rehabilitation

[angelblue]

I am the owner of two amazons whom previosly were cagebound and undernourished among other unknown issues. I have used Micheal's training blog and have had success in earning trust and basic clicker training. I am struggling with basic step up mostly I think because the birds feel unsafe on a moving perch and outside of the cage. I am hoping someone has ideas what to do next. If you rehabilitate parrots and have an idea how to encourage clipped birds into stepping upand coming out Please help. I have gotten so far as to get them to step on the perch but then they jump off....and if they don't they can't relax until returned to the create. I plan to not clip again by the by.

[JaydeParrot]

Woah, I was in exactly the same position with my two new bonded terrified/untame adult Senegals last year, everyone I talked to said it would be impossible but now the female is incredibly tame to the point of happily flying over to me on cue and sitting on my shoulder while I walk around doing different stuff. The male hasn't been as easy but he's getting there.

Anyways, first off, in spite of what most other people say, I would semi-clip the parrot until it's tame, mainly because it tends to shorten the process of taming down quite a bit as the bird is no longer able to fly off and so has to learn to face and embrace it's fears.

I've found that the easiest way to teach a bird to step up is to buy a bendy rope- It's a purpose made parrot toy which is basically a colourful rope with a piece of thin metal runnuing through the inside of it (costs about £5 depending where you are in the world but well worth it). Hold both ends in one hand to make it a u shape and then ask one to step up on it, when they step up quickly walk away from the cage with the bird on the rope, praise it while you walk around the room for 30 seconds or so (not too long or they can get fed up) and then take the bird back to the cage, saying step up before the bird goes back, to make it look like it was your idea.

Start to do a session a day for each bird. get a bird to step up, then walk with it to a different room where there are no distractions and no cage/mate to guard/want to go back to. Work with each bird for ten minutes and then take it back to it's room, slowly make each session time longer as the bird gets used to being out of it's room.

Don't take both birds out at the same time until you feel that at least one of them is friendly towards you, otherwise you'll end up with both birds being distracted/ignoring you.

Also, if you find that one bird seems easier than the other, work more with that one and then use it as an example for the other bird at a later date... You can be amazed, I spent ages with my female teaching her to step up and such, then when I finally let the male watch, he caught on much faster.

Remember, it's important to move the bird into a room different to it's cage so it isn't constantly concentrating on trying to get back to it's cage (out of sight, out of mind). The rope, I've found is essential in providing a reliable sturdy perch that they feel easy stepping up onto. I definetly would say seperate them for the session so that one's with you and the other's with the cage.

Do the session everyday, even something as simple as taking one to the livingroom and getting it to watch tv with you for a few minutes a day is helpful in the taming priocess- Just so they get to share an everyday experiance with you.

If you can find any youtube videos where their species of bird is interacting nicely with a human this can also be benificial in teaching them that human contact is ok (all birds are individuals, some just might not be interesed in videos).

Eventually when they've tamed down a bit you can get them to step up onto your arm by what I'd call a bit of a cheating method, wear a long sleeve shirt to minimize bites, if they won't step onto your arm from the rope by request, try holding the rope with them on it in one hand and pulling it under your stretched out other arm, as the bird runs out of rope, it'll need to step up onto your arm to prevent itself from falling to the floor, if it tries to go else where just do the method again until it remains on your arm, I used this method and had my female perching on my arm within less than two days. Cover your ears up with your hair if it decides to sit on you shoulder, or use the rope to herd the parrot away from your shoulder if you don't want it to climb up your arm and do that.

Hope that helps...

[janetafloat]

That all sounds like good advice except for the clipping part. Please don't do that - your birds have had enough bad treatment for one lifetime and clipping to tame a bird isn't necessary, just work at it every day and you'll begin to gain their trust. The rope perch sounds like a great idea and certainly move one bird at a time into another room as soon as you can. My only question is how that would work with an Amazon - since they're bigger than a Senegal the loop might not be big or sturdy enough?
What if you put some favourite food just outside their cage or on the cage and leave the door open? I would suggest you spend lot of time just sitting with them too, just quietly or talking softly to them. Also if they're stepping up onto a perch in the cage, even briefly, that's a beginning and you should keep working with that. Praise and treat for stepping up and keep treating as long as the bird stays on the perch. I know it seems slow but it hasn't been very long in bird time, just keep working at it. Repeating the same steps, such as step up inside the cage, several times a day, every day, will build their confidence. It's great that you've taken them on and it sounds like you've made a good start!

[angelblue]

Thanks for the positive words. They probably have a few more months until they'll be flight ready, so either way I don't need to clip. I am just so anxious. My other parrot was hand trained from birth and she is like a teddy bear. These two want to be--I can tell from the way they react to being scratched--I can almost scratch and pet anywhere now--just can't pick them up voluntarily. I don't want to grab them, but its tempting. I want them to come willingly. Thanks for the encouragement. Your right, it seems like a long time to me.