I'm Making Progress!

[Cressy]

I've had my cockatiel for two weeks! I disperse millet seeds into my hand and now, he comes over to me when I put my hand into his cage and eats the millet straight from there! He even steps onto my hand sometimes! Although to be honest, I'm not too sure what to do from this point on.

I'm also starting to notice what he likes. Even more than millet, he likes to play with the little stick that holds all the millet. Once all the millet is stripped away, it becomes a toy lol. He looks like a dog when he plays with it

 

[Julianna]

Congrats on your progress so far! Have you done any training yet? Training is a great way to build a bond with a birds, plus it's fun and you end up with a trained bird. If you haven't done it yet, I'd recommend starting with target training. Sounds like you've got a great relationship getting started!

 

[Cressy]

I haven't started training him yet! I'm a little scared to, I've never done training with any animal before. Excuse me if I sound stupid - exactly what is target training?

I'm really nervous to take him out of his cage. He's not clipped, and I'm afraid that once he's out, he'll start flapping around everywhere and get to some high spot where I can't reach!

 

[Parro]

Oh don't worry. Take him to a good pet store you know and there they will clip his wings, but stay outside so the bird doesn't see you. I don't know either target training. but a GREAT way to train him into stepping up into your hand is the ladder training. You put fingers on top of each other and make him keep stepping up.

 

[MonicaMc]

Parro, that's not necessarily the best way to teach a bird to step up.


Cressy, you *are* training your bird, even if you don't know it! Each interaction with your bird, physical or not, can be viewed as a training session!

 

[Cressy]

Hm, then what are some tips to help with training a really timid bird to step up?

 

[MonicaMc]

If your cockatiel is comfortable with hands, you can start using millet or whatever he likes and placing it just a little further out of reach so he has to step up onto your other hand.

Not necessarily the best video but you can kind of see what I mean in the first video in this link.

Living With Parrots Cage Free: Bucky and Strider - Millet Eating Fiends!



And some videos from Barbara Heidenreich on how to teach the step up behavior.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIaDDSeZKnI]Parrot Training Workshop Live Demo - Step Up Training with a Macaw - YouTube[/ame]



[ame=http://youtu.be/pe0pW5v7vOs?t=58s]Parrot Training Clips from Parrot Care & Training Seminar - YouTube[/ame]




This is also a good link.

http://learningparrots.com/blog/training/working-with-fearful-parrots/