Cage-bound Pionus Surprise!

I recently posted about the steps I was taking to get Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty to be more active and healthy. One of the things I have been doing is leaving the cage open for them, in hopes that they will learn to come out and sit on top of it and play.

Yesterday Lady flew out of the cage, landed a few feet away, and quickly scuttled back in. I was happy, but I had not seen her fly out and thought she might have been startled into it.

Today my husband, dog, and I were sitting on the couch watching the intro dvd to the Aviator Harness, when she flew out of her cage and began exploring our floor. Ranger,our dog was not extremely pleased that she eventually made her way over to his crate and climbed on top of it, but he stayed on the couch and let her.

I put a napkin on top of the crate and gave her a handful of seeds to munch on in her new surroundings. She actually ate them! Sam went a bit nuts in the cage and poked his head out several times, but did not come out. He did take a treat from me and eventually settled down.

After about half an hour, I got really bold. I believe that both Lady and Sam were pets before they were breeders, due to their reaction to household life. I took out a perch and asked her to "step up." She did not like it, and went away from me but I gently persisted and she stepped up!

I carried her toward the cage, but Flick decided to dive bomb her, causing her to fly (very awkwardly) off the perch and onto my husband's leg who was still sitting on the couch, this left her about 8 inches from the dog's nose - Yeay for training him not to eat birds! I asked her to step up again, and she did! I was able to put her in her cage and closed the door, but I am so excited for this step! Both Pionus are getting more and more curious and confident every day!

Not sure how to add pictures with captions, but we have the picture I had actually just taken of Ranger, Lady on the dog crate, and Sam taking his treat.

That's awesome, congrats!

I am on top of the world right now! Sam is out of his cage today as well! I looked up from my lap top to see him happily chilling on the top of the cage, not a care in the world! I am so thrilled to finally see these two parrots beginning to act like parrots!

Terrific, it looks like they are having a good time exploring.

Sorry guys, I will probably be posting updates all day! None of my friends can really share my excitement in this. Sam has just demonstrated that he is a much better flier than Lady. He flew from the top of his cage to the back of the couch, but fell behind it into a large space there. I was able to get him onto a perch, but he immediately flew back to the cage. I am so stoked. I am not looking for them to be cuddle monsters, just tame enough to have the fullest life possible while remaining bonded to each other. Ideally I would like to see them harness trained, but I don't know if that will be possible while maintaining their bond. Any input? Does anyone have any breeders that are tame/handled enough to accept a harness? I love to have my birds outside, but right now Sam and Lady to not get to go out.

Today Both Pionus spent most of the day out of the cage, and even wandering around in other rooms! All three birds seem to have decided that they will all live in one cage, and visit the other when they feel like it. Both Pionus have allowed me to put my hand within 4 inches of them, and Sam has begun poofing up his face feathers for me when I approach the cage!

Try giving them treats.

I am so thrilled with the amazing progress they are making! Please keep posting updates as I am excited to watch how far they come

Thanks! You guys are the only ones who care My husband is happy for me, but that is just because I am happy. Mike, I give them lots of treats They have just started being willing to eat new things. Sam will take almost anything from me now as long as it is between the cage bars. Lady will take them if I put them down in front of her and move away a little, Sam and Flick both beg for treats Lady is more hesitant to step up on a perch, but once on it she will allow me to carry her slowly. Sam will step on the perch and then off the other side, but both seem familiar with the concept of stepping up. For now I am mostly going with the strategy of simply living in my house with them, and interacting on their terms, since I have the luxury right now. Their natural parrot selves are starting to peek out!

Lady just took a piece of peanut butter toast from Josh, who handed it to her without a thought as she sat on top of the cage. This is only the second time she has taken a treat at ALL from a hand, and the first time EVER she has done with without the security of the cage! And she took it from my husband who has never really tried to connect with her, like it was no big deal! Just some toast from a handsome man!

All of the birds now spend the majority of their days on the top of the cage. Lady has been stepping up onto a perch for treats and even lets me carry her around some! All will touch the end of a stick for a treat. Sam has become semi aggressive, and will no longer step up at all, but it is spring so I am just letting it ride. If he wants to participate in training he is welcome to, but otherwise I just work with the other two. All are completely comfortable now with our interactions with the cage, I can clean it, replace food and water, etc with little to no reaction. They are also getting much better at eating things! Pretty much if I eat it, Flick wants it and if Flick eats it Sam wants it, and if Sam eats it Lady will come over after he is done. Lady has also taken to asking for treats and will taste pretty much anything I offer her at this point! They also have begun to forage on the bottom of the cage! I keep it very clean and use sand rather than paper.

Lady said "hi" to me a few days ago, I don't know if this is a new word for her or if she just didn't want to say it before. All of the birds are much more active and are rarely seen in the same place twice unless eating or napping, a far cry from the birds who used to make poop piles because they never moved!

Needless to say I am thrilled! We are moving to Hawaii soon, and I hope to be able to target them into and out of the carriers without having to "catch" anyone. I have not had a single forcible encounter with any of them and I REALLY want to keep it that way!

That's great news on the progress! Pionus typically take a lot of time getting to know you and to trust, and to come around to new experiences. They're noticably slower than many species are to come around, even juveniles. Keep up the positive reinforcement!

Thanks! We are working hard on getting them to remember they are parrots not statues, and so far it is paying off! Sam has been doing more exploring but usually chickens out before too long. I am just hoping I can keep him out of dark corners and such, this will be the first spring in years that these two aren't given a nest box.

Much like amazons, once that threshhold gets crossed... and one of these days it will be, no more of the chicken nonsense.

The hard part is getting them to cross the threshhold the first time. But this is significant progress.

They are only cage bound, until they are not.

My breakthrough with Sally was putting groceries away in the kitchen. Suddenly she was overcome with the need to see what I was doing, and flew to my shoulder on her own...

Do stuff that will peak their curiousity, and make them come to you...

I am really working on getting them to be curious in general. When I got them it seemed like literally nothing would catch their interest, it was so opposite of every other bird I had ever interacted with. On the other hand, Flick is into everything. If I taste it, she must taste it, if I touch it, she must touch it, and if it makes noise, she MUST INVESTIGATE! I have decided to take advantage of this, and it seems to be the most fruitful strategy so far - after seeing Flick do things and get treats, Sam and Lady seem to be much more interested in trying them out, and more confident in their exploration. This has so far been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

Yeah. It's amazing how good it feels to take an animal that is sort of a zombie living dead thing, and watching it come back to life... when that spark returns to their eyes, and they're happy, interactive and playful again...

instead of just sitting there... endlessly... doing nothing... responsive to nothing... Perch potatos have glazed over eyes. And you can practically push them over, and they just sit there... not even knowing how to react. (Once in awhile they go total freaked-out panic on you, over nothing, if the slightest thing changes...)

If you can successfully get one mate in the bonded pair to do it, the other will follow, and it will mushroom from there.

SO EXCITED! Just got done with a training session! Lady stepped up onto my hand! She also allowed me to move her about 6 inches from the cage and gently sway back and forth with her on my hand and not a hint of nerves from her! No words for how excited I am!

I have developed a strategy that has really helped. Flick is tame, and I am training her to understand that when I put her in "the other cage" she gets to hunt for seeds (she has no seeds in her diet other than training treats, and she LOVES them) on the cage floor instead of feeling like she is locked away. She is actually still in there hunting even though she knows the door is open.

Also, I am targeting Sam into the big cage and rewarding him with a few seeds as well. I am not actively target training him at the moment because he has become incredibly hormonal and aggressive and I dont like giving him a reason to pick on the other birds which he does as soon as he is offered a food reward of any kind, even if they are not trying to get to it. I will begin training him again when this season is over, but for now we are working on targeting into the cage and understanding that it is a good thing. Essentially I am trying to reward him for letting Lady train. Flick and Sam both refuse to let her train in peace, but neither Lady nor Sam is ready to be moved to a different room to train.

So that's it folks! So much happiness in this house today!! Everyone got a few seeds and no one got bitten over it but the ultimate prize was Lady stepping up. She sat on my hand for over a minute, and I decided to end it there