Have I blown my chances for a relationship with my new IRN?

TropicalAussie · Post by **TropicalAussie** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:48 pm

Hi everyone! How excited am I to find this site!!!! It's exactly what I need. I became the new owner of an 18month old Blue male IRN about a month ago. He's so beautiful but unfortunately not tame as yet. I have been trying to tame him over the past month and I now know that I was doing it totally wrong. I was chasing him around trying to catch him when he flew away (he's clipped so he doesn't get hit by the ceiling fans that are always on). I'm so lucky he didn't die of a heart attack. I wasn't letting him trust me on his own terms fitst. I was trying to force myself on him, in a loving way of course. I now know that I need to step back and let him get used to my presence and sit by his cage talking to him, offering him treats and letting him wander outside his cage on his own.

I have two other birds, a lovebird and a miniature lorikeet whom my fiance tamed and brought up from a baby and I'd love to have the relationship with him (his name's Iago by the way) as I do with the other birds.

My biggest fear now is that I've done too much damage to our relationship for him ever to trust me, I'll always be this huge monster that used to scare the life out of him.

Does anyone think I will ever have a trusting relationship with Iago or have I blown my chances.

https://www.youtube.com/user/kingtutone · Post by **ringneck** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:50 pm

TropicalAussie

Hey, welcome to this site and we are glad to have you join our community. Don’t stress about you damaging your relationship with your ringneck. Ringnecks are very forgiving creatures and can easily be repaired through patience and food.

It’s obvious you have been doing lots of research and it sounds like you are very excited about your new bird. As you said, keep talking to him and gradually try to entice him on your hands. You might start looking into positive reinforcement—this is a great technique that will help speed the process up.

Please keep us updated on your progress and remember to take things a step at a time—for you have 25 or more years with your new friend. :wink:

Best of luck, :wink:

Imran Chaudhry

P.S. Please keep us updated!

Donna · Post by **Donna** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:35 pm

Tropical You haven't damaged him at all!! He is still young and you have lots of time to correct his behavior. Time and patience is the key. I have made sweet birds out of some monsters. The good thing about your bird is he is still considered a baby and babies are much easier to tame then a bird that has years of expereince of being total but heads

Good luck and keep us posted we are all here to help.

Donna

Post by **Lauren** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:08 pm

Hello and welcome to our flock. Glad you found us!

You have not damaged him at all. As Donna said time and patience is the key! May not happen overnight but it will happen.

Ive had my Yoda since November and hes only just starting to trust me. What I have been doing is 'helping' Yoda when he wants to go somewhere but cant quite get there because he is clipped (within boundrys though). So he relys on me more. If he falls I will catch him. :wink:

Sounds like your doing a great job. Your boy is still young and you can always build a relationship. Just remember time and patience.

TropicalAussie · Post by **TropicalAussie** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 3:58 pm

Thank you so much for your replies and support guys. I'm so glad that Iago and i have a chance to have a great relationship. I spent some time sitting in front of his cage yesterday, sometimes talking to him, sometimes just reading a magazine. He fluttered a bit a first and then calmed down.

I eventually had his cage door open and he hid behind some toys for awhile but eventually sat in the middle of his perch, right infront of the cage door. I didn't put my hand in or anything (one step at a time, right?

) But I was glad he was okay with it. One thing that shocked me was before i open his door, I had his afternoon feed sitting next to me cooling down before I gave it to him and when it was cool, I slid his door up a little bit and slid the bowl into the middle of his cage and he didn't move (he usually flutters about his cage if I stick my hand in to change water or anything).

I took some photos of him and my other two birds to post here but I can't work out how. If anyone could tell me how to do it, I'd love to show you my babies.

Thanks again for the support.

Post by **Lauren** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:34 pm

No worries. Glad to hear things are going along nicely with Iago.

There is a sticky in the photo section on how to post pics. Or create an account at

http://www.photobucket.com (I find it the easiest)

Upload your pics onto our account.

Copy and paste the IMG code (Found under your uploaded pics) into your posts.

Look forward to seeing Iago.

TropicalAussie · Post by **TropicalAussie** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:03 pm

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t204 ... C00194.jpg

I don't know if this will work. Just testing if the photo or just the adress comes up

Post by **Lauren** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:23 pm

A small pic of your baby! Iago is so cute!

Under your pic you should see an IMG code, copy the whole code onto your post, see if that works.

TropicalAussie · Post by **TropicalAussie** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 9:07 pm

This is after he came out from behind his toy with the door open.

This is my little man Zorro. He weird but so cute. He wont eat out of his food bowl but flicks it everywhere and forrages on the ground like a chicken. And yesterday he fell asleep mid-preen with his head hung low over his chest.

This is my little princess Nibbler. She's like a two year old, love her mum and dad and isn't happy unless she's sitting on us.

Post by **Lauren** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 9:15 pm

Aww! What BEAUTIFUL fids you have! Posers! :lol:

Funny Zorro!

Thanx for shareing your pics. :wink:

Post by **kyria** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 12:52 am

You are doing just fine and have had some really good advice here

My kai was 11 months old when I brought him home, he too was not all that tame. We worked with him slowly, making approaches slowly. A Hand still in the cage to begin with, moving in closer and staying still, closer and closer, letting him get use to the fact that the hand and we were not going to hurt him. Offering treats to him from our fingers, slowly each day.

Step by step and over a good 6 months before he was confident enough with us to come out. Eventually his own curiousity got the better of him. We kept his cage in our general sitting area, so humans were a part of his everyday. We became his flock and he eventually learnt to trust us.

With older untame birds its a slow process of gaining their trust but eventually you will have a real treasure on your hands. You may never have a cudly bird that likes to be touched but you will have him sitting on your hands and giving you kisses with time and persistence.

Keep alert to things that make him flutter/scared, eg. shadows, sudden noises, brooms, peeked caps, red or bright coloured tops, etc. and avoid having them around him.

And , keep both his wings clipped

:wink:

You have a beautiful looking bird there darlin

CatsChair · Post by **CatsChair** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 6:04 am

What beautiful fids! Glad to have you onboard.

TropicalAussie · Post by **TropicalAussie** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 6:46 pm

Thanks for your comments guys. We only have one of his wings clipped, that's all I've ever done on my birds in the past. I mentioned clipping both to my partner and he said that they can learn to fly just as well with two wings clipped than both unclipped. He said having only one makes it so they can't get the same lift off both. Is this true? If not, then why do you need to clip both? I want him to be able to fly short distances (around the lounge room) but not fly up.

Post by **Lauren** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:45 pm

Clipping a birds wings just takes away their ability to gain height. It is best to clip both wings (first 5 flight feathers on each) as clipping one wing can make them unbalanced and they can hurt themselves. Clipping a birds wings is optional but best for taming and training and keeping them trained. Also for safety. Being a bird owner you have to be extra cautious anyway.

Personally, My Jibs is not clipped but was the first couple of years. He is 7 this year and is still tame, trained and I can easily handle him. He also loves his morning flight around the house for exercise. This is why I hav'nt clipped him. Ive clipped my 6 month old for training. But the lil bugga can still fly perfectly well. They are very strong flyers!

TropicalAussie · Post by **TropicalAussie** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 12:05 am

Thanks for that. I'll have to put it to my partner tonight because he's the one who does the clipping.

Post by **kyria** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 3:00 am

Yep definately both wings.. IRN's need to keep their balance especially for landing as they fly down off things. clipping one wing will throw their balance off and they will land sideways, causing injury.

TropicalAussie · Post by **TropicalAussie** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:54 pm

Hi Guys,

Just giving you an update. Iago's doing ok. I've sat by his cage quite a few times now with his dor open. I also slowly creep my hand inside, inch by inch, VERY slowly. He doesn't seem to like it very much. Actually, he doesn't seem as bothered if my palm is down, but if my palm is up, he gets very agitated.
He started to breathe heavy last time I did it from running around and climbing around to get away from it so I don't know if I should do that again.
I just found out we're moving next week to live with a friend for a couple of months to save some money. Will the move and change of scenery hurt or perhaps help our progress?

Post by **Lauren** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 4:31 pm

Good to hear!

A few years ago I had to leave Jibby with my dad while I worked interstate. I feel bad hes moved around soo much and I didnt see him for a year. I did fly home to see him every few months though. But it hasn't affected him at all. I don't think it can harm them, but just make Iago as comfortable as you can in the new surroundings. :wink:

TropicalAussie · Post by **TropicalAussie** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 7:43 pm

Thanks for that, I feel a little better now about him moving.

I finally found something that iago can't exist (I was trying so find something to get him to come to me). It's oranges, I put some in his cage for the first time last night and within a minute it was gone!! But of course it had to be a food that they can only have occasionally!!!!

So I can't use it for taming & training. But I'll definately have to make sure I try to give it to him by hand everytime he gets it though.

Post by **kyria** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 9:45 pm

Glad to hear you are making progress. Time and patience !

it will take months but it will happen, well done !

Post by **Lauren** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 10:01 pm

I wish my 2 would eat citrus fruits! They hate em.

Ive been using peanut butter or toast for training or good behaviour. My fids go nuts over them. But of course its an occasional food and they only get a portion the size of my thumb tip. :wink:

Good luck with your training.

Post by **kyria** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 4:32 am

Peanut butter !! yeah ! mine go nuts for that too

TropicalAussie · Post by **TropicalAussie** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 8:26 pm

Peanut butter hey? I'm going to have to try that.

Post by **Lauren** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 8:45 pm

Ohh yeeah! As soon as my fids see the yellow lid of the jar they go CRAZY. Its a hit. They'll do anything for peanut butter, crunchy or smooth!