Teaching Confused Jardine's Parrot to Step Up at Bird Store

[Michael]

Teaching a Confused Jardine's Parrot to Step Up at Bird Store

The story of my recent visit to the bird store and how I taught a 6 month old Jardine's Parrot to step up. Pictures and video included.

For some reason I seem to have so much more success with Poicephalus Parrots. They seem to like me better and we get along. Monk Parakeets, Caiques, and Conures tend to just bite me and be really annoying. But the Pois let me hold/pet them. I've always found Poicephalus Parrots easier to handle. Do you think Pois just happen to be the friendliest parrots, find some kind of connection to me, or I'm just completely biased?

[zazanomore]

I find that the friendliest birds are always the Australian species. Cockatiels, budgies, cockatoos, kakarikis, lorikeets, bourke's etc.

But I've had experience with these kinds of birds.

I think you're just more comfortable with the poi's, and they respond to that. Animals are really good at picking up feeling and emotions, so maybe that's it.

Just my opinion.

Any ways, cute video. I love baby birds.

[ginger]

What a great video! That's such a good idea to help those birds in the stores to become more socialized. I love the "beak technique" you use to pet them. Awesome idea! You really have a way with parrots, and I think that they all sense that too. One of the bird stores in my area has their babies in tanks too, but they place branches in the bottom so that they get used to perching. Does the store you visited do that at all?

[pchela]

You're either biased or some sort of poicephalus whisperer. I completely understand... I'm biased too.

But, of the birds I worked with, Toos were always by far the most friendly with everybody, followed by conures. The Caiques I raised were also extremely friendly with everybody. Hmmm... maybe I was just a good hand feeder and nurturer?

But, aside from all of that, you have to agree that the Jardine's is one of the cutest parrots! Right?

[Giantmoa]

I think you might be a bit biased I've only been to one big bird store like that one once, and the baby cockatoos were definetely the ones who came up to me for attention, closely followed by the amazons who wanted to play with everything I was wearing... all the small birds were just kinda freaked. though now that I've thought about it I've never actually held a poi? I don't really have too many parrot-handling opportunities around here...
I really liked seeing this article, great training! I hope it helps land him a home, Jardines are probably my favorite poi

and pchela, I laughed when I saw how specific you are with Esme's name's origin

[jeangaut]

As you know from meeting me, I have a huge soft spot for Jardine's...my own three Jardine's are all very very affectionate birds who love headscratches. When I worked at Denise's Parrot Place in Seattle, after two years they finally got a baby Jardine's in...and it was interesting seeing her develop and interact in the store. She came in with a Meyer's, and the Jardine's developed far more slowly...more 'needy' of interaction and handfeeding for a longer period of time. I called her Rhonda and she did get adopted shortly after I moved to Arizona, and heard her new owners, a young girl and her mother, absolutely adored her. She was somewhat bitey initially, but also very loving and cuddly if she felt secure. I do a similar thing when interacting with my grey, Nigel, as far as his beak...Nigel always wants a kiss, but he is slightly unpredictable about nipping, so he has learned to get his kiss through my hand...actually I do that in the video post when I step him up in the Oasis grey aviary. A hand bite over a facial bite I'll take any day!

Sad to hear that this older baby Jardine's is being kept clipped in an aquarium without perches and consistent handling!! Most bird stores I visited on the east coast are set up like this. Denise's in Seattle is set up differently...they do still clip their babies, but all the birds are kept in cages off limits to the public, where you can see them behind a glass window. There are three tabletop and one floor stand that are available for babies to be out on during the day in the main part of the store, and also two hanging orb gyms in the backroom where the public can see the birds through a window from shopping area. So we would daily get all the birds on to the gyms in rotating shifts. It was good because babies learned to step up for -all- the store employees (usually at least five people, often male and female), and had a chance to be out in front and meet people daily for a limited time. OR to be on the hanging gym (which as a baby, my Nigel loved...he would get it whirling around as he flapped). We also were fairly limited on the number of birds we could have for sale in the store, since very few shared cages....the cockatiels did on the counter, and otherwise we had room for only around 20 parrots. They did get to interact with other birds when on the playstands, but overall they learned as they were weaning to play by themselves and interact with people.

Babies at our store therefore continued to be handled daily even after they were done with handfeeding...they would step up to come out of their cage to go to a gym, then step up to go back...and if any one was interested in a bird, they would be stepped up again to come out and interact with the visitors. So being scooped up from a bin or an aquarium was something that didn't have to happen as they matured, and they learned to balance and play on all kinds of perches and surfaces and always had toys in their cages, initially stuffed toys while being handfed when they were still with nestmates.

I had one male Eclectus baby who was my buddy at the store, and Gumby would 'decide' when he was done interacting with a visitor...if he was done, he would flap down to the floor and walk around the corner through the 'employees only' door back to me and underneath the hanging gyms. I was afraid he wasn't going to get a home, but fortunately right before I left the nearly two year old eclectus got a great home and was very happy with his people. It was interesting, very few people were interested in a green bird like a Jardine's, and Eclectus females sold so much faster than the males, regardless of temperament. But of course we always had people coming in to buy African Grey babies, not a problem.

[jeangaut]

And I don't do that great with Quakers, or Caiques, but I love those Conures. Conures and macaws, IF they are somewhat receptive, can really warm up for me. Macaws used to intimidate me a lot until I worked at Denise's...they are really just big cuddly conures...when they want to be! Denise had a store Hyacinth, who was a big brat, but usually I could handle her.

I like Amazons but I'm a little hesitant with them and do not often make immediate friends with Amazons, sometimes I do with Pionus. Baby cockatoos are normally easy (though Goffin's are my nemesis, I swear...they are such juvenile delinquents!!), but I really am drawn to the Africans the most...the greys and the pois. AND the Eclectus of course, especially the boys. I always say that Eclectus, Pionus, Psittaculas, Poicephalus and the Pois are the intellectual species, a little introverted, and do best with a calmer approach and environment than the 'extrovert' parrots.

Really, I feel the Psittacula are highly underrated, they can be GREAT birds but need to be handled a lot early to stay cuddly. If I didn't have a zillion companion birds, I'd probably get a Derbyan. Or a Phillipine Blue Naped Tanagnathus. Or a Slender Billed Conure. Or or or or or...

[Mona]

I can vouch for how Denise raises her babies. Three out of my five parrots came from Denise's and they are wonderfully socialized and as far as I'm concerned, amazing companions.

Thx

Mona