HELP!! My 2 baby birds 5 weeks old scared of me. What can i do??

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mustafaaljubori
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Mar 08, 2017 5:25 am

HELP!! My 2 baby birds 5 weeks old scared of me. What can i do??

Post by mustafaaljubori »

Hello everyone
I have 2 beautiful babies 5 weeks old now. I pet them scratch their cheeks and i have them since they were 2 weeks old and hand feed them regularly. I moved them to a small cage with a low perch and some toys in my living room so they can hear voice of my family and some noise in order to get used to it. The problem is that I noticed they are scared of anyone comes close to their cage and talk to them immediately start the crying voice Not screaming and try to move to the far side of the cage EXCEPT when they are hungry and sees me coming towards the cage they come to the door of the cage and step up on my hand and once they are finished and their crops are filled they become scared again and want to hide under my arme. I take them out of their cage between their feedings time and pet themb they seems calm and starts to fall asleep but always try to find somewhere in my body or my clothes to hide their heads under it. What can i do ? Pls. Help me is this behavior normal during this age? Or I'm doing something wrong? They are flapping their wings regularly i think they are learning to fly so it might be helpful to you to know the age of my birds since i think my breeder gave me a wrong birth date. Thank you very much
sanjays mummi
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Re: HELP!! My 2 baby birds 5 weeks old scared of me. What can i do??

Post by sanjays mummi »

I'm no expert, but when I got my bird at 8 wks old he was very nervous too, I think they will grow out of it, as species, the IRN is quite a bold feisty bird.
mustafaaljubori
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Joined: Wed Mar 08, 2017 5:25 am

Re: HELP!! My 2 baby birds 5 weeks old scared of me. What can i do??

Post by mustafaaljubori »

Thank sanjays
So I'm not doing anything wrong? Keep what I'm doing?
But when i come near their cage and see them cuddling in the corner of the cage and start making that crying noise its just kills me :cry:
sanjays mummi
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Location: Bedfordshire UK

Re: HELP!! My 2 baby birds 5 weeks old scared of me. What can i do??

Post by sanjays mummi »

You can buy little snuggle tents for cages, maybe they'd feel more secure in one.
mustafaaljubori
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Joined: Wed Mar 08, 2017 5:25 am

Re: HELP!! My 2 baby birds 5 weeks old scared of me. What can i do??

Post by mustafaaljubori »

sanjays mummi wrote:You can buy little snuggle tents for cages, maybe they'd feel more secure in one.

Hello
My babies are grown up and start flying 4 days ago but every time I take them out of their cage they fly away from my hand to the highest point in the room and comes down only when they see the food in my hand take few spoons of the formula and they take off. Whenever i bring them down to pet them or play with them they fly away from me and refuse to get them back to their cage ad well . What to do how to control their flying away behavior? For sure clipping their wings is not an option for me.
Thanks
sanjays mummi
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Re: HELP!! My 2 baby birds 5 weeks old scared of me. What can i do??

Post by sanjays mummi »

If they come down for food, that's your answer, my bird goes back into his cage as soon as I put fresh food etc in there, why aren't your birds weaned yet?, Ms Sanjay was weaned by the time he was 8 Weeks old.
mustafaaljubori
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Joined: Wed Mar 08, 2017 5:25 am

Re: HELP!! My 2 baby birds 5 weeks old scared of me. What can i do??

Post by mustafaaljubori »

sanjays mummi wrote:If they come down for food, that's your answer, my bird goes back into his cage as soon as I put fresh food etc in there, why aren't your birds weaned yet?, Ms Sanjay was weaned by the time he was 8 Weeks old.
I don't know why they are not weaned yet. Im offering range of different food from seeds to fruits vegetables carrots lettuce etc and they are not interested only in formula they might take 20cc each per day and im a bit concerned about their food intake but i read that they tend to lower their food intake when they start flying. How can i wean them ?
sanjays mummi
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Re: HELP!! My 2 baby birds 5 weeks old scared of me. What can i do??

Post by sanjays mummi »

That's a question for a breeder, and I ain't a breeder, sorry!, puppies and kittens yes, but never weaned chicksters, try looking on the internet. b-(
Indie_Lutino
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Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2017 6:50 am

Re: HELP!! My 2 baby birds 5 weeks old scared of me. What can i do??

Post by Indie_Lutino »

I have the same issue with my little Lutino of approximately 12 weeks old. I have had him for 2-3 weeks now. He doesn't like to be touched and appears very scared. Whenever I get him to sit on my arm he tries to get back to his cage, back to safety. I now sit next to the cage every day for at least 10-15 minutes and still try to train it stepping-up the perch. It seems more comfortable stepping up a perch than it is stepping on my hands.

I have tried to persuade him with treats and food, but the fear is stronger than the desire for any kind of treats at the moment.

After a week or so I have managed to tickle him and pet him on his head and neck for brief periods of time, until he climbs around the outside of the cage out of reach of my hands. He is also very clever, because he knows my arms can't reach the middle of my back, so when I get him to sit on my shoulder, he will move down the middle of my back so I can't reach him. (Clever little thing he is!)

I tried to do everything right and make him feel comfortable, but I guess it takes time and a lot of persistence to gain his trust.
After all, he is only a baby...The "big bad world with humans" must seem very overwhelming to him right now.(I don't blame him!)
mustafaaljubori
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Re: HELP!! My 2 baby birds 5 weeks old scared of me. What can i do??

Post by mustafaaljubori »

Indie_Lutino wrote:I have the same issue with my little Lutino of approximately 12 weeks old. I have had him for 2-3 weeks now. He doesn't like to be touched and appears very scared. Whenever I get him to sit on my arm he tries to get back to his cage, back to safety. I now sit next to the cage every day for at least 10-15 minutes and still try to train it stepping-up the perch. It seems more comfortable stepping up a perch than it is stepping on my hands.

I have tried to persuade him with treats and food, but the fear is stronger than the desire for any kind of treats at the moment.

After a week or so I have managed to tickle him and pet him on his head and neck for brief periods of time, until he climbs around the outside of the cage out of reach of my hands. He is also very clever, because he knows my arms can't reach the middle of my back, so when I get him to sit on my shoulder, he will move down the middle of my back so I can't reach him. (Clever little thing he is!)

I tried to do everything right and make him feel comfortable, but I guess it takes time and a lot of persistence to gain his trust.
After all, he is only a baby...The "big bad world with humans" must seem very overwhelming to him right now.(I don't blame him!)

He is also very clever, because he knows my arms can't reach the middle of my back, so when I get him to sit on my shoulder, he will move down the middle of my back so I can't reach him. (Clever little thing he is!)

Looool :lol:
the same here for both of them. I think my main cause of refusing me to pet them is that they don't like my hand anymore since they learned how to fly i cant get them back to their cage even when they are hungry and beging for food once they see the food inside the cage they ignore it. So the only way is to hold them and get them down from top of the curtain to their cage.

Is it the same with you ? Or you clipped their wings?
sanjays mummi
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Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:07 pm
Location: Bedfordshire UK

Re: HELP!! My 2 baby birds 5 weeks old scared of me. What can i do??

Post by sanjays mummi »

No clipped wings here!!!, its food that calls my bird home.
Indie_Lutino
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Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2017 6:50 am

Re: HELP!! My 2 baby birds 5 weeks old scared of me. What can i do??

Post by Indie_Lutino »

"Indie Lutino" had it's wings clipped before I got him. I feel really sorry for him because he has made some crash landings to the point that I think:"Ouch that must have hurt!" Indie is now approximately 14 weeks old and although he still doesn't like my hands but he is finally accepting treats (peanuts) from my hands. This is a big step forward, because that means I can finally start to train him by giving him rewards.
I have noticed that Indian Ringnecks can be stubborn! I guess the only thing you can do is be more stubborn than the bird!

He is going through the bluffing stage at the moment and threatens to bite me or suddenly bites out of the blue.
I tell him ...NO! Don't bite... and then ignore the behaviour, pretend it didn't happen and I just keep on doing what I was doing.
At first I was afraid of getting hurt, but I guess if I shy away... he gets what he wants...And he wants me to back-off!
So I let him bite me and I am not showing that I am actually afraid he will hurt me.
(Of course it hurts a bit, but if he gets no response and I am not backing off... then it is no fun!) :-bd
nicolem
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Joined: Fri May 06, 2016 3:46 pm

Re: HELP!! My 2 baby birds 5 weeks old scared of me. What can i do??

Post by nicolem »

Hi,

I just wanted to share my personal experience in case it's helpful at all.

I got my two IRNs when they were almost 4 months old (and weaned). They had been handfed by their breeder, but beside that, had not been handled much at all and were INCREDIBLY terrified of me. They would flee to the farthest corner of their cage, and if out of the cage, would flee even farther!! I initially sat by their cage a lot and talked to them and would lure them over with food, and they would eventually come over to take food from me. One of my boys (Marcel) was the first baby and the only baby in his clutch, so he was slightly less terrified than my other boy (Ollie), who was one of a clutch of 4, and they were as wild as wild could be.

I think it took about a week or two to have Marcel easily step up on me and be comfortable. I worked with him in a smaller room (without mirrors or windows!) in case he flew, so he wouldn't be able to get as far. Meanwhile, Ollie would bite my hand if I got near him. He would usually just fly out of the cage on his own when I took Marcel out. (He would, of course, take food from me though, haha). This continued for a long time. I never forced them to come to me; I would only lure them with food (most often sunflower seeds). They would be rewarded with a seed for going back in their cage too. That's' how I started getting Ollie to step up on my forearm--however, any attempts with my hand would quickly result in him chomping down. HARD. Frequently, Ollie would fly to me (of his own volition) and immediately put his head down and chomp. For no reason. It was incredibly frustrating. Most things I read seemed to say that a bird would bite because it was threatened, but this was completely unprovoked! I grew up with parakeets and had a Senegal, so these were not my first birds either! But I had never realized that handfed birds could be like this!!

I read pretty much anything I could about how to deter biting. I tried training them to fly to me and tried a few other simple tricks to build a positive relationship while also distracting them from just biting. SLOWLY, it got better. They got very good at flying to me on command...the other tricks, not so much...haha. I did start to get better at reading their body language. I noticed that in general, both of my boys like to nibble. Part of it seems to be a very ingrained behavior that's part of their natural display, and I learned to differentiate between when they're going in for the (harmless) nibble or going for the CHOMP.

For the biting, I read a lot of things. I seemed to frequently hear people just saying to ignore the biting and it will eventually stop. As I am a musician who needs my hands and can't risk nerve damage, this was not an option for me. If they bit, they would immediately be shaken off and I would verbally scold them in a firm voice (my birds are flighted, so they were never at risk of falling or being hurt). Personally, I found the wingsNpaws youtube channel to be helpful too. He talks about his observations of birds playing and biting among themselves, and how IF they are bonded to you and you make a sound like you're hurt and leave/"fly away", they start to realize that this is not a desirable outcome. I started to try this. If I got a nasty bite, I would make a pained noise, get them off, and disappear out of sight for a minute or two. They would clearly get distressed that I had left and they would actually try to follow. When I reappeared, they would always immediately fly to me and indicate that they wanted to be with me. For someone who had been taking a lot of abuse from a certain little Ollie, it was a relief to know that he actually DID like me!

I also initially had them stepping up to a perch instead of me, which was moderately successful. I also was working with a clicker, but they never seemed to grow used to the sound. They would just get scared of the sound instead of associating it with a reward, so I eventually stopped using it.

Gradually, the biting waned. Luckily, I never got a severe bite from them (my Senegal did a lot more damage than these guys ever could!). Ollie did break the skin a few times here and there, but it was never anything terrible. I've had them now for 11 months and it's really rewarding to see our bond grow stronger. They definitely have both been displaying a lot this spring, so that has been ... interesting. However, they are both very comfortable with me AND, to my pleasant surprise, are also very social and friendly with people who visit my apartment (although they tend to do better if it's one person vs 4 or 5). Within the last month or so, Ollie has actually started readily stepping up onto my hand and finger. Every so often, he will firmly use his beak, but it seems to be more of a leverage thing than a bite. He also lets me scratch his neck, which Marcel (the one who has always been more tame) will not permit at all. They both have even learned to talk a bit, but Marcel has a much better vocabulary.

All I can say is that with these birds, it seems to be about patience and the long game. Birds are smart, but they also have to be motivated to be trained. Forcing them into anything is just going to result in them holding a grudge, and causing a lot of future behavior problems (for you or for any other humans they encounter). Be as calm as you can, reassure them that you don't intend them any harm, and use positive motivation as much as possible in building your relationship. It WILL get better! It just might take a while! If you can win them over, they are just a delight :)

***Edited to add:
As far as weaning, if they're only a month and a half, that seems rather young to be weaned.... Mine were only just weaned before I got them from the breeder and they were almost 4 months. I noticed that this spring, when following my breeder on facebook, she just sold another baby IRN weaned at maybe 3-3.5 months. I don't think it'd bad to offer them real foods, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're just not interested for a while longer. I've read that for weaning, cooked veggies or softer fruits are more appealing and manageable for baby birds. One thing my breeder did that I just haven't gotten around to is rice, defrosted corn/pea/carrot mix, and crushed hard-boiled eggs--shell and all for calcium. Good luck!
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