Nearly 2 weeks home and still terrified. :(

Hi all! Hoping to get some help for my Little Corella 'too. She is 15 and has spent most of her life languishing in her cage. She has been with us nearly two weeks and the second day I had to gently "catch" her as she scrambled around her cage, terrified and shaking, trying to avoid my hand, so I could take her to the vet for the first time in her life. Was quite a trauma for her and she has been sitting in her cage - just sitting - no playing, no climbing... just sitting still ever since we returned. The cage door is always open. She never moves toward door and starts shaking if anyone approaches cage. I feel SO BAD for her! I can reach in to change food and water and change papers, she is totally non-agressive. She'll even take certain treats from my hand. But she won't come out, and I don't know if I should just let her chill until maybe SOME day she'll want to come out, or do I force the issue and MAKE her step up so I can put her on her play stand????? I look at her just sitting there....looking so sad.... help!!!

Don't force her. I rescued a mac fm similar circumstances who displayed the same behaviour x10. Rushing it can damage your future relationship.

Think of her as a child from an abusive home placed into foster care. She's afraid, in a new environment and has no reason to trust.

This is what worked for me.
1. After a few weeks of quite time I moved her cage to the living room so she became part of our daily activity.

2. Everytime I passed her cage I greeted her.

3. Each evening I sat next to her cage for "story time". I love to read so did so aloud so she would become used to my pressense/voice. The cage door was always left open ( though she wouldn't come out)

4. I quickly found out her favorite treat, and if she showed interest she got one. In the beginning I was liberal. Any sign of interaction was rewarded.

5. She learned quickly. Once she got the idea I made her earn it. If she stepped out of her comfort zone by coming closer to my side of the cage, lifted a foot etc.

I placed her Play stand right next to the cage but it took quite a while for her to come out and she made a bee line for the safety of the cage when I entered the room at first.But over time she got braver.

Time frame greatly depends on her history. My girl was reeealy abused so it took about a year for her to be totally comfortable but it was soooo worth it. She is the biggest mush of all my macs.

Be very patient, go at her spead. Figuring them out is the most exciting part of relationship building.

What an awesome adventure your on!

AWWW my heart breaks for little corella..like said before give her time...she needs to trust you first...enjoy your journey ..it's all worth it!

I hate to ask, but was this the Goffin that was in Mass?

She sounds cage bound, and that is a difficult issue to overcome. Cage bound birds should NEVER be forced to come out, just provided the opportunity (with perhaps a little enticing) to come out ONLY if/when they WANT TO. I would suggest doing just what you are, opening the door every day while your there and letting her take all the time she needs to work up the courage to come out. This could take weeks or even months. If she has a favorite treat or toy, you can always put that right outside the cage so she has some encouragement to come out.

Another thing you can do to help with her "shaking" when people come bar (sounds like she was possibly abused), is to sit as close to the cage as she seems comfortable with and talk to her in a calm, soothing voice. You could even read a book out loud to her. Doesn't really matter what you say (she doesn't understand words), it's all about the tone of voice. If she approaches you, offer her a treat and a (calm) "good girl!". You have a lot of trust to build with this one, as it sounds like her prior owner(s) never gave her a reason to trust humans. Best of luck, and remember be patient, persistent and let her come around on her own time.

Leave her cage door open and go away for an hour or so. She'll come out and destroy your home.
I know that doesn't help much but when they see you aren't looking they start moving.

1. I respectfully disagree. Sometimes it is necessary to towel them and get them out of the cage. If they have been festering so long that they WON'T come out on their own... BUT ONLY AS A LAST RESORT. NOT THE FIRST THING YOU TRY.

And I thought we busted that myth about it damaging your relationship a few months back, when I pulled the greenwing out of his cage by his feet, kicking and screaming, AND THEN ABOUT TEN MINUTES LATER HE WAS LYING ON HIS BACK IN THE PALM OF HIS HAND GIVING ME KISSES...

What you do, if it comes to that, is you make the reward so great for them coming out, no matter how it happens, that it's okay. And once they see that it didn't kill them... they adjust. And the next time it's easier to get them to come out of their cage.

NEVER DO THIS WITH A PLUCKER, HOWEVER! NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!!!

2. I AGREE THAT THE PREFERRED METHOD IS TO TRY AND COAX HIM OUT OF THE CAGE WITH FOOD OR TREATS... Give it a few days with the cage door open. Ignoring them sometimes. Showering them with attention at others... Trying different treats, until the bird responds to SOMETHING... then, DO THAT!

3. I'm going to come out and say it. No maybe's about it. This bird WAS ABUSED!!! AND WAS NOT PROPERLY SOCIALIZE... AND THEN WAS LEFT TO ROT IN A CAGE... You are going to have to teach him to trust all over again.

START OVER FROM SQUARE ONE, AND GO SLOW.

Hi Tom... no, this was not the Goffin from Mass.... she is from NH.

What can you do if they step up and you can take them out, but they won't take food from you?

We've had our 30 year old BFA for a week and I wonder when to let her out. I don't know if she got a lot of time out at her previous home but seeing as she's chatty and doesn't appear scared, I suspect she was given attention and loved. My worry is how will I get her back in when she comes out. I have 3 cats and if I have to leave the room for any reason, I don't want her out without supervision. I've haven't left the cage door open yet. We don't have a play stand. I hope to get a larger cage with a play top but she's in her cage and I wanted her to get used to us first. She won't step up. Should I try to get her to step on a dowel? What would be the best way to proceed? I've been bitten (not bad) when retrieving her food dishes so I want to be careful! She's been in her cage for a week and was in one at the shop that had her for 3 weeks prior to coming to us. She's very chatty in the morning and evening and starts screaming when it's bedtime. I noticed today, she was very sedate in her cage and took a couple of naps being very quiet much of the day (except when she got her spray bottle shower which she seemed to enjoy). We've been just hanging out and talking to her and I've been handing her food from my plate which she seems to enjoy. I don't want to rush her but I don't want her to be cage bound either as she has to be in her cage all day when I'm at work (retiring in a few months). Any suggestions would be welcome!

Cheri, I agree with the others in regards to not forcing her out. Forcing her out and then forcing your attention on her is a form of flooding. Does it work? Ya, of course it can! But it's hard to say if you end up with a bird that is truly happy or a bird suffering from something akin to stockholm syndrome. It's all about a state of mind, and unfortunately, we're not mind readers, and humans, in general, are pretty bad about understanding animals, let alone parrots!


When another member mentioned sitting as close to her cage as possible that she's comfortable with, it doesn't mean sitting next to her cage, but it could mean sitting 3' away or maybe 5' away. Maybe even further. One exercise you could try is walking towards the cage slowly and the moment you notice that she's looking scared or terrified in the slightest amount, stop. Let her relax and calm down. Then, take a step back. Repeat the behavior of walking towards her and stopping before she is really stressed out. This includes shaking her feathers, a behavior we want to try and avoid. Basically, trying to get you to appear as none-threatening as possible and letting the bird tell you what she is most comfortable with. With this exercise, it may mean that you can't go over to her cage to open up the door. You might need to use this same exercise though for changing her food and water bowls. If she appears stressed in the least, back off a moment before proceeding.

Hillary Hankey has a couple of great articles on trust which goes a bit more into detail.

Working with Fearful Parrots: A Study in Videos | Learning Parrots
Parrot Behavior Myths: Building Trust | Learning Parrots




kozykitty, If you are going to open your zon's cage, I would highly recommend putting your cats up in a room where everyone will remain safe.

What I would recommend for her is two things. One, station train her. Two, target train her. If you station train her to stay on a specific perch away from her dishes, then you can change her dishes without getting bitten. At first, you may need to lure her to a specific perch and then start feeding her her favorite food over and over again. Make sure it's small pieces though so she eats them quickly and is wanting more! Once she gets the idea that staying there equals good things, then you can start messing with her dishes (not taking them out, but touching them, turning them, moving, etc) with the other hand and continue delivering rewards with the other. Over time, you can start feeding her less often, slowly building up a "stay". Instead of offering a treat every 3 seconds, make it every 5 seconds, then every 8 seconds, then 12 seconds and so forth. You'll be able to get to a point where you can tell her to station, reward her, remove her dishes, reward her again, clean her dishes, refill them, tell her to station, reward, replace the food dishes and reward yet again.

Target training is kind of similar, except we want her to orientate her beak to a specific item. It could be an acrylic stick, a knitting needle, an empty pen case, or any other object! It's a little easier if you can find something she's not afraid of, but if she's afraid of something, you can work with that, too! Just might take a little more time.... the main idea here is to have her look at the target, reward. Move her head towards the target, reward. Stretch her neck towards the target, reward. Take a step towards the target, reward. Take another step towards the target, reward. Once she gets the idea, you want her targeting around the entire cage and if she does that reliably, then you can open up the door and start target training through the door! If she gets that down pat, then teach her to come to the door to target (may help to have a perch attached to the cage door, and even some perches on the outside of the cage!), then eventually target training her around the outside of her cage.

Step up is actually a form of targeting, so you could target her to walk closer and closer to your hand for a reward, and eventually even touching your hand! And that could lead to teaching her to step up!

If you start training from inside the cage, you may be able to avoid cage aggression! Which happens a lot to birds who are trained away from their cage as it usually involves forcefully removing the bird from their cage then they go and train. This only teaches the bird that leaving the cage can be a traumatic experience and they're going to bite to tell you they don't want to leave on *your* terms!