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Needs effective method in handling Grey


Felix

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Hi everybody!

I got Grey after all:)Happy enough!But...

I'm new on this site and with such parrot as well.

Anybody who is able to give good advise welcome.

My Grey has been living at my home for 2 weeks.

He eats everything.He is very calm besides cases of my appearance near by his cage.

Briefly...

I would be grateful to anybody who could advise me step-by-step methods of handling (domestication) my Grey.

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Welcome here Felix - hopefully you'll enjoy this forum B)

 

If there is one golden rule (I've learned here and from reading about them elsewhere as well) then that is patience. Everything you want your bird to do (not do :P ) is obtained by showing loads of patience towards it.

 

Good luck with your Grey. What's its name?

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Hi FairY!

I've looked through several forums from this site.

All your comments are brief.

Suppose to me you're very strict teacher.

Anyway I would be grateful if you advise me some useful links which are the best by your opinion.

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Felix -

 

I too got a bird that was unhandled. People on this forum were very helpful but I took a couple of different approaches. I do think time and patience is a factor, however with a bird that was never handled, it could also go against you because time could allow the bird to be set in his ways. What you need to do is get him out of the cage and into a room. Place him in a corner of a room thats empty and be there, Talk nicely and be patient with him, even if he bites! If he does bite, do not react. Use a stick for the first couple of times and try to have him step up. Keep trying this and eventually he will give up and step up. than start using your hand. if you are scared of being bitten, use the stick and your hand. I am in the process of doing this now. He doesnt react when I pet him and I also pet his neck, my gf however is scared of him and doesnt want to be bit so she allows him to run the show. Dont let your bird do this otherwise its pointless to have him in another room to do these taming sessions. Good luck and be consistent as far as training. Dont do it anymore than 30 minutes each time and allow your bird a couple of hours to rest between sessions. Good lUck!

 

Ryan

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Felix my comments are brief because I'm the least expert on this forum, all the other posters have lots of experience and can help you out perfectly :blush:

 

Please have a look at the link DevilAngel09 is providing, and if you have further questions obviously -as we all have the same love for African Greys- will be answered :)

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Hi Ryan!

 

Very kind of you to find a time for answering)

Unfortunately I'm out of home from 9 to 20.Because of this fact I worry that I waste a lot of useful time for taming my bird(

The breeder who has sold me a bird suggest to wait for a while.

He proposes to be near bird's cage reading books or watching TV.He insists not doing anything further until bird stop creaking or screaming, disturbing in other ways.

At the current time when I approach near bird's cage to change feed Grey starts worrying.Sometimes bird stays on its perch and looks at me.Hope that is a progress)))

The breeder also proposes some interesting method of taming.So I'd like to share with you in order to know your opinion.

Here is method.

Choose a small room such as small bathroom, f.e.Must be less subjects there and looks like empty room absolutely.

Close all holes etc.to avoid parrot hiding there.

Use gloves to escape biting or be carefull without them.

You should have pocket flashlight focusing straight to the object without dispersing.

Deliver bird to this small dark room in towel or in cage.Let bird falling on the floor.

Switch on flashlight just to see birds legs.

Trying to seat bird down on your hand.Switch off light for a while to make bird used to.

Switch light on.Bird will try to jump down the floor.

Switch light off and repeat.Do it during an hour at least.The aim is to make bird calm seating on your hand.

So that is brief explanation.

The breeder insists that it works effectively.

From my opinion this is dangerous method and can meke bird very fearful.May be I'm wrong.

What do you think about this? Sorry for my English - this is not my native languege.

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I would try what you said and leave the following out. Do not use gloves, even though it sounds smart, it is very bad. Try a towel. Other than a towel, use your hands or wait for him to come out and close the cage. Do not use the light method either, I have never used that, how does a bird get used to another surrounding when you are playing peek-a-boo with the light? Take him into another room with nothing for him to get on or away from you and work with him to step up and and try to pet him. Good luck!

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I too agree what the breeder suggests sounds odd. If the bird is only sitting quietly because he can't see you in the dark, what happens when you try this elsewhere.

 

I seriously suggest you get hold of a parrot training book - there is a fantastic one called The New Parrot Training Handbook by Jennifer Hubbard. The beginning of the book gives specific directions on taming a 'severely phobic bird' and by the end of the book there are simple tricks you can teach him.

 

The biggest thing is building trust with your bird - you have to go at your birds pace even if you want to go faster. Master one step before moving to the next.

 

I wish you heaps of luck,

:)

Rachel

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  • 2 months later...

Hello All, hi Fairy (missed ya!)

 

How are you all doing?

 

Some of you know me from a couple of months ago. I was away due to some reasonns. Anyways, BooBoo (my CAG), has started eating fruits after a lot of effort. He would just taste them and toss them erlier but then one day seeing my ringneck eat onlly those, he started too and now loves them.

 

The issue... he is too scared of me. Screaming is one thing, now he just takes off whenever I approach to feed him (2X a day). Today he jumped right on me cause his perch is in the corner of the room and there was no where else to go.

 

Please tell me how to have him sitting on his perch and not just jump and try to run away. I am okay with him running around the house whenever, "exploring:!

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Guest Monique

First you need to not let him go wherever he wants when he wants. You need to be the one to let him out of his cage and put him back in, put him on his stand, etc. You can have him step up onto a hand-held perch at first if this is easier for him than your hand. This is very important because at the moment if he's got free run he really has no motivation to want to sit on you at all but if you are in charge of his movements that will give him one reason to care. Can you feed him food from your hand? This would be the very first baby step I would get him to do and do it every day - preferably few times a day to get him to take seed, fruit, pellet, cracker ... whatever from your hand.

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The dark room training sounds awful, I would think it makes a CAG more fearful as they are already so easy to fret. My CAG will go to the end of the world with me in the dark, she trusts me too much sometimes. She loves to play catch, when she sits on my hand all of a sudden she throws herself down hanging on my hand with one foot and then dropping herself on her back, expecting me to catch her before she hits my lap or the floor, sofar I always have.

I will get her picture up soon, she is something!

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I taught my Cockatiel to sit on my hand by slowly chasing her with my finger and asking her to "Step Up!". Similar to your advice from the breeder, an empty room is best. On your hands and knees I would follow after the bird with my hand slowly and calmly and when she finally got onto my finger I would freeze and stop moving and stop talking. I let her sit there on my finger until she jumped off then I started chasing her again. It took about 2 hours total to train her and I did it in 20 minute lessons. This method is described in more detail on this website:

 

http://www.parrotscanada.com/birdowner/forthenewbirdowner.html#Taming%20(the%20Wild%20Bird)

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