Training a group?

[Nalani]

Hi!

I have 3 hahn's macaws. They are inseperable and because of this it is very difficult to trick train them. As soon as they know i have treats they get very excited making it difficult to focus on one at a time. There's always someone trying to get the treats while i'm training another one.

I was able to train the first 2 a bit before the the third one was born, but now it's seems impossible.
But they all know step up, and go in a circle, so they have some idea about how tricks work.


Do you have any ideas how to deal with this?

[Wolf]

Perhaps you can use a small cloth bag to put the treats in until you give them out. Maybe the answer would be to give them nuts for treats the ones that they get to peel. You just have to think about what might slow them down enough for you to cue one bird, allow him to respond and give treat and then move to the next one.
Hope this helps.

[Shelby]

Are your macaws able to fly? Do they spend any time in a cage? Perhaps you could take just one of them out of the cage and train it nearby the others so they get to watch. Some birds learn a lot quicker after watching another bird learning the same thing. I have seen this done before by some trainers who put videos on youtube. Also, try keeping the treats in your pocket or somewhere they can't just help themselves to the treat.