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Fledgling
 
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On August 20, 2012 we found the most beautiful blue parakeet just standing in the street, afraid and very tired. We have welcomed her into our home and are trying to make her comfortable. She is a very loving, gentle bird who goes into a complete anxiety attack when she sees your hand. She will talk to you at the side of the cage but nothing else. I have had a total of 4 parrots so I am not unfamiliar with birds, but I have never found one! We named her Lucky because she really is. What is the best way to bond with a bird that has had such a frightful experience? Any help would be truly appreciated. Thank you!
LKlimo
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Feather Fanatic
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Fully Fledged
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| Welcome to the forum! I also would encourage you to try and find the owner of the bird before you become too attached. Do your best to reunite that little one and then if you can't, well then you've done a good thing taking her in and giving her a home. I have just finished working with some lovebirds that were terrified of the hand as well. I had great success with using millet as a training tool. Start by hanging a stick of millet in the cage to be sure that the bird knows it is food. Once she's had a taste for it and knows that it is edible, then remove the millet and use it as a training tool. If she has access to millet all the time, then it's not very special but if she only gets it when your hand is in the cage, she'll learn fast not to fear the hand. For ten minutes at a stretch, several times per day, hold your hand inside the cage holding a stick of millet. At first she will panic around your hand as she usually does, but holding your hand very still in one spot with the millet and soon she will start to approach your hand for that treat. Once you have her eating the millet regularly while it's held in your hand, start using shorter and shorter peices of millet until she is eventually stepping right up on your fingers looking for that millet! Patience is the key, it can take days of this before she'll even approach the millet, but once she does, it will be baby steps from there on. As long as you are patient and consistent she will start to see that your hand brings good things into the cage. Good luck!
Sue and the flock (Vito,BeeBee, Vinnie and Jingle)
"If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans" ~ James Herriot
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Fledgling
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Hi Pepper's Pa!
Thank you for your response. Yes, we have tried to find her owners, even using Facebook. Sadly, a lot of times when people lose a bird they just figure is a lost cause to search because they just fly away. I would certainly love to try and reunite her, but so far nothing. Thank you again for your response.
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Fledgling
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Hi Sue,
Thank you so much for your response! We have (are) trying to find her owners because I know they are heart broken. We have even gone to Facebook with no luck. Unfortunately, a lot of people feel that when a bird gets out, they are just gone with flight. We have been trying millet on our hand through the cage and she comes readily and takes it, but we have also been putting some in her cage. Because of your suggestion we will now just use it as a treat on our hand and not in her cage. We never thought of that. We are going to try to open the cage and put our hand in with the treat. It's a big step, but she does jump to the side of the cage and take it through the bars. Thank you again!
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Fully Fledged
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| I put together a bunch of video clips of my work with Pip, a 10 week old Lovebird that I used this process to hand tame. Our marketing department at the shelter I work at finally finished making the clips into a video if you want to check it out... here is the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VndvxeoYYtI&feature=plcp The video makes it look like it happened super fast, but in reality it was weeks of working with her to get the step up. Good luck with your little one!
Sue and the flock (Vito,BeeBee, Vinnie and Jingle)
"If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans" ~ James Herriot
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Big Talker
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Just give her time, for now don't even worry about handling her, but let her see you don't mean her any harm.
When I first got my boy conure he wouldn't come to me, LOVED my husband, but wouldn't come to me.
I started just hanging out by his cage, talking to him nicely, and when he was okay with my being by him, I start just handing him tiny almond slivers. Just gave it to him and walked away.
Then when he would run over to see me when I walked by I then would give him a sliver, and THEN I'd offer my hand, on the other side of my hand (using my second hand) I'd have a sliver, so that he'd have to go ON my hand in order to reach the farther sliver.
And so it went until now he comes to me no problem at all :)
The millet spray sounds like a good way to train, give her a small piece of a stalk (like one little bud) anytime you walk by, then she'll associate you with good things :)
Words that Cinnamon can say: Goodnight, I love you, Cinnamon, HAHAHAHAHA, NO, Come here, what is that?, I'm gonna get you!, Hello!
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Fledgling
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| Thank you Sue. Your video is great. Lucky is taking millet from our hand in the cage but yesterday she started to bite the finger also. This morning she seems like she's out of sorts. If we put a piece of millet up to the cage, she shreds it feverishly to get to the finger to bite it. Her wings are not clipped and I think should would calm down a bit. She's been out of the cage twice and flies in anxiety it seems. Your thoughts?
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Fledgling
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| Thanks Broccoli! She is definitely going to need time and we are full of patience. We're doing a lot of checking and if we are unsuccessful with her, not knowing her background, we'll get her a companion, but I'm talking down the road, six months or so. Thank you so much for responding.
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Fully Fledged
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| Hmmm, yes....take a step back and slow things down. I had to do this with Pip. She started to act anxious about the hand so I went back to using a really long peice of millet and just holding my hand still and letting her get to the end of it (farthest from my finger). The thing about the biting is that you have to be careful not to react to it. If they learn that biting makes your hand go away then they look for that reaction. It sort of rewards them for biting, ya know? So when Pip started to nibble, I held very still, when she went from nibbling to pinching I very very gently pulled my finger from her beak, but kept my hand and the millet still in her cage. Despite a nip or two she eventually went back to just stepping up on my hand. Things were a little easier for me because I clipped her wings before even attempting to work with her, that way if she did slip out the cage while I doing millet training I didn't have to deal with a frantic bird. Consider clipping her little wings just until you have a handle on the situation. Oh, and I also highly recommend removing mirrors from the cage during the bonding phase. She can become quite attached to her own reflection and then possessive and protective of it as well. Just a thought! If she seems out of sorts and aggitate by the training, then take a step even further back and just offer her the millet through the cage bars. Even just trying to sit quietly near her cage while she eats her millet and speaking softly to her when she eating it. Let her get used to you near and around her cage and slowly start to introduce your hand near the millet again.
Sue and the flock (Vito,BeeBee, Vinnie and Jingle)
"If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans" ~ James Herriot
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