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Playful Bird :)

sheeluhwhet

Walking the driveway
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Gemma

Peeps has been getting braver and even more playful lately :)
He would actually stand on my phonescreen or keyboard while I'm using them, and he would try to peck on my fingers in such an adorable way. I hope to capture that momentsome day.
It makes me especially happy when he jumps onto my shoulders and head and starts singing. RIP EAR, but I'm glad he feels safe enough to do that :heart:

Do any of you guys have recordings or photos of your babies getting playful and cheeky?
(Am I in the right forum for this type of thread?)

 

Clairecanary15

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Good morning

Im sure this is the right forum for this thread. .cant see any reason why not.

To Peeps you are his little hen ahhh very cute indeed. Your his mate and if you had wings you would both be flying about having a game in the air..on the wing .. pardon the pun. I see mine in the aviary playing with each other and it is lovely to see..they are happy. Your Peeps is very happy.

I don't have any recordings of mine playing with me..when they are on my head or shoulders or having a sneaky pull of my hair Im usually alone. I had Sugar in my hand the other day and of course no phone to capture it..will try to get a picture.
 

sheeluhwhet

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Gemma
Hello @Serin !

Sorry for the lenght, but I want to be as detailed as possible since I mainly it played by ear with Peeps when it came to gaining his trust. I noticed a lot of the handtamed canaries on the YT video's were handraised, so I gave up on following the training videos online.

One thing for sure, it took a lot of patience and time as well (though it took less than 2 years lol). To this day though he will not step up to my hand if I offer it alone. I believe I spend between 3-5 hours in the same room with him per day which was probably one of the main reasom he became more comfortable with me.
I should probably mention though that I don't handle him, I take him to the vet even for his pedi... I've never grabbed him... :shy:

~~~
[MAY 27, 2017]
Peeps was given to me at a little over 1 year old by my uncle.
Before me, my uncle would remove the food on certain times of the day, and stuck his hand in the cage with seeds, so Peeps--having no choice--would eat off of it. However, I think I saw in a video that it's not a very effective method in the longrun, so I didn't continue it. Plus, I just felt bad letting him go hungry for the sake of taming him. :(

Although I didn't continue that method, I did keep sticking my hand with seeds in his cage for a couple of weeks until it became too time consuming. There were times when he ate off of it, but he mostly ignored it since he already had food. I also realized that I didn't want him associating me to stress since I was technically invading his territory.

I never used treats for training, he was too skittish to fly to me in the first place!

~~~
After about 2 weeks of living with me, I began to let him freefly in my bedroom. My room was big enough for flying but not too big go get lost in either. His cage was always accessible for whenever he got scared. I usually stayed in the room with him, and if not me, my brother did. Around the same time, we played canary training music.

Things we noticed:
1. Peeps responded to canary music almost instantly. He didn't go near us in the beginning though, but he sang.

2. He started testing us when we didn't actively follow him around the room. We just went on with our tasks (like homework) and let him explore the room. My brother was lying on the bed motionless when Peeps landed on him the first time (on his belly).

~~~

[JUNE 26]
Upon realizing its possible for him to land on us, I decided to play canary music on my cellphone and place it on my belly. It worked :)
Screenshot_20180629-223823.png
He still didn't like hands the first time, but he ran to the screen when I put it on the floor. Whilst he was preoccupied with the screen, I would hover over him and bop him on the head and back with my nose (or closed lips). As odd as it was, I think it helped with getting him used to touch. He always flew away whenever my hand got close to him though.

~~~

[JULY 9]
After a couple of weeks, I started forming a perch with my fingers while holding the phone. Since he loved the music, he flew to me instantly. I continued with the head bopping. At first, he only stayed for a couple of minutes, but overtime went to 5+ mintues. I did this while sitting on the floor.
Screenshot_20180629-223831.png
Another thing I tried was move around the room with the music. He didn't stay as long--I think mainly because I was standing. He s till flew though so that was still a win for us.

Overtime, he began associating the music to my phone. I knew this because I would enter the room with it on hand, and he flew to me in an instant. He would fly away though once he saw the screen was black.
Screenshot_20180629-223840.png
The important thing though was that he felt safe enough to do that. I continued this method everyday whenever I let him freefly.
Screenshot_20180629-225157.png

~~~

[2018]

I started using the music less and less this year, but I continue to be in the same room whenever he is out. He started perching on my leg around March.
Screenshot_20180629-225452.png
I think he does this often whenever I'm just sitting on the floor. He's now perches on my shoudlers as well (as seen on the screen reflection in this vid from 2 days ago):

~~~~
Gah thank you for your patience (I understand if you skipped some lol), I figured talking about the process may help with developing your own approach.
 

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Fergus Mom

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What an adorable sweetie! I loved the 2nd vid so much because it was so close up it felt like he was pecking me too!
 

Clairecanary15

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Canaries have the cutest little cheeks. Peeps is so cute..very inquisitive. I love the way you have tamed Peeps..thinking of him first before personal gain. .and this is the key to a canary bonding with a human
 

sheeluhwhet

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Canaries have the cutest little cheeks. Peeps is so cute..very inquisitive. I love the way you have tamed Peeps..thinking of him first before personal gain. .and this is the key to a canary bonding with a human
They do! I wish I could pet his cheeks like a budgie~ but he's perfect the way he is :)
20180630_174532.jpg

I agree, developing trust was very important. Interestingly, it didn't take him long to approach others once he learned that he could with me. The only time he ever flew away from visitors was when they followed him around trying to get him to perch on them.
One of my brothers spends considerably less time with him, yet Peeps doesn't seem to be scared of him.
He's not even playing canary music lol
20180629_171926(0).jpg

He's a very curious lil guy, he's always poking his head out trying to watch everything.
IMG_20180214_214951_550.jpg
 

Clairecanary15

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Your pictures and videos do make me smile. He is very comfortable with your brother too, very funny to watch and showed he wasnt amused at the end of the clip lol..brilliant. Their behaviour is very interesting. Im guessing our body language plays apart too which we are generally unaware of.
 

sheeluhwhet

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Your pictures and videos do make me smile. He is very comfortable with your brother too, very funny to watch and showed he wasnt amused at the end of the clip lol..brilliant. Their behaviour is very interesting. Im guessing our body language plays apart too which we are generally unaware of.
He wasn't very pleased indeed~ He flew back to my bro shortly after though, so all was forgiven lol! :)

Yes, I agree! I think certain body language seem more agressive and predator-like, while some convey the opposite. In response, they will either become more skittish or relaxed.
 

Clairecanary15

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@sheeluhwhet
I have noticed with my canaries that when my husband isnt working he is desparate for one to land on him or make some sort of contact and sadly to no avail most of the time..they read this. I just go about my pottering feeding etc and get the rewards..he gets abit jealous shhh lol but this shows our body language plays apart

The video did make me chuckle of Peeps bless him so cute
 

Atomiklan

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@Atomiklan did you see Gemma’s rundown of how she worked with Peeps? Thought it might help you with Charlie and Emma.
Yup I did thanks to you. Not sure this technique would work well with C&E. They are not as curious. I think the difficulty I have is that they are are a mated pair. I'm the third wheel. Still doing well slowly though. As for Peeps, your progress is fantastic. Its so rewarding the moment they start to trust you. I remember that feeling. Very joyful :)
 

sheeluhwhet

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Gemma
Hi @Atomiklan ! How are Charlie and Emma doing? I could see them requiring a different approach--Peeps is an only-bird after all!

And yes, it was very rewarding :) In the end, it also meant that he felt safer in general; which was great news since he could explore for much longer and and try nee things :)
 
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