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Advice over Two Young Parrotlets

Discuss the methods and techniques of clicker training, target training and bonding. These are usually the first steps in training a young parrot.

Re: Advice over Two Young Parrotlets

Postby Pajarita » Thu May 12, 2016 10:53 am

Yes, they need to be out and flying for, at least, 4 hours a day with 2 more hours of one-on-one which do not include training.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Flight: Yes

Re: Advice over Two Young Parrotlets

Postby amazhar » Tue May 17, 2016 6:29 am

Today I had a bad experience with the MALE.

It has been a a week and half now thta I would come sit next to the cage and have both the male and the female (take turns of course) take a treat from my hand. They would take the seed calmly and eat it and then take another one with no problems. I also opened cage doors and they would come at the door and take the seed very calmly from my hand to eat.

So I thought why not let the male out from the top door to take the seed and hand around for a while. Once he was out he went on the females cage and they started biting each other's toes. So Calmly I tried to have him come take a seed from me away from the female he would refuse. SO I tried to make him step up, he would again retreat. Tried everything for a while till he was frightened by a sound in the road and started flying around the room till he bumped in the cupboard and fell. So I went to make him step up he would still flap his wings. For HIS safety, I grabbed him (He bit me hard) and put him back in his cage with some treats. He is fine and he is eating. I offered a treat from my hand again he took it very calmly.

Advice please
amazhar
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Re: Advice over Two Young Parrotlets

Postby liz » Tue May 17, 2016 7:37 am

The only time Rambo screams for HELP is when he is in dire distress. One morning he was screaming so loud that I heard him from the other side of the house. He had climbed on the Plet cage and they were biting his toes. They bit one, he picked it up and they bit the other. Instead of jumping off the cage he just panicked. I had to rescue him. My daughter was the Plets human so I did not know much about them.

I had budgies, Harley and Marley, for a few months then Wolf took them to give them better care than I could. They were just the sweetest little happy things. I took care of my daughter's Lovies and Tweetle Dee was a real character. Other than those I have been the human to Rambo and Myrtle and many Cockatiels.

My Cockatiels have been rescues and treated really bad. Some are mutilated and others have emotional handicaps. I tell you this so I can tell you what I have found about them. I used to open cages and let them fly. They were all afraid and none could be handled. I did learn that after flying until tired they would let me scoop them up with both hands to put back in their cages gratefully.
One even allowed head srcatches on the way back. It only took twice when they started landing by me to be scooped up. They still did not trust me but learned that I would help when needed.

Okay, that was my 2 cents.
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liz
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Re: Advice over Two Young Parrotlets

Postby amazhar » Tue May 17, 2016 8:38 am

So is that means that they are very hard to train and to be hand tamed?

In my case, even when hit the cupboard and was supposedly tired, he wouldn't let me approach him.

I am also waiting for a yellow sided green cheek conure to arrive after being weaned at a breeder friend. SO i was hoping to be able to at least able make them step up before he came.
amazhar
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Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Re: Advice over Two Young Parrotlets

Postby Wolf » Tue May 17, 2016 9:29 am

No, he bit you because he was scared. You grabbed him thinking to help, but it scared him even more, but now that he has calmed down and feels safe again he is alright, and he is going to remember and think about this, it is all just a step in his learning to trust you and since you did not hurt him and put him in his safe place he is that much closer to being able to trust you. Except for getting in a little bit of a rush by letting him out from the top of the cage you did well. Everything is fine. A parrotlets very first reaction when scared is to get away if this doesn't work then his next action is to try and defend itself by biting. They are very small and fragile and do not have many options. Grabbing him even though you did not hurt him is very similar to what it feels like to be grabbed by the mouth of a predator, so what would you have done if you had been him? Try to look at things from his perspective. Try to think how big and scary and dangerous the world would be if you were his size and almost everyone and everything were that much bigger than you and you know that some of them just want to eat you.
Parrotlets are very much like larger parrots and they are very protective of their territory so when someone lands on their cage which is their safe place and the only place that they can claim as theirs they are going to defend that place from the intruder.

If he is not yet stepping up onto your hand to get a treat at the door of his cage, then he does not trust you yet. Do not chase them around if they do not step up as it just scares them.
Now if they are coming to the door of the cage to get a treat from you and are staying there to eat it calmly it is time to move on to the next step. You can try holding the treat in one hand and place the other one at the cage door for them to step up on and hold the treat so that they need to stretch a little bit in order to reach the treat. It should not take very long and they will be stepping up on your hand all on their own. Once they are doing this then they will also step up for you in other places as well.

It would be great if you could post some pictures of them her so that we could see them, we love pictures.

Now is also a good time to start teaching them to target and so I am going to post a link here for you to read, it will explain the basics of target training as well as another way of teaching them to step up for you. Here is the link : viewtopic.php?f=11&t=227 Please let me know if I can help you more.
Wolf
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Re: Advice over Two Young Parrotlets

Postby Pajarita » Tue May 17, 2016 10:56 am

Wolf is right in that he was just scared - even birds that are already tame would have bit under those circumstances. But they are hard to tame. All birds that are parent-raised are and the little ones are a bit harder, I think. It doesn't mean it cannot be done, it just means it takes a loooong time and a lot of work.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Advice over Two Young Parrotlets

Postby Wolf » Wed May 18, 2016 9:46 am

It does seem to me that it takes a lot longer to tame these little birds, but then, I keep an open mind and consider how hard it is to trust someone who is more than 1000 times bigger than you are. Being as small as they are they really have no way to defend themselves from us, a fact that they are much more aware of than we are at best. Their survival in their natural environment depends on them being a bit skittish and flighty to a very large degree.
Wolf
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 8679
Location: Lansing, NC
Number of Birds Owned: 6
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal
African Grey (CAG)
Yellow Naped Amazon
2Celestial Parrotlet
Budgie
Flight: Yes

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