He won't Stay on his Perch

[Kiyomi1793]

Hello (: I got an 11 week old Green Cheek Conure from a breeder last week. He's a sweet bird and barely bites. The problem is, when I take him out of his cage to give him nuts, he won't stay on his perch for longer than 5-10 seconds before flying onto my shoulder. The breeder ALWAYS had her conures on her shoulders so I blame this on her. I need to extinguish this behaviour so that I can train him to perform tricks in the future. I've tried to constantly return him to his perch but he flies back. So what should I do? I have a clicker already, if it'll help. I don't know if he's too young to train.

Also, would it be okay to let him come onto my shoulder AT ALL during the day? I admit (guiltily) that I let him sit on my shoulder for an hour or two each day before I realized what I was encouraging. Thank you!

[marie83]

I think you will find hand reared Green cheeks are pretty clingy birds by nature. I don't think anything will ever be better than their owners company in their opinion. We made Ollie a playstand and he barely uses it even though its packed with exciting toys. He does use it occasionally to bash a bell about or use his foraging toys but he never stays there for very long at all.

What tricks are you planning on teaching him? Are you planning on using a clicker or using verbal phrases to bridge between command and treat? Whichever your planning you need to get him used to these before you start perch training, following on by target and step ups.

I haven't yet trained Ollie to stay on a perch for any period of time but if I was to start I would probably use the same approach as with the dogs that I've had. Start by putting him on the perch and staying with him. Reward him with praise, treats and head scratches. When he tries to climb back onto you put him straight back on the perch. Keep these sessions very short and progress to slightly longer periods of time. Stop the session before he loses interest.
Once your GCC is happy with this then put him on the perch and take one small step backwards. If he stays put step back towards him and give him praise, treats and attention. Repeat this until he no longer tries to get back to you. You can then increase the period of time slowly before you step back fowards to reward him. I suggest you dont turn your back to him whilst stepping away so he knows he still has your attention.
When you get to this point you can then take two steps back, repeat the same process by going back to him immediately to start with until he 'gets it' that you want him to stay there. Then increase the time before you go back to him. Then try 3 steps, four steps away and so on until he will stay there when your the other side of the room.

Even with this he will not want to stay there by himself for very long at all but it should give you a good basis to start recall training etc. Hopefully someone else will have a better suggestion but not having done it myself thats how I would go about it. Like I said though he will probably always prefer to be with you so I dont think it will be possible to get him to stay there whilst you do other things but for short periods of time it should work well.

I would also wait til he is a bit older before you try to train anything more than step up and target. At 11 weeks old they don't have much enthusiasm for training as everything else is still pretty new, exciting and distracting to them. Take things at your birds pace and don't expect too much.

Regarding him being on your shoulder, beware the nippy stage. Ollies had my ears several times and just under my eye at one point. I would advise keeping him off your shoulder until you know your bird alot better and know how to handle him 100% confidently and read his body language (million times harder when you cant see the bird on your shoulder lol). A single bite on the face breaks down trust so much faster than repeated bites on the hand, even if the bite isn't that bad.

[Kiyomi1793]

Thanks for the reply! (: I plan to use a clicker and treats to train Casper. The tricks I have in mind are pretty simple, like wave and spin. Even a few tricks, like playing dead, that don't require a perch. Casper already knows 'step up' and 'step down'. The breeder teaches all her birds these two commands before they go to their new homes.

I'll try what you suggested and see how it goes!

[Andromeda]

Definitely try Marie's suggestion regarding rewarding your bird for staying on a perch. As she mentioned, though: your bird is very young so don't try to go to far with trick training right now.

My GCC is very similar in personality to Marie's in that he is very clingy. Maybe they are this way as a species. He has a foraging tree and sometimes he is a very good bird and he sits there happily but it's more likely that he's doing everything in his power to be on or near me or my husband.

If it was up to him I think he'd spend 95% of his waking hours cuddling my or my husband's hand, arm, ear, or neck. He's just a big ball of cuddles and love.

Whether or not you should let him on your shoulder is debatable. Some people, even experts, will tell you never, ever to let a bird sit on your shoulder because the bird has too much "power" on your shoulder and it can lead to aggression, bites on the neck or face, etc.

Personally I let my GCC sit on my shoulder but that's because I know he just wants cuddles and he doesn't get aggressive or out-of-control. I also trust him not to bite my face. Sometimes he'll start pinching my neck and if he does that I remove him and place him somewhere else. Usually he just leans into my neck, fluffs up, puts one foot up, and naps.

You said you did let him sit on your shoulder for a while? Was he good? If he's a good bird when he sits on your shoulder and he doesn't misbehave I'm of the personal opinion that letting him sit on your shoulder isn't bad---but as Marie mentioned, you run the risk of a bite on the face because I promise you that at some point your GCC will go through a nipping or even biting phase.