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Post by nikaz on Nov 30, 2011 10:24:53 GMT 10
hey all my boyfriend and I have just recently bought a 14 month old Alex. the guy at the pet shop gave us a few pointers on how to start taming him etc, but we still havent had any luck with him! we need a little bit of help with trying to get him used to us and everything cos he's still pretty well terrified. any help given would be greatly appreciated! thanks  Nikki |
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Post by avinet on Nov 30, 2011 12:53:44 GMT 10
What do you know about his background - was he kept as a pet bird able to be handled or was he an aviary bird? Was he hand raised or parent raise? How long have you had him? Was he being handled in the pet shop?
cheers,
Mike
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Post by nikaz on Nov 30, 2011 14:58:16 GMT 10
he hadnt been handled before we picked him up. the guy at the pet shop was working on a different Alex and leaving ours till after he'd finished with it. I believe he was parent raised, so probably wasn't handled as a pet. we've had him nearly a week, but there's been next to no change in his attitude.
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Post by avinet on Dec 1, 2011 22:31:34 GMT 10
I'm afraid you are in for a long long battle to try to tame an Alex that has not been hand raised and not handled at all until it is over 12 months old. Not to speak of the potential loss of blood - yours that is  Personally I would not even attempt it - and I have 12 Alex's living as pets in my house! The bird is going to be far happier and free of stress in an aviary with a mate. My advice is to buy a young hand raised Alexandrine, there will be plenty arounfd at present being the tail end of the breeding season. Lots seem to get advertised on Gumtree and a good pet shop should likely have some - and as the retired owner of a pet shop for 20 years specializing in birds, I don't consider a pet shop that tries to sell a 14 month never handled Alex as a pet to be a good pet shop!!! Look for a black eye to know it is a young bird - you can see what I mean in the two photos below - a baby with black eye and an older bird we were teaching to read (  ) with the white eye ring. That black eye starts to lighten around 4 to 6 months so you can be sure you are buying a baby and not being conned. Alex's make great pets, but it will be far better for you, your fingers and the bird to get a baby. cheers, Mike   |
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Post by nikaz on Dec 2, 2011 9:57:07 GMT 10
thanks mike! I think we'll be looking into it |
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Post by vankarhi on Jan 3, 2012 11:45:44 GMT 10
hahaha..........Mike how is the learning to read going pmroflol |
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Post by vankarhi on Jan 3, 2012 11:52:29 GMT 10
I agree with Mike about getting a handraised baby as a pet.
Now that you have this bird........it is not impossible to quieten it down..........but as Mike said it most probably will take some time.
If you have the time and the patience then you could try..........I would firstly just let the bird stay in it's cage for a while and just go about your daily duties........and talking softly to the bird too. Try offering treats regularly also. Try to take notice of what it's fav foods seem to be.........take them out of his normal feed and just offer them to him. He wont take them initially .........so have a bowl or container you can put it in after you have offered it to him. Pretty soon you will probably see him come quickly to the side of the cage to see what you have for him .......... with a lot of patience and time............a lot of patience and time..........it can be possible for you to win this guys trust.........but take very small steps to get there.
Alex's do make wonderful and affectionate birds (affectionate in their own way......not like a cockatoo).
I would suggest watching some of Susan Friedmans training video's. I have seen her quieten an unhandled macaw in only a few short training sessions.......to where he could be handled enough to be put onto a set of scales to weighed regularly.
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Post by avinet on Jan 3, 2012 20:39:07 GMT 10
hahaha..........Mike how is the learning to read going pmroflol Well it went pretty well - Bambi, the bird in the photo is around 12 years old now. We had to restrict his reading though - if he didn't like the book he used to chew it up and poop on it, got too expensive replacing those library books  Now he just gets newspapers to read - after we have read them. |
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Post by vankarhi on Jan 4, 2012 6:35:52 GMT 10
wow.........I am impressed and I thought you were going to say he needed glasses because he was getting on a bit pmslol (I need them lol) |
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Post by avinet on Jan 5, 2012 21:18:21 GMT 10
wow.........I am impressed and I thought you were going to say he needed glasses because he was getting on a bit pmslol (I need them lol) Doesn't need glasses yet - at 12 years old he is just reaching his prime - I fully expect him to outlive me barring accidents. Of course, after he mastered reading we moved him on to mathematics - with counting being the first step. Here he is learning to count from 1 to 5.  Eventually he advanced to using an abacus, but it is a bit like the books, when he got bored with the abacus he started chewing it up, typical of an Alex. To stop him getting bored we are currently working on differential calculus with him ;D Trouble is every time we give him a pencil to write down the answers he chews it up  Alex's are bright birds!! cheers, Mike |
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Post by vankarhi on Jan 6, 2012 6:19:43 GMT 10
roflol........very good Mike. And yes they are very intelligent birds..........I love them |
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Post by twr on Jan 7, 2012 8:18:10 GMT 10
Too funny.
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Post by bmwbirdie on Jun 22, 2015 17:38:42 GMT 10
I was on another Parrot Forum when I wrote this Thread. After some issues concerning some members behaviour, I asked the mods to remove me from the Forum. But that's another story. Anyway this is the thread I wrote on building Trust and bonding with an Aviary Bred bird.
This how I bonded and built trust with an aviary bred bird and have used it on other birds. I obtained a aviary bred IRN a few years ago who we named Bluey. When people approached Bluey he would thrash around the cage in fear. So I needed some tools to address this problem 1 was a clicker 2 was training treats 3 was T-perch.
Clickers are the best for training. Do some research? B F Skinner is a good start. Clicks won't confuse the bird. Where has words can. Without realising, words can be changed. It doesn't seem much, but it is to a bird. Has an example you might be saying "good boy". Then you say "that's a good boy" or you’re a good bird. But Clickers are a bridge to identify wanted behaviour between you and your bird.
Second by putting five different foods on a plate and watch which one Bluey ate first I worked out what Bluey favourite food. I used sunflower seeds, corn kernels, pine nuts, grapes and balls of millet. This became Bluey's training treat and I removed this food from Bluey diet. Whatever your bird picks, it must not be part of the bird’s diet otherwise it defeats the purpose of being a training treat. It was sunflower seeds.
These are the procedures I used to calm and interact with him.
Bluey was in a cage in the lounge room. With the clicker in my hand, I entered the lounge room and went to the furthest point away from the cage. Then I would slowly approach the cage until Bluey showed signs of fear. When your bird becomes small and "skinny," and the bird's crop often looks sucked in, and all the feathers lie flat on the body. It usually means the bird is scared.
I would stop and stand there until Bluey relaxed.
Relaxed feathers and wings, standing on one foot, preening and /or grinding his upper and lower mandible together to produce a scratchy or "zippy" noise. This bird is probably content and relaxed. The bird might not display all these signs but relaxed feathers and wings, standing on one foot are a sure sign.
When Bluey relaxed, I click the clicker and took 3 slow steps back waited 20 to 30 seconds. Then, again I would slowly approach the cage until Bluey showed signs of fear. But this time I got a bit closer to the cage. Then I would stop and stand there until Bluey relaxed.
When Bluey relaxed I click the clicker and took 3 slow steps back waited 20 to 30 seconds. I repeated this procedure and with each approach, I would get a bit closer to the cage until I was standing next to the cage and Bluey was relaxed.
When this was achieved I would leave the room for 20 to 30 minutes. Then I would repeat this procedure for 5 to 7 times that day. By the end of the day you should be able to slowly walk up to the cage and the bird should stay relaxed.
I then used a spray of millet first, has it was a larger food treat and it allowed Bluey to get use to my hand. Once Bluey became use to my hand I started to reduce the size of the millet until I could use sunflower seeds.
Note: This is important and that is, not to force the bird to do something it doesn't want to do. Let it approach the millet.
Once I was able to walk up to the cage without Bluey being scared, I then started to train Bluey to come out of the cage.
The first stage is with the clicker in one hand and a spray of millet in the other.
I would offer the millet to Bluey through the cage where the perch is attached. If he didn't take a bite of the millet within 15 seconds, I would remove the millet from his sight for 20 to 30 seconds.
Then I would re-offer the millet. When Bluey took a bite I click the clicker and withdraw the millet but kept it in Bluey sight. When Bluey finished eating the millet. I repeated the procedure and did this for 15 minutes then took a 30 minute break and repeated this 3 more times.
Note: By removing the Millet from the Bird's sight you encourage the "what have I just missed out on. Was that food? Where did it go? Then when you re-offer the millet. The bird thinks I'm not going to miss out again.
The next stage. With the clicker in one hand and a spray of millet in the other. Open the cage door and offer the millet at the entrance of the cage.
Note: Don't put your hand inside the cage has the bird could see this has invasion of their territory.
If Bluey didn't approach the millet within 15 seconds, I would remove it from his sight for 20 to 30 seconds. Then re-offer the millet. When the Bluey came to the cage entrance and took a bite I click the clicker and withdraw the millet but kept it in Bluey sight. I did this for 15 minutes then took a 30 minute break and repeated this 3 more times.
The next stage is to place a T-perch just outside the cage. When Bluey flew to the T-perch and took a bite I click the clicker and withdraw the millet but I kept it in Bluey sight. I did this for 15 minutes then took a 30 minute break and repeated this daily.
You can use the T-perch to return the Bird to the cage. I found that a T-perch is better than a piece of dowel. The bird can run down a piece of dowel and bite the hand. But with the T-perch the bird can run from end to end but the hand is out of reach.
This is more towards interacting with your bird to build trust/bonding. Once you have establish a bond of trust with your bird you can start to train basic tricks. Then advance to more tricks if you desire.
Use the clicker to identify the desired behaviour and the training treats and praise to reinforce that desired behaviour.
My Alexandrine Delfin is fine with the family, has we all take turns in the training. Delfin will fly to us, turn around, shake hands and pick up items and put them into a bin. It's no secret, you just need to spend time interacting and training with your bird.
The clicker is the bridge between you and your bird and you use that bridge to highlight the bird’s desired behaviour to your bird. That how I have gotten Delfin to fly to me, turn around, shake hands and put things into a bin.
I put Delfin on his T-stand and gave him a sunflower seed and click the clicker. This indicates that training has started.
Then in my right hand I held the clicker and the sunflower seed. The set up was the clicker in the palm with my middle finger on the button and the sunflower seed held between my thumb and index finger.
With my left hand I made a pistol so my finger was parallel to the perch and about 3 cm away. Then I would bring my right hand up behind my left hand and show Delfin the sunflower seed and say "come Delfin". If after 15 to 20 seconds Delfin hadn't stepped up onto my left hand I would remove the sunflower seed from his sight.
Wait 20 seconds and reshow the treat. When Delfin stepped up onto my left hand and took the sunflower seed I would click the clicker at the same time. Then I return Delfin back to the T-perch and repeat. I would slowly increase the distance from the T-perch to my hands.
After three days, Delfin was flying 4 metres to my left hand take the sunflower seed and fly back to the T-perch.
The advice I can give is
1 move slowly around the bird
2 let the bird come to you.
3 Don't force the bird to do anything that it doesn't want to do.
4 make the trust building and bonding sessions (training) fun
5 end all training sessions on a positive.
6 patience.
Remember food is a great motivator.
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) with the white eye ring. That black eye starts to lighten around 4 to 6 months so you can be sure you are buying a baby and not being conned.
Now he just gets newspapers to read - after we have read them.
