New to parrots

[Taffy]

Hi All.
Hope someone reads this as I need some helps as I have spent cash on useless trash on bird taming with no real use so to-date I have applied common sense to my approach.
I'm totally new to birds and parrots, had great hunting dogs in the past now semi retired with new wife whom hates dogs so she agreed i could have a bird but I thought not fair to have just one as all animals need company so I have 4 great parrots, a pair of Electus and, a I think a pair of African Timneh both pairs are young and in good health.
Popeye Electus male was semi tame but is a little aggressive but is now taking sunflower from my hand inside the cage after three months of careful approach still in the cage.
Rosy the female is endearing and has wild moments sometimes attacks me sometimes easy to hand feed still in the cage after 2 months of slow approach.
The pair of Timneh have taken seen from hand as long as I am out side the cage if i place my hand in the cage they growl and cower on the cage off the perch and just go moggy if offer the seed they take from my hand if I stand one one side only.
I have a clicker but never over use just occasionally to attract their attention.
any help greatly appreciated.
I have time and all the bird sit in our garden in their cages all day long. I feed them a quality pellet and fresh beans, and fruit twice daily which is consumed with great relish.

[Michael]

Well luckily you've achieved the hardest and most time consuming part. There's no shortcut around gaining trust, being able to get close, and giving food from your hand. So congratulations.

Now given that you're a beginner, keeping the parrots in pairs is dooming you to a far greater challenge than just the difficult challenge of a single bird. The challenge isn't twice as hard cause twice the birds in a pair but really ten times harder. The birds are already friends and get everything they could possibly want from each other. Anything that you might do is an intrusion into their established lives together. When a bird is kept alone, it's social nature plays a big role in wanting play and attention from others.

I don't think it's impossible to train a pair but it's going to be extremely difficult. Not sure that you have an alternative at this point.

Last thing I can leave you with is a recommendation to try my book. It's a practical approach to establishing good behavior in companion parrots. It includes working with flight capable birds and there are a few mentions of strategies of working with paired parrots. Good luck though, working a bonded pair you're really gonna need it. And bandaids.

[Pajarita]

Michael is correct and, to make matter worse, you got yourself pairs of semi-wild birds instead of tame ones even though you have no previous experience whatsoever (parrots are not at all like dogs - NOT AT ALL!). It would have been much easier on everybody (you and the birds) if you had gotten a single tame bird so, I could be wrong but it seems to me you either did not do enough research on the subject and I would ask you to do some thorough one and start back from scratch For one thing, please do not feed ekkies sunflowers, they require a very specialized diet and high fat and protein are no-nos with them.

[Taffy]

Michael is correct and, to make matter worse, you got yourself pairs of semi-wild birds instead of tame ones even though you have no previous experience whatsoever (parrots are not at all like dogs - NOT AT ALL!). It would have been much easier on everybody (you and the birds) if you had gotten a single tame bird so, I could be wrong but it seems to me you either did not do enough research on the subject and I would ask you to do some thorough one and start back from scratch For one thing, please do not feed ekkies sunflowers, they require a very specialized diet and high fat and protein are no-nos with them.

Thanks for your response albeit rather harsh, I perhaps have to admit I taken on somewhat of a heavy load but as I said I am semi retired and have time on my hands to spend with my new pets.Also my daughter is loving the idea of having parrots to feed and chat to all day as she is 6 years old she has a keen liking and has them chirping back to her almost from day one.I fully appreciate parrots are not dogs and need very special care which I intend to give them.
I need to advise that I have read a considerable amount regarding diet and the well being of parrots.
The Ekkies as I appreciate have a long digestive track totally different to other parrots hence the diet I offer them includes fresh clean veggies and local fruit they love my hot chillies which I grow in the garden all the fruit and veggies is in abundance here in Sri Lanka. Sun flower seeds are not fed but used at a treat two or three times a day and very sparingly. I offer a diverse and mixed diet and are fed twice a day the latter is more fruit than vegetables they love pomegranate pawpaw and banana and coconut which are all fed fresh daily. There are no known breeders here to the best of my knowledge and I did search for 2-3 week prior to finding the bird. Most if not all all parrots are imported to SL semi wild, but I am fortunate in the sense the ekkies are rather tame as one was hand fed through illness by a renowned importer. the female is also quite tame and both have bonded well and the male is feeding the female. So you see, I am not as bad as you made me out to be just need some time to learn and I will in time as I am as patience as a saint.

[Pajarita]

Well, your reply does explain a lot of the problems and, if my reply seems harsh is because I thought you lived in USA. It seems that you do have very good intentions and have been trying but let me tell you something I have learned in caring for parrots for over 20 years: reading doesn't do it. I don't know about Sri Lanka, but here in the States, there is very little literature out there that's actually correct when it comes to parrots. Why? Because nobody knows enough about them. The pet parrot fad is actually VERY recent historically and, because there are so many different species and because they are all long-lived, there are no good records and/or studies about them.

I wish you luck. I have wild-caught birds (granted that they were used as breeders) and the best I've managed to get out of them is for them not to attack me when I walk into the birdroom (my birds are not in cages and they are all fully-flighted as I consider both practices to be eminently cruel). One more word, paired wild-caught parrots almost never learn to talk and please, be VERY careful about not allowing your grand-daughter to interact physically with them, their beaks are extremely powerful and can cause A LOT of damage.

[caprifolia]

I don't know about Sri Lanka, but here in the States, there is very little literature out there that's actually correct when it comes to parrots. Why? Because nobody knows enough about them.

I too have been doing tons of reading about parrots and parrot care, via books and via web resources. It's disconcerting that much of this may be wrong. Any chance you/others could make a post about what some of the most common incorrect ideas are?

[Pajarita]

My advice to you is disregard anything in birdsites that has been written by their members and go straight to scientific sources. Same with books, unless it was written by a scientist with years of experience, don't even waste your money on it and even those are questionable (I read a book by an ornithologist who fed milk to her amazon for breakfast!)

Mind you, I am not saying that there is nobody out there who knows how to care properly for a parrot but there is no way to determine whose advice is right and whose is wrong unless you do your own research on their natural habitats, dietary ecology, wild flock behavior, physiology, etc. Most people on birdsites repeat (like the proverbial parrot) what they read in another website so you have people who clip (for 'the bird's safety'), feed the wrong diet (human food been my biggest beef), keep birds alone in cages for hours and hours, have the wrong light, attempt breeding thinking it's just a matter of putting a male and a female together and 'letting Nature take its course', etc. They also give advice based on a single young parrot experience -as if we could call ourselves 'pediatric behaviorists' because we have a three year old child that came out good.