How to make your birds not so scared

[gptb2020]

How do I get rainey and rascal not so scared of everything? Anything new, any new foods, any new room, any new toys, anything, they're always so scared of, and watching all the youtube videos of people with their birbs, they throw anything at their bird and their bird plays and has fun instead of screaming and running and being scared, of even me in those situations. What do I do?

 

[Newbie GCC]

Time and patience. Lay new toys where they can see them for a few days. Then slowly move them closer to the cages a little per day. Some birds need to be shown how to play with toys once they are not scared of being close to them anymore.
New rooms you can take it a room at a time. Stand in the door or hall close to the room. Let them see inside the room for a few days and then put a play stand in the room. Let them sit or play on their stand while you put away clean clothes, play on the computer, or talk on the phone in the same room.
Stand next to them and eat new foods, or try mixing new foods with old foods. Don't give up if they don't eat it right away. Some times it takes several attempts spaced over a few months to get them to try something new. I have started putting pellets into the chop just to make sure they are eating a little bit of pellet. They will eat the pellets well for a month and then not eat another pellet for two months. If I put them in the chop, I know they got some.

They just have to get used to their surroundings.

 

[Donna turner]

Cheeky doesn't seem to be afraid of most new stuff, but if I wear a new pattered shirt or wear a hat she won't come to me for awhile. I got her a fir platform to sit on and chew and it took two weeks of sunflower bribes to get her to walk across it . Now she sits on it a lot. Follow newbie gcc advice and it will get better with time

 

[Lesley Yeung]

Bird is very bold. But he doean't like new toys or food....unless we like them first.

My husband is loves buying Bird toys. But it seemed that Bird only liked our stuff. So now he pretends to play with and covet Bird's new toys, while ignoring Bird. Bird eventually gets curious and decides the toy should be his and wants it. Same with food.

It may be survival instinct, or just bratty birdy greed. But that's what I'd suggest.

But some things terrify Bird. The knee pads i used for gardening had to be discarded. I have no idea why but they scared him so much he jumped/flew off the patio and I couldn't get him to calm down until i figured out what was scaring him and threw them down a stairwell. There are a couple other things that either scare, excite or anger Bird, and ever will.

 

[JLcribber]

How do I get rainey and rascal not so scared of everything? Anything new, any new foods, any new room, any new toys, anything, they're always so scared of, and watching all the youtube videos of people with their birbs, they throw anything at their bird and their bird plays and has fun instead of screaming and running and being scared, of even me in those situations. What do I do?

Those people have "developed" their relationships with their birds over time. Time as in years. Not weeks or months. There are no shortcuts. You strive and work towards your goal a tiny bit everyday and when the time is right it will happen.

Consistency in all things you do. Learned and expected routines. And time.

https://www.parrots.org/pdfs/all_ab...enrichment/PS 19 1 Feb 07 Parrot Trust SM.pdf

 

[webchirp]

Just an off the wall response...Carlton had high blood pressure and was freakishly afraid of things. Got his blood pressure leveled out and he was soooo much better.

 

[Pipsqueak]

My birds are very different , one likes to throw a dish from the counter top, the two others hate that noise and get startled. What definitely changed is that my cockatiel is not so scared of new things anymore because he sees the other birds using toys or eating new food and he will try too.

 

[gptb2020]

I'm just frustrated because I've been working with them for about a year now and they still are scared of me

 

[JLcribber]

The truth is Kaden that they are a pair. They have each other. They are birds. You are not.They know that. They really have no desire to be your friend (why would they?) so it's going to take some real over the top effort and techniques to become their friends.

Why is there so much new, new, new. That is part of the problem. They need familiarity. Consistent environment. Consistent routines. These are the things that promote trust, security and confidence. Not new things all the time.

 

[Mizzely]

Curiosity can get you killed in the wild, so biologically it makes sense for them to be weary of new things.

Slow and steady wins the race.

 

[Lesley Yeung]

I can understand feeling frusterated. I would too. Right or wrong

 

[gptb2020]

The truth is Kaden that they are a pair. They have each other. They are birds. You are not.They know that. They really have no desire to be your friend (why would they?) so it's going to take some real over the top effort and techniques to become their friends.

Why is there so much new, new, new. That is part of the problem. They need familiarity. Consistent environment. Consistent routines. These are the things that promote trust, security and confidence. Not new things all the time.

Routines such as? And the only time they are introduced to new things is when our monthly subscription squawk box comes in, it's not so much the toys, they usually go right to playing, but the foods and me.