My indian ring neck wont take any food from my hand.

[Anatema]

Hi Everyone!

I have got an Indian ring neck parrot , that is around 3-4 years old, I call him Charlie now.
I´ve had him for one week now but the owner before didn´t work with him at all,and just had him inside the cage all the time, so when I got him, he was afraid and just wanted to fly away when I tried to touch him or get him on my finger.

But he is a very kind and clever bird so after one week he now steps up to my finger, and I can touch him sometimes like, when he sitts in a corner and has no oportunitty to fly away, but he doesent react with aggression, like bitting and stuff, he is really kind.

The only "Problem" is that he refuses to take or eat any food from my hand. I tried to leave him without food up to 8hours but he wont take any food even of that.
I´ve tried to feed him inside the cage but that does neither work.

Hope you can help me and finde a solution for this thing, so I can continue to train him with the clicker and give him award after that, wich is impossible now when he refusses to take any food from me!

thanx a llot

Respect Anatema!

[Michael]

Considering you've only had him a week, he may not have settled in enough yet to be eating normally. How well is he eating on his own when you don't take the food away?

Here are a few things you can try. You can take the food away for a few hours (8 is a bit much if you just got the bird, ok after it is eating normally), and then put the food bowl in. If you see the bird go to eat the food, you can put your hand over the cup and put the food on your hand. So the bird might take the food from your hand as it is trying to access the food cup. Another thing to try is to discover what treats it likes best. I'm not sure if they like millet spray but that is a very good treat to offer remotely.

[Anatema]

Hi Michael, And first of all thnx for the fast reply!

Well he eats normally by he´s own, like 6 or more times a day and drinks normally, But while he is eating if I get to close to the cage he stops eating and just waits untill I move away and than continue.
I tried with spray millet he likes it alot but only when I leave it inside the cage and when Im not to close to the cage.

You may understand how hard it is for me, I really want him to eat and feel secure from my hands because otherwise he is really kind and never bittes!

respect Anatema.

[Michael]

Alright, in that case, try to find how far you need to be in order for him to eat on his own. Let's say if you stay 15ft away he eats but if you get 14ft he stops eating until you leave. Well get a lightweight or roller chair and set it up 15ft away. Get a book or something and just sit there while he eats. Don't even pay him much attention. Be sneaky about edging the chair closer quietly so that by the time he's done eating, you may actually be 13ft without him realizing. Keep practicing this until he is comfortable eating in your presence.

Their sense of self preservation outweighs hunger so of course they won't eat if they are fearful of getting eaten themselves. You'll have to build his confidence about eating in your presence prior to you getting him to eat out of your hand using some techniques previously mentioned. Just keep working your way closer and closer slowly until he eats with you there. It may take time but believe me it will be super worthwhile!

[Anatema]

Thanx Michael! I will work on that, and I´ll be back with good progression reply hoppefuly after some days!

Thanx once again.

Respect Anatema!

[Imran Ahmed]

Oh and be patient and be nice to your parrot. I've got the same breed but mine is hand feb. The particular of this breed is that they are aggressive if they don't trust you. SO the first thing, as Micheal suggests, is that you should build a trust between you and your parrot so that he can let you be near him while you feed him. The more trust you have with your parrot the more he's going to be relax around you. Cheers!