How i take my bird outside its cage

[scatman]

I am reading forums to get usefull information on how to tame birds.
My bird (lovebird) is very scared of me especially in the morning (at night she seems calmer)

I read somewhere that i should forcely grab my bird using a towel everyday, wait for it to calm down and return it to its cage. In this way i will force the bird to know that i am safe so he'll get used to me. is that a good idea?

On another thread i read that i should place my hand inside the cage (without touching the bird) everyday untill the bird gets used to my hand. Is that also a good idea?

I found a new way to get my bird out of her cage by herself. I open the cage's door, go to another room, and play bird sounds on my laptop. My bird gets so excited, flys out of the cage searching for the sound. When she gets hungry she gets back to her cage and i close the cage's door. Is this a good idea?

[liz]

Your last paragraph is the way to go. Let him be an individual. The only time you should grab a bird is when it is into something that will hurt him. But then, you should not have anything that will hurt him.

I don't grab birds in the cage. I will put my hand in and ask them to step up. I ask them twice then leave them to come out on their own. Two of my cockatiels will step up and I hope the others learn from them. Since mine are in a flock they teach each other.

Please give us more information about your bird. How old is he? How long have you had him? What are you feeding him? How much time do you give him out of cage? How much time you spend with him one to one? What is his sleeping schedule? Just tell us about him and about you.

[scatman]

I've had him since 2 weeks and i spend 1 hour with him every weekday and 3 hours during weekend/vacation days. He's 2 months old (he still have some black spots on his beak) and not handfed nor tamed at all.
When i got him, he only ate proso millet but now he's eating other kinds of seeds (no fruits or vegetables yet but i am working on it).
i only open the cage door on weekends/vacation days and let him out/return whenever he wants.
He loves music, and he loves to hang around while i play on my guitar and sing(i just found that out and i find it awesome) !
but he's still very scared and won't allow me to feed him.
sleeping schedule? I was never aware that he should have a sleeping schedule

[Wolf]

Your little love bird would be much happier with a companion and it would help calm him down some as well. This bird needs much more time than you are providing him with. He needs at least an hour or two each and every day to interact with you. You have only had him for 2 weeks so he has not had enough time to get used to his new home or you. He also should have another two or three hours of out of cage time to fly about and explore his new home and to get some exercise. Your bird should be uncovered, if you cover him at night, just before dawn so that it gets the light from the twilight period at dawn and then it will get up shortly after sunrise. He also should get the light from dusk and then should go to bed by full dark. This is just like all of the wild birds that live outside in your area. This is very important for this birds emotional stability as well as its physical wellbeing.
Your bird should have a diet that includes several whole grains that are cooked to the point that they are beginning to soften on the outside and still very firm on the inside along with some fully cooked lentils and perhaps some wild rice and a good selection of finely chopped mixed vegetables with a good sprinkle of a quality budgie seed mix for breakfast and an additional raw chopped vegetable or two for all day long munching on. Then it should get the budgie seed mix for its dinner just before dusk. It should also be provided a source of calcium such as a cuttlebone and some unfiltered sunshine so it can make the vitamin D-3 that it needs to use the calcium.
As to interacting with your bird and letting it out of its cage, due to the level of your relationship and the newness of this bird in its new home, you really need to consider letting it out of the cage, let him come out by himself, a couple of hours before dusk and dinner time so that it will return to the cage by itself for dinner and to sleep. Now how do you show this bird that you can be trusted so that bonding can occur? Well you will need to progress slowly and watch your bird closely without looking directly at it. This is because that is the way that a predator looks at the bird and it makes the bird scared. You need to be aware of any signs of fear, or nervousness such as the bird looking skinny due to the flattening of its feathers. You enter the room with the bird in its cage and stop for a minute to let the bird relax and then start talking to your bird in a soothing tone of voice and when it relaxes,( it will puff up a little or preen and stand on one foot), slowly approach the cage, still talking to the bird and as soon as it starts getting nervous again you must stop moving, but continue to talk to the bird. Take your time and expect that it might take a few days to be able to approach all the way to the cage.
Once you are able to approach all the way to the cage, you continue to talk and/ or sing to your bird and offer it some millet for a treat, use the long sprigs of millet and just hold it in your fingers and stick just a little bit of it through the cage bars. It may again take a few days before he tries it but be patient with him and he will eventually take some of it. Once he is taking the millet in this manner shorten the length of the sprig of millet until the bird is taking the millet from your fingers through the bars of the cage. Don't forget to keep talking and singing to him during all of this. After two or three days of your bird taking the millet from you in this way open the cage door with you in front of it and start offering the millet in long sprigs again while you talk to him. It is important at this stage that you don't put your hand inside the cage more than just a couple of inches or what no more than 5 or 6 centimeters. Let your bird come to you and shorten the sprig of millet as before. The next step is to hold the millet so that the bird needs to step onto your hand to get the millet and when it does say step up so that it learns the step up request. When the bird will step up it is time to start target training.
I hope that this will help you to get your relationship with your bird on the right track towards a long and trusting relationship.

[DanaandPod]

It always amazes me when i hear about other parrots that don't want to come out of its cage! But, i have a Jardine's. He does not like my help at all if i try to bring him out of the cage... he doesnt even like to step up so maybe i should teach him...though he will for a treat... it is how i get him in his cage...or for his food. he will bite or nudge me away if i try to help... Oh he comes out immediately all right but likes to climb out himself with no help from me! Gosh forbid!

[Dindey]

I agree with your last suggestion. I have a Lovebird whom I'm having trust issues with at the moment as well, but after a year together him and I have come to the agreement that if he wants to come out of his cage he lets me know (very loudly) and I simply open the cage door and let him come out as he wishes. He even has his own little way of letting me know he wants to go back to his cage (his wings are clipped so he can't fly back).

I, unfortunately, have to pick up my bird against his will sometimes when he falls on the floor or wants to go back to his cage, but I don't like doing it one bit, because I know how much he dislikes it. So... I'd say avoiding forcefully picking him up would be the best idea. If I could rewind the clock and do it all differently with all the knowledge I have now, I would.

[liz]

Love Birds got their name because they look like they love each other. Two males and two females will also look that way. They stick together. When I had Tweetle Dee and Tweetle Dumb they were so attached that when Tweetle Dee opened his cage and came out he did not fly away. He stayed at the door because Tweetle Dumb did not want out. When I saw him out of the cage he would do a little happy dance as I was going after him but always ducked in before I got there.

I don't know what kind of cages you all use but if they are small enough put them up at your face level. Birds are afraid of the bad hands that can hurt them but not of faces and putting them at that level lets them know that you respect their space.

When you have a chicken bird always keep your palm down. Tell him exactly what you are doing. Even if they don't say the word they will know it and understand what you are going to do when you say it. (tickle tickle feet)

The only time a scared bird should be touched with your hand is when he is in trouble or needs to be moved. First ask him to step up. If that doesn't work use both hands and scoop him from below. Most of the time they will sit on the open hands until they get to where you are putting them. Then they will hop off.

If you give him respect he will learn trust.

[Wolf]

My birds all come out of their cages on their own and a couple of them will go back to their cages all by themselves, sometimes. Most of the time I have to return them to their cages myself although they are all able to fly and could do it for themselves. They just prefer to remain out with me as much as they can. Did you try they taming exercise that I gave you the last time that I replied? While some birds just don't like to be touched, most of them will accept stepping up if it is presented to them consistently and in a calm manner especially with the use of a favored treat. Sometimes a bird will develop what appears to be an aversion to hands if the only time that they are stepped up is to be put back into a cage.

[Pajarita]

And using a perch as a stepping stick instead of our hand helps a lot, too, especially with little ones.

[scatman]

First i want to thank you all for your replies as they were really really very helpful!
My lovebird was very scared when i got her(2 month ago) but now she perches on my shoulder and is target trained.
I found another way to get my lovebird outside its cage. I just move the cage to another room, open the cage, and my bird will get out of the cage and runs (she's clipped) towards me. She perches on my finger but will not stay there, then climbs to my shoulder and starts playing around.