1 Year Old GCC training help

[Rufio850]

I have a one year old green cheek conure, got him at 6 months of age. Still can't tell if he is a boy or girl. I taught him to step up pretty easily. He's mimicking our words with sounds. I've heard something about clicker training? If someone could explain that to me.

He will let me have his wings, flip him, etc. He's trusting of me but I'd like to get him to understand voice and sounds and react to them. I'm home morning and night (Unfortunately I own a Pizzeria and work 7 days a week 11-10) so not much time to interact or train :/ I give him 2 hours in the morning and 3+ at night. So any suggestions would be great, thanks.

 

[weco]

From: What is Clicker Training

"Clicker training" is a slang term used to describe a way of training animals that has become increasingly popular in the last decade because of its gentle methods. The scientific term for it is operant conditioning. As you'll see, clicker training has been successfully used on a variety of animals.....

While there are books explaining/teaching clicker training, you can find everything you need on the internet free, as well as videos on youtube.....the training sessions are not long in duration, anywhere from 5 to maybe 15 or 20 minutes at a time, so mornings would probably work well for your feathered friend, though you could just as well do two sessions a day.....


In case you didn't know, many parrots enjoy the heck out of pizza.....now I like pizza also, so my guys get the crust with some sauce & maybe a little cheese.....If my patty sees me eating pizza & have a battle on my hands.....

 

[Rufio850]

Ok I'll check them out. And unfortunately he takes after me. No matter what I eat he is hanging off my ear or anything trying to eat ANYTHING I'm eating haha.

 

[MonicaMc]

Well, that's a good thing! LOL May not sound like it, but monkey see, monkey do! Don't feed him bad foods, but do feed him healthy foods! It's a great way to teach birds to broaden their diets! Just don't share a piece of food you've bitten off of!

 

[Rufio850]

Well I haven't tried mashing veggies yet. But he dislikes veggies. And he will only eat fruits with a lot of juice. I.e. honeydew, orange, grapes are his favorite. And he doesn't go nuts over sunflower seeds. Like I said he is still only one years old so we are waiting. We keep thinking he's still a baby (MMaybe we are giving excuses?) His diet are his pellets and he loves it. But he's very curious on everything we eat

 

[MissLarissa]

The place I got my GCC said that I cannot feed him grapes or other small seeded fruits. Is that true?

 

[hujj]

this is very good post

 

[66corvair]

Could you expand on why not to let a bird eat a piece of food you've eaten a bite out of?

 

[Kamostrinha]

Could you expand on why not to let a bird eat a piece of food you've eaten a bite out of?

Hi!
Well, I'm not sure if you still would like to hear the answer but in case you do: I believe it is about human (or mammalian in general) saliva. It's toxic for birds because of some bacteria in it that birds have no immunity to. So it's better not to let the bird eat things we had in our mouths and we should be careful when we kiss them.

 

[weco]

Being reminded is always good as some of us look closer to the cute side of things and forget the dangers ! ! !