Bird laying on back in hand

[Kathleen]

I've been trying to work with my budgie on getting him to lay in my hand on his back without me holding him with my second hand. I've seen it done before in videos. People called it playing dead on their hand. I lay him on his back in one hand and I'm kind of holding his feet with the other, his feet are perching around my finger. He doesn't mind this. The problem is, he doesn't like when I let go of his feet. He keeps trying to hold his grip on my finger. He's very scared of me letting go.

It seems easier to teach a bigger bird to let go of fingers because you need multiple fingers to hold their feet and you let slowly go of one finger at a time during the long process. Duke only grips onto one of my fingers, basically. Maybe he won't ever let me hold him like that?

[Natacha]

I think regardless of size, you must first build on mutual trust.

I can hold Shade on her back in my hand and she'll just lay there. This did not happen overnight; she got more comfortable doing this as we got to know each other. It at least took a full year to want to do it without holding anything.

I do it sometimes with Joey. Can't tell you how proud I was the first time he allowed me to do it without holding my fingers. But he won't stay as long as Shade will.

[Michael]

Do all poicephalus enjoy laying on their backs or just Senegals?

Here's a video that shows Kili playing on top of her cage on her own. She enjoys rolling around and laying on her back for the hell of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_Fdc9bkWpQ

Of course she's also great at playing dead:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqQPvSj5Ido

[Natacha]

I've always heard and read that Poicephalus love being on their back, specially while playing.
I've seem Shade, Zuri and specially Joey play on their backs on a number of occasions, and occasionally Petey.

My dad once went downstairs to the bird room to find Shade lying on her back in her cage; he thought she had died..he went to see my mom, not wanting to alert me but I overhead. I went downstairs not panicking because I have heard they loved being on their backs and she was indeed just lying there, still alive and well. I told my dad that next time, he should verify up close how she's doing before coming to conclusions

Here is a video of Joey where he is playing. If you go through the entire video, you'll see him go on his back on a number of occasions; whether he's doing "limbo" on the table perch or just flipping on his back on his own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McTtehvBb-Y

[Michael]

Haha!!! I love how he flips over the perch and squeezes through underneath on his back!

The only problem with these pois liking to do this is that the flat surfaces where they can lay down are often the ones that catch their poo! Like the grate, bottom of climbing tree, top of cage, etc. I once grabbed Kili from her back and got poo all over my hands! She must have been laying down.

[Natacha]

Yeah that might happen.
However, I think I've found them most of their time on their back and clean than on their backs and dirty

[Kathleen]

If I let go of one foot, he only gets a little nervous, and mostly he tries to perch it back on my finger again. He keeps a tight grip. I guess it might just take some more time with him.

[localpigeon]

My birds target, wave, and fly to me when I call them but they hate being touched.

I would love to get my budgie to lie on my hand but he freaks out whenever I bring my other hand close to his back when he's on my finger. I think he thinks I'm going to grab him to give him medicine like I had to in the past.

What is the best way to desensitize that?

[Millsy]

Natacha thanks for showing that video sparked an idea for a perch that i can make

[Michael]

My birds target, wave, and fly to me when I call them but they hate being touched.

I would love to get my budgie to lie on my hand but he freaks out whenever I bring my other hand close to his back when he's on my finger. I think he thinks I'm going to grab him to give him medicine like I had to in the past.

What is the best way to desensitize that?

Flooding + positive/negative reinforcement. These techniques are discussed on some slightly different topics but apply in similar ways:

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