I will post about harness training and use soon. For now, here is the almost 3-month old Piper in his harness for the 4th time, doing great!
An article about harness training by Barbara Heidenreich, featuring Stephanie Ernst’s African Grey is in Parrot Chronicles: Harness Training Your Bird .
A few more recent pictures are in Piper’s Gallery.
An alert reader let me know that the Good Bird article PDF file linked on the Recall Training page was missing the last page. It’s now complete and is also a higher quality PDF file.
Carly Gets Her Wings: Flight Training an Unfledged African Grey Parrot
Sid Price addresses some very important points about training older birds in his latest blog post, History Revisited, Again. Like Sid and his “new” dog Emma, I found training an adult very, very rewarding, both in terms of seeing Carly’s progress and enthusiasm, and because of how much I was able to learn in the process. Thanks also to Sid for recommending Carly’s training story here in this blog.
However, as you can read in these pages, I have a baby Grey coming in August. Why would I choose to get a baby as my next bird? And why go to one of the best breeders in the country, instead of starting with an unfortunate unfledged, baby-clipped bird like Carly was? Here are my reasons, and as Sid points out, it has everything to do with having the right situation, the right match between new bird and new home, so that the situation is set up for success. It is something I gave a lot of thought to when considering the next addition to my flock.
When I got Carly she was my first parrot, and a “love at first sight” situation. I’d had my pigeon for about 8 months at that time, but no other birds. Nothing could have dissuaded me from taking Carly, even if I’d found out in time that it is detrimental to clip babies before fledging or that it is best to purchase from breeders who allow babies to stay with their parents for some time before hand-feeding. I could not have left her to an unknown fate with some random customer at the bird store. Fortunately, my personal and home situation were perfect for taking on this kind of responsibility. I have a job where I can bring my birds to work with me. I lived alone, so I could spend any amount of time working or interacting with them. I had become a total bird nut after rescuing my pigeon as a baby, so I was willing to spend a lot of time reading and learning about parrots and training, which I started to do long before she was weaned and ready to come home.
So why not do this again? I am very opposed to the way most stores raise their babies, starting with days-old chicks and clipping before they even have a chance to learn how to use their wings. I don’t want to support these practices. (If I spent time in stores and handling their baby greys, I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t fall for one again though! Which is why I stay away.)
Then why not take on an older rehomed bird? That was actually my plan, when I was ready to get a companion for Carly. My current situation in terms of housing and time is not set up well for that however. We now live with Hugh and his 3 Red-fronted Macaws, all flighted, in a small apartment. It’s crucial that everyone be able to get along peacefully. We have been dealing with behavioral issues with the female Annie for the past year, some due to her multiple-rehoming and some due to her pairing up with the male Otis which has brought out some agression. It is still not clear if this will work in the long term, or even if it is in Annie’s best interest. (She actually seems most relaxed and playful when she is away from Otis. ) But it has made it very clear that the history of the birds and the behavior that brings with them is especially critical in such tight quarters.
Carly’s “companion timetable” isn’t quite in sync with mine however. She has started showing “coming of age” behavior quite young — developing strong (borderline unhealthy) interests in strangers we meet, engaging in nesting behaviors, making a “brood patch” on her belly, etc. I am not looking for a mate for her, but I do think it would be beneficial for her to have a same-species companion. According to Wendy Craig, her pet Greys tend to only socialize with other greys, not with her macaws. (The various species of macaws develop a variety of friendships amongst themselves.) At our house now, Carly will sometimes play-fight with Otis or Annie (sometimes real-fight with Annie) but she does not relax with them or with the other more mellow male, Gizmo. But whenever she has seen another African Grey away from home, she immediately approaches and wants a head scratch from it. So I think it is time for her to have a bird around who could be a potential companion.
So do I go for a rehome, with highly unpredictable results for all the birds involved as well as the people, and which might end up being unworkable, or do I choose a situation that has a better chance of success for all concerned? I’ve chosen the latter. I have also chosen to purchase from a highly respected breeder who I believe is influential in spreading the word about responsible breeding and raising of parrots, and who also actively supports conservation efforts for wild parrots. I have no doubt that Wendy is a “force for good” in the lives of parrots in general. In addition, I continue to try to do my part to “pay” for the priviledge of living with these fantastic animals by supporting parrot rescue, educational and conservation organizations (see sidebar) either through donations or by helping publicize their efforts.
And, I’m still a sucker for the hard-luck cases. Little Rocco, the wayward grey cockatiel who found us, has become an important member of the household. It was not clear if that situation would work at first, because of the size difference and a bit of jealousy from Carly, plus two cats not used to small birds, but after being forced to work with it while we looked for his owner things have settled into a good place and he will not have to go elsewhere. It’s not something I would have volunteered for, for some of the same reasons as above, but sometimes things just happen.
Thanks to Sid for clarifying the importance of taking into account the history of an animal, and how that is not incompatible with successful adoption and training of an older bird. But one does have to consider whether you would really be doing the bird a favor, or if you are doing it to fulfill a need of your own to rescue. Taking in a rescue or rehomed parrot is a very large responsibility, and worth serious thought about the long-term best interests of the bird. Having had all of my past and current pets, with the exception of Carly, come to me through unorthodox or unplanned channels, I also know it can be tremendously rewarding as well.
I have just noticed that someone who has barely any experience in training flighted recall is now offering a course (video and ebook) on how to train your parrot, of any age and condition, to fly and do recall, flighted tricks, etc. With guaranteed results of course, in just X number of days, for any bird, no matter what. Sound familiar?
I think all I have to say at this point is to check out the authors’ actual credentials in the professional training world (not their sparkly photos which suggest that training skill is measured by your need to have your snapshot taken with a celebrity — I guess they’re supposed to be celebrities anyway) and decide for yourself if you want to send them your credit card information.
Apparently you have to train differently depending on your bird’s “personality type.” Zoo trainers should be thrilled to discover this important new information that amateurs were able to discern in a few weeks, in between their copious internet marketing pursuits.
Again, please see the Training Resources page if you want to see what real trainers are offering for companion parrot owners.
I’m continuing to practice flighted recalls with the Tiel, as is Hugh. He’s doing really well, but is still somewhat skittish in general. He’s doing great with the big birds though, even when he gets stalked by Carly or chased away by one of the macaws. Takes it in stride and finds a place to hang out peacefully, then sometimes flies back over to hang with the big guys. Calm and not easily intimidated! Thus his new name: Rocco (see link if you don’t know why.)
I’m also working on putting him in a carrier. He will go quite willingly into a small travel cage I use for Carly (it’s been his cage until I get a bigger one out of storage). This went surprisingly fast by giving him treats and meals in there. Now I’m working on an easier-to-carry carrier, a small plastic one with the metal front door. He’s been warier of this, particularly after I had to put him in and out of it twice fairly quickly one night last week when it was not trained solidly enough yet (and when I found myself at work with a dead battery). He got agitated with having the door closed the second time. But we’re getting it back on track. After letting him get used to being around it, then putting food on top of it, I’ve been offering him food inside the carrier, and am starting to place him inside when he is taking a treat from my hand. And tonight I was surprised to see that he had settled in for the night — not on a rope swing in the bedroom where he’s been sleeping — but out on the patio sitting just inside the doorway to the carrier. I was hoping he’d eventually find it cozy.
Here’s a picture I took this morning.
(No he doesn’t have an orange crest! That’s part of a toy.)
As during Katrina, many animals are also displaced, lost, or in need of rescue due to the floods. See these links for ways to help.
I’ve just started training a fully flighted, untame cockatiel that a neighbor found last week. I’m using methods I learned from the Bird-click group and Barbara Heidenriech’s workshop. Here’s a description of the first steps I’ve done. He did not like hands at all, and did not want to sit next to people. Each of these steps was done using very small increments, clicking and treating, and only moving on when he was very at ease with the previous step.
Andrew Hall is a trainer and director of the Northern Colorado Bird Center. A former employee at Natural Encounters, he now presents free flight shows and other avian educational programs at the bird center. The following is another post reprinted by permission from Barbara Heidenreich’s Good Bird Group. It is short, but I think it’s extremely important and an easy point to miss.
You get out what you put in. Continue Reading »
A site purporting to be an “unbiased” review of parrot training courses has recently appeared on Google searches for parrot training.
Continue Reading »
I have been curious what difference a top-rate trainer would see in training a pre-weaned baby, and training an older bird who is already weaned and fledged. If both are trained well with positive reinforcement and small increments, is there a difference in the outcome? The following is from a post by Barbara Heidenreich, used by permission from her Good Bird forum.
BH:
Flying in open fields with no perching options and relying on a “baby
bond” are in my opinion are unreliable crutches for outdoor flight
behaviors. To me it signals some important training steps are being
missed.”
Question from forum:
May I ask why “baby bond” isn’t good to BUILD a +R history with the bird?
How can you say you don’t like to hear about training fledging birds
because “it signals some important training steps are being missed”?
Barbara Heidenreich:
I am not a big fan of teaching flight on the Internet, which is why I don’t participate in those discussions anymore. Although I am still a member of a few lists and check in to read posts periodically. As you know the discussions get quite heated and getting into arguments on flight training do not accomplish much towards my teaching goals. Kinda just sucks up lots of time.
With that in mind I will share a response to your questions….but I will not be sharing all my thoughts, philosophies and teachings on flight training here. Even my two days teaching at Chris shank’s is not enough to send someone off to free fly safely in my opinion without additional guidance.
So here is the deal…… Continue Reading »
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