New IRN

Al121 · Post by **Al121** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 7:04 am

Hi everyone, I have a 9 week old hand reared male lutino ive only had him a week and would be grateful if anyone on here could give me some advice, when i first let him out he was a bit clumsy as i expected but in the last couple of days he loads better, when i open the cage now he flies straight to me and will only sit on my shoulder and does'nt leave he easily steps up onto his cage so i can get him off but if its open he just comes straight back, also ever since ive had him home he constantly bobs his head when he can see me, and also does this on my shoulder.

So i was wondering is this normal behavior, should i let him sit on my shoulder he doesnt really bite although has tried to nip my ears a few times :shock:

any advice would be great.

Alan

venus · Post by **venus** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 7:31 am

Dani03 · Post by **Dani03** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 7:51 am

Shoulder perching should only be a treat or a special place. And try not to let them perch there at all if you can help it. There have been horror stories of people having to have plastic surgery done to repair their faces because they let dear old Tweety sit up there. IRNs are what we call the pit bull of the parrot family and will change attitudes in seconds and seconds is all it takes!

Dani

Al121 · Post by **Al121** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 8:01 am

Thank you Dani, i did do plenty of research before i got him so i know what they can be like it just seems impossible to keep him off whenever i take him off and put him somewhere else he just flies straight back again. The only way i can see would be to clip his wings something i want to avoid if i can.

Alan

Dani03 · Post by **Dani03** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 8:06 am

Well first things first you have to remind the bird that you are the 'boss' persay. Force him to remain on your hand. When he is perching on your hand tilt your wrist so yours fingers moved upward, it tends to makes them stay on the higher part of the hand and not your shoulder. It is very very veyr important that you remain the top in the flock because these bird will and do test you. Take my advice and do not let your bird onto your shoulder until YOU allow him there. Make sure you feel 100% safe with him being there, make sure you know that if he were to spook or something anger him that he will not go after you...this takes a while. I've have Prinny over a year now and only recently has she been allowed to perch on my shoulder.

Dani

Al121 · Post by **Al121** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 8:17 am

Thank you again for the advice something i will try, he wont go near my hands at the minute and is a bit wary just keeps backing off to get away from them. So i guess i need to get him comfortable on my hand then perhaps he wont feel the need to be on there, gonna be tough though as soon as i open the cage hes on there and the only way to get him off is to go back to the cage and he will step off but in a matter of seconds he hops back on again

Alan

Dani03 · Post by **Dani03** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 8:21 am

It's tough but you really have to do it. If you're going to own an IRN you really have to get them used to your hands. Talk to Athena (mazziemom) or Jen about this...they'd probably know more than I would since I own an IRN that is a puppy dog and not a pit lol

Dani

Al121 · Post by **Al121** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 8:24 am

Hopefully ill get some more opinions as people are about, thank you for your help.

Alan

julie · Post by **julie** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 1:04 am

hello and welcome.maybe try getting him used to your hands with food,like dani said definately no shoulder time ,but if he does make it to your shoulder and you take him back to the cage say stepup as he goes then he will get used to what step up is.it takes a little while for them to get used to different people,make sure that you persist with the hand thing because they have this way of getting what they want and bluffing to make you think they will bite,you may get bitten from time to time but dont let them see that it hurts and keep going.

darkcloudchild · Post by **darkcloudchild** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:49 pm

For the shoulder issue...well you've gotten good advice, and I have a couple things to add.

It is harder to train a flighted bird, so keep that in mind. My male flies off all the time if he doesn't want to deal with my hands, it gets quite frustrating at times. You said you'd like to keep your bird flighted. (Both mine are flighted, although only one choses to fly). My suggestion would be to clip him for the initial "training." This will help with the dominance issue, and also allow you to put him on the floor or table and play with him, to show him that all these places are neat to be, and he doesn't have to hang out on your shoulder all the time to feel "safe."

The head-bobbing is completely normal for an IRN at that age. Mine used to do it all the time and I thought it was absolutely adorable. I wish they still did it, hehe.

Dani03 · Post by **Dani03** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 1:36 pm

Ah yes darkcloud...you brought up an excellent point. Clipping while training makes things so much easier. With IRNs their whole attitudes change once they know they don't rely on you anymore. Little buggers are something else *rolls eyes*

Dani

Al121 · Post by **Al121** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:19 pm

Thank you all for the advice, I want to try and learn as much as i can and im sure ill have plenty more questions for you all

Ill consider the clipping and keep you updated and let you know on progress, thank you again, Ill get some pics up if i can.