps since its known for its long term memories too... its like a teenager in puberty to be precise, make a mistake and it remembers...

 

[Rabb.D]

as for Moby, when i bought it it was relatively unhealthy and dirty, when i brought it home had the stench of the bird shop and dust, so after few days of bathing, i finally manage to get rid of the smell.

the shop keeper love his animals but this is just the typical bird shop you find off the streets in malaysia... always dirty and filthy.... Moby's tail is missing, i'm quite certain it's due to abrasions in the cage rendering it incapable of growing out a tail... but i reckon once it molts it should be fine hill mynahs molts twice a year depending on climate...

and Moby's head has some bold spots i think due to dirt in the shop but its covering up now... i'll post some pics tomorrow then you guys will see what i'm talking about...

 

[Rabb.D]

here a quick shot turned on the lights for a few sec and shot with my hp... as you can see the yellow spots near the beak and then some on the top its just some bald spot which is covering up now... so far moby seems happy, but personally i reckon it needs a better cage, i got this 2x2x4 feet cage for rm120 or it think about 35 us dollars..., its on the smaller side hence why i let it out as much as healthy possible for the bird, don't want to over do it... but moby also seems happy with the cage, alot of times it prefers the cage over going out of it... which is strange i think...

initially it came with a 1.5x.1.5x1 cage and it refused to come out, which is weird behaviour for a bird since the cage was so tiny... poor bird when i saw it

 

[Rabb.D]

some pics of moby been keeping the no-shoulders rule in mind, i realized if i keep my forearm low it climbs to my shoulder, so i just keep my hand on neck or head level so it doesn't find a need to go higher... any other training tips for me? thanks in advance...

on a side note you can also see the bald patches more clearly...

incase you're wondering the bird tag is not on the bird, i have to re-attach it some other time when it trust me better

and have a nice day!!

 

[Rabb.D]

just done some read through of the stickies,... very informative, been keeping him off my shoulders, and positive reinforcement for good behaviour, nothing new too much but does help to have an archive... things are working well with moby

 

[Rabb.D]

so far behaviour wise things are good... managing to keep the noise levels down, he seems to keep quite in the cage when given enough affection outside of cage regardless of how long he stays out... key is letting it know its taken care off, he'll tend to behave better... strange birdies...

 

[shanlung]

hello everyone i hope you guys are having a good day,

i bought this bird for RM1000 on the 7th of this month so its just been under one week, it was hand raised in the bird shop hence the exorbitant price and excessive tameness, still hasn't learned to speak but has already bonded with me strongly.

on a side note it does say herro! once in a while

i haven't done a DNA test so i can't ascertain whether its male or female... but any advice on correcting this behaviour is appreciated

thanks, and have a good day...

Rabb.D

I rather not see the taking of that route of having hand raised bird for the easy way out when the long term outlook for those handraised and imprinted birds are very dire and bad.

What prompted me to write mentality of grey // Imprinting of birds// A fairy in my life

Jackie was a wild caught and an adult Greater Indian Hill Mynah. It did not take him long to accept me and be friends with me.
It is a lie that only handraised Hill Mynah can be friendly.

Try to understand them and make that effort and you can do that too.

I have very dim view on 'hand raising' of birds.
That deprived the little birdie on proper interactions with its parents and designed to hopefully 'imprint' on it that he/she is a human. Are we that incapable of understanding and training with a bird that we felt compelled to rip a baby from his/her parents?

This lead to the marketing and selling of birdies thats not weaned. Perhaps better the profits to the breeders, but is that a better life for the birdie?
Or is a perceived easier life to us the only thing that matter?

Of course, claims of 'handraising' sells especially to people who do not know and wanted something quickly.

It seems too that handraised birdies later on developed serious psychological problems.

The sad part is even older birds, and birds caught from the wild, are really trainable.
Riamfada was a wild caught CAG as seen in her open leg ring. She was a rescue and given to my charge when she was about 5-6 years old. She came to me bitey and fearful.



In about a year, she was doing free flights to me.



Yingshiong above is a white rumped shama. A shama is a songbird. He was caught from the wild at about 3 years old. He was given into my charge at about 5 years old. He flew to me on cue within a month of coming to me. Breeders of shamas told me even their breed shamas , some they hand raised, never ever landed on them. They told me above was the first ever they seen of a male shama landing on a human.

Libai is a Greater Greenleaf song bird. Caught from the wild and probably about 3 years old or so when he came to me.

Even wild caught and old birds can be so easily trained and bonded if you know how.

Understanding them is the first and most important step that can be taken.
That is the most fundamental truth in looking after birds. Read the Understanding the mind of your grey and other parrots

Even wild caught and old birds can be so easily trained and bonded if you give them the respect , dignity and courtesy due to intelligent sentients.

As for hand raised birdies I suggest to folks with open mind to read this article by Jane Hollander

Congo and Timnehs' Is There a Difference?

That article was titled "Congos and Timnehs, Is There A Difference?"
But in reading that, I found it was more than that, relating the post natal caring of the birdies by its birdie parents that make a HUGE difference.
That many of the problems with captive bred and handraised birdies did not exist with captured birds. That trend extended to cockatoos too.

But of course, people with vested interests in selling 'handraised' birds that they make out to have greater value will always want to tell you that is the smartest and the best thing you can do.

With that, I seen with sickness in my heart so many baby birds sold in birdshops with eyes still close as 'handraising' them will make them fond of you. A big lie fostered by people with vested interests.

I wrote a few years ago of that in my Livejournal and the comments of others with problems on handraised birds were so disturbing.

For those who still have nagging doubts that I was wrong in discouraging 'handraisded' birdies" and needed more than what Jane Hollander wrote, here is another very interesting article which underlined my concern. That was written by Micheal Doolan, an Avian vet, detailing the screaming, self mutilation, aggression and other problems.

Natural Birdsmanship – Understanding/Treating Behavior Problems in Imprinted Birds
http://www.charlieandpeggy.com/mikedoolan.pdf

No shoulder to any new bird is always my golden rule-when they are up high you have no control. Congrats on your new baby.

Why such obsession over control?
All entities in your care must be under your control or your life is meaningless?

What about this then?

Riamfada so high above me that from her perspective that I am lower than a maggot.

Guess what! She came to me .
I must be doing things all wrong!

Educate me and teach me the correct way of doing things where everything is directed towards control.