Indian ringneck advice and tips

[mikey2040]

hello, my name is Michael. I'm new to this site and would appreciate some help and advice in training my indian ringneck. His name is Monkey, he is 7 months old and has started talking recently. he says "hello" and "what you doing" i spend many hours with him. The problem i have is when i first got him he was in a cage. i got really excited about getting him and bought ropes and toys. i made him an activity centre. On letting him out the first time he took to this new area very well. the problem is he is never in cage. although he talks and whistles. i can never really get to close. i would like to train him to come on my hand or maybe not be so distant. He flies very well. So i'm really looking for advice, firstly if there is a way to train him without him been put back in a cage. i would let him have his area then make him unhappy. secondly would clipping his wings be worth it? I've read about it and would like more feedback before even considering it.

Many thanks

Michael

[Chantilly]

Hi Michael welcome to the forum,
just want to say you sound like a great owner...

In my oppinion, clipping does so much damage to the parrot, of course we all see 'obedient' parrots on Youtube, Petshops ect. but when they are clipped you are taking that one thing that makes them a bird and more so making them your slave/pet instead of your buddy, in addition to that flying is such an important excersise for them, and helps allot with avoiding obesity, liver problems... stuff like that.
When you clip your relation isnt as good either, the parrots only way to tell you 'No! I dont want this!' is to bite, but if you dont clip it will fly away instead of biting (so your hands dont end up hurting )
Also, clipping is a better bond because the parrot is less likely to be forced into doing things, it will be bonding with you and be doing things at it's speed.
So in my oppinion, clipping isn't worth it.
To get him close just keep singing and talking to him and calling him by his name, and just dont push him. How long have you had him for? Eventually he will get used to you, try to find out what his favourite treat is so you can slowly get him to come up close enough to get.
Perhaps put his favourite treat on his playgym area and stand a few metres away, and do this each day till you can get close to him.. he will come to you soon

[mikey2040]

Thank you Chantilly for your advice.

Monkey is 7 months old, very active and a delight to be around. I do miss him when i'm working. I believe he uses his time when i'm not around to practice his talking and various whistles. As i have no clue where he picks up some of his whistles. he can however wolf whistles, which really makes you smiles when he just pops out with it. he enjoys apples the most. i can stand close to him about a meter away but any movement of hands he flies away. if i put youtube videos on my laptop. he will fly down and take a really interest in them, especially other ringnecks. he also has a 19" tv that i put on a stand for him to watch every now and again.

Thank you for you advice about clipping, i do believe myself it takes away the one thing birds were meant to do. I read that the wings grow back but i'm forever reading new stuff. i was just looking if it benefited with the bonding process in anyway. As he seems to be happy cage free at the moment and i don't have the heart to put him back into one. As for the treats, i will give it a try see if i can make any progress. i will keep you updated.

[Wolf]

IRN's can be very difficult because they require so much interactive time with their human in order to remain bonded and not revert to wild ways. So actually having some in cage time would be beneficial to both you and the bird as far as bonding goes. Once the bond is made then the bird will want to spend most of its time with and on you. At this birds age it won't be much longer before the bird goes through puberty and becomes an adult complete with any personality changes brought on by the process of maturing.

I think that I would begin by feeding the bird its meals in its cage so that it will go into it on its own and after he goes in the cage for his evening meal close the door as it will not be long before it is dark and it goes to sleep provided it is living with a birds light schedule. and then work with the bird about an hour or two after it eats breakfast to get it hand tamed and to gain the birds trust and begin the bonding process. When the bird is accepting treats from your hands through the bars of the cage then you teach it to take the treat from your fingers with the cage door open and then start working on target training and step up. When you are not working with the bird on these things you can leave the cage open and let the bird out until dinner time. I would probably do this a little differently than this but I am trying to work with what you are wanting for your bird.

[mikey2040]

Thank you for your reply.

I've taken the advice with some great thought. i was thinking maybe putting his cage as play of his play area, with the ropes leading to the cage. that way its not a major change.

Also just to further complicate the matter which maybe i should have mentioned. i also have a love bird which is with him in his play area. will i need to separate them while training? They get on great together, the love bird is called jasmine.

[Wolf]

I would not place them in the same cage or let the lovebird land on the IRN's cage with the IRN in it as that would be a disaster begging to happen. When birds use their cages for sleeping and eating or if they spend much time in it they become territorial of the cage and treat it as their nesting area which they will defend from any and all intruders. This means that with the exception of budgies and cockatiels you can only safely allow mated pairs to occupy the same cage or to be on the other birds cage.
As for training them together when they are outside of the cage it just depends on the birds as sometimes neither will listen or both of them will try to do the same thing at the same time so sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

[mikey2040]

Thank you for the advice. the cage is set up and i will keep you posted on how it develops.

[mmeager]

Hello!
I just wanted to say that we are also very new owners of a IRN, I am not really in the position to give advise. As we are very new and amateur to bird ownership, and learning every day. From your profile you seem way more experienced than me! But I would like to share our experience so far.

Our little guy was impossible to go near two months ago, now he/she is very cheeky, and really shows no fear of us at all, we still have a long way to go, and training is only in its very early stages, but what I have learned as the most important thing to establish a relationship with your bird is to listen to what he/she is trying to tell you. Its really hard to understand what they are saying, but you must watch everything, most importantly their body language. Honour and respect their communication, and I believe this will take you a very long way to bonding together. I have made many mistakes by not understanding, lucky our little guy has been very forgiving! But I'm getting better and better, and so is our relationship.

Never underestimate your birds intelligence!!!! Or it will come back to bite you! literally!! Lol. And please please read the training guides available here, read them a 100 times over! because they will really help. Clicker and target training is amazing in so many ways, as the process will also help you understand how your bird responds and communicates with you.

I definitely agree with Wolf. Your bird needs his cage, its his territory and his space to claim as his own. Otherwise your lounge room becomes his space and territory! As far as he is concerned its not yours, but his, and I don't think you will get far with him this way.

I also fully agree with Chantilly, Don't clip your birds wings. Our bird was clipped when we bought him, and I swear to God I will never get him clipped again! He is a bird, and his wings make him a bird! Its his damn right to fly! And so he should. And its our responsibility to ensure he can fly, without hurting himself.

I also wanted to say how much it pleases me to hear how much you love your bird! I look forward to seeing my little guy after work every day! He is never far from my mind.
I honestly don't think I have laughed as much in the last two months, as I have in the last two years!!!!! He is just pure joy!

[Wolf]

Mmeager;

Thanks for such a wonderful story about the relationship that you share with your bird. That relationship is what having a bird as a friend and companion is all about.
The trust and love between the bird and its chosen human as well as its flock members is what defines that relationship as well as what makes it possible in the first place because without this there is no relationship. Most of the animals that live with us are much easier for us to understand because the majority of them are both mammals and of a predatory species which also have a similar dominance based social structure. Birds are so different that it is difficult for most people to understand them. Very few parrots are predators or live in a dominance based social structure and none of them are mammals. Their body language is really not all that different than that of most other creatures, but for some reason humans have a harder time reading feathers than they do hair. But since most of their communications with us are in the form of body language we really do need to put the time and effort to learn their body language. A bird that sees that you are trying to listen and understand them is a lot more forgiving of out mistakes than those that feel that we are not trying to listen to them.
Training time with the bird is time well spent as it helps to give the bird something to do, even more important is that it gives the two of you something that you can do together. And with a bird that has chosen you as their special human and has or is bonding with you, there is nothing more important than the time you spend together.
Birds are very intelligent creatures and it is said, scientifically, that parrots in general have the intelligence of a 5 or 6 year old human with the emotional development of a 2 or 3 year old. I am not really sure that I am in agreement with this, although I do use it to help other humans understand that their birds are very intelligent and that they have feelings as strong and as valid as any human has. I don't feel that the testing used takes into account the actual physical differences in the structure of our bodies that affect what and how we do things. Which simply means that I really think that they are far more intelligent than we give them credit for.
The major reason for this post is to thank you for sharing this with us as well as to encourage you to share with us more often, But also to put forth that training is beneficial in helping us to strengthen the bond with our birds but that it does not and can not create that bond. The bond can only form because of us putting forth the effort to win our birds trust through patience, love and understanding, without which the training cant really take place. Without building the bond their is no relationship or anything else.
OK, time for me to put my little soap box away. Thanks for endulging me.

[mikey2040]

update : i tried the cage. I've put a lot of thought into this and have made the decision that i cant put him back in there, even if it means training will be harder. when i made his play area, i put a lot of effort to make it perfect for him. I change it round and add many toys to keep him entertained. i think if there will be a bond between us it will come and he will make the decision to come to or near me after all he is only young. I've read about feathers and starting to see signs and understand him more. Today he told me he wanted spraying with water. Yesterday we talked to each other for an hour. I believe he has made his play area his, he is free to fly and also never makes a mess apart from in his area. Thanks for all the advice and i will let you all know how i get on.