Fearful? Traumatized? New Pet, I Need Help.

[IRNYoshi]

Hello! I just got an IRN and I have some concerns, I had different birds in the past like parakeets, cockatiels, quakers, sun conure and they were friendly from the moment we bought them. Now, this is a different case, I got him from an aviary and he is really scared. I know is too soon for me to start interacting with him but I have read so far about them, looking at youtube videos and do things around him so he gets familiar with us. My biggest concern is, since is not a tamed bird, it will probably take me longer to gain his trust, but it breaks my heart when I'm trying to change his food and water because he starts to fly around the cage and screaming like if someone is going to kill him and I'm afraid he may get hurt. Before I jump into anything I will like to have some advice on how I can slowly show him I don't want to hurt him. So far there are a few things I can do and he is fine, I walk by his cage and he is okay with it, I talk softly to him and he pays attention, unfortunately I cannot do any movements with my hands because he will start going crazy in his cage like if they represent some kind of threat, even when I just want to scratch my head. This is my first time having an untamed bird and is really challenging.

[MissK]

Hi IRNYoshi,

Good luck and best wishes,
-MissK

[subodhhire]

Hi,

Just follow Miss K and everything will be fine. Patience is the key.

Subodh

[IRNYoshi]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the tips, I am really excited/committed with this bird and also looking forward to see how this goes. Yoshi is really smart, I notice that while is really hard to approach him with my hands, but my tone of voice does the trick, when he is looking for attention I wait until he calms down then soflty speak to him plus also cheer him up when he does something good, I think he gets it becuase he keeps repeating the same action after I reward him with my voice and leave him alone when he gets crazy. I'm getting closer to him and slowly trying to do the same with my hands like a desensitization, I don't know if I'm doing it right but hopefully my voice distract him enough in order for me to work with him.

Thank you.

Luz

[MissK]

Luz, I think you are the sort of person who is sensitive to the bird.

-MissK

[subodhhire]

Hi Luz,

You are on the right track. Just go slow and steady.

Subodh

[superfrank]

It sounds like you're doing great! As everyone else said, slow and steady. Take a moment to be thankful that he allows you to be inthe same room without screaming, and continue to be thankfull for ech small success during the process. It seems as though he wants to be friends with you, but is still a little reserved. He'll come around in time.
My little girl was terrified of hands when we first got her, and now is happy to step-up and get petted.
Something that really helped train Tupelo was to slowly-very slowly- acclamate her to my hands. I calmly sat next to the cage with my hand on the floor where she could see it, and just left it there until she relaxed. I moved it closer and closer over the next few days until I was able to rest the back of my hand against the bars of the cage. A couple more days after that and I was able to easily change her food and water.

[IRNYoshi]

YOSHI update

It's been a while since I came here, Yoshi's been doing some progress during this time. I feel like if I'm trying to tame a wild bird during bluffing time, I say this by looking at the picture on the bluffing section and his aggressiveness. On the other hand, he is my baby, afraid of everything and still trying to figure things out.
Here is what I have done so far: I started to talk to him everyday. On week one: I let Yoshi relax so I play some relaxing music while he was getting used to us. Week two: is where I started to talk to him the most like if I wanted him to pay attention to me, but on the middle of week two I decide to open his cage so he can get out and stay on top of his cage, at first he always fly against the window but after a few days he knew it was safe to just go up; my family and I passed by him like nothing so he knows is a safe spot, that way it would make it easier for me to clean it up too; now when I open his cage he automatically go to the top. Later on I decided to put a grape next to him but he was attacking it at first, I'm guessing he didn't know what it was but once he got the taste of it now is his favorite treat along with corn. I'm still slowly introducing him to other fruits and veggies, he always attacks everything I put in front of him.
So one day on week three, I was curious to see how he would react if I got closer to him with my face while I was talking; I was surprised he stay still and let me give him a bunch of kisses then he started to groom himself and for me this is a sign of trust I have been doing this everyday saying "gimme a kiss, mmmmmuahh".
now he goes crazy if he stay inside his cage, doing a cute sound "awwwww".
Today my daughter got SUNNI the sun conure and put him in the bed next to me while YOSHI flew to the bed because I cleaned his cage (he does this once in a while) the funny thing is SUNNI and I are okay, he is mostly spoiled by my daughter; when I started talking to SUNNI and he got close to me then YOSHI got close too but trying to get SUNNI away (mmmmm, territorial?)
I don't know if I should use SUNNI as a helper because he is not my bird and my relationship with him is okay, but I think YOSHI could learn some bird behavior from him like grabbing things with his feet to eat or maybe learn to take showers. Another thing is YOSHI still afraid of hands but after reading superfrank I may start to do that. I would love to have some feedback ~Luz~

[MissK]

Let Yoshi watch Sunni doing the thing you want Yoshi to learn. I think it is probably OK if your daughter handles Sunni, as long as Yoshi watches, from the cage is fine.

Best wishes,
-MissK