Training my African Grey

[Anjelicahyde]

Hi everyone!

Firstly, I'm new, so figured I would like to show my face here .

I did a lot of reading before I purchased my African Grey on 14th February, so we're coming up to having had him/her for 3 months now.

He/she was born 28th Sept 19, so is just over 7 months old and is already starting to speak. When we first got the bird, it wouldn't go near a soul, now he/she gives kisses (nose to beak) and allows us to stroke it with no biting, which seems a huge development from the screaming we received at day 1. She/he also gets up onto a stick with no command, sees the stick and is up straight away. We already have a very different bird from the one we bought...

We've been very patient, try to do training out of the cage etc. If the bird bites, we say no firmly, but as a rule we are very gentle (understanding everything is slow with Greys). We've managed to get the bird to step up on my arm 3 times now, but this bird does not like arms and hands and will try to avoid stepping up at all costs. We have done it with the lure of a peanut and my partner behind the bird just gently tickling the tail feathers and my gently pushing my arm into his/her chest so he/she steps up... Basically, we're trying to do everything in a very positive way and not force the bird to do anything in order to build trust.

What I'm wondering is whether you have any specific tips or tricks / best ways of doing this, we built up to where we are now by just touching the birds foot gently and then giving it a treat (I tend to break banana flakes into tiny pieces so as not to overfeed) - to try and reinforce that hands shouldn't be scary...

Another note, I think the person we bought the bird from was not the gentlest and forced the birds onto their hands, which I worry could have created a fear of hands?

Anyway, thank you for your time - also apologies if I'm doing anything wrong, please do point it out as this is my first parrot, we looked after a cockatiel previously and I did do a lot of research before jumping into this <3

 

[1oldparroter]

Hi and welcome here. First, go to youtube.com and in the search window type wingsNpaws and hit enter. Watch those a few times. Diet, a structured day and no raised voices or petting below the neck. Just for starters. jh

 

[chris-md]

Boy yes, things can be slow with greys. They are so phobic!

Why are you trying to get her on your arm? She should be stepping up to your hand. You have the right technique, luring. Try targeting also.

And find the birds favorite treat, even if it’s absolute garbage like cheese. I use cheese to introduce a trick or new object for the first time then phase out after a couple sessions to a nut of some sort.

And as you know, patience. Could take time, but persistence pays off.

I’ll find a video that shows you the technique.

 

[chris-md]

Here you go

[ame="https://youtu.be/sXzbmH-6Ki4"]One Day Miracles | Don't Bite the Hand That Feeds You - YouTube[/ame]

 

[wrench13]

Welcome and be welcomed. You have to always remember that Greys are Smart, like a 3-4 year old smart, and stubborn too. Slow progress at her pace is key, not at the rate of your expectations. Peanuts are not really a good treat, they can harbor fungus even human grade ones. Experiment with different treats and find the one thing that she absoloutely LOVES. That becomes your training tool. For our Salty, its slices of shelled pine nuts. He would paint my huose for a pine nut.

 

[Anjelicahyde]

Hi and welcome here. First, go to youtube.com and in the search window type wingsNpaws and hit enter. Watch those a few times. Diet, a structured day and no raised voices or petting below the neck. Just for starters. jh

Hey JH- thank you for taking the time to help.

We've watched WingsNpaws a lot before getting the bird, but I'll investigate again

I'm trying to work on his diet giving him a pellet based meal in the morning with seed, but not the majority of his diet (he was a seed junkie when we got him). He's not anti pellet but definitely prefers the seed!

I keep out the banana flakes and nuts for treats. We do our best not to raise voices at all, early on there were a couple of incidents where I got bitten unawares and reacted louder than I would have liked and cursed myself for doing so... But I guess it's all living and learning... I always try talking to the bird really gently and only firmly say no if he tries to bite.

We're super lucky in that there are no problems getting the bird in or out of the cage on a stick and I always try to give a treat upon returning to the cage so it's seen as a positive thing <3

 

[Anjelicahyde]

Boy yes, things can be slow with greys. They are so phobic!

Why are you trying to get her on your arm? She should be stepping up to your hand. You have the right technique, luring. Try targeting also.

And find the birds favorite treat, even if it’s absolute garbage like cheese. I use cheese to introduce a trick or new object for the first time then phase out after a couple sessions to a nut of some sort.

And as you know, patience. Could take time, but persistence pays off.

I’ll find a video that shows you the technique.

Thank you so much!

So the arm thing is because the bird has been so hand phobic and it gives her/him something to step on (I know she's probably a she, but I call the bird him for some reason, so I'll stick to that for now) - the idea was, get her up onto my forearm (so quite close to my wrist) and slowly move to the hand

We had a breakthrough last night as he came up onto my arm for a treat after a little while but without any intervention at all, and I managed to get him to do it twice. At the moment, I'm giving monkey nuts as a treat, as they're an absolute favourite from day one, but I don't give more than 2 per day, so I use small pieces of banana flake as other rewards for smaller things.

I'll have a look at the target training and the video link you've sent. I really appreciate everyone's input and help, mainly just to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong, but I am very pleased with how much tamer the bird is and how content he/she seems. We went for the biggest cage we could buy and have provided so many toys (which I constantly swap over) - next step is to build a play area/gym so that I can get the bird out more whilst I'm working during the day

 

[Anjelicahyde]

Welcome and be welcomed. You have to always remember that Greys are Smart, like a 3-4 year old smart, and stubborn too. Slow progress at her pace is key, not at the rate of your expectations. Peanuts are not really a good treat, they can harbor fungus even human grade ones. Experiment with different treats and find the one thing that she absoloutely LOVES. That becomes your training tool. For our Salty, its slices of shelled pine nuts. He would paint my huose for a pine nut.

Hey! Thank you so much for coming back to me and the info on the peanuts. I had read some differing viewpoints, and that I should always stick with human grade (which we have).
I will have a look at a few different options, I previously thought I may order some Nutriberries, so I may give that a go and see if he takes to them...


We tried walnuts, and they weren't a major success, so I'll try and acquire some different bits and pieces. Would you mind sending me a link to the exact kind of pine nuts we're talking about so that I can make sure? I got very confused on people calling monkey nuts peanuts etc (I'm used to peanuts being dry roasted or salted!) and I want to be 100% sure of what I'm getting

 

[1oldparroter]

chris-md is absolutely right. BirdTricks is another favorite set of video's. The same thing you read is explained more in a video. This 'BASIC" training is so important. So is their diet and timing of training. You will have less problems if the basics are tended always. jh

 

[Anjelicahyde]

chris-md is absolutely right. BirdTricks is another favorite set of video's. The same thing you read is explained more in a video. This 'BASIC" training is so important. So is their diet and timing of training. You will have less problems if the basics are tended always. jh

Thank you, I will definitely have a look at these videos and get on to watching them after work I think other than peanuts, her diet is ok - predominantly pellet and in the evenings I give a combination of broccoli, carrots, peas, cucumber, kale, celery and a variety of peppers - I'm trying to provide some variation to avoid cherry picking of certain veg.

Really appreciate everyone's help. I feel we are really getting there with her and I definitely notice how different she is in respect of where she was when we got her

 

[wrench13]

Hi. Here pine nts are called just that. Also known as pignoli (?) nuts. You should find them in either the nut section or the baking section of the local large supermarket. Try to buy them in bulk, they are much cheaper that those in the baking section. I use about a 1/3 of the large ones, and 1/2 of the smaller ones.

Even the human grade of peanuts are not great - its the shells that can harbor fungus ( we dont eat the shells so OK for humans, but parrots crack them open with their beak and fungus spores can be ingested). Nutriberries are kinda big for use as a training treat, you want something that's loved but doesn't take that long to eat. Banana flake sound like a good one, but try all sorts of nuts, almonds, pine, even Brazil (monkey) nuts, etc. Actual training should take place at specific times each day, for no more than 15 minutes at a time. Try to end each session on a positive note, like a trick or action she knows well. When I train with Salty, we start and end with ones he loves to do so that he a) knows its training time and b) knows the session is over. A few training tips - Be consistent in how you request a given trick or action, both yourself and other members of the family. Use both hand and vocal ques, so "Up Up" and your hand presented with fingers tight, thumb down and close and wrist at 90 degrees from the arm. This presents less area to receive a bite, and also makes it harder for him to run up your arm. Everyone should do it the same way. If its done differently from each person, he will get confused. Each trick or action should have its own unique trigger or command.

The other tip - have the reward in the other hand and reward instantly when the trick is done successfully. Some birds are slow learners , some get it with 1 or 2 tries. If he is a slow learner, reward when even a little bit of the action is done right, so in example, you request Up, and he only places one foot on your hand, well thats a step in the right direction ( pun not intended). Say Good Bird and give the treat. Some like to use a clicker to signal to the bird that his action was correct, done immediately after the action was done. I don't, instead I just say Good Boy and treat. Clicker and treat are used together.

So look at the video in the link below, you will see what can be done with patient and consistent training.

https://m.youtube.com/user/captniceguy?itct=CAEQ8DsiEwjIkt6to-fWAhUK8ZwKHVY_AsI%3D

 

[1oldparroter]

Also keep in mind, some nuts need to be broken into smaller pieces to use as treats. jh