First timer..

[caroline]

Hi, my name is Caroline. Today is my first time here, and i am here as a new proud owner of a baby IR. I have had him/her just over a week and got it as it came out of the nest and began feeding itself. How old would that make it?? Anyhow, I am wanting to bring him inside in a cage and train him,(i have had him a week and he has been outside in a large cage, and is very flighty) I would appreciate all the advice you can offer me.

[Lilly]

Hi and Welcome!
I'm guessing s/he's anywhere between 6-10 weeks old... my ringneck started eating by himself around 6.5 weeks old. You just really need to give him lots of time and patience so he can gain your trust. There are some techniques which can help him trust you more... I took my bird the touch and reward route which worked well... you do have to keep it going though or they can lose trust. It has to be fun and mostly food orientated... these birds are like flying gluttons!

[caroline]

Hi Lily,
thankyou so much for your reply. I would say your right with your estimate that my bird is about 10 weeks old. I have had him just over a week. I have put him in a large aviery cage, on his own on my patio, but, when i go into his cage, he just goes crazy, flying all over the place, so I am going to put him in a smaller cage, clip his wings, and bring him inside. Is this right? Then what?? He (Lyric) is such a beautiful bird, I want to make the most of his capabilities and really develop a friendship between the two of us, just not sure the best way to go about it.
I have other birds that are kept in large avieries outside. A one year old pink and grey, he is talking alot now. A lorikeet, she is also talking lots and is very affectionate, well, she bites everyone but me. a couple of budgies, a 28, and as of yesterday a baby red cap parrot which i rescued from a hawke whilst in the bush yesterday collecting eucalyptus for my pink and grey galah. So, i have the bird knowledge, but for some reason, just not sure where to start with the IR becuause at this stage he is so flighty....??????

[..//..Sara..\\..]

how do you get them to take treats though ?

[pinkdevil]

Hi Caroline and welcome.

Congrats on your new baby.
S/he will be not to used to people as it sounds like s/he was not handraised. Although it is not impossible to quieten him/her down, it will take a lot of patience and time to gain trust. There have been a few members on here that have managed to tame an aviary bred bird. If you do a search you may be able to find a few of the posts.
Although I really do like to see a bird flighted, I think in your case it would be easier if you did clip your little one.
Maybe once it has settled down slighty after the clip, you could teach it to 'step up' on a stick/perch/wood then over time slowly shorten it so eventually it is stepping up onto your hand.
There are some great videos on youtube that might be able to help you out also.

Good luck.

[caroline]

Hi, thankyou for your advice. your right, my baby was not hand raised, s/he was aviery bred, mum had 2 babies, but they were in a very large aviery with about 12 other IR. Mine is about 12 weeks old, so I am hoping that at this young age it's not too late to tame him down. I was given a rescued Lorikeet about a year ago, always had been in an aviery, and originally in the wild, and to date is still an aviery bird, in one on her own, however, i persisted and just band-aided my bitten bleeding hands,...hahahaha...and in time, about 4 months, it got to the point where she is saying about 8 words to me, lays me eggs, will climb onto me and i can pat her without any of the biting. She only does this for me though, will bite anyone else. Meanie!! Anyway, I am hoping that I can have the same success with my IR, Lyric. I got Lyric out of his cage yesterday, and just held onto him, stroked his head and spoke nicely to him, got him to eat mango from my fingers, then put him back. Not sure if this is where to start. He bit me to pieces to start with, OUCH...then settled down, then as I was putting him back into his cage, he bit me again.... His cage is in our main living area, up against a wall. We all move slowly past him, and I have spent alot of time sitting next to his cage, as i am now, and he is okay with that. I have clipped his wings, and i think he is still getting used to the fact that he can not fly like he originally did.
My plan for today is to put my hand in there for some time, see if he can just get used to the site of it,......hold him later on today again.....
What's your thoughts????

[ellieelectrons]

Using food (like you did with the mango) is a great idea... You can start by trying to get them to take food from your hands through the cage bars... Also, if you are eating something near the cage... they may come out of the cage (if you open the door) to inspect. If it's something safe for them to eat, you can share this with them.

You may also like to start by teaching your bird a trick (depending on how tame he is). I start with the turnaround because it doesn't require you to touch the bird. If you search for the turnaround in this forum, there are several threads giving a list a steps you can try... You do, however, need a perch they can stand on outside of their cage.

Good luck!

Ellie.

[caroline]

Thanks for your reply Ellie.
It has been hard going so far. I put my hand slowly into the cage, holding a piece of yummy food for him, but it does not tempt him, he just flies around trying to avoid me. Should I just persist with this, or continue to grab him and hold him.....????????

[ellieelectrons]

Hi Caroline

It can be hard. At times, it's been hard with my two... and they were handraised... so I've had it much easier than you are having it.

I did, however, try to tame my peachfaces when I was a teenager that I housed in an aviary in our backyard... and I remember going in there day after day seeing no progress... and then one day... the day I'd decided if I didn't see any progress, I was going to give up, it turned... and one of them voluntarily flew onto my hand that contained a pile of sunflower seeds... I was ecstatic!

What I learnt from that is that you have to take even a bit more interest in you... a longing look at the food, one step towards you as progress... and celebrate these things.

I put my hand slowly into the cage, holding a piece of yummy food for him, but it does not tempt him, he just flies around trying to avoid me. Should I just persist with this, or continue to grab him and hold him.....????????

You could try not putting your hand in the cage... but trying to give him a treat between the bars... Also make sure he is in a location where he can observe you doing your every day things. This helps him to feel more comfortable with you. Also, once you've figured out his fav treat foods, remove it from his diet and make it so that he can only get it from you. I'm not saying you should deprive your bird of food.... just use other things to substitute for the treats that he loves. Usually the things they love are "sometimes foods" any way. For example, ours like nuts and bananas.

As for whether to grab him and hold him.... I'm not subscriber to that technique but some are... and I think it works for some people. My gut feeling on this though, is that the bird then learns to do this because it has no choice... it doesn't do it because it wants to.... but I guess, maybe over time it learns to love it???? If you do do this, though, and it doesn't work, then you are going to be even further behind the eight-ball if you have to go back to the winning over method.

If you're interested in buying a DVD or book on bird taming, I found Barbara Heidenrich's DVDs great. I have 3 of her DVDs but the first one was the most valuable one. The one that I'm referring to can be seen at:
http://www.goodbirdinc.com/parrot-store-dvds.html and it's called Parrot Behavior and Training #1.

I notice she has a new one out "The Basics of Parrot Training A Live Workshop" but I haven't seen that one.

Barabara's philosophy (and the one that I aspire too but don't always get it right) is positive reinforcement (as opposed to force and negative reinforcement).

I also went to one of Barabara's sessions when she came to Australia and I was so impressed. I aspire to be one-tenth as good with my little guys as she is with her birds. Anyway, enough about Barbara...

Best wishes and good luck!

Ellie.

[delboy]

ha ha welcome caroline keep up the good work!! wots a bite a?? i no wot your going through!!!! allmine delboy

[pinkdevil]

Here is a youtube video of a untame IRN. It is listed as 'negative reinforcement' but it is not as in a punishment form. Instead of rewarding with treats of food, toys etc, the bird is rewarded with a different approach. Not sure if this would be any help to you or not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzJqEu75Zfw

[ellieelectrons]

Thanks for the vid, Pink. I like the gradually, gradually, softly, softly approach he takes.


Ellie.

[d_thulbourn]

Hi my name is david i am from the uk i couldnt find my time and things on sign uo i just after some help


i have a pur yellow ring neck i bought her/him from a mate i talk to it every think she/he comes to the cage but you go to put your fingure near him/her and she attacks me i have a 2 year old and a 10 month old so i need to do sominthink i have tryed for like 8 bmonths but nothink

i no she/he started life in a avory but was bought from an early age as a domestik bird


i am just after tips/pointer as to what i can do i mean i want to let her/him out the cage buti dont no if i will ever get him/her back in the cage

any help would i would be greatfull

[caroline]

Everyone's advice has been great. Today, a breakthrough. I have been just putting my hand inside the cage and slowly following him around the cage with my hand whilst calmly talking to him. I have done this several times a day. He firstly stopped flying around and began just climbing around the cage, but when he stopped I could touch him and stroke his back. today as he was climbing around, he stepped up onto my hand and i transfered him to a perch. I was very very happy with that so left it there for today. He is coming along nicely. What a good bird Lyric is.

[d_thulbourn]

ok no one can help me on that one then lol ok