Ollie - Barraband?

[Wendy40]

Picture of Ollie

I was sold Ollie as a Barraband. Remember I bought him as a friend for Ozzie? I am not convinced he is a Barrband as pictures I have seen of these show lovely brightly coloured birds. He is so very quite also! I know some birds are shy but he will not entertain us at all and will not come near us when we gently put our hand in the cage. He moves away from his perch and climbs around the cage avoiding us at all costs. At most he will let me stroke his beak for a very short time. Also yesterday evening Ozzie flew over to his cage and they almost had a little set do. Everytime Ozzie flies over to his cage it is like Ollie is crying. At one point yesterday I really thought it was one of my dogs outside the door gently crying to get in. Is this normal? What does that kind of noise mean? Above is a picture of Ollie.

[Pajarita]

Ay, my dear, you are stressing that poor bird something awful. Please stop putting your hand in its cage and keep your distance for a while. Haven't you read what Wolf and I posted about it? Please, please, please do more research on this species because your expectations will not be fulfilled and you might end up causing the bird irreversible harm by stressing it out so much during his formative period. What you heard is the sound a baby makes when extremely scared or distressed.

The bird looks like a Superb female to me but it could also be a VERY young juvenile male. If it's a female, this is the way it will always look as Superbs are dimorphic with only the male having the bright colors and females not having any plus having a duller shade of green than the males. If it is a very young juvenile male, he will molt into adult colors at around 6 months of age.

[Wendy40]

Ok thanking you kindly Promise no more putting hand in cage

[Wolf]

I understand that you are only trying to socialize and be friends with this bird and that you really mean well. I am also understanding that this is difficult for you as well as it is for this bird, because it is not what you are accustomed to and because of this you are expecting a different reaction than what you are getting.
The most you should be doing at this time, is to approach Ollie's cage until he begins to get nervous or starts to move away from you, then stop. Do not go any closer this time and just talk to him, let him get used to your presence and the sound of your voice. When he is ready for more, he will relax in your presence and may start to climb about on the cage on the side closest to you. At some point, by approaching him in this manner you will find yourself right at his cage and can begin to offer him long treats through the cage sides. Eventually he will even take the treats from your hand. And this is the manner in which you need to progress, taking your time and not moving to the next step until Ollie is comfortable with the step you are on. But this is the only way for you to build any trust with him, and it will take much more time because of his nature. The only way that you are ever going to be able to touch him with his consent is to earn his trust and this early on in the relationship, he has no reason to trust you or anyone for that matter. Relax and over time Ollie will begin to relax. Let him progress at his own pace and show him that you can be trusted and he will begin to trust you more, but this must occur on his schedule not on yours.

[Pajarita]

But keep in mind that she might never really relax enough to step up for you although she will become inured to your presence if you don't push it (by this I mean that she will not move away from you when you clean her cage, etc - my budgies and tiels are mostly non-people friendly but have no issues whatsoever with me and stay right where they are even though I put my hands right next to them because they know I won't try to touch them).

[Wolf]

Right, if there is to be any touching then let them be the one to do the touching not the other way. It can happen, but do not expect it. It takes an enormous amount of trust on their part to initiate physical contact, so if it does occur, don't take it lightly.