Training of 4 mo. IRN?

[kenthebird]

I've had my blue IRN Devi for a month after bringing her home from the breeder. She's almost 4 months old, hand-tamed, and will step up onto your hand no problem. She's slightly nippy, but i assume it's because she's still not fully acquainted with me, and it's nothing I can't handle. However, though she rarely bites me, she lashes out and bites and screeches at my boyfriend, younger brother, and my parents. I'm hoping to avoid one-person-ness this early on, but what can I do to discourage the aggression? Also, what are some beginning tricks and things I can begin to teach her (as well as training treats that are recommended)? Or is she too young to begin learning tricks? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[solo]

IRN's are very much birds with their own mind, you can't really stop her from disliking them, you can only try to avoid the situations
she will also go through a bluffing stage
i recommend you read this site IndianRingneck.com
and don't have any expectations
i promise she will be worth it

 

[cassiesdad]

Like Jess said, IRNs are strong willed- for sure. Don't give up on Devi interacting with other people- she's still very young, and with proper interaction with others, she'll do fine. People have to be calm and confident with her-just like with all young birds. Any hesitation,being scared-anything like that, Devi will sense and become defensive (biting, screaming).
Young IRNs go through the "bluffing stage"-again calm and confident interactions will put her at ease. It will take time-and the efforts will pay off in the long run-after all, she's only four months old!
Our IRN, Titan, had his bluffing stage at about 5 months old,and I'll to you, he WAS something to see in it! That was 22 years ago-and he's stiil never bitten anyone all his life.

 

[Vegemite]

Bob, do all IRNs bluff? Oakley is nearly 12mths old and I have never had a problem with him. he has never been aggresive or bitten. Did I just get lucky??

 

[InTheAir]

Bob, do all IRNs bluff? Oakley is nearly 12mths old and I have never had a problem with him. he has never been aggresive or bitten. Did I just get lucky??

Nila didn't go through any noticeable bluffing stage. He's a year old now. I know of a few others that haven't bluffed too.

Ken: if you can encourage your friends and family to feed her little treats (even through the bars of her cage) she will probably warm to them.

Our bird will do anything for someone who has a passion fruit, sunflower seed, piece of nut or oat groat. He's a little guts!

 

[cassiesdad]

Bob, do all IRNs bluff? Oakley is nearly 12mths old and I have never had a problem with him. he has never been aggresive or bitten. Did I just get lucky??

Some IRNs don't go through the bluffing stage. I think if a young bird gets a lot of good human interaction, there less likely to do a lot of bluffing. The less interaction-more bluffing.
Titan STILL bluffs-when he gets his nails trimmed. It's almost comical to see- and hear. The prople at the pet shop can hold him-without towels. Titan will bluff at them while screaming BLOODY MURDER. You can hear him OUTSIDE the storefront.
When he comes back out from the back room, he's sitting on the girl's finger-no bites. Then he goes back in his cage and gives everybody the "I AM OFFENDED DEEPLY" look.
About ten minutes later, he's begging to get out of the cage....

 

[Vegemite]

Some IRNs don't go through the bluffing stage. I think if a young bird gets a lot of good human interaction, there less likely to do a lot of bluffing. The less interaction-more bluffing.
Titan STILL bluffs-when he gets his nails trimmed. It's almost comical to see- and hear. The prople at the pet shop can hold him-without towels. Titan will bluff at them while screaming BLOODY MURDER. You can hear him OUTSIDE the storefront.
When he comes back out from the back room, he's sitting on the girl's finger-no bites. Then he goes back in his cage and gives everybody the "I AM OFFENDED DEEPLY" look.
About ten minutes later, he's begging to get out of the cage....

Dont ya just love 'em???? They are such characters

 

[MelnChris]

Some IRNs don't go through the bluffing stage. I think if a young bird gets a lot of good human interaction, there less likely to do a lot of bluffing. The less interaction-more bluffing.
Titan STILL bluffs-when he gets his nails trimmed. It's almost comical to see- and hear. The prople at the pet shop can hold him-without towels. Titan will bluff at them while screaming BLOODY MURDER. You can hear him OUTSIDE the storefront.
When he comes back out from the back room, he's sitting on the girl's finger-no bites. Then he goes back in his cage and gives everybody the "I AM OFFENDED DEEPLY" look.
About ten minutes later, he's begging to get out of the cage....

I don't really understand your comment. Bluffing is a period of time an IRN goes through shortly after weaning. Somewhere between 3-5 months of age. It is related directly to the shift from adolescent to adult regardless of how much human interaction the bird received. It doesn't consistently happen over and over again though. Not all birds will go through it. And the most significant factor shown to affect bluffing is wing clipping which removes their fight or flight instinct and leaves them with fight only. Males have been known to bluff less often than females. And most recently it is being discovered that parent raised birds bluff less often than hand reared birds. So I guess I'm confused why you say your bird bluffs during a nail clipping.

 

[InTheAir]

Bob: if your bird is pretty comfortable with people I highly recommend training him to help with nail clipping. I trained Nila to hold his foot up and let me trim his nails in one day a couple weeks ago. It took about 5 short sessions. He was already used to having his feet touched and waves each foot already.
I was inspired after attending a talk by Barbara Heidenreich.
I think it's a worthwhile trick to teach, as nail clipping is a semi regular occurrence in a birds life time, I don't want him stressing about it.

Claire

 

[solo]

my boy is being a devil at the moment
i can't touch him without getting a bite
but that's what you get when you have a hormone pumped IRN
we still indulge in long conversations and trick training and other such activities just as long as i don't mess around in his cage oh and the 'No touchies' rule applies for the next 2 or 3 months oh but you have to love the craziness

 

[cassiesdad]

I don't really understand your comment. Bluffing is a period of time an IRN goes through shortly after weaning. Somewhere between 3-5 months of age. It is related directly to the shift from adolescent to adult regardless of how much human interaction the bird received. It doesn't consistently happen over and over again though. Not all birds will go through it. And the most significant factor shown to affect bluffing is wing clipping which removes their fight or flight instinct and leaves them with fight only. Males have been known to bluff less often than females. And most recently it is being discovered that parent raised birds bluff less often than hand reared birds. So I guess I'm confused why you say your bird bluffs during a nail clipping.

Bluffing is a game to Titan. He's never bitten anyone,including when his nails are trimmed. He can be touched, held,and anything else,and never bluffs.
Since he has never had his wings trimmed,he has always had the ability to fly away,if he feels threatened,and he was hand reared. So why does he bluff-ONLY at nail trimming time-and as he comes out is happily on the person's finger?
I've always gotten Titan's nails trimmed either at the vet's or at the pet shop,and I'll probably continue to do it this way. He's not being hurt in any way,and the shop is very good with him...

 

[InTheAir]

Bluffing is a game to Titan. He's never bitten anyone,including when his nails are trimmed. He can be touched, held,and anything else,and never bluffs.
Since he has never had his wings trimmed,he has always had the ability to fly away,if he feels threatened,and he was hand reared. So why does he bluff-ONLY at nail trimming time-and as he comes out is happily on the person's finger?
I've always gotten Titan's nails trimmed either at the vet's or at the pet shop,and I'll probably continue to do it this way. He's not being hurt in any way,and the shop is very good with him...

My understanding of bluffing is it is a development phase. There seems to be some confusion on the whole topic though, I have read different things.
By reading your post I wonder if perhaps he has some fear of being restrained and having his nails clipped? Or maybe he is not comfortable being restrained that way by people he doesn't know well?
I trained him to help with nail clipping so I could avoid putting him in that situation. Now that Nila knows this behaviour, anyone can ask him to cooperate and he realises that there is merit in it. Nila is generally pretty easy going with people who handle him confidently.
He will bite (not hard, just warnings) strangers who pat his tail or wings when he is on my shoulder in his harness, yet my boyfriend or I can pat him without being bitten. I'm inclined to attribute that to the fact that someone he doesn't trust has invaded his personal safe space with out asking, so he feels threatened and gets defensive.

 

[MelnChris]

Bluffing is a game to Titan. He's never bitten anyone,including when his nails are trimmed. He can be touched, held,and anything else,and never bluffs.
Since he has never had his wings trimmed,he has always had the ability to fly away,if he feels threatened,and he was hand reared. So why does he bluff-ONLY at nail trimming time-and as he comes out is happily on the person's finger?
I've always gotten Titan's nails trimmed either at the vet's or at the pet shop,and I'll probably continue to do it this way. He's not being hurt in any way,and the shop is very good with him...

I understand to a point what you're trying to get at, but the term bluff is being used incorrectly. When referring to bluffing in birds by definition it is a period of time, not an action. I think you are confusing it with the word to bluff, meaning to fake a maneuver. That was why I was baffled by your first post.

 

[cassiesdad]

My understanding of bluffing is it is a development phase. There seems to be some confusion on the whole topic though, I have read different things.
By reading your post I wonder if perhaps he has some fear of being restrained and having his nails clipped? Or maybe he is not comfortable being restrained that way by people he doesn't know well?
I trained him to help with nail clipping so I could avoid putting him in that situation. Now that Nila knows this behaviour, anyone can ask him to cooperate and he realises that there is merit in it. Nila is generally pretty easy going with people who handle him confidently.
He will bite (not hard, just warnings) strangers who pat his tail or wings when he is on my shoulder in his harness, yet my boyfriend or I can pat him without being bitten. I'm inclined to attribute that to the fact that someone he doesn't trust has invaded his personal safe space with out asking, so he feels threatened and gets defensive.

Titan does not have a problem being restrained-he is also very easy going with all people. He's a part of our visits to schools ,nursing homes,etc,and has done that all his life-22 years.
I've known quite a few IRNs-and I've noticed that they don't like their tails touched.Titan doesn't like his touched either,but he doesn't bite when it is touched, he moves away or comes to us.

 

[InTheAir]

My comment about Nila was a clumsy attempt to illustrate that he reacts differently to the same handling from different people.
He's not bluffing, he's pointing out his personal boundaries, which change between different people. I'm the same, I don't like a complete stranger to walking up to me and touching me. ..