She's steps up, but afraid of my hand

[Smoke14]

Hello, I'm new here. This is my first post. I have spent a lot of time reading many posts here over the past several days. What a great group!

Last Friday (so today is the 5th day home) I had the happy occasion of bringing home a 2 year old female Finsch's Conure. Her name is Amelia.

I have been looking for a Conure for a while and finally found one that just seemed to be the right fit at a local bird shop... so I brought her home. She was pre-owned - and was loved very much, but the couple had a brand new baby and had to make a tough decision. She had learned a few words and was very well cared for there and was well bonded with them. She was at the shop for 4 months from what I understand. The shop is a real good one that specializes in birds. The owner knows the previous owners and said they were just heartbroken to have to give her up. At the shop she let me hold her and cup my hand over her and hold her close to my chest. She liked being on my shoulder better though. She showed no fear of people and seemed to be comfortable with the girl who showed her to me.

Now that she is home, she is very fearful of my hand and is nippy, but hasn't bitten me. It takes a lot of coaxing to get her to step up, but she does. But she flaps her wings (clipped) wildly and will jump or fly a short distance to a shelf that is on the headboard of our bed... it has a mirror on it. She seems to want to be near the mirror, and while that is even closer to us she will close her eyes and sleep by the mirror...so she is not afraid of us then. She seems comfortable there... even though she is right near us. It takes some coaxing, but she does step up from there and will run up my shoulder and I can stand next to her cage and she will hop back to it.

If I try to scratch or rub her head, she won't let me. She will stay on my shoulder and let me rub her cheek with my face, but that is about it.. and if I walk around, she holds on for dear life to my shirt with her beak. She has a large cage that opens up at the top and we open it up anytime we are with her. She tries to get our attention when she is in the cage, but runs or climbs to get away from us when we approach to open it. If she steps up, I have a little training perch that I can sit down with and be closer to her, and practice stepping up to get her more comfortable and I reward her with millet, (she seems to love it). So far that is all I have been able to do with her. I talk very sweetly and calmly to her.

She eats and drinks well, and takes treats...

I just hate that she is afraid of me. I am unsure of how to make her feel more comfortable with me.

When we cover her cage at night she will say some of the words that I was told she would say and makes a kissing noise. Like she is saying good night.

Could it be that she is homesick? Is that why she likes to be near the mirror?

What else can I be doing to make her more comfortable with us?
I love her so much... I don't want to scare her more but I want her to feel safe... Does it sound like I am doing it right so far?

Thanks in advance for any advice!
Julie

 

[MangieSun]

Congrats on your new baby! Sounds like she just needs more time to figure out that she trusts you. From what I've read it can take a long time for a bird to fully settle in. My feathered kids are all babies still which I think helps with the transistion time. My sun and cockatiel immediately settled in but my bare eyed is still a bit leery after over a month. I think the key for you would be to go slow, have a strong routine and let her cues tell you she is trusting fully. Building blocks to a long relationship. And it sounds like it won't take long at all for your little one to come around since she seems friendly already

 

[MonicaMc]

Finsch's aren't very common. My new girl is a red throated and she took a while to settle in. Was very nervous, bitey and really no confidence in herself. In fact, she was a nervous preener and bit the bloody snot out of people! She so badly wanted hands on interaction but was terrified of it at the same time.

It's been 8 months now and she has settled in quite a bit! She can also fly and is getting more comfortable with her surroundings. Quite a change!



I would recommend covering the mirror so she doesn't become bonded to her reflection. Other than that, how's she doing?

 

[Smoke14]

Thank you MonicaMc,
I'm finding out that Finsch's aren't common - as I am looking for another one to keep her company and can't find one anywhere!
I bought her because she took to me and just said "take me home". I really had no idea about all of the different kinds of conures.

She is getting a little better every day. I made a small perch from pvc and a regular perch and work with her every day with her physically closer to me and at eye level (with me sitting down). I also take her into the bathroom with me and sit on the floor with the door closed and sit down on the floor and let her run around. She is learning to trust me more - but it is painfully slow. We practice stepping up every day and she does it more willingly. She doesn't like to step up out of the cage.. she prefers to climb out and it takes several tries to get her to step on my hand but she eventually will. She nips, but hasn't bitten hard. Her previous owner taught her a few phrases and how to blow kisses and she blows kisses a lot, but only from her cage... from her sleeping perch. I'm earning her trust gradually... at her pace... not forcing anything. I love her so much and hope that she will trust me eventually!

We are trying to keep her away from the mirror.

What specific things did you do to get your girl to trust you?

Thank you so much for responding!

Finsch's aren't very common. My new girl is a red throated and she took a while to settle in. Was very nervous, bitey and really no confidence in herself. In fact, she was a nervous preener and bit the bloody snot out of people! She so badly wanted hands on interaction but was terrified of it at the same time.

It's been 8 months now and she has settled in quite a bit! She can also fly and is getting more comfortable with her surroundings. Quite a change!



I would recommend covering the mirror so she doesn't become bonded to her reflection. Other than that, how's she doing?

 

[MonicaMc]

What country do you live in? And do you know how much she weighs??? (kind of curious to know!)

You can read about how I found Jayde and some work I've done with her in this thread.
http://www.parrotforums.com/conures/36663-long-overdue-intro-jayde-red-throated-conure.html


Jayde gets better with stepping up, especially if I "butter" her up before asking for the step up. If I don't, she's likely to bite or not step up at all. In the thread, I mention she is very people orientated, which is extremely true! She loves for people (preferably women still?) to pay direct attention to her! Doesn't have to be physical, she eats it up all the same! And everyone does get the warning that she can bite! She's a total hoot!

I also believe that allowing her to have her wings (she started molting 2 weeks after she came to me) has helped increase her confidence as she will now fly to a couple of other areas besides me and her cage. Before she used to freak out if she wasn't on one of those two spots.

I never took Jayde into the bathroom or any room she couldn't escape from. In fact, I made it a point that whenever she was with me and started to freak out and feel insecure, I'd take her back to her cage.



Have you ever sat at Amelia's cage and just fed her treats by hand? How does she react? Is she comfortable with you sitting there? (If yes, how do you know?) Is she willing to take treats from you or bite you instead?



This article might be of good help for you and Amelia. The videos (via links) are also worth watching!

 

[Smoke14]

MonicaMc,
I live in South Florida. Amelia is 134 gm. I just took her in for a weight check last Saturday.
I will read your posts over the next day or two. Thank you!
Amelia has her wings clipped - she came that way and I haven't decided if I will keep them clipped or not. My bathroom is pretty big, so she has plenty of room to run around and I have been doing that in hopes of her feeling more comfortable with me in a "just hanging out" setting. It is pretty much the only place in my house that doesn't have anything she can go under. She just runs around and explores. She doesn't seem nervous in that setting.

Her treats of choice are apples, grapes and millet. She only gets millet outside the cage. And she likes to sip orange juice too. (just a little) She will take all of these from my hand, but only if she is outside of the cage. If she is on a perch, she will step up over and over. But if she is in or on her cage she crawls away from me, and will step up to a hand held perch, and to my hand from there... never to my hand from the cage. And she won't accept food from my hand while she is in or on the cage. But she is starting to hesitate rather than run away right away.. tiny baby steps...
Also, If she lingers on my hand, she crawls right up my arm to my shoulder and will stay there for a little while. She will sip orange juice from a cup while on my shoulder, but so far she hasn't accepted food from my shoulder. She won't let me scratch her head or rub her belly yet... so not a cuddly bird like so many conures are. Not yet anyway... But we are slowly figuring each other out.
I will check out the links and your posts. Thank you so much for your help!


QUOTE=MonicaMc;365724]What country do you live in? And do you know how much she weighs??? (kind of curious to know!)

You can read about how I found Jayde and some work I've done with her in this thread.
http://www.parrotforums.com/conures/36663-long-overdue-intro-jayde-red-throated-conure.html


Jayde gets better with stepping up, especially if I "butter" her up before asking for the step up. If I don't, she's likely to bite or not step up at all. In the thread, I mention she is very people orientated, which is extremely true! She loves for people (preferably women still?) to pay direct attention to her! Doesn't have to be physical, she eats it up all the same! And everyone does get the warning that she can bite! She's a total hoot!

I also believe that allowing her to have her wings (she started molting 2 weeks after she came to me) has helped increase her confidence as she will now fly to a couple of other areas besides me and her cage. Before she used to freak out if she wasn't on one of those two spots.

I never took Jayde into the bathroom or any room she couldn't escape from. In fact, I made it a point that whenever she was with me and started to freak out and feel insecure, I'd take her back to her cage.



Have you ever sat at Amelia's cage and just fed her treats by hand? How does she react? Is she comfortable with you sitting there? (If yes, how do you know?) Is she willing to take treats from you or bite you instead?



This article might be of good help for you and Amelia. The videos (via links) are also worth watching![/QUOTE]

 

[MonicaMc]

Sounds about right for a Finsch's! Birdbreeders mentions a few different breeders who supposedly breed this species, but it's hard to say if they put the species down to get more customers or if they actually have bred the species. If they have bred the species, I don't know if any of them currently have any birds or not. I haven't checked the breeders out.

Amelia sounds kind of opposite of Jayde, since Jayde was extremely nervous but enjoyed scritches. At first, there was no way I could remove her from her cage as she'd refuse to leave her cage (and bite the snot out of you if you tried!) so all interaction had to be with her on the cage. She also wouldn't take treats from my hands either without biting. Since she's gotten over her fear of hands, that has however changed.

One thing you may want to do is to put a 'treat cup' inside or on her cage and whenever you walk by, put her favorite things inside. She can then become anticipated to your arrival because it means she's getting something good.


And I meant to include another link but it seems it got left out in the previous post! Sorry about that! Here it is!

Working with Fearful Parrots: A Study in Videos | Learning Parrots

 

[Katiejayne]

Congratulations on your new baby I've actually never heard of that type of conure I'm now going to look up if we have them in the uk!lol! I agree with covering the mirror as she may bond to her reflection meaning she may not bond to you. Also I would hold off on buying another bird until she is bonded with you as if you add another bird she may bond with that bird and always continue biting/being scared of you as she won't need you for comp at anymore.