Scared parrot

[Mari]

I have just adopted my first parrot. He is a 28yr old blue fronted amazon and he has spent his years in a cramped filthy cage left outside with next to no human contact. He has feathers missing from his chest and looks untidy. I have had him for four days and after me sitting next to his cage and talking to him he is now no longer screaming at me. He is now taking treats from my hand inside the cage and steps up on a perch with some gentle persuasion. He bites if I get too close though. I just really need some advice on how to tame him further and what I can do to build some trust. Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks

[Andromeda]

I have just adopted my first parrot. He is a 28yr old blue fronted amazon and he has spent his years in a cramped filthy cage left outside with next to no human contact. He has feathers missing from his chest and looks untidy.

You are such a wonderful person for giving a neglected adult bird a new home. Both of my birds are re-homes (one is a rescue).

If he looks untidy it's either due to a poor diet (deficient in vitamins and minerals), feather mutilation, or both. The fact that he's missing feathers on the chest points to plucking but if you haven't observed him pulling out feathers it's possible the feathers fell out due to malnutrition.

The first thing you should do is bring the bird to an avian vet. He's 28 and who knows what kind of potential health problems he might have due to his original environment. Here is a link to a list of avian vets so you can find one in your area: Find an avian vet.

I have had him for four days and after me sitting next to his cage and talking to him he is now no longer screaming at me. He is now taking treats from my hand inside the cage and steps up on a perch with some gentle persuasion. He bites if I get too close though.

Sitting next to his cage and talking to him is the right approach with a new parrot. Well done. It's even better that he's taking treats from your hand and will step up onto a perch. That's actually an extremely impressive amount of progress in four days from a bird who was neglected or possibly abused.

It's very, very important to avoid a bite because it's easy to accidentally "reward" a bite without realizing you're rewarding it, and if the bite is rewarded, the parrot learns it was effective and will bite more often. If he's biting when you "get too close," don't "get too close" for now until you've worked more on taming.

I just really need some advice on how to tame him further and what I can do to build some trust. Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks

Here is a starting point: Basics of Parrot Taming and Training: The Complete Step by Step Guide for Beginners. I know it's a long post but it contains anything and everything you need to know about taming a parrot. If you have any more questions please post again and everyone here will do their best to help you.

Best wishes to you and your parrot and once again, thanks for giving a neglected parrot a better life.

[liz]

I have just adopted my first parrot. He is a 28yr old blue fronted amazon and he has spent his years in a cramped filthy cage left outside with next to no human contact. He has feathers missing from his chest and looks untidy. I have had him for four days and after me sitting next to his cage and talking to him he is now no longer screaming at me. He is now taking treats from my hand inside the cage and steps up on a perch with some gentle persuasion. He bites if I get too close though. I just really need some advice on how to tame him further and what I can do to build some trust. Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks

Since I believe birds have emotions you could try what I did with Myrtle. Open the cage door - he is no longer a prisoner. Even if he does not want to come out he knows he can.

Keep the cage in a high traffic area. Talk to him as you go by. If you adopted a kid with imotional problems you would not force your attention on him. You would wait and draw him out with curiosity.

Myrtle came to me clipped. When she would jump or fall of her cage she would come to me and climb up my pants leg to put her back. This is at a time when she was still afraid of being touched. Because I showed a loving interest in her without pushing she started to trust me. Now when she is not destroying something, eating or tormenting Rambo she is like a green feathered growth on my shoulder. She travels with me while I do my house work so she can supervise.

[Michael]

Since I believe birds have emotions you could try what I did with Myrtle. Open the cage door - he is no longer a prisoner. Even if he does not want to come out he knows he can.

Whether or not they have emotions becomes entirely moot when you apply a behavioral approach. This involves directly monitoring for feedback in the increase/decrease of selected behavior. Whether or not the parrot "likes" what we call positive reinforcement or it just mechanically increases the behavior with complete absence of emotion/awareness doesn't matter. Simply speaking, using a behavioral positive reinforcement approach works. Maybe it appeals to an emotion or it works more directly. But either way, it can be demonstrated through results and the animal complies voluntarily.

[Mari]

Thanks for your advice. The basic parrot training site has been a great help. I'll keep you posted!!!

[liz]

Since I believe birds have emotion
This is my belief and not another debate
I beleive birds have emotions you could try what I did with Myrtle. Open the cage door - he is no longer a prisoner. Even if he does not want to come out he knows he can.[/quote]

Whether or not they have emotions becomes entirely moot when you apply a behavioral approach. This involves directly monitoring for feedback in the increase/decrease of selected behavior. Whether or not the parrot "likes" what we call positive reinforcement or it just mechanically increases the behavior with complete absence of emotion/awareness doesn't matter. Simply speaking, using a behavioral positive reinforcement approach works. Maybe it appeals to an emotion or it works more directly. But either way, it can be demonstrated through results and the animal complies voluntarily.[/quote]

[Mari]

Quick update on smudge....after a few nasty bites he will now step up on my arm (as long as he can't see my hands lol and spends hrs cuddled up on my lap playing with his toys. He's come on in leaps and bounds in just a couple of weeks. His feathers are looking better n his claws have warn down. Thanks for all your advice!!