Constantly flying to me

[Inverse]

I know she is a "companion" bird, but she's extremely Velcro unless I have some bottlebrush to keep her amused with (and it's going out of season now!).
Now I love having her with me but I'm having issues getting the housework done as even if I put her down on the bench right in front of me, she flies straight up to my shoulder.
Aside from a clip, is there anything I can do to lessen this behaviour? As at the moment she sits on my shoulder and preens me before invariably nipping me.
I hate having her in the cage (and the screeches of indignation that arise from it!), but I can't have a bird on my shoulder for 15 hours a day either.

 

[MikeyTN]

You just have to put her away in her cage. Malachai refuses to play on the play stand, they are like a velcro bird!!!! IF I leave the room, even before when he was clipped, he'll jump off to the floor and hop his way into whatever room we're in. They MUST be into anything your doing cause they're like a puppy that follows you everywhere you go so just provide plenty of toys in her cage to keep her occupied when your busy doing something else. The more you acknowledge her shrill scream, the more she's gonna do it to get to you.

 

[Inverse]

The more you acknowledge her shrill scream, the more she's gonna do it to get to you.

I don't acknowledge the scream at all, she does it in the morning when she knows we are awake and when I pop her back in the cage. But no, never reacted to it at all.

 

[MikeyTN]

Malachai does the same thing but over time he's better about it. Here's a few picture I just took of him with me holding him in my palms....He's so cute!!!

 

[Inverse]

Just using it as an excuse to do some recall training!

 

[MaraWentz]

Just train it the stay command or move out of the way. Erin always climbs off her stands and pitter patters after me or she climbs into bed in the morning and she flies around landing on my shoulder. She has no cage, so there's no locking her up lol. I simply tell her to not even think about it (when I dont want her on my shoulder) and she will land beside but not on me, same if I move or block her or I just tell her to stay.

 

[Thingamagigs]

Welcome to the wonderful world of lorikeet ownership.
Take a conure, feed it nothing but sugar and redbull and you have a lorikeet

I have to say, the reason I dont own lorikeets anymore is because of their constant loud, shrill call. I would love to say there is something you can do, definitively to get her to stop... but there isnt. After all you cant have your cake and eat it too

There are a couple of courses of action here....
1. The best solution is to get used to it and involve her in all your activities, after all they are rarely if ever alone in the wild and they do pretty much require constant companionship They are very intelligent and social, but not in the way most humans can appreciate. They aren't training or trick smart and they seem clingy and confusing to our own human ideals LOL But they have busy minds that need challenging. She may not have the knack for learning amusing tricks, but if its something mechanical and practical she will probably pick it up very quickly. Show her how to put pegs in a basket... let her watch all the tricky things you do while you do the housework. They'll watch, work out what it is you are doing and attempt to either help or steal it off you LOL

2. Buy her a larger cage with far more challenging foraging ideas and never just give her easy access to food (i.e. a bowl just sitting there with food) this will keep her active, wear her out and keep her mind busy. Schedule play/out times and if you are busy and need to work, put her in her cage. Pop on the headphones and play some music to drown out her call LOL

Either way she will be loud most of the day, especially if you have local lorikeets. If you dont have local lorikeets then thank your lucky stars because any noise she currently makes is a fraction of what she would make if you had wild lorikeets nearby.

 

[Inverse]

To be fair, she isn't an overly noisy bird, although she does have a shriek when she wants to be let out or is pissed I put her away!
I do enjoy having her there with me, it is after all why I got her but it's utterly impossible to do the washing, dishes, vacuuming etc when you have a lorikeet trying to pluck your hair out by its follicles and sitting on your shoulder non stop.
Just looking for some ways to try and keep her there near me but not hanging off me!

 

[MaraWentz]

I suggest to just put your hand up to block her,and she will most likely fly around you and land nearby. Pair that with a no or any other command word to keep her off you and she will hopefully learn to stay off you by hearing the verbal command, rather than you having to physically block her. The only concern is where she lands if it's not on you. So just be extra careful when she is flying about, so she doesn't end up out the window or door or in the stove or oven.

 

[MikeyTN]

I suggest to just put your hand up to block her,and she will most likely fly around you and land nearby. Pair that with a no or any other command word to keep her off you and she will hopefully learn to stay off you by hearing the verbal command, rather than you having to physically block her. The only concern is where she lands if it's not on you. So just be extra careful when she is flying about, so she doesn't end up out the window or door or in the stove or oven.

Unfortunately you don't understand how Lories work. Thingamagigs understands how they work with what he said in the post. You have no choice but include them in whatever your doing or give them a big cage like I did and give them lots of things to do. They're really good in solving puzzles, super super smart birds. But a sugar high bird to tell them to stop flying to you, it's not a easy process....

 

[Inverse]

We are getting there, I just need to figure her out.
It's not her, it's me.

 

[MaraWentz]

I have never dealt with them, but I'ml assuming if you don't give them anywhere to land on you (by blocking them off), they can't land on you. But then again, my macaw has twice landed on my arm, while I tired to block her off in the beginning, but she found it very difficult to do and decided right beside me on a table or chair is easier.

 

[Thingamagigs]

I have never dealt with them, but I'ml assuming if you don't give them anywhere to land on you (by blocking them off), they can't land on you. But then again, my macaw has twice landed on my arm, while I tired to block her off in the beginning, but she found it very difficult to do and decided right beside me on a table or chair is easier.

If you put your hand up, the lorikeet will land on your hand
In the wild they land on the very tips of bottle brush branches to get to the flowers on the ends... they dangle from the thinnest branches and leaves and have the maneuverability in flight to dodge at lightening speed. She'll be a slow flier as a baby, but as an adult will be super fast and adept.

I don't normally condone wing clipping, but once she is a confident flier you might want to clip her?

Or, like I said in another thread, get another one

ROFL used to sit happily on his play stand when I had another bird there for him to torment

ROFL my beautiful blue front rainbow and Bobby my sun conure that hated me. Both super young in this photo. I was handrearing birds at the time so they always had some fledgling to torment LOL

 

[MaraWentz]

That's what Erin did, but she found it much easier to land on something close by than my arm lol. He's so pretty btw!

 

[Thingamagigs]

I do miss how beautiful lorikeets are... I don't think there is a more stunning parrot.

 

[MaraWentz]

I've only ever met one ever and it was so beautiful I just had to pick it up (I was at bird paradise) so of course I placed my hand in to see the baby and it went toward it and then nipped me, hard lol. Beautiful to look out but not to touch lol