Training progress?

[Roku]

So we've had our greenwing macaw for a month now, and she's just turned 5 months old. When we received her, she was harnessed trained and stepped up and recalled for syringe feedings.

Now I know she's still very young, and it's only been a month, but I'm wondering when she will show signs of improvement in training. I've read stories of how birds will learn tricks after just a few repetitions or just a few days. And that these first 6 months are important for their mental development. I also know that we need to be patient.

So here's where we're at now:

Step up and recall: She will do these only when she wants to. Now that she's grazing all day on pellets and veggies, she doesn't have as much incentive to perform for the syringe. We feed 4 syringe-fulls of 30ml each per feeding, and we try to do 2 tricks per syringe. Before, she would perform until the end, but now, she only performs for the first 1 or 2 syringes. She still eagerly takes the remaining formula, but just isn't motivated as much after the first two, and we just end up feeding her without her having to do tricks. Are we teaching her to be spoiled by giving in? She won't even do it for nuts unless she's in the mood.

Shake hands: this one was easy as she seems to like to just hold your hand anyway. She does this on command without any treats.

Spread your wings: this one surprised me. I figured it would be easy to just give her treats/feedings
after we manually spread her wings. Seems like a simple enough trick. But she's only done it once or twice on command, and sometimes resists us spreading her wings manually. But when we're cuddling on the couch (lying on her back on my lap), she has no problems letting us spread her wings.

So after reading success stories of how fast they learn but also how patient we need to be, I have to wonder whether she's just moody and stubborn or if this is normal. I know they are much smarter than dogs, but even dogs learn simple commands and tricks after just a few repetitions. Any advice or input would be much appreciated.

 

[Destiny]

Being very smart and able to learn tricks quickly is different from being easy to train. The smarter ones will train you as much as you train them, for better or worse. You need to be very aware of your own actions and how they are being perceived by the parrot or you are likely teaching more than you realize.

I have never worked with a macaw, but from everything I have read, you should be prepared for a bird that is highly opinionated, easily bored, and potentially quite stubborn.

You will need to be at least as smart as your parrot if you want to keep one step ahead. It requires a huge amount of patience, creativity, and determination to train large parrots well.

At this age, I am guessing she might be getting bored or distracted, rather than simply being obstinate. Maybe try introducing some new exercises or shorten the training sessions. For example, you could stop after two syringes and come back to it later, after taking a short break, rather than giving her the other two syringes for free.

 

[Hankmacaw]

She's actually too young for to much, if any training . At that age they just want to have fun and explore. I'd back off on the training and just play with her a lot and give her great big bundles of love.

"I have never worked with a macaw, but from everything I have read, you should be prepared for a bird that is highly opinionated, easily bored, and potentially quite stubborn.

You will need to be at least as smart as your parrot if you want to keep one step ahead. It requires a huge amount of patience, creativity, and determination to train large parrots well."

Truer words were never said, @Destiny

 

[Roku]

Thanks for the advice!

Hankmacaw, at what age do you think it's good to start regular training sessions?

 

[Macawnutz]

Syringe feedings are not training rewards. When your sweetie is actively seeking high value treats such as pine nuts or pieces of nuts then you can start training sessions. This will not be while she is still handfeeding. Right now you are teaching things like, you are comfort, you can be trusted, getting good at flying/landing, wearing a harness, filing nails, opening her wings. She has a lifetime for the rest, right now she is a baby.