Blog: www.flock-talk.tumblr.com If you have any comments, questions or concerns please shoot them my way! Background Music: www.bensound.c... Intro music : www.freesound.o... www.freesound.o...
This is an excellent video! You clearly explaining counter-conditioning and the importance of being patient. Thank you! My only comment to help others would be to keep sessions 15 minutes or less, then take a break for a few hours, then do another 10 or 15 minute session if you want. The reason for this is to ensure that you don't end with the bird being disinterested. It's better to end sessions with the bird greatly interested and on a positive note.
You r really good at training your bird.. I have love birds since 12 years and last september my beloved blue masked lovebird pinku passed away at the age of 11.5 years old...it was the worst thing happened to me .. He was very good at learning tricks..and was supremely loyal..
Great demonstration of the concept. I used this similar approach along with target training to introduce and get my cockatiel to take himself into his new carrier, which he wouldn't go any closer than 2 meters to before flying away from it. I will actually have to train him to let me put him in there as he tends to fly off when I do at the moment, but if he's in the mood for it, he will happily take himself in there if I ask him to earn a treat and I'll also put a little seed in his bowl once he's in as a further reward and to get him comfortable being in there. I know that this concept is imperative when it comes to harness training and I have searched high and low trying to find a comprehensive breakdown of training a bird to accept a harness. All I've really found are people putting a harness on a bird that is already trained, putting one on a plush toy which make it look so much easier than it really is in reality. The closest one and most helpful one I found so far was with a guy with a counter conditioning start to harness training. Where you start with introducing the harness then progress to your bird putting it's head through a large loop of the harness, gradually making it smaller until they're happy putting their head through the smaller head loop. This is as far as it goes and doesn't go any further into the harness training process. Do you have any plans to demonstrate harness training from scratch which actually demonstrates the real life challenges and complications that we will need to overcome to ensure that our birds are happy or even eager to put one on? Thanks and keep up the good work, I make a point of pointing people to your videos on the Cockatiels UK Facebook group as many, like I was are new to bird ownership and training and I found them so helpful in the run up and planning before getting my Phoenix, he's proving to be a very happy, clever and capable boy.
Very educational & informative! I have a budgie that I rescued & she was TERRIFIED because she came from a really bad situation. It's been 3 months & slowly she is starting to trust me because she watches me interact with the rest of the flock. This was very helpful! THANK YOU! GOD BLESS! ❤❤❤🙏❤❤❤
Time and Patience. If you don't have these then DO NOT get a bird. I had to learn these when I got 2 lovebirds as a pair for free from family because they were spawns of Satan when I got them, always screaming, chewing everything, pooping everywhere, just creating havoc everywhere they went. It took a lot of time to get them used to me and my room and everything around it, I had times where I just wanted to sell them because I was so tired of chasing them away from things they got into, but I've worked and am still working to have a symbiotic relationship with them. They're chilling on my door snuggled up next to each other right now as I type this, I'm so glad I didn't give up on them and they never gave up on me as cheesy as it sounds. I've learned so much about myself from living with them instead of forcing them to live how I waned them to.
This is needed so much, talk about a journey. Getting a bereaved male plumhead, i am not expecting an easy journey, but am sure your videos will be a huge help. Lovely big dose of common sense. Thanks from London.
Great video, very informative! TBH, at the start of the video, I was thinking that maybe you were reading too much into her small reactions (I’m not as good at reading their body language as you and I’ve seen some videos of people narrating birds emotions that doesn’t match the behavior the bird was displaying), but at 11:52 it was very clear that she was thinking exactly what you said she was. Avian behavior is really amazing, thank you very much for helping us understand it better!
Amazing video, thank you! I have recently gotten a young peachfaced lovebird and he’s pretty skittish, so this was helpful :) He is afraid of my hands, but he is very food driven so with a lot of waiting he has gotten on my arm for a treat
I ended up with a green cheeked conure by chance. He is so so skiddish! Not food drivin at all. He’s afraid of hands! I just keep watching your videos! 💕💕💕
@flock-Talk - Please keep the videos coming! I love your teachings. It's helped me so much. Thank you! Hope we keep seeing your videos pop up! Many thanks!
Oh YAY!!! I thought maybe this was an old video but it's new! I'm sooooo excited to see you!! I named my rescue parrotlet after Mia, kind of. She's a ham so I named her Mia Hamm but I remember watching your videos a couple years ago and remembered your Mia and thought it was a cute name. Glad to see you!! Hope you are doing well!!!
You are such a wonderful trainer ❤! Thanks for showing us how to read body laguage and what is the correct amount of pressure to use. Also the information on how their brain works during training. I'm learning so much! THANK YOU!
I recently got a parrotlet. He was not hand trained and was never fed anything but seeds. I've trained him to know step-up and step-down, however, I can't get him to eat any fresh foods and I can't get him to eat treats for training. Do you have any tips on this? I'd be so grateful! Thanks! (Also, I'm glad you're back!)
I am an Emotional Freedom Techniques Practitioner trained in Conscious EFT, which is a trauma-informed approach. I also volunteer with parrots at an aviary. What you are doing with Mia is a sneak away and sneak up technique that we use in Conscious EFT with people. (We don't get treats, though! 😋) It warms my heart to see such trauma informed training. Thank you.
Thank you again. I was so ready to make mistakes. For example thinking they would feel safer in their cage when I wanted to get closer to my new birds; Will follow the Flock ;)
Great video! I'm trying to teach my cockatiel to accepting petting from my hands. I'd love to see an updated bird room tour. Looks like you've made some upgrades ;-)
my birds: scared of foraging toy, bells, swing and perches wrapped in rope me: WHY MUST YOU DO THIS TO ME my birds: it must be birb approved me:do that yourself my birds: HECC NAH
Good advice, I have a kakariki who doesn't like hands, (he needs "very" regular nail trims, so unfortunately he has to be caught regularly as he's not tame, to make it worse his first capture led to an eye swab from the vet!) What I'm doing with him (now I think/hope I have the nail growth under control) is purely target training, I'm getting him to step onto me once or twice per session at the moment, and gradually building it up from there, very important point though, I'm trying to make sure it's not about step up, it's about target, so at this stage I'm not rewarding step up, only target, I want him stepping on to my hand without hesitation before I actually train step up, this will make it a lot easier to train, I'm spending a lot of time at stage one with this bird because stage one is confidence building and that's what he needs. I've struggled on for an entire year because I forgot about the first lesson! I thought I went back to the start of his training, which for him would've just been target, but actually I was trying to start a few stages in at target, usually onto my hand! I literally forgot to build confidence by asking him to just target, and gradually introducing my hand!
I brought home 2 already paired lovebirds, they are afraid of hands (the previous owner would grab them in the cage to clip their wings) so even giving them treats from my hand is impossible. Could you make a video teaching new owners how to train new birds to overcome their fear of hands? Should they be separated for training? Thank you, you are amazing!
i have been getting my bird to go near carrots using a target stick so he isn't very scared of it when its next to him but he hasn't thought to eat it or try to eat it. it's the same with lettuce. how do i get him to start eating it.
Try presenting it in different ways, like finely chopped or blended up. Eat a little bit of it from his bowl so he can see that it's edible. I like just casually eating some near them, and then breaking off a small, seed-sized piece (from a portion that my might hadn't touched) and offering it to the bird (if they eat from hands). If this is the first veggie you're trying with him, I'd recommend baked sweet potato over carrot. It's a preference of many birds, and the mashed consistency will be helpful once he tries it, since you can slowly mix in blended greens and that way he'll have to eat a little bit of greens in order to get the sweet potato. Go for darker greens than lettuce, like spinach, broccoli, green beans, etc. Those three are my top recommendations since they don't have a really strong or bitter taste.
how do you help your birds overcome the fear of hands? my bird is scared of hands coz she used to be left out on her own , she is only picked up to put her in the cage , this makes her hate seeing peoples hands
Hi! I've been watching your videos on training birds. I have a question I couldn't finding an answer to on your channel. How do I give my new baby bird treats? She is scared of my hands. She will touch a target stick already and step up voluntarily (without force) on a stick and on my finger, but she won't take treats from my fingers. So the only way is to give her a bite from the whole millet stem but I heard you saying this is frustrating for her because she thought she'd get the entire thing.. Do you have any advice for me? Thanks a lot!
My baby budgies are here and we are building on the hand taming that their breeder did. This should be helpful thank you! Going to do some calming with them. They sometimes do step up onto my fingers and get some spinach, but often fly home. I just say "fly home" when they leave. Then hopefully they will learn that as a "command"
I'm getting my bird in about three weeks and I’m freaking out! I’m getting scared more and more each day. At this point, the bird will need to train ME.
I really enjoy these videos. I think she has parrotlets??? And I think that the tricks the birds accomplished in her other videos on every other channel only "big birds" can do. Also shes super good at giving advice♡
I just purchased a pre-owned parrotlet that is suppose to be about 3 yrs old. He freaks out as soon as he sees my hand. Rather than putting my hand in his cage ( cage is left open most of the day as I'm always there) i wait until he's flown down off the cage to attempt to pick him up. He will not accept treats from my hand. I've been working with him for two weeks but never push it as I don't want to stress him out. I've been able to hold him and he bites but not hard. I don't know how to get him to be less afraid. What can I do?
My pacific parrotlet does not like to perch. He also doesn’t care to be picked up in the day time, but when the sun goes down he likes to sit on my shoulder close to my neck? He actually climbs up the door on his cage and leans forward until I get close enough for him to walk onto my shoulder. :) He will sit up there all night, and acts like he didn’t want to go to bed lol. Hope he is happy
My bird aggressively grabs the treat sometimes, like he wants to bite. Should I still give it? He earned it by doing the thing I asked. But I don’t like the way he angrily grabs for it
Actually somewhat false! You can only reinforce a fear response by proving that what they were afraid of is scary. If I gave you a chocolate for every step you took on a bridge it wouldn’t encourage your fear to earn chocolate. You’d be more motivated to walk across the bridge because of the presence of chocolate. Over time you’d walk across the bridge enough times to not be as concerned about walking over it at all. Now if every time you stepped on a bridge I shook it, that would teach you that the bridge was scary, and continued to be traumatizing every time you stepped on it. That would worsen your fear response.
@@FlockTalk Wouldn't it mentally pair the chocolate with a fear response? With a lot of repetition, people's fear can be triggered by a perfectly ordinary object, taste, smell etc that becomes linked in their mind with a fearful event. So if you repeatedly rocked my bridge and offered me chocolate the smell or taste of chocolate might be far from reinforcing to me. Actually, this could be the answer to my weight issue now I think about it...... Behaviours you reinforce, you get more of. That includes fearful behaviours, so you want the bird to display calm and then reinforce. My opinion, anyhow.
Do you hand feed all the birds ? Or leave food for them in the cage ? If you’re going to train a bird would you recommend leaving food in the cage for them or not ?
What are you using for rewards? I just got a new conure from a pet store. Hes so terified of hands which i expected having 2 pet store budgies before. Hes good as long as we do slow smooth movements. Luckily i have lots of experience with this. Usually i use millet but they like to try to steal it all so maybe i should try using single pieces instead of letting them bite it off. When do yoy recommend starting training? I usually start afted they have settked and I can see they are freely preening and making certain noises like beak grinding that i know is a i feel safe sound/actions.
Could u help me with your advice? My new parrot only have him 8 days she's 2 1/2 years old Indian ringneck....she bites all the time inside the cage and outside...she is territorial of the kitchen counter and if I open cover doors she goes mad and wants to see what's inside specially the washing machine. But I am afraid of her as she doesn't trust me and she bites if a hand is near her. What can I do? Did I give her to much freedom from the beginning? Should I leaver in the cage and take her out for shortest periods until she gets use to us... I would appreciate your help as I am frustrated and I don't know what to do. Thanks.
Thank you for the tips!! I would like to ask you how can you practice with each one of them at a time. I have two Forpus. I am practicing many of the tricks you teach but it is very hard to keep them calm while I practice with the other.
My birds would start flying away like maniacs and sit on the top of fans. What should I do about that, I don't want to clip their wings. Also my female one didn't need much training she just started sitting on my fingers inside the cage and I want to transition it outside. I've had her for four months along with another male one. The male one is really smart and does what the female one does. She started eating from my hand and then the male one( but learns things on his own as well) so basically I want to know what should I do in the case of the female one.
Love the video. Learned alot, but what if the parrots is uncomfortable with you? I just got my Conure yesterday. He is only 6 months old. He seems scared with me just being near the cage and not even putting my hand towards him
Step 1. Find something your bird is afraid of, or something that stresses them out. Step 2. Put the thing far away from them Step 3. Have the bird look at the thing, then give them a treat Step 4. Keep putting the thing closer and closer and have the bird look at it each time. (Make sure it is not showing signs of fear or stress) Step 5. Keep practicing with your bird. Getting your bird to not be scared can take time so don’t give up!
Do you have any pointers on how to get my budgie to eat more veggies and fruit. I think she was on a all seed diet at the pet store and she doesn't like the idea of eating heathy.
We rescued a little parrotlet from someone who’s house was getting way too hot, unfortunately it was too late for his partner who had already died from it hence she was giving him away☹️🥺 he’s just over a year old I think, and he’s never really been handled. I was hoping to watch this and get him used to my hands, but I’ve already seen the first step includes giving them treats. This is unfortunately impossible for me as I can’t even get my hands near him without him freaking out. Please could you do a video on how to get them used to your hands, without there being the step of give them treats, as he won’t come to me for treats in the first place, if you could that would be great☺️ thank you:))
Hi! Thanks so much for your helpful videos. We are about to adopt a hand-fed baby Quaker parrot. I'm trying to sort out in advance what we should do to get her back in her cage when she is just getting used to her new home, after we let her out of her cage. She probably won't be trained to step up yet, so... what should we do if she doesn't respond to us trying to tempt her back into her cage with treats? I hate the idea of grabbing her to put her back in. Thank you!
Hey I have a question my parrot does not like my hands or any other object. She is still scared and it's been 4 months so can you please help. We also have tried slowly approaching her but she just rans away. Please help.
Hello I have a 3 month old Ringneck parrot she’s coming up to me very closely but has a hand fear sometimes she goes in her cage other times she doesn’t I don’t usually catch her I try to let her go back in works sometimes others she’s stubborn I had to catch her a couple of times I have since stopped this and have a target trainer she plays with me but I am also mindful she doesn’t want me too close I do have a a clicker and will start training soon any advice on the cage situation ? I have decided against clipping her wings 😊
FLOCK TALK HeLP ME My bird isn’t scared of hands like I can give her scritches but I can’t teach her to step up because she doesn’t find motivation to step up She only goes on my body if she need to like if she is stuck or can tove
How can you teach the trick of shaking your head? I blow on his head and he does nothing. You help me? Thank you very much for all your videos, my Niko has learned a lot thanks to you. I adore you! I am Spanish, my English is thanks to the translator.
Hi, I really love your videos, and I've been begging my parents for a parrotlet, but my mother thinks all the birds are loud and annoying. Are parrotlets relatively quiet? And should I go for a male or a female?
Yes, parrotlets are very quiet. They don’t make as much noise as budgies or other birds do. If you want to teach your parrotlets to speak, you should get a male as they are more likely to mimic sounds than females, though they can a bit more aggressive. Other than that, it really is your choice.
They are loud. All birds make noise but parrotlets have incredibly powerful lungs for being so small. And get 2, not one. Birds lives in flocks of at least 2 so they need company from a bird of the same specie. If you don't want babies, get 2 males or 2 females. Preferably 2 brothers or sisters as they already know each other. 2 birds are less noisy than one too. A lonely bird would spend their days calling for you and being anxious.
I had a Parrotlet that looked just like Mia, her name was Cielo (Sky in Spanish). She passed away after only 2 years with me. I'm so scarred to get another one now 😔
My parrotlet goes everywhere with me but while I work at home he stays on the desk then he starts fluffing up his feathers making a showy display and bites. Unsure why he’s doing that he is normally is really friendly
When I let my budgie out of his cage he flies around instantly to a mirror on a wall and aggressively looks at his shadow or reflection. He totally ignores me and bites me if I get close. Should I clip his wings so he can play with me and learn how fun it is before he can fly away
A parrotlet can be okay by itself, right? I want to get only one in the future, but all the videos I see have two or more parrotlets together (not in the same cage, though).
I really like your tutorial , training videos. I have a pair of lovebirds. They were around 7 months old when I adapted them from a family, who had no time for them anymore. They will be 3 years old in August. Their name is Houdini and Bess. Houdini is easy to train but Bess is still very skidis. I know Bess was hand trained by the previous owner and they were really bonded, do you think that is why she is afraid of me? What suggestions do you have for me to able to train her easier and not be so afraid from me. Thanks
Can this work for a harness? I want to harness train my cockatiel and of course he has to be comfortable with the harness, but would this training be appropriate for that?
How can I help my bird not be afraid of people in my house, my cat and my dog (there's also a snake but she's never going near it). My dog barks a lot and my cat has a habit of killing small birds and bringing them to my doorstep. If you have a video to help me with that or any recommendations, I'd greatly appreciate it.
@@boogerrrrr Yes I know, but I cant shut my cat out, I'm his owner. He hasn't attacked her and I'm able to do some training while he's in my room with me. he's showed no interest in her but I know that doesn't mean he wont try in the future.
Hi, we buyed a parrot they said he is 4 monts but 2 monts later we bring him to another place en they look to his ring en said he is 3 years old he is scared en bites only is it possible to make him tame?
Whoa, back the bird bus up! Our birds are too scared to approach us out of a cage. We get them home and don’t know how to get them to the point that you have Mia. How do we get that wild baby bird to the point Mia is at, after we get them home? I see nothing on your channel addressing this. This video is as far back to helping tame your bird as I can find. 😐
I do mention this at the end of the video, for aviary/ untamed birds the act of you leaving is reinforcing. You would approach the enclosure and find the zone where they can see you and present extremely small changes in their body language, wait for the calmness to return and just back up outside of their threshold (or completely out of sight depending on the bird). When they’re afraid they’re telling you that they want you to leave, giving them what they want in that situation is the primary reinforcer.
There's probably not much she could do for this video. From what I can tell she's recording in her parrot's room which is a large open space not dedicated recording meaning there's no way to install sound dampeners to reduce the echo.
