Taming your bird

Tame your Bird:
The bird should first be taught to stand on a thin stick or a pencil and later on the finger. Soon it will become so friendly that it will allow the owner to tickle the back of his neck, a form of caress which most parakeets like. Before long the young pupil will become so tame that it can be brought out of his cage and even though it may fly round the room, it will rapidly fly back to its trainer, stand on his/her shoulder and display its affection for her. In order to get the bird to perch on the finger a good plan is to put the forefinger across the front of the legs and press gently against the body. The bird will then have no alternative but to step on to the finger or fall off the perch. This taming process should be conducted calmly and with gentleness, in fact everything possible should be done to avoid scaring the pupil by your attentions. A fright of any kind in these early days of its tuition will retard progress considerably. Within a month the bird should be very tame, but the talking lessons can commence as soon as it is reasonably steady. You can also find the birds favorite treat (most like spray millet) and have this in your hand when you try and get it to perch on your finger. It will soon know that your hand is food and is safe to go to.

Bonding
Intensely social, wild budgies flock together by the thousands. A pet budgie that lacks an avian family will eagerly look to you for companionship. Given consistent attention and stimulation, a budgie can live happily for its entire life as a single bird. Budgies are among the easiest birds to tame, but they still require patience and empathy. Work for 15 or 20 minute intervals in a small room so you won't have to chase and scare your budgie. To maintain a good long-term rapport, be sensitive to your budgie's moods -- don't insist on playing, for example, if your budgie is eating or napping.

Stroking: If approached with proper consideration, budgies can learn to enjoy being stroked by their owners. Most budgies detest having their feet, tails and backs touched, so avoid those areas. Budgies greet each other beak first, so start by lightly stroking your budgie's beak and the surrounding feathers. Tapping your budgie's beak lightly with a fingernail parallels a friendly beak-to-beak interaction. Your budgie may like its cere, forehead and tummy stroked as well. Many budgies like their head feathers gently blown or stroked in reverse direction, but don't touch emerging pinfeathers. Your budgie may eventually respond by "preening" your hair, or nibbling your fingernail. A healthy budgie may also regurgitate as a courtship gesture.

For those who plan on taming a bird, be sure to have lots of patience and take note that it will definitely take time to tame them, don't be like the others who think that taming is as simple as ABC. And if you ever successfully tame a bird and I'm sure of you that all the patience and time that you spend in taming a bird it will definitely pay-off.

darkangel wrote:

For those who plan on taming a bird, be sure to have lots of patience and take note that it will definitely take time to tame them, don't be like the others who think that taming is as simple as ABC. And if you ever successfully tame a bird and I'm sure of you that all the patience and time that you spend in taming a bird it will definitely pay-off.

thats corRect! Taming a bird is nOT dat easy, alot of patient n time is neEdEd.

and disipline also,,

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A male wild-caught black-headed nun acquired from Arranque over a year ago. He was already an adult upon acquisition.
He likes to sing a melancholic tune but stops his singing abruptly the moment I enter the room.
This is one of the less-than-10 good shots (after over an hour of photo shoot and over a hundred photos).


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The parakeet (left) was acquired from a bird peddler.
The diamond dove (right) was acquired from Cartimar.
Both were wild on purchase.


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The colasisi (left) was acquired from a peddler. Wild on purchase.
The peachface lovebird (right) was from Ben Sy. I hand-fed/-raised her.


Only the lovebird required no taming sessions.
The parakeet, colasisi and lovebird look different now (since they're older now).
I tamed two colasisis simultaneously (both acquired from the same peddler), but the other one died of cold weather.
The other one (the deceased) became tame like a handraised bird after only one taming session (that lasted for around an hour). Unusual. Sayang.


Most of my birds now are recidivists (becoming wild again) from lack of constant handling with the exception of the peachface lovebirds and the sun conure.


I'm currently taming a violet black-masked lovebird from my own clutch. I didn't handfeed it, so I have to resort to taming.

Wow very nice! Very good in taming!

share ko lang yung baby tiel na nakuha ko.....

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Exotic1 wrote:

share ko lang yung baby tiel na nakuha ko.....

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wow naman nakuha mo lang! pwede bang makakuha din?!

_Tattoo_ wrote:

Exotic1 wrote:

share ko lang yung baby tiel na nakuha ko.....

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wow naman nakuha mo lang! pwede bang makakuha din?!

oo nakuha ko lang kaso pag dating ko ng bahay butas pala bulsa ko..... nalaglag ata yung pera ko dun sa kinuhanan ko ng bird....

Ganda ng tiel. Ganda talaga whiteface.

Taming Birds

After bringing your new pet home, let it settle for around 3 days before handling it (unless the bird you acquired is a tame one to begin with). If you’re too excited, let it settle for a few hours before handling; at the very least, introduce the bird to its room first before starting any session.

Place the bird in a room where it will be alone without any bird companion. This also serves another purpose: Quarantine. If there is another bird, the other bird preferably should be of a different breed and placed far apart from the bird to be tamed. You and you alone should feed and handle the bird. You want the bird to bond with you, not with another bird or person.

Choose a small room where the bird cannot fly around too much and hide. I use the comfort room (CR) for the initial taming sessions. Close the toilet bowl because the bird may land on and swim in the microbe-enriched water. It’s not fun to disinfect and live through the foul smell. Close all doors and windows.

Retrieve the bird from the cage and let it fly. I do not let the bird come out voluntarily. The bird may never come out.

When the bird gets tired of flying, try to pick it up with your finger by sliding a finger from its chest down the legs. This will encourage the bird to perch on the finger.

The bird should be facing you, so it will learn to recognize you. Talk to it in a soothing voice. Sing to it. Facial and voice recognition helps in the long run.

The session preferably should not last for more than 30 minutes. I usually start with 10-minute sessions for the first week. (I did try taming a colasisi by having a 1-hour session, more or less, for its first interaction with me. It became very, very tame the next day such that it would not mind others handling him. It was very wild on purchase. Very unusual and endearing bird.)

Once the bird begins to perch on its own upon presentation of your finger, begin having sessions outside the CR. The bird should now have sessions where you’re staying whatever you’re doing, e.g. watching TV, eating, reading, etc. I occasionally let them fly around the CR while I’m taking a bath.

Daily sessions are preferred, but non-daily sessions with regular intervals of a day or two are acceptable.

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Those are the basic steps I use for any bird species of small to medium size (finch, flowerpecker to conure size). I learned the basics from Helen White, a long-time diamond dove breeder and fancier. Check out her taming page here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The first bird I ever tamed is a very wild diamond dove.

Clipping a bird also helps because it will be easier to let it perch on a finger, but I prefer to tame first before clipping. I was against clipping until the Holy Week of 2010. Check the Net for clipping instructions.

Food treats also help, although I haven’t used treats in taming so far. I plan to… soon.

While taming may be considered a form of training, I consider myself as nothing more than a tamer; that is, I’m a tamer, not a trainer. Once the bird becomes tame, I don’t train it to do other things. I do discourage play-biting by saying “No!” and/or putting the bird back to its cage when it gets nippy.

Taming usually takes weeks and months. I had the privilege of acquiring a colasisi that became tame in just one session, and I hope to encounter such a phenomenal bird again someday.

===

Notable things which are true in my experience but may not be true consistently:

The wilder the bird, the easier to tame.

A bird without any sign of feather plucking, especially head plucking, is easier to tame. Birds with plucked head feathers are more psychologically traumatized, and this ordeal renders the birds more resistant to taming.

If possible, place a hand inside the cage to choose a pet bird. The easier-to-tame ones will not readily bite if held. A bird that sits still on the wood perch without minding your hand may bite viciously if held, while a bird that flies frantically at the sight of your hand may not attack at all once firmly held (but may still try its best to get away). I’ll go for the frantic flyer anytime.

Again, these may not be true all the time.

Thank you so much.

===

Trev Baytan, M.D.
June 2010
Philippine Exotic Pets

trev wrote:

Ganda ng tiel. Ganda talaga whiteface.

thanks sir!

Moments with a black-headed nun

Here's a link to the video:
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Target (clicker) training with my violet black-masked lovebird mentioned earlier.

Here's a link to the video:
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Here's a video link to a good introduction to clicker training by Dr. Ellen Cook:
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The page also has other videos related to bird training.

tama! nice sir!

wow my thread pala on taming birds, sayang di ko narecord mga baby martinez ko nong 3weeks old sila, naacquire ko po sila siguro around 4 to7days old lang sila, as in no single feather at di pa dumidilat mga mata kala mo mga sisiw nakasunod sa inahin nong mga 1 month na, at ng mag umpisa na silang makalipad, mga 10 to 15 meters lang at babalik agad pakapit sa katawan ko sabay akyat sa balikat kung san sya pwedeng tumayo, mga 2mons old na sila ngayon, napansin ko lang by 8 years on keeping this kinds of birds, di porket tinotoka ang kamay mo ay galit na sila, parang don nila naipapakita ang affection o siguro pagkilala sa taong nagsusubo at nagpalaki sa kanila, di naman sila tao na pwedeng himasin kamay mo by their feathers, macocompare mo talaga sila sa mga old
wild caught na martinez, malayo kapa kumakaripas na sila palayo, pero mga 2months old ko marinig lang tunog ng motor ko, kumakaripas na palapit kung wala sana sa cage, they still eat food on my hand, at hindi sila takot sa tao


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Hi! Would you know where i can get a clicker for training?

rbi171008 wrote:

Hi! Would you know where i can get a clicker for training?

Bro. be carefuL w/ regards to ur post.
The rule said Do not BUMP threads that has been inactive for more than six(6) months...

There's a lot of info here so u can search Have fun learning. . .