How to keep my IRN tame ?

[rainbowfeathers]

Hi all

I just have a quick question about my little Smoothie (my tame creamino male IRN).
I noticed he is quite shy of my hands and tries to get away when I want to get him out of the cage. Now I don't know if thats just him coz he doesn't like hands, or if it's my fault coz I've spent less time with my birds lately than I would've liked to coz I've been sooo busy still settling in here (Brissie) ie. finding a car, finding a school for my eldest, sorting out all the stuff for school etc etc...plus hubby's been pretty much useless and I'm left to do all the work... shopping, cleaning, school preparations, cooking etc.

But my little Smoothie is quite happy to sit on my shoulder (along with Barney) while I go about my business. I sometimes make them peanut butter sandwiches and hold a triangle in each hand and lift it up to my shoulders (one bird on each shoulder)
and they enjoy that.

So the question I wanted to ask is, if I just continued having Smoothie hang on my shoulder without really handling him or giving him any scratchies, will that be adequate to keep his tameness or should I "force" to handle him with my hands ie. give him head scratches etc - even if he doesn't really like it.

Or will he eventually like it but he's just still a bit shy of me, right now??

Ok thanks for any advice you can share

Cheerios
Kat

[Karen]

I would try to give him the head & tummy scratches - keep a close watch out for signs he's going to bite. Although when I ignored Ringo's warning hiss and kept petting her chest, she lunged but didn't bite - instead holding onto my finger as if saying "that's enough!".
I wouldn't recommend trying to hold him though as he probably won't like that and might get frightened. Plenty of 1 on 1 time.
Give him treats and hold them in your open palm so he has to come to your hand.
I don't know what age they are when they go through their bluffing stage but be very patient and don't get frightened.

[avinet]

Ringnecks are rarely a touchy cuddly scratchy sort of bird - from my experience maybe 5% are that sort of bird, so his behaviour is pretty typical. The hand shy stuff is maybe just a phase he is going through - try to spend a few minutes each day when he is out of his cage doing the step-up routine. And try the food reward trick to persuade him to step on your hand when you want him to come out of the cage. Sunflower seeds usually work a treat with ringnecks if they are on a pellet diet normally.

And if all else fails you can always bring him back for a free consultation

cheers,

Mike

[meandem]

All my ringnecks are different. Some love to be scratched while others won't come near you. Howie (my Lutino) goes beserk when someone other than me goes near the cage, flaps around wildly and just won't sit still. And yet, when I walk to the cage, the first thing I get is a kiss, and then Howie holds my hand whilst I scratch him with the other. I've always thought that poor little Howie can't see properly out of those red eyes of his, but maybe he is just a good judge of character. Yoshi doesn't really like a scratch, but doesn't mind being handled. He has never bitten for any reason, he just has a really gentle soul.

I'd just keep on doing what your doing - love and patience is the best thing. I'm sure Smoothie is happy from what you are saying, I know plenty of my birds would kill for a peanut butter triangle.

[rainbowfeathers]

I think I spoke to soon lol...today Smoothie seemed a lot more willing to step on my hand when I was getting him out of the cage but I think thats because I've been spoiling him with food - both he and Barney REALLY like their snacks
I think it was my fault because I haven't been spending as much time with them until the last two days and in return I can see the difference, like I mentioned , he was a lot more willing today. So all is good, coz all the hectic moving-in business is pretty much over anyway, so I can focus on my birds again ;D

Oh Mike I wouldn't bring Smoothie back, you might fall in love with him and want to take him of me ;D

Mike, how is the albino boy going??