Could really use some advice

[Artiesmom]

We bought a 3 year old male IRN about 2 months ago. The first month when he came out of his cage he would step up on my hand. Now he won't come to me at all. I have tried tempting him with treats but to no avail. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

[Donna]

Hi! Is your birds wings clipped? Clipping them sometimes takes their independence away and they have to rely on you to get any where. Best thing to do is set his cage close to where ever your favorite chair is in the house and let him come out on his own and come to you on his own. Earning your trust is going to take some time just be patient he'll come around.




Donna

[Asahel]

I might not be right person to give advice, as my own fid has health problems, but here's my 2 cents:

You could forget about the first month when he stepped up or came to you, and start fresh. Be gentle, let him accomodate with the new surroundings and owners, and retrain him (in a small uncluttered room, far from his cage, aprox. 20 mins sessions)

Also, as far as I know, some birds change their behaviour when they're sick. Hope it's not the case.

Maybe he is "trying" you? He doesn't know you, so if he can get away with having treats without being nice....why not?

Hope you two will become best of friends in the end.

[Mikaela]

Hi! Is your birds wings clipped? Clipping them sometimes takes their independence away and they have to rely on you to get any where. Best thing to do is set his cage close to where ever your favorite chair is in the house and let him come out on his own and come to you on his own. Earning your trust is going to take some time just be patient he'll come around.
Donna

Yep. What she said.

[kyria]

Yep .. clipping to make him dependant on you and easier to work with, then patience, persistance and plenty of interaction, alway communicate what you are doing before you do it, with commands. As they say, curiosity will get the better of him and before long he will understand you are now his flock and want to interact with you.

[Lauren]

Hello and welcome. Just be patient. Gaining a birds trust takes some time. They are always little angels the first few days or weeks, then they 'test' you. This is where you have to be a bit more persistant. As, Kyria said, curiosity will get the better of him in time.

[Artiesmom]

Now everytime I walk over to Artie's cage he takes off to the other side of the cage. I will open the door to let him come out on his own. When he is on his playgym (which is on the top of his cage) I have the same problem. I have never tried to get him to step-up, but he acts like that is what I am trying to do. All I do is talk softly to him. If I am interracting with my sun conure, he is very interested and will actually come closer. Is this behavior normal? He will take treats from me every now and then. Just appears to be very hand shy and I sure could use some help on how to work this out. Thanks.

[BigChicken]

Our IRN went through the same thing when we got her. Maybe Artie is still not sure of his place in your flock. It takes a while, there is a lot for them to learn and adjust to. As already said, you need to be persistent, but be careful not to stress by being too aggressive with each encounter. I think that’s how some parrots become afraid of hands. I don’t know the exact circumstances with all of our birds being adopted, but they sure can take a while to forget the past. I try to let them show me the best way to interact by trying different things and repeating the way that seems to give the least stress. Once you start to gain their trust you can start to introduce your ways of interacting. Each bird is different. With ours one was tamed with food treats, one by playing and beak wrestling in her cage, another by clicker training to wave and do big wings. With our IRN we are still learning from her how much she will take before getting scared. She would do the same as yours if you talked to her into her cage. Even a gentle whisper would make her flee to the other side. You have to remember that they don’t know you’re intentions. It could be that using your sun conure to help with the IRN’s integration into the flock may be the way to start. They learn so much by watching the other birds and seeing how they trust and interact with you.

You need to be very patient. It may take months to get his trust. As you start to gain his trust, I suggest stick training. Don’t try to take him out on the stick right a way, start by just holding the stick inside of the cage not near Artie. With each session hold the stick a little closer. After a few days if Artie seems OK with it start moving it closer prompting with "step up". The first several days, just let him stand on it inside of his cage while giving praise for as long as he will stay there. Remember, don’t be so aggressive that you scare Artie. Its best to end each encounter on a high note.