New Rainbow Lorikeet

[Gabriel]

To be honest, I'm looking to teach it targeting, flight recall, and to put a harness on. But like I said, I believe it's mostly to do with consistent taming, training and interactions.

[Pajarita]

I agree with you that they are very flight birds, but I reckon with enough training and interaction, they can become great companion bird.

Unless you end up owning an extraordinary mutation, it won't happen. There is a reason why some birds are classified as 'aviary' and others as 'companions' and it's has nothing to do with training or interaction, it has to do with what is genetically programmed by nature. You can 'work' with what nature programmed through imprinting, training, etc but you can't change it.

[Pajarita]

To be honest, I'm looking to teach it targeting, flight recall, and to put a harness on. But like I said, I believe it's mostly to do with consistent taming, training and interactions.

If that is what you wanted, you should have done more in-depth research because, if you had, you would not have chosen a lorikeet. You need to be able to reward often for training and, with lorikeets diet, you can't do that (how can you reward nectar?)

[Gabriel]

I guess we will have to see when I get my lorikeet. I believe a good treat would be small pieces of fruits or vegetables, like carrots, apples e.t.c

[Pajarita]

Yes, that would be ideal for a lorikeet but the problem is that I doubt it would be incentive enough for the bird to do any work. Parrots don't learn because they like to or because they want to please us, they learn because they want the reward so, unless the reward is a super high value item, it doesn't work.

[Gabriel]

I see what you are getting at, and I definitely agree with what you are saying. But now that I am for certain getting a lorikeet, I have to focus on the situation at hand, and that is training it. Like I said previously, I will only find out once I get the lorikeet.

[Pajarita]

Well, getting a parrot doesn't mean you have to train it, you know? Parrots have been kept as companions for many years and live happy and healthy lives without any target training so it's not as if it has to be done. Training only benefits the bird when it's done the right way, in the right amount and with the right frame of mind and that's not an easy balance to find even for the species that are easier to train.

[Wolf]

Well the very first thing that you will need to be concerned with will be with earning the birds trust and building a great relationship with it, so that it will bond with you. I don't know if this bird will prove to be trainable in the manner that you wish or not, but will try to help as much as I can.
Pajarita has many years of experience and study that many of us do not have and is usually pretty accurate with what she has to say about parrots, and just doesn't want you to be disappointed with your choice in birds or to see that the bird will be rehomed or not given the attention that it requires if it does not live up to your expectations of it. Which is why she is trying to share with you what she knows of this species of parrot. Even if it is not trainable in the manner that you are hoping, the bird is still a wonderous thing and as worthy of the same devotion from you as it will give to you and can still be the source of wonder and joy and happiness.

[Gabriel]

I get it. I completely agree with what you are saying. Parrots can be great companions without training. On a completely different note, what do you do when your own parrot bites? Do you prevent it in the first place?

[Pajarita]

A hand-fed, properly cared for baby will not bite. It will beak and, sometimes, the beaking will be a bit too hard but it's just a stage they go through when growing up and easily taken care of with patience. Adults might bite if they become unhappy with their care, get overly hormonal, etc but if you do everything you are supposed to do from day one, you won't have an aggressive parrot. You might, and most likely will, end up getting bit because we tend to think we 'know' all there is to know about them and would, sometimes, take things for granted PLUS they do change as they get older and, again, sometimes, we miss or misread the 'signs' but all it takes is respect, love and prevention and, if it happens, a good, honest, objective reckoning of what we did ourselves to deserve the bite because unless it's a bird that was taught to bite, parrots don't just bite for the sake of it, they always do it out of frustration with us because we don't 'listen' to them.