African Grey Training

[PollysFamily]

We got an african grey 3 days ago, we have been trying our best to train her and all she does is bite. In her prevous home she was locked in a bedroom all day, her only company was the TV! Our family is letting her out daily and she is getting better. She lets us put our hands in her cage to feed her and she don't bite as much.

But we want to get her to become much more tame with us, to become our compainion.

She cant fly because she had her wings clipted, but she still trys to but falls off her cage and hurts her self, she even trys to fly when she is on the ground, but she fails.

Does anybody have any tips on helping us train polly, it would really help. Thanks

[dblhelix]

Hello and welcome!

 

Realize that "training" does not happen over night. You need to identify areas you want to work on, then be calm, consistent and kind. They are intelligent animals and will come to trust and amaze you as they become tame and trained. I would suggest getting some books on the topic in general and using this type of forum to get as much information as you can.

 

How old is she? It sounds like you will be providing a very nice home for her and much improved from her previous environment. However, it will take some time to adjust to her new surroundings/owners etc before you should expect significant change. Generally you should anticipate at least 1 month for the bird to acclimate to its new surroundings before they show their true personality. Remember, these are long lived animals (50+ years on average) so they are more like humans with respect to how they learn to interact etc. They remember every interaction and this shapes them going forward. The first step is to build trust, and you truly will need patience. Be consitent and as you build a relationship you will be greatly rewarded.

 

Regarding the wing clipping, there are some good posts you can search this forum for on the topic. If she is truly "falling like a rock" to the floor she may have a severe clip and/or may not have learned to properly fledge. If this is the case, try to minimize situations where she can injure herself. The flight feathers will grow back in the next molt, but this could be 6-12 months off depending on when the last molt was. You do want to try and avoid injury as they can develop emotional problems if they associate injury and fear with flying.

 

Keep us posted on how it goes! Things should work out fine with a little time. <br><br>Post edited by: dblhelix, at: 2007/05/25 07:13

[Guest]

Oh, yes: the magic word again, patience.... It sounds tho that she has found a very nice home with you, and I'm sure, reading your post, that you will succeed in the end to have her as a companion

[PollysFamily]

I no about patience, and we are being very patient. Last night we tought her to step onto Nathans hand, he is the one shes attached to. The reason why she was soo bad was because the past owners basically mullered her wings, we got them re done but still no improvement. Polly is about 18 months old, she is still a little baby

[Guest Monique]

You have very good advice here. Building up trust can take weeks or months. I would also suggest getting the book "For the Love of Greys" by Bobbi Brinker which will give you a good overall understanding of African Grey parrots.