GCC scared to go near me now

[MonicaMc]

Except the fact that clipping a bird that is afraid/hesitant of you will not make that bird willing to come towards you. It simply makes escape more difficult, and makes it easier to use flooding techniques on that bird. You are removing the choice for the bird to choose to be with you.

I started this method with 5 adult, flighted budgies. None of them were tame or friendly. I just started offering them food in my hand every morning inside their cage. Monkey see, monkey do. Started with one curious bird, and led to five!


[ame=http://youtu.be/fUx81WHTUwk]1 Bird in hand Leads to Many - YouTube[/ame]


Soon enough, I was sitting outside their cage with my food outside their cage door, and they were coming out of the cage to eat from my hand. This then led to me standing about 5' away from the cage, and the budgies still happily flying to me from inside the cage!


[ame=http://youtu.be/AlSm4uFZzVU]More Budgies!!!! - YouTube[/ame]


This then lead to Sunshine, a previously hand raised and tame bird that hadn't been worked with in years by previous owners, following me around. I didn't *really* notice it, until she landed on the back of my hoodie one morning when I was trying to dish out food to the birds. I thought it was Casey at first, until Sunshine took flight and I turned my head. It took her another attempt at landing on me and taking off again and a few more days before my "big dumby brain" got what she was trying to tell me. She wanted to be fed by hand as well. She didn't fully trust me, but she wasn't afraid of me either. She made that first step, so I obliged. After building up trust and confidence, she was eating out of my hand with ease!


[ame=http://youtu.be/q88bN30qOjo]Sunshine in the Morning - YouTube[/ame]


Which lead to another cockatiel demanding the same attention. She on the other hand had been in at least three previous homes prior to mine, fed a crappy diet and never interacted with, so she wasn't friendly or hands on. As long as she was happy, I didn't care… yet, she too wanted to be fed... so I fed her. As you can tell, she was very hesitant and unsure of the behavior, but she wanted it. (notice food dishes in the background)


[ame=http://youtu.be/R9w9w8nMRmw]Hesitant Faye - YouTube[/ame]


And also, in time, she became confident and trusted in me more. If I didn’t feed her, she’d demand it!

[ame=http://youtu.be/rH9ZWxhCSAE]Not So Hesitant Faye - YouTube[/ame]

And of course, since I'm feeding her, the other cockatiels had to join in. This includes Pistachio, a very flighty and nervous bird. If I came anywhere near him, he'd take off flying. He'd do anything he could to avoid me. There was no trust whatsoever (and he is the father of Sunshine). His previous owners had gotten him and his mate from an animal shelter in 1998 and were not tame nor did the previous owners work on taming him. Here's the video of him eating from my hand once he became comfortable with me.

Tomi Girl at the beginning, Pistachio comes in and scares her off, eats from my hand for a while, then Casey shows up scooting up my arm. Shortly after her, Tomi Girl had returned.


[ame=http://youtu.be/XjKmHswgiHs]Cockatiel Feeding - April 24th - YouTube[/ame]


Two years ago, to the date, I was feed the cockatiels by hand from either their feeding station or from one of their perches. I either had my hand on one of those surfaces or slightly away from it. Here's what I posted about Pistachio two years ago.

Pistachio not only put a foot onto my hand, but had both feet on my hand! The second time around, with more millet, he even stepped up onto my hand, without my hand having to touch a perch! He's my wildest cockatiel, and thus least trusting, but he sure was quite demanding of his millet! He wasn't completely comfortable with the idea, and would back off every now and then, but once he got started eating millet, he wasn't going anywhere! He has been trying to imitate Tomi Girl in eating from me, but being so uncomfortable around me, usually tends to fly off before he gets any food - and sometimes he's been brave enough to eat from my hand so long as it was within easy reach. Millet though, well, that has changed things!

He went as far as sitting on my arm to continue eating.


The next day, I was about a foot or so away from the feeding station and had Faye eating from my hand. Pistachio had wanted to join in, but was not comfortable with the idea of flying to my hand. This was posted the following day.

Pistachio wanted to join in, but being he's the most skittish, wasn't comfortable flying on over (although I have noticed he's been following me around the room, has even tried coming in for a landing, but he's just not comfortable with me!). He kept flying off to a perch, coming back, flying off again, etc. When he flew to one perch, I went in and offered him millet, and he was quite unsure at first, but he was willing! So after a few nibbles, then tempting him on over, he happily came aboard for food!

Surprisingly, he was comfortable with me slowly moving about, back to the feeding station...

Me moving about was slowly inching away from the feeding platform without him becoming uncomfortable with the idea. The following was posted on the 15th.

Then Pistachio came in, kind of shoved Tomi Girl out of the way (simply by his presence, hissed at her a little, even, with her hissing and mock biting back - not pleased!). Pistachio happily got onto my hand and started eating away. Faye ran around, couldn't figure out whether she should jump onto my arm to eat, or shove Pistachio out of the way... so I 'helped' by getting Pistachio onto my arm, which allowed space for Faye, and she kind of got onto my hand. After those two ate a bit, I took the food away and gave some to Tomi Girl. Meanwhile, Kiwi is in the background wanting some too, but not wanting to bother the other tiels! :roll: Surprisingly, Pistachio waited for me to bring the millet back to him, then he and Faye continued eating.

The following posted on March 27th....

Then Faye and Pistachio came around. First Faye, eating the food, and even hopping onto my hand, no big deal. Pistachio comes to the other side and joins her - only for Casey, who had flown to my shoulder, to walk down my right arm, down to my hand, and start eating the millet as well! Faye was being a bit snobby with the millet and didn't like sharing with Casey, so there were some squabbles.

………

At this point, I was refilling the dishes, and while this was occurring, Pistachio flew over towards the dishes, but decided not to land. Instead, he flew down to the floor to see what he could scrounge up. Meanwhile, I put some seed into my hands and re-offered my hand to Tomi Girl, whom, surprisingly, stepped up all on her own! And she resumed eating! I was surprised to see that she's finally getting comfortable enough with me to once again step onto my hand for food. If this wasn't enough, Pistachio, after realizing there were no goodies to be had on the floor, flies up from the floor and directly into my hand! In the process, he scared Tomi Girl off, but him?!?!?! An older, skittish bird, that has no trust in humans, all of a sudden flying directly into my hand of his own accord? I was astonished, to say the least! After he had his fill, he took off, but I'm still surprised because I didn't think he was "ready" for that step, flying to me. I hadn't pushed him into doing anything more than a really short hop from his perching spot to my hand, and all of a sudden, he decides I'm okay to fly to! I wasn't even expecting this behavior for a couple more weeks!

As it is, Pistachio, Faye and Tomi Girl kind of follow me around the room now, with Casey flying to me waiting for either goodies or scritches! …… And I doubt anyone would have thought that Pistachio would be as comfortable with humans as he's appearing to be! Don't get me wrong, he's still skittish and unsure, but it's still more than I ever expected of him!

April 4th...

Pistachio has tried landing on me 3 times... and each time, the spot he tried landing at was exactly where Casey was at! (my right shoulder). In fact, one of those attempts may have been successful, if not for the fact that Casey was already there! She gave him a good squealing of displeasure! This morning however, I actually held out my arm for him (no food in my hands) and after a bit of indecision, flew to my arm. I promptly got some seed and gave him some food! He even stayed put when I quickly removed the food to better re-position my hand for feeding. After I removed the food for good (running late!) and he knew it was 'gone', he took off. In comparison to Tomi Girl, I've hardly handled Pistachio!

April 5th...

Today, Pistachio hovered and flew over my head. I could feel the air movement as he stirred up my hair! He tried landing on me a few times, but didn't manage to... Until I went to medicate Kiwi (his mate), and he did land on my arm, temporarily…

I was at the shelves of food while Casey was on a lower shelf, nibbling away at the millet, when I felt a 'light being' land on my left shoulder. I turned to look and noticed it was Pistachio, who finally landed on my shoulder, without any other bird being on me, and without me asking or bribing him in any way! :14: I reached down, took the millet from Casey, and promptly gave to Pistachio, who waited long enough to receive his reward!

I allowed him to eat some of the millet before taking it away and putting it in a better spot, while I put the meds back in the fridge. Of course, Pistachio took off when he realized the millet was gone for good. Once I got back, I took the millet back out and fed Casey and Pistachio at their feeding station, and Tomi Girl came over to eat some food as well. I offered her some millet which she was happy to eat! And I then lured her onto my hand with the millet, and she happily ate away with Casey and Pistachio....

Point is, is that it doesn't take a lot to start earning a birds trust.

 

[faeryphoebe1]

Initially when I asked if your boy was clipped, I was wondering if it would be easier to work with him "away" from his cage (perhaps in a different room), if he was flighted. My Trixie (Green Cheek) came to me clipped, but I've let her flight feathers grow out. My Sunny came to me slightly clipped, but I'm going to let his flight feathers grow out as well.
Monica's videos above, suggest a much better way to get a flighted parrot to learn to trust you rather than taking it to another room, away from its' cage.