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Taming my parent raised Green Cheeked Conure

Discuss the methods and techniques of clicker training, target training and bonding. These are usually the first steps in training a young parrot.

Taming my parent raised Green Cheeked Conure

Postby Cryptobiosis » Wed Jan 16, 2013 3:44 pm

Hello there people. About a week ago, I bought a green cheeked conure which was parent raised.
Since then, I've been engaging in basic training and taming. At the moment, she is capable of targeting, and follows the wooden stick around most of her cage.
She also allows me to touch her, such as putting my hands around her and scratching her neck, althought she gets more receptive to this at night. (since she slept next to other birds, i guess she misses the touching)
The problem is, when she is left alone, she tends to start biting all of her cage, and manages to put her head outside the cage to bite it even more. Because of this, im getting a new cage with smaller openings. I also place many toys inside it, and althought she plays with them, she often keeps biting the cage.
Two days ago, I got scared because she started biting her feathers. I thought the releasing her around my room to fly a bit would help, and I guess I was right in the assumption, as since I started releasing her she seems to have stopped the biting her feathers constantly, although she sometimes, albeit rarely, still bites them a bit. I wish of course to stop this behaviour completely: how should i proceed?

Also, althought she targets well, she does not step up at all. My attempts to make her step up by placing the target stick too far for her to reach, and presenting her my finger in for her to lean enough so that she has to step on it, have failed since she reveals to interest in touch the stick as it is too far. I wonder if this is just a matter of repeating a hundred time until she gets it, or if there is a more apropriate technique in my case.
I can't lift her either, although im able to put my hands around her she does not release her talons from the perch and will resort to biting my hand a bit.

I am able to attract her towards the exit of the cage in order for her to come out, however when she does come out she just flies everywhere, and does not come back to the cage unless i take the cage and put it on top of her.

What do you guys recommend in my case? Thanks in advance :)
Cryptobiosis
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Types of Birds Owned: Green Cheeked Conure
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Re: Taming my parent raised Green Cheeked Conure

Postby cml » Wed Jan 16, 2013 4:04 pm

Also, althought she targets well, she does not step up at all. My attempts to make her step up by placing the target stick too far for her to reach, and presenting her my finger in for her to lean enough so that she has to step on it, have failed since she reveals to interest in touch the stick as it is too far. I wonder if this is just a matter of repeating a hundred time until she gets it, or if there is a more apropriate technique in my case.
I can't lift her either, although im able to put my hands around her she does not release her talons from the perch and will resort to biting my hand a bit.

Sounds like you are moving way too fast!
If she's only been there a week she needs to settle down first, then you can start slowly with training. I really recommend you to read Michael's training guide on trainedparrot.com.

That she is parentraised is only a benefit, they often develop to the most confident birds, and seems to have less chance of developing some of the bad habits parrots often do(but they still do if you teach them wrong ^^). It will not hinder training much, more than that it might take longer for her to trust you. Take it slower, and make sure she trust you, and work from there.

Take a few steps back, read Michael's guides, and if there's anything, ask away =)!
Stitch (WFA) and Leroy (BWP)
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cml
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Re: Taming my parent raised Green Cheeked Conure

Postby friend2parrots » Wed Jan 16, 2013 4:21 pm

agree with all what cml's written. also, please read the following thread, follow the advice given there, and read the links mentioned there. the situation is quite similar to yours:

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=9571

all the best, and let us know how it goes! :)
Ringo - Green Cheek Conure
Toby - Bourke Parakeet
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Re: Taming my parent raised Green Cheeked Conure

Postby marie83 » Wed Jan 16, 2013 4:50 pm

Agree with the others. Slow down, its a marathon not a sprint :)
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Re: Taming my parent raised Green Cheeked Conure

Postby pennyandrocky » Wed Jan 16, 2013 7:04 pm

what do mean she's biting his feathers? sorry if i'm misunderstanding you but are you sure she's not just preening? i'm also with the rest slow down and let her settle in.maybe take out some toys start with 1 or 2 at first.
pennyandmya
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Re: Taming my parent raised Green Cheeked Conure

Postby Cryptobiosis » Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:59 am

pennyandrocky wrote:what do mean she's biting his feathers? sorry if i'm misunderstanding you but are you sure she's not just preening? i'm also with the rest slow down and let her settle in.maybe take out some toys start with 1 or 2 at first.


No, actually she started really damaging her feathers. She seems to have reduced this lately, though.
Cryptobiosis
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Types of Birds Owned: Green Cheeked Conure
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Re: Taming my parent raised Green Cheeked Conure

Postby friend2parrots » Thu Jan 17, 2013 9:26 am

Cryptobiosis wrote:actually she started really damaging her feathers. She seems to have reduced this lately, though.


over-preening/feather damaging/plucking can have various causes. sometimes the cause is an underlying medical condition, which is why it is advisable to go to the vet to make sure nothing is wrong internally.

birds also over-preen/damage/pluck feathers when they are stressed, by either internal and/or external causes. the fact that your bird has stopped doing it so much is great, so hopefully it isnt internally induced (may still want to take her to the vet to be sure). but she is definitely going through externally induced stress, having just moved to a new home. my GCC, whom I'd had for 5 years no problems, went through a sudden similar feather-fixation when he got stressed from a spook-out. while he was in the cage, he did nothing but preen his favorite preening/cuddle toy. when he came out of the cage, all he did was attack his feathers. i'm going to describe below what really helped me deal with the situation.

the fact that your bird is already target trained is going to be useful to you. you may be able to prevent over-preening/feather damage/etc in the future, and reduce whats going on now, by installing a preening toy inside the cage (something with short, soft and silky strands -double check it for safety before installing), and then target train her, while she's in the cage, toward the toy, and then click and reward when she preens the toy. eventually she will do it on her own, and get really involved with it. this will distract her beak attention from her feathers onto her toy. when you have her out of the cage, you can set up little preening stations (areas with similar preening toys) around the room and target her toward them. she will go to them to preen them when she gets the urge. this is what I did, and i think it really helped to prevent my bird from damaging his feathers.
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