Help me understand my rescue bird!

[Marleybobbins]

Hi, new here, from the UK.

I have a green cheek conure that we hand raised ourselves, silly tame! No issues.

We recently rescued a female Indian ringneck, very little is known about her past, she’s 3-4 years old, told that she prefers women (she definitely does), that she loves to fly and was at one point found outside? She has no ring on her leg

She’s not very tame, in her first few weeks with us, she wouldn’t let you put your hands near her, wouldn’t come near us. She wasn’t a fan of of GCC, but she tolerated him, he wasn’t allowed a cuddle! Recently they’re best friends! He slowly snuck up to her and she finally just accepted him. She does show breeding behaviour towards him.

Even when they weren’t friends, she would follow him, slowly she became more tolerant of sharing the seeds out of the bucket together, and even when they weren’t friends, she seemingly got angry when he was sat with us? She would growl and bang her beak of whatever she was sat on, she still does this occasionally, maybe she feels left out?

With her following our GCC, she would follow him near us, she would even sit on our shoulders if he was also sat with us. Although sometimes, she won’t follow, and she’ll just scream whilst staring at him.

She still isn’t a fan of hands, we have a lot of trouble getting her back in her cage, at one point we thought we were going to have to have her clipped, because nothing seemed to work! Eventually the chasing worked, and she gets the message now when we chase - it means go back in the cage. It works, 90% of the time. She will step up, but only if she’s on her cage, I try to reward her for this but she won’t accept seeds. She doesn’t seem to be very food motivated?

I have tried target training, she gets it, but again she isn’t very food motivated and easily spooked. The past 2 nights however my partner has been unable to get her into her cage at night, I work night shifts, and after 1 minute of chasing, she has actually started to step up (only on her cage) and let me place her in her cage.

Why does she do this? Why did she follow my other bird even when she seemingly wasn’t a big fan of him? Why did she get angry when he was with us?

 

[SailBoat]

Welcome to Parrot Forum!!
New Parrots require a period of getting use to the new surroundings and developing a comfort. That naturally will include some amount of jealousness. Given everything, another couple of weeks and watch how she settles in more.
FYI: consider only having her food available in her cage.
Slow down, and work at her rate of acceptance.

 

[Cottonoid]

Ringnecks can take much longer to come around to interacting with people. I met my ringneck almost a year ago, and he still wants nothing to do with my hands or stepping up onto a perch, but he will take treats from me. He likes me well enough and is super relaxed around me, but wants zero physical contact. My Quaker is the opposite

I think you're on the right track with observing her behaviors. She's made a ton of progress already IMO. Do you usually have any cues for bedtime? Keeping a routine around winding down for the night, even if she's still a bit flighty and wound up, will help and eventually I think she'll go to bed without needing to chase her. Especially if she's already stepping up from her cage to go inside.

I thought my ringneck was never going to go to bed when I needed him to, and now he's roosting like clockwork every night. My Quaker is a bird that needs to get his flying zoomies out of the way for at least 20 minutes right before bed, or he's restless and doesn't want to go in. It takes time to figure out their patterns and for them to figure out ours, but you're getting there

 

[wrench13]

Thanks 'Boats, my friend, for sage advice and comments.

Parrots are all about trust, ringnecks even more so. So everything you do with or about your parrot has to be measured by that yardstick. Think of it like a trust bank. Anytime you interact with your parrot, think: "Does this build trust or does it bust trust". Chasing a parrot for what ever reason is a trust buster! Patient training with appropriate tools and techniques - builds trust. The parrot has to learn that only good things come from humans, never bad.

Of course we ARE human, and there will be times when you have to make a withdrawal from the trust bank, just make sure there have been a lot of deposits!

Make an effort to find out your parrots favorite treat food. Maybe be more difficult with parrots that appear to not be very food motivated, but I think you will find it. Try all sorts of nuts and seeds, and safe people food (but careful with that, people food is often way too salty or has additives not good for birds). I bet he will have a favorite. That becomes your training treat, use it only for training and high value requests.

 

[Marleybobbins]

Thanks 'Boats, my friend, for sage advice and comments.

Parrots are all about trust, ringnecks even more so. So everything you do with or about your parrot has to be measured by that yardstick. Think of it like a trust bank. Anytime you interact with your parrot, think: "Does this build trust or does it bust trust". Chasing a parrot for what ever reason is a trust buster! Patient training with appropriate tools and techniques - builds trust. The parrot has to learn that only good things come from humans, never bad.

Of course we ARE human, and there will be times when you have to make a withdrawal from the trust bank, just make sure there have been a lot of deposits!

Make an effort to find out your parrots favorite treat food. Maybe be more difficult with parrots that appear to not be very food motivated, but I think you will find it. Try all sorts of nuts and seeds, and safe people food (but careful with that, people food is often way too salty or has additives not good for birds). I bet he will have a favorite. That becomes your training treat, use it only for training and high value requests.

You’re right it does break trust- if she goes in her cage for food and it’s near bedtime, we just shut her in rather than chase. The “chasing” became the last resort when we needed to go out and she wasn’t playing game! She knows damn well what it means, because she immediately flies to her cage, but she just sits on her cage for long periods, and we try to usher her in, which sometimes works and sometimes not. The stepping up only on the cage during a chase is what is bizarre to me, and the fact that we have made small progress with this method is also bizarre

I don’t understand why she is happy to step up - but only in this scenario

I also want to add that she is very nice, she never bites, she only ever mouths, never applies any pressure to it. My GCC nips us all the time!

 

[Birdmom2a2]

You did a great thing in adopting a rescue. The above advice is great. i would add that the most important thing is to be patient. I am a big fan of Sally Blanchard and Liz Wilson (both avian behavioralists). I have raised a Goffin's cockatoo and a Lilac Crowned Amazon using their techniques with a lot of success. They both teach it takes a bird 6 months to adapt to a new situation, and that has been my experience as well. Good luck and, please, be patient -especially if she came from any sort of abusive situation. Trust between you and your companion bird is absolutely the most important part of the relationship.