New ringneck mum to a rescue

[Ladydeath]

Hi all I'm new here for a month now I've had my ringneck kiwi she came from a very neglectful home and is not tame at all for the first week we left her be she looked so tatty and terrified the second week she started making some noise and was more curious but we could absolutely not go near her she would flap around her cage frantically now 4 weeks on she is better we can sort of stand or sit with her and talk to her but still not enter her cage as she flys into a panic she does seem better with me and my daughter then with my partner and my son they have it in there head that she hates men I'm after any advice that will help us with been able to approach her, enter her cage and generally help her trust us as we just don't seem to be getting any where we can't hand feed her I don't know if it's hands or just people in general that scare her but apart from not been keen on us she seems happy she plays with her toys eats and drinks and let's us know she is here with her little chirps. We just want her to know that we aren't going to hurt her. Thanks for any help

 

[EllenD]

It's not "you" specifically that she doesn't like, she's just not been given any attention by or had any interaction with people, and any and all people are going to scare her to death right now. You're doing the right thing, you have to start the taming-process by simply sitting near her cage and talking to her gently and softly, reading to her, etc. I hope that you have her cage located in the "main" room of your house, the room with the "action", where the people of the house spend most of their time when they are home, because this is where she needs to be located for sure. Usually this is the living room, family room, TV room, den, etc. A lot of the time people put their new bird's cage in a back room or spare bedroom, etc., away from where the people in the house spend most of their time when they're home, and this is extremely counterproductive to the taming process and actually can work against you, as the bird can hear you, she knows that you're home, but she can't see you, and this can cause a huge amount of stress. And it certainly does nothing to help to desensitize her to being around people. Just having her cage located in the main room of your home, so that she's always in the same room with the people in the house while they are watching TV, reading, playing video games, talking, eating meals, etc. will do wonders for her taming. Having people sitting in the same room as her, talking around her, walking past her cage constantly, etc. is the absolute best thing you can do to help her, in addition to directly interacting with her by sitting right beside her cage and directly talking to her as much as you can. And don't worry about the TV, talking, etc. keeping her awake at nighttime, as long as you cover her cage at her bedtime she'll be fine and the noise won't bother her at all. This is very important, as if you keep her in a room of the house where the people who live there have to purposely be going to the room to spend time with her, instead of them just "living with her and around her naturally, all the time", it's not going to help with socialization or taming at all.

Besides that, you have to realize that she is not a tame bird, and you've only had her for a month. This is going to be a marathon, not a sprint. It can take months and months, if not years to get a non-tame bird like this to get to the point where they can be handled. It's all about spending as much time as you can with her directly, and then again just having her indirectly involved in your household at all times by locating her cage right among the action of the house. And then taking new steps at HER PACE, not yours. So if she seems that she's ready for you to start putting your hands inside of her cage to try to hand-feed her, then that's when you start that next step. It will happen, but it's going to take a lot of patience and time.

 

[Ladydeath]

She's in my living room right in the middle of the action if we do leave the room to get a drink or do some tidying she will chirp until someone comes back into the room with her I am home all the time so she can all ways have my attention as and when she wants it my daughter reads story's to her but it's still getting close to her but I'm a very patient person and won't give up on her. I'll keep sitting with her how much time do you recommend me sitting with her?

 

[MonicaMc]

Only sit next to her *IF SHE IS COMFORTABLE* with it. If she's on high alert, don't sit near her as this will only increase her anxiety.

What you can do that can help is by placing a metal dish at the front of the cage and any time you walk by (do so slowly, and perhaps announce your presence first before appearing), drop a favorite treat of hers into that cup. You don't need to stand and wait for her to eat it, just drop and go! This will help to teach her that human presence is a good thing.


After that, you could potentially also consider target training. You need to be aware though that anything you decide to use as a target may freak her out at first, so you'll need to teach her, slowly, that target is good and desirable.