is this slow enough

[lee ireland]

Hi,

Iv gave myself a specific routine to target wanted behavior within taming and trust building

id like to know is there anything as moving too slow or is this brief set routine ok?

all weeks will not progress into the following until the bird has became comfortable with each task, each sessions will last as long as the bird is not becoming distracted, agitated or showing any signs of discomfort, so whether or not each sessions is 1 minutes or 30 minutes i will still be doing 3 sets of sessions each day

iv planned things like this because some days i will leave the sessions after 15 minutes and he does everything to obtain my attention and then other days he might not want to train for very long at all so i like to not have a set time on everything,

iv been studying my birds eating habits such as times, foods he likes the most ( seeds ) although i have cut his seed intake down since iv got him nearly 3 weeks ago im now at the point where his entire daily intake can be seeds used for taming and training,

any recommendations on training and taming whilst the bird is at its hungriest or in between feeds ect?

the times he seems to eat are like clockwork from what iv seen anyway, so do you think at about 30 minutes before these times i should take out the food bowl as he has unlimited amount of pellets and then start the sessions, after the sessions i place the fresh food back into the cage ready for his normal eating times?

the aim of this set training routine is to have my bird be comfortable with touch in and out of the cage as well as the floor, coming when i call and to step up... as well as building trust


Stage 1
Week 1
• Trust building with hands close to bird in and out of the cage
• Trust building with feeding out of palm in and out of the cage
• Calling training around the cage and out
Week 2
• Trust building with hands touching the bird inside the cage
• Trust building with feeding out of palm in and out the cage
• Calling training around the cage and out and on the floor
Week 3
• Trust building with hands touching the bird inside the cage
• Trust building with feeding out of palm in and out the cage
• Calling training around the cage and out and on the floor

Stage 2

Week 1
• Trust building with step up inside of the cage using stick
• Trust building with touch inside and out of the cage
• Trust building with feeding out of palm out of the cage
Week 2
• Trust building with step up on finger inside of the cage
• Trust building with touch outside of the cage
• Trust building with feeding out of palm out of cage and on the floor
Week 3
• Trust building with step up on finger out of the cage
• Trust building with touch outside of the cage and on floor
• Trust building with feeding out of palm out of cage and on the floor

[Pajarita]

Too slow? No, more like too fast and too rigidly scheduled. You should never set any kind of schedule with parrots, my dear. You have no say in the matter so any schedule you might want to set is going to be useless because the pace is ALWAYS set by the bird. And birds don't follow 'human' timetables, they have their own so if it takes one month, great, but if it takes one year, it's also great because once you get there, it's a solid step in the right direction. Also, if I were you, I would concentrate on getting the bird to like and trust me before you even start training because, if you don't establish a personal relationship prior to training, the whole thing will backfire on you as the bird might react favorably while it's young and insecure but once it becomes a full-fledged adult, it will turn on you. Please remember that all the training methods put out by Michael were done on hand-fed birds. Parent raised birds need to learn, at their own pace, to trust humans and training doesn't really do anything in this regard... especially if one of your goals is to get the bird used to you putting your hand inside his cage (a big no-no in the bird world UNLESS it's under explicit invitation from the bird).

Start by allowing the bird to come out of its cage on its own and do whatever it wants to do. Don't force any kind of physical interaction. Offer company, love and treats and, most of all, observe its body language, likes and dislikes. You need to woo the bird, not train it into loving you.