IndianRingNeck.com

hi all, i bought a Grey irn last week. 14 months old. he was in a tiny cage so is now in a huge one and seems happy. we were told he spent a lot of time out of the cage, would drink from their cups and take food off their plates, and that they were selling him as they were expecting a baby and didn't have the room. however when we collected him, both of them were scared to put their hands in the cage in case he bit them, and seamed scared of him.

the first day or so he just sat on his perch and sulked. but for the last couple has been a lot more cheerful, chirruping away to him self, displaying(thats why we think male, there is also the start of a faint ring on his neck), bathing in his water bowl, and taking food out of our hands.

he will come to the edge of his cage when im sat next to him and beg food or drink, and when we let him out he is quite content to sit on his cage singing away.

however putting him back in is an excise of its own, he wont let us near him, and the only way up till now has been to use a towel. im thinking of getting his wings clipped, would that help?

he has also got bitchy towards my wife, he was friendly to her at first but now its seams attack on sight, any ideas?

lastly, he will have a go at biting me if i put my hand to close outside the cage, he will take food willingly but if my hand is empty he will bite. ive just spent 30 minutes with him out side the cage and my finger looks like its been mauled. when he bit i just kept moving my hand towards him, and also ran my thumb lightly across his beak, he let go straight away, and after the first couple of bites that he really meant, they became a lot less aggressive and painful and after about 15mins he gave up biting and just flew away. after following him and trying again he gave up and went back in his cage to sulk.

what is the best way to carry on with him, just let him mince my hand till he had enough and goes in his cage or flies off, or shut his cage so he cant get in and keep trying?

in the time ive written this he has stopped his sulk and is climbing over his apple and plum kebab.

congrats. IRN's are unlike other birds in that most of them will not want physical petting, but just to sit on you.

Your story is similar to mine. Especially about my bird's slight ring and displaying (i think mine is a boy too).

It will certainly help if you get his wings clipped to start off. After 3 months of training my bird is stepping up most of the time (he does bite somedays). I am letting his wings grow out now and learn the "come"

For flighted birds "come" is the main word, as your bird must learn to come to you/fly to you whenever you want it to. If he is up high you can't reach him.

My bird gets step up and come "confused" and he will often start flying to me as soona s i put my arm out for the step up. Sometimes this catches me off guard and he slips on my jumper sleeve or something, which then makes him wary.

You may want to stick train him, instead of using your hand. Bites really hurt from an angry IRN. However he must learn he can't bite you. You need to let him bite you and make sure you don't back off. That's what he wants you to do- to go away.

He doesn't really seem liike he's hand tame. But it cvould be just that he's nervous of his new surroundings.

My biggest tip is keep training, rewarding, never discipline (just ignore). Use treats for the step up.

You want to hafve an idea of what you need to t4rain, so check out somew behaviour books at your local library. They really helped me. That way you know how to go about it. Once you know it will be easy.

Its like learning to drive, you can't get your licence without learning the right way to drive.

He's learnt to bite. so you must teach him that if he bites you you don't go away. Try holding one treat in one hand and offer your other for the step up command and whehn he reaches for the treat he'll have to step up. say good bird in a high pitched praise.

Also if you want to get his wings clipped so he can't fly away when training. once he's cooperative you can let them grow in.

thanks for the info, i was thinking of getting his wings done once to help with training but after last night i will see how he goes.

i had another go with him last night.
as soon as i started to eat my dinner he landed on the table and tried to pinch my fork, after that he climbed up my arm and sat on my shoulder nibbling a bit of waffle. he flew off then landed on my head. trying to eat with a parrot sat on my head was an experience.

after that i started putting my hand near him again, after a few gentle nips he flew off, and after about 10 minutes of slowly following him around he stood on my hand, he had a little corner of a biscuit as a treat and was quite happy to do it again and again. putting him in the cage was just a matter of getting him on my hand and placing him in.


i didn't know they can do a humming bird impression, i held a bit of biscuit up and he flew over to me, hovered in the air while he took it and went back to his cage.

success of sorts, i will have to see what he is like tonight.

Hello and welcome. He seems like a cutie with an attitude. Some good advice by Elizabeth. I don't have much to add now. . Just remember to be patient and persistent with the training.
Funny you say hummingbird. My Jibby does this when flying up the hall looking for me. He hovers at each doorway to check the room out. hehe.
Goodluck with the training!

thanks.

i've been carrying on, i let him out the cage for a few hours a day and leave him to do his own thing, then every 30minutes or so i try to get him to come to me.

he prefers shoulders to hands, i don't know if he has been grabbed before but one of the comments when i bought him makes me think he has.

if i call him and hold my hand up he will fly to me and land on my hand, if he is on the curtains he will step on my hand. once on my hand he always tries to walk up to my shoulder.

trying to eat or drink with him out is a bad idea, he dive bombs us until he gets some.

but we are getting there slowly.
ive a few questions about his diet and will post them in a bit.

Great that he seems to like being out of his cage.

Things you definitely always want to enforce with "him" is to always get him to step up onto your hand (not arm, not anything else but your fingers!) when he comes out of the cage.

He is not allowed to only come out when the cage door is open, he has to learn that you are boss and you are the one who lets him have playtime out of cage, feeds him and is his friend. Get your wife to do the same, as we don't want a one person bird! And anyway, I'm sure your wife wants a relationship with the bird where she isn't afraid he'll bite.

My suggestions are: always use your hand for the step up, always make him get on your hand when its time for playtime out of cage, always have him step up to put him back in the cage.

With returning to the cage, always have a treat inside so he doesn't associate cage time with boring time

you don't have to wing clip. i think clipped wings look terrible and damage a birds self esteem. However if my bird did start acting aggressively and not stepping up I would get them clipped in a second. Flight is a right that an angry undisciplined parrot doesn't get to have. Until he knows you are the one to listen to.

Its really all about playing games, training should be fun and not seem like a chore.