older alexandrine parrots (5yrs)

[noidea]

I have just purchased 2 alexandrine parrots (breeding pair) I have been told they are about 5 yrs old and have been Avery birds for most of their life. will i be able too tame them (cant get anywhere near them at the moment) and where do i start. will probably look at breeding next season. I must confess i pretty much know nothing about birds so this is a learning curve too me.

[avinet]

Very very unlikely - Alex pets really need to have been hand raised. If you got a baby aviary raised and under 3 months old it may be possible - emphasis on MAY - but any much over 3 months would be hard. By 5 years just be happy if they tolerate you near them. Maybe after gaining their trust you might be able to hand feed a treat - but watch that beak always. They have a very strong bite.

We own 11 as pets - all bar one hand raised by us - and I've had a lot to do with aviary Alex's as well over the years. Great birds, but if you want one as a pet wait until they breed and hand raise the babies.

Alex's are usually good reliable breeders. I'm not sure where you live but my pairs always laid their clutch in the second half of August. If you are south of Queensland then it may be a little later.

Good food, a suitable nest box - 75 x 30 x 30 cm is a reasonable size, but they will use smaller - and a good strong aviary should see them breed for you in a few months.

If you have any questions then be sure to ask away - and before I forget, welcome to the Forum.

Everyone likes photos, so I'm including one of our 11 Alex's waiting for their turn in the shower

cheers,

Mike

[clara]

lol, i love this pic

[christine]

Hi, That pic is just amazing!
Regards Montana

[ellieelectrons]

Hi noidea

It is highly unlikely that your birds will become as tame as a handraised bird, so Mike's suggestion of handraising a baby one is a good idea.

However, if you do want some starting points for earning your birds' trust, then I can give you a few starting ideas. It will take a lot of time and patience.

The first job for you is to try to make it so that they are comfortable with having you approach the cage. There are a few things you can do:

1) have them located somewhere in the house where they can watch you go about your daily activities without being the ones being observed. This helps them learn about you.
2) share your food with them - eat meals in front of them and put bits of birdie safe food into their food bowl (make sure they see you do it)

Eventually, you would like to get them to the stage that they will take treats from your hands through the cage bars. Once you get them to that stage then you can look at further taming ideas but even getting to the stage of taking treats from your hand through the cage bards may be hard, so I've got some suggestions for how to get them there.

Step 1. Cut up a heap of different birdie-safe treats and put them into a special treat bowl in their cage. Step back far enough so that they are comfortable but so that you can also observe which treats they likes the most. Do this for a few days in a row.

Purpose of Step 1: Figure out your bird's fav foods & make sure your bird is used to eating them and knows what they look like.

Step 2. Withdraw the most fav treats from your birds' regular diet. From a distance where your birds feel safe (that is, it isn't panicking), hold up the treat so that the bird can see it and take one small step towards the cage talking gently to your bird. If your bird freaks out, stand there calmly but don't move close. Wait until they are calm again and say "good birds" or whatever cue you want to use to indicate that your bird has done the right thing. As you say "good bird", pop the treat in your birds' regular food bowl.

Purpose of Step 2: Helps your birds associate fav treat(s) with you.

With step 2, over time, you should be able to get closer and closer to your birds' cage before they freak out and eventually you can be holding the treat between the bars for your bird to take it. At this point, your birds may freak out again... so once again, you wait until they calm down, and reward them for being calm by saying "good birds" and placing the treat in their food bowl and moving away. Next time, maybe one of them will take a step towards you before retreating... that is also a step in the right direction, or maybe one of them will look longingly at the treat... also a step in the right direction.... reward that behaviour with "good bird" and put the treat in the food bowl.

At any stage, you can refine the steps. See what works and adjust accordingly. If you ever move to quickly through the steps, just go back to the last step that worked and try again. Eventually, with patience, kindness and a bit of smarts on your part, you'll figure it out... and the good thing is that you will have a relationship with your bird that is based on trust and respect.

Sometimes progress will seem slow, so remember to reward yourself and tell yourself how good you are doing even with the slightest bit of progress.

Good luck and best wishes!

Ellie.

[bertiel]

I love that picture! That's a lot of big red beaks looking for somewhere to go. LOL. My alex gets all embarrassed after she's had a bath. She wants me to avert my eyes and will only accept pats on the dry feather.