ozzie has a new friend called ollie - need advice

[Wendy40]

Hiya we have bought Ozzie (GCC) a new little friend being a Barraband parrot. We have named him ollie

My question is - we got him yesterday so basically had him for a day. Totally different to Ozzie who took to us instantly. He will not for love nor money come anywhere near us and when we put our hands in the cage to try to stroke him etc he goes absolutely crazy trying and doing his best to avoid us. How can we train him to take to us and get him out daily if he will have none of it?

What else should we know about Barraband's eg. do they like the same food as Green Cheeks?

Any advice or suggestions would be most welcome

[Pajarita]

When you say Barraband, do you mean Superb or do you mean Orange-cheeked (aka Splendour)? Because both are called Barraband but one has a half green, half yellow head and the other one has a black head. Which one do you have? Not that it matters in terms of personality because they are very similar and both are aviary birds, not really good as human pets -and that's why he is so stressed out when you put your hand in his cage (which is a complete no-no with new birds, by the way). He/she will never be like a GCC and, almost surely, never bond with it or with you, either. I guess it is possible but it would imply the bird does not have any other companions and was flooded in order to achieve it. They are nervous, flighty birds that need a HUGE cage (actually, an aviary -the recommendation is 6 ft long x 4 ft high) and companions of their own species to be happy. Their care is actually easy precisely because they are aviary birds and good eaters when in flock (or, at least, with a mate), whole grains, fruits, some veggies and lots and lots of greens every day. They are ground foragers and like to look for food at the bottom of the cage so putting their grains on a paper plate is best for them.

I might be mistaken but it seems to me that you were not aware of what kind of bird you were acquiring because, if you were, you wouldn't have bought a single one and put it in a regular cage.

[Wendy40]

He was born on the 4 April so still a baby, we bought him from the same place that we bought our Ozzie from. As far putting hands in cage we done this with Ozzie without a single problem and he learned the step up command within a few days, they also have the same date of birth. As you probably know birds are very hard to sex and we have been told he is a male atm he is all green but his tail features have hints of blue in them. He will let us touch his beak now and then and earlier I just held my hand in his cage which he did not really stress over. It is like he wants to come to my hand but just a tad unsure !

[Pajarita]

OK, let's make it easy, what color beak? Horn colored is Superb, black is Splendour. Be careful not to stress out that baby bird because, if you do, it will remain high strung all his life and these little birds are already quite flighty and high-strung on their own and need no help from us.

Personally, I think that breeder did you and that little bird a huge disservice. Please do more research about them because they really don't do well when treated like a human pet (touching, petting, stepping up, etc).

[Wendy40]

his beak is a kind of light orange colour !

What type of bird do you have Pajarita?

[Wolf]

It sounds to me like you might have the Superb Parakeet or parrot.

[Pajarita]

Yes, horn colored is Superb. I have different species: Lesser Sulfur Crested cockatoo, Citron cockatoo, Congo and Timneh greys, Yellow Nape, Yellow Crown and Blue Fronted amazons, sun conure, jenday, quaker, Lesser Jardine, senegals, cockatiels, budgies, canaires, finches, Brazilian Red Crested cardinals and, the newest one is an African Red Belly female named Isis which I hope will bond with my male senegal.

Don't misunderstand me, Superbs are beautiful and wonderful little birds but they need to live in a very large aviary or loose in a room with, at least, one other bird of the same species and, if so, of the opposite gender - and, most importantly, without any real personal interaction from people (just good care) and I think you thought this would be a pet parrot like Ozzie. What made me think this was the case is the fact that you are comparing his behaviors to Ozzie and trying to do the same thing you did with him - which is to poor Ollie's detriment. Some birds are good for interaction and some are not. These are to be enjoyed from afar, allowed A LOT of room to fly and kept with others of their own species because making a pet out of them means chronic stress. Personally, I think all small species should be treated that way but you can get away with making a tiel or a lovebird into a pet (although it's never the best for them) but some species suffer captivity more than others (they all do, just in different degrees) and the Superbs and the Splendours are two of them.

[Wolf]

Although I trust Pajarita's opinions, especially in the area of nutrition, I decided to do a little research of my own. What I found is that if you have the Superb, then she is right on the money. And that it is really unlikely for you to have the Splendor if you live outside of Brazil. All that the World Parrot Trust has to say about this bird's suitability as a pet is that it is quiet, non aggressive towards other birds and that it is highly social. And they are classed as an aviary bird, which means that they really need to have a minimum cage size of just over 6 feet long, so they must be quite active and need the room for flight which would be their chosen mode of transportation. Highly social in an aviary bird means that it really needs to have a companion to be happy.
Given time and not crowding this bird to get it to respond to you it will probably get accustomed to you on it own, but don't count on the same type of bonding behavior from it as with Ozzie. If you crowd this bird too hard, I think that it will backfire on you in the long run.
Just talk to it and offer it a few treats through the cage bars for now. If and when it chooses to accept them from you then you may want to try offering treats directly from your hand at the entrance to its cage. But in no case should you lose patience, let the bird pick its own pace. In this manner you may be able to progress further than is normal for this type of bird, but don't get overly optimistic about it.

[Wendy40]

I am trying to upload a picture of Ollie but my machine will not do it. I must say he is a very unfriendly little bird

[Wendy40]

This is what Ollie looks like - exactly what kind of parrot is he please?