bonding???

[ellieelectrons]

Our female IRN Janey has quite a strong bond to my husband. If he goes to the toilet or the bathroom (both of these rooms are just in her sight) or comes anywhere else within her sight she gets really agitated... She'll go from chilled and calm to can't sit still in 1 second when he's around.

Unfortunately she likes to try to boss my husband around. She will fly at him and fling herself at him (even with her wings clipped) and is more likely to bite him than she is me. She has drawn blood on him several times. We try to keep her off our shoulder as a bite to the face is not good... but she is more likely to run to the shoulder when she is with my husband too. She will do these things to me too but less often and usually (not always) I am able to handle her better... However, if she had such a fatal attraction to me, I don't think I'd be able to handle her much better.

Unfortunately these problems lead my husband to spend less and less time with her which I'm guessing makes her more and more agitated.

We have two birds. We had hoped that when we brought our second one home, this might change. Janey is currently three and Charlie is almost two years old. They share a cage, they regurgitate food to each other and occasionally preen each other. Charlie does the love dance to Janey. Janey is ready to be sexually active, she will crouch down and flatten her back to both me and my husband and Charlie but Charlie doesn't quite know what to do yet. Charlie hasn't reached maturity, he hasn't got his ring yet.

Sorry for the long message.
Do you have any advice for me or my husband? At the moment I spend a lot of time with them and he spends very little.
Do you think that when Charlie matures, he might usurp my husband's position with Janey and might she settle down? Has anyone else had experience with this?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Ellie.

[ringneck]

My female Indian ringnecks are very territorial also. I am speaking from experience; both my females Devri and Pistachio are very territorial. In fact, they are very possessive of me and will attack anyone who gets near me. They're very jealous creatures and cannot contain themselves. Devri cannot stand my nephew and will open her wings, pin her eyes, and try to bite him even if walks into the room (he lives with me).

Because of this, we are working on changing her behavior. My poor nephew has received so many bites and he is only 11 years old. He is so persistent though, even if his hand comes back bloody he goes back for more. Now that's love! So how do we remedy this problem?

I believe your husband should spend more “smart time" with her. Rather than try to win her over with love and affection, he should spend his time doing positive reinforcement exercises. I would tell you to condition your ringnecks with a clicker, but if I remember correctly, while watching them on YouTube they already did several tricks such as turning around and waving, correct?

If she has not been conditioned, your husband should offer her a treat then click with the clicker. She will eventually start to look for the treat after the click has happened. Once she has mastered this, your husband should start target practicing and then targeting her to step onto his finger. When she steps up, and acts as she should, he should reward her with plenty of praises and treats. If she should flare up and try to bite, he should ignore this behavior.

I find that scheduling breakfast, lunch, and dinner work wonders when training. If your husband brings them their meals, your ringnecks will start to associate him as something positive. Also, your husband should try to sneak some positive reinforcement exercises between meals as she will most likely be hungry and willing to work.
Also, I can only imagine how your husband feels. It must be very difficult for him to deal with all that constant biting. But through time and dedication, he will be able to change her behavior.

Best wishes ,

IMRAN-C

[ellieelectrons]

Thanks Imran. I had been thinking about trying clicker training with them so I will have to get one.

I have trained them to do a few tricks already... and, yes, you've seen some of them on youtube.

Interestingly, Janey isn't motivated by food as often as Charlie. She seems to be more motivated to by being with us than food... so when it comes to stepping up when she thinks she may end up in her cage or the "go to bed" command... although she knows how to do these things she regularly refuses.

Ellie.