Sunflower's Diary

[javelin]

For the past week and a half, I've had Sunflower get used to a target training routine towards the day's end. I would also target train him once or twice during the day but he mostly responds only during the early evening.

He seems to have the idea of following the target stick down pat but there would still be times when he would hesitate or completely ignore the stimulus. This I reckon is his way of saying "I'm getting tired of this. Enough for now." At this stage, he would not follow the stick for distances greater than a few bird paces (about a little over half a foot).

Hunger is definitely a motivation. I provide some seeds about his cage for foraging and leave a very minimal amount of groats and grains (sometimes a bit of carrots and other veggies which he is not at all fond of) in his food container during daytime. By nightfall he is quite excited to nip at the target stick but would be very conscious when I try to target him beyond several steps on his perch.

Once I attempted to target him onto another perch. He did so with much hesitation and he hasn't duplicated it since. Needless to say, targeting him for step-ups has not yet materialized thus far.

He is starting to warm-up to a simple trick though. I've placed a small pinwheel toy that resembles a flower by his perch and I would ask him to "pick" it. I would place the target stick near the flower and say "pick". He would then touch the flower petals thus causing it to spin -- click then reward.

When we first did this, he became so excited to the reward that he would touch the flower pinwheel by himself without my command. I soon realized that this is not the exact behavior I wanted, I would hold on to the reward seed and only offer it to him when he successfully "picks the flower" on my cue.

Because of this, he ceased picking the flower without my command but at the same time it's become difficult to have him do "pick" on cue. Maybe he's getting confused with my signals. Anyway, I'll be trying to perfect this routine in the next days. Also, I hope that he would be more open to follow the target stick all around his cage and not just shuttle to and fro on his perch.

Any ideas guys? Did you go through the same difficulties when you first went through target training with your pets?

[javelin]

It's been a long while since I made a post here at Sunflower's Diary. Mainly because I've been busy transitioning onto a new job and my mom's ongoing confinement at the hospital. Nevertheless, I've been consistently working with Sunflower as much as I can.

Everyday I've been handfeeding him and spending some time target training him. He's not into it much, not unless he's obviously hungry. Most of the time he wouldn't bother going after the target stick at all.

It was because of this that I've ventured into closer proximity with Sunflower. About 2 weeks ago, I started touching his feet, which eventually led to him clutching my finger in response. That would be his "first trick" -- a simple handshake. Now, he would do it without fail even with my son prompting him "Shake".

By last week, I started just lifting his left foot up for a few seconds and he would eventually keep it up. This is to me the beginnings of a "wave", although I still have to coax his foot up at times.

Today was a big breakthrough with Sunflower. Up until today, he would hardly allow his right foot to be touched. I suspect, it suffered some injury in the past as he would be very wary about people touching that right foot. At any rate, through sheer persistence, Sunflower allowed a good "shake" with his right and after a few more tries, the training session led to Sunflower "stepping up" to my finger.

That's right! Sunflower stepped up and let me hold her perched on my finger. Although it wasn't like I targeted him onto my hand. I had to use a bit of negative reinforcement to guide him squarely for a good hold.

By now, you guys already know that Sunflower isn't actually handtamed when he was young. So, my way with him has to be motivated at times by a "discipline stick". I don't hit him with it. Not at all! It's just something he's uncomfortable with external of his cage, which I show to him on occasion when he's being a brat. I had to give him a hint of the stick to coach him onto my hand for the step up.

At any rate, I believe Sunflower enjoyed riding his new found finger perch because after a few more tries, he would get up onto my finger without the need for the stick. He would then eagerly anticipate the seed reward when he gets off back onto his regular cage perch.

A couple of things. It has been the third month since we've had Sunflower and it's only now that he has shown interest to step up onto a human being. Patience counts!

Second, as I think this thread has documented well, both positive and negative reinforcement techniques has a role to play in behavior development.

Third, having a pet bird rocks!

I'll post pics of Sunflower showing off posted here in the forum soon.

[captwest]

Yeah Sunflower

[sherillynn]

Keep up the good work. It has been intersting reading your story.

Sherill

[javelin]

Hi guys, and thanks for reading up on Sunflower's story.

I'm counting that it's been 5 months since Sunflower came into our lives. Without a doubt he has been a ray of sunshine in more ways than one. Just getting closer to him and learning new ways of interacting with Sunflower is a wonderful thing in itself.

Towards the third week of March my mother passed away. I had to be away from caring for Sunflower for a few weeks. By this time he's quite comfortable feeding from my hand although he still would not have me touch or hold his body extensively. Nevertheless, if there's anything I've learned the past 5 months is that it's all just a matter of time.

Anyway, I've noticed a significant change in how he responds to me after being away for a while. Before, when I get back from a weekend out of the house, he would act like I was a total stranger making me feel like I'm re-training him from the start all over again.

These days however, Sunflower would be anticipating my return and as soon as he sees me he'd be up and ready to work with me when its handfeeding time. For example, today I came from a weekend over at my dad's with my family, making sure he's okay transitioning from our recent loss. I was surprised to see that Sunflower was at a lower perch waiting for a sunflower treat. Last week he wouldn't even land on that perch frustrating me immensely during target training. Now he's all game! In fact, he's so game to work with me on target training (which he wouldn't do before) that he's now following the target stick almost everywhere I would poke it around his cage.

Things are really amazing as far as Sunflower's progress in training is concerned. From a somewhat-wild, obviously untamed lovebird who wouldn't even come near my hand for whatever reason, he's now come a long way with handfeeding, stepping up and target training. I'm so looking forward to the next big thing for Sunflower. No rush though. Like I said, it's just a matter of time.

[zazanomore]

Sorry to hear about your mother.

But congratulations on your progress with Sunflower. It's an amazing feeling to have a wild and untame bird warm up to you and begin to trust you.

[liz]

You are doing such a good thing working with Sunflower.

Have you tried leaving his cage door open so he can sneak out and fly around? I adopted two male cockatiels who had not had human contact. The owner said they could not be tamed. I left the door open - they came out - flew around until they got tired - then were willing to step up to be put back.

Lemone' and Shadow do not like to be picked up from the cage, but if I let them "escape" the cage they don't mind being handle outside the cage.

Soft words and patients will prevail.

[javelin]

Thanks for the comments guys. I appreciate it.

Related to your suggestion, Liz - a few weeks ago, I got Sunflower out of his cage. I used a hand towel to handle him out of the cage, brought him into my room and thought about just petting him, so that he can get used to being handled up close. Unfortunately, he slipped off my hands (I was purposely not gripping that much for obvious reasons) and he flew around the room in sheer panic. The numbskull that I was, I started panicking myself!

To cut the long chase (about an hour of waiting and reaching out and waiting and so on and so forth) short, I was able to get a hold of him again (using a beach towel this time) and tried to calm him down. I never sung so many soothing songs to such a small thing in my hands since my son was but a baby many years ago. He got around to eating off my hand while I was holding him but I did notice he was already panting a lot. So, I brought him back to the cage to let him drink from his water container. I haven't tried to repeat that stupid act since.

Right now, I'm quite content that he's responding fairly well to target training in his cage. The past weeks he's started jumping from one perch to another just to follow a target and get his treat. Of course, he's got to be hungry enough to work at it and when he's tired late at night, he'd just stop altogether in his snobbish little way.

I would attempt letting him out of his cage once I've set up a suitable perch/gym area for him so that he would have his own private oasis outside of the cage. My housemates aren't too keen on the idea of having a wild animal flying about the house but that is my goal for Sunflower. He deserves that much if he is to be part of the family.

[liz]

Will the cage fit in your bedroom? If it does - put it in there are leave the cage door open and the room door closed.

My cockatiels came out on their own and walked all over their cage before they flew around. I let them fly because I knew they were safe. When they got tired and landed at my level then they were willing to step up to be put back on the cage and then they went in. (no towel or washcloth - that scares them.)

Myrtle (the withdrawn Amazon that I rescued) had a cage on the dining room table. When I first brought her home I opened the cage. It took her 24 hours to come out of the cage. She would let me put my face near her but it took her 2 weeks before I could put my hands near her.

I don't force her to do anything. Sometimes she does not want to step up but other times she will flap her wings and call me to give her a ride. Now she even flies to where I am and climbs up my pants leg to get on my shoulder.

Nothing in my house ever gets hungry. They have free choice dry food all the time. I give them fresh foods or treats twice a day (and they know 3:00 and 8:00 - they come to me to remind me).

Don't take the bird out of the cage. Let it come out so it thinks it has some control of it's life and not just a captive.

I rescued a wild ferrel kitten. It was so wild that I didn't see it for 2 days. It lived behind my dryer and only came out to eat and use the litter box at night. It is now 2 years old. She can be outside and out of sight but when I call she comes to me. She sleeps with me up against my arm every night.

I know I am long winded but it is important to let them be themselves before they are your bonded little friends.

[javelin]

I'm writing this at half past 10 in the evening. I can't sleep. I saw Sunflower just a few hours ago and I noticed that the feathers around his right eye seemed disarranged. I'm very worried.

Sunflower is sick.

He didn't show any signs of being sick earlier. Certainly not in the past days. In fact, he's grown more approachable the previous weeks and I was looking forward to a major breakthrough in the coming days.

Whereas before, Sunflower would be a total snob for most of the day and would only be cooperative come dinner time (which is why I chose to hold trainings then). Recently, Sunflower showed interest as soon as I approached his cage. I would like to believe that its an indication that he is warming up to me.

Also, up until last week I've been training him to follow voice commands. His cage was setup with a toy flower-windmill at one end of his perch and a small suspended bell across the other side. He now seems to understand to touch either prop on cue, hopping onto the flower-windmill toy when I say "Flower" and onto the bell when I say "bell". Of course, it's not yet 100% recognition on his part but he seems to know already that if its not one, it should be the other.

He has shown fondness for this routine on top of the usual target training regimen which has developed to the point that Sunflower would be willing to approach the cage door opened with only a slight hesitation if targeted onto that spot.

My point is we have been making good progress. He's even allowed my son to train him similarly, in complete contrast to how hesitant he was before when I'm not the one tending to him.

So this evening, I peeked into his cage only to be horrified that the plumes surrounding his right eye was in disarray and the organ itself was obviously irritated. A quick search on the Internet and worries about parrot fever and such other diseases festered in my mind.

I have only myself to blame. I've failed to clean his cage regularly since I took up that full time job. I have since about a month ago resigned from that post but I haven't really put effort into taking care of Sunflower as I should other than our nightly feedings and trainings.

Right now I can't sleep. I'm worried about Sunflower. I'm worried about my household especially my son, getting contaminated with what may be a zoonotic infection. Avian vets are a rarity in our locality. I'm worried about the cost that this crisis may entail.

I know what to do in the back of my mind. Quarantine Sunflower. Get him to a vet. And pray to God that all will turn out alright.

I ask that you all pray with me as well.