when did your.....

[LovelySydney]

When did your lovebird decide you were 'OK'? What I mean is, in terms of taming/training, how long did it take for your bird to tame down & bond to you, and what did it feel like when he/she did? Besides patience, what methods of taming worked best for you??

I'm just curious to see the ranges of bird taming and how different each bird is. Simply something I'm wondering about:)

[michael]

Had you asked this question a couple months after our daughter brought me Goofy lovebird, I would have likely told you it took about a month to tame him. Nowadays, the best answer I could give, is its an ongoing process having lasting well over two years, and may yet have no end. Mind you, even long before Goofy, i've always held the preconception that should any parrot decide to land on my head, its tame......:)......Pooping on it...well...thats 50/50............:wink:

As for the methods WE use on each other? ..... Having all my life a special love for parrots, i've long formed this habit of always talking to them. Even when they weren't mine! I think with me and Goof, this has helped more than anything as he now has his own special way of communicating back. Odd as it sounds, food comes in a close second. Not really so much in treats, but for the fact that he's learned to love a variety of healthy foods that he can't wait to sink his beak into. Not only does he realize I love bringing him his favorite foods, but toys and other things too. So what does he use on me?.......Hypnotism!........:skull:

[bookworm0550]

well, it varies for me. it took joey a week, evolet a month, and pan, well, i'm still working on him. the bathroom, small room deal worked w/ joey and seems to work good w/ pan, but not with evolet. food/treats worked with joey and pan too, and again, not on evolet. of course i use toys as a reinforcer as well.

with evolet, i think it was more about time rather than food and sitting around in a small room. it's funny cuz she's also the one who has never nipped me or even tried too!!! She never had a nippy phase, never has tested me, never bites at all. She steps up so well, w/o me even telling her to too. of course i didn't even know she liked me til I got Pan and she was super sweet to me cuz he was the new bird. that's when i realized that she had always liked me, i just didn't see it cuz I compared her to Joey. See, Jojo bugs loves to cuddle, hang out on my shoulders, and whatnot and Evie was not like that all. Sure she allowed pettings, scritches, and cuddling from time to time. But I thought she didn't like me cuz those moments never lasted long. But really, she just showed me in different ways and i was too blind to see it til Pan got here.

one thing that seems to let me know if they trust me or not is if they nap on me. when i'm online and laying down on my back (like as i'm sleeping), and they are hanging out on me. that's when they'll nap. once they nap, i feel like they trust me enough. and of course they're napping so close to my face that I can't even watch them sleep or else i get eye strain :)

[flowersolstice]

I have two Lovebirds and i got them at the same time and both are different from each other. Eros took five seconds and Venus is still learning, she landed on my head for a few seconds the other day and always sits ontop of my laptop starting at me. I have them for just over a month now :)

[BarbieH]

It depends on the bird. For Gracie (our first lovebird), I think it took her about three months to decide that it might not be worth biting me every time I went to change her food/water dishes. It took me that long to alter my own expectations of what she should be like, too.

It took until after her first clutch of eggs before she decided that we wouldn't be dangerous to her eggs. That's an important thing for a hen to learn! :) And she only learns it by experience. Breakthroughs come all along the way. Just last week, I felt like we had a breakthrough because I removed a bath dish from her cage, and she didn't charge out of the nestbox to kill me. She sat tight on her eggs.

Today Gracie and I are very good friends, but she will bite my fingers. I cannot expect her to perch anywhere near my hands. She's not a snuggly bird, but we understand and respect each other. That is, I THINK she respects me.... I sure respect her!

[Enko_chan]

It varies. I've had a lot of very different experiences with different birds. My first four lovebirds were each 2 pair of normal green peach faces- male-female pairs...

With the first pair, both eventually 'decided we were ok' but it took a while for the male, while the female took to us right away. The female was comfortable inside of a week, while the male was skittish for a few months and it was always an on-going process with him.

The second pair we thought were male-male until the female became nesty... and they were both skittish for the first few months, and eventually the male warmed up to us, especially me. The female who seemed to be warming up at least a little at first, eventually became very aggressive and territorial and I don't think she ever thought we were OK. It was tough to even clean the cage or switch out the toys, to replace the eggs... I donated much blood to Etta Devil Hen.

Enko chan, who unfortunately only spent 3 days with me, decided I was OK before I even brought him home. I visited with him and we bonded at the breeders' house. We went through a very specific process of carrying him around in his front-pouch handmade (by me) carrier, talking to him, and talking with the breeder who he knew and loved for a while. He had about a half hour of awkward adjustment and then he was HOME. He was VERY attached to me, and would divebomb right out of the cage, pace back and forth in front of the door waiting to come out, and all he wanted to do was play with me. He absolutely HAD to be on my person at all times. He would climb in my sweater and perch on my inside shirt when it was nap time. He would even avoid pooping on me- despite the fact that he spent a lot of time cuddled up inside my shirt, he never once pooped on my skin, he would wake up, climb out, poop on the floor or my sleeve, and the climb back in. I miss him so much, it still really hurts.

I can't really say what would have been with Loki, but it definitely would have taken more time. He liked my partner and I, but he was very willful and went back-and-forth. Sometimes he'd be ready to step up, other times he would hide when I tried to get him to come out. I think it would have been more of a process with him. He liked being on shoulders, and I think he preferred my partner to me. He was raised by a man and I think he preferred men. He also insisted on being on either my partner or my person at all times when he was out of the cage. Though he was only here for a few days, even from hour to hour, he was not consistent. When he was sweet, he was very very sweet, and he never bit, but he did nip and he set the rules and had his way. We really looked forward to our life with Loki and miss him terribly.

With my mother and sisters' birds Luke & Leia, they are fearless and love people. They decided I was OK the second I opened the cage door and let them out to play. They seem to be like that with everybody, new or not, they just love everyone. From what my mother has said, they've been like that every time they come out, no matter who (and we have a VERY large family- I'm the eldest of 8 siblings, and there are step siblings too) they are all over them, preening, snuggling, playing, you name it.

I think it REALLY varies from bird-to-bird.

[Pips mom]

It does really vary from bird to bird......Pip, he seems to have little in the way of fear! but we still had to become friends with him and he had to get to know us......I myself love to try immitating things or sounds my birds make....to show them that I am trying to communicate with them. This really seems to encorage them to try to communicate back to me! They all warm up eventually......some take some time, that is why you always hear people saying, patience is the key......because they only come around in thier own time in their own way! There is no way to make it go quicker, so just sit back, and do what you can do, and wait! Good things come to those who wait! Birdies are good for teaching us that! :nyah:

[SammySamantha]

Sam hopped down from a tree as I was passing. He landed on my shoulder and has been there ever since. Fearless little freak!

[momo]

It took elmo really half a year to realise I was ok... she began to drop her guard a little around the 4 month mark I think.. We are at the 9th month mark at the moment.. and her wings have grown in.. She flies to me which is something that has amazed me. She isnt the touchy type of bird.. but enjoys sitting with me. I know this is as far as things are going to do.. She asks me to mate with her which has only happened recently.

In the beginning I was told to force handle.. and this I think set me back ALOT.. its taken me until now to reverse that.. but I dont think she will ever trust hands.. After I learnt that forcing was wrong.. thats when things began to go up.. VERY SLOWLY.. but going up.

[nacho135]

Honostly...my lovebird seemed to take to me immeditetly. Which scares me to get another lovebird because I understand how unusual that is. The breeder that I know emailed me saying that she had a cuddly lovebird and she thought of me. The night I brought him home he was clinging to the side of the cage just staring me down! So I got him out and right under my chin he went. He has to be with me or my husband or he just goes nuts in his cage! He still does that... hes just a little cuddler!