New Seny New to Forum

[BenWehr]

Hey all!

This is my first post. I recently aquired Griffin, a 7yr old senegal from a family who was looking for a new home for him bc their daughter who bought the bird in junior highschool is now in college. Griffin was never handled by anyone else.

Confident from watching Chet Womach videos on youtube and doing lots of research I was willing to take on the challenge.

Well I picked up Griffin last 6 days ago and we are learning each other. Day one I could feed him treats by hand. So could my 3yr old son. By day two I could preen him. We are now working on target training, bonding more and introducing other members of the family.

my currently problem. Shoulders. He is NOT allowed on shoulders but when he does get to my shoulder he is very difficult to get off and I seem to either have to shew him and make him fly off, get him to climb from shoulder to perch, or get bit.

? should I allow him on shoulders at All?
? how can I get him to calmly get down from shoulders/perches?

BTW I think it's real cool that he's already calling for me if I leave the room and will fly to find me if I don't come back.

I need to teach him to fly and stay on command too. one step at a time though.

 

[mtdoramike]

Welcome, pics are nice. By the way, you won't think it's very cute if he starts calling for you every time you leave the room. A needy bird isn't a cute bird. I know that all too well.

 

[BenWehr]

Sooo... what do I do to keep him from wanting me if I leave the room?

 

[suebee]

they will always call, but some will start to scream etc nut will call and i just ignore her

you have only had griffon for a couple of wks, take it slow an do not fully trust him with your little one!

do not stroke/preen his back, he may see this a a mating gesture

i had a wonderfull honeymoon period with the nut, (2wks) but once that was over, i nearly filed for divorce!

as for the shoulder thing, that just takes time, nut still won't get of a shoulder once she has gotten on, but she takes the hint, when we lower shoulder near a perch etc, she use to bite our faces for askin her to step off the shoulder. but with patiance and time bites are very rare now, even though she is hitting her hormonal months

keep us up dated on progress my little nut is an extremely naughty bird

 

[Bright Star]

I've recently had this issue with my little Finn too. I try to keep him off my shoulders, but the other day he flew to my shoulder when I had my back to him. Hard to prevent that!

I tried coaxing him down...no go. I usually try to get him off my shoulder onto a perch that is higher, and that usually works. The other day, I had to coax him with pine nuts back into his high-rise, luxury condo. Mostly, I try to keep him from getting up there, cause it is hard to get him down again. You should have seen the contortions I went through to 'encourage' him to step down. He must have thought I was having spasms

 

[ann]

first of all, welcome! 2nd thank you for taking in a rescue bird!!! lastly this is an idea i came up with a while ago, but never used it and dont know if it would work, but maybe you could be the first to try it give him a nontoxic bird safe bell, and every time he rings it, come to his cage and give him a treat untill he associates ringing the bell with you comming to him. this way if he wants you, instead of screaming, he will ring the bell, much easier on the ears. its just a theory but maybe it could work, also you could try clicker training him to deal with the shoulder climbing heres a link to help:
Clicker Training Parrots « Peggy’s Parrot Place
good luck