pushing it too fast?

[thelittleone]

I know frank has been with me for only 10 days.... if he's inside he's cage he will not step up at all, if i put my ands closer to get he will just touch it with he's beak not bite but of course if i try to hold him he will bite.... if only way so far i can remove him from he's cage is, if he goes in he's play top i will remove him together with the perch.... from that he will step up with no problem.... just today i can manage to touch and pet and scratch he's next and back gently..... in short inside he's cage he would not step up at all... outside he's cage i have no problem with him stepping up..... am i expecting too fast for him, and am i pushing it to fast?

am assuming hes a territorial bird

 

[lquan]

For some conures, it takes no time at all. Some will need some training. And of course, there are some that will never learn. It has to do a lot with the personality of the bird and its past experience with humans. Age has little to do with it.

My conure, which the breeder just left in his backyard 24/7 after weaning, untouched, untrained, until the day I bought her. My conure was 3.5 months old when I got her. She practically jumped onto my finger when I sticked my finger inside the cage at the breeder's house. She was stuffed in a small cage along with 15 other conures. She was the only one who came to my finger while the rest were terrified and huddled in the back of the cage. She wasn't the one I had in mind when I came to purchase a conure . She has been a velcro bird since the day I brought her home. Just stick out my finger in the air and she will fly to it from across the room when she is looking at me. Or call when I don't see her, she will verbally respond and then fly around to look for me. 2 weeks after bringing her home, I took her outside unrestrained. Everyday, I put her on the peach tree outside to play, fed my pond fish, walked back to the door and she would follow me back inside the house. She has always been fully flighted since birth. I don't take her outside unrestrained anymore for fear of hawks in my area.

 

[Dustbunny]

Ten days isn't really very long. If you have next to zero patience like me it can feel like forever though. :09:

I really can't recommend clicker (or similar) training highly enough. It's made a world of difference with hand taming my GCC. That and being liberal with the treats to reward her for the things I want her to do more. The progress can be slow and sometimes she regresses for a day or two, but with gentle persistence progress is made. PB was a hormonal adult with a learned fear of hands and fabric and couldn't be handled at all when we brought her home a few months ago. Today she'll step up on my bare fingers, let's me tip her onto her back, and kiss her all over. I can touch her almost anywhere now (I'm still working on being allowed to lift her wings). It just takes time, that icky patience thing, and positive training.

 

[MonicaMc]

If Frank is biting, then you may be asking too much too soon.

Teach Frank that each time he steps up that he gets a treat. Teach him to step up from various locations. If you teach him step in in a variety of places it can make getting him stepping up from other places, including his cage, to be easier. As far as he understands it, being asked to step up from inside his cage is not the same as asking him to step up from the cage top, so he needs to learn to generalize the behavior.

 

[Dinosrawr]

I've had Avery for a year now, and there are times she simply does not want to come out of her cage. And I'm okay with that. I let her make the decision - she can either sit in her cage, play with her toys and enjoy herself, or she can come out and enjoy herself with me. Sometimes she hops right on, which is great! I can immediately tell when she wants to come out. Other times she just half grips my finger with one foot, kinda looks at me all happy that she gets to hold onto it, but couldn't care less about being outside of her cage.

Of course, her door is always open, but generally she doesn't come out on her own. She'll go back in on her own volition, yet for some odd reason when she's in her cage she won't really come out unless I ask her to... this is likely due to some boundary training I did with her when she first came home. Essentially, she wasn't allowed in or out of her cage unless I allowed her, because she was far too difficult to get back in. Once she realized that being in the cage was good and not a punishment, she seems to realize it's her space and enjoys it. She seems happy to just watch me most of the time. I get her out as much as possible, but she's kind of a perch potato . Apparently she's flown out "searching" for me if I leave the room or if I'm not home and my boyfriend is, but I never get to see this adorable behaviour, haha!

But Monica is definitely right - training your bird to step up in all scenarios is really important. You never want to force your bird, but you want your bird to have the desire to step up for you because it results in reward, whether that be a treat, time with you, time in/out of the cage, etc. Target training is huge for this, or at least it was for me. I don't know where I'd be without my silly little chopstick! And my clicker. It helps so much!

 

[DannyA93]

I usually don't reach into my parrots cages while they're in them. I open the door and wait for them to come out before asking to step up and if they don't then they would prefer to stay in and that's perfectly fine. I leave them flighted so if they change their minds they can fly or meander on over to me whatever they prefer.

 

[thelittleone]

Thanks a lot guys... those give me ideas...