Question on TAG personality

[Ronda477]

I have a question lol. I know I've had many of them. But I thought that the TAG's were known to be family birds? Actually most birds if gotten at a young age. I just read a post on My bird doesn't like human touch or something close to that and read that the woman's husband shouldn't touch her young parrot until she has established a relationship with her bird. I do want to be the one that SweetHeart bonds to. I know I can't force this on her on who to pick.but we did want a family bird as well and we thought we had read that if you introduced them to the other memebers of the family they would go to them as well. Is this after I have got a relationship with her? When should I let other members try to hold her? I can't hold her yet really but as you all know we haven't even had her a week. So still giving her lots of time. She gave me my first pretty good nip today She looked as if she was going to fly off her stand so I went over and picked her up and we went for a walk into the kitchen. I hold her toes lightly with my thumb just so she won't fly off when I have her on my hand. I want her to know it will be my idea to put her down. Of course when she gets antsy and wants down I do put her down I don't torchure her I just don't want her to fly off every time. I don't get to hold her very long anyway yet. Not even a minute yet. But she bent down and gave me a nip and I said no no no and she stopped. I than walked her over to her cage and told her to step down and she did. But my main and biggest question is should I wait to socialize her until I have a relationship with her? And any ideas on how to do this? She won't let me really keep her with me. But again I know it's all new for both of us so it will take time I know. Just any suggestions would be great! Thanks!!

[judygram]

I think you need to establish some sort of relationship with her first so you can handle her and her trust you and then allow the other family members to interact with her, she needs to know she can come to you for safety. I would say they could talk to her and let her know they are around and are not going to hurt her and then when she trusts you then you can start allowing the others to handle her if she allows it. They could offer her treats and such.

 

This is the bird that came thru a very traumatic experience getting to her new home and she may require more time than is usual for her to settle down and be more socialable.

[BMustee]

You need to give her time to get settled in before there can be any bonding...don't force anything because this could harm the bonding instead of help. As far as I know the TAGS and CAGS had the same base personality, and only minor differences. The TAGS are supposed to be less neurotic and not as prone to plucking but there are a couple people on the site with TAGS that pluck. TAGS are known for being more laid back than the CAGS but that is just the stereo type as well. That is why I brought up the TAG plucking; they are stereo typed not to be pluckers. I wouldn't say for sure that she will or won't be a family pet but I wouldn't "count my chickens" till her personality has really shown after she settles in.

[lovemyGreys]

Ronda i can only give you my personal experience & advice i was given from my breeder when i brought my two greys home.It is slightly different in the fact that they had eachother from the day they hatched.

I was advised to socialize them right from the start with all my family members,my son, daughter & hubby.All my family can pick them up,talk to them etc..As i am their main carer,cook,cleaner they have bonded closer to me.I know that at any given time this could change & they may well favour another family member.Every bird is different & will pick the person they favour,but my personal opinion would be to allow interaction with the whole family.

[spookyhurst]

When I adopted my TAG, she was 4 years old. She had been at the bird rescue for a couple of weeks, which was the first time she had been handled by someone other than her original owner. When I brought her home, I had each family member hold her everyday, even if it was just for a minute (my dad isn't much into birds, although Nikko has grown on him). When someone comes to our house, I also have them hold her for a little while. I started taking her for outings in her travel cage about 6 months after I got her.

 

Nikko was very meek and agreeable (she has since become more independent ) when we first got her, so it was easy to socialize her with people.

 

You now have multiple opinions on socializing your bird, so are you now more confused than ever about what to do :pinch:?

[Ronda477]

Lol Well I know now that patience is the KEY lol. What I have been doing is taking her out of the cage in the evening when I get home and let her play on her play gym, if she flies off I will get her and hold her until I can tell she doesn't want it anymore. If I can catch her before she flies off her cage I will ask her to step up and she will and I will walk her around. Otherwise she doesn't want to spend time with us yet. But I can tell that every day she seems to be doing something that she didn't the day before. I think I will give her a little longer and than try to socialize her with everyone at least for them to hold her for a few minutes or so just so she can see that no one will hurt her. And try to spend most of the time with me other than that. But I got some good ideas on what to do thank you all!!! And please keep them coming if someone has done something that has worked with a little TAG. She is only 6 months old. Thanks!

[spookyhurst]

One other thing. Nikko didn't allow me to touch her body for a month or two. At first, she would lower her head for a tickle, but only let me touch for a couple of seconds. She gradually (over a month or so) let me scratch her head for longer periods, and then let me touch her back. Some nights she can't get enough pets and tickles, and others she wants none at all. But since you have a baby, I bet she comes around faster. How was she at the breeders? Did she like to be touched, or was she more independent?

[Ronda477]

She will let me touch her back only for a few seconds right now and then she will reach around with open beak but just as a warning. As far as the breeders I will show you a pic of her with the breeder. She seemed very lovey to her. I'm hoping in TIME she will come around and warm up to me. It's very nice to hear though that it took a month or more for yours to come around. That gives me something to look forward to and to know that it could maybe happen instead of years.

 

Here is SweetHeart with her breeder.

[Ronda477]

here is another one. See she looks like she likes it lol.

[danmcq]

Hi Ronda,

 

You need to understand the Breeder was her Momma :-) and she loved her dearly.

 

She will settle in to her new flock over a little more time. The others are right in stating that socialization is important from the get-go.

 

One thing to understand though, is SHE will pick her "Favorite" out of her new flock.

 

Even though I purchased Dayo for myself, he loves Kim (my wife) as if she is his Momma and chirps and screams for her when she walks in the room. He loves me too, but when she's in sight he will fly from me to her in a heartbeat.

 

I learned very early on that I could not coerce or force Dayo into loving me more, no matter how many more hours I spent a day with him than Kim or how many treats and games I played with him.

 

But, he is still living up to his name "Dayo", which means "Joy Arrives". I cannot express how much joy it is just to have him here. :-)

 

So, don't fret over her choosing the wrong person as her favorite, sometimes favorites change as they age and mature too. Just relax and let her be herself and enjoy the interaction, smiles and joy you are already receiving from her. :-)

[Guest]

Beautiful baby!!

 

And very good advice from everyone.

[spookyhurst]

She's gorgeous :kiss:. I love those dark innocent eyes that babies have!

 

One other thing you can try with your baby is explaining everything you do to her. Sounds crazy, but it seems to work. For instance, if Nikko is on the kitchen counter and I'm about to run the blender to make me a delicious milkshake...drool...I'll say to her, "Big noise!" to warn her. When I want to touch her, I'll ask her, "Want some tickles?" Sometimes I'll also tell her how she will always be safe here and we'll always take good care of her.

[Ronda477]

TY spookyhurst. Yes I wish she would let me look into those eyes a little closer lol but in good time I guess. And I do tell her everything actually. I read that on here somewhere. I even tell her when I'm giving her seeds and water and basically everything. But thank you! I take it you saw her pics I posted this morning.

[Ronda477]

Oops sorry Radar didn't see you Thank you as well! She will be prettier when she actually lets me hold her for longer than 5 seconds lol. But she is very pretty! thank you!