Hello fellow bird lovers

[Pdog]

I am so excited to learn from all the members. I rehomed 3 birds in Nov.

1 cockatiel
2 parrotlets

I am not a new bird owner, having had a variety of birds in our home for about 25 years. I thought I had enough experience to take on the parrotlets. I knew they were feisty, but wasn’t expecting all the attempts at biting.
I have no background on the prior family, or why they had to be rehomed, birds sex or age is unknown.
Clearly they are afraid of hands. I will continue to take it slow.
She, Pickles, is happy to step up to come out and explore, fly to me , follows me around, perch on my shoulder, nap on me, but will attack my hands and bare feet. Getting her back in the cage takes time . Step up means a bite most likely. She will hop on my arm for millet and then goes in the cage. He, Peekaboo, needs to be coaxed out with food. He is not inclined to explore yet, prefers to hide in my hair and hang out on my shoulder. Neither allow head touches. She seems to be cage aggressive and food aggressive. I clean her cage, arrange toys etc when she is out.
I will work on the hand fear first. Any advice is welcome. I will look at prior posts for information. They are cute as can be, and I will be patient. It’s only been 3 months, right???
Pearl , the cockatiel is super sweet and just loves to be out with me. She doesn’t play too much with toys, not sure of her past home history or age either. I am experimenting with different textures of toys to find her favorites. I have a few foraging stations and she likes to hang out there.She likes to eat and is a big girl at 109 grams, so I can’t be treat happy with her. She loves to shower with me!
Life is good.

 

[sunnysmom]

Welcome! They are very cute. If you're getting bit when stepping up, you can try getting them to step up on a small perch until they get used to hands. You can also work on target training with them. There are some good youtube videos on target training or www.goodbirdinc.com is a good resource.

 

[Emma&pico]

And welcome your babies are gorgeous

 

[Pdog]

Welcome! They are very cute. If you're getting bit when stepping up, you can try getting them to step up on a small perch until they get used to hands. You can also work on target training with them. There are some good youtube videos on target training or www.goodbirdinc.com is a good resource.

Thank you. I like that idea, better than having them jump on my forearm.
Target training is a new concept for me. I have seen some of Birdtricks videos.
I can start that, though probably not as easy as they make it look .

 

[sunnysmom]

Thank you. I like that idea, better than having them jump on my forearm.
Target training is a new concept for me. I have seen some of Birdtricks videos.
I can start that, though probably not as easy as they make it look .

If your birds are food motivated, I think it's pretty easy. You can use something like a chop stick. Some people use a clicker. Training sessions should be short. Like only 5-10 minutes at a time and you want to always end on a positive note. I haven't watched bird tricks in a really long time. I think at one point someone said they were using food deprivation to train. You don't want to do that. Just use a favorite treat. A sliver of almond, an unshelled sunflower seed, a tiny piece of millet. You want the treat to be small so that they can eat it quickly and move on to the next step. When I was trying to train a cockatoo I was fostering, I made the mistake of giving him some dried mango which he loved, but it took him a really long time to chew. It kind of defeated the whole purpose.

 

[Zara]

Welcome to Avian Avenue!

 

[Emma&pico]

I had that problem with millet with gcc lovebirds ate it fast remi took forever with it grabbing it holding it etc until @Pixiebeak said safflower seeds they gave work for all mine

If your birds are food motivated, I think it's pretty easy. You can use something like a chop stick. Some people use a clicker. Training sessions should be short. Like only 5-10 minutes at a time and you want to always end on a positive note. I haven't watched bird tricks in a really long time. I think at one point someone said they were using food deprivation to train. You don't want to do that. Just use a favorite treat. A sliver of almond, an unshelled sunflower seed, a tiny piece of millet. You want the treat to be small so that they can eat it quickly and move on to the next step. When I was trying to train a cockatoo I was fostering, I made the mistake of giving him some dried mango which he loved, but it took him a really long time to chew. It kind of defeated the whole purpose.

 

[Pixiebeak]

It didn't take me long to teach hands off birds to return to cage when asked. Useing same phrase , and gentle herding, waiting, praise high value good waiting in cage.

I do teach "good birdie" by pairing it with all positive things, I say it when in or out of cage eating, drinking, preen, as they start to nap , bathing and all toy interacting, when I have treats . Having that phrase associated with good things, helps shaping and training I think. I read a great article once that it is the first thing you should teach your bird .

So when it came time to teach return to cage , I could use good birdie with every movement towards cage as one of my tools.

I start out showing them the high value food that they only get when it's time to go back . I used apple a lot , but what ever is their highest or highly motivating food. So I show them the apple slice, say it "time to go back " ( pick a phrase and always use the same phrase) and I put the apple in bowl just inside door. Then oops..ok ..I've already taught them to move around to places I tap for treats , so a modified target I guess. I have already spent time standing on the opposite side of cage or perch and tapping the spot and showing the treat ( for mine safflower seed, popcorn, other) and setting it in the spot and backing away if untame completely , waiting to hand to them if we st that stage..so they are used to moving all around for treats.
Ok so I say time to go back , show apple , put in cage, tap perch at cage door, say time to go back again, then I go and stand behind them so cage is in front of them. Then I move forward while saying time to go back , as soon as my untamed birds move away from me I stop and tell them good birdie..when they stop moving towards cage , I repeat time to go back and move forward until they move away and towards cage again, I praise all movement towards cage . So I'm not chaseing , but gentle herd, and I stop moving as long as they are moving in the right direction. If they fly past me back away from cage , I get back in postin behind them and start the movement all over. I try to keep gentle constant pressure on them to move the right direction. When they land in cage I praise and wait to see if will go in , if not gentle movement towards them again, big praise when go in s d then I shut the door more praise and stuff more food in.

I was surprised at how quickly even my untamed Budgies picked this up, I think they had it down in a week. My untamed at the time quaker just a few days.

 

[Pdog]

If your birds are food motivated, I think it's pretty easy. You can use something like a chop stick. Some people use a clicker. Training sessions should be short. Like only 5-10 minutes at a time and you want to always end on a positive note. I haven't watched bird tricks in a really long time. I think at one point someone said they were using food deprivation to train. You don't want to do that. Just use a favorite treat. A sliver of almond, an unshelled sunflower seed, a tiny piece of millet. You want the treat to be small so that they can eat it quickly and move on to the next step. When I was trying to train a cockatoo I was fostering, I made the mistake of giving him some dried mango which he loved, but it took him a really long time to chew. It kind of defeated the whole purpose.

All great ideas. Thank you !

 

[Pdog]

It didn't take me long to teach hands off birds to return to cage when asked. Useing same phrase , and gentle herding, waiting, praise high value good waiting in cage.

I do teach "good birdie" by pairing it with all positive things, I say it when in or out of cage eating, drinking, preen, as they start to nap , bathing and all toy interacting, when I have treats . Having that phrase associated with good things, helps shaping and training I think. I read a great article once that it is the first thing you should teach your bird .

So when it came time to teach return to cage , I could use good birdie with every movement towards cage as one of my tools.

I start out showing them the high value food that they only get when it's time to go back . I used apple a lot , but what ever is their highest or highly motivating food. So I show them the apple slice, say it "time to go back " ( pick a phrase and always use the same phrase) and I put the apple in bowl just inside door. Then oops..ok ..I've already taught them to move around to places I tap for treats , so a modified target I guess. I have already spent time standing on the opposite side of cage or perch and tapping the spot and showing the treat ( for mine safflower seed, popcorn, other) and setting it in the spot and backing away if untame completely , waiting to hand to them if we st that stage..so they are used to moving all around for treats.
Ok so I say time to go back , show apple , put in cage, tap perch at cage door, say time to go back again, then I go and stand behind them so cage is in front of them. Then I move forward while saying time to go back , as soon as my untamed birds move away from me I stop and tell them good birdie..when they stop moving towards cage , I repeat time to go back and move forward until they move away and towards cage again, I praise all movement towards cage . So I'm not chaseing , but gentle herd, and I stop moving as long as they are moving in the right direction. If they fly past me back away from cage , I get back in postin behind them and start the movement all over. I try to keep gentle constant pressure on them to move the right direction. When they land in cage I praise and wait to see if will go in , if not gentle movement towards them again, big praise when go in s d then I shut the door more praise and stuff more food in.

I was surprised at how quickly even my untamed Budgies picked this up, I think they had it down in a week. My untamed at the time quaker just a few days.

An interesting read. I love that members take the time to write and share their tips and experiences. I have so much to learn.
Thanks .

 

[Xoetix]

Hello and welcome!!

 

[expressmailtome]

Welcome, and enjoy the site!