Just some questions :)

[Skittles2016]

Hello as some of you may know I got my first conure yesterday and we're currently working on step up. However she's very nippy to the point of biting quite hard and although I try not to pull away most of the time I can't help sometimes when she's drawing blood. Anyway, my main concern is the result of this she won't want my finger going near her. But when she's in her cage she'll let me scratch her head through the bars and if I walk away she'll squawk and clamber across the cage to get to me, yet the second I open the cage she backs away, won't let me touch her (I'm working on offering food which she'll accept while trying to get a nip in. So I'm a little confused, I know it's very early days but is she trying to bond with me while being cautious and nervous ?? What's going on, of course I'm willing to be patient I just don't want the outcome to be a bird that doesn't want to go near me

 

[Terry57]

I would go slow in these first few days. It sounds like she does want interaction but is still too nervous to trust you. Sitting by her cage and just talking to her will help.
There is a lot of great info in this link as well:
http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html

 

[chris.carr11.cc]

Hello, I'm a newer (again) parrot owner. I had a conure and a cockatiel in the past but just recently got an amazon after taking a break from having any birds due to my work schedule. One thing I used to do when I first got my conure and cockatiel was stuff that I watched on youtube.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SjELtRoD5Y"]Power Pause Parrot Training Technique - YouTube[/ame]

This link is awesome, and helps to get you to be able to touch your birds and desensitize them to touch and will make them trust in you more.

I used this link with my conure back in the day to step up and actually fly to my hand from his cage.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DANMIbp8MO0"]Cockatiel Training: Quick Tip For Training Cockatiels - YouTube[/ame]

Really cool videos the guy really knows his stuff and he has more videos as well I would recommend watching. The channel is ran by his brother and sister-in-law, but I learn more from this guy and I recommend watching all his videos they helped me out a lot.

Chris

 

[Skittles2016]

I would go slow in these first few days. It sounds like she does want interaction but is still too nervous to trust you. Sitting by her cage and just talking to her will help.
There is a lot of great info in this link as well:
http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html

Thank you! Will have a good read of this okay I will pace myself, I always get nervous that if I go too slow then I'm not giving them enough attention and they won't want anything to do with me. I've been in the room with her all day, resting my hand on the cage, poking a finger in allowing her to come to me for a scratch etc. But putting my hand IN the cage is a different story but like you said she doesn't trust me yet.

 

[Skittles2016]

Hello, I'm a newer (again) parrot owner. I had a conure and a cockatiel in the past but just recently got an amazon after taking a break from having any birds due to my work schedule. One thing I used to do when I first got my conure and cockatiel was stuff that I watched on youtube.

Power Pause Parrot Training Technique - YouTube

This link is awesome, and helps to get you to be able to touch your birds and desensitize them to touch and will make them trust in you more.

I used this link with my conure back in the day to step up and actually fly to my hand from his cage.

Cockatiel Training: Quick Tip For Training Cockatiels - YouTube

Really cool videos the guy really knows his stuff and he has more videos as well I would recommend watching. The channel is ran by his brother and sister-in-law, but I learn more from this guy and I recommend watching all his videos they helped me out a lot.

Chris

Ah, thank you so much! I will watch these a bit later so I can really take note. Just out of curiosity, with your conure were you in a in similar situation to me? I really want to get everything spot on as to not mess it up with her.

 

[chris.carr11.cc]

Hello, I'm a newer (again) parrot owner. I had a conure and a cockatiel in the past but just recently got an amazon after taking a break from having any birds due to my work schedule. One thing I used to do when I first got my conure and cockatiel was stuff that I watched on youtube.

Power Pause Parrot Training Technique - YouTube

This link is awesome, and helps to get you to be able to touch your birds and desensitize them to touch and will make them trust in you more.

I used this link with my conure back in the day to step up and actually fly to my hand from his cage.

Cockatiel Training: Quick Tip For Training Cockatiels - YouTube

Really cool videos the guy really knows his stuff and he has more videos as well I would recommend watching. The channel is ran by his brother and sister-in-law, but I learn more from this guy and I recommend watching all his videos they helped me out a lot.

Chris

Ah, thank you so much! I will watch these a bit later so I can really take note. Just out of curiosity, with your conure were you in a in similar situation to me? I really want to get everything spot on as to not mess it up with her.

I was the same way as you with my amazon that I just got about 2 weeks ago, but the previous owner gave him no attention and he was scared to death and would hide in the back corner whenever I came near the cage and if I got too close too quickly he would start to lunge and bite. When I first got him if I put my hand in the cage at all to change the water/food out then he would panic and start throwing a fit. With the training I finally touched him after about 3 days of doing the power pause technique as seen in the video. I did rush it a couple of times and have a few bite marks to remind me to take it slow.

With my conure he was different he was hand raise and I don't think he ever really bit except for the occasional nipple here and there.

Someone told me awhile back when I had mine is that owning a parrot isn't like a dog. Dogs are more like a sprint when you get them to make sure they understand and are trained early on and only live about 8-20ish years depending on the size and the breed. Parrots will very possibly outlive you if your in your late 20s early 30s. Conures maybe not as long, but just remember to take it slow. If your training for a marathon then you wouldn't want to start by running as far as you possibly can the first day that you can't run again the second day, you'll just tire yourself out and discourage yourself.

But I would try 1 thing to try and go from there. My amazon that I just got still won't accept food by hand, but is taking food from a bowl that I offer full of his treats. So you could try that also to avoid a few bites early on.

 

[Skittles2016]

Hello, I'm a newer (again) parrot owner. I had a conure and a cockatiel in the past but just recently got an amazon after taking a break from having any birds due to my work schedule. One thing I used to do when I first got my conure and cockatiel was stuff that I watched on youtube.

Power Pause Parrot Training Technique - YouTube

This link is awesome, and helps to get you to be able to touch your birds and desensitize them to touch and will make them trust in you more.

I used this link with my conure back in the day to step up and actually fly to my hand from his cage.

Cockatiel Training: Quick Tip For Training Cockatiels - YouTube

Really cool videos the guy really knows his stuff and he has more videos as well I would recommend watching. The channel is ran by his brother and sister-in-law, but I learn more from this guy and I recommend watching all his videos they helped me out a lot.

Chris

Ah, thank you so much! I will watch these a bit later so I can really take note. Just out of curiosity, with your conure were you in a in similar situation to me? I really want to get everything spot on as to not mess it up with her.

I was the same way as you with my amazon that I just got about 2 weeks ago, but the previous owner gave him no attention and he was scared to death and would hide in the back corner whenever I came near the cage and if I got too close too quickly he would start to lunge and bite. When I first got him if I put my hand in the cage at all to change the water/food out then he would panic and start throwing a fit. With the training I finally touched him after about 3 days of doing the power pause technique as seen in the video. I did rush it a couple of times and have a few bite marks to remind me to take it slow.

With my conure he was different he was hand raise and I don't think he ever really bit except for the occasional nipple here and there.

Someone told me awhile back when I had mine is that owning a parrot isn't like a dog. Dogs are more like a sprint when you get them to make sure they understand and are trained early on and only live about 8-20ish years depending on the size and the breed. Parrots will very possibly outlive you if your in your late 20s early 30s. Conures maybe not as long, but just remember to take it slow. If your training for a marathon then you wouldn't want to start by running as far as you possibly can the first day that you can't run again the second day, you'll just tire yourself out and discourage yourself.

But I would try 1 thing to try and go from there. My amazon that I just got still won't accept food by hand, but is taking food from a bowl that I offer full of his treats. So you could try that also to avoid a few bites early on.

Aw this was great thank you so much!! I'm going to watch the videos now and start this power pause technique tomorrow, sounds fun. I'm 19 and she's 5 months so I'm hoping she's going to be with me for quite some time once again, thank you I'll probably keep asking questions and such but this is really good for now!

 

[chris.carr11.cc]

Nope problem, hopefully that helps out some. Interested to hear about your results.

 

[STACEYV]

Hi ya Skittles, i laughed when i read your post. welcome to conure training for humans i am the proud carer of two new sun conures for the past two months. I purchased the whole range of the training videos from america that you have been told about in this post. Unfortunately my two conures wont watch them with me. I have one stepping up with both feet, the other with only one and quickly withdraws. You are definately one up on me, i cant touch either of my babies without loosing a limb. I have scars on my fingers, one especially where one conure actually bit through my finger from top to bottom, had a big hole straight through

i got my mine to step up by offering pine nuts by hand. then slowly over a month, moved the pine nuts just out of reach so they had to stand my hand. pine nuts are small enough for training so you can keep going for longer than using say a sunflower seed.

its good that your baby is following you, its better than running away.

i envy you being able to touch your baby, it will be months before mine allow me to i think.

all the absolute best of luck from one new owner to another. the videos from birdtricks.com are informative, but most birds in the videos are already partly trained
i really wish i could find training videos with brand new untouched birds that bite and scream to help us newbies in the real world

 

[chris.carr11.cc]

Hi ya Skittles, i laughed when i read your post. welcome to conure training for humans i am the proud carer of two new sun conures for the past two months. I purchased the whole range of the training videos from america that you have been told about in this post. Unfortunately my two conures wont watch them with me. I have one stepping up with both feet, the other with only one and quickly withdraws. You are definately one up on me, i cant touch either of my babies without loosing a limb. I have scars on my fingers, one especially where one conure actually bit through my finger from top to bottom, had a big hole straight through

i got my mine to step up by offering pine nuts by hand. then slowly over a month, moved the pine nuts just out of reach so they had to stand my hand. pine nuts are small enough for training so you can keep going for longer than using say a sunflower seed.

its good that your baby is following you, its better than running away.

i envy you being able to touch your baby, it will be months before mine allow me to i think.

all the absolute best of luck from one new owner to another. the videos from birdtricks.com are informative, but most birds in the videos are already partly trained
i really wish i could find training videos with brand new untouched birds that bite and scream to help us newbies in the real world

Stacy, how about this one:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSUf7l96_qY"]Stop Random Biting - YouTube[/ame]

I have watched quite a few of their videos and a bunch of others as well but these techniques are working with me and my amazon that I just got a couple weeks ago. Over the course of a week it's gone from screaming with me by the change and now I can put my hand about 3-4 inches with him being okay. The distance between 4 inches and contact is moving a lot slower then the previous 3 feet or so, but we are working.

Best of luck,

 

[Skittles2016]

Hi ya Skittles, i laughed when i read your post. welcome to conure training for humans i am the proud carer of two new sun conures for the past two months. I purchased the whole range of the training videos from america that you have been told about in this post. Unfortunately my two conures wont watch them with me. I have one stepping up with both feet, the other with only one and quickly withdraws. You are definately one up on me, i cant touch either of my babies without loosing a limb. I have scars on my fingers, one especially where one conure actually bit through my finger from top to bottom, had a big hole straight through

i got my mine to step up by offering pine nuts by hand. then slowly over a month, moved the pine nuts just out of reach so they had to stand my hand. pine nuts are small enough for training so you can keep going for longer than using say a sunflower seed.

its good that your baby is following you, its better than running away.

i envy you being able to touch your baby, it will be months before mine allow me to i think.

all the absolute best of luck from one new owner to another. the videos from birdtricks.com are informative, but most birds in the videos are already partly trained
i really wish i could find training videos with brand new untouched birds that bite and scream to help us newbies in the real world

Hi there! Well suprisingly my one was hand reared! However she was never taught to step up and then she wasn't handled very much as she got older so she's okay with petting stroked through the bars but if I put my hands anywhere near her in the cage she doesn't like it. But yes I'm honoured to have those few scritch bonding moments with her I currently have two big plasters over my fingers from battle wounds today haha, I guess we just have to keep trying us new owners!

 

[chris.carr11.cc]

Hi ya Skittles, i laughed when i read your post. welcome to conure training for humans i am the proud carer of two new sun conures for the past two months. I purchased the whole range of the training videos from america that you have been told about in this post. Unfortunately my two conures wont watch them with me. I have one stepping up with both feet, the other with only one and quickly withdraws. You are definately one up on me, i cant touch either of my babies without loosing a limb. I have scars on my fingers, one especially where one conure actually bit through my finger from top to bottom, had a big hole straight through

i got my mine to step up by offering pine nuts by hand. then slowly over a month, moved the pine nuts just out of reach so they had to stand my hand. pine nuts are small enough for training so you can keep going for longer than using say a sunflower seed.

its good that your baby is following you, its better than running away.

i envy you being able to touch your baby, it will be months before mine allow me to i think.

all the absolute best of luck from one new owner to another. the videos from birdtricks.com are informative, but most birds in the videos are already partly trained
i really wish i could find training videos with brand new untouched birds that bite and scream to help us newbies in the real world

Hi there! Well suprisingly my one was hand reared! However she was never taught to step up and then she wasn't handled very much as she got older so she's okay with petting stroked through the bars but if I put my hands anywhere near her in the cage she doesn't like it. But yes I'm honoured to have those few scritch bonding moments with her I currently have two big plasters over my fingers from battle wounds today haha, I guess we just have to keep trying us new owners!

It's really cool that you can touch your bird after having it such a short time. My bird finally let me touch his beak for a second or two a couple times last night, but he was not super excited about the idea yet. I'm proud of him he's coming a long way this week from him freaking out touching his cage and changing out his water/food bowls to touching his beak within a couple days. Though he isn't super excited about it, he's dealing with it at this time. I'm hoping a couple more days (or weeks) will help to desensitize him even further and let him be completely okay with my hands and I can move on teaching him to step up and more target training. I just feel really bad about him due to him not wanting or getting out of his cage since I've gotten him (2 weeks) I have a tree for him whenever he is ready, but I'll have to move at his pace until he is okay (and hopefully eventually) excited about coming out.

 

[Skittles2016]

Hi ya Skittles, i laughed when i read your post. welcome to conure training for humans i am the proud carer of two new sun conures for the past two months. I purchased the whole range of the training videos from america that you have been told about in this post. Unfortunately my two conures wont watch them with me. I have one stepping up with both feet, the other with only one and quickly withdraws. You are definately one up on me, i cant touch either of my babies without loosing a limb. I have scars on my fingers, one especially where one conure actually bit through my finger from top to bottom, had a big hole straight through

i got my mine to step up by offering pine nuts by hand. then slowly over a month, moved the pine nuts just out of reach so they had to stand my hand. pine nuts are small enough for training so you can keep going for longer than using say a sunflower seed.

its good that your baby is following you, its better than running away.

i envy you being able to touch your baby, it will be months before mine allow me to i think.

all the absolute best of luck from one new owner to another. the videos from birdtricks.com are informative, but most birds in the videos are already partly trained
i really wish i could find training videos with brand new untouched birds that bite and scream to help us newbies in the real world

Hi there! Well suprisingly my one was hand reared! However she was never taught to step up and then she wasn't handled very much as she got older so she's okay with petting stroked through the bars but if I put my hands anywhere near her in the cage she doesn't like it. But yes I'm honoured to have those few scritch bonding moments with her I currently have two big plasters over my fingers from battle wounds today haha, I guess we just have to keep trying us new owners!

It's really cool that you can touch your bird after having it such a short time. My bird finally let me touch his beak for a second or two a couple times last night, but he was not super excited about the idea yet. I'm proud of him he's coming a long way this week from him freaking out touching his cage and changing out his water/food bowls to touching his beak within a couple days. Though he isn't super excited about it, he's dealing with it at this time. I'm hoping a couple more days (or weeks) will help to desensitize him even further and let him be completely okay with my hands and I can move on teaching him to step up and more target training. I just feel really bad about him due to him not wanting or getting out of his cage since I've gotten him (2 weeks) I have a tree for him whenever he is ready, but I'll have to move at his pace until he is okay (and hopefully eventually) excited about coming out.

That's great that you've made that progress with him even if it was for a few seconds! I think a couple more weeks for me till I can desensitise skittles but as long as it happens is all I'm asking for! Maybe we can see who manages to learn to step up first oh, and me too! Her cage is nice and big and fun filled but I can't help feel she secretly must be jealous of my other birds who are out of their cage all day. She has the opportunity to, but I think she's much too frightened.

 

[chris.carr11.cc]

Hi there! Well suprisingly my one was hand reared! However she was never taught to step up and then she wasn't handled very much as she got older so she's okay with petting stroked through the bars but if I put my hands anywhere near her in the cage she doesn't like it. But yes I'm honoured to have those few scritch bonding moments with her I currently have two big plasters over my fingers from battle wounds today haha, I guess we just have to keep trying us new owners!

It's really cool that you can touch your bird after having it such a short time. My bird finally let me touch his beak for a second or two a couple times last night, but he was not super excited about the idea yet. I'm proud of him he's coming a long way this week from him freaking out touching his cage and changing out his water/food bowls to touching his beak within a couple days. Though he isn't super excited about it, he's dealing with it at this time. I'm hoping a couple more days (or weeks) will help to desensitize him even further and let him be completely okay with my hands and I can move on teaching him to step up and more target training. I just feel really bad about him due to him not wanting or getting out of his cage since I've gotten him (2 weeks) I have a tree for him whenever he is ready, but I'll have to move at his pace until he is okay (and hopefully eventually) excited about coming out.

That's great that you've made that progress with him even if it was for a few seconds! I think a couple more weeks for me till I can desensitise skittles but as long as it happens is all I'm asking for! Maybe we can see who manages to learn to step up first oh, and me too! Her cage is nice and big and fun filled but I can't help feel she secretly must be jealous of my other birds who are out of their cage all day. She has the opportunity to, but I think she's much too frightened.

We will see. He's getting upset with the touching for the last 2 days so I'm going to try something else and come back to it.

I am quite excited today though, I was cleaning the inside of his cage and he decided to jump out and try following me around a bit, so even though he doesn't want to be touched yet he wants out so thats a bit exciting.

I couldn't get him to go back in or do anything since I can't touch him yet and he won't step up, he'll just bite me I was able to towel him and put him on his perch for the first time and he seems to really enjoy that.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Dang.. I wish I knew about this guys video's when I had Jonesy..It could have turned out a lot different!
The guy has some excellent advice and tips!

Jim

 

[chris.carr11.cc]

Dang.. I wish I knew about this guys video's when I had Jonesy..It could have turned out a lot different!
The guy has some excellent advice and tips!

Jim

Yeah if you read on this forum or online a lot of people don't seem to like them and say negative things about them. They complain that their techniques are copies or stolen from someone else or repetitive. But I can't seem to find videos that are as easily available or easy to follow along with, so I can't complain.

 

[Skittles2016]

It's really cool that you can touch your bird after having it such a short time. My bird finally let me touch his beak for a second or two a couple times last night, but he was not super excited about the idea yet. I'm proud of him he's coming a long way this week from him freaking out touching his cage and changing out his water/food bowls to touching his beak within a couple days. Though he isn't super excited about it, he's dealing with it at this time. I'm hoping a couple more days (or weeks) will help to desensitize him even further and let him be completely okay with my hands and I can move on teaching him to step up and more target training. I just feel really bad about him due to him not wanting or getting out of his cage since I've gotten him (2 weeks) I have a tree for him whenever he is ready, but I'll have to move at his pace until he is okay (and hopefully eventually) excited about coming out.

That's great that you've made that progress with him even if it was for a few seconds! I think a couple more weeks for me till I can desensitise skittles but as long as it happens is all I'm asking for! Maybe we can see who manages to learn to step up first oh, and me too! Her cage is nice and big and fun filled but I can't help feel she secretly must be jealous of my other birds who are out of their cage all day. She has the opportunity to, but I think she's much too frightened.

We will see. He's getting upset with the touching for the last 2 days so I'm going to try something else and come back to it.

I am quite excited today though, I was cleaning the inside of his cage and he decided to jump out and try following me around a bit, so even though he doesn't want to be touched yet he wants out so thats a bit exciting.

I couldn't get him to go back in or do anything since I can't touch him yet and he won't step up, he'll just bite me I was able to towel him and put him on his perch for the first time and he seems to really enjoy that.

Aw that's great, I love it when they show interest in you even if they are still wary, it's like they secretly want to be perched on your shoulder but don't want you thinking it's that easy my skittles is getting good at stepping up already! She was really good today, she saw the stick I'm using and started lifting her leg.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Hello, I'm a newer (again) parrot owner. I had a conure and a cockatiel in the past but just recently got an amazon after taking a break from having any birds due to my work schedule. One thing I used to do when I first got my conure and cockatiel was stuff that I watched on youtube.

Power Pause Parrot Training Technique - YouTube

This link is awesome, and helps to get you to be able to touch your birds and desensitize them to touch and will make them trust in you more.

I used this link with my conure back in the day to step up and actually fly to my hand from his cage.

Cockatiel Training: Quick Tip For Training Cockatiels - YouTube

Really cool videos the guy really knows his stuff and he has more videos as well I would recommend watching. The channel is ran by his brother and sister-in-law, but I learn more from this guy and I recommend watching all his videos they helped me out a lot.

Chris

Well, gee, that's a bit different from stuff I've seen. I'll try it. Yes, the resigned slave and victim of the Genghis Khan Rickeybird is still willing to give new stuff a shot, especially if it helps the whole preening situation of which some of you are aware. My worry is that his fearless, flighted majesty will simply levitate and chomp me. But hey, I'll try it! Many thanks!