My baby talked!! I think lol

[TaraJ]

I think my baby Tiki said first word this afternoon...Was sitting talking to Tiki and he was chatting away to me also then completely out of the blue he just says "Hello"....Well im hoping he did.....Surely sounded like it...He is only 9 or 10 weeks old so im not sure if it is even possible but time will tell i guess...he chatters away a lot and seems to say stuff but i cant quite make out what he is saying but today definately sounded like hello

[xxleahxx]

oh my gosh!! how exciting!!! im also pretty sure i heard my baby say something that sounded like hello and watcha doing, so maybe it is possible at such a young age!

[TaraJ]

I keep saying "whatcha doing" to him and keep listening for it but was a real surprise when i think i heard hello as i dont think i say that quite as much...Is saying something else also but i cant quite catch what it is....Just hope the biting will stop soon too...Need to get wings clipped now as is flying everywhere....wont stay on me...Keeps flying around our loungeroom and down only my fishtank to peek in at all the fish...they come up to see him too...Is so funny

[ellieelectrons]

I have the opposite problem with mine when they are flighted. I can't keep them off me! They are forever flinging themselves at us! (that's just because I've had mine longer) ... But I wish I had a solution to the flinging because I'd be more inclined to keep them flighted then.

Ellie.

[TaraJ]

awwwwe they love you ...only place mine wants to be is on top of cage or on fishtank ....hopefully soon Tiki will realise im not that scary

[xxleahxx]

I have the same problem Tara, only mine has its wings clipped and still doesn't want to stay with me ,he Always finds his way back to the Cage, thankfully I don't have a problem with biting but he's starting to get jumpy when I put my hand in and Ask him to step up

[TaraJ]

mine will step up ok but only after has tried to bite off my knuckles lol....hasnt broken skin yet but is coming tho

[xxleahxx]

ouch! lol.. yeh mine is staring to jump around to get away from my hand

[TaraJ]

ok i will rephrase that last comment...HE CAN BREAK THE SKIN!!.OUCH!! ..Oh well wont give up on you little buddy...we will become friends soon...Just tried to have him in loungeroom away from his cage but he just wanted to fly to fishtank so kept putting him back on my hand...will keep perservering with him and hopefully he will learn i only want to be his friend

[xxleahxx]

oh ouch!!!! did he actually latch on? yup dont give up im not going to give up on mine either

[TaraJ]

he kept knawing until beak broke the skin...didnt really bleed.just took few layers of skin off my forefinger lol.....he latches on when i sometimes go to get him to step up...he very vocal today....calling out a lot.

[ellieelectrons]

When we brought Charlie home he always wanted his cage. It should gradually change with time and persistence. Positive reinforcement is very useful & I find teaching them tricks, especially those that don't require physical contact, useful to strengthen the bond. The first one I taught my guys was th "turnaround".

Ellie.

[xxleahxx]

ohhh ouch! mine hasnt tried to bite once, so im not looking forward to it! oh thanks for that ellie iv actually been researching how to teach tricks but cant find anything straight forward about how to do it? can you give me some tips ? thankyou

[TaraJ]

i found a few great books on kindle....i dont have a kindle but i have kindle for pc...and books are so cheap to buy on kindle

[TaraJ]

Yay getting wings clipped tomorrow...The breeder i got Tiki off is going to do it....he wasnt that confident doing it before as he doesnt usually clip his birds but he has done a few of his recently and hasnt had a problem so he contacted me today and im going in there tomorrow afternoon.....so glad to be getting this done

[xxleahxx]

ohhh kool, i shall have a look thats heaps good that the breeder is going to do it for you! my baby has been sooo chatty today, calling back to me when i say what ya doin,soo cute!

[TaraJ]

yeah same hey...Mine was going OFF this morning but im thinking he wanted out of the cage so i had to try and ignore it a little....He was saying hello again today also....Im sure it is hey....Isnt that clear but defintately sounds like it ....Im hoping possibly tomorrow after wing clip he may slow down the biting a bit....I wierd because he will eat out of my hand and will step up but has to bite too

[xxleahxx]

you probly are hearing what you think, coz im sure i am.. i really cant wait till mine wants to be with me and stay with me!!

[TaraJ]

yeah same hey....All i can recommend is every time he jumps off you you have to put him back on so he knows that is what you expect of him......

[xxleahxx]

yehh thats what iv been trying to do cept its lkind of hard when my bf thinks the right approach is to put him back if he jumps off to teach him he cant be out of the cage if he wont stay on us, i have the opposite feelings lol

[TaraJ]

or bribe him with treats while he is on you to make him realise that it is good to be with you.

[xxleahxx]

im working on that, he will take food from me while hes in the cage but its a different story while hes on me

[TaraJ]

ah ok....mine will take it from anywhere but mine is just a little piggy has been ever since after the first day i brought him home but having said that as soon as he wants to fly nothing can stop him...not even food

[xxleahxx]

what are you using as treats?

[TaraJ]

well my guy loves grained bread so i have been using that as a treat...how about you?

[xxleahxx]

havnt really found anything yet, his favourite is apple but i dont really see that as a treat as he gets that in his cage all the time

[TaraJ]

yeah really needs to be something he doesnt get all the time....when i first got mine i tried him on the bread and he absolutely loved it so i decided not to give it to him all the time...maybe try him on some dried fruit like sultanas or something...saw someone on a training video using cheese also.

[ellieelectrons]

You don't have to give him apple all the time. Withdraw it from his normal diet & use it as a treat.

I would recommend having an out of cage play area for your bird. That can also be a space where your bird feels comfortable out of its cage. You can let him play there independently and use it for trick training.

I have previously published threads on turning around. I will try to remember to dig them up & post a link but meanwhile you could search for it.

My fav resource are the DVDs from Barbara heidenreich. Her website is www.goodbirdinc.com. The first in the series is the best one regarding training.

Ellie.

[xxleahxx]

thankyou for the info i will have a look yes i have actually made a really kool play area out of pvc pipe

[TaraJ]

hey thanks also Ellie...thats something i need to get too is a out of cage play area...i made a t stand for him but at moment he wont stay on it because its way too boring....need to add some more to it to make it interesting.

[ellieelectrons]

Here's a link to the thread:
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... und#p68244

Keep up the good work you two!

Ellie.

[TaraJ]

awww thanks Ellie....Got Tiki's wings clipped today and it didnt bother him at all...He bit the guy who i got him off tho....Thank god i was the one who was using the scissors lol.....thought he may have sulked a little when i got him home but nope,soon as he was in his cage it was pig out time...obviously a couple hours without food was WAY TOO LONG as far as he was concerned

[TaraJ]

hmmmmm seems didnt clip enough off wings as Tiki can still fly quite well ....little fella was tricking us yesterday when got wings clipped....First time he could still fly so clipped a couple more feathers then he couldnt fly but now today he can again

[ellieelectrons]

I like it when mine can fly a little bit. My main thing is that I don't want them hanging out on the ceiling fans and I don't want them flinging themselves at me from the other side of the room. If they fly off your hand because they are scared, do you find they are more likely to want to step up from the floor?

Elie.

[TaraJ]

My guy will always step up from anywhere he flies to....Probably scares himself when flies.....Seems he can still fly as good as before wings were clipped ...we left 4 flight feathers on outer edge of each wing so i think thats the problem...Might cut it down to 2 on each

[TaraJ]

I really want to start training but all he is interested in doing is flying off everywhere unless he is on top of his cage...Then when gets bored of being on cage flies to top of my fishtank lol

[jimmyjack]

another great site is:

http://trainedparrot.com/

well, the site itself is terrible, but the guy is really good at explaining some tricks. ive picked up a few off there. there are a couple of ones here:

http://parrots.ie/vb/content.php?184-training

[TaraJ]

yep thanks Jimmy...i actually look at that site quite a bit too.And www.theparrotforum.com