Getting my IRN outta his cage

[Royce]

Hi, I'm new to the board. I got my first bird ever 2 months ago a green IRN, he is 6 months old now. So I've been reading up on birds and watch a couple of video's, and I'm confused about one thing that I hope you guys will help me out with, please

At first I was just making Royce come out of his cage, sometimes he'd want to come out and other times he didn't. If he didn't want to come out I would insist that he come out and not give up until he stepped up onto my finger. But after watching some video's they are saying that it should be his choice to come out of the cage or not. So that's what I've been doing for the last month. I noticed he wanted to come out of the cage less and less now, like almost never.

What should I do?

[RicharddSierraa]

When i got my first indian ringneck Jade, she only came out whenever i would leave the room, she
was very shy to come out when i was there, so id leave the cage door open and left, then came back and found her
on top, this is not always good to just let them keep coming out by themselves but i think in your case you should for
a bit until she becomes more comfortable, when she does you'll end up seeing she likes to be out.
From personal experience I think you should start by briving her to come out with a seed, or start the click and treat
method, if you do start with target training her fist, by that i mean you take a thin stick and put it near her and tell her
''Target'' and she will try to clamp down on the end then you click and treat her, eventually she'll start to follow the target wherever you
put it.
Hope that helped, if you have any more questions just ask.

[ellieelectrons]

Hi Royce.

It depends on what sort of training methods you subscribe to. I'm a believer in "giving them a choice" rather than making them do something. Having said that, I don't always live up to this ideal 100%.

I think Richard is right in that eventually your bird will probably always want to come out of the cage.

When Janey was little I would open the cage, offer my hand (with a treat) and if she chose not to come I would close the cage up and come back a little bit later. I was still giving her a choice.

Now, with two in the one cage, I find they hang out at the door and race each other to come to me!

If you're interested, I've posted some links to information about positive reinforcement here:
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... nforcement
(towards the bottom of the thread)

Good luck!

Ellie.

[Melika]

For Hane, he would only get millet and super awesome treats when he was outside the cage (read as 'bribery'). Therefore he wished to come out.
Over time, however, I had to make a rule that he could not come out by his own choice. He would get aggressive and snotty with me and bite if I tried to take him out on my hand. And then when he brought himself out he would still refuse to step up. So now, the only way he can get the 'good stuff' is to come out on my hand with no biting.

That being said, if he runs away when I put my hand in I say okay and close the door and go away. That's his sign to me that he doesn't want to come out and I won't make him. I usually pick him up from one perch in the cage, I consider it his step-up perch and means he wants to come out.

I do sometimes force him to come out, but I guess I consider that emergency training and only do so once in a while to see if he will.