Aussie Needs Help

[AussieGirl]

Hi Everyone! I just got my IRN (Aussie) on Australia Day. He is 5 months old. I know it's early days yet, but he is still biting and lunging to attack! He is a really good bird, we let him out of his cage in the morning and night, and he normally just sits on top and watches what's going on. It's when we need to get him from the perch to put him back at night, or if he has flew somewhere we need to save him from, he bites every time you put your hand near him. My partner can handle this and usually manages to get him, but I am a wuss and have really sensitive skin and even his claws hurt Is using a glove really that bad?

Also, when he was on his perch last night, at the top of his cage, I sat there for an hour, with an apple in one hand to distract him, and he just WOULDN'T let go of the perch! This morning I had the same problem, but since I was running so late for work, I grabbed a glove and he got straight on!!! Why is this so?
I would rather him come to me with a glove on than not come at all, but I also don't want to ruin it for later.

[chris_c]

Hi welcome to this site! congratulations on your new pet. you have got him at a good age although older irn's can be just as good pets. all you need to have with irn's and any other bird is patience, this is the main thing for any new bird owner. now to your problem, first thing is to build trust between you. you need him to know the safest place to be is with u. a good thing to use is millet spray as it is long and your bird should love it although every bird is different. start by holding the millet spray at the end nearest to u and just place your hand inside the cage. keep it as steady as possible and no quick movements as young birds are easily scared.then when he starts eating or picking at the millet remove it slowly and then slide your hand up the spray a little bit, just keep doing this reguarly and before you know it he will be your best friend. hope this helps. keep us posted on your progress!

[liana88]

Hi Aussiegirl, i'm an aussie girl too! I have an aviary breed irn who was exactly like yours. He wouldn't let me touch him or put my hand near him, but i listened to the people on this web page about patience and trust. Now, would you believe it, he is with me nearly always and all i had to do was feed him by hand, talk to him, let him out of his cage everyday and now he's great! I don't think he'll ever stop biting, but i'm persistant and i keep teaching that it's "naughty" to bite and he's learnt what no means. He doesn't bite as often or as hard but he can be very temperimental and has days where he doesn't want to be touched or talked to, on these days i let him be.
A helpful tip though is whenever you leave the house for work of other commitments, have a radio playing gently in another room, loud enough for he/she to hear it. My irn loves chatting away to it when he thinks i'm not listening, and it's definetly helped in taming him.

I hope this helps you! And if you have any questions, let me know and i'll see what i can do. (I know a very experienced bird breeder who i can ask and who helped in the tamng of my irn, Mullaya)

[zoe]

hi aussie girl ,i am not an aussie girl but i do live in this lovely country also!
my little pea was like this as well and it could well have been around the five month stage as well,it really upset me because i had hand reared him and i love him so much and to have him suddenly be so grumpy was horrible,i could not think what i might have done wrong,was i wearing the wrong colour,did he hate his cage??????my husband and i went to our vet (Alex rosenwax in Alexandria,syd)and he gave us a lesson in picking pea up,he said that i needed to be more in charge basically,instead of putting my hand infront of pea and waiting for him to step up when he felt like it,i should kind of sweep my hand into pea (not hard!)so that he knows i am the top bird!!He explained it to me in these terms,in the wild in their own flock they would have to take notice and obey when it says danger leave this tree!and so it is the same for him here he needs to go when you say so,and this totally worked!pea is not a bitey bird he's is so lovely and at night he comes to bed with us and sleeps until i wake up in the middle of the night and put him into his own cage.good luck ,you might have already gotten over that stage as your note was posted in feb???
zoe