Does being around other birds hinder the taming progress?

[UlyBirb]

As a few of you know, I've had Obie for just over a week now. Now that he's becoming more comfortable in his cage, he'll hear my finches and canary and perk up. His cage is beside my canary cage, which is beside my finches. Obie doesn't spend a huge amount of time beside my canary cage, but he is interested in the other birds. Could being close to them/being able to hear them hinder his want for human attention?

 

[wrench13]

Good question. I would think if you are the treat and scritch and foodprovider, he would tend to bond with you more. Unless the canary is slipping him some pine nuts?

 

[Anansi]

Hahaha! Al, you're a trip!

No, I don't think that the canaries or finches will prove to be an issue for taming. Well, other than the specific potential for distraction during training and such. But that will depend on his individual personality.

 

[MonicaMc]

Monkey see, monkey do. I've found that if you have one tame bird and you want to tame others, it can make things easier. Even if you don't have a tame bird, if you have at least one bird willing to take the step, it makes things easier.

I experimented with 5 adult, flighted budgies. None were really tame. Just fed them every day first thing in the morning before changing out their food dishes.


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUx81WHTUwk"]1 Bird in hand Leads to Many - YouTube[/ame]


Which eventually led to feeding them out of their cage.


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlSm4uFZzVU"]More Budgies!!!! - YouTube[/ame]



I thought that was the end of it, but then I had a cockatiel who was watching me, and well, she wanted to the same behavior... only it took me two weeks to realize what she wanted!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q88bN30qOjo"]Sunshine in the Morning - YouTube[/ame]


And since I started feeding one cockatiel by hand, another one watched and wanted the same behavior

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9w9w8nMRmw"]Hesitant Faye - YouTube[/ame]



And you can see how much her behavior changed over time

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH9ZWxhCSAE"]Not So Hesitant Faye - YouTube[/ame]



And that resulted in feeding the other cockatiels by hand. Pistachio was the most skittish cockatiel, ex-breeder who wanted nothing to do with humans. He showed the biggest change in behavior.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjKmHswgiHs"]Cockatiel Feeding - April 24th - YouTube[/ame]



If I kept it up, I could have also worked with gaining the trust of a wild caught african ringneck. Would prefer to find her an aviary situation with others of her kind, though..

 

[UlyBirb]

Thank you all for your help! He doesn't seem to be distracted when the other birds are in the room so I think we should be fine