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Target training scared bird

kaylanfloy

Moving in
Joined
10/27/20
Messages
8
Real Name
Kaylan Floyd
Hello!
I have a 5 year old cockatiel I rescued her almost 2 months ago. She’s not hand tamed, she will come eat millet from my hand but that’s all, she will not step up or do any other interaction with me.

sometimes we struggle, because if I want to get her in her travel carrier or out of the cage or back into the cage it’s a huge problem.

I wanted to target train her so we can communicate a little better, and to make her less scared. But she’s petrified of the target stick.

she will hardly come eat millet out of my hand when I’m holding the stick. I leave the stick within eye distance so she can see it but she’s still so scared. She wants nothing to do with the stick.

how should I go about this? Everyone says target training is so easy for birds to learn but mine can’t get over the new object.

she’s my first bird so I don’t really know all too much about training. Anything helps!
 

Tazlima

Jogging around the block
Avenue Veteran
Joined
3/7/19
Messages
623
Is there an object you can hold around her that she's not scared of? If so, you can begin targeting with that and then switch to the stick after she has the idea and is more comfortable. Anything can be a target. With one of my birds, our first few target sessions were done with the dowel perch from his old cage. It was about the only thing that wouldn't send him into a panic.
 
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