My baby gray does noy let me near her .HELP !!!

[bslicknaz]

Hi Everyone ,

 

I brought a parrot a week ago, names Honey and she is 5 month old . The previous owner let it out and about all day around the house , that lived with another gray, but didnt get on . At night time they could get the gray on a stick and then attempt to get her into the cage before they went to bed.

 

Now i have her in my house , she woudnt talk for two days and all of a sudden shes off .. never stops .. bless her !

 

The problems im having is that i am trying the gain the trust of Honey so that she can ' step up' onto my hand .The closets i have got is that she now eats food from the back of my hand IN THE CAGE and i can just about touch her feet a cople of time before she moves away from me .

 

If i try to get close she starts growling .. worst is she tries to snap at me ... hurts !!!

 

I have been told that when shes growling its best to ignore it and try to get you hands to touch her on the chest that she goes off balance and she HAS to stand on your hand / arm . Also that if she bites to tap her beak with an evil eye saying NO !! Appartantly i have to let her know whos boss.

 

I havnt tried any of these tactics yet as i feel that it might be better to get the views of other owners first if they have had simular problems . After all if this is all incorect i woudnt like the feather plucking or biting to happen on a regular basis !!!

 

I dont feel happy to let HOney out of the cage until she starts stepping on my hand so that its easier to get her back in . I have already had a bad experience to when she got out - towel job that freaked her out - do not wish my traing to go back a week evertime she gets out !

 

Can anyone please give me sugesstions as i am very keen to do the right thing so that me and her can have a happy and ultimately loving relationship !

 

Kind Regards

 

A very sad Naz

 

xxx

[lovemyGreys]

Hi Naz,

 

firstly you have only had honey for a week, so dont expect any miracles.she needs to adjust to her new surroundings.

Your long term goal should be to win honey,s trust. If a parrot doesn't trust it's human, you will never be able to do anything with her. Likewise, when your parrot trusts you, you will be able to do most things & hopefully form a special bond. One thing you may need to know is that some birds are very protective of their cages. This is their domain, their safety zone, their "space." Therefore if possible you need to take honey into a neutral area to work with her.

While she is in the cage just chat to her reassure her that everything is ok.just talk to the bird keeping your hands down/back so she doesn't become frightened by them, she may well be afraid of hands at this point.simply by doing this honey will begin to gain confidence in you.When you feel you are making progress, you can introduce your fingers/hands. Play with toys with your parrot using your hands so she can learn your hands won't hurt her. (find a toy that your bird isn't scared of). Feed Honey her favorite food/treats by hand and she will learn your hands are good things and won't hurt her.

 

When she growls back of, never tap her on the beak for biting, a firm no is sufficent.If you start physically punishing her she will never trust you !

 

Here is a good link on teaching the step up..

 

http://exoticpets.about.com/od/behavior/f/birdstepup.htm

 

Personally i would let her out, she cant be caged indefinitely, leave her food in the cage she will return of her own accord or try getting her to step up on to a perch.

 

Always reward postive behaviour & ignore the bad.Time & patience is whats needed to win your little girls trust.

[judygram]

Yes time and lots of patience is what wins with greys and Tracy has given you some excellent advice.

 

Why don't you introduce yourself in the welcome room and tell us a little more about you and Honey.

[bslicknaz]

Thanks for the advice..

 

Honey lives with me in my bedroom , its not so noisey and i get me personal space with her .

 

Theres two more issues i have thought of :

 

1) If the cage is Honeys own space then it would mean that when i train her she would need to be out of the cage . I have no objections with that but how on earth will i get her to go back into the cage once im finished ? she wont go in without a bite and a scream !!!!

Would teaching honey to step up on a walking stick be idea, or a towel over the body ?

 

2) how can i train honey to step up , when she keeps her space from me , in and out of the cage ?

 

Arrrrrrrrrrrhh !!!

 

Sorry folks i am very new to this , i have done some reasearch but getting experience is another thing altogether !!

[Tari]

I would not let her out till you can get her to step up and this can be done with her in the cage.

First get her use to you and move her to where you spend most of your time.

All my birds are in the living room cause I only sleep in my bedroom.

Sit by her cage. Read to her, offer her treats threw the bars. Over time she should get as close as you can to you when this starts then I would start working with step ups. Have a lot of treats on hand when you do.

It could take a while but at least she is young so not as long as an adult bird.

Your my hero for taking her in.

Just my 2 cents.

Good Luck and keep us posted.

[Dave007]

Listen to Tracy. She's been in your exact same situation many, many times.

[judygram]

BTW, Tracy is Lovemygreys in case you were wondering.

[Tycos_mom]

You have to take her out some times I would do training session for 10 to 15 minates 3or 4 times a day if she won't go back into her cage when you finished your training sesion then get her a play stand and teach her to stay either on her stand of on her cage, my berds are out of their cages from 8 am til 8pm except when I have to go out and there is no one at home.she will go back into her cage on her own when she gets hungry and thars where her food is teach her to step up onto a perch first and then onto your hand do these training sessions without her being able to see her cage like in the bathroom make sure you close the lid to the toilet its a nice small room and she can learn to trust you faster in a more confined space Pat

[bslicknaz]

Thanks alot guys for all the information . This has given me a general idea of what to do . I would like to do the best i can for Honey without causing any early mental health problems that could affect the future.

 

I work on a shift pattern so 2 days i never get to see my bird as im at work and the following 3 days im off, ( have people to sit in and wath out for Honey when i not there by the way ! ) on my next days off i will spend all my time and effort to see that Honey is with me prodominatly of the day and will try the stepping up inside the cage.

 

Hopefully this will not take to many weeks and then Honey will have the whole house to wonder and fly in ..... supervised !!!

 

I will let you peeps know on the progress and no doubt you will see more questions to come by me ....

 

:-)

 

Thanks again

 

Naz xxxxxxxxx

[Dave007]

""""""I have been told that when shes growling its best to ignore it and try to get you hands to touch her on the chest that she goes off balance and she HAS to stand on your hand / arm . Also that if she bites to tap her beak with an evil eye saying NO !! Appartantly i have to let her know whos boss.

 

I havnt tried any of these tactics yet as i feel that it might be better to get the views of other owners first if they have had simular problems . After all if this is all incorect i woudnt like the feather plucking or biting to happen on a regular basis !!!"""""

This is the proper way to perform that off balance movement. Also, there is a chance that you will get bitten in the future if you constantly tap the beak.

 

When your bird is on your hand/wrist/finger, keep your arm in a horozonal position. When your bird starts to peck at you simply turn your hand 1/2 way as if you were turning a knob on a door. That makes a bird a little unsteady, the biting stops and their next effort is to try to regain a better grip. Do this constantly when pecking/nipping occurs. Your bird will soon get the idea that the pecking and nipping isn't a good idea. The tapping on the beak can possibly cause a bite in the future and your reaction to that bite will scare the bird.

[Falconeer]

Hi and Welcome to the forum. Hope Honey is doing good.

Take it slow. Honey is just5 months old. That is the perfect age. I bet she will turn around in just a couple of weeks. MAximum a month.

 

Please, never hit her on the beak. Or give an evil eye.;

That will just push you back to square one or worse beyond. The parrot doesn't understand a beak tap as behavior correction (unlike humans) to it, that would be a game to get attention. BUT the evil eye will deffinately tell the bird that you are a predator or something harmful. Animals communicate a lot with eyes.

 

Hope you two get along well soon.

[Raposa]

Welcome, Naz, and congrats on your new baby grey! My Jenna is the same age.

 

My first thought in reading your post about Honey is that she is still scared of her new home and new person. Our babies have no idea how excitedly we awaited them, how eager we were to have them come home, and how much we love them. They just know that they are no longer in the only home they knew, and they are with strangers. And greys are very sensitive birds, more than many others. It can sometimes take a while for them to get comfortable. I've been lucky in some ways with Jenna; she was extremely well socialized by the breeder, and I got to visit her once a week for a couple of months, so she at least knew who I was when she came home with me. But she still won't let me handle her like the breeder could. I wish she would, but maybe that will come with time.

 

So I would advise patience, calmness, and consistency with Honey. Sit and read a book near her cage and talk to her from time to time; listen to music together; talk to her a LOT and tell her what you are doing and what is going to happen around her. Slip treats into her food dish while she is watching - she can see that your hands bring good things, and are not so scary. You might try some clicker training, too - that can help get the bird engaged with you in a positive manner. (Check out Birdclick.com if you are interested in clicker training, and read their numerous files and articles, they have a lot of cool info).

 

Take your time, you and Honey have a life time to get to know one another!

[Jane08]

I totally understand what you are going through. Our new baby grey who we have had for a month does not like me that much (she loves my boyfriend and our male grey). I still let her out of the cage and the way I get her back in is bribe her with her favourite treats. I hold the treat up to her, slowely put my hand up for her to step up.... a lot of the time she reaches down with her beak and bites, but now I have taught her it is foot first. When we are in the same room together she will not play with me and our other grey. I go up to her and speak to her and hold toys up for her to play with which she does take occassionally. Sometimes when I go up to her I see the look of panic in her eyes and I back off. She basically sits and watches the other grey and I play. I am of the firm belief that over time, a lot of bribing with treats and with patience one day she will come down and play with me.

 

Oh yeah one thing don't teach them to step up by touching them on the chest so they lose balance. We did this with our first grey as all the books told us to. Anyway he hated it and we lost alot of trust with him which took months to re build. We use positive reinforcement to teach them now, so with their favourite treats teach them to step up and this works. great. Under no circumstances tap them on the beak...the beak is sensitive.

[bslicknaz]

****UPDATE****

 

Hi all

 

I really appreciate all the positive comments i have recieved on my article .

 

This has given me a general idea of the do's and dont's and has already improved my relationship with Honey .

 

Since i work on shift i get 3 days off in a row. My entire 3 days were spent in Honeys sight from inside her cage . I had been worried about leaving Honey in the cage for a week so i though that ill let her out and whatever happens , i will have to face . ( after all , if i was left in my house for days , id go crazy too)

 

So here how it went , she came out and i looked stupid with a treat in my hand , looking up at the curtain rails IN FRONT OF MY WINDOW. ( god know what bypases thought when they looked in !!)

 

' comon Honey Bunny , her girl, preety bird , i love you , step up ' whilst tapping my hands in desperation ... i tried the lot .

After 30 min i gave up and thought i leave her in peace and sit on my bed and read a parrot manual . As i was concertrating on reading HOney started to wolf wistle and i felt like tried to get my attention .

 

As i wanted her to relax i left here alone dispite all that i remain tucked into my book , smiling and nodding when i was reading . All of a sudden i heard Honey flap her wings on which i didnt look at as i was reading .. and i felt her claws and weight on my head !!

 

Yes .. she landed on my head !!! This was the first contact id had with my darling and she was on my head . I thought id try my luck , slowly stand up and go towards a mirror and put my arms near her feet and ask her to ' step up' .

 

To my surprise she put one of her claws on my hand.. paused , hesitated and then put the other on on . I slowly lowered my arms to sholder length and brace yourself.. i had her on my arm.. looking at me directly .. i squinted my eyes tried to look sidewards to look friendly ... whoo hooooooOOOOOO

 

All the time and effort had payed off , and yet i thought i was getting no where.

 

At PRESENT time she does step up ..and i do offer her treats . If she tries to walk along my arm i put my other and in the way so she steps up . Theres no way im going to let her up there until i have given her a decent behaviour management.

 

Now that she comes onto my hand , i try to touch her feet , so that she get used to it ... go technique for putting Honey back into the cage. Yestaday i let her roam aroung my room she happily stayed on the pearch and occasionly went onto the curtain rail.. most of the time she would land on the bed and get closer and closer to me, and as she did she get a treat . She become obsessed with on of my pens that i use to hightlight my parrot manual whilst reading but hey !!!!

She even was cheeky enough to get it of my bed and fly away with it AND drop it into her cage !!!

 

This is a bird im talking about !!

 

Anyways .. i think i have written too much in excitment .. but i know that theres a long way to go for me and Honey to become better comapinions.

 

I will continue to read my manual and read these forumz.. and keep everone informed about progress .

 

In the meantime.. thanks again .. until next time :-)

 

Naz xxx

[danmcq]

That is great progress Naz!!

 

It sounds like she is wanting a closer and more rewarding relationship also and it will just get better from here on out. :-)

 

I am so happy for you both!!

[Gaevren]

That is wonderful news! /hugs