New here, can I have some advice please?

My wife and I were recently given a 15-20 year old double yellow headed amazon. The previous owners, never handled him, so he never left his cage, and he only had one toy. Amazingly enough he isn't a feather picker. But he is afraid of being touched. He lets my wife pet his feet but only from touching him through the bars, not from inside the cage. He hasn't been properly showered in the last 12 years, so he doesn't like getting showers, and his nails and beak havent been trimmed. My wife was already able to clip his wings (with the aid from a friend from the pet store). We are now able to get him to talk (but he will only respond to my wife). And he wont come off of his perch to the bottom of his cage. We were told that he was once hand trained but now he avoids being handled at all costs and gets rather puffy when we try. Does anyone have any suggestions at what we can do to get Norton to respond to us? Oh, and we know that he wasn't bonded to any one of the previous owners. We would like to get him hand trained and to be able to shower him with out him trying to tear our hands off. Any advice would be GREATLY appriciated!

wow, Im far from the expert on this type of situation (there seems to be a couple here that will likely chime in) but perhaps a few points to help.

First and foremost is patience, it sounds like he may be starting to warm up to you a bit already. Keep it up, but don't be in any hurry, let him get comfortable over time.

Second, on the showering: try different methods. My Auggie has one spray bottle he LOVES to be sprayed by and others he HATES. Honestly I cant tell the difference between their mists at all. I put in a big bowl of fresh water, spritz him a bit, then he finishes the job himself by taking a big messy bath. Anyhow, the one spray Auggie loves is just the cheep $1-2 plastic ones you can get from target/walmart. Every bird is different, but try a few different mist bottles, you may find he is more open to one than another.

Stick training may be a good place to start for getting him to open up a bit, but I'll leave that discussion to those with more experience.

Good luck, and keep us informed.

Thank you, but what exactly is stick training? I am assuming its were I hold a perch to get him to step up on it?

One thing that might help your new bird "come out of his shell" would be to invest in a nice large "playpen" type of area that can go in a different room than his cage, in a room where you spend a good deal of time. There may be some trauma involved in getting him from cage to playpen, but once hes there he will be easier to deal with. This also gives you some neutral ground, he won't feel as safe there as he does in his cage, but he will realize after a short while that the playpen is "his". It is also much easier to get a scared bird off of a playpen than to get him out of his cage. I would hold off on the bathing if he is scared of being sprayed. A different wat to encourage him to bathe himself is to give him a large shallow bowl of fresh water and then (I know this will sound silly, but it works) start vaccuming a safe distance away. For some reason the sound of a vaccume cleaner will often stimulate them to bathe.

Yes stick training is essentially holding a stick to get him to step up, but from there you can build other handy behaviors. If he will already do that great, if not read on.

Stick training is, among other things, a way to work your way up to the step up command with a new/unfamiliar bird. The step command is an important basic activity (stepping up onto a hand/arm). Odds are he has already done this previously, just not with you so he has no reason to work for you or trust you.

Stick training is a way for each of you to learn to trust the other. Right now if you stick your hand/arm infront of him he may be scared and so might you be. If you arent nervous at first you will be after he takes a chunk of your arm.

For a bird to step up onto anything they have to be able to trust that whatever it is isnt going to drop, shake, or give way. It is for this reason that some people discourage ever using the "earthquake" distractor/punishment which is gently shaking your hand when they are on it to make them loose their balance. I am on the fence on this issue, but it clearly if it is overused your bird will not trust that you are a stable perch.

Back to stick training: Its handy to start with a stick as it can ease the nerves of the person and the bird. You don't have to worry about being bit, your bird doesn't have to worry about what your hand is doing near them. Some trainers advise that you wave the stick around the bird and eventually "pet" them with it as they get comfortable with the stick being around them. I dont have the bird-specific experience to comment on the validity of "petting" them with the stick, but it does strike me as a bit odd. In either case you put the stick in front of them close to their chest; many birds will step up pretty quickly, some yo may GENTLY touch the stick to their belly to get them to step. PRAISE AND REWARD the heck out of this. Repeat often incorporating the command "step" or "step up".

Once he is comfortable with the stick there are many ways of transitioning too getting him onto your hand/arm. But one thing at a time. First earn his trust that you can provide a reliable and stable perch with which you can bring him from one place to another - for example from the cage to the play stand (which I second as a good idea).

Much of stick training is fairly common sense, but do not skimp on praise and rewards. You want everything about stick training to be pleasant to him. You never want him to hesitate to step up or fear the stick or your arm. Its one thing to push their comfort levels little by little so they can learn more, but you should not push it if he really scared - if he is back off and come back to it when he is calm.

As far as the showers go...try different places too. I have one Amazon who LOVES to be showered every single day. It doesn't matter where he is, on a playstand, in his cage, or on his cage. If he sees "his" water bottle, he's in heaven.

On the other hand...my other Amazon is a bit of a snob and prefers that I give him a shower on the counter in the kitchen. I lay towels on the counter, set him down and go to town. I've learned that the only way he will let me shower him if he's on his cage is if I wipe down all his perches, toys, cage bars after (or if he is on Gigi's cage).

Patience is your #1 thing to focus on. Give him a treat whenever he does something progressive and lot's of praise.

By the way, what's his name?

His name is Norton.

Sweet name-I love it. Can we see a picture?

I dont know how to post a picture on here... but my display pic is him.