Harry is a calm and hand-tame bird but he hasn't been worked with extensively; that is to say, he's content to sit on a perch or on the furniture next to you or even on your shoulder, but doesn't really like to be messed with or even petted, unless it's his idea first. Nevertheless no one expects too much out of him and he seems to like it that way, and is very much a lazy bird! He's not a nipper or a biter at all, and his wings aren't clipped but he only flies when startled or when his Favorite Person Of The Hour has been out of the room too long and he wants to be with them. I am thinking about trying some of the training techniques floating around here with him. And as a side note... Harry is technically a Harriet but by the time we knew he was actually a she, it was too late to change the name or our way of thinking.
One of these two little guys will be coming home with me next week. As he's coming hand-raised from a breeder I hope that he'll be very sweet and tame when I get him. I'm looking forward to taming/training him, both with basic "manners" as well as with tricks if he's receptive to that kind of thing. I was wondering if anyone here has had success with clicker training with parrotlets, having never had one before I'm not sure what to expect as far as intelligence/willingness to learn. Also is there a certain age that I ought to wait before beginning formal clicker training for things other than "step up?" I'm getting him at only 6 weeks old so it seemed like it might be more appropriate to wait until he's a bit more mature, but I've never had a baby this young so I'm not sure how old that ought to be--whether it's three months or five months or a year!
Looking forward to the adventure of raising up this baby, especially as Harry was already an adult when I came to live with my fiancee, and the other two birds (both Quakers) I've had have been rehome adults. Look forward to learning and sharing here!
Jamie
Rio [Blue Parrotlet; coming home 6/8!]
Harry [Double Yellow-Headed Amazon; hatched ca. 2000]
