First 5 Tricks

[Birdman666]

Hmmm, in MY opinion, teaching a bird to do a somersault (flip on the floor) is alot easier than teaching them to roll over..

With a red front or a blue throat, rolling over is a natural behavior... getting them to stay upright is the hard one...

My conures were easy to teach to roll over.

My red front does it naturally.

Kiwi will do anything play, including rolling over on her back.

My other amazons and my CAG? DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!

 

[Birdman666]

Tab -

I've watched that Fargo video 3 or 4 times now... He's soooo much fun! And he's having so much fun playing with you.

That's pretty much how mine are as well...

The opposite of aggressive macaws. Pea Pod (Sweepea) loves to sit on my lap and roll over on her back and play exactly like that... she'll keep that up for as long as I continue to do it.

Maggie does the leaning on one side number with just one foot in the air (also on my lap.)

I can't imagine NOT being able to play with a big mac like this.

 

[djdancer]

How did you teach them to roll over. By the way Birdman666 you have been much more informative than the numerous dvd's and video's that I've spent hours upon hours watching. Not to mention all of the money I've thrown away. I'll have to look at dollar store for the basketball hoop. I really need to teach my birds to station first before the tricks. I still don't know how. I've gone through all of the youtube video's in the past couple of weeks and none actually show how to station.

By the way, how do you own all of these birds? Do they all come out at the same time and do they all get along? I have to juggle all 3 birds and always feel bad at the end of every day that one or another didn't get enough "out of the cage time".

 

[Birdman666]

Mine only get a few hours a week INSIDE the cage time. I don't close cage doors. I have a bird room. They come and go as they please... I only lock them up when I'm using cleaner on the floor. I don't want them being "helpful" around cleaning chemicals.

Last night I actually had five out of six on my person at once. (Tusk, Lila and Kiwi on my right arm. Sweepea on my left shoulder. Maggie felt left out, and climbed up on my lap on her own. Pretty much was NOT in a position to say no at that point.) Sat like that playing with them for about an hour or so before putting them back on their playstands. (When you volunteer at a rescue that has 350 birds, all of whom don't get enough socialization, you learn to entertain multiple birds at once. It wasn't uncommon to work with ten at a time out on the big playstand. You get very good, very fast in that situation, or you have ten birds at each other's throats, biting your arms and your face, etc... and you don't get to do it anymore because you just flat lack the skill to control them.) It's not "bird whispering." There's no "wizarding" involved. It's a learned skill. I believe anyone can learn it.

MINE HAVE BEEN EXTENSIVELY SOCIALIZED TOGETHER. THAT'S WHY I CAN DO THINGS LIKE THAT. I've done the work. THIS is my reward. And at times it's just amazing, and at other times it's more overwhelming... would you please just give me some peace now?! (Maggie, my GW, has been especially clingy since my daughter moved out! Kiwi is still very young and is all play, all the time. Tusk and Lila are a set. You don't pick up one without the other. And Pea Pod, like most big macs, wants to be a lap bird as well.)

I did parrot rescue for more than half a decade. People kept giving me birds they didn't want. Most of mine are rehomes, and rehabs. (Except for Tusk, who was a confiscated egg, and Sweepea, my only "breeder bought" bird.)

At one time I had 11 of my own, plus "visiting" fosters, plus I volunteered at a rescue with about 350 birds, and another with about 70-ish birds... (Yeah. I handled pretty much everything. That's how you learn it. Not by watching overpriced "parrot wizard" DVD's.)

 

[djdancer]

You guys are so cool!! You can tell how devoted you are to your birds. Thank you so much for sharing all of this stuff with me. I've spent most of my time just trying to get one of them to be more friendly with my hands and not so nervous around people. She's still such a bad nervous wreck but has actually come a long way. Yes, it was so much worse before even though it's so bad now. I have to keep reminding myself of that but I just want her to have a quality life.

Then we have the Green Cheek. She's young but definitely the "pitbull" bird in this house. I spend most of my time teaching her to be "gentle". She has come a long way with people but not other birds in the house. I really need to find a way for her to get along with them.

Then we have our newest member and he's a dream. He was a rescue but came from a very good home where his previous owner could no longer keep him. She did a great job with him. He doesn't do any tricks although I've taught him how to target but he's an older (25) and much more calmer and relaxed bird. He's very set in his ways and I do listen to him because he really doesn't do anything wrong that I need to change or help to improve.

Thank you all for helping me find things to spend quality time with my birds and not just expecting them to sit with me or in the cage without doing anything.