where to begin

[serenityprncss]

hello all

my first post!!

 

i will introduce myself and my babies shortly after this.

 

well i just got a timneh she just turned 5 years old on august 11th and i am her 3rd home (so i was told). she has been dna'd tested.

 

well she is a total sweet heart! loves her kisses and to have her beak and head scratched. she loves to cuddle up on you... one thing she does is punches holes in your shirt while cuddling hehe. which i don't mind

her only issue is she REFUSES to step up. she will fuss and scream if you try to get her to step up... she will bite but honestly she won't bite to hurt... she just places her beak over your fingers or whatever she is trying to grab and won't put much pressure... so i try and try to work with her... but she really dislikes my trying and lets me know it by screaming, backing away, slightly biting, and until she finally just flys away. i tried to take her away from her cage and see if she would be better to work with without her cage in the room but nope no progress... she just wants you to scoop her up in your hands and be placed on your arm.... i have tried tricking her with treats.. i distracted her by taking her on my screened porch..she was very intrested in things going on outside but wasn't distracted enough to just step up... i have had successful training while having a bird being so distracted by "being outside"...

 

i am persistent but so is she! hehe

 

any help/advice would be very much appreciated!!!

 

 

thanks everyone in advance

[danmcq]

HI serenity and Welcome!

 

It sounds like you have a real sweetheart there. :-)

 

Form your description, she certainly has no problem with hands or trusting you to "Scoop" her up.

 

Perhaps, since she is 5 years old, she has in the past come to believe stepping up on a hand has proven to be an unstable perch.

 

If this is the case, it will take time and patience to convince her that YOUR hand is a stable perch.

 

This is just a best guess based on your description. So I hope it helps.

[Guest Monique]

If she doesn't like to step up then I would just keep scooping her up. It certainly does no harm to do that. Work on establishing trust with her with gentleness and patience and later if you want to teach her new behaviors (like step up) then slow, steady, very very patient baby steps is the way to go. How long have you had your bird? Usually they are on "best behavior" for up to a month at which point they will figure out you are not an ogre and be comfortable being themselves. You may see different behaviors emerge at that time. Have you had other Greys or other large birds?

 

Hope you enjoy it here!! : )

[judygram]

Glad to hear you have a sweetheart, but refuses to step up, she may have some kind of phobia relating to her two previous homes that she either doesn't trust hands or like Dan described, she doesn't think they are a stable perch. You will have to work on getting her to step up but it may take lots of time. She needs to trust you and with this being her third home she is going to be very hesitant to do so.

 

Just continue to do as you described but mix in some stepping up lessons and I think eventually she will do it. Just be patient, very patient, but at least she is allowing you to scoop her up and that is something that most will not allow, so be grateful for that.

[Tari]

Maybe you can stick train her and then just keep making the stick shorter and shorter till she is on your hand?

Sounds like a great little TAG. Gratz on your new parrot.

Good Luck

[DayosMom]

Hi Serenity,

I'm Dan's wife, Kim. I was going to suggest the same thing Tari did. We have a Conjure and a CAG. When we got our Conjure, he wouldn't step up at all. He was a breeder bird until his mate flew away. So he had no training on stepping up. Dan got some DVDs on training, and they suggest this same type of thing.

We started with a long perch. Then, as Tari said, we got shorter, and shorted until one day Jake stepped up on our hand instead of the perch we offered. A few more time of this, and we didn't use the perch again.

 

You will find so much knowledge here. Everyone is so helpful. If you try one suggestion, and that one doesn't work for you, then try another one. That's what we do.

 

Recently, we lost Jake. When I told the forum, many suggestions came in, which we tried them all. One of them worked, and we have Jake back home.

 

So, never give up, and keep trying new things.

 

Welcome,

Kim

[serenityprncss]

Wow thanks everyone for the responses!!!

 

To answer a few of everyones questions...

I have had her about a week... I left her to get used to things in and around her cage before I really tried working on the stepping up... she loves to be out on top of her cage... so she's always begging at the door. So I have been placing my arm over the cage door so she HAS to step up onto before climbing to the top of the cage.. At first she wouldn't do it... but she wasn't fussing.... she just knew what I was up to haha. She did it twice tonight.. I think I will just keep doing it this way and then slowly start pulling my arm away each time so she can recognize my arm as stable and steady perch as some of you guys suggested.

 

I have tried using a wooden perch with no luck... she bites it a holds it... walks backwards and then flys away! But thanks to all with that suggestion

 

I am patient with her.... but I feel like I have accomplished nothing when she won't step up but then I have to scoop her up and put her back on the cage after she flys away... isn't that encouraging the behavior I am trying to resolve?

 

Her behavior I actually observed for 2 weeks before bringing her home... I had 4 visits with her before bringing her home... and her behaviors now, match the ones with her previous owner.... and she is sweet with just about everyone I am very lucky in that department.

 

She is my first grey... but I have been looking into adopting one for 2 years now and have done a lot of research.. I don't buy any birds from breeders.. I find the "used" birds... that people lost intrest in... I have 3 birds currently ... including the grey (her name is tiki btw )

My other two birds I have had over 3 years... a pionus named roxy and a sun conure named sundae.... these were both rescues I got for free, but tiki I actually paid an adoption fee for because I finally felt ready to get a grey.... she is soooo worth it!

[Guest briansmum]

you sound like you have a gorgeous bird. my suggestion would have been to persist with teaching her to step up from the cage so she learns she does not get to come out until she steps up, but it sounds like you have had this idea also.

 

you say she lets you scoop her up? does she allow this with no fuss? if so continue with the scooping until she is stepping, it's good she will let you do this. she really does need to learn to stop up though as one day she might decided she doesnt like being picked up anymore but i'm sure you thought of that

[serenityprncss]

She backs away and fusses when I goto scoop her up... as if I am going to make her step up... but then once she realizes I am picking her up and not making her try to step up she is content to let me do it...

Such a little goober haha.

I actually don't mind if she learns to step up and doesn't want to be scooped... I just hope she stays cuddly

[judygram]

Well if she is 5 years old and still cuddly then she will more than likely continue to be that way. But you do need to work on the stepping up, she needs to learn she has to do that when you ask, for the day may come that someone else has to get her to do it. Sounds like she is running the show and maybe you need to assert a little more authority over her, don't want her thinking she is boss.

 

Yours is the first grey I have heard that likes to be scooped up with both hands rather than come onto your hand. If I tried that with Josey she would balk I'm sure.

 

Just keep doing what you are doing, it just takes time, so don't give up, patience is your best friend.

[kiwibarb12]

hehe - if I tried to scoop Beckette up she would bite the living you-know-what out of me.

[judygram]

I hear ya, I know exactly what you mean, stepping up is fine but try to scoop them up and a bite is on the way for sure.

[Guest briansmum]

i can scoop brian up, he doesnt like it at first and carries on like a toddler throwing a tantrum. but if i then hold him close like a baby he shuts up!

 

i don't make a habit of it, but he's going through a "no mum i will not step up" thing, and when the gas man came to read the meter i didn't have much of a choice.