New to the Parrot ownership world!

[Wolf]

Wonderful to hear the progress, but be careful about letting her bite you. Kiki is quite mouthy but while it looks she is biting, she is not and there is no problem with this and it is part of her way of showing affection or at least that is how I take it because it is very much akin to preening when she moves to an area that is to large to actually get her beak around. She mostly likes to do this between my finger and thumb when I go to scratch her head and rub her beak. If she begins to be too rough with this do not try to hide it from her. Let her know when she bites too hard so that she knows and can lighten up. To do this, I simply pull back and tell Kiki to be gentle with a hurt tone of voice. This works for us, you may need to do something similar or a little bit different as different parrots have different personalities and what works for one may not work with another one. But this is wonderful news indeed. Thank you for sharing this with us.

[Pajarita]

Yes, holding a finger or whatever in their beak is perfectly fine but nips should only be allowed when something brought them on (like a person she regards as competition coming into the room while she is on you or something like that) while bites should never be allowed (not that I am, in any way, implying she should be scobutlded or even punished for them).

Now, her perching on your finger is not going to work for the long term. I don't know of a single bird that actually likes riding a finger or a hand. They don't mind your using this method to transport them from one place to another but, when it comes to spending good quality time together, that, in their mind, requires a shoulder.

Another thing, just because she says "Come here" it might not really mean that she wants you to come to her - for all anybody knows, she might think that is her name or 'let me out of my cage'. Parrots can learn to talk in context but, in my personal experience, most of them only know a few things that are said in context. I've had parrots that thought that "Hello" was their name -most likely because the person who taught him the word said it over and over and over every time they saw they parrot.

[Jesscat]

I think she says a little bit in context. For example she flys on the floor and says,"pick me up" She might think her name is come here though bacuase she does say it a lot lol. I let her on my shoulder or she just try's to fly on it! I got a little ladder to try and get her from the top of the cage and she hates it. So with this awful tooth pain I would probably like it if she bites me lol. She hasnt bite me hard but she has my 5 year old. I will work on telling her when it's to hard though. She is so sweet! I'm so glad we are past this bump!

[Pajarita]

Weeeeell, not to pop your balloon but, if I were you, I would never stop been extra careful when it comes to bites. I have birds that have never bit me but I pretty much don't do or ask them for anything that they might not like so it's not as if I trust them 100%, it's that I simply avoid giving them reason to do it.

[Jesscat]

I understand. It probably isn't normal for them. I will respect her. I see that when Micheal trains he uses a scratch on the head as a reinforcement for doing a good job. I am not training yet. This is all I could really ask for out of her. I watched videos on training them from Micheal and he says it's important to train them that they need this? I am not in a rush to train. I am just curious. I think my next thing I want to work on with her is her fear of the sink. I see birds that are comfortable drinking that water or taking a little bath. I just don't want her to panick every time she goes near a sink.

[Wolf]

When seen in its actual context, every single time that there is any type of interaction between you and this bird it is training. It does not matter if you are just passing by and you stop to say hi or if you just pass by without saying anything it is still training. Training is just another word for either teaching or learning and you either teach or learn something from every little contact or at least the bird does. We tend to not see things in this manner but your bird does, we tend to overlook this type of detail but your birds survival in the wild causes it to not miss this level of detail, it is pretty much instinctual for them.

With the sink thing, don't force the issue. Yes when the bird is with you, there is no need to avoid the sink or the running water, but understand that the bird is afraid of it because it is new and unfamiliar with it let the bird get used to it and then let the bird decide when it is ready to move closer to it.

[Pajarita]

I also don't hold training sessions, I don't target, don't use a clicker or even reward when they do what I ask but all my birds know a large number of words/phrases and the necessary commands to achieve a good human/bird relationship - and they all pretty much obey me on the few occasions that I ask them to do anything (sometimes, I don't even have to give the command, all I have to do is say their name in a "I am warning you' tone of voice ). But, the most important thing to me is that they are content with their life, which I try to make as stress-free as possible for an undomesticated species in captivity - and that they trust me 100%. I would like to think that they all love me but that would be more wishful thinking than anything else on my part.

[Jesscat]

Well now that we are past me being scared of her stage. She wants me. The thing is our house is pretty small so I am always close by. She will look like she wants to lung at me if I am in the same room. She stays out of her cage a lot. She needs more toys I'm guessing. She has a lot and every couple days when I clean her cage I re abjust her toys. She loves it and will play with them again. I'm serious she is fixated on me! At night before she went to bed last night went flying around looking for me! I don't mind it. At some level it has to be stressful for her though.

[Pajarita]

Her behavior is completely normal. Parrots are never by themselves in the wild, they are born, live their entire lives and die surrounded by a large extended family so, when they are the only parrot in the house, they need to be with people ALL the time. And, although senegals are not considered true Velcro birds, I think they are pretty close to it! At least mine are. They are not always on me in the early morning when they are first allowed to come out of their cages because they know this is the time when I do my morning chores but they do follow me around flying after or in front of me going from one room to the next and often ride my shoulder, my head or hang on to my chest when I am standing doing something (like washing their bowls, cleaning their cages, etc). But let me sit down and they will be on me like white on rice for the duration! (the female is on my right shoulder and the male on my left knee as I am typing this)

[Jesscat]

Ok good it's normal then! She has already flown at me three times today! I am just worried she is going to hurt herself. When she goes to lung at me from the cage I put my hand up in a stop motion and say, "don't do it" I don't mind her being on me. It is just really new for our relationship.