when can training start

[jcama324]

i have two young (3 months old) lovebirds, hand raised and tame. when can i start basic training? can one watch the other train or does that confuse things?

[marie83]

In theory you can start training at any age but I would usually advise leaving tricks and that until they are older. Socialising, taming, carrier training and step ups can begin once they have been with you long enough to have settled in fully- of course this will give you time to learn their personalities and body language which will help you later on. You will probably find it easier to separate them for training but it isn't usually essential as they will learn from each other, unfortunately that can work with both good and bad sides of training. What I mean by that is if one appears more nervous of something the other may become more nervous, if one is confident about something it might increase the others confidence too. The important thing is not to rush them into accepting new things as that will backfire.

[Dave & Karen]

I agree, you can teach the basics at any age, but save the more complex stuff for later on after a strong bond between you and the bird is established. Maybe teach one of them to whistle a song and teach the other to whistle a different song, then within a few weeks both of them will be able to whistle their song as well as the other one's song.
IF one bird is very confident in doing something you're showing him, you can use that bird to show the other one it's ok, I use our parrotlet to help me tame and train these budgies someone gave us and they both tend to step up better when they see the parrotlet step up for me and fly to me etc., but I'd never teach the parrotlet something that he might not be comfortable doing at first in front of the other birds, but once he's ok with whatever it is, then I use him to role model to the untrained ones.