New Family Member

[LaurenB]

Hey everyone,

I just adopted a 5 year old male IRN last night. I have not given him a new name yet... still trying to get to know him better.

He was very attached to his previous mommy. She said she was the only one that was able to hold him, but he usually warms up to people after awhile.

Last night when we got home, I managed to lure him out of the travel cage and into his big cage after we got it put back together.

I didn't start to try to interact with him until this morning. He is very, very timid. He is not like my conures (which I anticipated) which automatically come to people and want to be with them. He gets nervous when I approach his cage. I am moving very slowly around him and speaking in gentle, encouraging tones.

I sat in his room with him this morning with his cage door open. After about 30 minutes, he climbed out of his cage on his own and climbed on top. He let me approach him with an almond sliver, and stepped up when I offered it to him! He of course immediately jumped back onto the cage after getting his almond. We did this several times, I even transferred him to his play stand and we did step ups there a few times until he finally signaled that he wanted to go back to his cage (leaned toward it while flapping his wings).

Since I put him back, I've just been hanging out in his room with him so he gets used to my presence. He has not yet decided to come back out. He actually seems pretty sleepy right now. I know it was a very eventful night for him and this is a very stressful time for the poor guy.

Any advice or suggestions on working with this bird is very welcome!

Here is a photo I managed to get last night.

 

[SailBoat]

Wow, sure is a looker! And, that tail, great condition.

Sounds like you are covering all the basics quite well and the response from your new family member suggests the same.

I'm sure you already have a list of things to do for the cage. Please ensure that you eliminate the dowel(s) and add a great variation to the diameters of any new natural branch perches you add. Consider several with larger diameters.

As always, set-up an appointment with your Avian Vet in the very near future and the usual separation from the other Parrots.

Congrats! And, keep up the great work!

 

[LaurenB]

Wow, sure is a looker! And, that tail, great condition.

Sounds like you are covering all the basics quite well and the response from your new family member suggests the same.

I'm sure you already have a list of things to do for the cage. Please ensure that you eliminate the dowel(s) and add a great variation to the diameters of any new natural branch perches you add. Consider several with larger diameters.

As always, set-up an appointment with your Avian Vet in the very near future and the usual separation from the other Parrots.

Congrats! And, keep up the great work!

Thanks for the response! Yes, I do have future plans for his cage. Right now I'm keeping it the same and for the near future. Trying to keep things as consistent as I can for him right now. I plan to have a vet appointment next week. I can't easily get him into the travel cage yet, and I don't want to force him and ruin any sort of progress we might make.

He is currently in a spare bedroom down the hall separated from my "bird room"

Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[txgreenk]

He's very pretty! Congrats on your new family member! I too adopted a male IRN, it'll be 4 weeks ago on Saturday. After about 2 full weeks of leaving everything the same and just talking to him and being in the same room, he has now warmed up and wants to be out and about with everyone. congrats again!


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[LaurenB]

Thanks txgreenk! That is inspiring.

New Bird (still no name) is starting to warm up to me a bit. Unfortunately, my husband has not been able to spend much time in his room. He is very motivated by treats (walnuts, almonds).

Our progress over the last few days has gone from:

Him fluttering to the furthest corner in his cage as soon as I come in the room
to
Him not running away when I walk into the room
to
Him stepping up for a treat, but then dive bombing back on to his perch
to
Him stepping up and coming out of the cage, being placed on his play stand and doing step up training there.

Yesterday was the biggest progess I've had. He is very very attached to his mirror. I brought his mirror out of the cage, and he came right to me to be with the mirror. I sat on the bed with him on my lap. Even after he lost interest in the mirror, he was still content to sit with me as long as the mirror was nearby.

Yesterday evening, I put him on my shoulder, and when I turned my head to look at him, that big red beak came right for my lips... I was terrified but I'm glad I didn't flinch because... He gave me a kiss!!! Since I discovered he knows how to do that, it's now part of his training along with step ups!

Here's a pic of our progress:

And here he is being super handsome on his play gym:

 

[itchyfeet]

This is awesome! Congrats!

 

[txgreenk]

Congrats Lauren! I knew he'd get there in no time! Sounds like he is attached to you now.. Be careful though with the kisses.. Mine gets to where he wants to be too loving and starts to regurgitate for me. Yuck! Lol [emoji6]


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