Struggling With IRN

Akula00

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Feb 2, 2022
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Indian Ringneck, Lovebird and Budgie + Finches
Hello everyone. I'm new to the forum and the proud owner of three finches and more relevantly, a Green IRN named Chief.

To cut to the point, despite a decent amount of experience in owning birds (before he was joined by the rest of the flock, I had my Canary mostly hand-tamed, and I had a budgie years ago which I tamed to a high degree) nothing I try with Chief seems to be working. I've owned him for a month and a half now, and the only signs of familiarity he shows are not being terrified when I sit beside his cage, and making loud noises when I'm away. Otherwise? He just doesn't want to know me. I have tried clicker training, but he failed to acknowledge it at all or make the connection between the noise and his favourite treat, I have tried withholding his favourite food for training, but not only was he still completely unwilling to venture near my hands to get it, but he also screamed the house down; I cannot target train him because anything that enters his cage, wood or hand, causes him to fly around very quickly and clatter his wings against objects.

I'm currently sitting wracking my brain for ideas as I face a nightmare trying to get my completely untamed boy back into his cage again after outside time., every time it's incredibly difficult because he doesn't respond to anything.
 

Skarila

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Hi There!!

IRNs are well known to be hard to tame, and are very prone to fear of hands. For my IRN took around 2 years to become semi tamed, according to my parents.

For the clicker training don't put your hand nor the stick IN the cage, but instead to it outside. Cage is his safe place - don't disturb! Offer treats through the cage bars, once he will come to you (climbing on the cage bars while he is inside) every time you have a treat. If he gets the treat, click! This should be the first step.

Funny enough, my conure immediately started going towards the clicker, and would touch the clicker instead to get his treat. This was when i swapped to a stick instead, he caught it on early enough. If i could put the stick close to him, click, and he got a treat. This way we got rid of the fear of the stick. Mind I was doing this all from outside, not sticking the stick in the cage, nor my hands. The interaction was purely between the bars.
After you get rid of the fear, see if you can get him to bite/touch the stick, by gently moving it towards him, if he is clinging on the bars or near you. If he touches the stick, click. Later he should understand he should go and reach for the stick.

Keep in mind there are a few factors, one if you do have a good treat that he is willing to work with, you respecting his boundries (if he moves away, you step back too, don't push and press, try again later or take a step back to just treat offering), and of course, time.

For treats I highly suggest tiny bits of apples - it was my IRN's favourite, and my conure's as well. My conure was completely wild and aviary bred, so I understand where you're coming from. Try different types of nuts and fruits, see which one truly works best for you. Don't offer what's already part of your bird's main diet (if you're feeding seed mixture, don't offer seeds!!). Timing is also important, you don't want to bother your bird first thing in the morning or in the evening when the bird might want to go to sleep.

Again, patience, patience, patience. Taming a bird is not a race, it's a journey. Take it slow. It might take many many months before the bird really starts seeing you as a part of the flock. There will be times where you go one step forward and 13 steps back, and then suddenly there will be a huge leap forward. Don't give up, stay calm. Take a few deep breathes before you go interact with a bird, empty your mind. Birds can see/feel our stress, I personally found it helpful to calm my self down before approaching an untamed parrot.

I wish you good luck with your new companion!
 
OP
A

Akula00

Member
Feb 2, 2022
23
35
Parrots
Indian Ringneck, Lovebird and Budgie + Finches
  • Thread Starter
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Hi There!!

IRNs are well known to be hard to tame, and are very prone to fear of hands. For my IRN took around 2 years to become semi tamed, according to my parents.

For the clicker training don't put your hand nor the stick IN the cage, but instead to it outside. Cage is his safe place - don't disturb! Offer treats through the cage bars, once he will come to you (climbing on the cage bars while he is inside) every time you have a treat. If he gets the treat, click! This should be the first step.

Funny enough, my conure immediately started going towards the clicker, and would touch the clicker instead to get his treat. This was when i swapped to a stick instead, he caught it on early enough. If i could put the stick close to him, click, and he got a treat. This way we got rid of the fear of the stick. Mind I was doing this all from outside, not sticking the stick in the cage, nor my hands. The interaction was purely between the bars.
After you get rid of the fear, see if you can get him to bite/touch the stick, by gently moving it towards him, if he is clinging on the bars or near you. If he touches the stick, click. Later he should understand he should go and reach for the stick.

Keep in mind there are a few factors, one if you do have a good treat that he is willing to work with, you respecting his boundries (if he moves away, you step back too, don't push and press, try again later or take a step back to just treat offering), and of course, time.

For treats I highly suggest tiny bits of apples - it was my IRN's favourite, and my conure's as well. My conure was completely wild and aviary bred, so I understand where you're coming from. Try different types of nuts and fruits, see which one truly works best for you. Don't offer what's already part of your bird's main diet (if you're feeding seed mixture, don't offer seeds!!). Timing is also important, you don't want to bother your bird first thing in the morning or in the evening when the bird might want to go to sleep.

Again, patience, patience, patience. Taming a bird is not a race, it's a journey. Take it slow. It might take many many months before the bird really starts seeing you as a part of the flock. There will be times where you go one step forward and 13 steps back, and then suddenly there will be a huge leap forward. Don't give up, stay calm. Take a few deep breathes before you go interact with a bird, empty your mind. Birds can see/feel our stress, I personally found it helpful to calm my self down before approaching an untamed parrot.

I wish you good luck with your new companion!
Thanks for the long and detailed reply!

Looks like I didn't really *get* how I was supposed to be doing it, will try again with the pointers you mentioned. So far, I noticed he's quite fussy with greens but will eat apples, sweetcorn and celery voraciously lol So I left the sweetcorn as part of his normal diet and have been using the celery sticks (due to their shape) as a training food. He did eat from it once, but not since.

I think judging from your pointers I might need to go back to basics and start over.
 

wrench13

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Celery sticks are not a good idea for parrots as the fibers in them are hard to digest. Celery greens - great! Sticks, no. If he likes corn kernals, I would use those as your training treat, although corn is a sugar based veggie and can amp up the behavior. I only give corn kernals once in awhile to Salty. Try some other nuts or seeds as a training treat, we use small slices of pine nuts, but walnuts, almonds are also highly regarded by most parrots. Small pieces on any nut though.
 

Laurasea

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