New to IRN and the board!

Angelface · Post by **Angelface** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 6:58 am

I was given two IRN's last month by a woman at work who couldn't keep them any longer due to family problems.
The two birds are about 12 years of age, going on 13 this november/december. The male is very sweet and he likes all people, the female isn't so sweet, though she supposedly can be nice (the previous owner said she was a great bird!) I've been trying to win her trust over, but I'm having more sucess with a blue fronted amazon then the female ringneck! it has only been two weeks for the blue fronted amazon where I can now handle her without biting me and I've been working only a few days a week with her (when I get to see her, she's not my bird) and the IRN I work with everyday and all she does is bite! I dont know if the two birds get along together, the woman said she tried once when she first got them, but never tried again. I haven't ever owned two birds that got along together outside of their cages! I've had greys, amazons, cockatoos, conures and a few other misc birds

too many to list!!! I've done bird rescue ages ago and now this breed is very new to me!

I've always admired them but have never had the chance to have a hands on experiance with them! I'll be taking the male with me to a hospital because he's so friendly and loves people! He is fine to perch on my shoulder with his leash while I walk the dog around, I hope he makes a good impression at the hospital!
I was reading some info on IRN and it said to clip their wings if you're having problems so it makes the bird dependent on you instead of flying off to wherever it wants. I have a bird room and it's safe to fly in. Any thoughts or ideas on how to make this girl like me??? or at least like me enough I can clean her cage!!! I can't even take her out of her cage without her having a screaming fit! Also they both scream a lot! I think they are settling in still, but the first two weeks it was non stop screaming, and not just chattering, but screaming! The female has stopped mostly and she seems to chatter away during the day, but the male still screams, trying to get him to learn something else instead of screaming for attention! I'm going to attempt to clicker train them, I tried with bigger birds but they dont really seem to catch on all that well haha they are too smart sometimes for their own good! but I think it would help with these two! I'm very happy to have found this site!

katraz · Post by **katraz** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 1:06 am

welcome to the forum

IMR4N · Post by **IMR4N** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 2:49 am

Hi welcome to the forum.

i suggest that you gain her trust. i previously owned a pair of IRN females (when i was visting pakistan) they were both were very bitey, but i did manage to gain the trust of one of them by talking to her every time i passed and feeding her small treats that i would not normaly give her such as grapes, slices of mango and guava etc. not all of the time just now and then. once she was takin the food i would make her come to the edge of the cage and take the food from me she then stoped tring to attack me and started to sit to me as it were (tilt her head back and fix her puplies and shake her feathers) she would also talk to me and "MIOW" to me like a cat when i responded to her and petted he on the head and talked back.

she would then come to me when ever i called and would follow me around.(you can't beat the loyalty of female pets especially female IRN). she was how ever suffering from PBFD (Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease) this is a disease which stops feathers from growin out properly. she wasnt able to fly. she was about 19 years old.

i was never able to tame the other female she just despised all people apart from my older sister who was luky enough to be able to bond with her. but she slowly lost trust in my sister as well due to my grandma who would beat them both for chewing her slippers to bits. i had to give them away when i returned to the UK from pakistan it hurt but i gave them to an enthusiast who was so trilled with the gesture.

i would suggest u do consider clipping her wings once she trusts you and is eatin out of your hand.

nverver put your fingers in the cage only the food you are feeding her. and never pull away she WILL get worse if you do.

Angelface · Post by **Angelface** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 6:38 am

yes, I need someone to give me a hand clipping her wings because she doesn't trust me or have someone else do it so that she doesn't associate me with wing clipping! She looks at me from time to time, and I can't clean her cage because she's that nasty!!! thank the makers of trays haha but still I need to clean the rest! Right now we're working on leaving the door open and having her climb in and out on her own time. Next we'll introduce stepping up on a stick, hopefully that will help her. She's no longer swinging at me!
Yesterday the amazon bit me because she was in a crabby mood, but when I didn't do anything she looked at me and made kissing noises! the male IRN is quite happy with whatever you do to him still, and he's doing better with screaming. I'm going to start clicker training them, I just hope I can find something they like!! I have some papaya bits for them, I think they might like those!

Post by **Datsun and Family** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 1:03 am

You could try a big pet shop to see if they will clip wings

Angelface · Post by **Angelface** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:56 pm

I dont trust them! I work for a petstore and I know what goes on in some places and how some employee's dont know what they are doing!!! I'm waiting for a friend to be in town then we're going to clip wings. tomorrow i'm taking the male to a school to do a demonstration on animals, it will be interesting to see how it goes!