Millet for Motivation?

[Titanius]

I've come to understand millet spray as a form of reward. But you often see millet readily available in bird cages as a add on to whatever the bird is already eating. How can millet be a reward when it's something the bird can have as much as it wants in the cage? Should I just let the bird get used to it and then later reserve it as a treat? Thanks in advance

[Michael]

Yes. Don't serve the millet spray in the cage and use it only as a treat.

[bmsweb]

I initially left millet spray in the cage for 2 days. This was purely to allow my Cockatiel to discover it and acquire a taste for millet spray, after which it was removed. I then used it as a treat during target training. My bird could take a treat and not get too close to my hand. I started using a smaller and smaller millet spray stick until my bird would eat directly from my hand.

I now using Red Millet, which is just the seeds. The good thing about this is I can run longer training sessions and there is no fear of him over eating.

Good Luck with it all.

[Titanius]

Thanks guys. He hasn't touched any of his seeds and has only been eating the millet. Is there anything I can do about this?

[bmsweb]

At the point where he knows what the millet is, which he's worked out now. Take the millet spray out of the cage and give him his normal food. I assume this is seed mix and some fruit and veggies.

Its also worth observing when your bird eats. My Cockatiel will eat at 7am, 11am, 3:30pm and 8pm. These are just the times he normally eats. There is no point in me trying to target train etc just after he's eaten. Try to do his training just before he's due to eat and all should go pretty smoothly.

Make sure you read the section on taming on this forum. It pretty much has everything step by step for you.

Remember no more millet left in the cage, you are the only one to feed him this.

Cheers
Paul

[Titanius]

Just as you say that like clock work he's eating the normal food and the millet is now out of the cage.I'll be sure to swing by that section next. Thanks guys!

[Titanius]

I've been offering the millet to my cockatiel but he doesnt seem to care about it. Could it be that he's too full to care? Since I usually replenish his food supply when I get home from school. So technically he has the whole day to eat . Am I being somewhat conter-productive in wanting him to eat the millet if he's been eating relatively un-interrupted the whole day?

[Michael]

Yes. Try taking the food away for 3 hours after you get back prior to training. See if that helps. If not, try a bit more each day for up to 6 hours without food. If it's still not working then it's not the hunger but either distaste for millet or you are doing something wrong. Don't go more than 3-4 hours if the bird is still a baby.

[Titanius]

As a followup. Jasper did eventually become used to taking millet. And he will now go out of his way to come for it when he's being rewarded during our training sessions. Everytime he touches the pointer he drops his head a little in expectation so I can say he is pretty motivated now. Thanks guys. All it took was time. Oh yeah and patience.