Socializing & Training

Birdmom12

New member
Jan 21, 2019
142
0
Parrots
Parakeet named Blue. Adopted from a Humane Society 5 years ago.

Kirby Cockatiel adopted from a humane society 2018.

Also a slew of other small birds that span my entire childhood.
Hello,

I'm looking for advice on how others socialized, trained and helped their birds become a well adjusted family member.

I'm looking into the target training and plan to start this weekend. The training will be for our cockatiel and our newer addition a 35 year old BFA. Our amazon is tame in regards to he will step up on his terms, nicely plays outside the cage, and isn't easy to lash out. Our tiel on the other hand is very fearful.

My ultimate goal is the following

1- Work on stepping up for all members of the house hold (not just the chosen one)Hoping to have a healthy balance within the family so that everyone can interact in a fun and safe way. I realize there will always be a favorite but wouldn't it be nice to have more then one friend.

2- Socialize so that vet visits and fun outings are possible (Unknown how this was done with previous owners)

3- HOPEFUL that we can harness train. This will allow us outside time during the warmer months.

I do realize this will take months of dedication and progress will likely be slow. Hoping to hear how others have achieved this in the past.
 

ChristaNL

Banned
Banned
May 23, 2018
3,559
157
NL= the Netherlands, Europe
Parrots
Sunny a female B&G macaw;
Japie (m) & Appie (f), both are congo african grey;
All are rescues- had to leave their previous homes for 'reasons', are still in contact with them :)
Those are some great goals :)


It really depends on the bird and the trust and interaction you have.
Sometimes you can go really fast and sometimes it is agonizingly slow.





Sunny: 1 year W.I.P. and still going zzzzlowly ...


socializing: she stopped biting me because other people in the room scared her...so thats nice.
She (only? ) now starts flirting/ reaching out to my friends she sees regularly, accepting snacks from their hands (still through the bars of the cage, she is now progressing to hands through the open door) without acting out.
(She went from almost attacking the hands -instead of just taking the food/treat- to taking even very smal nuts slowly and gently from between fingers or open palm)


Small steps some days, no steps on other days, sometimes a big leap no-one saw coming (my closest friends are non-parrot-experience-people/ they love animals and are willing to try, but they are not very confident ... that lack of experience also does not help) -- steep learning curve for all involved. :D
 

AmyMyBlueFront

Well-known member
Apr 14, 2015
6,315
Media
4
3,034
Connecticut
Parrots
Amy a Blue Front 'Zon
Jonesy a Goffins 'Too who had to be rehomed :-(

And a Normal Grey Cockatiel named BB who came home with me on 5/20/2016.
Amy started socializing at a very young age ( four months old). My intention was to have him come with me in my tractor-trailer on trips. So I took him outside a lot ( I shortened his sleeves on his arms) and we'd go places in the car to see/meet people. I took him EVERYWHERE and still do. It came to the point where he'd ask me "out side? in the car?" and still does! With weather permitting,we go to stores,to see his buddys at the pet store,wal-mart...he rides on the carriage handle bars talking to anyone who will listen. We took a trip a couple summers ago to visit Al (Wrench13) and Salty..a 2.5 hr ride and when I stopped to pay a bridge toll,the gate keeper said "Hi bird!" (Amy was on my shoulder) and Amy said HELLO! right back at him! As I was about to leave the guy said that made his week :D

BB on the other hand is flighted and he only goes out in his carrier. He seems to like car rides coz he'll chirp and talk alittle. I'd like to get him harness trained but I don't thin he'd groove on that idea. :eek:


Jim
 
OP
Birdmom12

Birdmom12

New member
Jan 21, 2019
142
0
Parrots
Parakeet named Blue. Adopted from a Humane Society 5 years ago.

Kirby Cockatiel adopted from a humane society 2018.

Also a slew of other small birds that span my entire childhood.
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #4
Harness training I think will be TRICKY. But I would LOVE to get him outside so he can feel the sun, safely fly, and in general be out and about with us.

We started to clicker train last night. Kirby (Tiel) was very much enthused with the idea! JoJo.... eh not so much. To be honest though he really ignores me. Whenever I come near JoJo he turns his back on me. I also have yet to find his high reward treat! He likes walnuts but it doesn't exactly make him JUMP when I say Jump if you get what I mean. I think our first hurdle will be to have him at least humor me instead of giving me the cold shoulder.
 

AmyMyBlueFront

Well-known member
Apr 14, 2015
6,315
Media
4
3,034
Connecticut
Parrots
Amy a Blue Front 'Zon
Jonesy a Goffins 'Too who had to be rehomed :-(

And a Normal Grey Cockatiel named BB who came home with me on 5/20/2016.
Harness training I think will be TRICKY. But I would LOVE to get him outside so he can feel the sun, safely fly, and in general be out and about with us.

We started to clicker train last night. Kirby (Tiel) was very much enthused with the idea! JoJo.... eh not so much. To be honest though he really ignores me. Whenever I come near JoJo he turns his back on me. I also have yet to find his high reward treat! He likes walnuts but it doesn't exactly make him JUMP when I say Jump if you get what I mean. I think our first hurdle will be to have him at least humor me instead of giving me the cold shoulder.

For some odd reason BB will now try and bite his "uncle david" when before he'd go right to him. He will however tolerate David if I'm not around ( to the point he can't see me) Now that Beebs sleeves have been shortened ( did this so he wouldn't zoom from me coz he needs to take meds for a couple weeks for an infection he has) If he happens to do a flapflap he'll land softly on the floor and run to David to climb up. It's funny though,watching his little legs go a mile a minute lol. Amy doesn't/cant fly and she likes to "waddle" across the floor.


Jim
 
OP
Birdmom12

Birdmom12

New member
Jan 21, 2019
142
0
Parrots
Parakeet named Blue. Adopted from a Humane Society 5 years ago.

Kirby Cockatiel adopted from a humane society 2018.

Also a slew of other small birds that span my entire childhood.
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #6
Jim-

Our JoJo sounds similar to your BB. JoJo tolerates me in the way of he will take treats from me and for a short moment play with foot toys with me. He will however NOT step up for me. If I try and hes not in the mood he lets me know.

If his chosen person(husband) is in the room he lights up! If he hears him in another room he takes off and flies the house until he finds him. (Trying to break him of this habit) Hes also the only one JoJo will step up for or remotely listen to. Have to say I'm rather jealous of the love JoJo shows him but hoping our relationship can grow as time progresses.
 
OP
Birdmom12

Birdmom12

New member
Jan 21, 2019
142
0
Parrots
Parakeet named Blue. Adopted from a Humane Society 5 years ago.

Kirby Cockatiel adopted from a humane society 2018.

Also a slew of other small birds that span my entire childhood.
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #7
Maybe someone can be of help with this question.

I am STILL learning the ways of the parrot when it comes to body language. To say I wasn't slightly intimidated would be a lie. (this may be my big down fall)

When I am talking to our Amazon his eyes will wildly dilate. I've read this can be both excitement or fear... you obviously have to pair it up with what else their body is saying.

However, when ever I approach or talk to him his eyes do this. Some days he hunches over wings spread, other days his whole body fluffs up into a big fluffy ball, other days hes head down and eyeing me. I've tried talking softer, further away, no direct eye contact, and having treats on hand so he can associate me with good times.

I'm still struggling though with if he is excited or fearful. So far my approach has been slow and on his terms. I don't want to take the wrong step and really damage a forming relationship. On the other hand though I don't want to be some background piece he never has a relationship with. So far when hes been out I have been doing the chair technique and sitting by him doing my own thing/talking to him.
 
OP
Birdmom12

Birdmom12

New member
Jan 21, 2019
142
0
Parrots
Parakeet named Blue. Adopted from a Humane Society 5 years ago.

Kirby Cockatiel adopted from a humane society 2018.

Also a slew of other small birds that span my entire childhood.
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #8
Help! When target training tonight things were going well or so I thought. He was targeting, hearing the click, then being rewarded with a walnut which he took nice. I moved the stick further away to get him to follow it. I was gently saying come on when he suddenly hopped and lunged for me. (We were only about 3 clicks in tonight so it was just starting) he then moments later went for me again when I was just standing by giving him a moment. What am I doing wrong?
 

ChristaNL

Banned
Banned
May 23, 2018
3,559
157
NL= the Netherlands, Europe
Parrots
Sunny a female B&G macaw;
Japie (m) & Appie (f), both are congo african grey;
All are rescues- had to leave their previous homes for 'reasons', are still in contact with them :)
Probably nothing.

Sometimes a bird will just "have had enough".
Getting used to training is also a form of training, and concentrating is hard work!

So it is more or less normal they act out a bit afterwards untill they get used to it.

It is like playgrouds around schools are always extra-extra noisy-- I think the kids are compensating for being physically still and having to focus for a longish time.

A lot of our training-with-parrots is teaching them "unnatural things" and that sometimes builds up a lot of tension: the innerbird telling it to "get out as fast as you can" but the human asks it to stay (and there are treats!).
Asking a bird to think really, really hard about something (puzzlesolving) will do the same- sometimes they will just 'explode'.


Sunny always compensates trainingtime by playing hard -> throwing in extra force or extra speed compared to the normal playing.
Chewing/ tearing things really helps her - so maybe give your bird something to destroy after might help as well?


One thing is to rethink the rewards: if the pieces are too large he will be "full" soon and lose interest (if they are too small he may decide it is not worth it) ...you will figure out the least amount that will motivate him, that just takes time ;)


You will learn to read your bird soon enough- they always tell you they are almost done with the session.
When that happens- ask them to do something they've succesfully done, and end it there.
(Always end on a high note if you can manage it, let the sweet smell of succes linger ;) )
.




and remember: you are BOTH learning, so mistakes are allowed for both!
No student is perfect but - surprise- neither is the teacher.
 
Last edited:

Flynhigh

New member
Jan 19, 2019
149
1
Murrieta California
Parrots
Apollo (CAG) , Kona (Pineapple conure)
Keep your training sessions short , 5min max end on a good note. If you do 3 well , stop end it there . Try again later. Progress is progress. Your doing wonderful.
 
OP
Birdmom12

Birdmom12

New member
Jan 21, 2019
142
0
Parrots
Parakeet named Blue. Adopted from a Humane Society 5 years ago.

Kirby Cockatiel adopted from a humane society 2018.

Also a slew of other small birds that span my entire childhood.
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #11
Keep your training sessions short , 5min max end on a good note. If you do 3 well , stop end it there . Try again later. Progress is progress. Your doing wonderful.


Thanks everyone- This is a difficult process especially when your experience spans smaller less complex birds. I do think JoJo was allowed to get away with a lot at his last home. I know now he is definitely testing us and our boundaries. He's also showing dominance over his cage area. What I have read though this is fairly typical until you work on it with them. He is also getting territorial of the other bird cages. (at least I think this is what's happening). Whenever he tries to get to the other cages we direct him off. He typically fights us on this before caving and going to his own play stand once more. He's never aggressive with the others but watches them closely and you can tell he is getting excited. All the same we want to keep them separated for the time being.

I've also noticed with me sometimes he will move INCREDIBLY fast towards me and hop/lunge, or try and snatch a treat out of my fingers instead of being gently like he does for others. (The previous owners friend may have been right on him not caring for woman-Wondering what bad experience he had).

I've been reading the Companion Parrot Handbook and hoping to get some guidance through that. Hoping to work through this territorial behavior so that we can expand onto other things like stepping up (He will do it but not very often). I think a single play stand is in the near future. One that we can roll into an another room for him to play on. Then he won't be so focused on his cage and defending it.
 
OP
Birdmom12

Birdmom12

New member
Jan 21, 2019
142
0
Parrots
Parakeet named Blue. Adopted from a Humane Society 5 years ago.

Kirby Cockatiel adopted from a humane society 2018.

Also a slew of other small birds that span my entire childhood.
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #12
Opinions requested.

I have come up with a plan of attack for our boy. I'm wondering if I can get some input/suggestions.

We are currently a week in with our new guy. When he comes out he is generally speaking good. He doesn't scream, has limited his flying (seems to be listening to our requests), doesn't try and destroy anything outside his toys etc...He really just walks around his cage top and watches us.

He doesn't listen to step up though, is a struggle to put back into his cage for sleep, and gets a bit territorial of his area (especially with me). My thoughts were that his bedtime be around 8pm with a wake up time of 7am. I'll always be the breakfast/dinner feeder (Since I'm the least favorite), Through out the day he will get a "CLICK" followed by a treat, once this is understood we will move into target training with the stick. We will keep sessions short maybe 3-5 targets and done. Once he is excited about the training we can branch out to come over here, spin here, step up etc...

Also wondering if asking him to go onto a perch in another room would be beneficial? Would this help reset his mind to a neutral space.

I think for now we should move at a slower pace. I want to allow him the opportunity to come out and be apart of the family. However, this fight of its bed time go back to your room is a stressful struggle.
 

Flynhigh

New member
Jan 19, 2019
149
1
Murrieta California
Parrots
Apollo (CAG) , Kona (Pineapple conure)
Start target training immediately, use it for in and out , on and off stands and cages. Favorite treat for this only. Sorry to be short , will give more later.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
 

wrench13

Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
Parrot of the Month 🏆
Nov 22, 2015
11,383
Media
14
Albums
2
12,567
Isle of Long, NY
Parrots
Yellow Shoulder Amazon, Salty
you are talking about many kinds of training at once. trying to teach a flighted 'tiel is going to be much hard that a non-flighted 'amazon. Lets do easier one first. find out the birds most fav treat, he one they cant live out out. That now becomes your training tool. Make a EVERYDAY for trainng. let the parrot play with the harness a few times ,so she is o tscared of it. The very hardest part of hardness training is getting the bird to voluntariy put his head theu the loop.You are going to bribe the parrot to to this by putting smaall pcs of threat lleading gup to the loop, whuch yiu will have held open at the edge to the table,Hold a pieice of threat in you other hand and once the bids head is far enouth in, slide the reast ot the loop on the head. Note this may take months and monhs ( took me almost a year with Salty). Once you do it profusely praise and treat the bird, and develope a quing word and action to easily take it off ( this can take awhile too. Try toremail clm thru the whole process - if you are neverous so will the bird be.
 
OP
Birdmom12

Birdmom12

New member
Jan 21, 2019
142
0
Parrots
Parakeet named Blue. Adopted from a Humane Society 5 years ago.

Kirby Cockatiel adopted from a humane society 2018.

Also a slew of other small birds that span my entire childhood.
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #15
Thank you wrench. Tonight I felt defeated and really the whole family did. Everyone went their separate ways and it was just me and jojo (amazon) I let him be for awhile not knowing what to do. I finally caved and said the worse that happens he bites me. I went to his cage cleaned it and washed, sat kn the floor next to it and just thought. He peaked at me a bit before flying off to another spot. Knowing we don’t want him to do this I decided to man up and get him back to his play top. I got the target stick and walnuts and went to him. I targeted him where he was then I walked back to his play top and targeted him. It was in that small moment there was a miracle! He flew back and came to the target! I treated him and in my moment of complete satisfaction baby talked him. It was then I found his high reward! Walnuts and baby talk!!!

We targeted around the cage and before I knew it he was following me and interested in me! Keep in mind I have never been his go to so far! Anytime he flew off I targeted him back home and he listened and caught on so fast! When my husband his go to person came in he ignored him and was not interested in him he only had eyes for me and training. I gotta say going from feeling defeated to we are finally understanding and trusting each other feels amazing!

He went for about a half hour but we also made it into a game. I think he enjoyed the interaction, high praise, and perhaps is finally seeing me as someone he might want to trust. When I asked him to step up he did warning bite my Arm so we aren’t there yet. However started the progress of target training him to where I need him is so rewarding. I hope the coming days are as positive.
 

Flynhigh

New member
Jan 19, 2019
149
1
Murrieta California
Parrots
Apollo (CAG) , Kona (Pineapple conure)
As wrench13 mentioned start with one trick or command at a time. Clicker and target stick need to be used at the same time. At least for movement tricks, If you don't have a training stand yet you can use the back of a chair or you can build a quick and inexpensive one from PVC pipe. Wrap the area where the bird will be standing with vet wrap and your all set. Do not use any glue to put it together , they will press fit and stay tight. If you need pics let me know.

Start training by getting him to just touch the stick, click, treat and big praise!!Do not under estimate this trick . Once he's comfy with the stick start moving his direction right or left on the stand , one way per command Click, Treat! Praise! Once you get him to follow you comfortably in and out of the cage will go pretty quickly. Remember keep the favorite treat only for targeting or tricks only. Make sure hubby uses this method as well so he understands it coming from both of you. It will be clear what you both are asking of him. I would work with this info for a week or so depending on how long it takes him to get it. Go slow get him confident with the stick , you will know when hes ready to move ahead. If you push to hard he will push back or get frightened or bored. That means more work on your part. 1 step forward 2 steps back. Always err on the shorter is better. We all have done it because we see progress and get really excited and then OOPS!! .

Harness - I wouldn't bother with this until you can at the very least get him to step up. You will need to be able to touch him or he will need to feel comfy with you touching his wings and getting him off balance slightly or you will be punished. They don't like this so tread lightly. The harness needs to be on you or visible to him during all training sessions even though you will not use it to teach anything , at some point you will show it to him and see how close you can get it to him before body language changes then Stop! or in other words you see he's scared.


You want to eventually be able to touch him with it without any fear. Once your at that point your ready to target his head through the harness. So as you can see its a process and not a particularly quick one. many steps , lots of patience and praise and most of all have fun with it. If he's not interested that's ok . Remember always train on an empty crop. You will see all kinds of enthusiasm.
 

Flynhigh

New member
Jan 19, 2019
149
1
Murrieta California
Parrots
Apollo (CAG) , Kona (Pineapple conure)
That's wonderful !!! Keep the great work and don't get discouraged , he's probably been target trained and is thinking YES she gets me!! This is where it gets hard to stop but remember only take it to the point you see advancement and stop.
 
OP
Birdmom12

Birdmom12

New member
Jan 21, 2019
142
0
Parrots
Parakeet named Blue. Adopted from a Humane Society 5 years ago.

Kirby Cockatiel adopted from a humane society 2018.

Also a slew of other small birds that span my entire childhood.
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #18
Thank you flynhigh! See above for tonight’s little but highly rewarding progress. He does not trust me to step up yet and honesty I’m nervous as well. (I have dizzy spells and looking up saying come here makes me dizzy then makes me nervous) tonight though we pulled his cage out from behind his gate. It was lower and easier to access this made training more comfortable. Will continue to use yours and others advice on this journey. Thank you so much.
 

Flynhigh

New member
Jan 19, 2019
149
1
Murrieta California
Parrots
Apollo (CAG) , Kona (Pineapple conure)
Make yourself a stand that's comfortable for you or a couple different sizes PVC is cheap and easy, may not be as attractive but after your little guy gets ahold of an expensive one Lol!! neither will it. Glad its going so well!!
 
OP
Birdmom12

Birdmom12

New member
Jan 21, 2019
142
0
Parrots
Parakeet named Blue. Adopted from a Humane Society 5 years ago.

Kirby Cockatiel adopted from a humane society 2018.

Also a slew of other small birds that span my entire childhood.
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #20
yes a stand is needed. We realized he is easily distracted and our cockatiel going into song mode doesn't help. We decided last night to craft a stand thats lower, easily accessible, and hoping it will help take away from territorial cage defending.

Happy to say when I went down this morning to feed everyone he came right over to me again! He made some noises and we talked back and forth a bit. I targeted him in his cage and treated him. I also let me daughter do it a couple times (she was feeling neglected). We are also trying a new meal routine hoping this will help in training. I think before he was just always full so now he gets his breakfast then his dinner after play/training. Unfortunately play and training happens later in the afternoon on week days.
 

Most Reactions

Latest posts

Top