HOW TO TAME A SCARED BIRD
This blog has moved to Facebeak’s very own website. But you can still read this guide at thefacebeak.com Here’s a little excerpt of what to expect…
Below is my method for taming a frightened bird. However, before we begin it is important to answer a few common questions:
“If I just handle my bird regularly, will it become tame?
No! If someone punched and tackled you to the ground, would you like them more because they kept doing it? No! Forcing a bird to get used to something (termed “flooding”) will never work unless you are highly in tune with reading your bird’s body language.
Being held and confined is the MOST terrifying position for a bird because they can’t use their primary defence mechanism: flight. When we forcefully handle our birds or restrict their movement they see humans as a negative experience. That’s the opposite of what we want! We want to reassure our birds that any experience with us is a positive one, that they are safe and able to make choices. We want them to CHOOSE to stay with us because they know they will have a great time with us.
“I bought a hand-tamed bird, so why is it scared of me? “
Buying a “hand-tamed” bird does not necessarily mean that your bird is ok with being handled. Just because it doesn’t bite doesn’t mean that is LIKES being touched.
As with any animal, we need to look at the body language of the animal. Sure you may be able to grab your bird out of the cage, but does it cower and duck away from your hand? Is it shivering the whole time it is held? If your bird is not completely okay with you handling it, every time you handle it you will be reinforcing a negative experience.
Once your bird realizes it can bite it will soon realize that it can stop the ‘negative experience’ by biting.
TAMING A FRIGHTENED BIRD
This is the method to train your parrot that I used to retrain an aviary bird that was terrified of humans. It works, but you must exercise patience. DO NOT rush it or it only won't work. It took me about two weeks from stage 1 where the bird would fly to the other side of the cage if I came within two meters of the cage, to stage 2 where the bird would happily step onto my hand from the cage. (If you have already been forcing your bird out of its cage while it is scared, it may take you a little longer to regain that trust and replace those negative experiences.)
For this parrot training technique to work, you need to determine your bird's flight distance. All animals have a flight distance (think fight or flight) – a point at which you come too close they will run (or fly) away. So to determine your bird's flight distance you must look to see how close it will let you get to its cage before it moves away.
STEP 1
Approach the cage calmly and slowly. Don’t make any sudden noises movements with your arms etc. Avoid eye contact. It may make you appear like a predator. (At this stage it is a good idea to keep the cage in an area that you do not walk past regularly so that you only approach the cage for training and feeding). As soon as you see your bird show signs of DISCOMFORT, immediately stop where you are. What are the signs of discomfort?…..
To read the full guide visit thefacebeak.com