Hi from Yorkshire England

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shasbat54
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Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2015 4:33 pm
Location: West Yorkshire, England
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Hi from Yorkshire England

Post by shasbat54 »

Hi

I recently bought a female indian ringnecked parrot and she is adorable. However, she is very frightened of me or anyone near her cage. She watches me all of the time, never takes her eyes off me. I let her out a lot, because she is happiest sat on a perch above her cage. However, getting her back in is really difficult. I don't want to chase her and scare her, so it is mind games closing the door when she is getting food... although often she gets out before I have chance.

My main worry (apart from her shyness with me) is that she won't eat anything but seeds. I have had khakariki's before and they loved any salad, fruit, veg. Polly just leaves it and won't even try it. I have tried it different way, whole, chopped up and in different parts of her cage. It is baffling me, have tried lots of different things and she will only eat seeds.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
AJPeter
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Joined: Sun Oct 06, 2013 3:17 pm
Location: Birmingham England
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Re: Hi from Yorkshire England

Post by AJPeter »

Hi from the West Midlands.

Other members will be able to hlep you best/
InTheAir
Posts: 2040
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2013 4:24 pm

Re: Hi from Yorkshire England

Post by InTheAir »

Hi,

Congrats on your new bird. My 2 can be a bit fussy about eating some of their greens! I make them fresh "chop" which is a blend of vegetables that has been chopped finely and put through a food processer, they get a tiny bit of fruit mixed in with it too and then it is served with pellets first thing in the morning. Favourite foods in our house are carrots (cut certain ways), chillies, passionfruit and okra.


About going back to the cage, I always am inclined to look at the big picture and try to understand what could make what I want my birds to do more rewarding for them than anything else they could be doing.
When we think about why a bird may not want to go to her cage, there are a variety of factors that could contribute: being caged limits the birds choices in what it could be doing, it may not feel as safe in the cage, it may get "bored" in the cage, it may not like the consquences of entering the cage (having the door closed for hours) etc. It is possible to get a general idea of why the bird may not want to enter the cage by their behaviour, though it is filtered through our perception..
My approach is to make the cage a place they want to go hang out. When it is cage time, I put a heap of their favourite foraging toys loaded with goodies, they get fresh browse (another favourite) and they are rewarded when they enter their cage, I even reward them if I see them in their cages when I haven't asked them to go there. The other training approach I take is to put them in their cages, reward and leave the door open so they can leave whenever they want. Y birds usually take about 2 seconds to get in their cages.
Then
InTheAir
Posts: 2040
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2013 4:24 pm

Re: Hi from Yorkshire England

Post by InTheAir »

I'm having some technical trouble with posting so heres part 2:

Evironmental conditions, is the cage really big enough for the amount of time the bird spends in it? Honestly, I don't think most birdcages actually are. The rspca recommends that a cage should be 3 times wider than the birds wing span and long enough to fly a couplebeats across. Not one petsore near my house actually sells a cage that big with a small enough bar spacing for a ringneck... We got some massive cages last year and both birds are way keener for cage time now.
Is the cage high enough off the ground?
Is the bird exposed when in the cage? I had to put one cage near our patio window so one corner is always covered so the bird doesn't feel exposed to the window. My girl flies to that cage for her afternoon nap in the corner.

I better go to work now so il stop rambling on :wink:

Regards, claire
shasbat54
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Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2015 4:33 pm
Location: West Yorkshire, England
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Re: Hi from Yorkshire England

Post by shasbat54 »

Hi Sorry only just seen your reply!! She is now happily going back to her cage and flies in and out. For a while we had trouble closing the door, as she would fly out just as we were about to shut it. But now she doesn't do that and is happy for us to shut it when it is time for bed.

She is eating a wider variety of things now and loves to bite into things and then spit them out all over the room floor!! We have 2 little dogs and she even lets them come into the bottom of her cage to eat the shells of her nuts. So we have come a long way. Although she still won't come and actually sit on me or let me hold her. However, I do know that she knows me well, as she is no nervous when I am cleaning her cage and feeding her. If strangers call in and she is out, she will hide in her cage until they have gone.

So moving in leaps and bounds. She is still young in parrot years, so maybe in time she will come to us. But really happy with her, she is lovely.

Thanks again
Sharon
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