Possessive parrot

I have a Hahn's Macaw called Solo who I got out of his cage for the first time this weekend since getting him. I was a little anxious at the time, as I didn't know if he was clipped or not (it turns out not). I opened the cage and he quite happily climbed out and climbed up my arm and on to my shoulder (not necessarily on the command of step up). The problem came whenever I or anyone else tried to get him off me.

When I tried to get him off my shoulder by tempting him onto his cage with food, he would follow the food, but soon decide he didn't like that and would fly over and perch himself back on my shoulder.
When my father tried to get him off as I needed to take an urgent phone call, he got bitten on his hand and bitten on his neck for his troubles.

Getting Solo to return to the top of his cage (Don't get me started on trying to get him INTO his cage!) seems to be an on-going fight. Does anyone have any advice how best to get him to happily return to his cage without bribery? My neck is scratched and bloody from where he constantly paced up and down, digging his claws in as he went.

You can try to train him using positive reinforcement. But, be prepared that this is not a quick fix.

Firstly, can you and your dad please stop fighting with him. This will wreck any goodwill he has towards you and your dad.

Secondly, spend lots of time observing him to find out what his favorite food is. Most people want to use some kind of food reward (eg, a bit of sunflower seed, a bit of almond or a bit of grape, etc) in training because food rewards are easy to work with.

Once you know what his favorite food is, remove this food from his regular diet completely. From now on, you and your dad and anyone else who wants to interact with him and train him are the ONLY way he can get this favorite food.

Let us know how you go with all of this. Then you can continue to learn how to train him using positive reinforcement.

Also, you might want to stop thinking of him as being possessive. He just wanted to be on your shoulder more than he wanted to be in the cage. Why should he go to his cage just because it suited you at that time? It didn't suit him. He was probably enjoying himself on top of your shoulder. It certainly sounds like he was actually quite keen to get out of his cage.

Remember, parrots aren't domesticated like dogs. Humans have kept dogs around us since maybe 20000 to 35000 years ago, certainly more than 10000 years ago. We were still living in caves and going out to hunt, and we found dogs could help us in our hunts. Over all this time, dogs firstly evolved, so they fitted in with us better. Later, we selectively bred them so that their temperament became subservient to us. So, we can be the "leader of the pack" when living with a dog, and a lot of the time, if we tell the dog to do something, they will.

Now, cats have only been sharing their lives with humans for maybe 8000 years at the maximum (since ancient Egyptian times). If you tried to tell a cat what to do, it'd just walk away, head and tail held high. That's if it doesn't claw you first.

Now, parrots have been kept in Western civilizations for only a few hundred years. Success in breeding MOST of the parrots, apart from budgerigars, only happened in the middle of the 20th century. So, you should realize now, that you cannot expect your parrot to just do as it's told. It needs to be taught and trained how to adapt itself to us.

We didn't mean to appear that we were fighting with him. My dad just went to pick him up and he took a beak full of flesh as a consequence.

I know it will take time, and I am more than happy for him to be on my shoulder, but I need to find a way of getting him off and making him happy elsewhere as well. Sadly I cannot have him on my shoulder all of the time, as cute as he is when he cuddles up to me and starts purring.

I have been using sunflower seeds as his reward using the clicker, and he is responding well to them. I have not yet removed them from his feed, but I will pick them out from future feeds and order some seed with them removed so that this can become a treat rather than just us feeding him.

abaddon879 said:

We didn't mean to appear that we were fighting with him. My dad just went to pick him up and he took a beak full of flesh as a consequence.

I know it will take time, and I am more than happy for him to be on my shoulder, but I need to find a way of getting him off and making him happy elsewhere as well. Sadly I cannot have him on my shoulder all of the time, as cute as he is when he cuddles up to me and starts purring.

I have been using sunflower seeds as his reward using the clicker, and he is responding well to them. I have not yet removed them from his feed, but I will pick them out from future feeds and order some seed with them removed so that this can become a treat rather than just us feeding him.

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I agree you need to take him off when he is asked. But to make that happen first he has to be taught the step up command & he has to learn that each time you give that command he should want to step up for you. Without him readly steping up when asked you have buckleys getting him off your shoulder or anywhere else for that matter.

Barbara Heidenreich can explain it better than I can but in any case i apply her suggestions to my own parrots with great success.

here is a link. http://www.pitpeac.org/wp-content/u...rong-with-the-step-up-command-Heidenreich.pdf

It's good you've identified his favorite food and have got a clicker already.

The best book on clicker training, in my opinion, is "Clicker Training for Birds (Getting Started)" by Melinda Johnson (Sunshine Books, 2003).

Otherwise, if you need assistance on how to use the clicker properly, you can always post a question in the "Training" section here.

You've had this bird for less than 2 weeks... You need to give him time to adjust to your home, the people in it, and all the new stuff that comes with a move... If you've ever moved house, you know how long it takes you to feel 'at home' in your new place...

Slow down and set him up for success... Someone mentioned clicker training, and I would do some target training within his cage, and then go from there..

I wouldn't let him on my shoulder at all except on que from me. Kazi was a shoulder bird when he first came here, but that's a no-no for me with unknown large birds so I stopped it pretty fast by not letting him up there. He'd try (stubborn!) but I'd just put my other hand in front of him and tell him no and either make him stop or make him step up on my other hand. He tried getting around that by climbing over my hand or moving it with his beak but I am marginally smarter than he is and got more insistent he listen to me. Now he only gets on my shoulder when I ask him to or when I tell him 'ok'. As long as he doesn't dictate when he's up there, he's allowed. if he insists on climbing on up anyway he gets off me entirely and back on his gym. I don't say no or anything, I just calmly put him back up there and sit back down. So far this seems to be working for us.

Hi. I would love to help out if I can. Before I give you a bunch of info you may not need, could you tell me if you have any previous bird experience. If so, how much experience have you had. This will help me better answer your question. Thanks!

twit said:

Hi. I would love to help out if I can. Before I give you a bunch of info you may not need, could you tell me if you have any previous bird experience. If so, how much experience have you had. This will help me better answer your question. Thanks!

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Your posting in a thread that was posted several years ago....why don't you start in the new members welcome section and introduce yourself first!

Oops my bad. The post date is in such small print on my tablet I didn't see it. On my way to the new members area now. Thanks.

Yeah.

This is a pretty simple training issue. You need to do the basic step up exercises, and enforce the time to go down/go back, is time to go down/ go back. Once he learns that, it won't be an issue any longer.

Parrots need structured interaction. Set a schedule with him. Once he knows the routine, he'll adapt to it.

I've never been around a hahn's that wasn't a shoulder bird... I've always seen them as a pressed up against your neck kind of bird.

The biggest thing with ANY pair bond bird, is socialization. He's got to be handled by more than one person, or "his person" will end up being the only one who can handle him.