Anyone tamed a parent raised bird

[KittGCC]

My neighbour has passed away and wrote her conure in my name , I like the bird and have birds of my own which were all hand reared.

Is it possible to tame this bird?

It only accepts treats through the bars of its cage but bites when I try and handle it

[Michael]

Definitely.

[Eurycerus]

Glad that Michael gave that the thumbs up :] It's probably just going to take more time and patience than a parrot that is more used to humans.

You sure know a lot of people that pass away and will their parrots to you! I only know one family friend who owns a parrot. Seems pretty rare for people to have parrots here.

[marie83]

Yes it is possible and you already have a really good start because the parrot will accept food from you. I suggest reading Michaels articles on his trained parrot blog and slowly start putting it into practice. Be confident but don't push things too much, don't rush and always go back a step or two if your bird shows a bad reaction.
Progress can be really slow at times, painfully slow in fact. I've tamed several parent raised/abused birds and some will take only a few days/weeks and others can take years. My latest one is still nervy 5 years on but the improvements are starting to come thick and fast now, she was really badly abused, its been one step forward and several backwards alot of the time but now we are taking a few steps forward and just one or two steps back. Patience and consistancy is the key, little and often is better than one big training session for most birds too I have found.

Good luck.

[Polarn]

Definitly possible! And as mentioned Michaels articles are a good read for you, since it accept treats even through the cagebars you could definitly clicker condition and then start targettraining (thats the route I would take) since then you have means to get her in and out of the cage without too much fuzz. also make sure to not have any foodbowls outside of the cage if you want him/her to go back in by it self, and make sure to have plenty of time on your hands, even if you just let it out it is most likely going back into the cage before the day has ended to eat (but make sure it is conftible in its surroundings first). but yeah backtrace old posts and read throug hthe training blog, and as mentioned accepting treats already will make it easier.

[BertieBird]

Hey there!

My GCC, Bertie, I bought in May from a (I now realise) awful pet shop in May.
I've worked with him so much in the last few months, giving up all my spare time out of college to him, even missing nights out because I feel mean leaving him.

I spent a lot of frustrating time trying to get him to 'step up' onto my finger, which resulted in a lot of flipping hard bites. Drawing blood every time.

I actually gave up teaching him to step up and became content with him stepping up onto my forearm and getting him to fly to me using stick training (which he picked up on easily) when I couldn't reach.

I slowly got him to trust me and he slowly began to let me scratch his head. It came about as a result of snuggling in bed with him on mornings, and slowly he'd get sleepy enough to let me touch him. That recently led on to stroking his back.

Only two weeks ago he stepped up onto my finger of his own accord to get my fruit juice, and since then he's picked up on 'stepping up' without fail. He still bites me, but only to hold onto my finger in an 'Oi, naff off' fashion. It never hurts and I'm happy to stroke him without looking now.

Last week I flipped him onto his back for the first time and he'll now lie back happily in my hand. He even let me clip his nails without screaming/freaking.


Either Bertie is very lovely, or yes, you can most definitely tame parent raised birds.

[Taytortots]

It's absolutely possible, with a lot of patience.
I had a Quaker when I was younger, her old owner could no longer keep her due to medical issues (she couldn't devote the time and was sick often). This was my moms coworker, so that's how we got her. She was very attached to her previous owner and they had a clear strong bond. It took time to get her to warm up to us, but she eventually did. I would put in a lot of time just talking to her, sitting around her cage, whistling or singing. My new Green cheeked conure was not hand raised and had next to no contact with humans. It's been a little over a week since I got her, and she is now stepping up, likes to be scratched, and fallen asleep on my hand. We bonded through me singing to her and just talking to her from outside of her cage. Find something she likes and do it with her.
I don't know much about training, because I'm trying to figure it out myself now, so I can't offer insight on how that could help.
Best of luck,

[Khaiqha]

My first bird ever was a parent raised IRN, which as a species is known to not tame easily (which I think is bs).

It took a month for us to become best friends.

I taught him to fetch, play dead, roll over, do a weird version of hide and seek, etc. He would lay in my hands. This was all when I was 12 and didn't know anything about clicker or target training. I have full confidence that any non-horribley abused bird can be tamed, parent raised or not. I actually prefer parent raised birds who are handled a lot when they're young. Oh, and my IRN was flighted.

Also, birds learn pretty well be watching other birds. My second IRN taught my roommate's GCC and Cockatiel a bunch of tricks and whistles, and his GCC taught his Cockatiel that it's ok to be petted. And they all taught his budgie that stepping us is ok too.