Is this normal behaviour? First time bird owner confused

[nattyd]

Is this normal behaviour? First time bird owner!!

Going to try and keep this as short as possible - I'm a new bird owner, got my 3-5 month old GCC (Yoshi) 2 weeks this thursday - I know this isn't a long time at all and I have not been rushing him to get comfortable with me and my family. Just need some confirmation!

He's been displaying some behaviour which I have to question whether is normal, maybe he's stressed out?

- He seems to hate his cage, I do let him out for a lot of hours in fact - in order to get him back in his cage i wait for him to go in to eat and close the door - Yesterday i realised yoshi is outsmarting all of us - As i went to close his door he saw me coming and flew out immediately, eventually i did get him to stay in but once i do he hops back and forth on his perch chirping (louder and louder each time) - I read somewhere that this is a sign that he wants to come out. Im worried he hates his cage and in turn this is stressing him out or is this normal?

He doesn't really play with his toys - apart from 1, probably because its the biggest i assume.

- He's still terrified of my hands - think our progress took a left turn the other day when he refused to go back in his cage and I had to essentially chase him around the room to grab him, he doesn't mind my face being close but as soon as i move my hands in the slightest he freaks out.

His wings are not clipped and i've been contemplating doing so in order to calm him down a little and be able to handle him. An experiences with this?

(The virgo in me has me doubting whether I'm doing this correctly or I'm completely messing this little guy up )


Here's a picture of yoshi eating strawberries! Sorry dont know how to make it bigger lol

Any tips or stories of your own experiences would be most appreciated! Thanks xx

 

[wrench13]

It just takes time for the bond ( and not being afraid of your hands). Treats should ALWAYS be offered by the hand(s). Bits of strawberry? Feed it to him from the HAND.
The link below give invaluable info on bonding and building trust.

http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html?highlight=tips+bonding

 

[nattyd]

It just takes time for the bond ( and not being afraid of your hands). Treats should ALWAYS be offered by the hand(s). Bits of strawberry? Feed it to him from the HAND.
The link below give invaluable info on bonding and building trust.

http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html?highlight=tips+bonding

i've tried to offer him treats by hand but he's so stubborn, he'll look at me but not budge even a little bit

 

[wrench13]

Out stubborn him, thats all.

 

[nattyd]

Out stubborn him, thats all.

haha okay, thank you!

 

[ChristaNL]

LOL, yup Al is right, I am a very impatient person and parrots can even teach even me!
But take the time and you *will* win this birdy over.
You can do it!

 

[EllenD]

All about time and patience...AND NOT EVER "CHASING HIM AROUND THE ROOM AND GRABBING HIM"!!!

That is the quickest way to totally negate any progress you've made with him. I don't know if he was hand-fed, hand-raised, or any combination of the two (as I'm finding out there are a lot of Green Cheeks that were "hand-fed', meaning quickly Tube-Fed on an assembly-line and that's it, rather than actually being Hand-Raised by an attentive breeder, and this is a big deal), but if you got him at Petco or Petsmart, then he was labeled as being "Hand-Fed", and that means that basically he's not terrified of people, but he's not really hand-tamed, so it's just going to take time, patience, and a committment to working with him daily to EARN HIS TRUST....And less than 2 weeks of having him is not nearly long enough to earn his trust and bond with him so that he'll accept your hands...It can take months and months of working with him daily and spending as much time with him every day as possible, whether it be with him sitting on you or doing step-up practice, or him just being near you while you're in the room with him even if you're not directly interacting with him. So it's just not something you can rush...

Do not ever chase him or grab him, that is the quickest way to get him to HATE hands possible. I have used wing-clipping as a safe and efficient way to hand-tame a bird like yours many times, and it works well, but only if you commit to taking advantage of the short amount of time you'll have with him clipped before his wings grow back in, which should be about 2 months if the wing clipping is done conservatively and correctly. (Tell them to only clip the outermost 5-6 Primary Flight-Feathers on BOTH WINGS and that's it, that will give you about 2 months or so before he's flying again, and hopefully you'll have him Recall-Trained by then so no chasing will be necessary at all.)...I don't belive in keeping a bird's wings permanently clipped unless someone in the house has a disability or there is a reason that the bird flying is not safe for him or the people in the house. That's why you have to take full-advantage of the 2 months you have with him to not only hand-tame him, but to also train him to regularly step-up on command and when your finger is presented to him, and to come to you when you call him (Recall-Training)...

***Keep in-mind that even if you clip him and you hand-tame him/train him, you will still need to respect his "territory", which is his cage. He doesn't hate his cage, but he probably doesn't want your hands inside of it, and the best thing to train him to do is to have him come out of the cage or to the cage door whenever you open the door and take a step back from it, and then once he's come to the open door of the cage you have hi step-up for you. And when you want him to go back inside his cage, you want to train him to either go back to it on-command (verbal) or just allow you to carry him to it on your finger...So these are all the things you need to teach him during that 2 months or so that his wings are clipped.

Have you chosen a "Training Treat" for him yet? A "Training Treat" is his favorite treat, whatever that is, that you only give him when he does something you ask him to do and never at any other time at all. It needs to be small, something he can eat quickly on the spot and not have to hold in his foot, take the shell off of, etc. I use raw, unsalted Sunflower Seed Kernels, raw, unsalted pieces of Almonds, etc. Whatever your bird really loves that can be broken into tiny little bits and he can eat quickly...BUT YOU CANNOT GIVE HIM THAT SPECIFIC TREAT AT ANY OTHER TIME!

Birds do not respond to punishment or Negative-Reinforcement at all (yelling at them, scolding them, "flicking" their beaks when they bite, etc.). Not only does it not work, but it also teaches them to not trust you at all and ruins your bond with them. Instead, you use "Positive Reinforcement" in the form of the Training-Treat and Verbal Praise whenever they do the behavior you want them to do, and you totally ignore them when they exhibit a bad behavior, taking away your attention from them, like they don't even exist whenever they do something they shouldn't. Negative attention is still attention, and they look at it that way...So if your bird bites you and you say "Ouch!, No Bites!", then he'll keep biting to get that response/attention from you. But if you simply say nothing, don't make eye-contact with him, and just put him right down on the floor so he's the lowest thing in the room and then walk away from him silently, they HATE it...

 

[LuzrovRulay]

The advice others have given seems better than most I have, but I can offer something that helped me with my father's parrot and my 'tiel.

If possible... do things near the cage, but don't interact with it. For example, pull up a chair and read beside the cage, or if possible, watch TV beside the cage. Something where you are close (within arm's reach) but not "inside" that which is his.

This seemed to help, with my birds at least, because they saw my hands in motion and doing things and being able to observe. It took about a month, but after spending an hour beside the cage each day, the birds seemed to associate my hands as being my "feet" and they grew less uncertain of it.

My 'tiel is pretty stubborn with his toys do, but I did discover he liked beads and shiny things like chains, so I tried getting toys similar to the one I DID notice him playing with, and that's seemed to have worked.