Lucky the IRN

[LesBirdman]

Hello parronts!

So I made roll call and introduced my Indian Ring Neck but briefly.

Lucky is four months old, I got (I will use 'her' despite not knowing the sex for sure just yet, I have a hunch and it's easier) her from a breeder an hour from my place. When I arrived at the breeders there were two almost identical little IRN's on the floor running about, as I came through the door with treats and chopped fruit in hand they seemed completely non-fussed about me. It was clear that the one with more grey (who I chose and brought home and named lucky XD) was already beginning the bluffing phase and had more of an attitude so I instantly fell in love with her apparent sass.

Home now for 5 days,
Day 1.
Arrive home after an hour drive, I expected Lucky to be freaked out and stressed from the trip but apart from favouring the top of the cat carrier door the whole way didn't seem too fussed. I opened the door and she was out of the carrier within 10 minutes while I finished setting up the cage and figured out where I wanted to place food and water. I opted to lift the carrier up to the cage and let Lucky step up to the door of the cage herself as opposed to picking her up, I left her to chill for about half an hour while I sorted my other two birds out.
By the end of day 1 I have fairly well chewed fingers but nothing vicious, Lucky was clearly just testing me out, I figured with how cool she was about my proximity I would give step-up training a crack straight away with a few short 10 minute sessions by the door of the cage and by the end it was hit and miss but she seemed to know what I wanted.

Day 2.
I had the whole day off so I set to making some cage top perches and refurbished some toys with Lucky's cage door open, Lucky was pretty quick to make her way to the door and found her way up to the top of the cage where she began making some sort of peek-a-boo noise which melted my heart.
More biting and stepping up later, she seems to be getting what I mean when I say 'step up' 'gentle' and 'no bite'

Day 3.
I may or may not have slept in .
Lucky was keen to see me, I changed food and water, noticed she hasn't been eating much, her first dropping of the day was almost water. She was taking food from me but not from the food bowl so I moved it to a location closer to where I see her hang out most frequently (on her water bowl, apparently this is fairly typical of IRN's) and decide to leave it full of different foods around the clock to make sure she can find it and associates the bowl with food so she can find it when I put it back by her pumice perch on the other side of the cage.
I leaned right in to where Lucky was chilling and made some kissy noises and she bobbed her head, pinned her eyes and made the cutest and quietest little squeak I have ever heard. (I actually would like some advice on this noise, because Lucky does it whenever I come near the cage now, is it something to worry about or is it a sign of bonding? I never had this with my 'tiels) More step-up and no-bite training seems to be slowly making progress.

Day 4.
Lucky decides she wants to visit my other birds today, all cages are open and only Albert has come out from the 'tiels' cage, Lucky is bigger than Albert and decides to 'try' Albert out. I'm watching closely and Albert freaks out and flies off so I take Lucky back to her cage and place her on top and rescue Albert from where he has gotten himself stuck. Now Lucky seems obsessed with the other cage and the 'tiels inside it. Lucky just wants to explore today and isn't interested in training so much, so she gets to wander around on the floor and chew on the rug and eat my toes, later she gets to sit on my lap while we watch TV. Lucky even lets me gently pat the top and back of her head and scritch under her feathers, if reluctantly at first.

Day 5.
Today, I actually had a bit of trouble today and it's why I wanted to make sure to include as much detail as possible. Lucky did manage to get a little step up training in but wasn't that into it. I socialised her a little with my housemate and aside from chewing on his finger (he won't offer that again despite it being inquisitive and not aggressive in nature) was fine with that. Lucky ate pretty good and droppings seem to be nominal again but any time I get close to the cage she pins her eyes and squeaks/peeps to me, seems to go into a trance when she does it too and makes the sound louder now, I'm kind of worried but maybe it's a phase.
Lucky was vet checked by an avian vet before I got her so I want to wait until she's stepping up properly before I go taking her anywhere to avoid having to wrangle Lucky against her will. Things like this seem to be stopping Lucky from wanting to train properly.

I would love any advice or tips or insight to some of the behaviours here, I'm not too fussed about the biting, it's painful but she's not aggressive when she does it, it's a slow deliberate action similar to how she approaches her toys when she wants to gnaw on them so I am sure she's just being curious and it's a phase that I can work through with her.

 

[LesBirdman]

Slept in again this morning, big day yesterday but I woke up to the sound of Lucky chirping away happily by her water bowl.
Checked on my other two and then opened Lucky's door, she came right up and climbed onto the door, ignoring my hand when offered, so I placed my hand in a position she couldn't avoid and as soon as she was up we went to my room for some step up training.

Went far better than yesterday, she was a little more into it, I have a few holes in my fingers but nothing a little gentle unbalancing won't teach her not to do. She really likes blueberries so I find that if I drop those in with the pellets she eats the pellets too. Overall a far happier and healthier bird to my observations, and loves exploring.

 

[LesBirdman]

Woohoo! After a few more short training sessions Lucky seems to be understanding what 'no bite' means, happily 'tasting' and object before chomping down and when she does all I have to say is 'no bite' and she usually stops first try. This is really exciting for me because the sooner she stops biting the faster I can work with her on step up training and get her perching and primed ready for flight training by the time her flight feathers grow back out. I may never have to clip her wings again.

Lucky also appears to be getting used to being on me while I move around, although she still prefers to try and fly to her cage as opposed to being placed there so long as I am within half a meter of the cage.

on Wednesday I will recap on our first whole week together and then maybe keep this going as a weekly then monthly update until things are fully consistent.

 

[faislaq]

I thought perhaps you might have begun training before she was used to her new home & that might be why her eyes pin & squeaks when you approach her cage. That may also account for her avoiding your hand the other day when you let her out? Or is it possible she may also be excited to see you, but not want to train just then?
As long as you are letting her choose her own pace & she has a choice, she may wish to bite less.

I'm glad to hear she is eating better, exploring and practicing her flying. I look forward to hearing more updates on your girl.

 

[Hjarta5]

Lucky sounds adorable I don't have any helpful advice other than it sounds like you are on the right track in being so observant with how she is settling in. It takes time and patience with any new bird so it will be interesting to see how her personality unfolds in her new home

 

[LesBirdman]

Okay, today is good, Lucky is stepping up readily and unless it's my ears she has pretty much stopped trying to taste me. I might be able to get ear rings soon though if I can't figure out how to stop her trying to give me piercings though

She's trying pellets but still tries to get the seeds she dropped through the grate floor of the cage, so I need to change the paper daily to keep her from being distracted by it. I managed to separate her pellets and fruit and veg also, some target training has paid off in that I managed to target her to where the fruit and veg goes and she seems to know for sure where it all is now

 

[LesBirdman]

Update, a little past 2 weeks.

Lucky is sitting on my shoulder watching me type this so I should be careful of what I say xD

Lucky is incredibly curious, I learned fast that remotes need to be stored buttons down, my phone's touch screen is apparently witchcraft, and the keyboard is worth investigating. Lucky's favourite food is whatever I am eating, but she is beginning to show an interest in pellets when I take the fruit and nuts away. I went to give her a grape today and she freaked out and attacked it, I found that by cutting it in half she decided she's be more friendly toward it and now likes grapes.

Small pieces of evidence that tell me she is already attempting to mimic, mostly whistles but she was trying to copy my cough yesterday.

All in all we are both happy and healthy and I can't wait for the future!

 

[cassiesdad]

Sounds great!

Those IRNs...they're so intelligent...and combined with their natural curiosity (which you've seen!) make them FAST learners...

 

[LesBirdman]

Lucky is ridiculously fast learning, half a day and she already knows that if I ask her not to poop on me then I am the only place she will poop! xD

 

[cassiesdad]

Lucky is learning to "weaponize" her poop...

Birds use poop as a training tool for their humans...

 

[LesBirdman]

well that's not fair, I'm sure thing's wouldn't go so well if I responded in kind... :-D

Seriously though, she is clever, more so than I had expected for this age and this amount of socialisation.

 

[LesBirdman]

So just when I thought she was eating her pellets I found out she doesn't eat them, she plays with them. She picks them up, drop them on the floor and then chews bits of wood off a toy and drops those in her bowl.

Originally I was feeding her fruit or veg once a day and leaving the pellets in her cage all day so that she could get everything she needs in her diet but now I am trying fruit for breakfast and veggies for dinner on week days with pellets available all day, then pellets exclusively on weekend days.

I learned that she makes a certain call when she is hungry, usually when I have her out for the first time of the day while I prepare her fruit she makes this short chirp two or three times in a row and then decides she won't train until I have fed her, then won't train because she is full and won't take treats lol.

The only way I seem to be able to make her eat formulateds is to lock her in the cage with the pellets, eventually she will start eating them before getting bored of them and go back to marching around the door of the cage and making a pining noise for me to come and let her out. If I don't give her instant attention she continues to get louder and louder until she tries (dunno how to describe it, I guess a roar is about right) roaring at the room. I try not to reward the behaviour by giving her the attention but I also don't like leaving her locked in the cage, it's the only way she will eat the pellets though and I need her to realise they are food. I could leave the door to the cage open but then she won't stay in the cage and no matter where I put pellets she won't eat them.

I might try softening them in some warm water and if that fails I might start making nutri-berry like treats with ground up pellets mixed with honey and some organic sultanas and sunflower seeds so she at least gets some benefit while training.

Wish me luck

 

[faislaq]

 

[cassiesdad]

Sounds like a plan!

I wish you luck...along with patience and determination.

IRNs can be stubborn little birds...

 

[Denice]

Congrats on your new addition Lucky. Did you say Lucky was gray? I just got a new gray ringneck he is 6 months and DNA male.

 

[LesBirdman]

Haha thanks! Lucky has been a hand full but we are both loving every minute of the time we spend together.

She's stopped biting all together, except she seems to like to attack bandaids on my fingers, maybe she thinks they are hurting me haha. she seems to have gone through her first malt, she looks much cleaner now and has a pale white ring on her neck where hopefully her gender will show next malt with either the black ring or just the rose coloured one.

 

[cassiesdad]

she seems to like to attack bandaids on my fingers,

Milton always wants to "preen" moles, scabs, or scars! And yes, bandaids are also fair game...

We'd love to see pics of Lucky...

 

[LesBirdman]

Pics will be coming soon, I just re-did her cage so she's being shy, not that she likes spending any time in there anyway but I am trying to make it just as fun for her in there as it is on her "tree" in the living room. I have figured out which toys she likes but I can't find anywhere local to source parts from, toys made for retail don't have the same effect as some of the recycled toys I have made; in fact, the most successful toy so far has been a piece of wire with 1/3 of a corn on the cob on it.

Once she is used to the additional space I have created for her I shall get some pics.

I am waiting for her to have her first molt, when I picked her up from the breeder she had one wing clipped and so far she hasn't dropped any of the clipped feathers to re-grow them. it's been since March now so I'm not sure what to expect, neither of my 'tiels had to wait for a full molt to get flight feathers back, although months since their last clip they still don't have them all back although they are capable of flight.

If a hard molt doesn't fix her clipped wing I will need to take her to the AV a bit earlier than expected, but I still have about 2 1/2 months before I expect her to star shedding feathers.