A friend of mine's mom has a 4+ year old female IRN that she is trying to rehome and I've been thinking about taking her. She hasn't had any real contact in years and was apparently abused in her first home as a baby. She needs lots of work, but I do believe I can help her. I'm my GCC's third home and the progress he's made in such a short time has been astounding. Now I know IRNs are nothing like GCC, so I have a lot to learn. I was hoping someone could give me some advice on where to begin with her and what's important to focus on. How do I socialize with her if they aren't as cuddly? She has never had her wings cut, would it break her spirit even more if I were to take them from her? Does clicker training work? And anything else you think might be helpful. Even if I can't keep her I'm hoping to give her some basics so it's easier to find her a better home.
IRN help!
- Thread starter KAYREX
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khaiqha
New member
I really don't recommend you clipping the bird. It's already going to have to be in a new environment, removing its ability to fly is just going to be another level of stress.
Yes, click training works. Most IRNs I've experienced are very food motivated. Just because they don't cuddle doesn't mean they're not affectionate. They're extremely intelligent and a little stubborn, persistence and food bribes will be the key.
How tame (or not) is the bird?
Yes, click training works. Most IRNs I've experienced are very food motivated. Just because they don't cuddle doesn't mean they're not affectionate. They're extremely intelligent and a little stubborn, persistence and food bribes will be the key.
How tame (or not) is the bird?
- Thread Starter
- Thread starter
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She isn't tame what so ever. She definitely let it be known she didn't want me near her or her cage. My gf was able to hand her some food, but still isn't fond of her. She prob just recognizes her. And even to eat what she was given was at the farthest possible corner from us.
MonicaMc
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- Sep 12, 2012
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- Parrots
- Mitred Conure - Charlie 1994;
Cockatiel - Casey 2001;
Wild Caught ARN - Sylphie 2013
I'm more familiar with conures than I am ringnecks... and yet I'm currently caring for an ARN. No clue on age, might be an import (meaning she might be a wild caught bird), and she wont take food from me at all!
I asked for her to not be clipped when she came to me, and she's still unclipped. However, her flight feathers are rather short (lot of stress bars and broken feathers!) and her tail? Well, she doesn't really have a tail to speak of.... pretty much 'duck butt'!
She's ok with eating in front of me as long as I'm at least 3-4 feet away. She freaks out if I get too close. The only good thing I can say is that she is a good eater. I don't know what she was fed previously, but here she has eaten Nutriberries, Pellets and my Mash food. I hope that in time she will molt in healthy feathers and hopefully she wont break/destroy them.
Right now though my goal is to just get her comfortable with my presence. The original plan was to tame her, but I can't help but wonder if she would do better in an aviary situation rather than a pet situation.
I asked for her to not be clipped when she came to me, and she's still unclipped. However, her flight feathers are rather short (lot of stress bars and broken feathers!) and her tail? Well, she doesn't really have a tail to speak of.... pretty much 'duck butt'!
She's ok with eating in front of me as long as I'm at least 3-4 feet away. She freaks out if I get too close. The only good thing I can say is that she is a good eater. I don't know what she was fed previously, but here she has eaten Nutriberries, Pellets and my Mash food. I hope that in time she will molt in healthy feathers and hopefully she wont break/destroy them.
Right now though my goal is to just get her comfortable with my presence. The original plan was to tame her, but I can't help but wonder if she would do better in an aviary situation rather than a pet situation.
Hoangquan
New member
- May 14, 2014
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I'm agree with everyone that clipping her isn't exactly a good idea.
As for now, what you should do is try to earn her trust and have her got used to your appearance. Normally with birds or animal that aren't cuddly, we can focus on food-training method, and it works well, but you have to take baby step from now since she wasn't handed much and was even abused in the past.
And IRN can be somewhat unpredictable, so make sure you get to know her well before you decide to let her out of the cage.
Best of luck to you and please keep us posts.
As for now, what you should do is try to earn her trust and have her got used to your appearance. Normally with birds or animal that aren't cuddly, we can focus on food-training method, and it works well, but you have to take baby step from now since she wasn't handed much and was even abused in the past.
And IRN can be somewhat unpredictable, so make sure you get to know her well before you decide to let her out of the cage.
Best of luck to you and please keep us posts.
khaiqha
New member
I had a parent raised IRN as a child, and it took about a month to tame. After that we were best buds. I would do my homework and read next to his cage constantly to get him used to me. The idea is to do something that will keep you busy, but doesn't put your focus on the bird. Eventually the bird's curiosity will win out and it will start just watching you.
I also ate next to the cage and eventually put some of my bird safe food into my bird's bowl, which was quickly gobbled up. From there it became easier to convince my bird to eat out my hand.
I also ate next to the cage and eventually put some of my bird safe food into my bird's bowl, which was quickly gobbled up. From there it became easier to convince my bird to eat out my hand.
WesselG
New member
I never tried to tame a bird that sounds as untamed as this but knowing how food-motivated IRN's are it might work to get a favorite treat (in my birds' case it's unshelled peanuts) and to drop it in the foodbowl and stand back a bit or even sit down and read or listen to some soft music. The idea would be to get the bird to figure out that the really yummy stuff only shows up when you're around. Knowing how intelligent IRN's are that won't take too long.
If you're not sure what a favorite treat of this bird is you can modify the above advice and just sit quietly and observe it for awhile after you gave it some fresh food...it's bound to go for the tastiest bits first (of course that means offering her a good selection of foods for her to choose from). Once you figured out what her favorite foods are you can give less of that during normal feeding times and start using it as a treat.
If you're not sure what a favorite treat of this bird is you can modify the above advice and just sit quietly and observe it for awhile after you gave it some fresh food...it's bound to go for the tastiest bits first (of course that means offering her a good selection of foods for her to choose from). Once you figured out what her favorite foods are you can give less of that during normal feeding times and start using it as a treat.
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