IndianRingNeck.com

Hi,

I just purchased a hand reared blue Indian Ringneck, his name is Kai - which means sea, (I love the sea and its blue just like he is).

He is not even a year old and seems to show signs of "infact" being a boy, preferred not to go to the trouble of costly DNA testing over and over until I found proof of a boy bird, so I went for the 70% from the breeder.

Kai already loves me, steps onto my hand and lets me hand feed him, kisses me through the cage, but I want to handle him more and have him totally tame as soon as I can.

I want to know everything. Any tricks and hints you have for me, feel free to bombard away. I want him to be a house bird, free to roam and be a part of the family and most importantly want to clarify if, when and how it is best to introduce him to the house from his cage. And if there are any tricks to know about helping him from becoming really bitey or really noisey.

Thanks

training is simple gotta find a food that he likes. you can teach em anything that way however having a house bird is really not a good idea. These birds are really smart and love to chew and its like having a 2 yr kid. imran and mickela correct me if im wrong but these birds can get them self into stuff if theya re not supervised. unless you planing on supervising i would keep one eye on sea.
scarlet

Hehehehe Kai in maori means food.

I completely understand that you want a free roaming bird but scarletknight is right, they can get themselves into all kinds of trouble. For example a friend of mine had a ringneck get his head stuck in a cupboard after opening it by himself! Also even when being supervised my Datsun has nearly been stepped on! I dont leave Datsun in her cage unless we are out, When we are home her cage door is always open but even so she often is happy to stay in there, she loves it, so many toys so little time

Ditto... and welcome. Post often and let us know how things are going. We LOVE pics...

nice to see other people agreeing with me. another reason why i don't like idea of free bird is nibbling on wires u can have a cooked irn if ure not careful. ceilign fans, open window, trust me hide and seek with a free bird is pain in the you know what but i have seen people having free birds, but then u need parrot proof the house and its better to give them their own room. free flying birds build their confidence but makes them less tame. there are pros and cons to both sides it a matter or choice and deication. and liek mikeala said pics i love seeing pics and post alot as you see i go crazy here. if anything you need advice on and don't feel like posting you always pm. I have alot of experience with big birds and adult irn but not a baby like i have now.
scarlet

Lol, I used to have an escape artist budgie. Even though my door was closed, they would always hide somewhere I couldn't find one. Once it took me until the next day to find Skye, and only because he happened to chirp. He had gotten stuck behind the dresser.
That was when I taught my dog "Find the Birdie!", his favourite game. I ended up getting a new cage and the escaping stopped.

But with Hane, my IRN sometimes he'll fly off his playstand and go into another room, good thing Geronimo still likes "Find the birdie!".


You should introduce your bird to your house now. If he's in the cage too long (as in a week or days even) he could become cage bound. You want him to enjoy coming out of his cage, to the point where he eagerly waits at the door for you. Always make his time outside the cage fun. Treats and attention are good. Also a playstand where he can watch his people.

If he does nibble you too hard, shake the hand he's sitting on and say no. Most birds will stop nibbling to catch their balance. Keep in mind it's just a tiny shake.
I find noisy birds sometimes come from noisy families. Hane is almost never noisy, compared to the hours in the day and the relative minutes he is loud, usually contact calling another bird.
I'd reccomend no shoulder time until he steps up and off your hand on command. Birds that are unwilling to come off your shoulder will be most annoying, and ear biters.

Other than that, welcome to the forums. ^_^

I should have checked back earlier.. but for some reason I thought I had the "Notify me when a reply is posted" activated and I haven't been notified of any.

I have been having a ball with Kai. Funny his name in maori should mean food because thats what hubby threatens him with being if he ever bites him. He is doing great in his new cage that my husband built for him, a modula job that is easily taken apart and rebuilt anywhere we might want to move it in the future, all depending on how he settles in to the main living area we have him in. But as it seems he adhores having company and will chatter and call when he cannot see someone in sight. I only answer him when he makes lovely noises and ignore him when he squarks.

He is good with the kids and I have them giving him definate commands now like .. "Step up" . He has noticeable times of the day when he just doesn't want to be handled and will show it by giving a firm bite but not skin breaking. I am still aware that it will take constant training and love to teach him that certain behaviour is not acceptable.

He is just the right balance of beautiful, clever, loving and cheeky for me. Love Him to death and I can tell he loves me .. I am building a bit of a website, its just a quick mock up for now but as time goes on it will grow .. tell me what you think .. http://www.geocities.com/xkyriax/index.html .. the two videos of him are the same at the moment but I just need to find the time to add the other few I have taken.

I will definately watch him whenever he is out of his cage, but I really want him to have freedoms while we are here around the house. His wings are clipped for now, and I am leaning towards keeping them this way for quite a while, any thoughts or pro's and cons on this are very welcome. He gets around extremely well anyway, with the wing ability he does have and his incredible agility. I really want him to learn all kinds of tricks, like riding on motorised toys etc.

I can hear him trying to immitate already. I have been teaching him .. "Love you" but so that I knew when he was actually immitating and not just making jungle chatter I added three clicks and then "Love You" I hear the three clicks and then something kind of like "Love you" , so I do believe he is practicing.

My favorite thing right now, is when he is on my finger and he dips his head and pushes his beak against my lips and makes soft squeaky cooey noise, and then gently nibbles at my lip, rubs his face up and down my cheek. I am aware that one day I may cop a bad mood and a bite, but I am well prepared for that. I have had a gallah and bread cockateils and peach faced love birds when I was a child, amongst the other managery of geese, ducks, chickens rabbits, guinea pigs, quail, snakes and lizards.

Anyway, I could ramble for ever and a day ..

take care and thankyou for a cool place to chat about my baby.

My IRN comes from a family who decided to let her be a free roaming house bird. She wasn't with them 2 days when she somehow, still don't know how, managed to tear all the skin off her left leg, with a big hole in the back of same leg. It was also broken. The lady freaked out and passed her on to me. I cared for her as best I could and she is all healed now although she still limps a bit. I was so scared for her but my baby came out all right and now she sits on my hand and is starting to get over her fear and slowly, ever so slowly become friendly. She's such a sweet girl I'm still mad about what she had to go through. Please don't let this happen to your baby.
Rachael

I aint even gonna say nothing..... Dont tell me where she lives!
Thank god that baby has a new home.

Melika: interesting what you said about noisy home = noisy bird. I got Peek-a-Boo from a girl that had a popular son about 14. The kids in her 'hood would always play at her house. Thereby, making the house naturally noisy. She was a screamer and reportedly always had been. I brought her home with this knowledge and acceptance and my husband looked at me like this And said "SEE WHY SHE WAS FREE" ACK!

Well day one SCREAM day two, sqwack or two here and there. Day four I am really getting to the bottom of this for my sanity so each time she screamed I ran into the room to see what kind of stimulus was going on and if there was a pattern. There was. THE CAT! His former owner also had two cats. Problem solved, no more screaming.

To make a long story short, I took her and the cat to the bed and they played together. The kitty would gently bat at her and the birdie would bite the blood out of the kitty and through that came friendship. Now, no more screaming. She is now happy to see Kitty just as Baby always has been. My poor little kitty literally wont even kill hampsters. I have caught her carrying them around and hiding them but never a death scene. She too is a sweet baby, just like my birdies.

Told ya I wasnt going to say anything

Believe me, I am like mother duck around Kai, when he does venture about and investigate I am with him every step or at least keep him in my sights.

My daughters and son (16,15 and 10) absolutely adhore him watching movies and playing in the lounge room with us. He is getting very quickly use to it and to them handling him. He steps up well on command "already", and I am finding it very easy to place a flat hand infront of him, to stop him in his tracks, to prevent him from climbing up on my shoulder to hide under my hair. I cannot believe how quick he is to learn, it only takes him a few times to get the message. We have only had him a week and he has settled in and learnt so much.

But still just so cheeky, so mischevious and investigative, LOVE IT. My favorite new thing is when I say no to something sternly and he leans forward and pushes his beak into my mouth and clicks, definately sucking up, LOVE IT. He's my smoocher!

- back of the mind bite on the lip ( I know it will happen one day ) every creature has its bad days.

I think I owe the breeders a plug, they have done a marvelous job with him, they are in Preston area of Melbourne Australia , email addy - dora_mekkaoui@hotmail.com. I came across them from a site I found called http://www.petlink.com.au , in my mad search for my new baby.

Enjoy

IRN's Rock !

Awwww, that's too cute. Hane won't do anything of the sort, he'd rather bite than admit he was wrong, lol.

I let Hane walk around, but only if he stays in the room I'm in. And Socrates, being an aussi shep, herds him ad Tsume too. He's like a little becon, always letting me know where the birds are. xD

Fascinating about the cat. Great job you did of catching that!