Greetings from sweden

[Polarn]

Hello fellow parrotfreaks.

As the subject might reveal I am from sweden, currently studying litterature in order to teach it at a highschool level. I havn't lived with a parrot for over 10 years now, we used to have one when I grew up and then i left my parents house and a couple of years ago the passed away.

Anyways I put down a deposit on a bluefronted amazon earlier this year, well before I knew if the parents would actually succeed in procreating this year to be honest. So last sunday 11th december I got to pick my buddy up, had a hard time deciding a name but i still wanted to constantly talk in order to egt him used to my voice so i kept calling him "Polarn" wich basicly means buddy in swedish, and after calling him that for two days and still hadn't decided on a name I made the descition to actually name him Polarn.

Anyways, as stated above Polarn is a blue fronted amazon he's born in june this year. He was fed by his parents and lived in the "parrot house" wich basicly means he has had minimal experience of humans, so he is a little reluctant to me getting close, or were when he got home. On the sidenote tho he so far hasn't showed any agression to my hands and now when he has bin here 4 days I can actually enter his cage without him flapping around or anything, he just sits on his perch waiting for me to go out again. He is not clipped and is free to fly, he has bin out yesterday and today in the room flying as he pleased, with all the spillings that includes...
As mentioned in another post I did just a few minutes ago I have decided to introduce him to clicker training, I've had some sucess with it on dogs and horses so I figured why not try it on a parrot. Then I did a search for clicker training on youtube and got confirmation I was not going crazy thinking clicker training might work for parots too seeing a lot of people using it.

I will try keep any progress I make with him posted and is more than happy to receive any tips on how i might proceed. Couse the african grey that my parents had was already behaving and trained before I was born, and before they got him so their not much of help when it comes to making Polarn willing to cooperate with me. however I think ive done some progress since i am now allowed to gently pet him on his belly and then reward him with a strip of apple. still has to be quite long so that the hand i feed him with isnt too close, but im working on getting the peices so small so that he actually has to touch my fingers with the beak when taking it, and then the goal is to make him comfortable with it so that there is no hesitation when i offer him a treat. Atleast i beleive the target training and step up will be alot easier if i first get him comfortable taking treats from me.

Oh just thought i add to his living conditions, the cage isnt as big as I would like it to be, however he isn't ment to spend all day inside his cage either, basicly just fly in when he wants to eat and sleep in it. but it is a corner cage that is 110cmx110cm(about 3'12" and 190cm( about 6'3") high. and to be honest i would have liked one side to be longer so that he could actually make some flights inside the cage when he wants too, but I cant fit a bigger cage in here. and as i sed the cagedoor is open anyways, well i was yesterday and has bin today and will be in the future as well unless there is a reason to close it. sometimes he sists in his cage and playes with the toyes and cometimes he sits above the window, but he does fly in and out and doesnt seem to mind me closing the door when he is inside to after 5 minutes reopening it, (dunno if I am silly, but thought this might enforce his beleives that he is not trapped but that the door will open again if I close it).

If you ahve any questions about me or Polarn feel free to ask.

[brfussne]

Hello fellow parrotfreaks.

As the subject might reveal I am from sweden, currently studying litterature in order to teach it at a highschool level. I havn't lived with a parrot for over 10 years now, we used to have one when I grew up and then i left my parents house and a couple of years ago the passed away.

Anyways I put down a deposit on a bluefronted amazon earlier this year, well before I knew if the parents would actually succeed in procreating this year to be honest. So last sunday 11th december I got to pick my buddy up, had a hard time deciding a name but i still wanted to constantly talk in order to egt him used to my voice so i kept calling him "Polarn" wich basicly means buddy in swedish, and after calling him that for two days and still hadn't decided on a name I made the descition to actually name him Polarn.

Anyways, as stated above Polarn is a blue fronted amazon he's born in june this year. He was fed by his parents and lived in the "parrot house" wich basicly means he has had minimal experience of humans, so he is a little reluctant to me getting close, or were when he got home. On the sidenote tho he so far hasn't showed any agression to my hands and now when he has bin here 4 days I can actually enter his cage without him flapping around or anything, he just sits on his perch waiting for me to go out again. He is not clipped and is free to fly, he has bin out yesterday and today in the room flying as he pleased, with all the spillings that includes...
As mentioned in another post I did just a few minutes ago I have decided to introduce him to clicker training, I've had some sucess with it on dogs and horses so I figured why not try it on a parrot. Then I did a search for clicker training on youtube and got confirmation I was not going crazy thinking clicker training might work for parots too seeing a lot of people using it.

I will try keep any progress I make with him posted and is more than happy to receive any tips on how i might proceed. Couse the african grey that my parents had was already behaving and trained before I was born, and before they got him so their not much of help when it comes to making Polarn willing to cooperate with me. however I think ive done some progress since i am now allowed to gently pet him on his belly and then reward him with a strip of apple. still has to be quite long so that the hand i feed him with isnt too close, but im working on getting the peices so small so that he actually has to touch my fingers with the beak when taking it, and then the goal is to make him comfortable with it so that there is no hesitation when i offer him a treat. Atleast i beleive the target training and step up will be alot easier if i first get him comfortable taking treats from me.

Oh just thought i add to his living conditions, the cage isnt as big as I would like it to be, however he isn't ment to spend all day inside his cage either, basicly just fly in when he wants to eat and sleep in it. but it is a corner cage that is 110cmx110cm(about 3'12" and 190cm( about 6'3") high. and to be honest i would have liked one side to be longer so that he could actually make some flights inside the cage when he wants too, but I cant fit a bigger cage in here. and as i sed the cagedoor is open anyways, well i was yesterday and has bin today and will be in the future as well unless there is a reason to close it. sometimes he sists in his cage and playes with the toyes and cometimes he sits above the window, but he does fly in and out and doesnt seem to mind me closing the door when he is inside to after 5 minutes reopening it, (dunno if I am silly, but thought this might enforce his beleives that he is not trapped but that the door will open again if I close it).


If you ahve any questions about me or Polarn feel free to ask.

Welcome to the forum! I love the name Polarn! Very unique & clever.

[Polarn]

dunno how clever it is to be honest, basicly as clever as naming your pet "buddy" or "friend" seeing im swedish and has swedish as my first language. However I always have a hard time deciding names for my pets so they usually stay unnamed until I figure out im calling them the same thing anyways, like the cat I used to have was basicly named "the cat" ("katten" in swedish) just becouse thats what I called her when she moved into me and figured after a couple of days without naming her, i might as well fill in the insurance for and just put "the cat" where it ses name:

Atleast I didnt name my new friend "parrot" or "bird"

and thanks for the welcome, I'm finding this forum quite useful and it is always pleasent to read stories about others doing their best to satisfy their pets. although, I must say I feel a little envy reading of adopting birds etc, around here I have never found such a place, and the "relocation" birds are basicly the same price or has a higher price than the babies, weather their handfed or bird fed. occationally you see an add pop up for birds wanting new homes without them being overpriced due to cages/ toys etc etc, these people generally want you to live kinda next door so they can come visit every now and then.... and well, call me unsocial... but my friends has a hard time if they come by uninvited, when I am home I wanna be left alone, part from my housemates that is tho...

[cml]

Atleast I didnt name my new friend "parrot" or "bird"

^^. I call Stitch "Bird" all the time .

[brfussne]

dunno how clever it is to be honest, basicly as clever as naming your pet "buddy" or "friend" seeing im swedish and has swedish as my first language. However I always have a hard time deciding names for my pets so they usually stay unnamed until I figure out im calling them the same thing anyways, like the cat I used to have was basicly named "the cat" ("katten" in swedish) just becouse thats what I called her when she moved into me and figured after a couple of days without naming her, i might as well fill in the insurance for and just put "the cat" where it ses name:

Atleast I didnt name my new friend "parrot" or "bird"

and thanks for the welcome, I'm finding this forum quite useful and it is always pleasent to read stories about others doing their best to satisfy their pets. although, I must say I feel a little envy reading of adopting birds etc, around here I have never found such a place, and the "relocation" birds are basicly the same price or has a higher price than the babies, weather their handfed or bird fed. occationally you see an add pop up for birds wanting new homes without them being overpriced due to cages/ toys etc etc, these people generally want you to live kinda next door so they can come visit every now and then.... and well, call me unsocial... but my friends has a hard time if they come by uninvited, when I am home I wanna be left alone, part from my housemates that is tho...

I thought it was unique because I don't speak Swedish. I like the idea of naming my pets a name or word from a foreign language. Katten, however, I don't think is clever because it too close to cat. Polarn doesnt sound even remotely close to friend.

[Avialae]

Here's another Swede.
I 've clickertrained quite a few parrots (and dogs, and meercats, and an elephant, and a goldfish..)
I've also just gotten a Jardines Parrot, parent fed and raised in similiar conditions as yours. Had her for three weeks now and we're making progress every day. She steps up most of the time and is a star when it comes to target training (which i always recommend as the first behaviour to teach, makes everything else so much simpler).

Welcome to the forum.

[Polarn]

thanks for the welcome, and yes targettraining is something I want to do with Polarn and I want to do it before i start training him to step up, however he still wont move for treats and definitly not after the stick and wont consistently let me give him a treat, but as soon as i am allowed to give him a treat everytime i try or even if he dont take it just get close enough to him with my hand without him flying off. atleast it seems meaningless to try train him to target the stick when I am not allowed to treat him, saying this we have started some. them periods when he want to socialize with me and lets me pet him slightly and give him treats I someties use his targetstick and asks him to touch it, but havnt targeted anything further off than having him stretch up or bend down so far. But then again hes only been here for 4 full days so far so I feel pretty confident he will become social eventually.

May I ask what you work with if you clickertrained an elephant? seeing we dont have to many around here hehe. the circus used to have em in a stable right next door to where i grew up when they were in town, so always sneaked in and up to a loft to spend the days watching them hehe. fasinating animals.