My IRN is extremely flighty and scared of people?

[Shooni]

Hi there,

I have an Indian Ringneck, he is 7 months old, I have owned him for two.
I'm having a lot of troubles with the little guy. He seems to be terrified of people, yet I have never done anything wrong to him. I really need some advice.
He's settled in just fine. Plays with his toys, eating happily, and he sings a lot. He is very noisy, practising different sounds all the time. He will reluctantly eat from my hand. I sit with him every day, holding his favourite treats. But he bites. Instead of nibbling the carrot, he'll reach out to my fingers and slowly start biting down on them harder and harder until I have to pull back because it's painful. But that is as much interaction as I get from him.

Now, I don't understand why he is so scared. If I get within 1 foot of his cage, he starts flying around like a maniac. He panics and freaks out when I simply come close. I always approach slowly, I talk softly, I try not to look at him as he doesn't like eye contact too much. His cage is in my bedroom, so naturally I am besides him most of the time. I've never once gone to hurt him or attack. I sit patiently beside him and talk, sing songs, offer him treats, yet he still flaps around in a blind panic.

I am wondering what I am doing wrong. It's upsetting, really. I want him to be comfortable. Even cleaning him out is a nightmare.
I don't ever want to clip his wings, so he will always be free to fly. I'm guessing that will make him harder to tame.
Does anyone have any advice/help? I'm becoming disheartened with the lack of progress.
Thank you for reading.

[MissK]

Hi. Your bird has simply not yet reached the level of comfort with humans that will let him live happily with you. He can gain comfort. I'm betting your cage is small. Can you try taking some time when you have a few hours, go in the bedroom with lots of great treats, and close the door, then let the bird out of the cage? I realize it might take him a long time to go back in the cage, and he might spend the night out, even, but you can control this environment to make it safe for him (and your stuff). Once he is out of the cage he may be more comfortable. When he is locked up, he KNOWS he's locked up. Unlike us, he may be seeing his cage as a trap, rather than a safe refuge.

My bird Sinbad is not at all pleased with me while he is caged, although his cage is pretty big. It's just not big enough for Sinbad. However, when he's out, he is much, much calmer. Let your bird out, let him keep his wings, and give him a place to sit that's about 6 feet high. Get those treats on standby!

Also, use the search function. Lots and lots of people have already been through this.

[AJPeter]

You can only go as fast your bird will let you, do not be upset by the lack of progress, it is best to do a good job then trying to rush things. Remember no eye contact, no hands.
Just sit by the cage with the cage door open, even leave the cage door open all the time although l do shut my bird in at night, at dusk she really is afaird and feels better in her cage with a loose cover over her so she can still see out. But she has an open cage all day, even when l go out for a couple of hours she is as good as gold and does not roam or chew cables.

Make sure your bird is covered and sleeps at least 14 hours a day. From dusk until dawn and longer, if you constantly move in your bed your bird will wake up and become irritable the next day.

Keep us posted.

[InTheAir]

Hi Shooni,

Everyone has their personal preferences on how to make friends with birds. Personally I favour dropping treats in a dish and backing off is the way to start, rather than trying to wait for the bird to come to you for treats. As the bird begins to feel more safe around you, you will see changes in it's body language to indicate that it is more comfortable. Your bird will also approach the dish more quickly, my aviary raised girl started snatching treats as I was dropping them into the dish before I started trying to hand her treats.
I don't like the the advice of "sit next to the cage until the bird gets used to you" for a couple reasons. Firstly it is not necessary to "get the bird used to you" instead of that approach you can create a positive association with your presence simply by leaving the bird nice gifts and giving him the CHOICE on when he wants to accept them. This way the bird will look forward to you coming near the cage because it means he will get nice stuff.
Secondly, if you sit by the birds cage when it doesn't want you there you are ignoring the birds communication. Good relationships come from good communication. If you ignore all the signs the bird is making to show you it is not comfortable with you, that puts the bird in a position where it has no choices, which is not very empowering. To put this in human terms, it is kind of like having a person you don't know very well and are slightly frightened of turn up at your house and sit in your livingroom for hours refusing to leave. You won't actually like them any better, but you may get accustomed to them being there and start to go about your business, but it doesn't change your feeling about them quickly, even if they bring chocolates. If you are anything like me, you would respond much better to that person if they just turned up, left the chocolates and got out of your hair...Though that's probably not the most helpful analogy as I'd actually be wondering about their motives for bringing me chocolates.... anyway, parrots aren't humans so anthropomorphism isn't super helpful...


Best of luck.

[AJPeter]

Yes Shooni InTheAir is an expert on these things and l concede the point she is making.