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My parrot wont eat from my hand

Discuss the methods and techniques of clicker training, target training and bonding. These are usually the first steps in training a young parrot.

My parrot wont eat from my hand

Postby hazukilynch » Mon Aug 08, 2016 9:51 pm

Hi i am not sure i posted in the right section as im new here but thats the issue with my parrot

My parrot is indian ringneck about 4-5 monthes old i got him from previous owner like 2 weeks ago ..

After reading how to train parrot to step up and target training on this site i figured i should teach him to eat from my hand first but the problem is whenever my hand approach even with food in it .. it steps up.. it always steps up when i dont want it to steps .. it seems that previous owner tought him stepping up but not eating from hand so now its mistaking everything with steps up.. i just need little help with this any suggestions?shall i just keep trying to feed from hand?i tried removing food so he is forced to eat from hand but no result..how to make him know i dont want him to step up but eat?no matter how my hand shape is he will step on it ..

Oh btw my parrot is freeflighted
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Re: My parrot wont eat from my hand

Postby liz » Tue Aug 09, 2016 6:35 am

Two weeks is a very short time for him to trust you. He is afraid of hands. Don't withhold his food to make him come to you. He needs time to adjust to you and his new surroundings. Give him his space. He will come to you when he is able to trust you. Being free flighted it won't be long before your bird begs and wants what is on your plate. Mine have even tried to take my plate from me. Treat him as though he is a scared toddler. Don't bush but wait for him to accept you. He is a little being with all the feelings that a toddler has.
What you do now will make a difference in the future of the two of you. Let your bird set the pace. Myrtle came to me so scared that she shivered when I talked to her. She came clipped and would test her wings. She did not trust me at that time but when she would try to fly and fail she would walk to me and climb to my shoulder for me to help her get back. She depended on me before she was able to trust me. I was the giver of food and that was our only contact. She is now as pesty as a toddler. She hangs on me when I do my chores and not able to give her attention.
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Re: My parrot wont eat from my hand

Postby Wolf » Tue Aug 09, 2016 7:39 am

You could try offering a treat to the bird through the bars of its cage, so that it can't step up until it learns this. You could also allow the bird to step up and then offer it the treat right after it steps up.
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Re: My parrot wont eat from my hand

Postby hazukilynch » Tue Aug 09, 2016 8:40 am

liz wrote:Two weeks is a very short time for him to trust you. He is afraid of hands. Don't withhold his food to make him come to you. He needs time to adjust to you and his new surroundings. Give him his space. He will come to you when he is able to trust you. Being free flighted it won't be long before your bird begs and wants what is on your plate. Mine have even tried to take my plate from me. Treat him as though he is a scared toddler. Don't bush but wait for him to accept you. He is a little being with all the feelings that a toddler has.
What you do now will make a difference in the future of the two of you. Let your bird set the pace. Myrtle came to me so scared that she shivered when I talked to her. She came clipped and would test her wings. She did not trust me at that time but when she would try to fly and fail she would walk to me and climb to my shoulder for me to help her get back. She depended on me before she was able to trust me. I was the giver of food and that was our only contact. She is now as pesty as a toddler. She hangs on me when I do my chores and not able to give her attention.

Alright thank ill be more patient and see how it goes ^^
Last edited by hazukilynch on Tue Aug 09, 2016 8:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
hazukilynch
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Types of Birds Owned: Green Indian ringneck
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Re: My parrot wont eat from my hand

Postby hazukilynch » Tue Aug 09, 2016 8:40 am

Wolf wrote:You could try offering a treat to the bird through the bars of its cage, so that it can't step up until it learns this. You could also allow the bird to step up and then offer it the treat right after it steps up.


I mentioned that my parrot is freeflight so he is not caged .. also previous owner tought him step up but not eating and even after it steps up it will ignore food and steps up again so i cant do wat u suggest i think ?
hazukilynch
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Types of Birds Owned: Green Indian ringneck
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Re: My parrot wont eat from my hand

Postby Pajarita » Tue Aug 09, 2016 11:37 am

You need to determine what is what we call a 'high value item' and only use that. High value items are, usually, a nut or a piece of one because that is what parrots like best BUT in order for this to work, you can't free-feed protein food because, if you do, he'll have no incentive to take it. What do you feed him and at what time during the day?
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Re: My parrot wont eat from my hand

Postby Wolf » Tue Aug 09, 2016 6:13 pm

I apologise for misunderstanding what you meant by free flighted. Since he lives cage free it makes sense that you can't try my last suggestion. Have you tried offering the treat held between the thumb and forefinger with it being offered to the bird at just above the birds head height so that it reaches upwards just a little to take the treat? Another thing you could try if the bird likes fruits or vegetables is to cut some into long strips that you can offer to him so that your hand is further back.

Treats can make training easier for many birds, they all like to be rewarded for doing the thing that you are asking of them. But treats are not your only option. I have a Grey parrot that will absolutely not accept a treat as a reward for doing anything that I ask her to do, she just gets mad at me if I offer her a treat for doing something. She will, however, accept having her beak rubbed or her head scratched in return for doing something that I ask of her. She will take a treat and even ask for another one as long as it is freely given without my having asked anything of her.
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Re: My parrot wont eat from my hand

Postby hazukilynch » Wed Aug 10, 2016 12:27 am

Pajarita wrote:You need to determine what is what we call a 'high value item' and only use that. High value items are, usually, a nut or a piece of one because that is what parrots like best BUT in order for this to work, you can't free-feed protein food because, if you do, he'll have no incentive to take it. What do you feed him and at what time during the day?



My parrot only eats sunflower seeds and apple i put other type of seed mix for him but he wont eat it.. i put wat he eats for him all the time but i try to feed him from my hand in morning and before he sleeps. Today he ate 1 sunflower seed from my hand after i removed shell for him myself so i think this is a good sign ?
hazukilynch
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 8
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Green Indian ringneck
Flight: Yes

Re: My parrot wont eat from my hand

Postby hazukilynch » Wed Aug 10, 2016 12:30 am

Wolf wrote:I apologise for misunderstanding what you meant by free flighted. Since he lives cage free it makes sense that you can't try my last suggestion. Have you tried offering the treat held between the thumb and forefinger with it being offered to the bird at just above the birds head height so that it reaches upwards just a little to take the treat? Another thing you could try if the bird likes fruits or vegetables is to cut some into long strips that you can offer to him so that your hand is further back.

Treats can make training easier for many birds, they all like to be rewarded for doing the thing that you are asking of them. But treats are not your only option. I have a Grey parrot that will absolutely not accept a treat as a reward for doing anything that I ask her to do, she just gets mad at me if I offer her a treat for doing something. She will, however, accept having her beak rubbed or her head scratched in return for doing something that I ask of her. She will take a treat and even ask for another one as long as it is freely given without my having asked anything of her.




Oh alright ill try the fruit strips method i hope it will work.. also yes he accepts me petting his head at sometimes too so i hope these r good signs. Im very newbie sorry this is my 1st bird ever so im too nervous and scared i might hurt him unconciiusly
hazukilynch
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Types of Birds Owned: Green Indian ringneck
Flight: Yes

Re: My parrot wont eat from my hand

Postby Wolf » Wed Aug 10, 2016 7:39 am

Your bird is really going to need to learn to eat a much wider variety of foods than just sunflower seeds and apples or it is going to end up getting sick from malnutrition, or some other diseases like liver disease, kidney failure or heart disease. Part of your job is to teach this bird what to eat, every parrot in the world, in the wild learns this from its parents. The ones that grow up in captivity have to learn it from their human caregiver. Parrots will nearly always want to eat what you are eating, although it may take many attempts at getting them to try a new food, if you keep trying, the bird will begin to eat more of the foods that it sees you eating. They also learn to eat new foods by eating with their flock as the sharing of food in the flock is a social event as well as a bonding activity.

As for the seed mix that you have, I would begin by removing most of the sunflower seeds from it and putting them aside for training purposes and letting him learn to eat the seed mix. This will help to improve his diet but an all seed diet is still not a good diet for any parrot and just getting him to eat them will not prevent him from falling victim to any of the diseases that I have already mentioned.

I would prepare a couple of different fruits and vegetable for him each morning before he gets anything else to eat. I would cut a small amount into strips and enough for all day into small pieces for him to eat on all day long. I would then sit with him and start nibbling on the strips of fruits and vegetables while he is watching you eat them. While you eat them you should make noises that tell him just how wonderful these foods are. At this time I would not offer any of them to him and I would make him work at getting the smallest of bites of these foods ( this is how his parents would have done this). They would make him steal a piece of the food, they would make it easy for him to steal it, but still make him want it enough to steal it. It does not matter if he actually eats it at this time or if he spits it out. Then I would leave the dish of fruits and vegetables where he can have it all day long. Then for now, I would let him have the seed mix and fill his crop with that and then put the seeds away, let him eat the raw fruits and vegetables during the day and then feed him the seed mix again for his dinner and again put what he does not eat away so he will be hungry in the morning when you offer him fresh raw produce again. Once he begins to eat these foods I would then start adding some partly cooked whole grains to the morning seed mix. and mixing it half and half and then leaving that for him to eat all day along with the produce. Gradually add more different whole grains and vegetables to the morning seed mix while reducing the amount of the seeds until their are no seeds in the morning feedings. Then I would start adding a small amount of fully cooked lentils and fully cooked navy beans to the morning mix. This is the homemade food that we call gloop here on this forum. This is what I feed all of my birds. Fresh raw produce and gloop in the mornings and for all day and then a seed mix in the evening.

All of my birds have cages, but I still would not worry about how long it takes to get your bird to eat a healthy diet, it is going to take some time and with a single bird living cage free it may take longer than it takes for my birds and I do this every day and have done so for the last four years, I just consider it as an ongoing part of giving them good care. It is also a bonding period for us. This is one of the most beneficial things that you can start doing for your bird at this time.
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