Some advice needed

[Xochicuicatl]

Hello, newbie to the forum here;

I recently received an Alexandrine, he was given to me as a gift. Now, I personally hate receiving pets as gifts because I never know where they came from, what their life was like before reaching my home, and what their overall personality and behavior is like.. However, due to the circumstances, it was a little bit inappropriate to say 'no' to the "gift" and, likewise, I was worried where he would end up so I agreed to take him in.

I say "him" because I've been told the bird is male and, also, that he was born this year around May. He has a shadow of a black ring forming around his neck so he could be slightly older than that or perhaps not - he has a ring on his foot, I just didn't want to disturb the bird enough to actually check it and confirm his age yet.

I was told that he was hand-fed, but since then released into an outside aviary where he lived with other Alexandrines. I don't know for how long.

By now it would be good to mention that he's been with me for exactly 9 days as of today.

When he arrived, he seemed pretty stressed so I tried to minimize the discomfort and just put him in his new cage and leave him be. The cage is rather spacious; he has room to jump-fly from one perch to another, but he prefers to just climb on the sides with his beak anyway.

I didn't even touch him for the first two or three days. I made sure I move slowly when near his cage but I also made sure he can see me at all times from a distance so he could get accustomed to my presence in general. Slowly, I started approaching the cage and speaking to him and, seeing as he didn't seem too afraid of me, we soon graduated to me giving him treats from my hand which, to my surprise, he would readily take from the start.

I can see that he had contact with humans in the past (the claims of him being hand-fed are most likely true), but I can also see that he spent a lot of time in the aviary with other birds and he simply never reached that fully tamed stage because he is still not fully comfortable with being touched.

As I was feeding him treats, I started using my index finger of the same hand I was holding the treat in to gently stroke his chest feathers. At first he wasn't quite fond of that and would proceed to move to one end of the perch or the other, however he did not fly away. Soon, he became accustomed to it and remained at his chosen spot on the perch, eating the treat while I was still gently petting him. Very soon we got to the point where I could hold the treat in one hand and pet him with the other.

All in all, I would do short bonding (taming?) sessions with him, multiple times a day, making sure I take it easy if he seemed stressed and move forward if he didn't seem to be bothered by my actions. Well, we've reached a point where he will now step up on to my arm, but only if it's covered with a sleeve, and I can even take him out of the cage, he will just sit there, eating his treat. I did not attempt to move him too far away from the cage because I fear if something spooks him or he simply flies away, me trying to re-catch him would be too stressful and we'd go straight back to square one.

I can now move at normal speed alongside his cage, he even approaches me when I come home either to greet me or perhaps he is just expecting a treat, but he'll still back away a few steps if I put my hand close to the cage. If I open the cage door with a treat in my hand he will take it without thinking twice.

He doesn't panic, trash around, screech or show any signs of discomfort or fear. If anything, he seems perfectly chill and incredibly friendly, just still insecure. He plays with his toys, hangs upside down from the top of the cage, finds ways to amuse himself, or just sits calmly and observe the surroundings. He doesn't really make a lot of sounds, though. He chirps a bit in the morning, here and there throughout the day, but overall he is a pretty quiet bird. I'm surprised by that because I thought he'd be pretty loud as a parrot usually is. My guess is that he still hasn't come out of his shell fully, and he will become much more vocal as time passes.

Here are my questions:

- This is all happening over a span of a little bit over a week. Am I doing things too quickly? I read a lot that Alexandrines need a ton of time to learn how to trust their owners and since he is my first Alex I'm not sure what to expect.

- Is it bad that I'm covering my arm with a sleeve when I ask him to step up? He seems more comfortable that way and I don't know if this is just teaching him to further avoid stepping on arms and hands because there's always going to be an alternative offered.

- How would I go about finally fully letting him spend time outside his cage? Or rather, how do I know when he trusts me enough so that, when he flies onto other objects in the house, he will still be willing to come back to me and not fly around and start to panic, which would inevitably damage our bond?

I really grew fond of this bird and would love to offer him the chance to really enjoy his life; ideally I'd want him to spend the majority of the day outside his cage and only sleep in it at night. Any tips and suggestions would be very helpful! A big thank you to anyone that helps me out with this in advance!

 

[ChristaNL]

There is no manual in "do this on day three"-
from what you tell here it seems you are doing just fine--> you let the bird set the pace and frankly, that is the best thing you can do
If you keep going that way there is no end to where you to can travel together.

You are keeping an eye out for the comfortlevels and the stresslevels and I would just appleaud you and tell you to keep ding whatever you do.

If sleeves are more comfortable for him, why not?

As long as going back into the cage is always celebrated with a paticulair favorite treat I do not think you will have real issues (mine know- even if they do not want to go back, - there will be something to sweeten the pot).
There might very well be some panicky flying sometime, because, he will have to learn where everything is, and since he is a flyer...the chances are that he will not stay on you hands/arms while you give him the tour... that is okay too -> let him go, he will be back, either to you or the cage.

You can always use the trick where the rooms gets a bit dark and you have a light on next to the cage, so he can see where he has to go. No need to chase anyone


You may be a newbie here, but you definitely do not sound like one, I love your approach!

 

[Xochicuicatl]

Thank you for the advice, it's actually quite helpful!

I wanted to make sure I'm heading in the right direction with him - even though it seems so from the way he is behaving, I didn't know if something I'm doing right now might become problematic in the long run.

I'll let him set the pace and look forward to all the fun times we will have in the future

 

[wrench13]

Welcome and be welcomed. There are a LOTof very experinced folks here, and most info you'll need is not specific to yoour species of parrot. They all need good food, 10-12 hr of sleep, clean cage, toys , good vet care and most of all love from you.

 

[Betrisher]

Congratulations on being an Alexandrine owner! You'll find you have a loving and, eventually, very loyal companion who will grow accustomed to your every move and enjoy your company hugely.

FWIW, my Alexes (the Beaks) hate to be touched on their heads or bodies, so I no longer push it. Other friends have very touchy-feely Alexes, so you'll find out eventually which yours is.

The main thing is that you are taking things at your bird's pace and allowing him to feel his way. That's excellent! Since your reports are all of positive responses, no, I don't think you're taking things too quickly. Trust your own judgement, since you have your bird's welfare at heart.

When you decide to try him out of the cage, just open his door and sit as close to the doorway as you can. Introduce your hand and offer a treat. Be guided by his response. If he's suspicious of your hand (many birds are at first), don't worry. Just spend some time enabling him to become used to your hand in his space. You'll be able to judge this by his response. Your aim would be to get him to come to the cage door and perch there, allowing you to touch and feed him.

It could be that you would ask him to step up from there, encouraging him onto your hand while still inside his cage. In reality, he may well leave the cage and either fly or allow you to carry him. You can't really predict which. If he does allow you to carry him on your hand, just sit quietly and reassure him. At this point, I don't think you can give too many treats. He needs lots of positive reinforcement, so give it.

As soon as you're able, take your bird for a tour of the room his cage is in. If there are windows or large mirrors, take him up to them one by one and touch his bill to the surface so he can know it's hard and impenetrable. This could prevent a collision accident later on if he ever takes fright and attempts to fly through a closed window or into a mirror!

Beyond that, enjoy him: Alexandrines have a charm all their own and are my very-most favourite parrot!

PS. Just wait until he gets his full neck ring! You'll be so proud of your handsome boy!

PPS. Once he's confident out of his cage, consider teaching him to perform small tricks. Alexes learn very, very quickly (took me ten minutes to teach my Barney to put small things in a box on command) and they relish the challenge.