New Lovebird Parent

[Anesthesia]

Hello all,

Back in November, I purchased two young Lovebirds (I was told they were about two months old; Both of their beaks were about 75% brown) from a breeder. I previously owned Budgies when I was a child, although I didn't quite know how to tame them back then.

I've watched various youtube videos (Parrot Whisperer, Parrot Place) though none of the advice listed in them was necessarily working for me.
Ziggy, and Siousxie just barely started eating millet from my hand - they're still somewhat scared of it- , but still can't step up and still get a little frightened when I insert my hand into their cage.
They can't be let out. Ziggy sneaked past me and I just spent about 30 minutes trying to catch him to put him back inside the cage.

I feel as if I'm making a little process..but I've come across multiple videos saying that your parrots should be used to you much sooner.

Can any lovebird owners in here offer some tips? I absolutely love these guys and would like nothing more than to have them outside of their cage hanging out with me!

 

[Scott]

Welcome to you, Ziggy, and Siouxsie! Thanks for joining and sharing your story and pic.

Unfortunately I lack lovebird experience, but many here do. If you don't receive much advice, I'd recommend posting a thread in the Lovebird forum. Please make it a bit different from this thread as we don't allow duplicate "cross-posting" threads!

 

[Anesthesia]

Welcome to you, Ziggy, and Siouxsie! Thanks for joining and sharing your story and pic.

Unfortunately I lack lovebird experience, but many here do. If you don't receive much advice, I'd recommend posting a thread in the Lovebird forum. Please make it a bit different from this thread as we don't allow duplicate "cross-posting" threads!

Sure thing. Thank you.

 

[LordTriggs]

hello there

first thing I would do is throw away any notions of how long people say it "should" take to tame them. As people here will attest, some birds will be happy with a human before they even see the cage. Other birds will take months and even over a year to be tame.

also remember you have two at once so where one at one point in time could be going "okay I'm gonna touch the hand" the other could go "I don't know about this Scoobs" and suddenly make the other back off a little so it may very well take some more time.

May sound silly but when it's getting close to feeding time I would take the food bowl out for a bit (10 minutes or so) then pour a bit of food into your open palm, then put your hand where the food bowl would normally be. Then just sit and wait, maybe put the tv on and get as comfy as can be. I'd refrain from looking at them for the time being, maybe talk to them about something. Hopefully after a while you should feel something get on your hand. The second you see it you give a "good bird" or use a clicker if you want and suddenly they realize, "I touched the thing, there was a noise and a big mountain of food was right there! This deal is awesome! yo, buddy, you gotta check this out!"

After that keep your hand in there until they've had their fill and leave your hand, then slowly and carefully retract the hand so as not to cause any alarm. For the time being if one of them does pull a houdini and get out the cage, be calm and don't go immediately chasing otherwise you suddenly become the predator they think you are. Instead let them go have a fly around and remain relaxed (they'll pick up on tension and it will make them tense) of course any time a cage door is being opened all windows should be closed, close the door to them room too just to limit the places they can go get themselves into trouble. If/when they do get out for an impromptu exploration use one of the perches that is already in the cage so it is a familiar object. hold a little bit of seed just on the other side of the perch so they are more liable to step onto the perch of their own regard then slowly move them back to the cage. It may take a while to get them back to the cage, my conure kept 'abandoning ship' every time I got half way back to the cage so it took a good hour of that and a very full bird to get him back in the cage. Though I suspect mostly tiredness made it possible (nothing like an hour of flying round and round to tire a bird out) but hey if the boot fits.

Just remember to give time, patience, treats, patience, planning, patience, calm demeanor and of course patience. On the upside once one gets it down the other shouldn't be too far behind. Good luck to you and your little pair!

 

[Flboy]

Welcome to you and yours!

 

[Anesthesia]

hello there

first thing I would do is throw away any notions of how long people say it "should" take to tame them. As people here will attest, some birds will be happy with a human before they even see the cage. Other birds will take months and even over a year to be tame.

also remember you have two at once so where one at one point in time could be going "okay I'm gonna touch the hand" the other could go "I don't know about this Scoobs" and suddenly make the other back off a little so it may very well take some more time.

May sound silly but when it's getting close to feeding time I would take the food bowl out for a bit (10 minutes or so) then pour a bit of food into your open palm, then put your hand where the food bowl would normally be. Then just sit and wait, maybe put the tv on and get as comfy as can be. I'd refrain from looking at them for the time being, maybe talk to them about something. Hopefully after a while you should feel something get on your hand. The second you see it you give a "good bird" or use a clicker if you want and suddenly they realize, "I touched the thing, there was a noise and a big mountain of food was right there! This deal is awesome! yo, buddy, you gotta check this out!"

After that keep your hand in there until they've had their fill and leave your hand, then slowly and carefully retract the hand so as not to cause any alarm. For the time being if one of them does pull a houdini and get out the cage, be calm and don't go immediately chasing otherwise you suddenly become the predator they think you are. Instead let them go have a fly around and remain relaxed (they'll pick up on tension and it will make them tense) of course any time a cage door is being opened all windows should be closed, close the door to them room too just to limit the places they can go get themselves into trouble. If/when they do get out for an impromptu exploration use one of the perches that is already in the cage so it is a familiar object. hold a little bit of seed just on the other side of the perch so they are more liable to step onto the perch of their own regard then slowly move them back to the cage. It may take a while to get them back to the cage, my conure kept 'abandoning ship' every time I got half way back to the cage so it took a good hour of that and a very full bird to get him back in the cage. Though I suspect mostly tiredness made it possible (nothing like an hour of flying round and round to tire a bird out) but hey if the boot fits.

Just remember to give time, patience, treats, patience, planning, patience, calm demeanor and of course patience. On the upside once one gets it down the other shouldn't be too far behind. Good luck to you and your little pair!

Thanks for the advice. I previously tried the food bowl method, but had no luck. Maybe this time it'll be different since they will at least approach my hand.

 

[LordTriggs]

yeah my conure was a bit funny at first with the food bowl method (didn't know that was a thing I just came up with the idea when I did it) for him to do it the first time took over an hour, as you can guess my arm was sore. Luckily I found an interesting book to read so that kept me entertained. Nothing seemed to work with him then one day he recall trained himself whilst I was sat on the sofa. From that moment on he just completely tamed out, it was weird especially for a parent reared bird. I obviously did something right

 

[wrench13]

Welcome and be welcomed. Only one word of advice. Patience, lots n lots of patience. Also, you have 2 parrots, same species and age. Your the outsider in this, so getting them to trust you could take awhile. Patience.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Welcome!
You have found the best parrot forum community online.
Stick with us!

 

[Oliver17]

Welcome hang in there