Lovebird newbie guide?

[jahpan]

Please dont clip. Please. Don't.
My Teq plays the same game with me, whenever it's time to go into his cage. Flies around from high spot to high spot, lamps, curtain rods, speakers, door tops, etc. So I've simply started to NOT wait to put him inside as the last thing before I leave, because he picks up on whatever 'I'm about to leave' signals I obviously give off long before that. I let him sit on my shoulder, I stroke him and I talk to him and then I go into our bathroom, close the door and switch off the light. Pitch dark! In the dark he will remain on my shoulder and I can just cup my hand around him and pick him up and carry him to the cage. I always take a moment to kiss him on his chest feathers and give him some sweet talk, so I hope it's less bad. But there is no escape ;-) Does the trick everytime.

For Sally, she has a thing with our old oven mitten (no longer in it's original use), she simply HAS to crawl inside it whenever she sees it, and we use that to lure her out and carry her to her cage inside the oven mitten. We've done so for years, she doesn't seem to want the oven mitten any less, which I find strange, but hey, I'm NOT complaining.

I hope you will be inspired by any of this and make your own work-around cheats/tricks.

Well I keep my bird in one room, my bedroom because i have a cat and 2 dogs. Like my bird will sit up there forever and not come down, I don't know what to do, I've tried getting him down with a hanger and he'll keep hopping from fan to fan and then evetually on top of the circular part of the fan. Then like the only time I can catch him it sometimes he'll be flying in mid air and I can catch him only he made like a scared scream. He's still very friendly to me, and lets me scratch/pet him inside his cage. But I mean what can I do seriously, I feel like clipping his wings further is my only option u__u

 

[maddie]

you catch him in mid air? No wonder he screams.
Oh dear, oh dear, where to begin...

I'm no expert, I have to say that pretty clear. But grabbing him in mid air doesn't seem all that constructive, in fact it sounds rather awful. Violent. And I'm fairly sure he does NOT like it, so no wonder he retreats to higher ground and will not come down. I would think that you'd want to build trust, but what you do is the exact opposite.

I am fortunate to have two darling handraised lovebirds, with whom I have built a really good relationship, they almost always come when I call, and I never use any force with them. But it didn't come out of nothing either, it was a lot of work, a lot of time and not least, a LOT of patience. What you need to do is start training your bird. Start building trust, so he will come down when you ask him nicely. Offer a treat, so he connects doing what you ask with getting something yummy. Parrots are smart. They have a pretty good learning curve, if they feel you can be trusted, and they will learn from you. But it will take time, a lot of time, and a lot of effort. I hope nobody ever promised you that you could tame and train him in a week.

You will be able to find training advice here on this forum, you can probably find it in a book or in a video, or you can consult a pro bird trainer. There are plenty of options.

Clipping wings is NOT one. It's not training. It's not trust. It's just limiting his movements. And for what? What happens if he's out and the door is left open and the cat or the dogs get in? You will have removed his only means of escape. I shudder at the thought. You can read a few threads on this forum about this happening. Stuff of nightmares, I tell you.

I ask you again. Nicely. Please do not clip his wings. Please.

 

[jahpan]

you catch him in mid air? No wonder he screams.
Oh dear, oh dear, where to begin...

I'm no expert, I have to say that pretty clear. But grabbing him in mid air doesn't seem all that constructive, in fact it sounds rather awful. Violent. And I'm fairly sure he does NOT like it, so no wonder he retreats to higher ground and will not come down. I would think that you'd want to build trust, but what you do is the exact opposite.

I am fortunate to have two darling handraised lovebirds, with whom I have built a really good relationship, they almost always come when I call, and I never use any force with them. But it didn't come out of nothing either, it was a lot of work, a lot of time and not least, a LOT of patience. What you need to do is start training your bird. Start building trust, so he will come down when you ask him nicely. Offer a treat, so he connects doing what you ask with getting something yummy. Parrots are smart. They have a pretty good learning curve, if they feel you can be trusted, and they will learn from you. But it will take time, a lot of time, and a lot of effort. I hope nobody ever promised you that you could tame and train him in a week.

You will be able to find training advice here on this forum, you can probably find it in a book or in a video, or you can consult a pro bird trainer. There are plenty of options.

Clipping wings is NOT one. It's not training. It's not trust. It's just limiting his movements. And for what? What happens if he's out and the door is left open and the cat or the dogs get in? You will have removed his only means of escape. I shudder at the thought. You can read a few threads on this forum about this happening. Stuff of nightmares, I tell you.

I ask you again. Nicely. Please do not clip his wings. Please.

Again, he does not come down for me, even if I offer him treats. I didn't mean to scare him but it was my only way of putting him back in the cage. I may be a new bird owner but I would never leave the door open with him outside the cage. Only I have seen that he seems to like my boyfriend more, and comes to him even tho he flys off his hand a million times, he has sat on his shoulder for a good 20mins, but doesn't do that for me u--u

 

[maddie]

I'm sorry to hear that he seems to like your boyfriend more, Lauren, but don't despair. Just be patient. If there's a treat he really likes, buy him off with it. He wil surelly pick up on that certain actions is rewarded.

If it's any consolation, Sally all-out hated me the first full year or so we had her, and wanted only to be touched by my husband. She would bite me quite a lot and I was so sad about it but I understood that she had made her choice, and beside I knew that we'd get a second lovebird, and hopefully this bird would bond with me. And that's exactly what happened. But she warmed to me after all. Just took a pretty long time (well, and a lot of my husband's absence, he has a lot of business travels). She figured out, I think, that getting her favorite snacks, peas, only happened on my shoulders.

Eventually she realized that I wasn't quite as awful as she obviously thought to begin with ;-)

Well, what I mean to say, after my rant above (sorry if I was a bit harsh, I just dont like wing clipping) you need to interact, make him see you as a means of getting some snack. A bit of spray millet, perhaps. My lovies are crazy for the red sort, and besides they are less dusty somehow compared to the white/yellow sort = less cleaning.

There isn't much nutrition in millet, in fact it's a lot of sugar and like candy, so it could be something that he is given ONLY when sitting on your shoulder. He wont miss out on valuable nutrition that way.

Again, I'm certainly no expert. I keep hoping that some of the real behavior experts here on the forum will chime in

 

[fluffypoptarts]

Lovies won't always choose their owners as their favorite - could be that your lovie will end up choosing your boyfriend! I had this happen with one of mine. He didn't used to be mine, but I lived in the same house as his previous owner, and he ended up choosing me instead - overwhelmingly so. He's how I discovered I adored lovebirds.

 

[jahpan]

I've gotten better with my lovie!! He now knows what millet is and loves it, and he's been coming to me alot more often and ignoring the fan!!
The only small problem I now have with him is I need to clip his nails but don't know how!

Lovies won't always choose their owners as their favorite - could be that your lovie will end up choosing your boyfriend! I had this happen with one of mine. He didn't used to be mine, but I lived in the same house as his previous owner, and he ended up choosing me instead - overwhelmingly so. He's how I discovered I adored lovebirds.

 

[fluffypoptarts]

I've gotten better with my lovie!! He now knows what millet is and loves it, and he's been coming to me alot more often and ignoring the fan!!
The only small problem I now have with him is I need to clip his nails but don't know how!

That's great! (LOL, I sometimes entice mine to go back IN the cage with millet! They would much rather be out harassing me. ) I don't even clip mine. I take them to be groomed. I could handle the wings if I wanted to, but the nails I'm too afraid to hazard.