Echo and our experience

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smallworld
Posts: 296
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:30 pm

Echo and our experience

Post by smallworld »

I thought I'll type up this post on Echo, to share our experience with an IRN and to help people who have alot of behavior, habits, taming and whatever else questions about their birds. Especially the people new to IRNs who are so worried they'll never be able to tame their bird.

Echo is our first IRN but not our first bird. I have always wanted an IRN. We first got him on October 20th last year. He was 5 months old at that time. The breeder couldnt exactly say the exact date of birth because he was from an outdoor aviary. Because interaction between breeder and birds were kept to a very low, he only guessed that Echo was born between the last weeks of April and the first weeks of May.

We had him couriered to us by animal transport. It is a courier I've used for a long time and know very well, so everything was done quick and clean. The first week he was here, he was terrified. He ate very little and drank very little. I had not trimmed his wings in the first week because I wasnt sure if I wanted to. But after he repeatedly attempted to fly out the windows or fly into corners of the wall, I decided it had to be done.

To tame him, I used the towel method. Why? Because, we have other birds and not all the time to spend interacting with one new bird. The others would get jealous and animosity would build up (my opinion). Plus I am an impatient person by nature and being such, I always want results fast. Also I have always practised this method since our first few birds and it has always worked time and time again. It wasnt easy with Echo. My right hand had alot of wounds. The first few days in the towel was stressful. But soon, he got used to it and he would accept food from me while in the towel and would even let me pet him. He even let me scratch his the top of his head without opening the beak. After, 2 weeks I think, I stopped toweling and moved forward with his training.

The one problem we did have, was early morning calling. Very early and very loud and I didnt want to bug the neighbours and spoil the other birds. So we were forced to cover his cage for about 2 weeks. He hates his cage to be covered, so he stopped screaming after 2 weeks. We do not cover our bird cages because, we dont want to disrupt their natural sunlight rhythm. This one time, it had to be done :|

To my luck, the breeder had them on a good mix of fresh vegetables and fruits. So I didnt have to switch his diet or anything. Seeds were and still are only offered as a supplementary, every now and then. For the most part, its been fruits and veggies. If I put seeds and apples next to each other, he always picks the apples first. Guess his mom told him 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away' :D

Well in the 8 or so months that Echo has been with us, he has learned to turn around (clockwise) and turn left (anti clockwise). He knows what 'come here', mmm yummy, bye bye, water, window, home, step up, thats wrong (usually followed by ah-ah) and he knows his name. He cant say these words or expressions but he shows clear understanding to their meanings. He knows that when I say 'come down', I want him to get off the light.

He loooves to sit on our shoulder and see what we're doing. Occasionally, you'll see the hair stylist in him come out :wink: , as he preens your hair. Or he'll go completely bonkers and start chewing on hair bands. Sometimes he comes to your ear and takes a small nibble at it.
He also calls us whenever he goes back to his cage. Then we just have to say Echo or wheres Echo and he beeps back and is quiet. We're currently working on training him to fly from one person to another, now that his flight feathers are growing back. There is some success and we're moving along slowly and steadily. The idea of this is that one day, I'd like to do this with him outside in the open, without having to worry if he'd fly away.

Oh yes, Echo does 'kiss kiss' where he takes a seed from our lips and 'gimme kiss' in which he, in his own way, gives you a kiss or lick :D Thats really cute and every time he does that, we have to smile. We also do this with him just before we say bye.

When we first got Echo and seeing him fly around our apartment and flock calling, we thought 'oh crap', shouldve gone for a hand reared bird. But he's come along way and so has our relationship with him. He is no more the quiet new bird. He expresses himself quite clearly and loudly. Sometimes, there are a whole bunch of noises. It would be great if Echo would pick up a word or two but he is a bird and we love him for who he is, whether he says something or not is secondary. Today, Echo is hardly the aviary bird that he was only about a year ago.

Echo loves buttons more than anything else in this world. Then come his apples and strawberries. He also likes leather chew toys and really likes it when we hang something in his basket and he can pull the basket up to get it. He drinks right out of our glasses and insists on his share of our meals. Of course, we're careful not to give him something harmful. He is one of the closest birds to me, personally that we've had. It took him more than a month to get used to the idea of toys.

Before we bought an IRN, we did alot of research on them and Indianringneck.com was one of the top most informative sites on the web.
ringneck
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Re: Echo and our experience

Post by ringneck »

You know i must say this really made my day and this is why i created the site! It's wonderful to hear your progress and i believe a lot others can learn from reading this post! You have put so much time into echo and for that you have enriched his life and yours. Such wonderful progress you have made! This is why i made this site--so many of us parrot owners can come together and learn from each other--bravo!

Best wishes :wink: ,

IMRAN-C
smallworld
Posts: 296
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:30 pm

Re: Echo and our experience

Post by smallworld »

Thank you for your positive comment Imran. I just hope that it will shed some light to new IRN owners and show that IRNs are really good buddies to have around :lol:
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