How to train

I have been trying to clicker train my conure for a week but habibi doesn't seem to be listening I guess....Habibi follows the command but I don't think it's coz of the command but it's coz of d food...it knows I have a treat in my hand. So it comes running ( which is so cute) towards my hand n starts climbing my hand without any command at all. It doesn't stay calm at all...habibi becomes so energetic that habibi doesn't stay put ...how do I make my sun conure stay calm during training..I don't use a perch while training...he stands on d table...if I train him from inside the cage he tends to come out and sit on my hand or my shoulder.
So pls give me tips on how to train my conure and how to make it stay calm . Habibi is 9 months old
Habibi likes apple so I give apple as a treat I cut fine into very very small pieces n give.
He doesn't eat sunflower seeds dat much plus he doesn't eat them fast .

I mean... If it's used to you knowing that you have a treat in your hand, don't keep giving it treats everytime it comes for you once. Instead, just do it multiple times so I guess it doesn't really know when a treat is actually present? Slowly after you do it for a couple of days/one to two weeks, go back to doing treats everytime it follows, but maybe by the two week mark it should learn to follow...


* Don't quote me anything on this because um I'm just as inexperienced with these little guys as you are, just based off how my conures have been behaving like ;3

It is known that parrots are often food motivated. It is known. But some, perhaps yours, are motivated by verbal praise or by a short little scratch. These are known too. BUT there is nothing wrong with any of these as the initial motivating factor. And for some parrots and some tricks, the bird may just do the trick for sheer pleasure of doing it.

The main thing is too figure out Habibi's very favorite motivator, the one he will do anything for. And that now becomes your training tool. A food motivation is easier to work with, because you will want to remove the food from his day to day feed; use it only during training. And it may be only a small little piece of the favorite food. My Salty loves pine nuts, and they are small, but I cut them into 2 or 3 (or more) pieces for training. Some other points I added , to another response on training:

Training - You are making progress! Some tips, which I might have said already:
Consistency - its so important to be consistent in training , so the parrot does not get confused by mixed messages. Ask for the action the same way, every time. You both should ask for the action the same way. Same verbal and same hand signals.
Immediacy - If your using a clicker, click it as soon as the action is done, followed by the treat. The click says YES you did it right, and the treat reinforces it. I personally just use a verbal Good Boy instead of the clicker, but you get the idea. You all need to use this, you and any family! Training is an evolving incremental process, at first he may not do the complete action, but closely watch and any movement or action that approximates what your trying to teach is considered good and should be rewarded.
Patience - Parrots can sometimes take and accept change at a glacial pace, especially compared to our monkey brain adaptability, so patience is definitely needed.

I personally set aside a specific time each day, 365/yr, for training sessions with my Salty. Admittedly, you'll want to do more, to get Habibi to do the basic step up, which is essential, but after that is successful, I always recommend these set training sessions to teach other things, which can range from simple things like shake hands to more complex tricks. After awhile, HaBibi will come to know that these are special times, to learn new things and get treats and develop that special relationship with his flock. Doesn't have to be long, 10-15 min at most. In our house, everyone knows that the decks get cleared at 8:45pm sharp for training session time, including Salty, and he comes ready to run thru the evenings tricks and learn new ones ( which he is, at this point, amazing at).

Hope this helps. Feel zero amount of shame or frustration in using a food related training treat. After awhile the reward is gradually decreased until he completes the entire trick or action and only then rewarded. Example, we have 8 stacking cups, I lay them out and Salty has to stack them in size order. At first I gave a treat for each cup correctly selected and put on the stack. And then it was for every 2 cups, then every 3 cups, etc, etc. Now the trick is fully taught and Salty stacks all the cups and receives his reward only after all the cups were correctly selected and added to the stack. See how that works? and be aware that parrots will cheat if allowed to. Oh Yes, cheat! In the example above, Salty will try and 'pre stack' some of the cups while I am laying out the other cups, so he has to do less work!.

Thank you so much....was very informative..do we have to train daily at d same time ?

Thank you for the info

I love your birdie's name btw! Habibi - I noticed that when my Sunny gets going with her Aaahhh BEEEEp BEEEEEp, it sounds so much like "Habibi," so when she starts, I sing it back to her as "Habibi, habibi, habibi bee bee bee bee..." etc. Great name for a Sunny!

Awww thank you...u r d first one to say that ❤️❤️
Actually habibi means "Dear" in Arabic

Let me add this to the mix. You say he knows you have a treat in your hand. Wear a t-shirt with a pocket and put the treats in their so that way he doesn't keep looking at your hand for the treat and will focus more on what your asking. When he does.what you ask, click the clicker. And that will tell him treat is on the way.
Just like other members said give him a treat but mix it up every other time then make it 3 times the go back to one time.also if he know another trick, have him do that one in between.

Also- move at your bird's pace. I know it's frustrating when you only want good things for your bird and he/she STILL hesitates, but you have to respect that. If a bird steps away or freezes and seems anxious around your hand etc, don't keep trying to get it to take food from you etc (not saying you are, but a lot of ppl will wait for an hour with their arm in the cage thinking that if "Polly" would just try the snack, all of their problems would be solved." This is not the case, so don't fall into that mindset-- pay attention to body language and always associate yourself with activities that are low-stress to your bird early on. If your bird is hesitating, the activity is not low-stress.


Furthermore-- when you are able to touch your bird, pet on the head and neck only and make sure he/she is getting 10 hours sleep nightly (on a schedule) and that he/she doesn't have huts/tents/shadowy spaces that he/she can access either in or around the cage.


When you do train, keep sessions short and try to end on a positive note. Also, remember that some birds are more food motivated than others. The main reasons why people or birds do anything (according to ABA) = attention, tangibles (food/toy etc), sensory (or automatic---like itching a bite= sensory), and then escape (to get away from a person or environment or avoid a task/non-preferred activity).


If your bird loves attention, you can still give treats, but remember, the reinforcement is STRONGEST when what you deliver matches your bird's reason for doing the behavior. In other words, the reward should always match the reinforcer (and the 4 main reinforcers are tangibles, attention, sensory and escape). I am not saying that treats are bad-- they seem to be motivating to your bird at this point in time. I am only saying this because, as your bond changes, your bird may start to value your attention more than the treats. There is no problem with providing attention and a treat (for an attention seeker) but issues arise when people assume that all birds are equally motivated by treats alone.


Finally, some birds are scared of clickers, but you can do the same thing with your own voice as long as you are consistent with the sound. The click is standard and easily repeated, which is why it is popular, but ANY phrase or sound, followed by a reward is the same as a clicker as long as you can replicate it each time. Also, make sure that you reward the second you click or make your sound to signal that something was correct/good. The reward needs to come the second your bird does what you want-- any lag can cause confusion between behavior and reward.

Clarin, how is Habibi coming along?

Just a thought to add. When your working with your parrot and you end the training, take a minute and don't leave and just watch him and you will see how he react. And will know how he is acting that he's getting it. Just because the training my go slow sometimes all of a sudden he will make a major break through.

Habibi is progressing well actually...as I was told...patience was needed...so I did have it....n doing it daily tooo

Doing well

But I'm not sure if he is actually reacting to the clicker ...��

The purpose of the clicker is to let your parrot know instantly that the action you wanted was completed successfully. You could say Good Boy or something else, but for the same reason - to let the parrot know what he did is towards the goal. The treat given right after the clicker or verbal input is to re-enforce the action. The parrot may not react visibly to the clicker, and he is not supposed to.

Oh... Thank you... Got it