IndianRingNeck.com

We bought an eight month old Green IRN from our local pet store who has had no training. We have had our IRN for about 8 weeks in which time he seems to have settled okay, he/she now has been taking treats from my fingers through the bars for about 3 weeks now, and also taking gently. Over the past few weeks i have sat and talked and he/she comes to the front of the cage and is happy to sit while i talk or sing but goes mad when i try to put my fingers on the cage. i want to try to finger train him/her or perch train but when i open the cage he/she flies everywhere and does not seem to settle down. I cannot understand why he/she will gladly accept treats but is sooo scared of my hands. (i am a woman so they are not very big anyway) and i am always carful if i have to put my hands in the cage as not to scare him/her. Can anybody make any suggestions please.....

Firstly, Welcome to the board!

Eight months old is quite old to purchase an untamed ringneck, and training isnt going to be as easy as it would with a younger bird. That said however, if after 8 weeks you have already got the bird taking treats than you have done well! it sounds like you are on the right track and doing all the right things so far.

The first thing you need to do is get its wings clipped (if they arent already). since the bird is already taking treats from your fingers that is encouraging, so take advantage of it! find out what food the bird really likes and use it to bribe him/her into accepting your hand (sunflower seeds and sultanas are my favourites). since it will take food through the bars, maybe try getting the bird to take the treat from your hand just inside the open cage door, and then gradually try to get it to step up to get the food. it will HAVE to get comfortable with your hands, stepping up is just so important with these birds. But once you get step up you have almost won the battle, so hang in there!

im sure other members will have some suggestions too! ive always been a firm believer that the best way to a ringneck's heart is through its stomach

While talking to your new baby and giving treats you should have the cage door open.

Withhold the treats for a day or so and just sit and talk with the door open. Have the treat handy and offer it to him through the open door.

When spending time with him or her ALWAYS HAVE THE CAGE DOOR OPEN.

If s/he is clipped, keep the door open while you are around. If he isnt clipped, do so immediately if you want to tame faster. At 8 months it will probably have to be clipped to get him trained, then if you want him full-flighted just stop clipping.

You cant train a bird that can fly away. No sense in playing chase the bird when you could be spending quality time playing bond with the bird.

Hey welcome to the board

Lets see to start with weigh the amount of daily food in take your bird has and cut a couple of grams (say 2 grams out) this is so come training time he is feeling little peckish. This might sound cruel but it really isn’t as long as you train him on time the idea is NOT TO STARVE HIM but just leave him a little hollow. Most surveys done show that about 93% of all pet birds are over weight because they always have food in front of them and with the confinement of the cage have no room to exercise. You are

I fill the container to the right amount in the morning and then come evening time he feels abit peckish this is when I train him for about 15 minutes before I refill his food container this way if he get hungry during the night he ca have alittle more.

Now when he eats from your hand does he come to you or do you go to him??? (obviously around the cage). Try making him come to you for the treat if he doesn’t already do so and then slowly lure him out the door with the treat just start with his head 1 day and pull further out everyday but don’t push him because boy can these birds hold a grudge. I would get his wings clipped if I were you but by a professional because he may be malting which means he may have blood feathers which believe me u don’t want to cut because they bleed profusely. That said try no t make him jump around in the cage to much either because they can still damage them. Now I said to get a professional to clip his wings because no only do they nearly always know what they’re doing but if your not in the room the bird wont hold a grudge;).

obviously already on the right track so keep persistent

My IRN comes to the front of the cage when he has his treats, the past two days i have opened the cage door and put my hand in with treats which he has come and got but not all the time. When he does not come he goes to the back of the cage and swings from his toys but does not even look where my hand is so he must trust my hand but maybe a bit stubborn. I am going to organise to have a professional clip his wings this week as over the christmas period i am at home so i can spend even more time with him. Another thing... he wont eat any vegetables and the only fruit he eats is grapes, i have tried various things and made him scrambled egg yesterday but willnot even touch it. i am worried that he is not geting enough fruit and veggies. My local pet shop where i bought him from advised me that the seed i feed him is sufficient..

Nope - the seed is NOT enough!
(And a lot of pet stores have NO clue about parrot diets!)
Seed is very fatty, and while IRNs can have seed in their diets, it should not be ONLY seed! My vet said that seed is actually good for them in limited amounts, but they should be on a high quality pelleted diet supplemented with fruits and veggies.

An online friend of mine has written a great little article on converting parrots to pellets.
http://piantala.org/~lark/diet.html

Try pomegrante seeds. Also cut up some sweet potato and try that.
Busey also likes shredded carrots.
Basically orange and dark green veggies are the best.

Good luck with your new baby!

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i have the same problem as the original poster my kannah will take the treat but run away and start munching. he was clipped i know how to do it since i have had lovies in the past. He got mad and wouldn't talk or look at me so i didn't clip him in a while. how i get him to be my best buddy. i do talk and make kissing noises which he repeats but he wants nothing to do with me.
goro

I am still struggling with my IRN "Ringo", he/she now comes out to play on his/her cage, we have put perches and toys on top and on the sides, and ringo absolutely loves it, whenever we are home, the door is open for ringo to explore. Ringo now gladly accepts treats from my hands inside the cage and even if he/she is outside the cage, but he will still not come near my hand so i can teach him/her to step up. We have had ringo for 2 1/2 months now so i guess he/she has learned a lot in this time and i have to be patient. Can anybody else advise on my next course of action.....

Yep! it will take a while, I got my Kai at 11 months old fully flighted aviary bird. The owner had hand reared them, but once older, placed them in the aviary, he did spend time going in and hand feeding them so Kai was somewhat use to human interaction.

First step , clip his wings to make training easier. Clip BOTH wings. IRN's need balance to feel safe, one wing clipped will throw them off balance and sure it will stop them flying, but they will be so unbalanced they won't feel safe or be able to glide down properly, they will crash sideways and hurt themselves, climbing around will be harder with one clip aswell. Again, balance. Imagine climbing around, stumbling, putting your arms out for balance and you have one big heavy arm and one short stubbie one. not good.

With two clipped it will prevent them from taking off and getting lift, but allow them to glide down from a low height without hurting themselves (coming down like a sack of spuds) Mind you it will take the bird a while to get use to not being able to fly anymore, a few crashes and flutter sessions.

Now slowly but surely, one step each day, is the method, a little closer, a little more, until the bird trusts you. This will be full on everyday, every moment you get, stay on that bird, trying each time to get a little closer a little more.

There is no rush, afterall you have 30 years with this baby.

Remember every bird is individual, you not only have to train the bird and get him use to you but you must train yourself and get yourself use to the bird (his personality)

With Kai we had to keep hands behind backs to begin with and talk to him, getting closer when we talked each time, then slowly bring hands out and attempt step up.

Remember that IRN dont usually like to be petted or scratched like a cocky and if your hand goes around back of them they will panick.

Try and distract the bird with a treat in one hand and then moving in for the step up with the other hand , the closer he gets more praise and more treats.

We had so many flutters, scares, crashes to the ground, kai was very nervous of arms and shadows. so a well lit room without dark area's might be a good idea too.

Once he was stepping up well, if he went to bite I would give my hand a gentle but sudden shake to break the bite and scare him just a little, wait, and then if he sat happily I would treat him.

It just took time and persistence and constantly being with the bird. Trust takes a while to build up. But eventually they should want to be a part of the flock.

We have had Kai around 5 months and now he can't stand to not be with us. He even sits down to a plate with us at dinner time. If hubby and I are cuddling on the sofa .. he has to be up with us kissing too. He sits all over the kids and they even complain about him stealing their food.

5 months of full on work, but now, he is such a joy .. and to see my husband, who at one point thought that this bird was a stupid idea, now adoring this bird and how quickly he can learn new things, is the best reward for me (i'ts my big melon seed )

And we will all be with you every step of the way, with advice and help. Just keep us posted and keep asking, we all have different experiences to share, things for you to try. You'll get there !

(sorry it's such an essay )

Cheers ~!

nice essay andrea lots of useful info in there.

Sorry to bother you with questions again... we have a cheeky cockatiel aswell, in his own cage next to Ringo, when Ringo is out climbing around he/she climbs all over Chico's (the cockatiel's) cage but tries to nip Chico and i am not sure if he is being aggressive or not, Ringo does not seem to be but i suppose you never know. Anyway my question is we are training Chico aswell (at different times) would they be okay to play on a playstand together or are IRN's aggressive to other birds. I see all of your lovely pictures and videos of you birds , all breeds playing together and would eventually like them to play together aswell. Chico is my daughters bird and he mainly stays in the dining room with Ringo for company but occassionally goes to my daughters bedroom. When Chico is not there Ringo seems unhappy but when Chico is there Ringo never makes a sound. (Chico the cockatiel is veerrrry noisy so i don't think poor Ringo can get word in) Not sure whether to take Chico away for a while i train Ringo???? Sorry for my essay... Your help would be appreciated/
Thanks

i dunno much about irns. but from when i read it not a good idea to have them together. but then again i think it was michela video i saw her baby and a teil running around and playing together so i guess it is possible.

To be honest it really is a personal judgement call and common sense thing. An IRN can kill a cockatiel easy, no two ways about it. However the two breeds could be friends and in some cases are. I have my budgie and ringneck and lovebird out together but NEVER unsupervised!

My ringneck and budgie are the best of friends but in saying that they do fight and I have a sissy ringneck and a budgie who thinks hes 6 foot tall! They get pissy with each other, they try to bite toes (the lovie especially) and if I were not there I would not trust any of them to behave. I do not tower over them every second but I am around and watching.

It is up to you as I dont know your birds personalities but there are HUGE risks, never leave the room when they are together and be sure to watch them very closely at first if you do allow it. One bite could kill either bird if the bleeding does not stop or get appropriate attention.

Thanks for advice, I will leave them seperated for now, will see in future when they are both fully trained how they are together.

I had Kai for 4 - 5 months and then went and purchased our Jordan as a 10 week old baby. Jordan was kept in my sons room for the first week so that the two could only hear each other. Now we have moved Jordans cage out into the same living room as Kai's so they can see each other.

We let them out together supervised and have had a few major issues with them going to each others cages and biting at each other.

They both fluff, pin their eyes growl and bite, I move them back to their own cages. Well a week later they are becoming more relaxed and use to each other, I know this is going to take time. But I have plenty of it for them.

Kai just has to learn , he still gets first fed, first out, best treats and his cage is his. And Jordan has to learn she is the baby and needs to learn to fit in.

Then we introduced Brinly bird (our budgie) .. lol and I think Kai must be so pissy at me. Jordan and Brinly get along just fine, but Kai is a bit of a loner and a real I'm the boss, king of the castle personality.

Just make sure your birds have their own area's, their own cages and their own day stands to escape to and as Chamon says always Watch them.

We plan to introduce a Cockatiel in approx. 8 weeks for my older daughter.

sigh!

Kai is really gonna hate me .. lol

If they don't learn to put up with each other , well .. at least we gave it our best shot

Cheers !

Hi aLL,

I am getting Ringo's wings clipped tonight.... finally convinced my husband it needs to be done if i want to tame/train him. Will he be upset by his wings being clipped????
On Saturday he was playing on top of his cage when my son made a loud noise upstairs, Ringo got scared and flew into our conservatory (garden room) he landed on top of the blinds and flew backwards and forwards between the top of the blinds and the top of the door, my husband was at work so i was not able to catch him, hence i had to watch him just in case my son accidentally opened the back door, which in the end i only got dressed at 2:00pm.
I have also taken away his mirrors as i was told that he would not speak if i left them in his cage, but i feel terrible, he loves his mirrors and he seems so unhappy..... I feel awful, he is moulting aswell so i dont know if that is making him unhappy.....