How can I curb bad behaviour early on?

[sahhbear]

Hi!
I'm new to the forum, but not to bird owning. I have had an IRN before but unfortunately had to find a loving home for him when my cockatiels began to have their babies and he got jealous. I am aware of the stages they go through and am experiencing a few of them at the moment with my guy/girl Rani.

It's early days and I'm wanting to try to re-enforce good behaviour and try to prevent the bad behaviours but am not really sure I'm going the right way about it. I've only ever really tamed Cockatiels before and IRN's are defnitely more tenacious and stubborn- that's for sure. I have a 12 year old Cockatiel, Sam, that Rani is being housed with and I have noticed that Rani has started to lunge at him and go to bite him. When I see this I immeditely tap Rani's beak and say "Rani, no. No biting" I have been saying "No biting" to him if he's been going to bite me. (I think he's going through his bluffing stage at the moment) I've noticed too that this behaviour seems to be centered around the food of which there is ample supply (3 food dishes, 2 water bowls, a big plate of fruit and veges and some toast) When that failed and Rani still lunged at Sam I tried to make him feel less superior and put him on the floor of the cage while Sam was at the top.

I know it's the law of the jungle and he's asserting dominance and all that but I don't want my cockatiel who has been around for 12 years to feel like the new kid on the block has all the power so I'd like to try to prevent this sort of bullying if at all possible? Any suggestions?

Thanks so much Xx

[sanjays mummi]

Separate cages, seemples.

[willowisp71]

Yes! Definitely separate the 2 birds! At least until you know for certain that they can be buddies! You have introduced a new bird into Sam's domain, and now he is being 'bullied' by the new comer. How long have you had Rani? And how old is he/she? I would be concerned that Rani might do some serious damage to Sam, perhaps when you're not looking one day

We have one mature male IRN at the moment, but are buying a young female as a companion for him. Everything I've read to date has suggested a slow introduction of the 2 birds when we finally bring her home in 4 weeks. Although we know our male is craving company of the feathered kind, we just have no idea how he's going to react to this new young chick, or whether they will even like each other! So for the next few months she will have her own smaller cage, and we will introduce them to each other in stages. We will keep their cages separated from each other to start with, and only have one of them out of their cage at a time at first, and then supervise them for some months when they are both out together to monitor how they will interact with each other. Fingers crossed Skittles see's himself as her guardian for the next couple of years until she's old enough to become his mate There's no guarantee's though........some birds just don't get along, no matter what we do

Good luck with your birdies....I hope it all turns out well

[sahhbear]

Unfortunately I have no idea how old Rani is as the lady we bought him off (she owns a pet supply shop) knows VERY little about them. My best guess is he's about 3 months old? Excuse my ignorance, my last IRN was much older and the only other bird I've had from egg is a cockatiel so I really don't know how else to describe this but when we got him home he seemed to be making funny noises, kind of like the sound a minor/micky bird makes so I thought maybe he wanted to be fed and tried him on that- successfully.

Since then he's had one feed a day. (Roudybush) I think he craves the familiarity of it more than anything as he doesn't eat much and I'm gradually reducing the little he does eat at this feed.

We've had him now for 3 days, so not a great deal of time at all and Sam and Rani are perfectly fine in the cage together , just so long as Sam doesn't go near "Rani's food dish". I gave Rani "time out" during their play time today because he lunged at Sam... all other times he's generally very sweet.

I appreciate the feedback, I had a feeling I may need to have them in seperate cages cause old Ra has come on in and made himself right at home but I just thought I'd put it out there and see if anyone else had been successful and whether I should just see how they go but from what I've read so far... perhaps not!

[willowisp71]

Well, perhaps if Rani is still only young (3 months or so), they will be fine together, and just need to get through this initial introduction phase.....if Rani had of been a much older bird, it might be a different story, but if he's only just been weaned, then they will probably be ok. I don't think at such a young age he/she could do much damage or injury to Sam....you're probably right, and he/she s just testing the boundaries

Let us know how you get on!

[sahhbear]

I think (and hope) that is the case and will keep you updated!! Just before Sam ate from "Rani's dish" as he watched. I sat there, too with baited breath hoping I wasn't going to have to jump up. But Rani was good! He never actually bites Sam, just lunges like "get away, that's mine!" I think maybe he knows I mean business as I got quite cross with him and his eyes pinned so I know he knew it! Thank you for your help.

I can see the picture of your beautiful bird there, he is very similar in colouring to Rani... I was told by the lady that Rani is a split but as I said she knew very little. Is your boy a straight blue or blue/grey split? Rani seems to be a much lighter blue colour around his front/cheels and even seems to have very slight olivey colouring over his wing/top of his head area. This is only really visible if the light shines on his features. I say he/his but obviously I have no idea if Rani is a boy or girl. I will try and upload a few photos if I can! Not sure if the photos show it but his eyes are a really really light blue colour, almost grey.

[willowisp71]

Hi rritoch,

Thanks for sharing your story about your IRNs and lovebirds.....it's great to hear other people's experiences, and what measures they have put in place to rectify bad behaviour I've always wondered how to hold an IRN (or any other 'bitey' bird) so as not to get bitten severely! Thanks!

Sahhbear - it sounds like you are making some progress! That's great

In regards to colours, and 'splits', there a few 'rules' when it comes to the genetics of IRN's. It is my understanding that IRN's cannot be 'split' to grey or violet, as these are 'dominant' colours.....the bird is either visually grey, or it's not. It is common for the normal series blue to show a greyish tinge, both on the breast and back, my Skittles even sometimes has a violet tinge just below his neck ring....but I know now that he isn't split to either of this colours cos that's just not how it works Depending on lighting conditions he can also look the palest of pastel blue, to a lovely bright almost aqua blue with turquoisy wing and tail feathers! I'll post a couple of pics below to show you what I mean.

Another rule of thumb is that female birds cannot ever be SPLIT to cinnamon, ino (albino/lutino) opaline, or pallid - they either ARE or they are NOT. I have been following a thread by Lushen1600, where he is teaching us newbies how to use the Genetic Calculator.....I highly recommend anyone getting into ringnecks to have a read, as it not only show's you how to use the calculator, but also has links to a couple of others sites that explain the different colours really well, and what to look for, from beak, eye, feet colour, to neckring, wing, flight and tail colours. Here is a link to the thread if you are interested in having a look, (it is still a work in progress, but starts you off at the basic's and once you've got them, the rest is fairly straight forward):

http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... 26&t=15669

And here are the pics of Skittles-

Here's one where he looks more greeny-blue:



And one where he looks grey-blue:



Apologies, these weren't the actual pics I wanted to use, but something has gone wrong with my photobucket albums, and I can't see my pics....but you get the idea (if I can sort out the issues with photobucket, I'll upload better pics.


If your are wanting to upload pics yourself, there is a thread that explains how to do it here:

http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... =5&t=15844


Look forward to seeing some pics of your FIDs (Just a side note, you will have to have been a member for more than 5 days, and made at least 10 posts before you can post photo's - security measure against spammers )


Bugger! Just 'previewed' my message and pics aren't working....Grrrrr! I will have to sort it out and post later

[sahhbear]

WOW! Thanks rritoch! That was some awesome information there. I've (unfortunately) come across all three of those stages of biting. Rani went for my finger just this morning and I stared him down. What he doesn't realise is I'm more stubborn than he is and as his mum I have decades of experience on him! So we had a mini stare down and I'm pleased to say I won that one.... though my victory was short lived when the little terror grabbed hold of my finger not that much later and bit with all his mite- didn't draw blood but I have a bite mark and little bruise from the point of his beak. Thankfully though, more often than not he does the open mouthed bites. Those I can deal with!

He and Sam are getting along a little better. I now know Rani's absolute favourite food- sunflower seeds. The seed we buy comes RIDDLED with them so I've been picking them out as I mix a crumble/seed mix and I don't like him sitting there eating only the sunflower seeds, as he does, and I feed them as a reward/treat. So when he's being good/does something I want him to I'll give him a sunflower seed and his eyes pin like crazy!

He's so smart, which I think is part of the problem with the territorial thing. We haven't even had him a week and I SWEAR he's already trying to imitate my laugh. I heard him last night try a "HAHAHA" just after I had been laughing really loudly at something.

Thanks for the link to the genetics codes Deb, I appreciate that. I'll have to look into that. Mum tells me I'm absolutely obsessed with it but I just want to know "what" my baby is hahahha. I have absolutely no idea what colours his parents are but the other ring necks in the cage with him- who I assume were from the same clutch may help in determining that? Work backwards to find the parents... I'm hanging for the day I can post the pics for you. Rani looks a lot like Skittles, though his blue isn't as radiant- it's more dull.

rritoch- your girls are beautiful. My last IRN was a green boy, so I'm partial to the green IRN.

Thanks again

Sarah
xx

[BryanDavidson]

Hi!
I'm new to the forum, but not to bird owning. I have had an IRN before but unfortunately had to find a loving home for him when my cockatiels began to have their babies and he got jealous. I am aware of the stages they go through and am experiencing a few of them at the moment with my guy/girl Rani.

It's early days and I'm wanting to try to re-enforce good behaviour and try to prevent the bad behaviours but am not really sure I'm going the right way about it. I've only ever really tamed Cockatiels before and IRN's are defnitely more tenacious and stubborn- that's for sure. I have a 12 year old Cockatiel, Sam, that Rani is being housed with and I have noticed that Rani has started to lunge at him and go to bite him. When I see this I immeditely tap Rani's beak and say "Rani, no. No biting" I have been saying "No biting" to him if he's been going to bite me. (I think he's going through his bluffing stage at the moment) I've noticed too that this behaviour seems to be centered around the food of which there is ample supply (3 food dishes, 2 water bowls, a big plate of fruit and veges and some toast) When that failed and Rani still lunged at Sam I tried to make him feel less superior and put him on the floor of the cage while Sam was at the top.

I know it's the law of the jungle and he's asserting dominance and all that but I don't want my cockatiel who has been around for 12 years to feel like the new kid on the block has all the power so I'd like to try to prevent this sort of bullying if at all possible? Any suggestions?

Thanks so much Xx

Were you able to control the bad behaviour? I think it is very hard to accomplish but please share your experience