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Please help

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

Please help

Postby Sam&Josie » Mon Oct 24, 2016 4:34 am

Hi all and hello

I'm hoping someone could help me as we are new parrot owners.
On the day we brought Archie home my wife went to put him in the cage and through no fault of her own wasn't able to get Archie in and he ended up on top of the cage. We tried to bribe him in but this did not work. He seemed friendly as he would stand on both our shoulders and was happy to take sunflower seeds from us.
A number of hours pasted and it was getting late so we did all we could to try and get him in the cage but none of the advice we read online worked. With no other option I had to use a towel to throw over him and put him in the cage. Since then he has been very doubious of me and won't come near me out of the cage. In the cage he allows me to scratch his head and beak through the bars but out of the cage flys away. My wife has made a strong bond with him as she has more time at home than I do. Since then there has been 1 other occasion where I have had to be the baddie and get Archie into his cage. All other times he has gone back in either on his own or via my wife putting his food in.
Archie even let our nephew handle him on their first meeting. If fact Archie took a couple of sunflower seeds from him and went straight on to his arm when asked to step up.
As you can imagine this is very upsetting and not to say frustrating as I am trying my hardest to build a good bond but it's not going to well.
Sam&Josie
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 4
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Galah cockatoo
Flight: Yes

Re: Please help

Postby liz » Mon Oct 24, 2016 6:03 am

Welcome to the forum.

I wish you had logged on before you brought your baby home. You, being a very big predator, took him from everything he ever new and put him in a strange place.
(I once took a neighbor kid with mine to the museum. When we got on the elevator to go to the next floor everything was okay. When the door opened and the others got out that kid went to the back of the elevator and would not come out. He had never been on an elevator before.) A situation like that is sort of what your bird is going through for everything around him.

Birds do not fly at night. They cannot see at night. Rambo does not like walking into a dark room. If it gets dark before he goes to his "nite nite" cage he will ask me for "help nite nite". Myrtle, who can really navigate the house at high speed, flew into a wall because she tried it in the dark.

I hope you parrot proofed the room he was in. It is much easier to pick up a bird once it gets tired and goes to ground or it gets dark. Try not to pick him up from below you. Predators attack from above. Once on the floor he can be scoop.
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liz
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Cockatiels: Shadow Tammy Flutter Phoenix Jackie
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Flight: Yes

Re: Please help

Postby Wolf » Mon Oct 24, 2016 6:17 am

I was going to welcome you to the forum in your post in the introduction section, when I saw that you were going to post a question, so I waited until I could read it .

Welcome to the forum and thank you for getting an older bird instead of one from a breeder, with the glut of unwanted birds in rescues all over this country and indeed the world, it helps, wish more people would consider this option.

I understand that you are new to the world of parrots and do not have a lot of experience, but that does not mean that you have not done any research, which is something that most of us with parrots do all of the time. We are actually only just now really beginning to learn very much about our parrots because although parrots have been kept captive for hundreds of years there was no research done on them until beginning about 25 years ago and for any of the longer term studies the results are just beginning to come in. We all still have a lot to learn about these wonderous creatures.

You did not say how long you have had Archie, but I am thinking that it has probably only been between 4 to 6 weeks and if this is close then it is very possible that he is still in what we call the honeymoon phase, during which he is likely on his best behavior, and it will probably change to some degree as he gats more accustomed to his new home environment.

Going by this particular post, I am also assuming that you were the one that wanted to have a bird in your lives the most, which would explain your feelings of rejection by Archie. All I can say about that is welcome to the world of parrots. They are intelligent, frustrating, comical and wonderfully fascinating friends to have, but they are each and everyone of them unique individuals and no one can predict who they will choose to be their special human. We have not event the foggiest of clues as to what they look for or see in the person that they choose or even if they will remain bonded to that person or if they will suddenly switch favorite humans. So if he has not chosen you as his favorite person don't feel bad about it.

While you may not be able to overly influence his choice in who his special human is, you can still gain his trust well enough to be included in his idea of who his flock is and sometimes that is the best that you can hope for and sometimes that is the best place to be. The larger parrots such as cockatoos tend to bond very strongly to their special person and when they do they very often want to spend all of their time with that person and since the actual nature of this bond is a mate bond they may also become very jealous and protective not only of this person, but also of what they consider to be their mated rights to this person. This can cause some issues if the bird sees their bonded human being too cozy with anther person as they may try to attack the offending person or if they can not get to the intruder they may attack their own special person in the attempt to keep that person from further contact with the intruding party. This is something that you should be very much aware of.

Unfortunately this is about the extent of my personal knowledge of cockatoos behaviors and hopefully one of the other members with more knowledge and experience with this species of parrot will step up with more information to help you.
Wolf
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Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Re: Please help

Postby Sam&Josie » Mon Oct 24, 2016 7:44 am

Thanks we have had Archie for 3 weeks now so I know the time period I'd short which is why I am looking for the advice. I would like to correct the damage done and build the trust so it does not become a problem. To answer the question it was my wife who wanted Archie the most hence why I was the baddie, to try and limit the damage to the trust she had built with him.
We have done lots of research and made the rooms parrot friendly and feel confident in Archie's safety but different places say different things regarding trust building so I was hoping someone could advise on how to help build the trust better
Thanks Sam
Sam&Josie
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 4
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Galah cockatoo
Flight: Yes

Re: Please help

Postby Wolf » Mon Oct 24, 2016 10:11 pm

In order to save on my typing time as it would take me a looong time to type this all out, here is a link that outlines the hand taming process right from the beginning. While this method was written for a bird that was only weaned and has just been brought to its first ever home other than the breeders or a pet store, it would not hurt to start with this method as a sort of refresher for the bird. If he has been hand tamed before he will progress through this very quickly and it does lay the foundation for the trust that needs to be built between the bird and its human.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=15840

Once you have taken your bird through this method successfully then move on to this link to continue with training and reinforcing the initial bond that you have started building.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=227

Also here is a link to Michael's Basic parrot training Guide. Just please be aware that this guide assumes that the steps outlined in my first link have been successfully completed by the bird.
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=3637
Wolf
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 8679
Location: Lansing, NC
Number of Birds Owned: 6
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal
African Grey (CAG)
Yellow Naped Amazon
2Celestial Parrotlet
Budgie
Flight: Yes

Re: Please help

Postby Sam&Josie » Tue Oct 25, 2016 3:16 am

Thanks wolf (and everyone else) for the advice and links. I will check them out and get on to so positive training.
Sam&Josie
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 4
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Galah cockatoo
Flight: Yes

Re: Please help

Postby Pajarita » Wed Oct 26, 2016 2:10 pm

If I were you, I would wait on the training. Parrots don't understand the concept of obedience, subservience or leadership so training them successfully can only be done if the bird is bonded to you and if you feed right -because they are only willing to do something out of love for us AND for the reward that needs to be a 'high value' item.
Pajarita
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