Bonding progress

[Hannes]

Hey birdlovers,

It's been a while since I posted anything on this forum.
Today our flock consist of (birdwise), 1 budgie, 1 cocatiel and recently a kakariki that flew into a neighbour'a apartment.

We've had our budgie, Yoshi , for 1.5 years, he is 2 years of age.
The cocatiel, Muffins , has been with us since January, and she is 9 months old.
The Kakariki is believed to be 14 years, if the numbers on his ring (2996) states when he was born (?)

Bonding progress (how far along are we?)

Yoshi can say a few words that we've taught him, he seeks our company, by flying to us, streching his little neck as far as he can to be picked up. If he is in the cage he jumps up on the cage wall for us to come and talk to him.
Once he sits on my finger, i can rub my nose against his beek and belly, and he goes into some kind of cose-trance , he nibbles on my cheek and eyebrowses.

Muffin also steps up without hesitation, and during the day she seeks our company by comming to my GF and rubbing her beak agains her cheek. She also archs her little body and lets out a little squeek, and wants to get petted gently on her back. She is very curious, checks out everyting that we have, plays around with ropes, headphones, toys, anything she can get her claws around

Both come close to us and puffs up, tucks one leg in and seems to be enjoying life, napping or just observing.

Now, a few thoughts and observations:

Yoshi the budgie seems perfectly calm around me, can sit on my shoulder, finger, chest etc, but as soon as I try to touch him with my fingers, on his belly or wings, he gets really uncomfortable and agitated. He let´s out a little uncomfortable purr and sometimes he lashes out at it.
Also, what seems to be overexcitement, he can when he sits on my finger and i am talking to him and rubbing my nose agains him, suddenly bite my nose multiple times, and hard. Or if he is on my finger he can all of a sudden start biting my hand in the same fashion. After that he gets a little agitated and usually flies away.

Muffins, the cocatiel, has never bitten us, although she can do some fake biting attempts when we come to pick her up or try to pet her on the belly. She lets out a little sound and opens her beak, lashes out but never bites, just picks with the top part of her beak (?) at our finger.

Now to the questions:

How do we move forward in our bonding process without losing to much of their trust. When we ask in pet stores, the general answer is, just pet them, and keep trying to, eventually they'll accept it...
I know, you could probably try with millet spray, moving your finger/hand closer and give them a treat when they do not lash out at it....are there any other techniques, perhaps ones that reinforces their trust to the level that they know that we are not out to hurt them.

I've seen millions of clips where owners swing their bird around, lays it on its back, pets them all over, and the bird ejoys it to death

The progress we've achieved up until now is just by letting them be around us, feeding them, talking to them, giving them toys and letting them take baths (which they love).

Cheers,

/Hannes

[JacobBird]

I'll say to build your bird's trust, just spent lots of time with the birds. You don't have to like pet them or anything, just your bird staying next to you. Training like "shake" "nod" "wave" I believe will also build your bird's trust (:

[koizma]

I think its a matter of recognizing when they're comfortable and when they need a momment. Although many cases with bird owners can be fairly individual based on the birds personality ( my friend had a budgie that liked to hop everywhere, where as mine was more content to just cuddle ) there are steps required to shape that bond. The way I'm going about it with my conure right now is about imaging my hand being a predator to her. When she sees my hand out stretched or opened I assume that instead of seeing it as a part of me, the way the hand looks is as if it is something in itself. Knowing that I slowly try to introduce her to stepping up on one finger with my middle finger open below it. This progresses to the point where she jumps onto my whole hand palm down but open; We are at the point where shes fine crawling around it palm up. With all this step by step progression shes finally letting me put one index finger near her for scratches. I try to keep in mind that instinctively she doesn't want to interact with something that looks like a boney octopus, but I want her to intellectually understand that this will benefit both of us through cooperation. As soon as she doesn't want to participate I let her do her own thing so that she trusts that I'm not forcing her, and thus further build her confidence with me.

And naturally throughout all these steps I'm encouraging her and blinking slowly. Rosalynn isn't one for treats so much, but affection does work for her.
This is of course my own approach! you must find what works best for you and your bird!

[Hannes]

Thank you for your input!

Yes, birds, like humans are very different from eachother, and contempt with very different things.

Yoshi and Muffins are both pretty used to us being around, they, like i said, seek our company by flying to us, sitting on us, preening on us and chirping on one foot, even sleeping on us.

It's just that we'd like to take it to "the next step" which in our case would be petting them, giving them head scratches etc... but how does one go about achieving this?

When Muffins, the cocatiel, is busy eating on something or playing with something she doesn't care if she has to stick her head into my hand, or if my hand touches her head or body, but, if she isn't occupied by something, she doesn't want our hands or fingers on her...having our faces close is fine, but once it comes to hands and fingers they are both very unsure...not scared, but very unsure to use it other than something to sit on or fly to...

Any good tips on how to go about familiarizing them even more to our weird hands and fingers?
or is it the good ol' : put yout hand closer and closer to them while giving them treats that will do it?

Cheers!

/Hannes

[pennyandrocky]

treats are good for getting them to like our hands. i always let a new bird explore my fingers on their own before i start trying to handle them. i just lay my hands out flat without moving and they come over and rub their head on them.mya used to grab my fingers with her beak or feet to bend them or tap my knuckles with her beak to see what it sounded like she seemed fasinated for a while with figuring out how they worked.penny won't let me pet him but if i make a little tent with my fingers he'll crawl in and rub his head on them.

[Hannes]

So basically, lay my hand palm up with som treats and let them eat out of my hand?

that will associate my palm with treats -> palm = good
they will also notice my fingers while not using them as a perch.

Muffins, our gently explores my fingers while she sits on my hand, or if i am holding some treat with my fingertips.

So, i'll do this for a while, getting them used to my entire hand and not just my finger as means of transportation or sitting on.

What will be the step after that?


Cheers,

Hannes

[Loveyou1969]

Well, I've got a new process. Let get used to you than take a millet you know the ones sticked together than feed it to then stop and move your fingers closer each time then use step up with the millet spray move your up to that ,too. Un til your finger is entirely at the top then don't use the millet spray just use your hands keep on doing step up with your hand and soon you will be able to pet and will like it!!!!!

[janetafloat]

I've only had my tiel for 3 weeks. When I got him he would step up but was not tame beyond that. After a few days he started biting at me, then biting me, every time I asked him to step up. I was confused because the breeder told me to handle him often, but reading on here and other sites made me realise I was pushing him too much. So I backed off a bit and didn't force him, but treated him when he did step up and not threaten or bite. That helped things a lot. Then I progressed to moving my index finger very slowly toward him (aiming at his beak), stopping if he looked uncomfortable and keeping my finger there, and moving fractionally closer when he'd settled. Then I'd treat him for not biting/threatening. Within one session I got to touch his head without any problem. By the next day he was letting me stroke the top of his head. Over the next few days I continued stroking his head and treating and now am working on touching his body using the same approach, and was able to rest my hand on his back briefly today. The biting/threatening has almost stopped completely, and I think I've got better at noticing when he's uncomfortable and giving him a little more time or space when required.
This evening he lowered his head for the first time and engaged in a good old scritching! I'm thrilled.

I use millet, which he loves.

Hope you're making progress!