Training tips and ideas

DarrenM

Regular Member
Registered
Hi guys,

New to the club but I was looking for best tips/advice and any techiques for training.

Just recently bought a indian ringneck and wanting to starting working towards handling etc, realise this will be very slow process but any advice will be great, also best treats to use as rewards.

Many thanks

Darren
 
Hey Darren and welcome! I was the one who responded to you on fb earlier to suggest this forum 😄 you will find some great advice on here and all of the members are so nice and helpful!

I used to own an indian ringneck several years ago now. How old is your bird and how long have you had him/her?

When I got my indian ringneck I left her to settle in for a couple days to get used to her cage and new surroundings. After this I spent a lot of time near the cage, talking to her, just getting her used to me, before trying to feed her a treat.

Treats can be nuts, seeds, fruit... Anything your bird likes but it shouldnt be given at any other time except as a treat as it puts a higher value on it as a reward. You will over time figure out what your bird likes just from trial and error or you can try putting a few different things in her food bowl and see what she eats. I have parrotlets at the moment and they have always demolished all of the sunflower seeds before they touch anything else so i removed sunflower seeds from their daily feed and began using it as a treat.
 
Ok yo have my favorite member of the parrot family. Hello and welcome. can you tell s at what stage are you at with your bird, was it used to humans? dose it fly well? how dose your bird react when you are near? what is your birds name?
 
:welcome: from me too. We have quite a few members with IRNs and I am sure they will be along to swap advice with you.
 
Hey Darren and welcome! I was the one who responded to you on fb earlier to suggest this forum 😄 you will find some great advice on here and all of the members are so nice and helpful!

I used to own an indian ringneck several years ago now. How old is your bird and how long have you had him/her?

When I got my indian ringneck I left her to settle in for a couple days to get used to her cage and new surroundings. After this I spent a lot of time near the cage, talking to her, just getting her used to me, before trying to feed her a treat.

Treats can be nuts, seeds, fruit... Anything your bird likes but it shouldnt be given at any other time except as a treat as it puts a higher value on it as a reward. You will over time figure out what your bird likes just from trial and error or you can try putting a few different things in her food bowl and see what she eats. I have parrotlets at the moment and they have always demolished all of the sunflower seeds before they touch anything else so i removed sunflower seeds from their daily feed and began using it as a treat.
:welcome: from me too. We have quite a few members with IRNs and I am sure they will be along to swap advice with you.

Hi guys, wow great response thank you. Only just got and is 3 months old atm so I'm going to allow it to settle in for a few days before trying anything, just wanting to starting planning as it's also a wee project for my oldest daughter, she's loved birds from a young age and have had budgies and cockatiels but this is a step up for us
 
Ok so get your daughter to sit near your birds cage and read a book, every time there is a the or an a in the reading say your birds name and give a quick glance. try not to overcrowd your bird or stare at it, try just to be your normal selves,
 
this was a game my brothers and sister used to play by choosing a popular word and changing it to one of our names, it can get quite funny and with other family members having a word that will be changed to there name will get every one involved. its a method I use myself with my new flock members
 
Welcome :p
I have had my IRN for 4 weeks today. She was 11 weeks old when we brought her home. We left her 6 days to settle in her cage before letting her out. I sat next to the cage and read books, sang and just talked rubbish haha my kids did the same. She then began to take a treat through the bars. We wanted her to associate our hands with treats and positives. Day 6 we opened the door and let her do her thing. It took a while but she flew out. Also made her way back inside which we were so surprised. She gradually got more and more confident. One day she just started landing on our heads. Next 2 days ahead stepped on a perch as she was still scared of hands. Another day or 2 she would step up on our forearms for her fave treat.
Now 4 weeks later shes my velcro baby and is attached to me and my family. At first I thought shed never like us but now shes amazing. Just be patient. Maybe get a standing perch to train on out of the cage. Xx
 

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Sorry guys it's not letting me up load a pic, will do my best. Thanks for all the advice so fair really appreciate it. He's now in his big cage, he climbed onto a perch so I could get him in after flying about lol now looking happy. Definitely going to do the whole reading, talking thing as it sounds amazing and just need to work out what his favourite is and go from there
 
have a read through this thread, Roz is very good at explaining things in a simple way.

 
Hi guys,

New to the club but I was looking for best tips/advice and any techiques for training.

Just recently bought a indian ringneck and wanting to starting working towards handling etc, realise this will be very slow process but any advice will be great, also best treats to use as rewards.

Many thanks

Darren

Hi Darren, I am also new here and also bought an IRN recently (about 2 weeks ago) and I can say that he/she is an very fast learner. They are really very intelligent in deed!
I would also need some help after the last step I'll describe here:
1. I was sitting next to the cage a few days and just talked nicely with Alex (the parrot)
2. When I noticed that he is not stiff anymore I starrted to put my hand on the cage an did this a few days until he was relaxed
3. After that I tried to hold an apple (size of my thumb) so he could se it, he approached and took a bite
4. Thats what I basically did the whole week..just talked gently and held the apple piecefully without pushing it to far, It was boring but I wanted to make sure he is relaxed.
5. Next step was to put my hand into the cage with the apple and wait for him to come to me. He did and he was not afraid at all, he came the second he noticed the apple, he was pretty relaxed but I did NEVER try to touch him. He has to come first.
So here we are now and I also need further help
6. Yesterday I tried to put my other hand into the cage so he could step onto it to get to the apple in the other hand and he did it once. Than he noticed the other hand is bothering him so he started to bite me. I was trying not to pull back but it hurt really bad so I pulled back. This happened a few times yesterday and today so he (intelligent as he is) noticed when he bites I pull back. So he is basically always biting the hand without the apple
I put some tape on my finger and did the whole process all over but this time it didn't hurt beacouse of the tape. He is eating while the taped finger is between the apple and him. I want to make him comfortable to the taped hand and then try make him step on the finger. Is this the right way?

I hope I helped you Darren a bit with my first few steps. Please correct me (anybody) If I did anything wrong :)
And sorry for my englisch, I am from Croatia :S

P.s. it is nice to see people helping each other here so much :)
 
if you are comfortable using the tape then that's fine but you should concentrate on giving rewards when Alex is being gentle
 
Huh that's right maybe I should put away my hands and the apple when he bites and ignore him. And give the apple when he behaves good. I tried again today without the tape and he ignored the other hand.. so it was a success. I am spending really lots of time with him
 
Thought I wouild give a wee progress report.

Zazu steps up onto a stick at the moment and has been taking monkey nuts from my hand. My kids have been talking loads to him and you can really see his interest in them along with my oldest reading him books.

I've started to gently approach with my hand to try and step up. He allows me to get really close and has had a wee nip but I haven't pulled away as wasn't sore, he then attempts a foot up but flies away. Such amazing progress in so little days I think the fact I don't pull away gives him the confidence to attempt new things
 
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