IRN attached to our OW Amazon

[JosephN79]

Hello

WE have an IRN male, Pickle, that we got christmas of 2014. He's probably about 2 years and 3 months old. He was really friendly and would step up to you and talk and let you pet him.

Now, he's bonded with our Amazon. They hang out together all day, sleep in the same cage and share the same food. She is really protective of him, and he will actually hide behind her if someone comes up to the cage to pet them. She loves to be petted and will put her head down and give you under her neck even to scratch. Pickle used to be this way, but now, not so much.

Ive heard of IRNs being cage aggressive, he will strike at you if he sin the cage, or if you're petting our amazon in the cage especially hell strike at you. He never bites hard, ill reaching and hell step up then after maybe a small protesting nip, but it never hurts or draws blood.

He can fly right now, but we do trim him because he seems to calm down when we do. Also, he can't really get away from us then so i guess he gives up. Now though i let him go back and forth across the room a few times and hell wear out and step up. He only voluntarily steps up if he's walking on the ground, never when he's on top of the curtain.

He seems happy otherwise and no real issues other than id like to try to start training him to have a bond with our amazon as well as want to associate with us.

is there anything i can do to get him to be more social and come to us without having to wear him out? After that of course, he lets me pet him while he sits on my lap, but he's not enjoying it lol.

Thanks

 

[Dinosrawr]

Is there a reason why the must share the cage other than the fact that they're bonded? I choose not to cage my IRN and GCC together because I do not want them thinking that sharing a cage equates to sharing a nest, which in my mind promotes pair bond behaviour and eventually excludes you out of the picture. Plus, I can't imagine how much my IRN would damage my GCC and vice-versa if they did not have a way to escape one another. Any bird can become cage aggressive when they view it as their personal little nesting area. But these are my personal thoughts.

IMHO, with birds it's all about how rewarding it is to do said behaviour. It appears it is far more rewarding for your IRN to interact with your OWA than to interact with you. My IRN is a fickle bird, and will go to whomever he thinks makes him feel "best". I'm assuming for Pickle it feels great to get awesome preening, potentially be fed, and cuddle with a bird who understand how he feels. If you are constantly forcing physical attention on him and chasing him around, chances are he feels like you're more of a bother than a treat to be with.

I really recommend introducing some one on one training with Pickle, including stepping up. Help Pickle see that being with you is one of the coolest things in the entire world - it means special treats that no one else gives him, interacting with the best toys, listening to the most adventurous stories, and being snuggled when it's time to do so. Provide Pickle with high value rewards for being with you, and make him realize that you do understand him and can be just as much fun to be around as your OWA.

Your IRN will likely always have a bond with your amazon simply because he is another bird. You aren't a bird and your IRN knows that, and that's a good thing. So give him things no other bird can. It may take time, but it's definitely a good way to go. My birds are very strongly bonded, but they know there's only certain things they get from me, and as a result they come to me willingly. Heck, sometimes it's a fight over who gets to hang with mom, and there's days the rabbit gets involved in that too!

 

[JosephN79]

Thanks for your advice Dino

I agree with everything you've said 100%, and i have felt like i was being overbearing.

We have another cage we can put him in, too. I will try to do that. We were initially concerned that Girlie (our OWA) may hurt him when we brought him home. One day we forgot to put them both up before we went out for the evening. We came home and they were both sitting there together and "chilling." Girlie is protective of him. She is about 15 years old and acts pretty maternal towards him. They preen each other, sometimes you can tell they get annoyed with each other or if one of them hits a sensitive spot while preening one will nip the other. Girly is not confrontational and will avoid at all costs if she doesn't want to be bothered.

I have 2 other pairs of birds, my GCCs downstairs that are siblings from the same clutch and 2 Parakeets that hang out together.

Ill try doing separate cages. They're never in this cage together until its bed time, then girly is on the cage 90% of the time and pickle will hang out on a curtain rod. When they're in bed, girly will sit on a perch and pickle will climb up on a toy that hangs from the top up in a corner and sleep there. If that helps or tells you anything.

Thanks for the advice though! i do realize it wasn't a good move on my part to force my affection and i should have known better to do that. But like you say, i believe his bond with her is partially the reason as well as me annoying him. Girly will let you scratch her head all day and sit on you, pickle, not so much

Thanks again

Joseph

 

[Dinosrawr]

It's so hard not to force affection on our parrots. I totally do it to Shiko every now and then when I know all he wants is to chew on my glasses! [emoji23]

Just take time and let Pickle know that you can give awesome stuff too, and take it day by day. Pickle and Girly sound very much like my two birds. Hugely bonded, occasionally fight, but they love each other. I've always tried to put in the effort to make one-on-one a priority because of it, and so far it's benefited me.

Best of luck! Keep us updated