Update and Needing advice

Keiichi18

Regular Member
Registered
Its been awhile since I last posted here, in fact it was before Ol' Verts first moult where she got really rather grumpy and couldn't really do much with her due to it. Upsides, the clipped wings are gone and she looks much better and seems much happier than before.

Now the issue is I don't have much of a clue on how to train her to step up or not just fly away from me, mostly because I'm scared of hurting Vert by accident and obviously with the current...situation...if I do accidentally injure Vert with training (E.G. she flies too hard into the side of her cage) I can't really take her to the vet and I still haven't found out if the vet in my area even does birds.

I want to get Vert to the point where she doesn't just fly off at least, but she seems pretty used to me so that's a start but tends to cower under the cuttlebone in her cage when its anyone else but me. I kinda want to make sure she is easier to catch when she does escape (for the day it happens as she hasn't really made a break for it yet)

If people want to see Vert here she is (we are pretty sure Vert is a she) been playing with that tool holder for awhile now.
IMG_20200912_165741.jpg
 
Vert is beautiful, good to hear her wings have now regrown and she is happier.
I am sure members will be along with advice on training.
 
Hi, I'll leave the training advice to others, but just wanted to say, get a vet found and registered. Speaking from experience (many years ago with first bird when married), frantically trying to find an avian vet with an injured or sick bird needing help at that moment, is not fun :(. Make sure they're proper avian vets, not just a vet who will do birds too. It's so easy to think you'll get round to it but a lot less stress for you once it's done! ;):thumbsup:
 
Hi, I'll leave the training advice to others, but just wanted to say, get a vet found and registered. Speaking from experience (many years ago with first bird when married), frantically trying to find an avian vet with an injured or sick bird needing help at that moment, is not fun :(. Make sure they're proper avian vets, not just a vet who will do birds too. It's so easy to think you'll get round to it but a lot less stress for you once it's done! ;):thumbsup:

In my area (my whole county) there isn't a recognised Avian vet...meaning in Vert gets injured its...longer than a hour and a half trip.
 
Roz has written some brilliant posts these are the ones you will need to start with

And remember these things take time it all has to be done in parrot time not human wanting time :) each bird is different some catch on really quick and some are reluctant due to their experience of humans I dare say yours will be wary due to having been gotten hold of and having the wings clipped.

When you and your feather beauty have gotten those first two threads worked out and sorted then you move on to the step up threads,

@Keiichi18
 
I'm over in East Yorkshire I go through to Battleflats at Stamford Bridge bit of a drive for me and dare say quite a drive for you
If you put up on forum where you are closest city will do perhaps somebody can tell you of one close that they would recommend
 
I'm over in East Yorkshire I go through to Battleflats at Stamford Bridge bit of a drive for me and dare say quite a drive for you
If you put up on forum where you are closest city will do perhaps somebody can tell you of one close that they would recommend

Lincolnshire, I'm looking at the parrot society and the closest reccomended vet is Cambridge or Bourne
 
I know one of the bird charities uses Andrew Cook he apparently used to look after a load of parrots at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Zoo he doesn't have the avian qualification but does seem to have the experience he;s over in Louth
 
i can see we have had him on our list of recommendations since 2011!
 
Thanks for that also...how do you stop her from screaching every moringing from 7am to about 1pm, I can't really leave the room as my PC is there (I have to job hunt)
 
Thanks for that also...how do you stop her from screaching every moringing from 7am to about 1pm, I can't really leave the room as my PC is there (I have to job hunt)

Toys are one possible to keep her occupied. Can she look outside from her cage? Mine love this. If there is no stimulation then she will scream at you to provide it. Have a look at things from her perspective hun. Constant screeching is a sign that she isn't happy about something.

Also have you a routine where perhaps you have breakfast together, she gets some one on one from you for a little while before you need to start working? Have you got a playstand or can you make a safe activity area for her, add some safe things to amuse.
 
Toys are one possible to keep her occupied. Can she look outside from her cage? Mine love this. If there is no stimulation then she will scream at you to provide it. Have a look at things from her perspective hun. Constant screeching is a sign that she isn't happy about something.

Also have you a routine where perhaps you have breakfast together, she gets some one on one from you for a little while before you need to start working? Have you got a playstand or can you make a safe activity area for her, add some safe things to amuse.

I'm starting to run out of toys to give her haha, most recent change is that we had to take in a few kittens away from our outdoor cats (they are kept in a closed door room downstairs) anyway they are noisy maybe its these kittens. She never used to be like this and its only been recent shes always been able to go outside her cage and the blinds are open (in fact as I type this she is sitting nicely on the perch that holds the top of her cage open)...

Trying to think she, in the mornings, flies from her cage to the 3D printer and back a few times before screeching...she also loves to headbutt the scraper (If you look at the picture shes on the 3D printer there and the thing next to her is the scraper) and make it move in its holder and nibble it as birds do, you think she wants something like that in her cage as entertainment. Also I've never seen a parrot that loves swings as much as Vert does yet shes not destructive.

As for routine's we didn't really have one, I open her cage when I wake up, make a warm drink then spend a long time job hunting with some music and often talk to her but that was never super early like 7am...it was closer to 10am and she was never this loud and I've just realized I probably sound like a terrible bird owner if I can't even figure out why she is this loud in the morning.

Also someone mentioned earlier that she might be scared of humans at least a little but, as when I got her she had her wings clipped and I'm the only person she doesn't cower from....doesn't mean I've been able to head scratch her at all or hand feed her which does worry me as well.
 
OK just a couple of things picked up and hope some help?

Why not make her a swing, suspend from the ceiling and a playstand, homemade or purchased is gonna be better than the printer hun. Have a look at toys that are not chew and destroy ones, a forager, something that jingles, it takes a while to work out what they like. She's liking to move the scraper, transfer that interest hun.

If this little feathered bundle was your child you'd do anything to try and work out what you needed to do, wouldn't you? They are not stupid, they are sentient and they are smart. Have a look at the training folders re the feeding and scratching hun. I am unfamiliar with this species hun, sorry.
 
OK just a couple of things picked up and hope some help?

Why not make her a swing, suspend from the ceiling and a playstand, homemade or purchased is gonna be better than the printer hun. Have a look at toys that are not chew and destroy ones, a forager, something that jingles, it takes a while to work out what they like. She's liking to move the scraper, transfer that interest hun.

If this little feathered bundle was your child you'd do anything to try and work out what you needed to do, wouldn't you? They are not stupid, they are sentient and they are smart. Have a look at the training folders re the feeding and scratching hun. I am unfamiliar with this species hun, sorry.

I've looked through the threads, there isn't much I can do because I can't really get my hand close (as suggested here we are pretty sure she is partially scared of humans due to having her wings clipped, maybe mutiple times) also we found out why she is so screechy in the mornings turns out there is another bird outside she imitates, we found that one out walking the dogs.

Anyway I do talk to her first thing in the morning and throughout the day, which is what the thread about birds that are scared of humans suggests, just hope I can get her out of that soon.
 
im not very experienced and only had our first bird (rescue african grey) 9 months or so now.

But im wondering if your struggling to train or be near her, maybe slightly less out of cage time will help, im not saying lock her up, but maybe set a routine where you have 10 minutes first thing before you open the cage, maybe sit and talk or i used a flat ledge/perch front and centre of the cage, i could chat and entice bert over with a treat, in the very early days i would chat and drop a little treat on the ledge perch, move back a foot or two and he would come over grab it and scoot of again, over days this turned into a grab treat and eat it, then when i approached he would come to the perch waiting, i even positioned the cage next to my couch, so even though i could give him attention constantly, i would be a few feet away and chat often, i would sit by his cage on the floor for an hour or so, even i was watching tv and giving no real attention.

once we got to that stage, then i could start to offer from my hand (all through the bars)

once he learned that me coming over means treat, he would be waiting when i walked in, now hes close to the bars i could sit very close, sing and chat, then i started to stick train and things got better still.

im still an awful long way from having him step up on me or even fully interact outside the cage, but once the target/stick training was solid, it made everything else just that little bit easier, i can target him in and out of the cage almost at will, all his training is done on the same perch (just inside his door) so any little tap or approach to that area and hes instantly down to greet me.

i did find (good or bad) that early days i just opened his cage ( i work full time so it was around 6pm he came out) and he would climb out and hang around until 8 ish then he'd choose to go back in, bed at 9pm ish, once i started to leave him in his cage and do training for the first 10-15 minutes then let him out, everything seemed easier, slightly more controlled playtime, well as controlled as it ever going to be :)

maybe step back and look at the routine again and see if you can do something when he/she wants attention.

i think someone here told me "quality not quantity" for out of cage time and to think you have years and years together, building the foundation right will help for years to come.
 
im not very experienced and only had our first bird (rescue african grey) 9 months or so now.

But im wondering if your struggling to train or be near her, maybe slightly less out of cage time will help, im not saying lock her up, but maybe set a routine where you have 10 minutes first thing before you open the cage, maybe sit and talk or i used a flat ledge/perch front and centre of the cage, i could chat and entice bert over with a treat, in the very early days i would chat and drop a little treat on the ledge perch, move back a foot or two and he would come over grab it and scoot of again, over days this turned into a grab treat and eat it, then when i approached he would come to the perch waiting, i even positioned the cage next to my couch, so even though i could give him attention constantly, i would be a few feet away and chat often, i would sit by his cage on the floor for an hour or so, even i was watching tv and giving no real attention.

once we got to that stage, then i could start to offer from my hand (all through the bars)

once he learned that me coming over means treat, he would be waiting when i walked in, now hes close to the bars i could sit very close, sing and chat, then i started to stick train and things got better still.

im still an awful long way from having him step up on me or even fully interact outside the cage, but once the target/stick training was solid, it made everything else just that little bit easier, i can target him in and out of the cage almost at will, all his training is done on the same perch (just inside his door) so any little tap or approach to that area and hes instantly down to greet me.

i did find (good or bad) that early days i just opened his cage ( i work full time so it was around 6pm he came out) and he would climb out and hang around until 8 ish then he'd choose to go back in, bed at 9pm ish, once i started to leave him in his cage and do training for the first 10-15 minutes then let him out, everything seemed easier, slightly more controlled playtime, well as controlled as it ever going to be :)

maybe step back and look at the routine again and see if you can do something when he/she wants attention.

i think someone here told me "quality not quantity" for out of cage time and to think you have years and years together, building the foundation right will help for years to come.


I'll try my best, I've not had a bird that I can train like this before, Showoff which was a greater crested cockatiel was already hand reared and its owner couldn't look after it for awhile and would only really respond to myself and his owner (though 3 guesses as to why he was called showoff).

I've not found a treat she 100% likes thats not a toy or just apple.
 
I'll try my best, I've not had a bird that I can train like this before, Showoff which was a greater crested cockatiel was already hand reared and its owner couldn't look after it for awhile and would only really respond to myself and his owner (though 3 guesses as to why he was called showoff).

I've not found a treat she 100% likes thats not a toy or just apple.
have you tried a variety of different nuts ?
Bert wasn't interested in any nuts really, his was dried bananas but then slowly he started taking nuts now he eats pretty much all of them, but he still has his fav which change day to day, but mostly its walnuts or cashews.

i put a small mix in his bowl and watched to see which he took first.
 
have you tried a variety of different nuts ?
Bert wasn't interested in any nuts really, his was dried bananas but then slowly he started taking nuts now he eats pretty much all of them, but he still has his fav which change day to day, but mostly its walnuts or cashews.

i put a small mix in his bowl and watched to see which he took first.

Vert seems more intrested with toys than food, I'll have to have a check later I do have this small ledge about half way down her cage, will that do the trick?
 
yes i would think so, ill see if i can find a pic or video of ours

here you can kind of see what i mean, page 2.

 
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