I am posting this on behalf of "maz7598". That person has not yet learned to make a post and emailed me directly.
Maz, if you read this, check your messages at the top left of the page.
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Hi I posted somewhere on site but it failed ever time. I acquired 2 female
IRN's which i keep in my enclosed undercover courtyard in a parrot cage.
They are Green. I think they were abused & neglected but i don't want to
give up on them. I have many other birds and they r surrounded by a Canary
and some budgies each in their own cages. They r full of nonsense regards
food& are very wild. I've named them Sally& Rosie.Think they r quite on in
years.
PSE HELP me. They r petrified of my hand,but not if i wear a glove. Sally
comes and sits on my glove Rosie flap around and won't let me near her. I
managed to stroke her head and body with glove but she is a biter.I've also
endeavoured to give them a variety of food. mixed seeds, dreid fruit & nut
seed mix, mung beans, sunflower white & Black, nuts & peanuts,Tonic in
their water. They toss a lot of fruit & veg in the water.Why?
Their cooked peas, corn they love, but dump a lot on floor of cage as well
as green beans & carrots. They don't eat papaya,grapes,carrot,cucumber,
they just want sunflower seeds, apple & the peas & corn-surely thats not
good enough, pellets is also a no-no HELP? MUST i CARRY ON TAMING? TIPS
PSE!!! I AM DESPERATE TO GET THEM CHEERY+HAPPY.
mAZ 7958
HELP? MUST I CARRY ON TAMING? TIPS PLEASE!
Moderator: Mods
Re: HELP? MUST I CARRY ON TAMING? TIPS PLEASE!
Hi Maz,
There is a lot of information in your question. Let me see if I can narrow it down a little.
*You have got two green adult female Ringnecks, possibly of advanced age, that are not as tame as you would like.
*They live in a cage (together?) in an enclosed & covered outside courtyard.
*There are Budgies and a Canary caged nearby.
*They fear a bare hand but not so much a glove.
*Sally will come near and sit on the gloved hand.
*Rosie will not come near.
*Rosie flaps - when? When approached?
*You stroked one of them with a gloved hand but it bit in response.
*You put tonic in their water.
*You want to know why they throw food in the water.
*You offered them a lot of foods but they only like peas, corn, apple, and sunflower seeds.
*You feel they should have a better diet.
*You want to know if you should continue trying to tame them and request help for that.
*You want them to be cheery and happy.
As long as the birds are peaceful together in the cage, I think they do sound physically safe. You must monitor them carefully because while breeding season gets closer, a pair of females is most likely to fight. If they cannot have peace together they must be immediately separated to prevent bad injury and death. Keep a close eye on this. NOTE- you did not say where you live, but unless you are in a place where the temperature is similar to the natural range of the Ringneck, you may need to bring them inside as the weather cools.
Keep an eye on your Canary as well. My Canaries are too stressed by the Ringneck close to them and live in a different room. 20 feet and a visual barrier should be enough to separate them if your Canary is unhappy. Make sure your Budgies are not intimidated as well.
Many Ringnecks are shy of the hand. If the glove is working for Sally then I think you should continue to use it for the time being. When she is more comfortable then you can work on the bare hand. Note that I had great success using a finger-tamed Budgie to model stepping to the bare hand. After watching the Budgie for about a month, my Ringneck spontaneously stepped to my wrist on his own. I was very surprised and quite pleased.
You may well be able to work with Sally and let Rosie learn at her own pace by watching. Also consider that while Sally prefers the glove, Rosie may or may not agree. If the glove scares Rosie, do not use it for her.
For both birds, you must take care not to do anything that causes them to flap around. If they are flapping, then they are already frightened. If you scare them then they will not trust you or want to come to you. A good thing to do is to spend quiet time near the cage being boring. Read, use computer, sleep, anything non-threatening. Give them the chance to watch you at lot. Also eat some of the foods they like in front of them. They will want to eat the food too, and you can offer them a little bit. You can offer the food and then leave it if they don't come, but don't do that for long or else there will be no incentive to come to you. When you offer the food by hand, stand aside a little so they will be able to choose to come to you. You don't go to them. You stand still and wait for them to come to you. They like choices.
Do not touch them if they do not ask for it by coming to you and waiting for the touch. At the very least, do not touch them if they try to move away. Once they come eagerly to you for food, then you can ask again for help learning to touch them.
It sounds like you are trying to feed them well. Please keep trying. One very nice feature of the Ringneck is that it wants to eat. But it is also cautious! It may only need to see someone else eating the food first. You can eat in front of them and only give them a little bit when they look interested or greedy. You can also let them watch a different bird eating the food. If your little birds eat green leaves, let the Ringneck watch that. You might be very surprised! My bird learned to eat strawberries by watching me eat them and feed them to my dogs! Try it many times like that. Keep trying. I smashed some pellets into powder and put a little water in them to make a mush. My bird likes them that way. Also, if you have the choice, get the very small pellets.
What kind of tonic do you use and why? They throw food in the water because parrots like to do that. Do not expect that to change.
Yes, I think you should continue trying to tame them. There are many helpful people here at the Forum and they will help you with their ideas and support. Regardless of how tame the birds may eventually become, I believe they should be comfortable around people so they will not be stressed all the time. Sally will bring you joy as she sits on your hand to take food. Even if Rosie never sits on your hand, you will enjoy handing her food and watching her play.
I hope I was able to help you some. Please feel free to pm me if you still cannot make a post. Otherwise, you should make your post here, or start a new one. Best Wishes!!!!
There is a lot of information in your question. Let me see if I can narrow it down a little.
*You have got two green adult female Ringnecks, possibly of advanced age, that are not as tame as you would like.
*They live in a cage (together?) in an enclosed & covered outside courtyard.
*There are Budgies and a Canary caged nearby.
*They fear a bare hand but not so much a glove.
*Sally will come near and sit on the gloved hand.
*Rosie will not come near.
*Rosie flaps - when? When approached?
*You stroked one of them with a gloved hand but it bit in response.
*You put tonic in their water.
*You want to know why they throw food in the water.
*You offered them a lot of foods but they only like peas, corn, apple, and sunflower seeds.
*You feel they should have a better diet.
*You want to know if you should continue trying to tame them and request help for that.
*You want them to be cheery and happy.
As long as the birds are peaceful together in the cage, I think they do sound physically safe. You must monitor them carefully because while breeding season gets closer, a pair of females is most likely to fight. If they cannot have peace together they must be immediately separated to prevent bad injury and death. Keep a close eye on this. NOTE- you did not say where you live, but unless you are in a place where the temperature is similar to the natural range of the Ringneck, you may need to bring them inside as the weather cools.
Keep an eye on your Canary as well. My Canaries are too stressed by the Ringneck close to them and live in a different room. 20 feet and a visual barrier should be enough to separate them if your Canary is unhappy. Make sure your Budgies are not intimidated as well.
Many Ringnecks are shy of the hand. If the glove is working for Sally then I think you should continue to use it for the time being. When she is more comfortable then you can work on the bare hand. Note that I had great success using a finger-tamed Budgie to model stepping to the bare hand. After watching the Budgie for about a month, my Ringneck spontaneously stepped to my wrist on his own. I was very surprised and quite pleased.
You may well be able to work with Sally and let Rosie learn at her own pace by watching. Also consider that while Sally prefers the glove, Rosie may or may not agree. If the glove scares Rosie, do not use it for her.
For both birds, you must take care not to do anything that causes them to flap around. If they are flapping, then they are already frightened. If you scare them then they will not trust you or want to come to you. A good thing to do is to spend quiet time near the cage being boring. Read, use computer, sleep, anything non-threatening. Give them the chance to watch you at lot. Also eat some of the foods they like in front of them. They will want to eat the food too, and you can offer them a little bit. You can offer the food and then leave it if they don't come, but don't do that for long or else there will be no incentive to come to you. When you offer the food by hand, stand aside a little so they will be able to choose to come to you. You don't go to them. You stand still and wait for them to come to you. They like choices.
Do not touch them if they do not ask for it by coming to you and waiting for the touch. At the very least, do not touch them if they try to move away. Once they come eagerly to you for food, then you can ask again for help learning to touch them.
It sounds like you are trying to feed them well. Please keep trying. One very nice feature of the Ringneck is that it wants to eat. But it is also cautious! It may only need to see someone else eating the food first. You can eat in front of them and only give them a little bit when they look interested or greedy. You can also let them watch a different bird eating the food. If your little birds eat green leaves, let the Ringneck watch that. You might be very surprised! My bird learned to eat strawberries by watching me eat them and feed them to my dogs! Try it many times like that. Keep trying. I smashed some pellets into powder and put a little water in them to make a mush. My bird likes them that way. Also, if you have the choice, get the very small pellets.
What kind of tonic do you use and why? They throw food in the water because parrots like to do that. Do not expect that to change.
Yes, I think you should continue trying to tame them. There are many helpful people here at the Forum and they will help you with their ideas and support. Regardless of how tame the birds may eventually become, I believe they should be comfortable around people so they will not be stressed all the time. Sally will bring you joy as she sits on your hand to take food. Even if Rosie never sits on your hand, you will enjoy handing her food and watching her play.
I hope I was able to help you some. Please feel free to pm me if you still cannot make a post. Otherwise, you should make your post here, or start a new one. Best Wishes!!!!
-MissK
Re: HELP? MUST I CARRY ON TAMING? TIPS PLEASE!
Thank you so much MissK, bN helpful, I put Parrot tonic in water from AVian shop. Canary sings all day, so no prob there. My Courtyard is actually a room adjacent to kitchen and diningroom anD has a clear polycarb roof for sun+ lightm ,so its indoor.
The females don't fight. thE budgies r breeding so busy with young+ eggs. I hav an Aviary outside for other bird
s that r not busy with delicate things, and for my finches in a seperate section.
Thanks will try the copy food+share method for IRN s
You've bn very helpful
Maz7
The females don't fight. thE budgies r breeding so busy with young+ eggs. I hav an Aviary outside for other bird
s that r not busy with delicate things, and for my finches in a seperate section.
Thanks will try the copy food+share method for IRN s
You've bn very helpful
Maz7
Re: HELP? MUST I CARRY ON TAMING? TIPS PLEASE!
Ps MissK I live in Cape Town SOuth Africa. I mist spray my IRNs with water with diluted Aloe Vera Plant extract on hot days! They seem to love that! I let them come out of cage 2x a week+fly+ just potter around but gettin them back in is major effort ,must use net. Is this ok?
Maz7
Maz7
Re: HELP? MUST I CARRY ON TAMING? TIPS PLEASE!
You are probably already taking care of this, but mind the room with the clear roof does not get too hot for birds.
I would advise against the net. You should be able to get them back to the cage by removing the food for an hour or so before you let them out. No food while they are out unless it comes from your hand. Then, to get them back home, let them see you put food in a bowl (and make some noise, too) and let them see the food go into the cage. Then stand away from the cage so they are not scared to go in.
You don't want to starve the birds or prevent them from getting a regular meal, so find a way to schedule their time out of the cage so it is naturally between meals. Then, use the regular meal time as your time to reintroduce food. You can clean the cage while they're out, which I guess you probably are doing already.
Don't forget to discover what is their favourite treat, so eventually you can use this as a hand fed lure to get them to follow where you want them.
I would advise against the net. You should be able to get them back to the cage by removing the food for an hour or so before you let them out. No food while they are out unless it comes from your hand. Then, to get them back home, let them see you put food in a bowl (and make some noise, too) and let them see the food go into the cage. Then stand away from the cage so they are not scared to go in.
You don't want to starve the birds or prevent them from getting a regular meal, so find a way to schedule their time out of the cage so it is naturally between meals. Then, use the regular meal time as your time to reintroduce food. You can clean the cage while they're out, which I guess you probably are doing already.
Don't forget to discover what is their favourite treat, so eventually you can use this as a hand fed lure to get them to follow where you want them.
-MissK
Re: HELP? MUST I CARRY ON TAMING? TIPS PLEASE!
I had to learn how to get my ringneck back to his cage. At first I would chase him around the room, telling him "go to your cage", eventually he would land on his cage and go in. I would praise him for it and give him a treat.
Eventually he developed a sense of time and became easy to convince. Now the routine is different. Now I turn the lights out around 10pm and he flies to a certain spot and just sits there. 20 minutes later he lets me take him to his cage without avoiding it.
For his large outdoors cage there is another rroutine but it's simpler. As soon as it starts getting dark outside he will immediately go into his smaller cage to be transported inside (where he is immediately released again.)
The point of this story is about routine and consistency, and for me, the lighting.
Birds must be let out daily, not once or twice a week, and they will learn the routine and abide by it without a big fuss. It ttakes a bit of compromise on your part too. Once you figure out what works stick with that even if it's not quite how you'd like it to be
Eventually he developed a sense of time and became easy to convince. Now the routine is different. Now I turn the lights out around 10pm and he flies to a certain spot and just sits there. 20 minutes later he lets me take him to his cage without avoiding it.
For his large outdoors cage there is another rroutine but it's simpler. As soon as it starts getting dark outside he will immediately go into his smaller cage to be transported inside (where he is immediately released again.)
The point of this story is about routine and consistency, and for me, the lighting.
Birds must be let out daily, not once or twice a week, and they will learn the routine and abide by it without a big fuss. It ttakes a bit of compromise on your part too. Once you figure out what works stick with that even if it's not quite how you'd like it to be