IndianRingNeck.com

Hello and thank you for adding me to the group.

IRN's name: Hodel. (Owner and tamer named her Pacu, but have you googled Pacu? It's not pretty.)
Age: 17 weeks
Color: Olive
Hand fed/tamed by person purchased from.
Wings trimmed.

Bird resume: Birds usually naturally take to me and I've always been fairly successful with parrot type birds or hook bills. I've raised several cockatiels and tamed a few from wild.
Took in a hospice / rescue Umbrella Cockatoo for the last year of his life. (terminally ill and used experimentally by University veterinary dept.) Jerks!!
Currently, my wife and I have an umbrella Cockatoo, a parakeet (rescue), two love birds and now Hodel.

I am away from home staying in an RV, working on the road. My wife is at home with the other birds.

Last week I purchased Hodel from a breeder. She was very tame and sweet. Before I bought her, I spent a long time with her, letting her sit on my shoulder. She let me pet her, played, had lots of face time and was very comfortable with me, which was the condition the owner was willing to sell to me.

When I got her back to the RV, (no one there but me and love bird) I let her relax and adjust for several hours before I tried to put perches, toys and food bowls in her cage. She was hand scared suddenly. She had not been a few hours before. I assume she is stressed by the 150 mile trip back, the new surroundings and the loss her original person was stressful and should be taken into account for the change.

So I gave her more space and covered her for the night. Now she stays as far from me as possible when she thinks my hands can reach her. She did climb up my back and to the top of my head where I let her stay for several hours, hoping to get her trust, but as soon as I tried to get her to step up to remove her, she bit hard and retreated. I've only been able to coax her out of the cage by laying grapes a few inches from the door. Any attempt to put my hand anywhere near her results in an instant retreat. I don't know of anything I did to cause the fear. I keep my hands out of her cage.

We finally made a break through last night. I put slice grapes through her cage bars using a small 8 inch dowel. each time she came for the treat, I reduced the distance between her and the end of the dowel and in about an hour she was willing for the first time to take the grape directly from my fingers. But she ran.

She was also very chatty, but has made no noise at all since I brought her home.

I've never experienced such a fear from a tamed parrot nor have I seen a tamed parrot take so long to start communicating. Is this a unique trait to IRN's? Apparently Cockatoos and Cockatiels are faster to connect.

Any help would be appreciated and thank you in advance for your input.

Edit: Apologies. Put this in the wrong forum.

Hi. I think, on the one hand, a little compassion is in order. Your bird has been uprooted from everything she ever knew. You made an error by putting her in the new cage and then going back in with the perches and stuff. If you have further tinkering to do in there, and it's a safe option, you probably should let her out before going in. Or don't tinker. If she's tame and just got spooked, good behaviour from you over not too much time would, I think, see her right. I'm concerned that she hasn't made noise, but maybe this is a function of being young that I don't know much about. Others who have had young Ringnecks should weigh in here. A Ringneck who never makes noise seems rare indeed, either unwell or frightened. I have, however, seen terrified Ringnecks in tiny cages who were scared silent at the bird show. I'm hoping that's not happening for Hodel, but it is a possibility. Contact the seller and find out what size cage she was living in - might not have been the same one you saw. Compare the size of the old cage to the new.

Here's a cage size anecdote:
I bought a 16 year old male Ringneck from a woman who'd had him for one year. She showed him to me in one of those little house shaped finch cages (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). He was scared stiff and silent. He had been living in a standard "parrot cage" of not more than 24"x24"x36" high. I transported him in an 18" cage. He was upset the whole time. At home I put him into a 24 inch cage for a week, pending his vet visit. He was upset the whole time. After a week and the vet I put him into a 5 foot long cage and HE WAS UPSET THE WHOLE TIME. I let him out of the cage and he was much less upset. From circumstances she related, I think he was in a big aviary for breeding before that lady bought him, but I can't know. Regardless, we learned that a cage the size of my living room was not quite big enough for Sinbad if a person is in the room. A year later, he is much more comfortable in his 5 foot cage, and that's great, because that's the cage he gets. The activity level and size of the bird have much to do with the size of the cage, but the bird's opinion has the final say.

On the other hand, Hodel sat on your shoulder before you bought her, but did she step up willingly for YOU, sit on your hand, take food from you? Perhaps her level of tameness was misrepresented? Perhaps you have a different style of interaction from the seller? Perhaps there is something scary in the area that you didn't recognize, like a curtain moving in the air conditioning, or *something*? Perhaps you're just a stranger. Perhaps her wings were just quite recently (like the day you bought her) clipped for the first time?

My take on this, and mind I can't see what's going on and I just heard about it from what you said in type, is that the bird is taken from her home and dropped into an uncertain *mobile* situation, with a stranger, in a small cage, and then got objects waved at her in the confines of this trap. She got scared and she needs a little time to get over it, during which she needs to be treated with utmost respect (that forever, actually). I can hear you protesting that the cage is not too small (everyone does) but please see again the anecdote.

Ringnecks do have a reputation for being shy of physical contact and hard to tame, but many learn to be comfortable with varying degrees of it. I showed a photo of my bird on my hand to an older Pakistani gentleman who used to have a Ringneck (he had to leave it at the border to come here, so sad) and he was absolutely flabbergasted that the bird was on my hand because everyone "knows" Ringnecks don't like to do that. So, take the reputation of the bird with a grain of salt. There's some truth in it, but there's also a great deal of room for individuality.

And I'd let those wings grow in.

I guess I didn't adequately state. I put in perches etc all, including food dishes "Before" I transferred her to it. She was already scared before then. I don't reach my hand into a birds cage until I know they have complete trust and want to come out.

I was a bit taken aback because, in answer to your question, yes she willingly stepped up onto my hand and played etc. In fact it was all quite some before I actually took her away. But you are right. I just remembered that they had clipped her wing feathers the night prior.

That has to be un nerving for a bird. I know it was for my cockatiels. Hodel has been through a lot in the past five days as I previously stated.

What I'm more questioning is this is there a lot of difference in personality, traits and characteristic between IRN's and other parrots?

Ive experienced parrot rehoming and transfers just like hers many times, enough to learn what to expect. But this time has really been different and a new learning experience.

Hi,

irns are pretty sensitive. Unless they are extensively socialised with a lot of people they can be pretty shy of strangers. Even our little guy, who is pretty good with new people still won't hang around if a stranger reaches towards him, even if he has just landed on their shoulder. I had a plaster on my finger this week and can't even give him treats with that hand, he zooms off. He is a super sensitive bird, our hen is nervous of the plaster but appoached it and chewed it cautiously when she first noticed it.

I'd be willing to bet Hodel only bit you through fear, even a flighted bird in a new house can be nervous about exploring and may hold it's ground and defend itself.

I recommend you give her a bit more time to settle in. Don't try to get her to take treats from your hand, just drop them in her dish and leave her to enjoy them. My hen was parent raised and responded really well to that.She soon started to come up and grab treats from me as I was dropping them into her dish. Irns like to do things in their own time and way.
I've found that the less pressure you put on them to do something, the quicker they are to do it.
My hen will avoid anyone who comes into our house and tries to approach her, but will fly over to land on people who come in and basically ignore her (if they look interesting or something).


Good luck with your little one!

After this, I'll post about Hodel in a proper forum.

She did amazingly last night. She took treats from my fingers, although quite nervously.
She came out of her cage for a treat which was a huge step for her.
She played on her cage and playground and she has stopped instinctively moving away from me when I walk past her cage.
She went in and out of her cage, both on her on volition and also by my using treats.

I didn't push any further than that. She got to be out for 2 hours.

I covered her up at her usual 9:30 and for the first time, she wouldn't go to sleep. I suspect she was a bit excited.

That sounds all great!