Kai has never been clipped, though he went through a stage where he didn't have flight feathers (let's just say he's a very intense player!). I've worked a lot on target training and recall with him and thought I'd compile them together on a post for anyone interested in starting recall training or trying to get their bird to fly.
The cues:
- Fly/Come on - Fly to my hand
- Go back - Go back to your playstand or cage
- Station - Go to your specific spot on the playstand (the T on top)
- Touch - Go to wherever my finger (or whatever I'm targeting him with) is and touch it with the your beak
The rewards: I vary my rewards a lot when working with him. I think that keeping them varied really helps keep him from getting bored. A random interval schedule helps as well as he never knows when he's getting a snack or when he's getting verbal praise. He works just fine with verbal praise most all of the time but I like to use food and toys as well.
- Food - I use apple or pear slivers usually. I was using a grape for a while but he was taking huge chunks of it
- Toy - Usually something that makes noise works best
- Verbal praise - I really don't have to give him anything for him to know he did it correctly. Often just telling him "good boy" or "good bird" is all he needs.
Some of his initial training. I'm close to him and he gets rewarded for coming to my hand on cue. At this point I'm close enough for him to simply jump over to my hand. For birds reluctant to hop, start off close enough for them to just step onto your hand. Gradually increase the distance as they get more comfortable with it
This video is a rundown of a lot of his cues. I'm using a ball toy as incentive (though he's really not all that interested in it.. he drops it when I give it to him). I use the 'go back' and 'station' from me in this one
And two quick longer flight clips. The first being from the kitchen down the hall toward me (he much rather be with me or in my room than on the kitchen counter) and the second one from his cage in my room down the hall to me.
The cues:
- Fly/Come on - Fly to my hand
- Go back - Go back to your playstand or cage
- Station - Go to your specific spot on the playstand (the T on top)
- Touch - Go to wherever my finger (or whatever I'm targeting him with) is and touch it with the your beak
The rewards: I vary my rewards a lot when working with him. I think that keeping them varied really helps keep him from getting bored. A random interval schedule helps as well as he never knows when he's getting a snack or when he's getting verbal praise. He works just fine with verbal praise most all of the time but I like to use food and toys as well.
- Food - I use apple or pear slivers usually. I was using a grape for a while but he was taking huge chunks of it
- Toy - Usually something that makes noise works best
- Verbal praise - I really don't have to give him anything for him to know he did it correctly. Often just telling him "good boy" or "good bird" is all he needs.
Some of his initial training. I'm close to him and he gets rewarded for coming to my hand on cue. At this point I'm close enough for him to simply jump over to my hand. For birds reluctant to hop, start off close enough for them to just step onto your hand. Gradually increase the distance as they get more comfortable with it
This video is a rundown of a lot of his cues. I'm using a ball toy as incentive (though he's really not all that interested in it.. he drops it when I give it to him). I use the 'go back' and 'station' from me in this one
And two quick longer flight clips. The first being from the kitchen down the hall toward me (he much rather be with me or in my room than on the kitchen counter) and the second one from his cage in my room down the hall to me.
I can get one of my 'tiels to come to my hand on cue and go back to his cage.. it didn't take long either.. lots of rewards!
