Hello

[danamaynah]

greetings
from me and my feathered buddies. looking to learn as much as I can from u all and to get help for my pets


regards
dana

[Pajarita]

Welcome, Dana! Tell us a bit about your birds, please.

[danamaynah]

hello,

currently I own a common mynah called crowly, I was told that it was 2 months old but I'm not really sure, I got it about 5 days ago, it hasn't got used to me or to my husband yet it gets scared when ever I'm near the cage.

I talk to him when ever I can and try to offer him treats but he shies away every time, I tried to do some research but I haven't found anything that could help me with him being scared.

the cage I have him in right now is too small for him but I am going to get him a bigger one soon.
I'm not sure of what to avoid doing to prevent him being more scared.

[danamaynah]

also what do u think of getting his wings clipped I'm personally not sure about this because I want him to be able to roam free when he is tamed and can be put back in his cage without needing to force him or trying to catch him, I have read that having is wings clipped will help tame him and teach him to step up

[liz]

Welcome to the forum.

Clipped wings cause emotional problems including fear. It will deter personality development and prevent bonding from fear.

[Wolf]

Hi and welcome to the forum

First off I moved your post about clipping to the General Parrot Care section, but left a ghost in its place that will take you right to where I moved it.

I really don't know a lot about myna birds, but they are intelligent so I think that the same things that we do with our parrots should work fine for them as well. Five days is a very short time for a bird to begin to trust a human so I really think that you mostly just need to be patient and continue to talk to Crowley outside of his cage and perhaps find out what his favorite food is, as long as it is safe for him and use that food as a treat only. Then when you pass by and stop to say hi you can drop a piece of the treat into his food dish. You could also take about tem minutes twice or three times a day to sit with Crowley and just talk to him and during that time offer him this treat from your fingers through the cage bars. He may not come to get the treat the first few times, but he will come over to get it fairly soon. If he does not come and take the treat them it is very important that you leave it in his food dish before you leave the session. This will teach him that when you offer him something that it is his and will not be taken away from him, and this helps to build his level of trust in you. And truthfully that is what you are trying to accomplish, earning his trust as it is partly due to his not knowing that he can trust you that causes him to be afraid of you. and it is because he does not trust you that he will not step up, but we can help you get through all of this.

Birds are way different than most other animals and this is partly due to their intelligence but it is also due to their natural lifestyle. They do not live in a dominance base social structure such as most predators live in including dogs, cat, and humans, so while they will respond very well to asking they don't respond well to demands. They are also a prey species and due to their light bone structure are not really very adept at defending them selves from a predator and for this reason their primary means of self defense is to fly. Although I am not positive of how much of a flock mynas have, it is very helpful to be a part of a flock when predators are nearby as not only do you have everyone keeping an eye out for them, but when the predator attacks they find it very difficult to focus on one bird when there are so many flying about their face, making it easier for the bird to escape safely. This also contributes to the single bird being afraid of being moved into any new environment until they have the opportunity to acclimate to it and to explore it to be sure that it is safe.

If you do the suggested sessions with Crowley and when he begins to come to you for the treat, then I will be happy to walk you through the next part of the taming process.

This should help you to better understand your new friend Crowley and the reasons why he is afraid at this point and give you the beginning steps for overcoming that fear and gaining his trust. I will answer with my thoughts on clipping in your other thread. I hope you find it helpful.

[liz]

Yes, what Wolf said.

[danamaynah]

thank you for that, I will post in the proper section in the future. apparently he likes dates I have offered him a few times he wont take it from my hands but I leave it in his bowl and he seems to enjoy it so I will start using it as a treat, I talk to him from time to time and sing to him but he will only be calm and listen when I do it from a distance. I'm trying to reward him by walking away when he calms down like Michael has mentioned in his post about taming.

I will do as u have advised and will keep you posted about the progress. thank you so much for helping me with Crowley.

I get a couple of mynahs that visit me everyday and he tries to call out to them or maybe he's angry that they're there I cant really be sure but they always come in pairs so I think they don't stay in flocks just with the mate.

[Wolf]

We do have a member or so that have mynahs, so maybe they will pick up on this, I will just have to do research on them to understand their natural life cycles and social structures.

[danamaynah]

ok thanks I will do the same too