New Owner, New Parrot!

[dontquachme]

Hey there!

So this is my first ever post here. I have just acquired a YNA, male, approximately 10 years old. My grandmother had him for 6 months (prior to that, I have no idea) and she had him in a king cage with just one metal perch, a dirty water cup, and fed him wild bird seed feed. I immediately offered to take him, even though I knew nothing about Amazons. I've had a few tiels, budgies, and finches growing up - but never a larger bird! Wayy over my head!

Prior to actually moving him into my home, I switched him over to a pelleted diet, with greens mixed in. I've put in 4 perches in a new cage, a ladder, and a foraging floor.

But to get to my point, I honestly need help. He's settled in now (I got him about a week and a half ago) and loves spending time atop his cage. However, I still can not get him to step up. I spend at least 2 or 3 hours a day with him - just talking and giving him treats. He loves getting scratches, but if I offer my hand as a perch he'll either lunge or nip at me. He's drawn blood twice already, but has "apologized" directly afterward by asking for a little scratch.

I've been target training him, and he's caught on quickly. He'll also do morning stretches with me - which is absolutely adorable! And he seems to have given me a contact call. AND he regurgitates for me. But just does not seem to like my hand as a perch.

ANY advice at all, because I am truly desperate for him to accept me!

 

[SandyBee]

Looks like he accepting you.
My Amazon that we have had for 2 months now will not step up on command yet.
I have in the past week with treats got him to step up, and when he flew to my coffee table and windowsill( 2 occasions) will step up if he sees no easy way to get back to his cage. You could also offer him a stick to step up on, some birds really don't like or trust hands.

Just keep working with him, there is some good videos on you tube and lots of info in older threads on here for training techniques.

I got Bosley a T-stand with wheels so I could easily get him to go to other places in the house with me, target training will help you get him on the stand.
The rest is just time, patience, bond building and continuing to work with him.

Would love to see pics!!

 

[Merlee]

Are his wings clipped? I have noticed with my macaw if the wings are clipped, he seems to have an attitude adjustment.

 

[aliray]

You might want to try a stick or wooden spoon to teach step up first that way he bites the stick and not you. Later when he knows it real well and is also more used to you then you can try again with your hand. A week and a half is not long for a ten year old parrot or any parrot

 

[Evanskiver]

1. Get a big box of band-aids.
2. Get ready to wait.

I have a rescure WFAmazon as well and she initially would lunge at me and drew blood often. It has been awhile now and she still is skeptical about stepping up but when she does, it generally doesn't end with a band-aid anymore.

She used to let me scratch her all day but if I tried to put her up she would always latch onto my thumb, which now has scars lol. So, just give it time and soon, he will be so excited to see you that biting won't even come to mind.

 

[dontquachme]

SandyBee,

We built him a T Stand, which I've gotten him on twice. The problem is that when he can't get back to his cage he'll reach for my hand. However as soon as he perches, he'll start attacking my hand. I've ordered a training course from BirdTricks, which hasn't really helped. Still waiting on my Barbara book.

Merlee,

Yes, his wings are already clipped. I REALLLY need to get his claws clipped though. Waiting to get to vet and pet insurance, but I don't want to be the "bad guy" to bring him there.

I will post pictures as soon as I find out how! He's a bit chubby since he was on a basically all sunflower seed diet! So no making fun!

 

[dontquachme]

You can see in the last picture of him the sole metal perch he had before, and how he was quite overweight!

 

[dontquachme]

You might want to try a stick or wooden spoon to teach step up first that way he bites the stick and not you. Later when he knows it real well and is also more used to you then you can try again with your hand. A week and a half is not long for a ten year old parrot or any parrot

I've tried two wooden dowels! He'll perch up and then walk to my hand to nibble away at my destroyed thumb!

 

[SandyBee]

I was so worried when I took Bosley to the vet and had to towel him the first time that he would hate me.
We had to go though because he had hurt his eye.
He didn't hold it against me.

If you can get him to perch use a stick, Bosley hates sticks so for us that is not an option yet. My T-stand is on wheels, so I roll him back to his cage when he wants to go. Also I've heard that when a bird goes to perch use distractions eg food and toys to keep them from biting.

 

[Karigan]

When I started training my greys I wore think gloves as well as used a perch. It saved my cuticles, I can tell you!

 

[dontquachme]

PS. I know it's different for every bird, but just about how much (1 cup?) food do you feed your amazons? I don't have a scale yet so I can't quite monitor his intake.

 

[SandyBee]

My Double Yellow Head, he's 471 grams( just over a pound) intakes maybe 1/2 a cup of food a day. Some days a little more.

He is 35 and considered a healthy weight for him, DYH range from 450 - 650 grams for males.

 

[MonicaMc]

A week and a half isn't a long time to be expecting an older bird to be stepping up already... especially in a bird with an unknown history.

You said he's getting great at target training. What about targetting him to step up? Rather than you going 100% towards him resulting in a lunge, train him to go to you 50% (or more) of the way to step up?

And instead of physically stepping up (as in stairs) what about having him just move from one surface to another? (as in two different platforms of the same height). This is easy to accomplish if he's on top of the cage (not the perch) and you put your arm level with the cage top, then cue him to step onto your hand/arm.


Does it make a difference if you offer your palm/hand flat vs your arm? What about offering your arm covered in cloth? Some birds hate bare skin but aren't bothered with clothes.

 

[dontquachme]

But my question is exactly how do you train a parrot to love you? And how do you know when he's ready to be picked up? Without the risk of pushing boundaries and getting bit that is!

 

[dontquachme]

You said he's getting great at target training. What about targetting him to step up? Rather than you going 100% towards him resulting in a lunge, train him to go to you 50% (or more) of the way to step up?

I've targetted him to do just that, but as he gets closer to the target and my arm or hand, he'll start lunging for and attacking my hand. He's fine coming towards me as a whole body, just not my hand!

 

[SandyBee]

You don't train a parrot to love you, you give it reason to.
Bonding with a parrot means becoming part of his/her flock. Eat with them, shower with them, play with them, talk with them.
Bosley and I eat Breakfast and dinner together every day. You can sit by his cage to eat and give him some or you can get him to come over to the table (wheeled t-stand)

Take him in the shower, or when misting him make sure you give him lots of praise.

Find something that you can play with him with a boll you roll, a rope that you each grab an end off, a bell you can ring.

Talk to them, amazons love being the center of attention

Some birds love touching and being handled, some hate it. it's not what defines the relationship. approach slowly, respect when he doesn't want to be touched, keep trying. Learn his boundaries and work within them.

Bosley didn't want to be touched or handled at all, he now lets me scritch him, pet him. He loves that I take him all over the house. He climbs on my shoulder. He goes to his playstand or cage when asked. He will still not step up much, starting to with treats a little. I managed to avoid bites by reading his body language and not pushing too far too quick. You will know when he is ready when he goes to you or no longer tries to bite when you try.

 

[Aquila]

Try keeping your bird's focus on a treat when he's stepping onto the perch, so he's thinking about the treat and not so much about biting your hand. I got lucky that my amazon steps up very well, though he has gotten me on quite a few occasions and drawn blood. I thought once that he broke my finger, but I'm fine, wounds heal. What I didn't realize at first, was that he was trying to balance himself. He panics sometimes and reaches to grab with his beak as a reflex, and often times that's my arm or a finger.

Your bird might be doing the same thing, so keep an eye on his body language and go slow. You'll look back on this all later and see how much progress he's made.

 

[KBEquine]

First, congratulations on your new amazon.

We have had PaulE (about 9 years old, history unknown) for 1.5 years. To this day, he does not step up to my hand from his cage. He steps to a wooden dowel & then to my hand. Without that first step to the dowel, I would be bitten every day. There is nowhere he would rather be than sitting on my arm or leg & he constantly asks to be held. I can step him to hand from everywhere BUT his cage. It took a while to get the habit - step-to-dowel-to-hand -but when we struck on something that worked for both of us, we were good to go.

Our 2nd Amazon (20 years, who arrived with a complete history & even operating instructions!) will step immediately to hand from his cage, sometimes from his day-perch. But he isn't nearly as affectionate or bonded to me as the first.

But the 1st amazon has drawn blood & the 2nd has never offered to bite.

Our cockatoo (complete unknown history) arrived not knowing how to step up & afraid of perches. He just now is reliably stepping to a wooden ladder (he is afraid of a hand-held perch) and he has been here almost 5 months. And when he is in a mood, he will charge up the wooden ladder, beak chomping.

I either block him with a hand-held dowel (which I almost always have near me), or if necessary, drop the perch (and run for the dowel so I can use the ladder & dowel to pick him up from the floor . . . )

One woman who works extensively with rescue parrots says she always has a towel over her arm when she is working with a cockatoo . . . just in case.

But I find with an amazon, especially one who looks so happy with being touched as yours, you just need to come up with a mutually acceptable handling routine. It will take longer than a couple weeks to iron out the details of the relationship, but it looks to me like you are well on your way.

 

[henpecked]

Hey and welcome to the forum. Also thanks for taking the time to give an older zon a new home. A couple of things come to mind when reading your post. He views his cage as a home , like it's a nest he defends. This is his refuge/safe spot. I think often he is biting because the "hand" is taking him away. Yes he wants interaction but he wants some control over the situation because he doesn't completely trust you yet. This trust will take time. Being confident,consistent,trustworthy will help, throw in a little affection and you have the keys to a good relationship with your male zon. When "stepping up " becomes a goal , practice on his cage top. Use what ever training method works for you both. I use something like this.Find a good treat and only offer it as a training treat. You have to start with a larger piece, but quickly use smaller and smaller pieces. Take baby steps when working with him ,if you reach an impasse back up and start over (figure out what the issue is). When he does step up, DO NOT remove him from his cage. Avoid "step up" meaning" i'm taking you away from your cage" ,or "I'm going to pet you now". Practice step up and then step down. Reward ,reward,and reward quickly. Use not only treats but also verbal praise, it sometimes works better than food. When petting or giving scratches , only give them in small doses. Leave him wanting more of your attention instead of him biting to say "I've had enough". Remember he's in a new flock and is looking for his place. Be the flock leader , most zons don't have a issue with following a good leader. Now is the time to set the "Tone" of your relatioship, spend the amount to time with him now that you would spend later in life. Don't flood him with attention now and expect him to be happy by himself later. They like a routine.Hope these few tips help. Loads of good parronts here so join in the forum. We'd love to help improve the relationship between you, nothing like the love of a good zon.

PS we also have a social group here on the forum ,there's some good reads there so check it out and join up. http://www.parrotforums.com/groups/bonding-amazons.html

 

[Kiwibird]

Hi. We adopted our BFA when he was around 10, and were told he had never been previously handled. We used treats to coax him up on our hand for the first time, and it didn't take him long to realize what we expected him to do, and that we weren't going to hurt him. We started by putting our hand in front of his foot, and holding a treat in the other hand directly above so he did not have to actually step up the first few times (just take the treat rather than bite our hand). Gradually, we started moving the treat farther away, so he had to reach over our hand to get it, then finally we used a super tasty treat he couldn't refuse (for him, a blueberry) and moved it far enough back, he had no choice but to step up if he wanted the treat. He had no problem climbing up on my hand when a blueberry was in question lol. The first few times he got on my hand, I did not move him at all, I just let him eat his treat on my hand, then climb back down to his perch. Only after he became more confident getting on my hand, did I start moving him around just a little inside his cage, and once he was used to that, it was no big deal moving him anywhere in the house. I didn't think of it when I was training him, so I never used a verbal command to cue him to step up. Now, as long as someone (and he will go to anyone) puts a steady hand in front of his feet, he knows just what to do. The whole process to get him to confidently step up took about 3 months, but it's a one time effort, once they've learned it, they won't ever forget it.

I also wanted to share my 2cents on the diet you've chosen- pellets and those processed greens (I'm assuming your taking about those flecks of green stuff intended for small birds sold in the bird aisle of pet stores) are no more healthy for a parrot than nothing but seeds. In fact, I would venture to say they are probably less healthy, given both pellets and the dried greens have been heavily processed. I'm an avid believer that things that don't come straight from nature have no place in your birds diet (or your own diet for that matter). Parrots eat mostly fruit in nature, with some seeds or nuts as they find them. Feeding them dry pellets all day, every day with a single slice of apple or orange on top as a treat is not a good diet. They need the moisture from fruits and veggies, as well as the nutrients that cannot be duplicated in a corn and soy based pellet. Since I'm a bit lazy, I like buying a big fruit tray and big veggie tray (the ones intended for parties) every week, so I can easily give my bird several large chunks of varied fruits and veggies (and my family eats off the try too, since a single bird can't physically eat that much). He also gets a slice of whole fruits throughout the day when someone happens to be eating one (apples, bananas, oranges ect...) as well as chunks of whatever veggies I'm chopping up for dinner. In all, about 70% of what he eats is fresh produce. His "staple" food (in lieu of seed or pellets) is a mix I cook up once a week and refrigerate to serve in the morning/evening- lentils, rice, kidney beans, and quinoa. And since real food goes bad quickly, I remove his grains mix and any leftover produce after an hour or so. He gets seed in his dish in case he gets hungry during the day, but he eats very little of it. As I said, I'm a bit lazy and don't want to spend every morning/evening making food for my bird, so I've found simpler ways around it that still provide him the nutrition he needs. Best of luck with your new little guy, and I hope I've helped!