julie wrote:I actually do the opposite to what I think mine want me to do when they lunge ect at me. I stand my ground and look straight at them and go oooh you think your scary do you,well you dont scare me and say stuff like that to them. All 3 of my tame birds have done it and still do it.They get this really cranky look and put their heads down and kinda growl when they realize im not going away because they want me to. The only thing is I now have a bird that does the same thing to my 8yr old daughter when she chucks a tantrum (he talks to her how I talk when he is chucking a tantrum).
I like to give Hane what he wants in most cases when it comes to handling. I believe an adult bird should be asked if they want to come out. I ask and offer my hand. If he does want to come out he will sidle a little closer to me and I will move my hand close for a step up. If he doesn't want to come out at that time, he will move away and I let him be and try again later. I don't try to force myself upon him. When he was young, I did sometimes force him to step-up and wouldn't give in to his attitudes- I did not want him to become cage-bound or develop the habit of biting to make me go away. I just followed my instinct and knew when I could push him and when I could not. Now he is grown, and I can see the personality change and how it evolved from when he was a youth.
Hane has likes and dislikes, he has times he wants attention and times he does not. I try to respect when he does not want attention. This means I do not get bitten/lunged at/threatened. The few times I have been bitten in the past six years have been when I wasn't paying attention to his signals- and only one time did it draw blood, albeit a tiny amount, and that was because I was confusing him by being hesitant to pick him up for some weeks and he finally became extremely frustrated with me.
My only requirement of him is that when he wants attention he is not allowed to yell, scream, or nip for it. He is immediately ignored if he does any of those things. He learned very quickly that the best way to get my attention was to coo and speak sweetly and softly to me.
It takes a lot of patience and consistency, but in the long run I believe my relationship with Hane has benefited. I do not have a screaming, biting, cage-bound, unfriendly parrot. Instead I have a quiet parrot that enjoys a good head scritch and is sitting on my lap as I type this now, preening my arm gently to tell me he wants attention.
he's a beauty, noisy and is my alarm clock (which I'm very grateful for considering I usually wake up at 11am, so yes very pleased
its quite the opposite.