p.s. I read a couple of other posts where people mentioned the Miki method? Something to do with Apples? Forgive my ignorance but am I looking in the right section of the forum for that particular thread? Thanks again.
Struggling to get Ziggy out of his cage
Moderator: Mods
Struggling to get Ziggy out of his cage
Hello people. I just got my first IRN yesterday, he (or she, not DNA tested) is 4 months old and has clipped wings. When i was at the breeders home he seemed to have no issues handling Ziggy, aside from being pecked a little bit. The breeder told me for at least the next couple of weeks, for 20 minutes to half an hour that I should take him out of the cage and hold him close to my chest whilst he sits on my finger, then stroke him with my other hand. He said that since a young age Ziggy has been handled so he is relatively okay with it. My issue is that I can't for the life of me work out how to take him from the cage without hurting him (as I said this is the first IRN, or bird for that matter that i have owned). He seems intent on flapping around and jumping from side to side in the cage. I wonder if there is another method i can use to build up some trust and if I am just expecting too much too soon? I really want to develop a bond where Ziggy trusts me and knows that I mean him no harm. I also want Ziggy to know that he is safe around me. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys and girls
p.s. I read a couple of other posts where people mentioned the Miki method? Something to do with Apples? Forgive my ignorance but am I looking in the right section of the forum for that particular thread? Thanks again.
p.s. I read a couple of other posts where people mentioned the Miki method? Something to do with Apples? Forgive my ignorance but am I looking in the right section of the forum for that particular thread? Thanks again.
Re: Struggling to get Ziggy out of his cage
Welcome and congrats on your new birdy friend.
I'm not a fan of the method your breeder recommends. I haven't tried it with either of my birds though!
A lot of people on here prefer to use bribery aka positive reinforcement to tame birds and create a good bond.
The bird I got recently was aviary raised and completely untame, I used this method http://www.learningparrots.com/blog/tra ... l-parrots/ I now have a super confident and tame bird!
My other favourites are http://www.goodbirdinc.com and http://www.behaviorworks.org
Also, if you search this forum for terms like taming, you will get a lot of results. Missk has written a lot of in depth replies on the subject.
I hope that helps.
Regards,
Claire
I'm not a fan of the method your breeder recommends. I haven't tried it with either of my birds though!
A lot of people on here prefer to use bribery aka positive reinforcement to tame birds and create a good bond.
The bird I got recently was aviary raised and completely untame, I used this method http://www.learningparrots.com/blog/tra ... l-parrots/ I now have a super confident and tame bird!
My other favourites are http://www.goodbirdinc.com and http://www.behaviorworks.org
Also, if you search this forum for terms like taming, you will get a lot of results. Missk has written a lot of in depth replies on the subject.
I hope that helps.
Regards,
Claire
Re: Struggling to get Ziggy out of his cage
Thankyou Claire I'll be certain to head across and check out those links right away. I must admit, I was skeptical with the advice I was given, and rather than forcing a bond I am inclined to lean towards building trust until Ziggy is comfortable with me Appreciate the advice!! (Also, the "miki" method i was talking about was infact the "MissK' method 
I'll be sure to travel the forum in depth for her posts, as she seems to be somewhat of a zen on the art of IRNs!
I'll be certain to head across and check out those links right away. I must admit, I was skeptical with the advice I was given, and rather than forcing a bond I am inclined to lean towards building trust until Ziggy is comfortable with me Appreciate the advice!! (Also, the "miki" method i was talking about was infact the "MissK' method I'll be sure to travel the forum in depth for her posts, as she seems to be somewhat of a zen on the art of IRNs!Re: Struggling to get Ziggy out of his cage
Pixiescam
The Idea is to have your Bird come to trust you and that is achieved by having Daily trust and bond building sessions.
By using the following method you are showing your bird you want to be their friend and have no intention to do harm and food is a great motivator. Do not stick your hand into their cage. This is an invasion of their territory, big no no After all how would you feel if someone just walked into your house or room un-invited. Also watch the eyes, if the eyes are pinned then I would not put my hand near the bird as the bird could be over excited or aggressive, either way you will most likely be bitten.
If your bird bites you, do not yell, scream, cry, jump around or put on a show. The bird will see it as a great show and will be encouraged and reinforced to continue biting. This become unwanted reinforced behaviour or learned biting. The best thing to do is ignore it no matter how much it hurts. Leaving the room can work. Showing your displeasure on your face and saying no in a tone of voice that also conveys your Displeasure. but you don't need to yell.
Anyway, first you need to find out what your bird's favorite food is. I suggest that you put around five different foods on a plate.
These can be a couple of sun flower seeds, pumpkin seeds, corn kernels, pine seeds and a couple balls of millet. watching, see which one he eats first. This will be their favorite food. Now that you know, you use this food as a training treat and you use it only for training.
I gather the bird is caged inside the house and probably in the living room. Don't put the bird in a room by itself. This is the method I used on Bluey with great results. You will need a clicker. Once you have accomplish this method you will need to continue interacting daily with your bird.
Day one: When the bird is in the cage, enter the room and go to the furthest point from the cage with the clicker in your hand. Approach the cage until the bird shows signs of being alert and/or frighten. Stop and just stand there and wait until the bird relaxes. Then click the clicker once and take two to three steps back. Wait two to three minutes, then approach the cage again until the bird shows signs of being alert and/or frighten. But make sure you get a little closer. Stop and just stand there until the bird relaxes then click the clicker once and take two to three steps back. Repeat this method until you are standing next to the cage. This can take about 15 minutes to do. Then walk away. Wait for around 20 to 30 minutes and repeat this method until you can walk up to the cage without the bird being scared. This could take 7 to 9 times. Once you have done this. With the clicker sit next to the cage and eat some food and have a spray of millet with you. When the bird shows interest and approaches you offer the millet and wait. When the bird takes some of the millet click the clicker once.
Once the bird gets use to taking the millet replace it with training treat. Feed the bird through the cage. This can be done in one day. Remember to click the clicker once every time the bird take the training treat.
Day two: Start by feeding the bird through cage. Do this for 10 to 15 minutes then wait 20 to 30 minutes. Open the cage door and offer training treats at the cage entrance. Be patient and remember to click the clicker once every time the bird take food. Do this for at least 7 to 8 times that day with 20 to 30 minutes breaks between.
Day three: Open the cage door and get the bird to the entrance with training treats and remember to click the clicker once every time the bird takes food. Now instead of using training treats you go back to the spray of millet. With the clicker and millet in the same hand and with your other hand make it into a pistol. Focus the bird attention onto the millet and then bring the pistol hand up very slowly to the feet of the bird. Your finger must be parallel to the perch and level with the bird's feet. Don't touch the bird. Don't remove your pistol hand from this position. Now move the millet so it out of reach of the bird. The bird will have to step forward to get to the millet. Therefore stepping up onto finger. At first don't expect the bird to step up onto and/or stay on your finger at first and there is a possibility you could get bitten then again you might not. Do this for 10 to 15 minutes then wait 20 to 30 minutes and repeat this method again at least 7 to 8 times that day. You will need to continue doing this daily to reinforce the behaviour of stepping up.
TIP if the bird doesn't take the training treat within 15 to 20 seconds. don't click the clicker and remove the treat from the bird's sight for 5 to 10 seconds, then re-offer the bird the training treat.
Of course there is the possibility that you might not achieve the results for each day session just continue that part of this method the next day. I achieved results in three days with Bluey but I spent a lot of time with Bluey to achieve these results.
Remember not to force the bird. The idea is to train the bird to do what you want without force. Every interaction you have with your bird is a trust and bond building session and always finish any interaction on a positive.
Of course it's up to you how you train your bird but over the years I have used many methods some good, some bad. but found this method achieves excellent results in a short time. But like anything worth achieving, you need to apply time.
If you want to build trust and bond with your bird then you must use some type of reward system whether it's food or vocal praise.
alterative methods which don't use reward system take a very long time, lack in clear communications between you and your bird, giving results that will be mediocre at best.
The Idea is to have your Bird come to trust you and that is achieved by having Daily trust and bond building sessions.
By using the following method you are showing your bird you want to be their friend and have no intention to do harm and food is a great motivator. Do not stick your hand into their cage. This is an invasion of their territory, big no no After all how would you feel if someone just walked into your house or room un-invited. Also watch the eyes, if the eyes are pinned then I would not put my hand near the bird as the bird could be over excited or aggressive, either way you will most likely be bitten.
If your bird bites you, do not yell, scream, cry, jump around or put on a show. The bird will see it as a great show and will be encouraged and reinforced to continue biting. This become unwanted reinforced behaviour or learned biting. The best thing to do is ignore it no matter how much it hurts. Leaving the room can work. Showing your displeasure on your face and saying no in a tone of voice that also conveys your Displeasure. but you don't need to yell.
Anyway, first you need to find out what your bird's favorite food is. I suggest that you put around five different foods on a plate.
These can be a couple of sun flower seeds, pumpkin seeds, corn kernels, pine seeds and a couple balls of millet. watching, see which one he eats first. This will be their favorite food. Now that you know, you use this food as a training treat and you use it only for training.
I gather the bird is caged inside the house and probably in the living room. Don't put the bird in a room by itself. This is the method I used on Bluey with great results. You will need a clicker. Once you have accomplish this method you will need to continue interacting daily with your bird.
Day one: When the bird is in the cage, enter the room and go to the furthest point from the cage with the clicker in your hand. Approach the cage until the bird shows signs of being alert and/or frighten. Stop and just stand there and wait until the bird relaxes. Then click the clicker once and take two to three steps back. Wait two to three minutes, then approach the cage again until the bird shows signs of being alert and/or frighten. But make sure you get a little closer. Stop and just stand there until the bird relaxes then click the clicker once and take two to three steps back. Repeat this method until you are standing next to the cage. This can take about 15 minutes to do. Then walk away. Wait for around 20 to 30 minutes and repeat this method until you can walk up to the cage without the bird being scared. This could take 7 to 9 times. Once you have done this. With the clicker sit next to the cage and eat some food and have a spray of millet with you. When the bird shows interest and approaches you offer the millet and wait. When the bird takes some of the millet click the clicker once.
Once the bird gets use to taking the millet replace it with training treat. Feed the bird through the cage. This can be done in one day. Remember to click the clicker once every time the bird take the training treat.
Day two: Start by feeding the bird through cage. Do this for 10 to 15 minutes then wait 20 to 30 minutes. Open the cage door and offer training treats at the cage entrance. Be patient and remember to click the clicker once every time the bird take food. Do this for at least 7 to 8 times that day with 20 to 30 minutes breaks between.
Day three: Open the cage door and get the bird to the entrance with training treats and remember to click the clicker once every time the bird takes food. Now instead of using training treats you go back to the spray of millet. With the clicker and millet in the same hand and with your other hand make it into a pistol. Focus the bird attention onto the millet and then bring the pistol hand up very slowly to the feet of the bird. Your finger must be parallel to the perch and level with the bird's feet. Don't touch the bird. Don't remove your pistol hand from this position. Now move the millet so it out of reach of the bird. The bird will have to step forward to get to the millet. Therefore stepping up onto finger. At first don't expect the bird to step up onto and/or stay on your finger at first and there is a possibility you could get bitten then again you might not. Do this for 10 to 15 minutes then wait 20 to 30 minutes and repeat this method again at least 7 to 8 times that day. You will need to continue doing this daily to reinforce the behaviour of stepping up.
TIP if the bird doesn't take the training treat within 15 to 20 seconds. don't click the clicker and remove the treat from the bird's sight for 5 to 10 seconds, then re-offer the bird the training treat.
Of course there is the possibility that you might not achieve the results for each day session just continue that part of this method the next day. I achieved results in three days with Bluey but I spent a lot of time with Bluey to achieve these results.
Remember not to force the bird. The idea is to train the bird to do what you want without force. Every interaction you have with your bird is a trust and bond building session and always finish any interaction on a positive.
Of course it's up to you how you train your bird but over the years I have used many methods some good, some bad. but found this method achieves excellent results in a short time. But like anything worth achieving, you need to apply time.
If you want to build trust and bond with your bird then you must use some type of reward system whether it's food or vocal praise.
alterative methods which don't use reward system take a very long time, lack in clear communications between you and your bird, giving results that will be mediocre at best.