Patience and Perseverance Are Key

When bringing in a new fid as we did, patience, and perseverance are key.. It's not an instantaneous reward, and for those that bring a bird into their lives expecting quick results, well most likely you will be greatly disappointed. But if you are patient and consistent with you interactions and training, when your fid responds positively, WOW!!! What an amazing feeling.

Tonight Venus and I crossed a major milestone, trust! We brought her home in January, she was a rehome, we know nothing about her previous home. Brought her home and when the sun went down, she turned into the devil. She broke a stick when I was trying to coax her out of her cage after dark on day one. Basically she puts herself to bed at sundown and you do not mess with her. Well I don't agree with that. We let her go to bed but I didn't want her to be so aggressive at night in the event an emergency came up and we had to remove her from her cage. Since getting her in January, I have worked with her most nights, that work is putting my hand in her cage, interacting with her in a positive manner so she knows I'm not going to hurt her and to build her trust. Well tonight, I put my hand in her cage at 2:00 am and she didn't try to beat me up, lol. She beaked my fingers and let me rub her feet.

The point is for those new to having a fid, be patient and consistent with your fids. It will pay off, it's not instantaneous. When I got Buddy it took me 4 months to get him to take a shower. When you are patient and keep trying, in the long run it will pay off!

So true!!! We all want to rush the progress of our new birds the minute we bring them home ..its new, it's exciting! Am I right? I've had sissy for 4 months, I can finally put my fingers in her mouth and play with her feet, and SHE will tuck her little head under my chin and give kisses. All in good time.

My grey puts himself to bed too. But as for coming out of the cage? Unless he's near the door, he won't really come out unless you walk away from the cage. He'll back himself up into a corner, fluff up and try to bite. I've been being very persistent with getting him to come out of the cage on my terms. Luckily he doesn't bite hard, just nips at your finger but he's never broken skin.

I won't chase him around the cage, but I'll rest my hand near him till he comes over. He's gotten very attached to me though, faster than I expected since his owner had him for all 17 years of his life! It's important to be firm, but gentle like you would handle a child!

All I have to say is..its time for bed and sissy will run down her play cage to the edge of the couch and say step up step up..its so cute.i have so much more work to do with her but she'll only be two in October , soooooo...I have time lol

Patience and perseverance is what's needed when trying to train a parrot to do what you need them to do. Without them you'll be fighting a losing battle!