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Parrotlet keeps flying away! Help!

madi.g24

Checking out the neighborhood
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4/14/18
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hi there! I just recently bought a parrotlet and seem to be having trouble interacting with him. He is still quite new so I have been simply sitting with him and talking to him and instead of trying to grab him in the cage I have been leaving the door open and sitting by while I let him decide he wants to come out. The problem is, he will avoid all attempts to step up and instead takes any opportunity to fly away from me. I’m worried with this kind of behaviour he will get hurt or stuck in a place I cannot retrieve him from. He is hand tame and comfortable with hands when I do go and retrieve him but the second he is on my finger he will just fly away again. This is my first time owning a parrotlet (I have always had budgies) and would love any suggestions!
Thanks in advance!
 

TikiMyn

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Do you have trouble getting him back in his cage? I would go about it this way:
Let him out a few hours before dinner. Let him do his thing, be in the Same room and talk to him, offer him lots and lots of treats. If he decides to hang out on your head, talk to him in a way he likes(perhaps he doesn’t like high pitched quick talking, and does like slow talking, that is something you have to find out as all birds are different) and give a treat. Move slowly when he is close though, as not to scare him. My goal with a new bird is to give them tons of positve experience and as little negative ones as possible. So I back off as soon as a bird shows a bit of discomfort, and I don’t force anything Unless absolutly nessecary. Then when it is dinner time, show him his food and put it in his cage. He Will be hungry and go in to eat. Then close the door.
Also, I would give him a treat when he is in his cage every time you walk by. That teaches him that every time he sees you, something good is coming. That helps building your relationship.
Good luck with him! Any chance of a picture of the little guy:xflove:
 

madi.g24

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That’s a really good idea! Thank you so much!

On a side note, do you have any suggestions on how to get him comfortable taking treats from me? He absolutely LOVES apples, sunflower seeds, and mellet but whenever I try to give them to him he hides on the other side of the cage.
 

TikiMyn

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That’s a really good idea! Thank you so much!

On a side note, do you have any suggestions on how to get him comfortable taking treats from me? He absolutely LOVES apples, sunflower seeds, and mellet but whenever I try to give them to him he hides on the other side of the cage.
Your welcome!
If he doesn’t take treats yet, you can add a special cup in his cage for treats. It depends on the bird but I guess he Will take treats soon. Show him the treat from as far away as you have to be in order for him to be comfortable. If he shows interest in the treat, you can move a bit closer and hold it on the other side of the perch he is on(for example, if he is on the right side of a perch, hold the treat by the left end). Let him choose to come and take it, if he doesn’t, leave(you don’t have to leave the room, just remove the treat). Also, it is great he has Some favorite treats, make sure he only gets those from you and not in his regular food. That Will make him more likely to take them from you.
 

Shinobi

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No putting hands inside the cage and chasing the bird around the cage or room. (forcing the bird) Instead Conducted lots of trust building and bonding sessions (training). I have had great success with the following method to bond and build trust. When you have built enough trust, you can train your bird to step up and down from within the cage. (good for emergencies)

This how I bonded and built trust with an aviary bred bird and have used it on other birds.

I obtained an aviary bred IRN a quite few years ago who we named Bluey. When people approached Bluey, he would thrash around the cage in fear. So I needed some tools to address this problem. 1 was a clicker, 2 was training treats, 3 was T-perch.

Clickers are the best for training. Do some research? B F Skinner is a good start. Clicks won't confuse the bird. Where has words can. Without realising, words can be changed. It doesn't seem much, but it is to a bird. Has an example you might be saying "good boy". Then you say, "that's a good boy" or you’re a good bird. Clickers are a bridge to identify wanted behaviour between you and your bird.

Second by putting five different foods on a plate and watch which one Bluey ate first, I worked out what Bluey favourite food. I used sunflower seeds, corn kernels, pine nuts, grapes and balls of millet. This would became Bluey's training treat and I removed this food from Bluey diet. Whatever your bird picks, it must not be part of the bird’s diet otherwise it defeats the purpose of being a training treat. Bluey picked sunflower seeds.

These are the procedures I used to calm and interact with him.

Bluey was in a cage in the lounge room. With the clicker in my hand, I entered the lounge room and went to the furthest point away from the cage. Then I would slowly approach the cage until Bluey showed signs of fear. When your bird becomes small and "skinny," and the bird's crop often looks sucked in, and all the feathers lie flat on the body. It usually means the bird is scared.

I would stop and stand there until Bluey relaxed.
Relaxed feathers and wings, standing on one foot, preening and /or grinding his upper and lower mandible together to produce a scratchy or "zippy" noise. The bird is probably content and relaxed. But the bird might not display all these signs but relaxed feathers and wings, standing on one foot are a sure sign.

When Bluey relaxed, I click the clicker once and took 3 slow steps backwards waited 20 to 30 seconds. Then, again I would slowly approach the cage until Bluey showed signs of fear. But this time I got a bit closer to the cage. Then I would stop and stand there until Bluey relaxed. I repeated this procedure and with each approach, Each time I would get a bit closer to the cage until I was standing next to the cage and Bluey was relaxed.

When this was achieved I would leave the room for 20 to 30 minutes. Then I would repeat this procedure for 5 to 7 times that day. By the end of the day you should be able to slowly walk up to the cage and the bird should stay relaxed. This whole process might need to be repeated for 2 to 3 days.

Once I was able to walk up to the cage without Bluey being scared, I then started to train Bluey to come out of the cage.
The first stage is with the clicker in one hand and a spray of millet in the other.

I used a spray of millet first has it was a larger food treat and it allowed Bluey to get use to my hands. Once Bluey became use to my hand I started to reduce the size of the millet until I could use sunflower seeds.

Note: This is important and that is, not to force the bird to do something it doesn't want to do. Let it approach the millet.

I would offer the millet to Bluey through the cage where the perch is attached. If he didn't take a bite of the millet within 15 seconds, I would remove the millet from his sight for 20 to 30 seconds.

Then I would re-offer the millet. When Bluey took a bite, I click the clicker and withdraw the millet but kept it in Bluey's sight. When Bluey finished eating the millet. I repeated the procedure and did this for 15 minutes then took a 30minute break and repeated these 3 more times.

Note: By removing the Millet from the Bird's sight you encourage the "what have I just missed out on. Was that food? Where did it go? Then when you re-offer the millet. The bird thinks I'm not going to miss out again.

The next stage. With the clicker in one hand and a spray of millet in the other. Open the cage door and offer the millet at the entrance of the cage.

Note: Don't put your hand inside the cage has the bird could see this has invasion of their territory.

If Bluey didn't approach the millet within 15 seconds, I would remove it from his sight for 20 to 30 seconds. Then re-offer the millet. When the Bluey came to the cage entrance and took a bite I click the clicker and withdraw the millet but kept it in Bluey sight. I did this for 15 minutes then took a 30minute break and repeated these 3 more times with a 30 minute break between.

Note: I used a spray of millet first has it was a larger training treat and it allowed Bluey to get use to my hand. Once Bluey became use to my hand I started to reduce the size of the millet until I could use sunflower seeds. This was done before training Bluey to leave his cage.

The next stage is to place a T-perch just outside the cage. When Bluey flew to the T-perch and took a sunflower seed I click the clicker. I did this for 15 minutes then took a 30minute break and repeated this daily.

You can use the T-perch to return the Bird to the cage. I found that a T-perch is better than a piece of dowel. The T-perch is good for handling birds that are scared of hands or birds that bite. The hand is below the bird and far enough away for it to feel safe while the human's hand is below and far enough away not to be bitten.

This is more towards interacting with your bird to build trust/bonding. Once you have established a bond of trust with your bird you can start to train basic tricks. Then advance to more tricks if you desire.

The advice I can give is
1 move slowly around the bird
2 let the bird come to you.
3 Don't force the bird to do anything that it doesn't want to do.
4 make the trust building and bonding sessions (training) fun
5 end all training sessions on a positive.
6 patience.

Remember food is a great motivator.

 
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