Taming help / advice

Having trouble taming my parent raised 5 month old conure, he will only come near my hands if I'm holding millet and once he grabs it he runs off again!! He's bit me a couple of times already when trying to teach him to step up and is generally very hand shy..

Any advice would be welcomed

Thanks

Have you tried target training???? There's plenty of videos on YouTube and they all fo pretty much the same. So you learn the basics and then go from there.

Don't act afraid of him, and just keep socializing with him. Talk to him sweetly, continue to make many attempts to touch/hold him. I always talk to my birds just like they were my own kid, and very lovingly. It pays off. Some birds take longer to tame, some tame quickly. He's 5 months old, still young. Good luck!!

Start with just giving him treats through the bars until he is comfortable with that. Then giving treats inside or outside of his cage until he is comfortable with it. Then slowly start introducing your finger to step up, he doesn't have to step up right away to get the treat, just come close. Then just work your way from him coming close to get the treat, to reaching over, to eventually stepping up.
This process works best if he is hungry though, so for each session make sure he hasn't eaten for a couple hours by either: letting him eat until his bowl is empty and then waiting a couple hours. or : just take the food bowl away a couple hours before.
This is how I hand tamed my Shyra parent raised baby (flighted too) and I was amazed at how fast she learned.
If you are a visual learner, like I am, I recorded my hand taming process with Shyra herehttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu2CPZFhJeWo96RAtcIMz8sLhzbDg4EQF

Thanks for your replies!

I haven't yet tried target training, I have tried clicker training him but he's scared of the clicker!!

He's already taking millet off me through the cage bars and when outside of the cage so I will try getting him to step up using that.

Have you tried using a perch for him to step up onto instead of your fingers? Sometimes it's better to practice with a perch then fingers.

greencheekachick said:

Start with just giving him treats through the bars until he is comfortable with that. Then giving treats inside or outside of his cage until he is comfortable with it. Then slowly start introducing your finger to step up, he doesn't have to step up right away to get the treat, just come close. Then just work your way from him coming close to get the treat, to reaching over, to eventually stepping up.
This process works best if he is hungry though, so for each session make sure he hasn't eaten for a couple hours by either: letting him eat until his bowl is empty and then waiting a couple hours. or : just take the food bowl away a couple hours before.
This is how I hand tamed my Shyra parent raised baby (flighted too) and I was amazed at how fast she learned.
If you are a visual learner, like I am, I recorded my hand taming process with Shyra herehttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu2CPZFhJeWo96RAtcIMz8sLhzbDg4EQF

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I watched a couple of your videos - very nice job taming your Shyra!

You have so much patience! Because I'm so impatient, I took shortcuts taming all of my birds. I got them to stand on my finger by saying "come here" and pressing the side of my finger against their legs, after a few days, all I had to do was put my finger close to their legs and they'd jump on. And when I got them sitting on my finger I just loved on them, telling them all kinds of sweet things.

The taming style you have used is great for teaching tricks too!

Watched your training videos and tried slowly moving my hand closer to him and he just runs off every time! I've tried with a perch too and whenever I move it closer he runs off and it ends up me just chasing him around haha

Try putting either some millet or sunflower seeds in your hand and just set your hand on his perch. Grab a chair though & be prepared for pins & needles. Since he still doesn't trust hands this would be a good exercise to get him used to hands and associate them with good things. It also lets him do it at his pace.

Yeah is it best for me to wait for him to come to me, or should I be the one almost forcing contact and then hopefully he will eventually not see my hands as a threat after a while?

Never force when you are trying to build trust. You are creating opportunities for interaction but you take your cues from him on how and where it goes. Remember you wouldn't want someone forcing you to do something either.

JamieRow89 said:

Yeah is it best for me to wait for him to come to me, or should I be the one almost forcing contact and then hopefully he will eventually not see my hands as a threat after a while?

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Either way - just don't force him in a way that would scare him. One thing is for sure - if you want a super tame parrot that seeks you out, comes to you on his own, lets you pet him.... then you have to diligently, every day, seek to win his trust.

It doesn't have to be with food. I never tamed any of my birds using food. Tame them with your loving presence. They can sense your feelings. If they sense fear or anger, they will not come to you.

Also none of my birds learned to say "step up" because I never said that to them. They are smart enough to know that when you put your finger in front of their legs, that the idea is for them to hop onto your finger.

LoryLover said:

You have so much patience! Because I'm so impatient, I took shortcuts taming all of my birds. I got them to stand on my finger by saying "come here" and pressing the side of my finger against their legs, after a few days, all I had to do was put my finger close to their legs and they'd jump on. And when I got them sitting on my finger I just loved on them, telling them all kinds of sweet things.

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Thanks,
-The first video was trying without food treats and it seemed that I was making little or no progress. So food treats were more helpful (and faster Does that make me any less patient? lol)
-Anyways it's which ever way your bird is most comfortable with. And no don't force anything. It'll only set you further back and take longer for trust.
-Try having whole days (like days off from work) to work with him. When you have nothing and nowhere to go that day. Or in the evenings or whenever you would have nothing and nowhere to go during that day.
- Just let him hang out for a couple hours and then work with him until he seems uncomfortable or isn't progressing. Then leave him hang out for an hour or however long until he seems ready to work with you again and repeat.(how I tamed Shyra)

MamaFuzz said:

Try putting either some millet or sunflower seeds in your hand and just set your hand on his perch. Grab a chair though & be prepared for pins & needles. Since he still doesn't trust hands this would be a good exercise to get him used to hands and associate them with good things. It also lets him do it at his pace.

Click to expand...

-This and the others advice are good and will help too. Try them out and find out what your baby is most comfortable with and go from there.

-If using treat rewards, again works better if he is hungry(IMO). So on training days you can take his food away before starting, or give him enough food that he empties it before starting so throughout the day (or whenever) he'll take and want the food treats.
-Good luck and be prepared for however long it takes! And keep asking questions if needed!