Taming Parent Reared Orange Winged Amazon

[Pajarita]

Parent-raised amazons don't usually make good companions for the greatest majority of people because there is no imprinting. And, about this, let me make a clarification. There is imprinting and there is bonding and these are two different things. Imprinting makes a bird not be afraid of humans and accept them as part of their lives. Bonding is when they love you and that takes time and, sometimes, it never happens. A human-imprinted baby would be leery of his/her new owner the same way a human baby would be anxious and nervous if taken away from his mother and placed in the care of strangers but, with patience and love, a human-imprinted bird will eventually bond with his/her human the same way an adopted child loves his/her adoptive parents. A parent-raised bird will never think of a human as part of his family because he is parrot-imprinted. He can learn to trust, become tame and even appreciate the human's company but it will not really bond the same way because he knows he is a bird and you are not. Personally, I think that all parrots do much better when the parents are allowed to raise them because it's much healthier both from a physical as well as a psychological point of view but, when it comes to pets, the difficulty arises when the species is large and naturally aggressive - like amazons are- because it doesn't matter if a budgie or a tiel is parent raised but it matters if the bird is large and strong enough to hurt a human.

[Wolf]

Well said, Pajarita.

[quakerboo]

This is funny cause I just got a quaker called Boo today. Im having the same sort of problems. He is 4 months old and not hand fed. He is obviously quite scared. As it's the first day I've been talking to him from a distance but I've tried not to traumatise him by going to close and scaring him.
Please let me know how you got to the point where he would take food from your hand and let me know how you're getting on now.
I would love it if anyone else has any advice for me also

[Wolf]

When you first step into the room with your bird, notice where he is in his cage, and how he is acting. If he seems nervous or is at the back of the cage spend the next 15 minutes talking to him from where you are at. Make sure that you use a calm voice when talking to your bird. You need to do 3 to 4 sessions each day of 15 minutes. The next time you step into the room stop and observe your bird and if he is not at the back of the cage or acting nervous then you can slowly approach until the birds begins to move, at that point stop and talk to your bird, when the time is up say goodbye and leave. After a time you will finally reach the front of the cage without upsetting the bird and at this point you introduce treats into the talks, only 3 to 4 treat per session. You offer the treats to the bird through the cage bars until he takes the treats from you willingly but calmly. At first he may not take the treat and this is fine just place it so he can reach it and continue talking. When the session is over say goodbye and leave. Once the bird takes the treats from you your next step is to open the door to the cage and talk and offer him treats directly from your fingers through the open door. and after that you offer the treats so that he must step on your hand to get the treat.