Anyone have "hands off" birds?

[Sasha2]

And did any eventually become at least semi tame? And if not does it bother you that you cant touch them?


Our sun conure is a mixed bag.He willingly comes out of his cage and doesnt bite but he is terrified of hands and will not let me touch him in any way..Ive made no progress in the last few months other then taking treats from my fingers..
Now if he flys across the room I have to pick him up but he will scream as soon as the hands are in sight.Usually I try and just shoo him on my shoulder.But if I do use my hands he Never bites me, which I find rather strange.
I wonder if he was "disciplined with hands somehow for biting at one time", I could be way off though.Its just strange that he makes no attempt to bite yet he is terrified.BTW he is around 2+ years old.

 

[crimson]

I have a 10 year old cockatiel, I've had her for about 2-3 years. she is not tame, and will either fly off or bite, but I can put my hands around her to put her back in her cage and she is fine with that. She never steps up, and if I get too close she flies away.
it doesn't really bother me, all my other birds are tame, I keep her with my pet birds cause she is older and enjoys the free flight daily.
It does bother me that she won't let her guard down after all this time, I've never hurt her, but she'll never change.

 

[Peeker]

I have a gal I would consider a hands-off bird. It's all on her terms. She's recently come out of a span of several months where she refused to step up to me and would only come out for baths. She allows this by turning her back to me and allowing me to pick her up like a chicken. He previous owner let me know that was the case when I got her so I understand that is what she prefers at times. Outside of removing her from her cage for bathing that way she did not desire to come out and I know better than to press.

If she is willing to step up she will look me in the eye and lift her foot. If not she will either climb away from me or stand very still and bite very hard if I try to persist.

After several months of refusing me she is back to stepping up to my hand for bath times and a minor amount of socializing. She is a happy, calm, content bird but she has her own ways about her. I love her dearly and have a deep amount of respect for her.

I think if I didn't have other birds that do like to be held, it would hurt my feelings more, but I have my others that enjoy handling a bit. I enjoy each of them as they are.

 

[Sasha2]

ITs nice to know they can be happy and hands off.I was worried he might be lonely if I cant be his best bud..I do hope eventually he will at least get on my shoulder occasionally.He only does that when I am carrying him back to his cage then he flys off quickly.

 

[ann]

i don't know if this counts, but i have 11 finches. For the most part they are hands off, but i have 4 tame ones. The tame ones prefer each others company, but are happy to sit on me and will accept kisses and light petting. When they are young, they LOVE head scratches. other than that, they are hands off. My dove is tame, but does not seek attention from me. She will step up to come out and sit on top of her cage, overall she is very sweet. I love all my birds, tame or not .

 

[Puddlingo]

My parakeet freaks out whenever I even put my hand in the cage! I don't think I'll ever be able to touch or pet him...

 

[BillsBirds]

I have 2 Budgies that I rescued from abad situation...tiny cage, perches over food & water, big dog in house, no socialization. That was over 2 years ago. They do not freak out when approached anymore, but, want nothing to do with us. I'm okay with that, and love them just the same. I let them out once a week for some exercise, and then have to catch them to put back in cage. Other than that, the Girls are here just to chatter away, and be happy little souls for the rest of their lives.

 

[xreinx]

I don't know if this counts either, but when I had a flock of pigeons, they were hands off, flying away every time I got too close, though when I started letting them out to fly and feeding them away from their "evening cage" and they started becoming useto me and would accually land on me when I was feeding and watering.

It's a tactic that I've often used for a lot of my "untamed" animals over the years, feeding by hand from a bowl every day, it takes endless patients and a months of mindless tending.
Though, oddly, I've had better and much faster results from true wild birds then I have from pigeons and budgies when offering them food by hand and a safe place to sleep, it only took three days for a wild Magpie to fly to me and demand food (was not happy, I was nursing him back to health, not trying to make a pet out of him).

 

[ConureCrazy]

Bella and Zora are hand off. No touching their body, and they really only willingly step up when they're off their cage. They hate me touching their cage. They love me to death, but they love each other more, to be honest, They're twins, so am I, and twins' bonds are closer than just siblings. They do step up anywhere else though, and are very playful and love to show off. They just aren't people birds.

 

[Blue]

My Hahn's is hands off, for me at least, he will step up for my husband sometimes but if I get near his cage he lunges at me But he's good, when I tell him to go to bed he goes right in his cage

 

[MonicaMc]

Except for my bourke parakeet who has no interest in human interaction (especially lately, having to flush her sinuses! and give daily supplements - poor girl!), I've been able to get all of my birds to interact with me in some way!


I honestly don't care if my birds desire my interaction or not as long as they are happy! If they want interaction, then I'll interact with them!


Over 6 years ago, I had a small flock of budgies. Only five. All adults, all flighted! Non tame! As an "experiment", I decided to see what I could do with this flock.... I started by feeding them by hand.



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUx81WHTUwk]1 Bird in hand Leads to Many - YouTube[/ame]


I eventually was sitting just outside the cage with my hand on the other side. The budgies came out of the cage to eat from my hand. They were nervous about it, but monkey see, monkey do!


A month later, I was standing four or so feet away from the cage, standing, and with food in my hands!



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlSm4uFZzVU]More Budgies!!!! - YouTube[/ame]



That was essentially my experiment. To see if I could get 5 untamed adult budgies to fly to me. Well, I had a cockatiel who was watching, so she started following me around the room. I didn't know why she was following me. A couple of times she got frustrated with me enough to momentarily land on me! This is new behavior... then it clicked! Offer food to the bird! She was nervous at first, but she became comfortable with the idea! (hand raised tiel that was owned by a boy who grew up and discovered girls and sports so got ignored)


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q88bN30qOjo]Sunshine in the Morning - YouTube[/ame]


Have I mentioned monkey see, monkey do? Sure enough, another tiel saw me doing this behavior with the first tiel, and she wanted to be included, too! She was very hesitant about it, but she still wanted to be fed! (don't mind the fact that she could have easily eaten from the food dishes instead!) (this tiel has had at least 3 homes prior to me, her mate was supposedly killed by mice, it was not a good situation)


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9w9w8nMRmw]Hesitant Faye - YouTube[/ame]


In time, she too became comfortable and confident in this behavior! This time, we have pellets!


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH9ZWxhCSAE]Not So Hesitant Faye - YouTube[/ame]



And the other cockatiels had to join in, too... (Casey, handraised and tame cinnamon pearl pied hen, Pistachio, most skittish cockatiel, father of Sunshine the first tiel shown, was taken out of an animal shelter with his mate years ago and Tomi Girl, a pied hen who was found in someones yard then they nearly starved her to death because they "simply forgot to feed" her.... not to mention the fact she was also on eggs and over 40% underweight)



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjKmHswgiHs]Cockatiel Feeding - April 24th - YouTube[/ame]



Since moving, I haven't continued this interaction, but I did enjoy this simple interaction with my hands off birds!

 

[ann]

MoniacMC, great videos and cool idea . I did something similar with my fiches. I put seed in my hand and put it in the cage, one of my tame finches came to eat. An untame finch noticed and got the courage to eat from my hand. It only happened once, but it was cool