My New Galah Neville

[rick]

Hi Guys - this is my new galah Neville. I grew up with Galahs but have not owned one since I was a kid.

I got Neville as an aviary bird and was told he is about 1 year old.. or maybe younger.

Being young and not hand reared, he is quite frightful. I have been sitting with him a lot for the past 3 days and he has been coming closer each day.. I talk and sing to him. But I have to take things slow.. if I reach in his cage he moves off into the corner and will screech if I get too close.

The last day he has become a lot more excitable and is chirping away at the other galahs in the sky and seems to chirp whenever I am not in the room.. basically he is playing silly buggers. He gets very excited and tweets when I nod at him... and I guess I am trying to get him to trust me as one of his flock. I take it is a good sign he is being a bit more chirpy? I don't know whether to encourage him or not.

I would appreciate any tips on Training Nev. I have had a browse around and know there is some work to do with his diet. I have tried watermelon/banana but the only thing (other than his seed) I have had success with is thistle and grass seeds.. I remembered my last Galahs loved this, and Neville is no exception.. He will grab the stalk from my hand... but then scurry away in his 'safety zone' to munch. Thankfully he isn't actually a big fan of the sunflower seeds in his mix (I Plan on excluding them all together once he is a bit more settled).

It will take a while to build up confidence and get him out of his cage, I know that much.. but I guess I'm looking for any and every tip I can to train him.. I have the time and I want to turn him into a good tame, strong and healthy bird .

Thanks in advance )

[avinet]

Hi and welcome to the Forum - hope we can help with any questions you might have.

Neville looks healthy form the photo - and is likely to be around 18 months old. Galahs a spring breeding and he doesn't look like a 6 month old bird so my guess based on what you were told is that he hatched in the spring of 2011 - usually around September to October.

It looks from the photo that he is currently in a traditional 60 x 60 x 60 cm cocky cage. They are far from ideal -too small and too boring since the size makes it difficult to give the bird a range of toys, various perches made form natural branches, and opportunities for foraging for food. Hopefully it is a temporary cage until a decent sized cage is organised.

Diet is the other important thing to work with - initially, as you are doing, it is best to continue the die the is used to, but Galahs can have issues with fatty tumours, and so it is important to get them onto a low fat diet. As you have a look round at previous threads on Galahs you will see quite a few from me encouraging the use of pellets for them - and a low fat pellet at that if possible. One at aussiebirds.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Cockatoos&thread=11364&page=1 covers this in some detail.

You seem to have thr right approach with taming - patience is the key factor and rushing things can be one step forward and two steps backwards, instead of the opposite 2 forward and one backward. Offering treats by hand is the way to go - he has to realise a hand is a friendly thing that brings good treats and not something that will grab him and restrain him - at least until he has total trust in you. He must be feeling more settled since the chirping and chatting is the sign of a relaxed bird. If he is stressed and tense he is more likely to be quiet.

Sounds like you are well on the way with Neville, it is just the cage I am concerned about

cheers,

Mike

[rick]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the reply.

Glad to hear Nevilles chirping is good. He loves other birds, doesn't matter what type of bird he will try and draw them in.. apart from Carruwongs.. my galahs have never much liked currawongs.

Point noted on the cage. It isn't quite as small as you mentioned - it is around 80cm tall.. so it is the larger size.. I bought it as a starter and a second cage that is more manageable for people should I need them to mind Nev. Can you give me an idea of what sort of cage to buy. I went to the local pet store here and they had something very similar to the below attachment, reduced from $300 to $200. Seemed reasonable enough.

Also - another 2 points. It gets very cold where I live and can actually get frequent frosts.. I know birds are resilient enough to weather.. and I bring Nev in at night and place a blanket over the cage.. but is there any other products/cages I should be looking at that offer protection in the colder months?

And on the pellets - I have been trying to get him to try new things.. last night I cut up some carrot/celery and apple and put it in his bowl.. he caused quite a fuss over that and threw the ones he tried off the edge... I feel this may be the same if I put him straight on the pellets.. wondering if you can tell me how to wean him on them - e.g. mix in with the seed at first or..

Thanks,

Rick.

[avinet]

That cage would be ideal for a Galah - plenty of room for toys etc. $200 seems a good price.

If the bird is to be kept inside at night then temperature won't be a problem - however if it is a cold damp day - foggy or raining then I would suggest keeping the cage inside in the day. By all means put it out in winter if it is a nice sunny day. Birds are lucky in that they have feathers, and feathers are remarkably efficient at insulating a bird from the cold. Virtually the only places they can lose heat is in the feet and the beak. Everywhere else is covered in feathers. And even with the feet birds are able to cut off most of the blood supply when it is very cold so that there is minimal heat loss from the feet.

If you have wild Galahs around your area in winter, they are surviving even in hard frosts so there isn't too much to worry about with a pet bird. It really isn't any difference form birds kept in outside aviaries, and most aviary parrots need no extra actions to let them survive a cold night.

Pellet conversion can be a tricky procedure. My preferred method is to start out by sprinkling a thin layer of pellets over the top of their seed - they know from experience that the seed is in that dish and in getting to the seed they will end up tasting the pellets and realise it is good food the eat. Gradually the pellets can be increased and the seed reduced.

It is also important to get pellets that are similar in size to the seed they are eating. My favourite pellet is Roudybush, and I give my birds the Mini size, even the African Greys, which are larger than a Galah. When Mini are unavailable I go down a size to crumbles rather than up a size to the small size. If you are getting Vetafarm then go for the Maintenance Diet Pellets - www.vetafarm.com.au/products/MAINTENANCE-DIET-PELLETS.html - they are a smallish pellet and only 5% fat content - which is plenty high enough for a Galah.

cheers,

Mike

[romanian]

He looks really beautiful and also healthy.

[Nymphicus]

Neville is a handsome fellow.

[birdtraining101]

My YouTube channel is birdtraining101, I have a profile picture of my galah, best way to tame your bird is to clicker train.
Change your birds diet to get rid of sunflower seeds and you can uses those as treats during training sessions.
Your bird making noises is good as it will help you to teach him how to speak and you will be able to learn how your bird is feeling, such as if a bird is sick it won't talk or make any noise.
You can start by clicker training by simply clicking and and then handing your bird a sunflower seed, do this in the morning or night before you feed your bird so that it is hungry, if you can't get your hand close to your bird place the seeds on a big spoon. Your bird will soon learn that the click is a reward trigger. Training sessions should not exceed 15 minutes and if your bird losses interest don't push, you are looking to build trust not fear. After one or two training sessions of this begin target training.
You will be holding a clean chopstick with the click.er on the end and place the chop stick near your bird. Out of curiosity your bird should touch the end. As soon as your bird touches click and reward and after a few minutes move the lipstick further and the bird should follow it. Leading that your bird follows the lipstick and after touching it you click and reward, this will lead to teaching step up. Your bird will follow the chopstick and stand on your arm like a perch trying to reach it. To start your training try use a small cage so your bird can't run or fly away and then move your bird to a larger cage.
Check out my YouTube channel and if you have any question ask or if you are unsure of anything I can make a demonstration video for you.

[clare]

Hi there,
I know this post was a few years back so you may not have this bird anymore. I came across your picture while googling photos of galahs. You seem to genuinely care about galahs but I was so shocked to see your photo of him in that cage. Look at the photo you posted, he is a prisoner. Of course he loves it when the wild galahs fly nearby because he knows on some level he is meant to be up there flying with them. Birds are not meant to be behind bars. If you had wings, what would you do?