I have a IRN and im completely in the dark

[Niccijt05]

Hi,

Three days ago I rehomed my brothers IRN as he had to move but couldn't take Pauly with him. Ive had budgies wen i was very young but never a parrot. I took pauly on as i didn't want him to end up with someone who may mistreat him or not care for him.

Pauly is still timid of me and ive moved his cage to sit next to me each nite and talk to him all the time, but hes very reluctant to be my friend. He was about to come down on his perch while I was on here looking around the forum but as soon as i turned to look at him and spoke to him to with encouragement to come down, he went straight bk up the cage again. Hes watching me and looks at me but wen i turn to him he looks away. Wen i open his cage door he flutters all over the place and i want to gain his trust and him to become a part of the family.

How can I gain his trust to the point that he will come out the cage and feel he is part of our family now? if anyone can give me some good advice i wold really love that.

Wen my brother took him on i think he may have been mistreated, or not looked after properly, my brother got to the stage where he came out the cage, so i would like to be his new best friend and to trust me totally xx
love me and my new Pauly
xxxxx

[charlieandkiwi]

The number one step, in my opinion, to gaining a parrots trust is to get them to start "calling" back and forth with you. There are two ways this happens (and that might not be the right term for what I'm trying to communicate).

1. You can do it verbally.

2. You can do it with body language.

It's totally up to the bird which happens first.

The first step to this is to carefully watch and listen to them out of the corner of your eye. Notice what sounds they make, notice the way they move when they're excited, how they sway their bodies, how they open their eyes, how they stretch their necks.

Next, from across the room, start to imitate some of these movements while somewhat looking at them, but not eyeing them like a predator. You can be looking at your book and suddenly let out a little cheep. Or he can let out a little trill and without staring at him, you trill back. When he makes an excited noise, you make one back. When he dances, you dance back. When he head bobs, you do too.

Your first success will be when he starts doing this stuff back and forth with you. Even if he still doesn't trust you, you've started to interact with him in a way that's fun and he can be a safe part of. He feels that instead of you making him do something, he can make you do something and that something is an awful lot like regular bird behavior. Also, he's probably very lonely, as bird's spend all of their wildlife surrounded by tons of noisy flockmates, so the sad truth is that he'll probably take any contact like this that he can get.

In addition, start talking to him in different tones of voice. Different birds like different stuff, but I've found that most birds love animated, high-pitched baby talk where they are told how cute they are. You know you're doing it right if you sound like an idiot and the bird starts getting all fluffy. Kuddos if you can get a tail-shake, a fluff-out, and a wing-raise. My birds are HUGE suckers for the baby talk and my actually prefers it to food treats.

Post back in here with your progress on this. You can establish a great relationship from across the room and once he's having a lot of fun with you, take it to a bit closer.

[Pricey_boy]

When you give him any seed you can pick out all the sunflower seeds and feed them to him after a few days and target train him through the bars or puting your hand through the cage door.
If you can get your hand near him it's best to target train with your finger and they learn to trust your hands and If you can't than use a chopstick or a sraw for a few day

I just started target training with my new baby I used my finger now he doesn't mind my hands now and I've only had him for 2 weeks but I don't use a clicker because with new birds who aren't you'd to there new environment get very startled by it.

But do this if interaction doesn't help

[Niccijt05]

Thank you, i will try and try, as i think hes brilliant and my daughters love him each morning, they have taken to sitting with him at breakfast time.

While i was sat with his cage right next to me last night i had put some dried bananas and a few nuts in his bowl as a treat and he plucked up the courage to come down to his bowl which was right next to me to retrieve them, once he got them he went back off again. I was sat on the laptop and put a few IRN's talking and making noise, hoping he might make some noise, he didn't but he was very intrigued looking round to look at the screen.

He doesn't talk at the moment or even make a noise while im there, how can i coax him to even sqwark at me? Ill def try across the room and interact like that.

Also my brother isn't sure how old he is, he was told around 1, if thats the case when will I know if I actually have a boy or girl? because there is def no ring at the moment around the neck, when will it appear or should it be there now?

Thanks again
xxxx

[charlieandkiwi]

Thank you, i will try and try, as i think hes brilliant and my daughters love him each morning, they have taken to sitting with him at breakfast time.

While i was sat with his cage right next to me last night i had put some dried bananas and a few nuts in his bowl as a treat and he plucked up the courage to come down to his bowl which was right next to me to retrieve them, once he got them he went back off again. I was sat on the laptop and put a few IRN's talking and making noise, hoping he might make some noise, he didn't but he was very intrigued looking round to look at the screen.

He doesn't talk at the moment or even make a noise while im there, how can i coax him to even sqwark at me? Ill def try across the room and interact like that.

Also my brother isn't sure how old he is, he was told around 1, if thats the case when will I know if I actually have a boy or girl? because there is def no ring at the moment around the neck, when will it appear or should it be there now?

Thanks again
xxxx

When does he vocalize? Does he make any movement while he's around you? Is there anywhere you can sit in the room where he can see you but seems to move around and calm down more?

If he trills with you are on the other side of the house, try trilling back (although be careful with this because it can turn into a contact call and if it's a loud scream, that'll be hard to fix). If he never makes any noise, I would be a little worried.

I also make kissy noises, clucks, and talk in a little baby voice to my parrots. The first thing they normally learn to "say" is two clucks of the tongue and a kiss noise. Then they switch back and forth with me. I'll make two clucks, they'll make a kiss noise, and then switch by making to clucks themselves and I make a kiss noise. I'll try to post a video of my bird Charlie doing this. It's one of his favorite things of all time. He would do it for hours if I didn't get bored.

On the other hand, your bird may still be just getting a feel for you. The fact that he came down and took the food is great! Don't be worried that he retreated. Is he watching you closely when you make noise? Does he seem scared by it or intrigued?

Are there any noises that you can softly make that he seems to enjoy? (you can tell because they relax their feathers. A scared bird holds their feathers tight against their body and freezes a little. A relaxed bird relaxes their feathers like this and looks around it's room at normal speed.

This is wary: http://image.shutterstock.com/display_p ... 911378.jpg

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/birds/p ... e3_med.jpg

This is chill:
http://www.scarletmacawpetshop.com/img/ ... rakeet.jpg

this is a parrot who isn't too scared and is interested in what you're doing:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0J3jCokvLbE/U ... rakeet.jpg

[pennyandrocky]

it's only been a few days and you're the 3rd home the is trying to figure out what's going on/why he keeps getting moved around. they become very attached to us and the more their moved the harder it is for them to trust us.just keep talking to him and like your daughter eat with him that's what flocks do. let him come to you don't try to rush him.

[Pricey_boy]

he could bond to you in as little as a few days or as long as a few months its all up to him go at his speed and at any time he starts feeling uncomftorble than just come back again later and try again and start target training

[Niccijt05]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your feedback.

Firstly he hasn't made any noise as yet towards me, or the girls, im clucking at him, kissing, talking in diff tones, I know he is intruged definately as his head is cocked, he looks round at me, then if i look at him and talk he'll turn his head. So i know he's intrigued.

Pauly's feathers differ, sometimes they are tight to him, but he does ruffle them up and they are quite loose sometimes.

I know he's gaining confidence as hes sat on his perch more, rather than clinging to the side of the cage. However im sure in the night he must cling to the side of the cage to sleep, cause when i turn the light on hes theres!!! I dont hear him fly up so I just think he must.

But also can anyone tell me how I sex him? When will the ring appear around his neck if he's male?

Thanks
Nicci &
xx

[Pricey_boy]

If he's clinging to the side of the cage at night it's ok a lot of birds sleep like that their not going out of their way to do it their comftorble because his feet lock into place

If he's a male hell get a ring at about 18 months old or if she's a female than wont get the ring at all you'll just have to wait for the ring or if you don't want to wait you can get him DNA sexed at your vet it doesn't cost that much

If his eyes are put black than he would be under 6mnths old but if his eyes are normal than he's older than 6mnths

[Pricey_boy]

Where it says put black I meant pure black

I got auto corrected on my ipad