Meet Willow! We could use some help with behavior

[tashia]

Hi my name is Tashia, I recently added an amazing little Amazon Parrot named Willow to my family. Willow has had a bit of a rough life. She was raised by a gentleman who was a hoarder, She did not get adequate attention or nutrition, the local humane society stepped in and took her to there shelter. Where again she did not receive much attention. She was caged most of the time for the next eight months. She then was adopted by a lady whom threw all of her good intentions did things that made Willow more fearful than she already was. She would reach into the cage and chase Willow around the cage until the bird either bit her or complied and allowed herself to be removed from the cage. When I took Willow in she had not been handled in 3 weeks b/c of the owners fear of being bitten by her again. When she came to my house we started slow with her. Letting her come out of the cage at her own pace and sit on the door or top of the cage, then when she would venture off the cage i would offer a wooden spoon as a perch and ask her to step up. Now 3 weeks in she will step up on my finger as long as she is not on her cage. She will however step up on the spoon from the cage. We are working on building trust and making sure that her life has a much happier ending than it did a beginning. I am doing everything That I know of to help her overcome her fears and learn to trust but I would love any help or advice that people wiser than myself are willing to give! Thank you for taking time to read this and thank you in advance for all of your help!

[marie83]

Welcome to the forum. It sounds like willow is lucky to have you and you sound like your doing all the right things already by not using force and respecting her space.
Have a look through Michaels trained parrot blog. You will pick up loads of useful information and techniques and we are all here to help should you need any further advice.

[liz]

The fact that you can even touch her says a lot about you and how she is learning to trust you.
Yes, you have a rough road ahead of you but it sounds like Willow is willing to take the risk to be loved.

She sounds like an exceptional parrot.

[tashia]

Thank y'all for the encouragement I think Willow and I will need it over the next few months. But we are going to work threw it. Today for the first time she put her foot on my hand to better reach the treat I was offering. So she is making progress!