Does he seem to like it or am I forcing him ?

[sujithsubramanian]

Hey,

I got my new feathered friend, "Mike "four months back and now he is nearing his first birthday in April. He is a Male IRN who wasn't hand tamed when I bought him from a local breeder. Now he accepts food through the cage bars, food from my hands. In my attempts to tame him, I approached the breeder and asked her the possible ways of taming him and she asked me to follow "Flooding"- a taming method where you prove the bird that his resistance/aggressiveness will not work.
So, I tried catching him with a small bath towel and pat him everyday when I come back from work. He made noises which he clearly showed that he didn't like him to be caught and was scared of my hands. But soon after two to three days, he didn't make a single noise and I could pat him on his head and even hold his beak and scratch them for sometime. I felt he was comfortable when I was patting him.

After nearly 10 days, I thought to pat him without the use of towel. I used to move the cage to a L-corner of my room so that he don't fly away. I closed in him and took my hands over his beak to pat him but he was a bit freaky,the first couple of days and after that I was able to pat him without the use of towel. But I have to move the cage to the corner to pat him as he flies away in a different location. He sometimes try to bite me during the process but I will neglect it for a few seconds and start doing the same process. I was repeating the same process for a week time and he seems to be a bit co-operating but I wasn't sure whether he really liked it or not.

I managed to record a video of me patting him like I mentioned above. I cannot attach the Video link with my post as the page says my post looks spammy for a new user

Can you guys please, copy this text "Taming my Indian Ringneck - Mike .mp4" and paste it on YouTube to view my video ?
The video is uploaded by me - sujithsubramanian

P.S: Sorry the bad video quality !

Awaiting your reply,
Sujith

[subodhhire]

Hi Sujith,

you were on the right track till the towel thing. Now let me just give you a brief on what happens when you handle the bird using the towel. It so happens that the bird becomes helpless and then accepts its fate to let you hold him. This is not a very positive reinforcement. Once you start using bare hands you should first start to hand feed him. I think you missed that step. Give him his favorite treat with your bare hands. Let him understand that the hands are doing good things as well. Also i saw your video and it seems you have kept the towel used to hold him on top of the cage. The towel should never be in the view of the bird. It will never feel safe as long as it sees the towel. Please hide the towel after use, It should never be in the view of the bird. It will never feel relaxed as long as he sees the towel nearby. Hope this helps.

Subodh

[MissK]

Saw the vid- So Sweet!

-MissK

[ellieelectrons]

You have a cute baby there!

Here is the URL for the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUm-X46R88c

Ellie.

[sujithsubramanian]

Hi Subodh,

Thanks so much for your reply ! I have been hand-feeding Mike over a month and he mostly accepts only sunflower seeds and slices of apple ! Sometimes he eats a bit of banana as well. What I do here is I hold the food on the edge of the fingers so that he recognizes his favorite treat on my fingers and figures out that I am just trying to feed him. BUT, If I place a sunflower seed in the centre of my palm and approach him, he always gets scared ! May be he is not aware that I have got his favorite treat in my hand. And also, he is very afraid If I approach him with "no food" in my hands.

Do you think I have to get Mike used to these things first before trying to pat him ? If so, can you please tell me how ?

Following your tip, I did try to pat him without the use of towel last night. He seems to run away from my hands and I have to block him with my hands to make a scratch on his beak. When I am blocking him with my fingers, sometimes he steps on my fingers and flies away from the cage. No wonder that, quite often He gives me a bite on my fingers which feels like a small pinch hinting me that he is a very angry bird and I should move away from him, but I am least bothered about it haha !

Do you think if I have to repeat the same process in the coming days or is there any different approach ? or should I be even more patient ?

Awaiting your reply,
Sujith

[sujithsubramanian]

Thank You MisSk and Ellie - You guys have helped me a lot for me to come to this level ! Much Appreciated

[subodhhire]

Hi Sujith,

What you are doing is right just try to push the treat that you are offering slowly deeper and deeper in your hand. This will slowly reduce the fright of your hand from the birds mind.

Please be patient there is no point in scratching the bird if he is scared of you or your hand. You have to first hand tame him, and be very slow and patient. As mentioned above slowly shift the treat deeper in your hand and finally he will have to climb on your hand to get it. And when you are doing this dont keep the towel anywhere in the sight of the bird. In fact now you hide the towel somewhere where even you cannot find it.

Subodh

[MissK]

Subodh, clever you!


-MissK

[subodhhire]

Hi Sujith,

Now you must have surely understood, as $$money$$ language is the global language which everyone understands. Especially when you are on the receiving side .


Subodh