kakariki

[iangraham62]

Any tips or information on how to look after this new bird of mine would be appreciated. I am trying to tame him to come om my hand by holing it steady in the cage near him. I am getting within a couple of inches but no luck yet. I wonder how long it might take. kiki is a young male Bird 6 months old and I have had him 12 days now

[Wolf]

Every interaction with a parrot is also an exercise in trust and for the bird to come to you and willingly place itself in or on your hand require a tremendous amount of trust in you from the bird. I would begin with the bird in its cage by talking to it using its name a lot along with a lot of " Good Bird" type of praise and offer it a favored treat such as spray millet through the cage bars until the bird is coming over to get a couple of bites of the treat and remains while eating it. Then I would repeat this same thing at the open cage door, not reaching into the cage at all, but holding the treat at the cage door and waiting for the bird to come to you. This is how you know that the bird is beginning to trust you more. Then use two hands holding the treat so that the bird needs to stretch just a bit to reach the treat. the bird will normally begin to step up onto your hand to get the treat. At first it may only step up with one foot but be patient and the bird will begin to step up fully on its own and then you can start adding the verbal cue to step up.

Keep these sessions short and at first the bird may not come over to get the treat, but make certain that you leave some of the treat for the bird when you are done, this helps the bird to understand that you are bringing it good things and do not want to harm it. It fosters trust.

I hope this helps.

[Pajarita]

I think that, maybe, the 'use two hands' instruction that Wolf gave you needs a bit more explanation. What he means is hold the millet spray with one hand (your left if you are righthanded) with your other hand (the right?) in between the millet and the bird so he has to step onto it to reach the treat.