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Okay guys, this might be a bit of a saga...

I feel i'm losing some control with Sammy. A little background, she (non DNA'd) is about 15 months old and has been a pretty model parrot really. She arrived clipped (horrible job) but i have not clipped her since she's been with me. I like that she can fly around - however....

Lately, the last few weeks, she's gone a bit mental. She has decided that is she doesn't want to return to her cage, she just won't. And will basically have me follow her from end to end of my apartment until she's too tired to carry on evading. This can be most inconvenient, especially on the way to work!

It has gotten more frequent, and worse lately. Sometimes i'm not even going to put her into her cage and she does the same behaviour.

I had made the decision that enough was enough and i would clip her. I haven't done this before, but watched a bunch of instructional video's and decided to try. I waited until dusk, when she becomes her most cuddly/timid/quiet. I towelled her and attempted to open her wing - but she woudn't have a bar of it. I attempted a couple of times, but didn't go through with any cutting as it was my first time and she was just fighting it too much - could've ended badly.

This must have upset her, because the whole next day she basically didn't want anything to do with me!
But she came back around.

I contacted a local breeder and they were happy to help.
But the couple of days before i was to take her, she was the model bird again (go figure!) so i basically decided against it. Then, without any exaggeration, an hour after it was to be done she was at it again. This time i wasn't even going to cage her, i was just going to place her in the bathroom for 2 minutes while i hung my washing out! She'd been in the bathroom with me about 5 times earlier that morning! The bathroom is usually her favourite hangout - she loves how loud and annoying her whistles are in there i think! haha

What i don't get, is that i generally "reward" her for returning. I don't leave her any food in her sleeping cage, and i don't give her any food in the morning until she returns to her cage. Also, when she's in "that" mood, food rewards do nothing. She won't even take a sunflower seed! I just don't understand what's gotten into her!

I feel bad about clipping her, but i think maybe it's time to nip this behaviour in the bud. I have read before that Ringnecks can be totally different birds clipped.

Also, she has been very diss-interested in any sort of training lately, favouring flying off to chew something expensive of mine of course!

Perhaps i'm smothering her? I try compensate for leaving her alone while i'm working by having her out morning, some lunches, and most afternoons and i try to play/train/pet her during these times.
What do you guys think? I know they'll grow back, and it doesn't hurt them but i still feel kinda bad about taking it away from her!

I'm too much of a pushover i think, and i think she's worked that out!

Oh, i should probably add...

Next week i am going on holidays for 8 days. First time since i've had her i'll be gone for more than a couple.
She'll be staying with my Dad... I guess i'll see if her behaviour changes after being separated for a while... She's usually very happy to see me and extremely well behaved when i've left her for a couple days!

Bloody parrots

From personal experience, all of my birds are better behaved when they are clipped. I know a lot of people on here don't agree, but if you are a novice bird owner, clipping may be a good beginning for you. The first time you attempt it on your own you should have two people. One to gently but firmly hold the bird and the other to pull the wing and clip. You should clip no more than 1/4 inch below the secondary flight feathers and only about 8 of the main flight feathers. Make sure your scissors are very sharp so that you don't shred any of the quills or feathers and you get a clean cut. When you are done speak in a low affirming voice to your bird and immediately place him/her back in the cage. Having your bird clipped when training is my preferred method. Once your bird is trained to the level you are seeking you can then begin to let the feathers grow out, but continue training through the transition. You should have any easier time of it I think. I wish you luck

Bug has gone through a couple of phases similar to what you describe. He's normally really good at going back in his cage, but there have been some periods, one lasting for several weeks, when he's decided that he just doesn't want to. I know how frustrating it is to be chasing a contrary bird around the house when you just want to get to work on time!

The best thing for us has been to have a well-established back-in-the-cage routine. Ours goes something like this:
1) I get a nut from the pantry, go and stand by Bug's cage, and call to him.
2) Bug flies over onto the top of the cage.
3) I put my hand up for him, he steps up, and I put him onto his favourite perch in the cage.
4) I give him the nut (this is the only part of the routine that Bug really cares about!)
He knows this routine really well, so that usually he'll go to the cage as soon as I open the pantry.

In the difficult periods, he has either completely ignored me, or kept flying off at step 3. In the past, I've tried repeating the process straight away, or even chasing him, but the situation then escalates and he gets naughtier and naughtier.

After much trial and error, I've realised the best thing to do is just to ignore him. If he won't co-operate, I go off and do something else, not involving Bug, and try again a little later. He always decides to co-operate once he realises that I'm not going to play games with him...if I'm going to be boring, he may as well behave himself and get a treat.

Yes, bloody parrots...I think they like testing their humans to see how we're going to react, so the best response to non-cooperative behaviour is often to be as boring as possible.

Clipping, or even just the change of scenery at your Dad's, might also help - good luck with figuring it out.

Best thing about clipping is that it isn't permanent. If you don't like it, the feathers grow back.

Hane won't step-up for my husband unless he got lost in the house while flying around and got stuck somewhere, which for a while frustrated my husband to no end. He wants a relationship with the bird, but Hane is sort of scared of him. I offered to clip Hane's wings but my husband changed his mind- says he likes seeing the bird fly. So for now he's flighted- even though I know they would build trust way faster if Hane were to be clipped... but that's a different situation entirely.

Hane has been clipped on and off throughout his life, normally because he would become ornery and arrogant after a while of being flighted. But he's been really good for the past two years so I haven't bothered clipping. So that means it took until he was mature to be given the right of flight, otherwise he abused it. Having that many years also means I now know Hane without thinking about it, I know his habits and what he wants- what makes him tick (in general). So I can avoid creating issues about going back into his cage and such things. He also knows what I want from him. That just takes time.

Understand that your bird has a personality and will of her own and respect it. Typically if there is a behavior in our birds we do not like, we are the ones creating it by our own actions, or sometimes inaction.

In evenings, try turning the lights down when you're putting Sammy away. During the day, put Sammy away before you start getting ready/dressed to leave.

If it is morning, I tend to only let Hane out if I'm preparing some food for him, which means he is more than willing to return to his cage when I put his 'treat bowl' (veggies/fruits) back in the cage haha. Otherwise he would want to stay out- after all he JUST got let out and wants to fly around for a bit and play/explore.

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for the great advice - i'm sorry i have been a little absent, it's been a full on few weeks.

Well Our "situation" got better, but then got worse. I kind of get the impression that Sammy doesn't want to be cranky with me but is - if that makes sense. She's around 15-16 months old - it's almost like she's bluffing again, but it's worse than when she was!!

Those who have both male and female ringnecks, are females more aggressive? I know it's around breeding season here, and there was a couple of weeks where she became very sooky - but it's taken a massive U-turn!

She's started getting agressive. Almost to the point of full on lunging at me (mostly when she's in her cage, or when i put her in and close the cage door - or at night when i attempt to remove her from my shoulder to put her to bed)...

Something HAS to change. Unfortunately, i'm a Cancarian and thus i wear my heart on my sleeve. I can't always mask my frustration and sometimes straight out anger with her (this most likely sounds awful, and much worse than it is)

It seems so random too. Right now she's sitting on my arm while i type, gritting her beak and acting happy. But i know, that she could get cranky and bite me anytime at the moment.

She's also a smart little bugger, she knows not to bite me - and it results in her being isolated for 10-15 minutes, so she's taken to biting me and taking off for flight in the one movement, and then making it impossible for me to chastise her. Even positive rewarding isn't working so well when she just flies to the opposite end of my apartment.

I've made the decision that she must me clipped. While at the vet i'll also have her beak filed. I have too many pinholes in my hands at the moment, and i fear that i will just get too frustrated and things will just spiral out of control from there.

I will keep you posted how it goes.

Matt