How do you get a bird to come out of the cage?

[marie83]

I couldn't feed Harlie either, she too was terrified, not just of hands but of people being in the same room. You are in a much better position than I was with Harlie. I have a very long post on here somewhere called Harlies progress if you wish to read it. his wont take Percy anywhere near as long as Harlie to tame down, he isn't abused and he is young.

Just sit as close as you can to the cage without him freaking, talk, sing or read to him quietly. Dont make any sudden movements or look at him directly too much, just quick glances to determine his comfort level.
Move closer little by little, as soon as he freaks out move back (a little bit until he is comfy again) and start again.
If he is already happy with you sat directly outside the cage then you can do a similar thing with your hands, sit with them on your lap, lift one a teeny tiny fraction, you can gradually, slowly lift higher and higher without him freaking out. When he is comfortable with hand movements you will be able to start offering food through the bars, just be patient, he will come eventually for his favorite foods but by god it doesn't half make your arms ache so make sure your comfy. Withdraw your hand before you get too achey cuz I can guarentee the moment you cant take any more is the moment your bird will decide it wants to come......

By the way if he is hungry and he only gets his favorite food for training only it will help motivate him. I dont agree with food management for babies but I think at his age it is acceptable to remove his food a couple of hours prior to training.

[Eric&Rebecca]

Oh he won't eat spray millet or honey sticks currently (although we persist). Only pellet mash and seeds, we are trying to introduce vegetables.

But what should come first, coming out of the cage or the hands? He really panics with hands and has bumped himself because of this (minor bruising to his left wing which is now healed perfectly), we were reaching in to clean a perch and he totally freaked.

When he's out of the cage he has less ways of flying into things in a confined space but then how do you get him back in... We can use a wooden dowel but again this feels to forceful.

Seems like a bit of chicken and egg.

[marie83]

Its difficult, I would say both but it depends on your circumstances. If he does come out before he is used to your hands let him come out on his own and go back in by himself. Don't let him out if your going to work later that day for instance because otherwise your going to have to catch him, get him on the dowell or whatever which could set back the taming process.

In Harlies case we worked on both, we gave her the opportunity to come out but she never took it until after she was comfortable enough to take seed from our hands, to start with she would only come out onto a perch attached outside the cage door. Ultimately when we had time to wait for her to go back to her cage on her own we have her the choice, whilst it is not ideal for him not to be out practicing his flight I feel staying in the cage and earning his trust is more beneficial for the longer term, other people may feel differently.

To put it another way- because Harlie is tame I can put her back in the cage when I want. This means she is not restricted to only coming out when I have time to wait for her to go back in on her own or force her in. This means she gets more time out.

[Eric&Rebecca]

We will start like this then and see what comes first

It seems gentle enough for a grass parakeet to follow. Thanks for the help. I will keep you posted on how things go.

[Eric&Rebecca]

He's taking sunflower seeds from my hand!!!!! So happy.... I'm making a separate thread on his progress so its documented in case other grass keet owners join

[cml]

He's taking sunflower seeds from my hand!!!!! So happy.... I'm making a separate thread on his progress so its documented in case other grass keet owners join

Thats awesome, its great when you see progress isnt it?

[Eric&Rebecca]

I had to hold in my excitment because he was taking the next seed. But after i left the room I was euphoric! I didn't think it would happen this quickly and tbh i thought I was trying my luck but it worked!

[marie83]

Amazing feeling isn't it? slow and steady wins the race.