Some-what bird newbie!

[Regan]

I live in Western Australia, and two days ago bought a 10 week old lacewing alexandrine called Russell (given name until further notice :09. Any tips to training or settling in would be greatly appreciated! What others have thought about them?
When I was little I owned a budgie and currently also have a chicken (Pearl), peacocks (Fred and Pip) and a rescue magpie (Mangy) and a collection of many other animals... Cats, dog and horse!
We refer to ourselves as the zoo or menagerie!

Cheers,
Regan

 

[BEWolf]

Welcome to the forum. I, myself am considering reintroducing myself as I have not posted for quite some time, although I have visited frequently.

Anyway congratulations of your new baby, Russel. Since the average age for an Alexandrine to fledge is about 7 wks., he is still a baby and add to that the stress of moving to a new home environment and new humans, he is very much scared as he perceives this as a life threatening situation just as it would be in the wild. This has also probably caused him to regress somewhat, so he is very likely to be in need of being given some weaning formula at least 2 or possibly 3 times a day in addition to fresh raw fruits, vegetables and a limited amount of seeds. That would be best and then gradually allow him to wean himself off of the weaning formula. You are at that window of time when it is still the best and easiest time to teach him to eat a good healthy diet as this is the time that, in the wild that his parents would begin teaching him about what foods to eat as well as where to find them, so it is also a great time to begin to introduce him to foraging toys and how to use them. The best time to teach him to eat new foods is right after he first wakes up or at least start in the first half hour or so and before he is given anything else to eat. I would begin with a fresh raw fruit, followed by a fresh raw leafy green and then a fresh raw vegetable. I would suggest using pretty much the same method that his natural parents would have used, which is they take their newly fledged babies out with them to find food and place them on a branch while they go and get some food which they bring back to the branch and begin to eat it in front of their babies without offering them any, they then go and bring back more food and repeat this same process. They ignore their babies when they start to ask and beg for this food, but they do make it very easy for their babies to steal a piece of the food. This is how their parents teach them what to eat and so I figure that it is probably the best way for us as surrogate parents to teach our new babies to eat a variety of new foods.
I would proceed slowly with the new bird and spend a large amount of time familiarizing him to my presence and talking and singing to him while piddling around and just watching him through glances so that I could work myself closer to his cage when he is relaxed and going back to piddling when he gets nervous. And then when I was at the cage, still talking and singing and praising him for being such a good bird, I would start offering him a little bit of sprig type millet through the bars. I would place the millet through the bare at a perch, holding it with my fingers, while talking and praising him and wait for him to come to get the millet. If he does not come and get the millet in a few minutes I would put it in his food dish and come back in an hour or so and try this again. When he is taking the millet from my hand through the cage bars in a calm and relaxed manner and is approaching the spot in the cage that I normally offer him the millet before I get to the cage of if he comes towards the side of the cage that I am approaching from them it is time to open the cage and repeat the entire process at the entrance of the cage, being careful to not reach inside the cag during this process. When he is accepting the millet from my fingers at the entrance of the cage it is time to hold the millet either in the same hand or in the other hand in such a manner that he must stretch to reach the millet or place at least one foot on your hand to get a bite of the millet. At first if he even tries to reach for the millet move it so that he can get a bite and then back to where he must stretch to reach it. It should not be necessary to move the millet further back from him as if you are patient he will in a relatively short period of time be fully stepping up for the millet on his own.

This is the way that I do it at home as it is my primary goal to gain the trust of the bird and this can only be done by waiting on the bird to voluntarily cooperate with what I am doing. without this trust the bird will not properly bond or be willing to do much with you other than to develop the habit of avoiding you and then in biting to make you leave it alone. Without this trust with a bird you really have nothing, or so I feel.

I hope this is helpful to you and Russel.

 

[Flboy]

Welcome to you!

 

[Allee]

Welcome to the forums!

 

[Regan]

Oh wow Thank you for the information and the welcomes!

When we bought him he was already eating seed. He has a millet in currently as well, but doesn't seem to be interested in that, sunflowers seem to be a bit hit on his list of tasty stuff. He has also been given broccoli and apple which he shows no interest in either.

We just want to play with him, he's too cute! But we know we can't, may equal a nasty bite and after getting a few from a lovebird we found and one from him, I really don't want to go down that path. Won't do good for either of us anyway.

I did have the same idea in mine of using treats to eventually get him stepping up onto my hand

 

[BirdLover80]

Welcome! BEWolf offered a lot of great information. The thing with birds, and all animals really, is to allow your bird to get used to his/her environment above all things. Some new bird owners think that as soon as they get their birds home, their birds will be social butterflies right out of the gate. Then, to their dismay, the birds will be anything but.

The cure is to spend a lot of time with your bird so that they can get to know you and ultimately bond with you. If your bird is weary about you approaching the cage, it's probably scared and that's totally normal. It might take a while for him/her to come around. Just be patient. Cheers!

 

[Regan]

Thank you! He's doing really well... Within four days he is confidently (wouldn't say happily just yet) eating in front of use, and showing lots of relaxed signs and movements.
It's a bit of a balancing act really. You want them to settle in happily but you also want to being training so they trust you and don't think they rule the cage. But then saying that you also don't want to start too early and ruin your relationship so soon.
I say take it day by day. And yes lots of sitting and talking
This is how close I can sit... He will sit at his bowl if still hungry and provided we don't bother him

 

[Regan]

Any suggestions on how to get him taking food from us?

 

[BirdLover80]

Glad your little guy is settling in. BEWolf offered some very good pointers on how to get your bird to eat from your hand. The key is building trust. Once it trusts you, you'll both be happy campers.

 

[Regan]

VERY EXCITED! Russell stepped up onto the stick very calmly without freaking out! He's a sweet little baby �� He is nervous to go near us still but if we sit quietly and do our own thing and talk to him, he is happy. He sits on one leg, scratches himself, yawns, fluffs himself up and grinds and clicks his beak. So proud of him... Am seeing a bright future for our relationship

 

[Regan]

Thank you everyone for you comments! They have really helped me and Russell !

 

[BirdLover80]

So happy to hear that. You two are going to BFFs in no time! :red:

 

[Regan]

Hehehe, I can't wait! (But I have to)

 

[Regan]

Milestone day today! He stepped up onto my finger... He's still not quite sure but he will do it without too much hesitation

 

[BirdLover80]

Awesome!

 

[Regan]

Quick Question... I'm not sure if he is keen to learn or not and how much i should be asking for him to step up. When i come up to the cage, he shivers a little bit and when i ask him to step up he needs a little encouragement but will usually do it, other wise he tries to climb the wire. He has never bitten my but does feel my hand with his beak and unless i accidentally bump something and scare him he doesn't fly away. Is he interested to learn but scared to trust a human? Thats the feeling i'm getting. He is also letting me pat him a little bit too.
ps. We also tried to get to step on my hand so i could take him out but he wasn't ready

 

[Regan]

He came out on his own! Yay! And then I went to put him too bed... He was good, stepped up sat there and then flew off and freaked so much for the ending on a good note!