2 new Pionus babies!

Hi all,

My wife and I have always wanted to own birds and we recently decided that a pionus would be a good fit for us. We found two Pionus sisters at a local bird store and brought them home. They were hand raised and very well taken care of at the bird store. We do have a few questions though as to how to get them used to us. We began to train them using a clicker to target a stick. They both love to do it and are very motivated by treats like most birds I would think. One of them will target to a finger however the other will not. They are both very difficult to get off their cage and to handle whenever the cage is within their sight. They seem to be afraid of stepping up while on the cage and sometimes fly from us if we need to get them back into the cage. If they do fly they step up every time no problem but become antsy if we do not bring them back to the cage. If anyone has any insight as to what we should do to to get them comfortable being held and to make it easier for them to step up off the cage that would be great!

Thanks everyone!

Welcome to the forum.


If you haven't had the two pionus girls for long, they may just need more time settling in and getting used to their surroundings. Keep up with the training!

Congratulations on your two new babies! Did you get them from a store in MA by any chance? There is one near me that had two maxi babies for sale that seemed very sweet, and I heard recently that they found their new forever home together with a great family.

I always called these guys Amazon-lite's...

They are very similar to amazon behaviors, but in a smaller package. You train them the same way you would a zon.

They will be nervous and may recoil in horror at first, but be curious and fearless the next time around...

Handle them a lot in another room where they can't see the cage. I would use either a boing or a playstand. Right now, the cage is the only home they've known. You need to gradually expose them to the rest of the world, and expand their horizons that way.

The more they get handled, the better they will be.

Caietaro they are from the store in MA! Those are our babies!! We have only had them for a bit over 2 weeks MonicaMc so I was hoping they just needed some time to warm up to their new surroundings. And we have been trying to handle them in another room so they can not see their cage Birdman but they get very anxious when they are away from their cage. We'll keep doing what we're doing and hopefully they'll get used to it. Thank so much for the advice everyone!

2pionus said:

Caietaro they are from the store in MA! Those are our babies!! We have only had them for a bit over 2 weeks MonicaMc so I was hoping they just needed some time to warm up to their new surroundings. And we have been trying to handle them in another room so they can not see their cage Birdman but they get very anxious when they are away from their cage. We'll keep doing what we're doing and hopefully they'll get used to it. Thank so much for the advice everyone!

Click to expand...

IT'S NORMAL.

The way they get used to it is by being out of the cage and away from it.

Two weeks is nothing with these guys. Give it about two months. And that is exactly what this is, new people, new surroundings, new routine.

The more you structure the interaction with them, i.e. this is when we wake up, this is when we get fed, this is when we get out and handled, this is when we go to the other room and do some training, and get our treats and interaction, and this is when we go to bed, the better they usually adjust.

This will fix itself with time and trust, and bonding. Nothing is broken.

When I got Jayde, my new conure, I couldn't handle her. Rather than removing her from her cage and training away from it, I did the opposite. I didn't remove her from the cage. If I wanted her with me in another room, I took the entire cage! I didn't force her into anything if I didn't have to. I allowed her to decide when she wanted to physically interact with me beyond head scritches. If she wasn't ready to step up onto my hands or arms, I didn't force her to. It has taken time and patience but she's definitely not the same bird as when she got here! She's more confident, more friendly, more hands on, more willing to be away from her cage as long as she's with me, she can fly now (albeit still slightly impeded). And we still have a long ways to go!


I got her as a 3 year old, unhand-able adult, so her behavior more than likely differs from your two new pionuses do! Main thing is, if your two new birds are nervous when away from their cage then take them back. If you can, move the cage around the house with you. Give them the chance to feel secure within their environment before asking too much of them. Training definitely helps, too!