not making much progress training

[daviddoherty3]

So I have a parrotlet I got from a pet store, although I much prefer from breeders. She's one year old and I have had her for one month. I have her cage across from my 2 green cheek conures, and I've been trying to hand tame her at her own pace, but not making any real progress. I was hoping some of you could give me some help.
I've been talking, and whistling to her and every day I try to slowly bring in my hand with treats close to her and just hold the treat until she starts to get more comfortable being around. I only move it as close to her as she starts to first feel uncomfortable and then I stop and wait to try and get her used to hands. I bring her cage in the room im most in, and tried slowly moving it closer as time goes on, but she's still shy. She is settled in, and is much less skiddish then the beginning.

She obviously had bad experiences in the past with humans forcibly grabing her, and I don't blame her for feeling shy and withdrawn. After a month, she still wont eat from my hand, not even through the cage, although once she was about to but didn't.

Is there something I need to do differently to tame her? I'm being patient with her to go at her own pace, but she is making minimal progress.
I always give her as much love and healthy treats as the other birds which she eats once I walk away. Does she just need more time? or do I have to do something differently?

 

[Jottlebot]

It sounds to me like you're doing all the right things. It may be that once she plucks up the courage to trust you and take that first bit of food out of your hand things will come more quickly. The key thing is that you stay consistent and it sounds like you are. I think she'll come round, she's just taking her time.

 

[Tami2]

Hi

Do you know how long she was in that store? Was she in any other stores prior to that one? Was it just a pet store or a bird store? Sounds like she was in that pet store for a while. You never know if people weren't kind to her? I don't just mean the staff. Sometimes I see kids doing some pretty cruel stuff to animals in cages or behind glass etc... Hopefully, that is not the case here.


Here is a link I wish I knew about when I first got my Levi. Hope it helps. http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html

Best of luck!

 

[daviddoherty3]

She was in that pet store for a couple months. I don't know the history before that. which is about 10 months of time unknown. The conditions of the pet store for birds would be what i'd consider abusive. As she had a small cage, no toys, small dish of clean water, and fed literally nothing except one type of seed. I know I shouldn't have given them any business. But we had a moment were she was starring into my soul and she was ready to get out of there.
When I got her home I opened up the travel cage against her bigger cage so she could make her own decision to go in, and I could tell her first thought was holy crap this cage is a mansion. She hopped in in about 3 minutes.
I've still never seen her take a bath. I was hoping she'd learn from watching my conures. Unless she bathes while I'm away at work.

 

[Tami2]

What’s so sad about this is that for 10 months she was frightened and unloved.
So, my suggestion would be go very slow and like you’ve already mentioned at her pace. I’m glad you took her home and got her out of there.
I’m sure eventually you will earn her trust & love.

Good Luck.

 

[noodles123]

You might consider moving her farther from your other birds (I don't know....could make things worse, but it is something to consider).
Also, one month is really not much time at all. My bird didn't let me touch her for a month and she didn't step up for 3...My bird already knew how to step up etc (when I got her) as I adopted her as a re-homed adult.
Have you looked into trust-building activities?

Do you let her enter and exit her cage at her own pace during the day?

 

[daviddoherty3]

I'll try more trust building activities.
I don't feel comfortable letting her out of the cage yet, I think she might hurt herself. I'd like to reach the step up stage before letting her out.
I tried one of the methods I read from the page posted here. And already I got her to eat from my hand through the cage. It was one small bite of millet, and as soon as she got it she jumped back, afraid of what I might do, but it's more progress then I've been getting. I'm very happy and excited.

 

[ChristaNL]

Hi, sounds to me you *are* doing great!

You have a bird, that is still settling in, interested in you.
That alone is *huge*.

I find it helps if the new bird can see how the other ons are doing things (and reacting to you)- they pick up cues faster than you can chance the waterdish.

Petshoptrauma/ stress/ whatever you will call it wil take some time to fade out, settling in usually takes some time too.

Some birds will feel safer interacting if they *can* get away from you, some birds will feel safe in a cage ... yours will let you know.


Keep a diary (or create one here) of all the tiny steps you two take together
(start with the meet & greet story) you will be surpised how many things actually happen for the first time ever ...that get commonplace after a few weeks and after a few months it may feel like nothing is happening, even if you already conquered so many small fears and other obstacles together.

 

[Laurasea]

You are doing great glad you took a chance in her. My parakeets and rescue quaker did better out of the cage. I didn't make much progress with the keets till I get them out, then it was much easier. Everyone is an individual so do what's best for you and yours.

 

[daviddoherty3]

So I thought I'd give an update. I've been letting Maui out of her cage to roam around, she's gotten much better at flying, but I decided to get her wings cut to make it easier to train her. And we've mad a lot of progress since. She's still a bit nervous outside of the cage, and doesn't seek out to be close to people, but she lets me get a lot closer to her, and right now she's on my shoulder hanging out looking around a bit. Next step is to get her more comfortable to step up. And I feel like she's really starting to come around.

 

[ChristaNL]

It is a pity you decided to clip her wings - it is like putting shackles on a bird, of course it is easier to train them if they cannot get away anymore.
Sometimes that is a great help, sometimes it does the opposite (just increases fear because there is no escape anymore)

having said that (and done is done): this sounds great, she is on your shoulder and you are stil interacting!
Nice going there

 

[daviddoherty3]

I don't support clipping wings, but in this situation It felt like the best thing to do to help training. And it has absolutely helped out as it's making her ease out of her comfort zone, and open to training, instead of retreating into her getaway spot.
She can still fly fairly well, and once we get her trained I'll let her wings grow out fully like my other 2 birds. I don't expect to clip her wings again. Today we even had our first successful step up training session.

 

[EllenD]

Clipping her wings was fine to do in the situation, as it's only temporary, it didn't hurt her in any way, and if whomever clipped them knew what they were doing and only clipped the outermost 4-5 Primary Flight Feathers on each wing, then they should grow back completely within 2 months tops...Hopefully they didn't go into her Secondaries, which can take much, much longer to grow back in, and usually prevent them from being able to glide to the floor, rather they drop like a stone. That's the way to tell how much they clipped...for future reference, always request that only the outermost 4-5 primaries are clipped, that gives you about 2 months to make the most of the training/taming time...

Clipping your bird's wings is a personal decision that is right for some people and not right for others, and it needs to be YOUR DECISION, no one else's. Like I said, it didn't hurt her at all, its very temporary, and yes, when you first bring home a bird that is not hand-tame, the easiest and quickest way to make progress with them is to do a very light wing-clip, as I described, giving you at most about 2 months, in which you need to be spending a good amount of time with her every single day, and taking full advantage of this time. She needs to be allowed out of her cage, it's nearly impossible to tame/train a bird while totally inside of their cage like you were trying to do, because #1) It is their "safe space", their "territory", and you're invading it with your hands, and this causes nothing but anxiety to the bird, and they aren't going to pay any attention to what you're doing except to be scared, and #2) You're literally "cornering" them inside the cage, which again only causes anxiety. Plus, she needs to get a good amount of out-of-cage-time every single day with you anyway if she is going to start to feel safe, secure, and comfortable with you. So you're doing the right thing, you cannot continue to keep her locked inside her cage and trying to tame/train her inside of it.

The best piece of advice anyone can give you is that you've only had her for 1 month, which is no time at all for a bird who is not hand-tamed, as the average time it takes to hand-tame a bird who was not hand-raised or who has become afraid of people/hands is months and months, if not years in some cases. It has to be at the bird's pace, not your pace, and even though it seems like something is wrong, it's not working because it's taking too long, that's actually completely normal and should be expected. Don't assume that she was "abused" or treated badly with hands, because it's more than likely that she simply was not hand-raised/hand-fed by her breeder, she was most-likely parent-raised, and as a result her first owner probably just didn't spend much time with her, if any at all, and they obviously certainly didn't spend any time trying to hand-tame her. Her behavior is perfectly normal for a parent-raised bird who has never been hand-tamed or given much daily attention, out-of-cage-time, etc.

The best thing you can do is keep doing what you're doing. Make sure that her cage is located in whatever room you spend most of your time in when you're home, because simply being near her as much as possible, even if you're not directly interacting with her is very important. Get her out of her cage as often as you can, talk to her as much as you can, spend as much time as you can in her presence, eat your meals with her, share the food on your plate with her...Since now she's clipped, putting her on the floor, so that she is the lowest thing in the room, and then offering her your hand/finger as assistance to put her back on her cage (bringing her back to her "safe space") is a great trust-building activity. Simply letting her sit on your finger/hand/shoulder, wherever you can get her to sit, and then just allowing her to be there is also great...

You will not hand-tame her or get her to start accepting hands/stepping-up regularly until you earn her trust completely. That's just how it works. And earning her trust could very likely takes months and months or longer, so great patience and persistence is going to be needed by you, but you just have to stick with it every single day, and keep reminding yourself that her behavior/fear/distrust of you is perfectly normal based on her only being with you for a month or so.