doesn't like "hands"?

[Purplecarters]

Evening all

We have an african grey - congo and have had it (Olive) since December last year... so not long really.

It seems to hate hands, it'll step up with arms/hands covered but not otherwise, takes monkey nuts from fingers, but nothing else. I think I am managing, slowly, to gain its trust, but Olive still gets as far away from our hands as possible. Olive was apparently 6 months old when it moved in with us. I have taught it to "touch", starting with a pen and ending up with my finger but don't really know where to go from here, any hints and tips greatly appreciated Or questions of course!

Nice to be here, thanks x

 

[Purplecarters]

ok I have just read this... http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/3100-bond-forming.html

and now I'm about to read the bill of rights! please excuse my ignorance :09:

Lizzi x

 

[Spiritbird]

Another grey person and welome to our forum. You have a very young bird and should have lots of time for training. Let me ask, what is a monkey nut? If it is a peanut it is best not to feed them because of a potential fungus in the shells.

I would suggest that you let her see you hands frequently playing with her toys and holding her treats. Do not try to force it or she may back off. Greys have many fears most likely stemming from being a prey animal. My bird was afraid of a small pine cone and a small button! Leaning the step up is very important. If you would like to try holding a perch in your hand you could work with her that way. Get her to like the perch first and then slowly let her see you with it and then let her touch it with beak. There are lots of good books out there on training. One basic one is Parrots for Dummies. It is a good basic book with lots of good information. I still refer to my copy.

 

[Purplecarters]

Thank you Spiritbird for your reply and thanks for the welcome

Olive has learnt step up and now we are teaching it Step off (which is the easy part lol) I have been doing as you said and have been showing Olive that hands are nice, playing with toys and touching the food, stroking my own arm with it and last night we had some wonderful moments with Olive, I felt Olive was very receptive to being close and relaxed (ie standing on one leg) and giving us the soft eye... I love those soft eyes

I read birds like to have their beaks stroked? so again last night using the "touch" that I taught Olive we progressed to us touching its beak... we are going to work on that again today.

We also exercised step up and step off between my husband and I, that was lovely too!

Today Olive stepped up onto a bare arm, rather than one covered over with a blanket (one that Olive seems rather attached too) so the improvements are there, slow and sure x

Thank you once again, sometimes just that small bit of encouragement that you gave me goes a million miles... really appreciate it, thanks x

 

[roxynoodle]

It sounds like you've made a lot of progress already. Just keep taking it slow. You don't want to push too fast and scare her off again. Even if you go too slow, that's better than going too fast. Let Olive set the pace.

 

[Wulfgeist]

Damage works faster than trust and I hope my baby won't be like this. My friend that goes with me to see the baby..she's not a bird person and doesn't understand at all that they aren't like puppies, you can't just swoop in and pet them. She got nipped while I was digging out my cell phone to take pictures and after that was doing the finger wave advance retreat out of fear. I tried to tell her just don't try to touch the baby if she was going to be afraid like that. Personally, I love her to death, but I wish I could get her to just sit there and talk, no touch. She's easily offended so I don't know how to go about it.

It sounds like you are making progress with Olive and all the advice sounds...sound, they aren't accessories or slaves, treat them with respect and love and hopefully you get it in return. I hope the progress keeps going in the right direction.

Cheers