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I've had Lola since February she came to me 6 months old and not tame at all. It's been a few months I spend as much time as I can with her but she hates it. I was whistling to her and she lunged at me! This is completely new behaviour! She breaths in heavy if anyone goes near her.

I recently brought a macaw and everyone goes straight to him as he talks and is alot more tame then her. I've asked people I say hi to her first but because my macaw demands so much attention it's only me talking to Lola first.

Is she jealous? How can I get her to not panic when I come near her? I've sat 30mins holding a treat to the cage and she's just sitting in the corner and sometimes tries to get through the cage like she's desperate to get out.

I really don't know what to do and why her behaviour has changed so much!

Hi Lola,

I have just bought a new IRN myself and hes only young at 8 months old. HOwever they do tend to be alittle nervous and shy in the start. i do spend alot of time infront of it as i do my work there but he makes alot of noise when im downstairs. It is difficult at start but try and get her to trust you by holding her gently and giving her good treats for good behaviour.

What is her favorite treat? When trying to gain acceptance it is good to have a favorite treat that is seldom given. My little irn is very fond of dehydrated papaya and loves anyone that gives it to her. It helps to keep a treat in reserve for acceptance. Fortunately irn's seem to like most things if given in the right form. Millet is another small bird favorite. Today I made a kabob with red grape, strawberry and broccoli. This went over big. Try presenting treats in different ways. Or maybe just drop in dish for trial.

I've tried to have her out mainly as her cage needs cleaned insuse and she just went about her normal without realising the door was open. She's very cage proud. I've tried the treat thing ill drop it in I just turn around and she grabs it. But even cleaning her cage shell hide in the corner though sometimes she'll chirp away. She has become verrrrry noisy all day screaming and chirping and we have whistling games together. But she's just changed so much I think trying to tame her is near impossible.

Hello

My first inclination in reading your post is that the bird is suffering from boredom. Ringnecks enjoy constant stimulation and interaction. They enjoy challenging training and they love to forage. If she doesn't come out of the cage often, that is why she is cage aggressive. Unfortunately, when trying to tame an untamed bird, they require your full attention. I believe by bringing home another bird you have inadvertently redirected the majority of your attention to the new bird. I speak from experience. I rescued a bird a couple of months after getting my older ringneck Skye. Everyone felt bad for the new bird and the attention was directed away from Skye. Which was bad because he was almost a year and trying to get used to new surroundings and new people. He too started screaming all the time. Coming to this forum taught me a lot. Reading up on training birds taught me a lot. And trial and error taught me a lot. Ringnecks are NOT your average parakeet. The only thing I can offer you is advice based on my personal experience.

1. If you can, try to put your new bird in a separate room.
2. Offer Lola more opportunities to come out of the cage.
3. Change the internal structure of Lola's cage. Move toys perches and food bowls around.
4. Do a search within the forum for foraging ideas. A busy bird is a happy bird.
5. Set aside a couple of times a day to exclusively work with Lola. She needs consistency.
6. If she has to be in the cage make sure she has plenty of things to keep her busy. Foot toys, foraging toys, preening toys etc.

I would start first by re-establishing a relationship with her. Start from the beginning. Work with her to take treats from your hand and work with her on step up. Those are foundations for training. It is not impossible to tame her. It's just going to take a lot of work and a lot of patience. Feel free to ask as many questions along the way as you need to. There are wonderful knowledgable people in this forum always willing to help.

Hey,

I do agree with given the new bird more attention. But its hard to give Lola any attention as she hates it she shakes and breathes in heavy if anyone goes near her so I find myself not going to near her as I don't want to stress her out. We were thinking of getting another ringneck for her company as she does like my macaw but he doesn't care about her.

I must say I don't agree with her being bored mainly because she has 4 toys in with her which I move around each week and I've just put a new one in today she doesn't bother with toys at all. Everyday shell sit on her little perch tower in the corner and scream, make noises and chrip. Eat or drink then go back to the same spot and do it all over again. I don't want to take this tower perch away as she feel safe there that no one can see her and she also sleeps on it at night.

I'm going to be buying her a new bigger cage as I think she could do with it. Plus then shell have tons of toys. She's not one for foraging I put a puzzle toy in that you have to get treats out she didn't even care. And I even had her all time fave treats in them.

She seems happy in herself she's not plucking or hurting herself so I'm not worried about that. I think she is jealous but is scared of humans at the same time.

Hey Lola,

I really think Skyes_crew has made some very valid points in her last post.

Also, a pet bird has to learn to forage- especially if it has spent it's while life mostly in a cage with food in a dish.
Start with simple things for her so she gets the idea. We sometimes cover our birds food dish with a piece of newsprint so he has to chew the paper off it to get his food. Putting bird safe branches with lots of leaves in the cage can be great fun too.

Remember your bird is designed by nature and instinct to spend hours every day flying around looking for food, and has a mind equipped to solve complex puzzles.
Our bird has atleast 20 toys around the house and cages. The ones he uses the most are all foraging toys... The others don't hold his interest for very long.

There are a lot of threads on this forum about taming a ringneck, Missk has wonderful advice also. It takes time and patience!

Getting her a friend is likely to be problematic, as she will probably not get on with another girl. If you get a young bird, do you have time to tame it? If you put a young bird in with her and can't spend time with them, it will not stay tame... If you get a male bird foraging for food is part of the strategy to stop them breeding... If you let them breed what would you do with the babies... If you already have no relationship and time with the mother bird, why would the babies be any better? If you sell babies as pets they need to be raised well, or there will be another round of newbies on this forum posting topics like 'help my new ringneck hates me' and 'is my baby bird sick, I have been feeding out 15mls of formula 3 times a day like the breeder told me to....' With no idea of the temperature required to avoids crop burn or 'slow crop'.
As responsible pet owners we have to take all this into consideration.

We are considering getting our bird a girlfriend at the moment, so we are considering all of this ourselves. We know our bird has an absolutely brilliant personality, relates well to birds and people. It has come down to us researching his genetics to decide whether he has any interesting colour traits, if he doesn't he will probably get a male friend, as plenty of people already breed poor quality birds.

You obviously care about your bird, so keep trying to befriend her and she will care about you too.

Regards,
Claire

Hi Lola

You've been given some good advice here.

When you are taming your bird, keep in mind that it will be a REALLY slow process and you have to look for the tiniest steps forward and celebrate them as progress. As you have said, she is still scared of people. She can improve and it will take time. For example, my birds are quite tame for me (they'll come to me, etc.) but they've been really scared of a friend of mine who comes to our house every two weeks. So, for months now, she has been offering them a bit of peanut each time she comes by and they have never taken it from her. Each time, she'd wait a bit and then leave it in their coop cup and they'd eat it later. For the first time last week, they finally did it. Given she only sees them every two weeks, it took quite a while but she eventually won them over with her patience and kindness.

When you are offering your bird a treat, offer it on the other side of the cage from where she is. Make her come to you... don't shove it in her face as this may encourage an aggressive response such as a lunge. This was a mistake I'd make with Janey in the early days. If she was full, she'd lunge at me. You can also try looking away when you offer the treat.

When I say look for the tiniest steps forward, if she takes one step towards you or looks like she is thinking about taking a step towards you, take that as encouragement and be proud of her and yourself for her efforts.

Regarding toys, it is my belief that all birds will play with toys, you just have to find the right toys to suit your bird and this is only done through trial and error (in this way they are similar to children) ... and their interest in toys will change, what might be of no interest to them this week might be their fav toy next week. If you go to this web page, there is a list of 11 types of toys
http://lafebercares.com/what-to-chew-today/
The good thing about bird toys is that you can make them for very little cost, you just have to be careful you don't give them anything toxic. There are threads on this forum that can give you ideas on this. My guys fav toys are foraging toys and small bits of wood they can chew up.

I am a general believer in having a companion for your bird so that they have someone to hang out with when there is noone home and so that they know they are a bird. However, this will not solve your problem of tameness, in fact it will most likely make it worse. I think you need to get your bird to a level of tameness you are happy with before getting her a companion.

You can find more information on taming a wild bird in this thread:
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... =7&t=15111

For me, introducing foraging definitely decreased lunging behaviours. You can find more information on lunging here:
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... 01&p=69400
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... =4&t=13466
http://www.parrotenrichment.com/ - this site has some free ebooks to download

Also, I'd be really surprised if your IRN isn't scared of your Macaw. I know you said your IRN likes the macaw but I have a feeling if they were in the same room or the Macaw was standing on your IRNs cage, it would be really scared.

Out of interest, what are you feeding your bird and how much are you food are you giving her?

Best wishes with your IRN.

Take care.

Ellie.