my quaker parrot is scared of my hands!

[qura101]

Hi,
I am a new quaker parrot owner and have had my QP for 10 days. She is 5 months old and I am her first owner. I got her from a breeder. When I first bought her, she was terrified of me but now she's comfortable with me being in the room. she'll eat, play, squawk and chirp while I'm in the same room. I can even get right close to her but as soon as I lift my hand towards her she'll try to get as far away as possible. She won't eat from my hands or go anywhere near them. My question is:

1) How can I get my quaker parrot to not be afraid of my hand?
2) How long, on average does it take for a quaker parrot to trust you?
2) And when do quaker parrots start to talk? My QP just sqawks and chirps
but can't really talk at this moment

Any comments/answers will be really appreciated
Thank you

 

[LordTriggs]

1. Much like getting used to you, just slowly moving at her pace, start sitting outside the cage talking to her, slowly once she's happy with you there you can bring your hand up to touch the cage, then as time goes on offer little treats through the bars. It's a slow long process but you get there eventually, just go at your quaker's pace. If she runs away then back off a bit.

2. How long is a piece of string? Some love people day 1, others take time to warm up.

3. Much the same as above. Some birds never learn to talk, it's up to them if they want to or not. People with Greys, known globally for talking have birds that never say a word and some people with conures, not known for mimicry have birds that talk up a storm. It's their choice really

 

[Violet_Diva]

I think time is what is needed here. Don't rush being close with your bird. Always go at their pace. Be in the room and find out what is the closest you can get to her without her becoming scared. Once you find the point sit there calmly. Talk softly to her. (If she becomes afraid from you being too close, move a little further away until she seems calm again and stop there, talking softly.) Each day try to gradually increase the closeness.

Once you can be by the side of the cage without her showing any fear, you can then start trying to give treats. This is going to be most effective if she is hungry, so before feeding her meal is best. Firstly by showing a treat to her so she can see it, and then posting it through the bars so she can hear it plop into her food bowl. Then take a step back, so she hopefully comes forwards to take the treat. Do this until you can simply stand next to the cage while she eats a treat you have deposited.

Once she will happily eat food you have posted. Try holding the treat in pinched fingers through the bars, remaining very still as to not scare her. You will need to be very patient. Hopefully she will eventually be bold enough to take the treat!

Good luck

 

[GaleriaGila]

Great advice. Keep reading... a plan will gradually comed to you.

And there will be compromises. Really, I don't involve hands much, unless I'm positive that the Rb is in the mood... for cuddling or grooming. The Rb doesn't like hands. Never has. He seems to think the real ME is my head, perched on a weird moveable tree with questionable appendages.

 

[EllenD]

Yep, well-stated. With parrots that are not hand-raised by their breeder but rather parent-raised, or even a hand-raised parrot that is not interacted with by a human for a long period of time, you have to start from square-1 and go through the entire hand-taming process, which you need to remember is a Marathon, not a Sprint.

I've hand-tamed many parent-raised/non-tame Budgies and Cockatiels, and if I've learned nothing else, I've learned that each and every bird is an individual, just like people are. I've hand-tamed totally non-tame birds as quickly as 2-3 months, and others have taken over a year. So it just depends on the bird, and the amount of time that you can commit and dedicate to hand-taming training each and every single day.

That's the key, you must dedicate a block of time solely to hand-taming training each and every day. This training must be done in a room with the door shut, so that there are no outside noises or distractions to the bird. Ideally you want to spend at least 30 minutes to an hour each and every day solely on one-on-one hand-taming training with your bird...

****However, even when you are not training him, you need to have his main cage located in whatever room of your house the "action" is; a parrot's main cage absolutely must be located in whichever room of the house/apartment that all of the people who live in the house spend most of their time when they are home. Usually this is the living room, the family room, the den, etc. This serves a lot of different purposes: It gets the bird used to people simply being around them, it allows the bird to constantly hear people talking, see people walking around and right past their cage and gets them to realize that people are not going to harm them and eases their anxiety, it allows them to be able to both HEAR AND SEE the people who are home, and most importantly, it will bring them a feeling of safeness, security, and comfort, and even if the people in the room are not directly interacting with the bird, the bird always feels better being "among their people", and very quickly the bird will start to entertain themselves inside of their cage, playing with their toys and such, comforted just knowing that their people are in the room near them...

You cannot locate a parrot's main cage in a room away from where the "action" in your house is. A lot of people, especially young kids or teenagers who live with their parents/families, want to keep their bird's cage back in their bedroom, or in a spare-bedroom...this is one of the largest mistakes that new bird owners make!!! 99% of the time when a parrot's main cage is not located in the main room of the home where people spend most of their time when they are home, the end-result is a frustrated, anxious, restless, bored parrot who refuses to play with toys or entertain themselves, and who screams non-stop all day long unless someone is in the same room as they are...This is mostly due to the fact that the bird can hear that it's people, or at least one person, is at home, yet the bird cannot see them, and is not with them. This causes nothing but issues.

Plus, if you already have a non-tame bird, locating it's main cage in the main room of your house where most people who live there spend their time when they are home tends to speed-up the hand-taming process considerably, as the bird will obviously become accustom to people, talking, hands, etc. and feel comfortable with them much more quickly.

A lot of people have a hard time understanding this concept of cage-location, as they ask themselves "Why does it matter if the bird is in it's cage in the living room while I'm just watching TV or reading or playing a video game? I'm not paying any attention to him anyway, so why does he have to be in here?" Well that's just it, you don't have to be directly interacting with the bird, none of you do. But if you are sitting on the couch in the living room, watching TV or playing a video game, and your bird's cage is in the same room as you usually are whenever you're home, your bird can simply see you, or your family members, and know he's not alone. This is all it takes sometimes to break that taming barrier. So please be sure that your Quaker's cage is located in whatever room of your house you and your family spend most of your time when you're at home.

Also, don't worry about your bird not being able to sleep while you're watching TV at night, or talking, or whatever, as if you use a sheet or blanket to cover your bird's main cage when it's his bedtime, you'll find that he'll go right to sleep and the TV, stereo, talking, etc. won't bother him a bit.

As far as actually doing the hand-taming exercises, it was well-described already above. You start by putting a chair as close to his cage as you can without him getting anxious about it (YOU CAN SEE HOW LOCATING HIS MAIN CAGE IN THE MAIN ROOM OF YOUR HOUSE WHERE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY SPEND MOST OF YOUR TIME WILL DRASTICALLY SPEED-UP THIS PROCESS NOW, IT'S VERY, VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU DO THIS)...And then you sit down in the chair and you spend a good 30 minutes to an hour simply talking to him softly and gently. Read a book to him. Sing to him. Just keep talking to him softly and gently. And each day you move that chair a little closer for another 30-60 minutes, until you are able to get the chair right next to his cage with you sitting in it, talking to him. Maybe you're already able to do that, great. Then you can start with the next training phase...

Once you are able to put your chair right next to your Quaker's cage and talk to him without him being anxious about it, the next step is opening-up his cage door. So open-up his cage, and simply spend 30-60 minutes talking to him with the cage door open. The next day try simply resting your hand on the open cage door and talking to him for 30-60 minutes. If he doesn't like it when you rest your hand there, then just go back to simply having the cage door open. Baby steps, and you NEVER ADVANCE TO THE NEXT STEP UNTIL YOUR BIRD IS COMPLETELY COMFORTABLE WITH THE LAST STEP...YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST GO AT YOUR BIRD'S PACE FOR THIS TO WORK, NOT AT YOUR PACE!!! Once he's okay with your hand resting on the open door, the next step is holding a millet spray in that hand, an gradually every day getting the millet spray closer and closer to him without him being anxious about it, until the day that he will willingly start eating from the millet spray. Do this every day for at least a week or two, until he is totally comfortable with eating from the millet spray sticking out of your hand...

The next step is putting millet seeds in your hand and getting him to eat the millet right out of your hand. Again, don't rush this, and once he is comfortable doing it, do it every day for a week or two, until he's very comfortable doing it. Then the next step is trying to get him to step-up onto your finger inside his cage. Each day you get your outstretched finger closer to him and hold it there for 30-60 minutes, again, all the while talking to him gently and softly. Each day try to get your outreached finger closer to your bird, until you are able to get it right up against his lower belly, right above his feet. Eventually you'll get to the point where you are touching the top of your bird's feet/his lower belly with your finger, and typically this touching of the top of their feet/their lower stomach with a perch or a finger is what will give them the cue to "step-up". For the first couple of days or even weeks, your bird may simply quickly step-up onto your finger and immediately back down, that okay, that's normal. Just keep touching the top of his feet/lower belly with your finger and saying "step-up" to him, and allowing him to continue to repetitively step-up onto your finger and back down, until he's comfortable and stays on your finger. Then you spend a good week or two with him stepping-up onto your finger inside his cage and just standing on it and staying on it for 30-60 minutes while you talk to him...

After you pass this huge phase in the hand-taming process, the final step is to be able to get him to step-up onto your finger while inside of his cage, stay on your finger comfortably, and for you to be able to bring him outside of his cage on your finger. You do this exactly the same way, in small steps, each day bringing him on your finger closer to the cage door, closer to you carrying him out of his cage on your finger. Once you accomplish this over the span of days or weeks, AT HIS PACE, NOT YOURS, then you bring him into a room with a door that latches and you work on getting him to step-up for you from all over the place, eventually from anywhere. From the floor, from off of furniture, etc., and while learning this he will also learn to not fly-away from you when you walk towards him/approach him. He will also learn to fly to you when you tell him to "step-up" with your hand/finger stretched-out but when you're not right next to him.

 

[qura101]

Thanks everyone! I think I just need to give my quaker parrot more time and I'll definately use the methods you guys suggested