Stick or Hand?

[wolf0994]

I have a 16 year old Grey that I recently adopted (approx 10 days ago) that came from a home where he had another parrot companion. Initially he was handleable when he was younger and the two parrots did not share the same cage. As he grew up they put them together and he was handled less and less. Now he is scared of your hand or a stick. I am not sure which to use to work on. His former owner only re-homed him due to their increasing age and difficulty in cage cleaning etc. He is now by himself so that the human bond can be his companionship rather than another parrot which both the previous owner and some kind members on here have mentioned should help in training him to be handleable though it may take time.

He has is warming up to his new home nicely and is very willing to give me kisses constantly and take treats from me and appears to have no distrust of me what so ever. Had I not been pre-warned that he has bitten rather hard in the past I would feel completely safe to snuggle my cheek against his. But I have not yet gotten to that point. I can get within 3-4 inches with my face and he doesnt seem to have any fear whatsoever. He rather seems to enjoy that closeness. It's the hands that are the issue.

My question is which method would members of this forum recommend I start with? Stick or Hand since it has been quite some time since he was handled regularly and he currently runs from both. He only shows fear when I approach him with an empty hand and or stick, he will let my hand get about 8 inches away if he doesnt see anything in it, but he will run much sooner from a stick, basically as soon as I approach the cage with one. This leads me to think that skipping the stick is the way to go but I have seen the wounds he can cause from his bites so I am leary of that. Suggestions of all sorts are welcome. I have plenty of patience so fear not of that. I wasnt even going to try to start training him for a while but he has warmed up to us so rapidly I want to continually challenge him so he doesnt get bored.

 

[QuackQuack]

Whether you use stick or hand is more your comfort preference. If he looks like he's going to take a big chunk out of you then I'd go for the stick! My grey always had to be removed from the cage with a stick, but once he was out he was wonderful. Some birds are always like that and others tame down. I wouldn't be to forceful with the stick though and try to move slowly since so much is happening for him.

 

[wolf0994]

I hear ya. He comes out of the cage no problem. Getting him back in.... pretty much requires me getting a stick and slowly herding him toward the door, if I just use my hand he just runs around the opposite side of the cage. To get him to slide down and climb in I slowly move a stick towards him while telling him goodnight, hoping that he associates the words with time to go in the cage. He doesn't ever want to go in there unless I put tasty treats in his bowl, or do that above routine.

 

[QuackQuack]

Mine did that too! One day after trying so hard to get him back in I had to grab him with a towel and throw him in and shut the door quickly! LOL...such precise technique I had.

 

[wolf0994]

I would be afraid of what my hand would look like, lol. Plus I would be afraid it would cause mistrust after that. Right now when I get close to him he looks so cute I want to just reach out and pet him... but he will have none of it. lol YET!

 

[jamesp82]

If he will take treats from hand, let him see them and then close your hand and let him come close. Reward for any movement to your hand. I would either use a clicker or use a quick "good" when he comes close. My goffin was hand shy at first, but she was able to figure it out and would touch my finger on cue within 3-4 days. I used my finger as the "target" and about 5 days after that we had "step up" done. Once the bird understands that hand means something nice like treat it will make life so much easier.

Also, I would try to suggest using a treat to draw the bird into the cage instead of corraling it with a stick. You can cause a fear association you don't want. Reward for going back in the cage. Make it a positive thing.