New Bird Owner with Pionus

[caprifolia]

Hi All,

My name is Anne, and I just adopted a 4-year-old Maximilian Pionus a day and a half ago. I look forward to bonding with my bird for the next while that we spend together (hopefully the rest of his life!). I wanted to sign up for this forum and participate in order to get some feedback on how best to live with my pionus and how to gain his trust. I'll be posting somewhere on how these first few days with my pionus are going. Maybe I'll go ahead and post about it here:

Things are overall smooth, but he is not ready to be handled yet and lunges at me to bite if I get too close. Unfortunately I always pull back, and I hear you're not supposed to as this is reinforcement. Though I am able to get him to take food from my hand. I notice that hands (without food -- sometimes even with food) and perches both seem to freak him out. Also, I think he is a little bit clingy to his cage so far... as he seemed much less frightened of me when he was in a smaller travel cage. Only when he got back to his big cage (the same cage his previous owner kept him in) did his fears seem to take hold. I never reach in his cage to pick him up. I open the door and let him climb out if he likes. He usually is eager to go out and strut around on top of his cage. It's here that I test the waters in terms of how close can I get, feeding him from my hand, etc. I have been trying to reward him for sitting comfortably close to me or for when he comes closer to me. I want to show him that hands, arms, and perches are all very safe. I talk to him a lot, and always gently... and I've been playing music for him and dancing with him.

His previous owner was able to hold him, and I held him as well when I went to visit/meet him. But nowadays I think he is too unsettled with this new place and with me, his new owner, to be comfortable with contact. I hope I'll be able to get him back to being comfortable. Please let me know how you think I'm doing so far and if there is anything I should be doing differently.

Cheers,
Anne

[Pajarita]

Yes, there is. You should not try to interact physically with him until he takes the first step towards it. A well-socialized and adjusted bird will go to a stranger if the owner is right there because it will expect the owner to defend him (not that I agree with allowing strangers to touch or handle anybody's birds) but it's not the same when the bird is in a strange place with a strange human. You need to gain his trust first and that takes time. How long it takes depends on the bird itself -some never 'take' to another owner (very few), some are OK in 24 hours (very few) and the greatest majority takes about two weeks so, there is a wide range and you need to allow the bird to set its own pace.

Spend time with the bird just by been present where he is, sit next to him and read out loud so he gets used to both your physical presence as well as your voice, talk and sing to him, praise him, give him treats, etc but don't touch it unless the bird wants to step up for you. I always wait until the either put their head down asking for a scratch or they raise their foot asking to be picked up.

You will need to observe him carefully so you learn his body language (when he is relaxed, upset, nervous or anxious, etc) and play it by ear.

[caprifolia]

Hi Pajarita, thanks for all of your advice. I will forget about 'testing the waters' with varying degrees of closeness for now, and focus on gaining his trust with treats and by keeping my distance as he settles in. We'll see how things are in about two weeks.

Do all/nearly all parrots lift their leg when they want to step up on you? I know mine will do the head-lowering when he wants scratch as I have observed this during visits to his previous home.