Welcome back to Animal Wonders! A while back I did a How-to on how to get
a smaller bird to step onto your finger and stay safely perched.
Well, we had two follow up questions and I'd like to tackle them now.
The first one was asking how you would handle a larger bird, like a macaw
and the second one was asking how do you handle an aggressive Amazon parrot.
I've had the exact same questions.
There are so many species of animals out there and within each species there's
countless personalities. It's almost impossible for me to give advice
without seeing the animal's behavior first.
So I'm going to do my best to give some general advice and ideas on certain situations.
First questions was from Hybridherps, you can read the full question here
You can pause it if you want to but the basic general concept was how do I handle a larger bird?
So I would feel uncomfortable with one finger with a larger bird, I would
offer multiple fingers or a palm up, or my arm to stabilize their heavy weight and large feet
The idea is similar to a small bird with a single finger perch, you're going to
move slowly forward, and approach your arm/ palm/ fingers perch
right even with their chest. If you're very comfortable with your large bird, macaw or cockatoo
go ahead and move that perch all the way up to their chest.
If you're still establishing a trust bond with that bird, you want present the perch
and wait for them to show signs that they want to step onto it
The main sign of the bird wanting to step up is to raise their foot into the air and offer it like this
without pinning of the eyes. If they lead toward you, maybe with an open beak,
remove your perch and try again in a moment. Remember you can't make a macaw do anything
that they don't want to do. Now they could just be grouchy, but if you haven't established
a trust bond yet, take a step back, work on your relationship. Build it up, feed them
talk nice to them, feed them treats through the bars and then when they're out.
Groom them through the bars, and then when they're out. It could take some time
It took Joy and I about eight months to establish our trust bond
Mmm delicious
Second questions was from LaughingAtTheDark, here's the full text right here
Basically, how do you work with an aggressive parrot?
So older psittacines that aren't bonded to you or aren't very well socialized are really difficult
especially Amazon parrots, which have quite a spunky attitude.
LaughingAtTheDark's parrot I would not suggest putting my finger near that bird
until you're fairly confident he won't bite.
The process to creating a trust bond with an aggressive Amazon-- it takes time,
It could take several years, if ever. This is Chongo, and he is a Lilac Crowned Amazon Parrot,
and it took us about a year to create a trust bond enough that I was comfortable enough to
pick him up and he was comfortable enough to stand comfortably on my hand.
And get all the treats that he can eat!
This is Archie, he's a Blue-Fronted Amazon Parrot, and we're still working on our trust bond
I use precautions when I work with him. This is how I approach this situation--
I would use a handheld stick to use as a perch so I keep my hands safe,
and then you always want to be able to offer them treats, so I would use a spoon, or you could
go ahead and just put it in a bowl. So I would show him the perch, and we've already
already established this relationship already, so he would step up onto the perch
And then you can use the spoon to give the treat
there you go bud
So this allows you to stay safe, allows you to make sure that he doesn't get nervous
if he does bite you, and you can still work on establishing your relationship together
He gets treats, you work on stepping up, win-win situation
That's as far as me and Archie have gone in our relationship so far
It's going quite well. The next step is going to be me moving my hand
down the perch and getting closer to him.
Now if at any point he does bite me, I do my best not to react
Don't react to a bird bite by saying ouch or yelling, or anything like that.
Quickly and calmly remove yourself from the situation.
Reacting to any behavior of your bird is going to increase the chance of it occurring again
So if you don't want a behavior to happen again, remove yourself, your attention
any potentially interesting or positive things, remove that and
the likelihood of that behavior happening again is going to decrease
For now, LaughingAtTheDark, with your Amazon parrot try using the stick and the spoon
make all your interactions positive, Good Luck!
And now here's just a couple more tips for tricky situations with birds
My bird won't come out of his cage!
Open the door, let him come out on his own.
Maybe he'll come on top of his home, maybe he'll just come out on the top of the door
both are fine
Maybe even put a little bowl on top, put some treats in there, entice him out that way
My bird runs away from me!
If they're running away, that means you haven't spent enough time on your trust bond with them
Take a step back, make some more interactions with yourself positive, lots of treats, no pressure
If they're just playing games with you, put your hand behind them and encourage them to come toward your finger
My bird is biting me all the time!
Psittacines use their beak to explore and to communicate
So either they're just trying to figure out what the hard thing is inside your finger, or
they're trying to tell you something. Listen! Are they nervous, are they scared?
Is there something out the window that's scaring them? Is your cat staring at them?
Respond appropriately, help them out, listen to what they're saying
My bird won't stay on my finger!
Well either they're bored or they're too nervous. If they're bored, give them something fun to do on your finger
If they're nervous, take a step back, and reinvest in your trust bond.
My bird is scared of my hand!
Start offering treats from the spoon or the tweezers, start establishing a positive relationship
with your hand and your fingers. You can also get them onto the floor and offer
a flat, back of the hand for them to step onto or even a finger from the floor
Birds always want to get to the highest perch, so that's a good way
to start establishing your finger as a friend.
The most important thing you can do for your bird is to listen to what they're telling you
Body language is key to their communication. So establish a trust bond, and then
use these tips I've shared to help navigate a healthy, interactive relationship with your feathered friend
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[to the macaw] Hi silly
[To Archie] Are you excited? Are you so excited? Ah! Get it get it get it! Yea!
[whistling and chirping to the bird]