Hi i'm new here and i have a parrot that is still clipped (he came from the breeder that way) i am planning to let his feathers grow out and have him then fly. But my question is, how do i teach him to have more confidence sitting on my hand. Everyone seems to have the bird fly to their hand but Merlin is not good at sitting on hands and tends to dance about trying to find a good hold and loses his balance. I want to have him sitting confidently on my hand before we get to the point where he can fly. He sits fine on a stick and is very tame. He is not quite 6 months old now. Help anyone?
The bird is still young and since it's clipped probably quite clumsy. You're just going to have to teach it to step up and feed lots of treats to it on your hand. You just have to get the bird used to being on your hand and make it an enjoyable experience for the bird.
Are unclipped birds less clumsy on a perch? He steps up great onto a stick but when he see's a hand he thinks more of food hahaha. And when he does step up onto a hand then he keeps trying to readjust his foothold and usually ends up on the pinky side of my hand which isn't the best spot for him. Then it gets hard on me too because he feels like he needs to use his beak to grab hold and bites down quite hard. Lets hope he gets less clumsy, i especially wondered because i would see films of very young birds flying to people and comfortably landing on their hands..... thanks
Maybe you are holding the bird wrong. I have less experience with eclectus but if I remember correctly they are about the same size as an african grey or a tiny bit smaller. So with my Senegal parrot (budgie, cockatiel, etc) I would just have them perch on my finger. For an African Grey (eclectus or other larger parrot) I would have them perch on my entire hand or arm even. Ideally I like them on top of my index finger with my thumb over the feet. It's hard to explain so here's the best pic (of someone else) I could find that demonstrates how to hold:
For the bigger birds, I ask them to recall on to my arm.
I crook my elbow and hold my arm out like a perch. I cue the bird by holding the treat behind my arm.
This is a much bigger and stabler perch and feels more natural for a previously clipped larger bird.
Also....at this stage, you may want to just work on having the bird target back and forth to something more stable than an arm or hand (like the cage top of the back of a chair). Your bird probably hasn't developed the confidence and skills to land so you want to be focusing on making every thing seem as comfortable and easy for the bird as possible. When I am working with a previously clipped bird, I usually focus on target flying to a very stable object small distances before worrying about a recall.
Just some thoughts!
Mona
Mona in Seattle Phinneous Fowl (aka Phinney) TAG Babylon Sengal Doug (spousal unit) Jack and Bailey (Gremlins) Kiri (CAG) http://www.flyingparrotsinside.com youtube: Avian Flyers
He's actually not landing on my hand now, he can't fly. I just want him to be able to perch on my hand so that when he flies he can land there. Right now he's just super clumsy on my hand and arm. He perches there like she drunk or something! Hahaha. But thanks for the advice. I just want to make sure that he has some kind of recall before he starts flying around.
Seems like a large bird would land easier on the wrist or hand as an entirety. I find that with a bird just on the arm alone and at a certain angle, the bird is swaying back and forth, trying to catch its balance because the skin kind of moves back and forth, but on the wrist or hand, it's tighter. But that's just my experience with Kili, Michael's parrot, and a few other birds (Greys, Macaws)
about eight minutes and 40 seconds into it (it's a long video) you can see how I do this catching Kiri on my arm. I use my hand with the Senegals too...
Thanks!
Mona
Mona in Seattle Phinneous Fowl (aka Phinney) TAG Babylon Sengal Doug (spousal unit) Jack and Bailey (Gremlins) Kiri (CAG) http://www.flyingparrotsinside.com youtube: Avian Flyers