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mustii wrote:I have had him for around 2-3 weeks now.. I leave the cage open for him all the time, only at night I close it for him to sleep..
Is that a good idea or is that bad? like should I not allow him to come out all the time? even when im in university he will be out, most of the time my mum is home ... Hes got few toys hanging from the cage outside, and like a spiral Rope i have hanged that he normally stands on and play with the other toys..

I don't think there is a hard and fast rule on this... however, I am paranoid about my bird's safety and generally only let them out when I can supervise. I worry that they will get on the floor without us knowing and someone will step on them (our bird's wings are clipped) or that they'll electrocute themselves by chewing through electrical cables.... or fall in the toilet or something.... I did tell you I was paranoid right?

The other advantage to only letting him out of the cage sometimes is that he will know that he has to rely on you to come out of the cage... For example, with my two, Charlie will sit at the door when he sees me of a morning or an afternoon waiting for me to open the door. He will always hop on my hand to get out. On the odd occasion that they don't come out on my hand, I generally don't let them out at all... I usually go back to them in about 5 minutes, and they are then ready to hop out on my hand. Doing it this way, they look forward to seeing me.

mustii wrote:I want to start getting to bond with him, and make him enjoy being with me. I always give him treats and praise when he comes on my hand.. However he wont step on any surfaces if I try and put him down, only if its like a perch kind of thing. if I try to put him down on the table he wont he will just crawl up my arm and stay on my shoulder, (then its nearly impossible to get him down again, i would have to go near the cage then he will jump off) .. I would llike to start teaching him tricks and like make him bond with me more.. maybe allowing me to touch him ( scratch him or pet him a little) ..

Generally, birds will be reluctant to step onto flat surfaces. I just bought a table t-perch. When I want to put them on a bench or something, I will put the t-perch there and they are happy to sit there. I also have a couple of suction cup perches that I place in the shower and on our glass door. They are happy to sit there. They also have a birdie gym play area.

I use the gym area to teach ours tricks... and they definitely do bond you closer to the bird. I'm not sure that all birds will like being touched... it may just be the way I'm trying to go about it... but with our two, only the female seems to like it.

The turnaround is a good starting trick. I have found that my birds love learning new things... and it does deepen the bond. (I've written about how to teach a bird to turnaround in other areas of the forum... do a search to get more information).

mustii wrote:(Also I do have a clicker, I havent used it with him before, and I actually dont really know how this clicker training works)

I don't use a clicker... mostly because I think it's hard to hold the clicker in one hand and give treats with the other and interact with your bird all at the same time... but the theory behind the clicker is that the clicking sound signals to the bird that they have done something good (which you follow up with a treat). The clicker sounds acts as a bridge between doing the good thing and receiving the reward... that is, you click the clicker the second the bird does what you want... they then know that the reward is coming. It's important to let the bird immediately that they have done something right... if they don't get this signal immediately, then they will attach the appropriate behaviour to whatever they were doing the instant you give them the treat.

Usually a clicker comes with a target. The idea being that you train the bird to follow the target... so your first clicker exercise might be getting them to follow the target for a few seconds... You click the clicker when your bird does it and immediately follow up with a reward... You can then get the bird to follow it a little longer... and then click the clicker and follow up with a reward. Once they have learned to follow the target, you can then train them to do all sorts of things using the target (such as a turnaround).

As an alternative to using the clicker, you could develop a signal for doing something good (eg. saying "good bird") and you could use your fist as the target.

I hope that helps.

Good luck!

Ellie.

Thank you so much Ellie ... That was a great reply, I will try and do that from now.. with only letting him come out when i bring him out.. the only reason I always let him out is that I feel bad for him that hes in the cage, even that the cage is not small at all...

Safety reasons, all my electric cables I have hidden them so he wont be able to get to them even if on the floor.. and also he is in my room and both my sister and mum knows to be careful when to get in.. (also I have a little sign that says Beware of the Bird, lool) ..

Okay I have my Christmas holiday coming up and I wont go back to university before february, other than 3 exams in january.. So hopefully I will start with teaching him tricks then.. I have looked for bird gyms, I havent found any ones for less than around £130 - £150 pounds, and they are not the nicest. so I have decided to make one my self, dont know how yet but hopefully will find something (anyone with ideas please tell me, I would love to see some of your ones, if any have made their own.) ..

Also please, could you tell me what the best treats i should give him while training him, I know it depends on what the bird like most, but what is small that he can eat quick, so it dont take long and distract him to continue with the training...

and if anyone have any more suggestions, and also about the food diet, please feel free, your answers will be much appreciated..

Thanks, Mustii

I give them different treats.. but most often I use granulated nuts. You can buy them that way from the supermarket - so they take no preparation, they last a long time, they're really small and there not something you'd want as a part of their regular diet anyway.

I used to feel that way about their cage... until I read something that said that their cage is their home... They feel comfortable in it and it is "their" space... After I read that, I didn't feel too bad about letting them spend time in their home... but I definitely understand the point of view!

Ellie.