Seeking Advice for Training My First Bird

[lochnessa3]

Hi everyone,

About three months ago, a beautiful bird unexpectedly flew onto my dad’s head while he was outside talking to a neighbor. My parents managed to get her inside by showing her some food, and ever since, she’s been a part of our family. Even though my parents were the ones to catch her initially, she’s bonded closely with me. She spends her days with me, sleeps near me at night, and her favorite spots are my shoulders or head.

Here’s where I could use some advice:
I’m trying to teach her to "step up." She will do it willingly when she’s in unfamiliar territory (like if she’s flown to a place she’s not used to or ended up on the floor), but if she’s just out and about, she refuses. She’ll even shake her head and sometimes make a noise. Occasionally, she’ll attempt to nip (she doesn’t really bite hard unless I’m too persistent), but I’ve learned to read her cues pretty well and back off when necessary.

I feel like I may have started backwards, as most people teach their birds to "step up" first and then introduce petting and perching on shoulders. With her, I did the opposite. I’d love to get her comfortable with stepping up consistently. She’s also become quite territorial with anything in her surroundings, which I’m not sure is normal or not.

My goal is to work towards flight training and build her confidence to come to me on command. But for now, I’d love any tips or suggestions on improving her "step up" behavior and any advice on dealing with her territorial tendencies.

Am I rushing things? Should I just be happy with the progress so far and take it slow? I’ve never had a bird before, so I want to make sure I’m doing things right!

Thanks in advance for any help!

P.S. Last week, she slept with her neck back and one foot up for the first time, but she hasn’t done it again since then. Does anyone know what this could mean or give me a rough idea of how old she might be?

 

[DoubleTake]

Cute little bird, does she have a favorite treat you could hold in front of your finger? Females can be territorial and parrotlets are known to be a bit beaky. 3 months isnt terribly long and you mention she has stepped up for you in unfamiliar places, so I dont think you are "rushing things". I would attempt to do any type of training in a neutral area and out of line of sight of the cage if possible. Just going to take time and patience and it sounds like you are already doing a good job of that.

My girl is 6 years old now and was never keen on stepping up, just liked to jump to my shoulder when close. I've always been able to man handle her though. Previously she would only sometimes step up on my thumb when I presented my hand to her in a cup shape. Few months ago i decided to try and get her to start stepping up, and she is stepping up a lot more. Pretty much when I got her on my finger, I would present the other finger to her and say step up and then alternate fingers a few times per session, praising her on every sucessful stepup. Parrotlets arent too different from lovebirds but maybe someone from the parrotlet forum has a better suggestion.

 

[sunnysmom]

She's really cute. There are some good YouTube videos on target training. I would try that. Keep training sessions short. Only 5-10 minutes and try to always end on a positive note. Don't push for one more time if she's losing interest.

 

[Tyrion]