Step up

[Marloz]

I have two males cockatiel one is hand tamed the other isn't. I tried to get the untamed one to step up on my finger but he always runs aways. I noticed he will only step up on my finger if I get my tamed one out first. Is there a way I can get him out first instead of my tamed one and only step up on my finger when he is going back to it's cage

 

[sunnysmom]

Will he step up on a perch for you?

 

[Tiel Feathers]

One of my cockatiels will only go anywhere if he thinks his beloved Sunset is going too. It's been years, so now I can get him to go first, but only because he knows the routine and has faith that I will bring her too. He also will not step onto my skin, so I wear a long sleeve shirt and he will step up onto my arm.

 

[Marloz]

Will he step up on a perch for you?

No he Runs away and try to make it hard for me to get him out of the cage

 

[expressmailtome]

Have you tried target training him while he is in the cage? Many people use target training to get a bird back into the cage, however it would also work to get a bird out of their cage.

 

[sunnysmom]

Will he come out on his own?

 

[Monica]

First question is.... how do you try and get him to step up? What approach do you use?

Have you tried teaching him to step up using a treat as a lure?

 

[Marloz]

Will he come out on his own?

He does come out on his own but when I want to pick him up he quickly try to get back inside his cage. The only time he let me pick him up is if I say "Back in Cage"

 

[sunnysmom]

It sounds like he's still learning to trust you. Try to move at his pace and let him come to you. Treats are a great motivator.

 

[Marloz]

It sounds like he's still learning to trust you. Try to move at his pace and let him come to you. Treats are a great motivator.

He sometimes preen my hair and it's painful. When he comes out of the cage I tried to Pat him but when he sees my hand he runs back to his cage.

 

[blewin]

So if he's preening you, this is good, because it means he's getting used to you. Love hurts. That being said, remember that you're a great big monster to an itty-bitty tiel. Unless he's asking to be scratched (head down, etc), then hands off. Buddy is tame as can be (and a brat) and she still only accepts scritches on her terms when she wants.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

He's afraid of your hands, so don't try and pet him. He needs to trust you first, which might take a long time. He needs to know you aren't going to try and pet him in order for him to not run back to his cage. Respect his wishes or you are going to make him more fearful.

 

[JulieAnn]

The Parrot Wizard, Michael put out a book that will help you in training your bird to not be afraid of hands and many other target training techniques. Go to his website to find more information it has helped my bird to step up on my hands now it took a little over a month with training every day. But it works.

 

[Monica]

I do not recommend Michael. His methods are questionable and honestly not the best example of using positive reinforcement training. Doesn't help that he learned his methods from other novice trainers who are sales people.


Free Training Resources | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

 

[JLcribber]

I'll second Monica. The Parrot Wizard is not a very good resource not a wizard of anything.

 

[Marloz]

Good News. Kiko is slowly learn to step up on my finger first, then Mikey.

 

[blewin]

See, time and patience have their rewards.
Of course, as I say this, Buddy is refusing to get off of me. She's now decided that my fore arm is better for perching than my shoulder, which makes it difficult to do anything except, well, scratch her head and let her chew on my fingers. You can have too much of a bad thing.

 

[Shinobi]

You need a training treat and a clicker.
I found Henry's training treat by putting five different foods on a plate and watch which one Henry ate first I used sunflower seeds, corn kernels, pine nuts, grapes and balls of millet. This would become Henry's training treat and I removed this food item from Henry 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. Henry picked sunflower seeds.

Next I use a clicker to identify the desired behaviour, plus training treats and praise to reinforce that desired behaviour. It's no secret, you just need to spend time interacting and training with your bird.

The clicker is the bridge between you and your bird and you use that bridge to highlight the bird’s desired behaviour to your bird.

I put Henry on his play gym and gave him a sunflower seed and click the clicker. This indicates that training has started.
Then in my right hand I held the clicker and the sunflower seed. The set up was the clicker in the palm with my middle finger on the button and the sunflower seed held between my thumb and index finger.

With my left hand I made a pistol so my finger was parallel to the perch and about 3 cm away. Then I would bring my right hand up behind my left hand and show Henry the sunflower seed and say "step up Henry". if after 15 to 20 seconds Henry hadn't stepped up onto my left hand I would remove the sunflower seed from his sight. but leave my left hand there.

Wait 20 seconds and reshow the treat. (this might take more than one go.) When Henry stepped up onto my left hand and took the sunflower seed I would click the clicker at the same time. Then I return Henry back to the play gym Tell him to step down, reward with a sunflower seed and click the clicker at the same time, then repeat the cycle. Henry now steps up and down without training treats and this was achieved in less then a week.

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.

Stay away from the parrot wizard.