Newbie advice needed

[Sasha]

Hi i have just rehomed an australian king parrot who is approx 7 mths old we were told that he was hand tamed and spoke a few words including hello. He is a very friendly bird and does not bite but he will not let you approach him to get him to step up he just keeps flying away. He will land on yr head or shoulder and quite happily sit there but if you raise yr hand he immediately flys off. I am expecting too much too soon even though supposedly he knows how to do this. Any advice or comment gratefully received.

 

[strudel]

Welcome to the forum. How long have you had him? You need to be patient and give him time to settle in. If you raise your hand slowly with a millet spray, he might find it interesting enough to check out, but if you've just got him, he needs time to figure out that you aren't a threat to him.

 

[altabird]

Hi Sasha, welcome -- I'm new here as well. Strudel's right -- he needs time (and your patience) to settle in to your home and routine. There's usually a "honeymoon" period, which tends to last a week or two where the bird does his adjusting. I know he's young but do you know whether your bird has ever been clipped? A fully flighted bird is not safe in a home environment and from my own experience, much less dependent on the humans in the household. Is he a controlled and strong flyer? If so, he's developed his flying skills and you should probably consider clipping his feathers, either yourself or by someone experienced in performing this procedure properly. He'll be easier for your to train if he's a bit more dependent on you and you can control where he can go.

 

[Grraarrgghh]

Some parrots do have issues with hands (and do not regard them as part of the person). I've seen it recommended to practice with a hand-held perch (lots of them on Google) or dowel/stick, and then gradually move to step-up hand training.

On the plus side, your parrot is very young, so you shouldn't need worry that this will be a permanent behavior! Give it time, patience, and consistent training.

 

[RavensGryf]

I believe King parrots are a species that will eventually settle down to sit on your hand or body as he comes to know and bond with you, but they're not a "cuddly" species by nature.

I know from seeing pics and vids in Australia, that the wild ones even get trusting enough to eat from people's hands when they have food. Takes time like it was said above, but if wild ones in the park become trusting of humans, that's a pretty good sign your guy will too in your home.

 

[Sasha]

Thanks so much for all your comments i thought it may be the case that he needs time for settling will give him a lot more time

 

[Delfin]

I have two fully flighted birds inside my house and we just adjusted our home environment to make it safe for the birds. Delfin, whom we have had for over a year will fly to any of the family and sit on the shoulder and says "hello" then asks "what are you doing?". Delfin is part of our family and Mulawa is starting to realised that we are her flock now.

Delfin will step up and down, lift up one wing at a time for inspecting under the wing, come when called (unless eating) Shakes hands, turns around, lifts both his wings up and will pick up wooden beads and put them into a bin. This was done even though Delfin is fully flighted. Delfin has also been trained has to where he can and can't go.

I spend a lot of time training my Birds and have had no difficulty in training them. In fact because Delfin is trained it is easier to train Mulawa. She has been stepping up and down for a while now and she starting to shake hands. This has been my experience.

I suggest while he is sitting on your shoulder or head, very very slowly raise your hand with a spray of millet to him. has he becomes use to this procedure start to reduce the size of the millet until you're offering a cluster of millet between your fingers. I would do this before your birds mealtime.

I'm from Australia and yes the wild birds will take food from your hand.