Stay on perch

[laducockatiel]

Hi guys,

So Ladu is doing great and has learned a lot of cool tricks and has been eating plenty of healthy foods. The only problem is, say if he is on a perch, he just flies to me without me calling him and this can be pretty bad when I am trying to leave the room because say he tries to fly to me and he is there I may shut the door on him by accident (I really hope this never happens but I am worried it may).So my real question is, is there a way to train him to stay on his perch? If anyone knows how that would be great and I would really appreciate any replies.

[liz]

I can see you in my mind saying "STAY STAY". LOL

[laducockatiel]

Lol

[felix11]

I tried to teach my birds 'stay'. They think it means 'don't land on me', which isn't TOO bad. It means they will fly to perches near me though. I could try to remedy this, but it works pretty well as is.

I used a big visual hand signal like a 'stop' sign (and say "stay"), and if the bird flew to me I prevented it from landing on me by presenting it with my spread hand. It usually flew back to its original perch. Ladu will probably catch on pretty quickly.

[spiral]

that movement of the hands is decibed in a book i have on parrots but i cant so it so my parrot goes on my shoulder but i take her off again
so this tops her misbehaving gradually

[liz]

that movement of the hands is decibed in a book i have on parrots but i cant so it so my parrot goes on my shoulder but i take her off again
so this tops her misbehaving gradually

I don't see a problem with my birds on my shoulder. Myrtle flies there and Rambo climbs up or asked to "pick me up". They whisper in my ear while they are there and tell me they are "pretty bird" or "whatcha' doin'.

[Avialae]

Teaching stay can be a bit tricky, basically because it's saying "Hey, don't do anything!", which makes it sort of hard for them to undertstand what they've done right.
What i usually do is make it into a targeting/stationing behaviour.

When stationing, i wrap a perch in something called vetflex, basically a colored sort of bandage which doesn't frey and sticks to itself. I then teach the birds to basically target it with their feet. This is also great when teaching them to fly to a perch and such.

The other option is simply training them to do a behaviour which means they need to remain at the perch, like touching it with their beak, and then gradually shape it so that they stay that way for longer and longer periods, and eventually while you leave the room.

If you just don't want them to land on you, simply don't let them do so when you are leaving a room. Duck and cover! And make sure to reward not following you. (unless you asked for it.)