Advice?

Jayserileytekno · Aug 3, 2012

Hi, I'm jayson and just signed up. I have sort of recently brought my son (Riley).... More me,a green cheek (tekno)
When I got him Afew weeks ago the person who I got him (apparently was DNA tested but have no proof) off said he was between 4-5months old and had been hand raised. She had owned him for a month and had gotten him off a breeder. He was in a tiny little cage and she had been putting the cage outside and birds had been attacking the cage. and EXTREMLY skittish. Hates hands.
Since I've had him, he's in a bigger cage has a good amount of toys and is in a safe environment. About two weeks ago he's started comming out of his cage. I give him space when he is out of the cage so he doesn't get scarred, and I talk to him when he's in the cage. Still freeked out about hands in his cage but I only do that to clean and change his food / water. I've recently put some food into my hand and put it at the entrance to his cage and he came down Sussed it out and eventually ate out of my hand but ran away to a comfortable distance.
He loves apples, grapes and passion fruit . And is on pellets. My work hours have recently changed so I don't get to spend as much time with him but make up for thT on weekends. I have researched and learnt to be very pacient, and he will come to me when he's ready, I'm going to keep hand feeding h so he can get used to my hand near him but without intruding his cage space. Is there anything else I can try and do?

Parrotmamma · Aug 4, 2012

Welcome to the forum,
so glad you took this little guy in and gave him nice, safe,loving home.
Sounds like you are doing everything right too . Just keep up what your doing and he will come around . Sit by his cage and talk softly , maybe try reading to him too and Keep offering treats . Sounds like he had a scarey little life sitting outside in a cage getting attacked by birds : (
Might take him awhile to get over that.

headfeathermistress · Aug 4, 2012

Just patience....lots of patience. The little guy has been scared and now in a new home. Needs to adjust. Sounds like you are doing very well so far

Jayserileytekno · Aug 4, 2012

Awsome
. Thanks heaps. Good to see I'm on the right track

DebsFlock · Aug 4, 2012

You could try target training when he is more comfortable taking treats. That could help establish a positive pattern. Of interaction.

But I agree, you are doing great, and much kudos for taking him in! He is young and I think you can expect good things.

Oedipussrex · Aug 4, 2012

looks like you are off to a great start already.

If you wanna give this link a look (sorry if i haven't found the first entry to post here); this is a blog by a person who fostered an Alexandrine who was terrified of handling, flying, and specifically hands, while they trained it for the owners. There are a whole series of entries, though i dont think there are clear links between them. but i think you might find a few good ideas in here. And they have videos on you-tube as well specifically showing what they are doing.

This Alexandrine has since been returned to his owners a changed bird. and the best part about this blog (unlike a lot of their other stuff), is its FREE.

Rasta the Alexandrine Parakeet – Where to Start With Terrified Birds

paulhanlon · Aug 4, 2012

Oedipussrex said:
looks like you are off to a great start already.

If you wanna give this link a look (sorry if i haven't found the first entry to post here); this is a blog by a person who fostered an Alexandrine who was terrified of handling, flying, and specifically hands, while they trained it for the owners. There are a whole series of entries, though i dont think there are clear links between them. but i think you might find a few good ideas in here. And they have videos on you-tube as well specifically showing what they are doing.

This Alexandrine has since been returned to his owners a changed bird. and the best part about this blog (unlike a lot of their other stuff), is its FREE.

Rasta the Alexandrine Parakeet – Where to Start With Terrified Birds

I would give this blog a look for sure the woman who is training rasta is called jamieleigh I have met her a few times and her info is remarkable and she had tons of training tips for me

wenz2712 · Aug 4, 2012

Welcome to the forum

Kjarva · Aug 4, 2012

Hi there, welcome to the forum! I'm kind of in the same boat as you but making extremely good progress. I got Largo on Thursday and his first day home I just sat next to his cage and talked to him all day. He was an aviary raised bird, although slightly younger than your green cheek.

I read somewhere that a good thing to do is to put your hand in the cage for 5 minutes at a time without moving them until your bird is desensetized. Obviously if your bird is truly terrified, only put your hand in far enough so he doesn't go into hysterics and starts throwing himself about the cage. I did this 4 times yesterday, starting with just putting my fingers through the bars and talking to him quietly. By the end of the day not only had he hopped onto my hands while they were inside the cage but he was also accepting treats.

I think maybe I've been spoiling him though, he loves apples and oranges, so every time he comes to me he gets to stuff himself full of apple. I work from home, which probably helped a lot with the amount of time I got to spend with him, but look what I've done in only a few days. He now will stand on my hand, can be brought out of his cage safely and I can get him back on my hand and back in the cage as long as I bribe him with apple.

I'm going to start clicker training with him on Monday. Don't give up, If you'd asked me on Thursday if my terrified little feathered friend would be out of his cage, on my hand and letting me touch him by today, I'd have laughed at you. Persistance is the key

Jayserileytekno · Aug 4, 2012

DebsFlock said:
You could try target training

I've tryed looking into this but all I understand from what I've read is get a clicker? ( what is that) and have some sort of chop stick type thing and try get the bird to peck it and reward him? Can someone break it down so I understand more

Kjarva · Aug 4, 2012

I may not be the best to do this seeing as I'm a new member too but this is my understanding of it and what I am going to do with Largo from Monday.

First you need to click train - click the clicker and then straight after, give the bird a treat. Soon you should start to notice that every time he hears the clicker he should get excited and start to look for his treat. Once he is comfortable with this, move on to step 2.

Put a wooden dowel into the cage and wait for the bird to show any discomfort. As soon as he shows discomfort, do not move the dowel any closer to him. As soon as he's calm, take the dowel away from him, click and give him a treat. Repeat this several times so that he realises that it is being calm that makes the dowel go away and gets him his treat.

When he is pretty comfortable with this, then you can try to target train him. At first because you are moving the dowel closer to him, he may lunge and bite it. Even if he turns his head to look at the dowel in the beginning, you should click and give him a treat. It's all baby steps until you can actually get him to approach and touch the dowel himself.

From there you can then try to teach him to step up. Hope this helps

Akraya · Aug 4, 2012

Was the GCC in Brisbane? I saw a post on gumtree at some point with a story like that!

Was going to get him but don't quite have the space at them moment. GL with your lil birdy!

Jayserileytekno · Aug 4, 2012

Sweet, thanks will get onto that

And yes it was

Akraya · Aug 4, 2012

Small world, welcome to forum!

Jayserileytekno · Aug 4, 2012

Thanks. Indeed, surprised that yeah, someone accually knows about my bird lol

dishgal1 · Aug 4, 2012

You are absolutely doing everything right. Letting him learn at his own pace that he is in a safe and loving environment is the best thing for him. Keep up the good work and thanks for caring about this little guy. He will be a loving companion for years to come. They are just the greatest little birds, just learn to accept mood changes and nippiness but you will learn to read his body language even after you are bonded and know when he doesn't want to be bothered.

DebsFlock · Aug 4, 2012

I'd personally skip the clicker. I think with parrots it is redundant as they are so attuned to voice. I'd start by using a consistent praise word, "Good!" or whatever you like, and saying it when he takes a treat, so the treat is paired with the praise word. That makes the praise word a stronger reward than it would be alone. You will always follow the word with a treat, but you can provide instant feedback with the word. A clicker is good if you need to do this at a distance too far for your voice, or with animals that are less attuned to voice.

Then you choose something to be your target. It doesn't really matter what, a chopstick with a bit of tape or something. Mostly you want it long enough that the bird isn't frightened off by the presence of your hand. At first you just put the target in the cage and reward (say "Good!" and offer a treat) if he so much as looks at it. When he consistently does that, don't reward until he makes a small move towards it. At first a very small move will do, but increase the requirement as his comfort level increases until he will follow the target all around the cage and touch it. At his point you have a tool to move him closer to you or in and out of the cage, etc.

I should confess that I have not actually done target training with my birds, but I have with my horse. With the horse I do use a clicker, but with the birds I've found voice to be a reward all on its own and I feel that paired with a treat it should be sufficient, and then you have less equipment to worry about.

Oedipussrex · Aug 4, 2012

DebsFlock said:
I'd personally skip the clicker. I think with parrots it is redundant as they are so attuned to voice. I'd start by using a consistent praise word, "Good!" or whatever you like, and saying it when he takes a treat, so the treat is paired with the praise word. That makes the praise word a stronger reward than it would be alone. You will always follow the word with a treat, but you can provide instant feedback with the word. A clicker is good if you need to do this at a distance too far for your voice, or with animals that are less attuned to voice.

Then you choose something to be your target. It doesn't really matter what, a chopstick with a bit of tape or something. Mostly you want it long enough that the bird isn't frightened off by the presence of your hand. At first you just put the target in the cage and reward (say "Good!" and offer a treat) if he so much as looks at it. When he consistently does that, don't reward until he makes a small move towards it. At first a very small move will do, but increase the requirement as his comfort level increases until he will follow the target all around the cage and touch it. At his point you have a tool to move him closer to you or in and out of the cage, etc.

I should confess that I have not actually done target training with my birds, but I have with my horse. With the horse I do use a clicker, but with the birds I've found voice to be a reward all on its own and I feel that paired with a treat it should be sufficient, and then you have less equipment to worry about.

Id have to agree. the clicker is to act as an intermediary to strengthen the continuity between the act of the desired behaviour and the giving of the treat. And with parrots a consistent praise word works just as well as an intermediary as long as you say it as soon as they complete the behaviour just like you would click.

However i found pickle was only doing things for me, so we have started using the clicker as well in the hopes that it would be more consistent between the different people in my family. (we did not have to spend as much time getting him used to it as we just chucked it in to his normal training and he got it).

Jayserileytekno · Aug 5, 2012

I got a clicker this morning, and ive noticed that he is starting to get keen for the next click, which has been an improvement on what I was originally doing

Devann · Aug 5, 2012

A clicker is basically a little device that makes click noises. you can get clickers on line or at pet stores (i got mine from petsmart), people mostly use them for dogs I think but lots of people use them for birds as well. If you look for Jamieleigh (the girl who did the blog above) on youtube there's lots of videos of her and her husband Dave doing clicker training. I plan on trying it with Vino when I get her home

Advice?

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To the person who told me of mysafebirdstore

Happy Hatch day to Phoenix! :)

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