Having trouble with training

[zimmerb0922]

This is going to be a long post, but it's a long story.

So I got my parrot off craigslist around a month and a half ago, a supposedly 8week old pineapple conure. However, I have had some 'bird people' tell me that she is not in fact a baby but probably older, around a year mostly because she likes to regurgitate to things that she likes and because I'm pretty sure she's already had her first molt. When I got her she had a pin feather casing still around some of her tail feathers. Anyway, despite the ad being dishonest I really enjoy my parrot and we've had a lot of fun together. Originally, I had her up north with me and then for a month she came four hours south to my parents house to live for a bit. When we were there everything was fine, she liked to hang out with me when I was lounging around and she was out of the cage, she'd go off sometimes to get into trouble but never anything to extreme, it seemed like she enjoyed her time with me. After a month I came back up north with her and have been here for around two weeks now and shes driving me crazy.

She's still fully flighted and enjoys her time flying around, which I am mostly okay with but we have these pipes in our apartment that look really old and gross and she loooves to fly to them and chew on them and i have to shoo her away every time she lands on them for fear of her getting sick. Now she doesn't like coming by me. She follows me from room to room and really likes landing on my head when I'm walking around but she doesn't really chill with me on the couch if I'm laying down or anything, this coming from the bird that used to fall asleep on my chest and grind her beak on my shoulder at night. I'm afraid that I've given her reason to dislike me by all of my shooing but I just dont know how else to keep her safe. She also likes to play this game of 'cant catch me' any time i go to pick her up or have her step up on my hand. I generally end up having to catch her out of the air to put her back in her cage when I cant watch her any more. I know this isn't the proper way to catch a bird but shes just so uncooperative.

I've been trying to teach her some tricks, i know she knows how to step up she just refuses to most of the time. But i've also been trying to teach her some other little things like summersaults and turning in circles. I'm at my wits end when it comes to this bird though because even when I have treats for her and I'm trying to teach her a trick she'll just fly off and do something else. There has got to be a better way to train a parrot that can fly. Otherwise I'm considering clipping her wings but I just really dont want to do that. Does anyone have any suggestions? Please and thank you.

 

[MrsKay]

I'm sorry I may not be much help but I will share my thoughts. It sounds like you may have to clip the wings, at least somewhat to impede the bird for a while. I think what I would try is taking the bird to an unfamiliar place or room. Lay a towel on top of a table. Put the bird on the towel and get into some intense clicker training (with rewards of course) stepping up, handling the bird, touching all parts of the body, or other simple tricks. One-on-One for 15-20 minutes several times a day if possible. If the bird is a little hungry this will help because it will crave the treats/rewards.
I understand you not wanting to clip the wings, but just don't do a complete clipping and see if it just hinders its getting to the pipes up above. I hate seeing a bird not able to fly.To me it's like cutting some fins off a fish so it can't swim as well (bad analogy). It breaks my heart to see him fall I am of the school that believes my bird will be healthier if it can spread its wings a bit the way nature intended. However, sometimes it is done for the overall safety of the bird. No offence to anyone on the other side of the fence. Everyone has their own reasons for the way they handle their pets and I'm sure with the very best of intentions. We all love our pets

 

[Phlox]

I would clip her wings until she knows the rules better. I like my birds flighted too, but I think a clip is good for getting use to things and getting trained. YMMV

 

[Boyd75]

you may check out birdtricks.com, it helped me.
permission based training clickers and training diet.
I started out training my bird like a dog and he was slowly starting to hate me as i tried to force step ups and avoided coming to me, but through switching some training methods he steps up about 80 percent of the time now, and he comes to the "i wanna get out perch" when i walk in the room vs sitting in the back

 

[Boyd75]

but its worth a shot if your reluctant to getting the wings clipped.

 

[Jayyj]

What are the pipes exactly? Ceiling or wall? Small diameter or large? It's worth looking into birdproofing them - options would range from cladding to boxing them in, the former being a pain in that you need to find something you can use that is bird safe, but it can be done.

Not saying you shouldn't train your bird as well! Just that there might be a way to deal with that one particular problem.

 

[Selestine]

If you have some pictures of the pipes we might be able to help you brainstorm a good way to birdproof them.

 

[witchbaby]

Definitely work on target training. It will help a lot when you're trying to get her into the cage. If you know you can only get her to touch a target stick once or twice before she loses interest, that's fine. Just do that frequently throughout the day. You can also work on step-up drills right before bed when she's not as energetic and more likely to stay in one place.

Also experiment with a wider variety of treats to reward her with. The issue might be that you haven't found The Treat yet. Find out what motivates her the most. If she sees you holding her favorite food, she'll be more interested in you than a game of 'can't catch me.'