How to train a bird from attacking another?

[AkridChaos]

Hey guys, long time since logging in. Wasn’t sure where to post this, so if a mod needs go move it somewhere else, please do!!

I got a new bird back before Thanksgiving. He is a Canary-Winged Parakeet named Stryker, and the sweetest darned thing ever. Quarantine is long done for him, and he’s been in the bird room for about a month now. The two little parakeets took to him on introductions immediately. Warbeak however....

I’m thinking Warbeak is expressing some serious jealousy at this point. When I first introduced my parakeets, she was a bully. It was the “this is mine, this too is mine, all of this is now mine, none if it is yours mwuahahah shoo away from me, this perch is now mine too *feather puff of smugness*” A few times of setting her on the ground like for no-bite training, and moving her away from them, quickly stopped that, and everyone gets along fine now, for the most part. She still acts like she’s queen of the roost though, and occasionally shoos them away when she wants something they have, always with the smug feather puff. I think that’s normal for any conure, I’ve heard plenty of stories lol.

So when she started doing this to Stryker, I figured the same thing should work, like last time, right? Unfortunately though, I think it added to it this time, because she went in for an attack, both last night, and this morning. I mean, thankfully I’m in full monitor mode and it was stopped immediately. But now I’m not certain what to do. I can tell it was jealousy related, as it happened after Stryker expressed that he wanted to come near me last night. He still hasn’t stepped up yet or anything, but I had treats in my hand, and he started eating from my hand for the first time. Warbeak gets her fair share of treats, but I’m wondering if maybe she took it as he’s getting special treatment, what with the times I had to set her down or move her away, and the treats was the final straw for her. I wasn’t smart enough to offer them to her first and that also maybe could’ve added to it. And then this morning when I was instinctively going through the morning routine of uncovering everyone and letting everyone out, she beelined for him as he was coming out, to try and attack him. To which I had to put her back in her cage.

For now I’m obviously no longer letting them out together, but is there anything else I can do in the meantime? Is there a way to train a bird to be more tolerant of another bird? They don’t have to be best friends, but I don’t want them at each other’s throats. For hand feeding treats, any advice? Do I take him to a different room to do it, or put her in a different room? I’m not sure offering treats to Warbeak first would cure any jealousy. She’d probably think “NO THATS ONLY FOR ME!!” in demon voice. I don’t want to add to anything that could potentially provoke jealousy. I already accidentally did enough of that. If anyone has any information or tips for me, maybe links to existing threads for me to read, it is super appreciated and helpful! Thanks in advance!

 

[SailBoat]

There is a reason the term: Pecking Order has been around for such a very long time and it seems that you're proving it in your Flock.

There is never any assurance that two Parrots whether of the same feather or totally different will coexist.

Training may help, but there will likely always be an uneasiness between them.

 

[wrench13]

Yeah, I don;t see this as a successful goal. Maybe, and a big maybe, if the two parrots have been successfully trained for a long period, on other actions or areas. So they understand that when training commences in this specific area, there is a goal to be achieved. You, I think, do not have this training framework in place, so in the short term at least, I think working individually with each is the way to go.

Keep in mind, the nature of the canary winged parakeet; they are tiny birds that have big bird syndrome, big time. I know, I had one. Mine stood up to a big U2, absolutely cowed this other parrot. Its not in their nature to bow down to other bigger parrots. So you have 2 wannabee alpha parrots. One clearly is already ( the conure) and one only thinks he is.

FOr now, i would work with each separately, and out of sight of the other, for now. Do they station on a plain perch stand now? Ie stay on one side? If yes, I would put some marker tape or something on each end of the perch, different colors. Train each to stay on one side/color. When youre sure each one clearly understands thats their side /station, you could introduce both to the same perch. This could take quite some time and would be easier if your already doing some training already. And this idea might not work at all, but at least a direction to go in.

 

[AkridChaos]

I have quite a few stands around the house, but they’re all pretty much toy stands that are something to keep them occupied if I’m busy doing something in a certain area of the house and can’t spend 100% of my time on them. Helps to keep them near me and in my sight. I learned the hard way very early on that birds get very upset and noisy if you leave their sight. They’re like children, they’re not allowed to miss out on anything you’re doing lol. As for training, I do not have a specific perch stand in place for that. I kind of just teach them little tricks here and there, wherever we happen to be. If you think a specific training stand could make a difference down the road in the long term, or if it’s a great thing to have in general, I’m definitely willing to invest in one. I’m open to literally anything to at least try to help this situation from being so severe. They don’t have to be friends in the end, that seems unlikely anyway. But if they can tolerate each other in the end, where I can get Warbeak to not attack Stryker, and make sure the reverse doesn’t happen either, I’ll be happy.

 

[chris-md]

I’d have to disagree somewhat with my dear friends above. Training can definitely help here, by teaching them to be calm on cue. There’s videos on it on YouTube, I’ll see if I can find it.

Essentially, put them on play stands that are JUST far enough apart that they are...uncomfortable with each other, but not close enough to provoke a chasing reaction. The minute you see both exhibiting calm behavior (preening/fluffing, etc), you reward. Over time, you can move the perches closer together, and they become desensitized to each other.

It teaches them that when they are calm in each other’s presence, good thing happens. But I will so sign my friend Sailboat, in that flock dynamics are actually a thing you have to always contend with. Won’t be perfect all the time but with this training you get them most of the way there.

 

[Laurasea]

I have a mixed flock of 7, so yes it can work.
You will need to spend extra time with Warbeak, to reassure your bond. Definitely don't be feeding treats to one only in front of the others. Feeding one treat to one then immediately fed one treat to the other is good tho, it starts positive association.

You want to layer positive association with each other. Warbeak will be the one you have to with with most. I would walk Warbeak near Stryker feeding treats, stand by Stryker feeding treats to Warbeak. Repeat lots of times during the day.

Only short trips back to be caged after a fight, then back out or they aren't going to link the behavior. Most importantly to never let it get to a fight in the first place. You should be right between them with a long envelope, thst you can put in front of who ever looks like they want to get aggressive.

Parrot rescue can get this to work most times abd you can too

 

[wrench13]

I’d have to disagree somewhat with my dear friends above. Training can definitely help here, by teaching them to be calm on cue. There’s videos on it on YouTube, I’ll see if I can find it.

Essentially, put them on play stands that are JUST far enough apart that they are...uncomfortable with each other, but not close enough to provoke a chasing reaction. The minute you see both exhibiting calm behavior (preening/fluffing, etc), you reward. Over time, you can move the perches closer together, and they become desensitized to each other.

It teaches them that when they are calm in each other’s presence, good thing happens. But I will so sign my friend Sailboat, in that flock dynamics are actually a thing you have to always contend with. Won’t be perfect all the time but with this training you get them most of the way there.

Chris - see thats why the board is so usefull ! Multiple minds means more solutions. The idea of 2 perch stands spaced apart at first sounds like it might be the way to go.

 

[Gemster]

I would just like to add, when you introduce your new pet to your current animal, you have to focus on counter conditioning your current bird (or any other animal) to enjoy being in the presence of the other newly added pet.
Birds attack out of fear, learning how to change the emotional response to a specific stimuli will make the transition much easier.
Since we are changing the emotional response of Warbeak towards Stryker, you need to make sure that the reinforcement is paired with seeing Stryker.
For example, I’m changing Gemma’s emotional response towards balloons as she shows fear when they move. It might seem simple to counter condition that, although If she was aware that she was going to be given food because she saw Me reaching for a treat, I would be counter conditioning her response to me motioning for a treat not for the balloon moving. I could either move the balloon then reach and feed or carry a treat on me all the time so that reinforcement only comes when the balloon moves.
Also make sure to use a novel treat that your bird has never had or something that he doesn’t eat often. If you use those treats to train other behaviours, you wouldn’t really make the experience extraordinary.

The more the attacks are rehearsed the more they will happen in the future. Prevent this from being reinforced any further.

When you finally get to the point to feed treats to each one while the other is watching, be sure to first treat Stryker, then Warbeak, you want Warbeak to associate Stryker with earning treats to be an amazing and reinforcing experience.
The training will take some time as Warbeak has already attacked meaning he went over his threshold and built a behaviour chain as to what to do when he sees Stryker.

Management will always need to take place even after training because regression can occur.
(I hope this sentence doesn’t discourage you, it just means that you should not leave them alone together)

 

[AkridChaos]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I’ll probably try a mix of all the ideas and see which one starts to stick the most. I definitely like the two stands idea. I might still invest in a specific training perch, even if it’s just for the ease of having two stands together at first. The size of my current play stands is no joke. I don’t think I’d easily be able to have them close together with my current set up lol. So for now we’ll keep them separate, until I can get a nice plain training stand set up, probably in the next few weeks. However long it takes to find a good one and have it shipped here.
As a side note, it could be an alpha bird problem like wrench mentioned. I did notice Warbeak’s behavior earlier today in her cage, when the two little parakeets were twittering all around Stryker. They used to do this to her all the time, and she’d puff up like she was thinking “yeah worship me, peasants, I am your queen”. Ever since Stryker got introduced, they’ve been doing it to him instead, and ignoring Warbeak. I saw her reaction to it in the cage earlier. She puffed up and started screaming like crazy. Poor girl lost her worshippers and is upset by it. I’ll have to let the two parakeets out separately as well, to prevent her from being jealous of their new worship of Stryker.

 

[Tman]

If I double up on something I don't mean to.
Here is some more to think about.
When your parrots are in their cages and it's time to sleep, most of the time it will be the same perch.
They each need to feel that the playstand there on is theirs. O ne thing to do is make up two training stand put them side by side and train them at the same time. But you want to start with warhead. Have him touch the target give a treat then do the same thing to the other one go back and forth like this. After a few times target warhead but this time do it twice. And then the same with the other. This way as time goes on each one will learn to wait its turn.

 

[chris-md]

If I double up on something I don't mean to.
Here is some more to think about.
When your parrots are in their cages and it's time to sleep, most of the time it will be the same perch.
They each need to feel that the playstand there on is theirs

I think your approach is a bit...confused? You describe a sense of community then advocate for territoriality.

Also, to encourage and foster a sense of territoriality on its face is counterproductive and extremely ill-advised. I'm betting you were trying to make a broad sweeping statement that really didn't mean to say that, but sweeping statements that serve only to add flourish - when taken literally - can cause lasting damage at worst and something to be avoided.

Training them together is an indirect method that adds a layer, sure. Though alone won't get you where you want to go. It needs to be in conjunction with a measure as I described that directly addresses the exact issue.