body language

sarahmcrawford

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Oct 6, 2012
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Parrots
white capped pionus
My white capped pionus Max is exhibiting new behavior today and I wondered if anyone can help me learn what it means. He (?) is 2 years old and I have had him for about a month. He is afraid of hands and so I have been trying to touch him with one finger. I have gotten to having my finger next to the very end of the perch and reward him as soon as he steps to the very end near my finger. I am letting him decide when to touch me by leaving it up to him to get close enough for his body to touch my finger. I feel like we are pretty close. He tries to get me to move the finger so he can get to the end of the perch so I think as soon as he gets that it's not leaving he might decide it's worth the treat. Today he started with head bobbing and beak opening which I always thought meant excitement but not in a good way so I was cautious about approaching him. He accepted the treat and there was no biting so I guess it was good excitement. He also was puffing up his belly and leg feathers and dancing back and forth on the perch. At the end of our training session he was puffed, dancing and stroking at his under tail area with his foot. It actually was a great session and he came closer to me than usual but I don't know what sex 'he' is and being that he is 2 I want to make sure he was just happy to see me and the treats and not exhibiting sexual behavior as I don't want to encourage that. And if it is sexual behavior is it more as a male or as a female? He is my 1st parrot so any help would be great. I plan to have the DNA test done but it is not worth the fight and loss of trust I am trying to build getting him to the vet so it will have to wait until he has more trust and will step up and come out of the cage so I can put him in a carrier.
 
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sarahmcrawford

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Oct 6, 2012
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white capped pionus
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Well, no answers on that one but I think we figured it out anyway. He will let me pet his chest while he does the cooing and dancing and let me stroke his beak. He also regurgitated at me yesterday while dancing so I guess he's just happy to see me. I'm trying to get him to let me touch his head so he can get scritches but he's not cool with my hand going over his head. I'll take chest scritches I guess. It's nice to see him happy and yesterday is the first time I ever touched a parrot so yea!
 

crimson

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Oct 8, 2012
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Ontario,Canada
Parrots
Senegal-Martini,1 pineapple conure~ Kahlua,1 GCC~ Flare, spl/b, 4 Lovebirds Halo,Tye-Die,Luna,Violet,8 Cockatiels,Num Num&Tundra,8-Ball&Angus,Magnet&Sunkist,Pearl, Blush, 1 gouldian finch, 7 canaries
good for you, patience and consistency is the key to training. I can't comment on the regurgitating, although I do know that birds do that when they look at you like a mate.
we all have birds, and try and figure out how how to train, what to feed them.sometimes I think we put more thought into what kind of cage to buy for the bird rather than the bird itself and it's needs.
I decided to purchase training dvd's, some are audio some are video(which I like much better) I have a new crimson conure that is 3.5 months old, I've had him about 1.5 months, and is a bit of a challenge for me to train, cause I don't know h o w to train. he's very smart, but I am committed to train with positive reinforcement so I can hold the little monkey :)
 
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sarahmcrawford

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Oct 6, 2012
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Parrots
white capped pionus
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The bonding behavior is cute and I appreciate the love but it is getting in the way of training step up since when I put my hand up he wants to 'feed' me. So yesterday we tried with a perch and he learned 'step' with his left foot in like 2 minutes so I did once with the perch then once with my hand (he is very hand shy) and he figured that out so now I've got one foot on my hand. If he dances at me I just take my hand away and try again. He figured it out quickly and settled down with the silliness. They are so stinkin smart. I tried getting two feet but he got mad if the treat didn't come after the left foot went on my hand so I'm glad I left out the word 'up'. Tomorrow we'll see if up will get the right foot. Then eventually step up will get me both feet. Unorthodox I suppose but whatever works I guess.
 

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