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+--- Thread: How to make a bird become attached to you? (/Thread-How-to-make-a-bird-become-attached-to-you)
How to make a bird become attached to you? - Ram - 07-11-2012
I have owned several parakeet when I was a kid. None of them was that attached to me. Well if they were really attached then they wouldn't disappear after they broken the cage. From some youtube videos I have seen, these birds can be cage free at home. That will require some serious "attachment".
I also read somewhere said that if you get a single bird, it is easier to have the bird attached to you, because if you have two birds they will more likely be attached to each other. Is it true?
How did you make your birds become attached to you?
How old was the bird when first arrived?
How long did it take?
RE: How to make a bird become attached to you? - laurasav - 07-12-2012
It's true that a single bird will have a better attachment to you than if it's with others of its own kind. Our first few parakeets were just gotten one at a time, and they were very friendly with us. Our first one was great! He would sit with us when we watched TV, loved walking inside our cartoon glasses (we had collected Smurf drinking glasses at the time), ate with us, etc. When we got several at a time and put them in a new, bigger cage, they weren't as friendly as the single ones we'd had before them. Two were still pretty good, but the one white one we had with them (named her "Spook"; the blue one was "Sky" and the yellow one was "Sunshine") was very unfriendly. She never warmed up to us, ever.
We got all of our birds very young. The two parrots we have now are both very friendly. You have to spend a lot of time with birds and be consistent about it though. If I miss spending even a few minutes with my Quaker in the morning, she'll hold a grudge and will either refuse to come out of her cage, even into the next day, or will go into attack mode. She'll shake her toys menacingly, make lunges at me, and if I get too close, she'll bite to draw blood. The Eclectus is more forgiving, but can also get rather moody at times. He'll give warning pushes first before getting annoyed and biting when he wants to be left alone because of some upset I've seemed to cause him. Every bird is different, even amongst the same species. Some take longer to befriend than others. You just need to be patient and consistent. Some birds may never warm to a human.
RE: How to make a bird become attached to you? - Ram - 07-13-2012
Is there something the owner can do to have a newly arrived bird become warmer to him or her?
I mean beside feeding, giving water, cleaning, what else can be done by the owners? As new birds are typically shy, and they might be nervous when they first arrive.
RE: How to make a bird become attached to you? - laurasav - 07-14-2012
Before you even buy the bird, see if you can get it to sit on your finger without it biting. This is more usual for the parrot birds, rather than smaller more "flighty" birds though at a pet store. If you can find a bird that isn't a mean, vicious biter, your battle of taming is already won! But once you get the bird home, after a day or so to get it used to its new home & cage, you need to keep trying to coax it out and onto your finger. Some birds don't appreciate your hand invading their space, so allow it to come out of the cage on its own if it looks like it doesn't want you coming at it inside the cage. Use the "Step up!" command and push your finger gently but firmly into its chest to make it step onto your finger. It's probably going to bite at first - just resign yourself to it. Tell it "no biting," but don't make a big deal about it. A bird likes drama & excitement, so if you flip out getting bitten, it's going to want to keep doing it for your reaction! If it bites too hard, leave it alone, maybe just cover the cage and keep telling it "no biting, bad bird," in a calm but forceful tone of voice so it knows you mean business, but you're not being a "drama queen." Keep trying to get the bird to come out on your finger though, using treats and lots & lots of hyper praise when it DOES sit calmly on your finger. Then you can sing songs to it - they love being sung to, talked to, making kissy faces to it, etc. :-) Pretty soon you & the bird will be best buddies. It just takes determination, patience and some dedicated work. Some birds take to their humans quickly, some take much, much longer.