Does it hurt ?

Aij615 · May 16, 2017

Hi Guys, Max is 6 months old. He's very active in his cage and climbs all over the place using his beak as a grappling tool, I think he's started to settle in to his new cage past 2 weeks however I can't seem get him to 'Up' onto my finger so I can hold him. Any clever trick you fine experts have on this to get him to step up onto my outstretched finger ??

Question I want to know is sometime Max looks like he's going to attempt to peck at me when I try to do this - I get the impression he don't want to be messed with so does this cause he's irritated lol

Does it hurt when 'Alex's peck you ???

Jottlebot · May 16, 2017

Hello, start by clicker and target training. It can easily be done in the cage and he'll probably pick it up very quickly. You can then put the target above your hand and he'll step on you to get to the target. I would guess it will take a few days to get to this point. He has to be consistently climbing all over the cage to touch the target before you try your hand. My McCoy will stand on all sorts of scary things if he's after the target!

In terms of the pecking, no it doesn't hurt. McCoy would also scrape his lower beak on my skin to check it, that does get a bit sore. Now he will bite though. He's only been stepping up or landing on my skin for about a week so I just think he doesn't know he isn't allowed to do it yet. The biting does hurt, but has only broken the skin once.

Good luck! Look forward to knowing how you get on!

Aij615 · May 16, 2017

Oohhh now I'm intrigued.

Ok so his favourite food is Grapes, loves them. So what your saying is use this grape to get him to perch on my outstretched finger yes, he will currently climb all over the cage (and would actually put 'Spider-Man' to shame) to get at a grape.

Trying to picture and figure out me holding a grape whole finger outstretched to get Max onto it....

Unless I use my left hand to get Max to perch on it and then right hand holding the grape near by so max will have to climb on me to reach it - I'm guessing that will work

Al

wrench13 · May 16, 2017

Yep that will work. Bear in mind you need to work with your parrot every night, to develop the kind of trust and relationship you want. It doesn't come quickly and it doesn't come cheaply. And yes , you might get nipped / bit/ crunched, but thats a part of learning your birds body language. Check out some of Saltys videos on youtube... ( search on salty parrot trick) we work together every night for 1/2 hour, training and learning new tricks. And we play at least an hour every nite too.

Jottlebot · May 17, 2017

Yeah, that's what i mean. You'll be amazed by his Mr Stretch stretchy neck though that he might unleash instead of treading on you, but you just have to hold it further away from your hand so he has to step on! My tip wpuld be hold the grape so that he has to look up to reach it. It's harder to bite when you're reaching for something up a bit higher than you are.

I use a target (which is a pen) rather than food. When he touches the target I click a dog training clicker and give him a treat, but the grape would work as a "lure". I can't remember why the target is meant to be better than a food lure every time. Possibly because one day you might not have a grape when you need to pick him up, but you should have the target and also you can extend the delay between the stepping up for the target and giving the treat. If you just don't give him the grape he might just get annoyed and let you know with his beak!

Inger · May 17, 2017

Hahaha "Mr. Stretch stretchy neck" is such a great description.

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Aij615 · May 18, 2017

Sounds good....

How does the whole clicker training work, ??

Jottlebot · May 19, 2017

You train the bird so that the sound of the clicker comes to mean a positive reward. So you start by clicking the clicker and giving a treat. Do it over and over about 10 times then have a break and then do it another couple of times in the day. When your bird starts looking for the treat as soon as he's heard the clicker you can move on.

Now you can target a behaviour. When he does something you like click the clicker and treat. It doesn't matter if he has to wait a few seconds for the treat because he knows there's one coming when he's heard the click. He'll also know what he's getting a treat for because the clicker is so precise. If something nice has happened when he's done something he's more likely to do it again! You can either wait to see something you like or make him do something like offering the end of the target and when he touches it click and treat. In no time he'll be chasing the target all round his cage and outside it too!

There's loads more about this in the behaviour section.

Use small treats so you can repeat 10-15 times at each training session so whole grapes are too big even for a greedy Alex! I train when he's hungry too. Use treats he doesn't have in his normal food.

When he's "begging" which means repeating the behaviour lots so he gets a treat you can add in a verbal or action cue. Now you only give a treat when he does the behaviour after your cue! I'm a total geek so I love all this stuff!!

DerTier · May 19, 2017

there are great articles about clicker training online, it applies to all species, even bugs and humans

Karen Pryor is the one who brought this technique from whales and other cetaceans to dogs, and chickens, and everything else. Her stuff is all amazing, and i have several of her dog training books as I started training animals with dogs

Worth the buy even for birds as its universal. In humans they call it TAG training but its the same thing

Inger · May 19, 2017

I use my voice to mark the behavior because I can't imagine managing the clicker, the target, the bird, and the treat with my two hands. What's cute is that now when Bumble knows she's performed the behavior I want, she'll often chirp - also marking the behavior with her voice.

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Aij615 · May 20, 2017

Jottlebot said:
You train the bird so that the sound of the clicker comes to mean a positive reward. So you start by clicking the clicker and giving a treat. Do it over and over about 10 times then have a break and then do it another couple of times in the day. When your bird starts looking for the treat as soon as he's heard the clicker you can move on.

Now you can target a behaviour. When he does something you like click the clicker and treat. It doesn't matter if he has to wait a few seconds for the treat because he knows there's one coming when he's heard the click. He'll also know what he's getting a treat for because the clicker is so precise. If something nice has happened when he's done something he's more likely to do it again! You can either wait to see something you like or make him do something like offering the end of the target and when he touches it click and treat. In no time he'll be chasing the target all round his cage and outside it too!

There's loads more about this in the behaviour section.

Use small treats so you can repeat 10-15 times at each training session so whole grapes are too big even for a greedy Alex! I train when he's hungry too. Use treats he doesn't have in his normal food.

When he's "begging" which means repeating the behaviour lots so he gets a treat you can add in a verbal or action cue. Now you only give a treat when he does the behaviour after your cue! I'm a total geek so I love all this stuff!!

Wow sounds great. What kind of treats I'm thinking could I use. Max likes his general food (mixed seed) however mainly eating sunflower seeds as favourites. He loves grapes and blueberrys.

Need small treat suggestions.

Inger · May 20, 2017

Aij615 said:
Wow sounds great. What kind of treats I'm thinking could I use. Max likes his general food (mixed seed) however mainly eating sunflower seeds as favourites. He loves grapes and blueberrys.

Need small treat suggestions.

I cut nuts into tiny pieces and give those as treats.

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Jottlebot · May 20, 2017

Hi, be careful how much seed he eats. Generally parrots love it and will choose it over other foods, but it's like us eating chocolate all the time. It is bad for them! Try a pellet based diet if possible Harrisons is one brand, but there are lots and people on here talk about different brands all the time. Fresh vegetables are great too.

I would use seeds as training treats and take them out of his diet, but you still need to be careful about how many you give him. Cut up grapes and blueberries would be great, but they are high in sugar so again not too many!

I use pistachios broken into about 8 pieces, pine nuts, flaked almonds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds for training and treating and I feed 70-80% Harrisons and the rest fresh veg etc.

Aij615 · May 21, 2017

Just been out and the only pellet food available was NutriBird P15 tropical. Smells georgeous in box hehe

Let's see what Max thinks

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