New Galah

[Rob]

Hi there,

Im new here and realitivley new to birds. I have been after a Galah for a few months now and as it wasent breeding season I found it hard to find one.

Whilst at a local pet shop today I noticed two Galahs, one male and one female.
I was speaking to the petshop owner and she said that they were around 7-8months old and not hand reared.

So, I ended up buying the male as he said hello to me and showed me a bit more attention than the female, so I kinda knew he was the one for me.

Anyhow, so now I have him home, he doesnt have a name as yet, and im researching on how I can tame him, Should I just let him settle for awhile and sit with him and talk to him so he knows im not out to harm him? He seems fairly scared, exspecially when my boof head alaskan malamute wants to know what he is!

Hopefully you guys can help me out a bit

[Rob]

[AussieBirds]

G'Day Rob I love your Galah, just let him settle in for about a week and spend as much time with him as you can and let him get used to his surroundings. He will soon get used to you and then you can start trying to stroke him and other things, good luck.

John

[silvercloud]

He's gorgeous. Yeah just spend time with him, talk to him, try to keep the malamute away from him for a while if you can and I know how hard thats gonna be LOL. Could you post pics of your mal please. I just love them and had one for about 5 years who I still miss very much.

[zooyouthben]

Yeah if once the bird is used to you get its wings clipped (both) it makes the taming process so much easier,

[vankarhi]

Love the galah. Who said it is not breeding season for them by the way? This is the start of their breeding season...........actually just realised it is a lot hotter here than down there and that is why they may not have started to breed yet down there. But I know someone who bought a 6 week old baby galah they are handraising from a breeder a couple of hours south of me..............for a bargain price too. Up here the galahs breeding season is from about now till about January and you can pick the babies as they have soooo much grey feathers on them compared to the parents.

We have a malamute (spelling) in our obedience classes and she is just a huge teddy bear.......lovely dog.

[vankarhi]

Oh and about the taming of him.............as everyone else said, but try to get him to take treats out of your hand if you can in a couple of days and when you do start to handle him, clip his wings (they can grow back again if you want them to), then put him on your hand (fists clenched so he can't hurt you the first couple of times) and talk softly to him, telling him to step up from one hand to another..............that is how I tamed my galah and both sulfer crested 'toos I owned many years ago.

Good luck and keep us posted on how he is going.

[Rob]

OK, thanks for the replies guys here is another pic of the galah (name unknown as yet, i'm thinking maybe Chopper or Banjo, My wife likes Banjo more than Chopper though, So i'm not sure!! I want it something Australian though.. As for getting a 2nd I nearly ended up getting both of them as they were such a lovley couple and I found it really hard to break them up as they were both cleaning each other and playing, I definetly think if I bought the both of them and chucked them in an aviary with a nesting box they would have been mating like rabbits! lol



As for my malamute, his name is Deamond and he just turned 4yo on the 28th of september, his a pedigree and both parents are Australian champions, and one of his great uncles starred in the movie White Fang.

His such a lovley man, He is a big teddy bear, cuddly, and has a beautiful personality and is also very placid, but can be such a brat sometimes aswell, he loves getting photos taken as you'll be able to see by the pictures ive attatched.. lol



He is the one on the left in the next photo, the one on the right is Kacey who is my mums mal, shes 6yo.

[silvercloud]

Oh Rob he is just stunning. Kacey is lovely too. I like the name Banjo for your galah.

[vankarhi]

I agree with Jules.............love the name Banjo (chopper makes me think of............you know who) and your dog is absolultely stunning................

[Rob]

Yeah I think Banjo it is.. his still really scared, I opened the curtain and took his cover off and he started to stress really bad, I don't know how I can make him feel comofortable, I guess it'll just take time!

[zooyouthben]

Place some gum branches (leaves and all, or bottlebrush or some other native.)in his cage at the front on the door everything so he san see you but still hide behind the branches, He will also love chewing on them. Also it might pay to go back and buy the female if they still have it, Galahs are flock birds, and will prefer to have some company all of the time. Also they may have already pair bonded like all cockatoos(even though they were young.) I suspect that he may have been wild caught. Aviary bred cockatoos ussually are semi tame when you get em,

[vankarhi]

Bo used to freak out all the time if I put anything new in her cage..........so I had to be very careful when introducing something like a new toy or perch etc. What zooyouthben said is a good idea too about putting the branches in his cage. I could not see him real clearly.............but he looked like an adult to me, if he is young he could be around 12 months old too. But that is still considered a young bird, just a little harder to work with and will need more patience than getting a baby.

Remember gain his trust during the next few days, talk to him, sit with him, try to give him treats, put your hand slowly in his cage and then each time you do it, try to get closer to him..............give him a treat each time you do put your hand in his cage. Then each time you can get closer give him a treat and praise him up. Eventually when you can touch him, try just touching him, then as before each time gradually try to scratch him..............treat then praise. Eventually you should see him not be so nervous (I can vividly remember those quivering feathers around Bo chest when she was upset or scared), and treat and praise him for not being nervous either. Once he accepts touching and scratching from you..........it should be relatively easier then. When i was training Bo, her reward was a pat/scratch. I tried food, but she would literally toss it to the other side of the room and put her head down for the scratch..............she could handle sitting like that all day if necessary

[vankarhi]

I should add too, if he doesn't take the treat, just put it in his cage somewhere where he can see it. I will guarantee eventually he will make the move to take it from you........if you have the patience. Try pine nuts or almonds (any nut really, but I found these were fav's of my guys and Bo). Each bird is different in what they like too, so that will be part of the fun too is trying to find out what Banjo likes (see I used his name for you) .................if you do decided to get the girl you could call her Patty (short for Patterson)

I probably would not get the girl now unless you really want to breed with them and have an aviary. i would probably work with Banjo now and get him nice and tame and quiet and trusting of humans, then maybe look for a mate for him (in about 12 months or more) if you wanted to breed with him. Otherwise you will have 2 very scared and nervous birds to try to teach not to be affraid of you.

In the past I would use a tame bird .........usually Bo (galah) to show a new bird that I am friendly. Sort of like...............look see this bird is not affraid of me and lets me pat it scratch it and play with it etc. i would put Bo on my arm and go up to the new bird in the cage and show it that Bo was not affraid of me. Birds do copy each other and learn from each other.

I know i have rambled I just hope you understand what I am trying to explain.

[Rob]

Cool guys, thanks for the advice.

Well Banjo is a totally different bird today after the wife and I sat with him for an hour or two, talking to him, He now comes to you when you are near the cage, speaks to you, shows off, takes treats from your hand etc. He isnt even as scared of the mal as he was before.

He was not a wild caught bird, He was from last years season and was aviary bred then given to the pet shop, so his been around humans all his life. I guess he was a little scared yesterday as its a new enviroment, new people, big scary hairy malamute (that just wants to love him lol) and yeah.. So I think he may be finally settling in. Which is good.

I went and bought him some treats today and a toy, and also went to the local bush lands and scored myself a branch which I have made into a perch for him, He was ok when I put my hand in the cage too, just sat on the bottom and walked around, I touched him and he got scared, I guess I shouldent have though

Anyhow I'll keep you all updated, Thankyou all for your wisdom and mighty quick replies.

Rob

[vankarhi]

that sounds great. If he is last years stock then he would probably be as you said around 8 months to around 12 months of age. Still a young bird which is great. It sounds like he is settling in well too.

My galah used to strutt her stuff around the yard and both my staffies (had 2 at the time) knew who the boss was..............and it was not either of them The bitch could be quite aggressive with her bones too, but Bo was the only animal who was allowed to even "look" at it..............Bo used to have a chew too and lived many times to tell the tale. She was very people friendly and never had an aggressive bone in her body except towards the end.............but looking back now, I think there was something wrong with her but I put it down to female hormones

If he is still showing little fear..............then "I" would be trying to take him out of his cage and start to handle him.................but that is me and not everybody does things like me either. If you do decide to do this, I would make it very short sessions but a quite a few a day for a few days and see how he goes from there. Teaching him to step up from hand to hand during those few mins at a time and maybe walking around the inside of the house and talking softly to him and showing around too.

I am not 100% sure, but almost certain that when I got my 'toos and galah that they were wild caught.............bought from pet shops though.............as they would hiss and lunge and bite and draw blood, but in a couple of short weeks I had very tame birds who eventually could sit on my shoulder and be trusted with me. Not sure if my "home page" is still in my signature, if so check it out and you will see some of my birds of the past, including one sulfer and Bo my galah. If it is not in my signature, then I will add it now.

www.members.optusnet.com.au/traceysteve/

ok not in signature but here for you to look at anyway. I need to update it one day.

[Rob]

wow, Tracey.

Bo was a real beauitiful Galah, So you got her wild? Thats amazing how she turned out. I guess you must have a special little something with our furrier creatures!!

Banjo has taken a real liking to my wife, when ever she leaves the room he sooks for her to come back.. She can put her hand in the cage but his still a little shy and scared, he'll come around..

[Rob]

I have just taken some pictures with my digital camera, they turned out alot better than the others that were taken with my phone, so I figured i'd post them up for you guys

[AussieBirds]

It sounds like you are progressing well Rob just keep taking it easy with him and you are going to have a great companion there.

John

[vankarhi]

Banjo looks lovely..........keep up the good work.............they make lovely pets. I do miss Bo and maybe one day.......................maybe One of my daughters wants to get a baby and get me to help her to handraise it...........I just might do that next year for her.