NorthernGannet
Sprinting down the street
Blueberry got a housemate, a 3.5-ish year old green male who's never been handled by people aside from nail trims. I swear he doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body, seems somewhat shy but still wants to engage. He took to new foods immediately. I've had him basically 5 weeks, and he will now take food (but not millet) from my fingers as long as I move slowly. He watches everything like a hawk and seems pretty smart. He has started perching towards the front of the cage now too, which is good.
Interesting thing about Mylo, here's the order of learning from the beginning, and it seems really odd to me:
He quickly learned to step up on my hand when loose in the bathroom the very first time (i was trying to weigh him!). I was so surprised that I had to do it again several days later, just to be sure!
He also learned to step up on my hand from inside the smaller temporary cage he was in at first.
Transfer to larger cage with Blueberry and everything changed...
He started taking food from my hands without running away,
but...
He runs away from my hand while inside the cage if he thinks I'm trying to ask for a step up.
He runs away from a stick or a dowel while inside the cage.
He will step up ONLY onto a dowel when outside the cage but still in my room. If I try to give him a treat while on the dowel, he will fly off. If I try to get him onto my hand from the dowel, he will fly off.
If I take him outside of the room on the dowel, he will then readily step up onto my hand and even ladder until the cows come home. He's a little nervous being outside my room you can tell, but he's like a different bird with his acceptance of my hands, and he obviously has learned step up.
Why would a bird only accept hands outside of the immediate living area? If he's not afraid of me out there, why is he so resistant in here? He watches Blueberry run over to me like a magnet every time I open the door, so it's not like a bad example is being set in the cage. I could accept that maybe he'll never really be a hand percher, except he's already proven otherwise outside of the normal living area. Sooo....
I'm curious what you're highest value training treats are for your linnies? I have yet to find any food that is more enticing than running away when he even suspects a step up might be involved inside the cage or room. Grapes and safflower seeds are his favorite, but even those won't work when it comes down to it. He utterly ignores millet if I'm holding it at any length. And when I hand him a safflower seed (not trying to do anything else, just hand it to him), he takes his sweet time eating just that single seed. He can go for up to 1.5 minutes fiddling around with it and finally eating it and then licking his lips (so to speak). I foresee the world's slowest training sessions due to eating speed?? The only smaller thing I have are hemp seeds, but he just drops those. So again, coming up with treats for training is proving tough and I'm not very creative.
Thanks for reading my little novel here,
-NG
Interesting thing about Mylo, here's the order of learning from the beginning, and it seems really odd to me:
He quickly learned to step up on my hand when loose in the bathroom the very first time (i was trying to weigh him!). I was so surprised that I had to do it again several days later, just to be sure!
He also learned to step up on my hand from inside the smaller temporary cage he was in at first.
Transfer to larger cage with Blueberry and everything changed...
He started taking food from my hands without running away,
but...
He runs away from my hand while inside the cage if he thinks I'm trying to ask for a step up.
He runs away from a stick or a dowel while inside the cage.
He will step up ONLY onto a dowel when outside the cage but still in my room. If I try to give him a treat while on the dowel, he will fly off. If I try to get him onto my hand from the dowel, he will fly off.
If I take him outside of the room on the dowel, he will then readily step up onto my hand and even ladder until the cows come home. He's a little nervous being outside my room you can tell, but he's like a different bird with his acceptance of my hands, and he obviously has learned step up.
Why would a bird only accept hands outside of the immediate living area? If he's not afraid of me out there, why is he so resistant in here? He watches Blueberry run over to me like a magnet every time I open the door, so it's not like a bad example is being set in the cage. I could accept that maybe he'll never really be a hand percher, except he's already proven otherwise outside of the normal living area. Sooo....
I'm curious what you're highest value training treats are for your linnies? I have yet to find any food that is more enticing than running away when he even suspects a step up might be involved inside the cage or room. Grapes and safflower seeds are his favorite, but even those won't work when it comes down to it. He utterly ignores millet if I'm holding it at any length. And when I hand him a safflower seed (not trying to do anything else, just hand it to him), he takes his sweet time eating just that single seed. He can go for up to 1.5 minutes fiddling around with it and finally eating it and then licking his lips (so to speak). I foresee the world's slowest training sessions due to eating speed?? The only smaller thing I have are hemp seeds, but he just drops those. So again, coming up with treats for training is proving tough and I'm not very creative.
Thanks for reading my little novel here,
-NG
Looking forward to seeing your green boy when he's more presentable. I wish I could see your whole flock IRL. They all sound full of personality! And I can tell you have a way with them.