Please help us :)

[allovera]

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Hi everyone,

I just joined the site. I have recently "adopted" a beautiful lovebird, Bebe, from a friend of mine. She originally had two but Bebe's partner met an unfortunate end with their pet dog (terrible, I know!). This is how I came to be Bebe's new mom... the only other pets we have are fish so she will be safe here :) I've had her about three months now.

Anyway, Bebe is about one year old, not hand-reared and not at all tame. Her wings have never been clipped and she was allowed to fly around as and when she wanted in her old house. Now that she is alone I would love it if I could bond with her and tame her.. but easier said than done!
She is nervous of everything.. EVERYTHING! I've tried target training but she's terrified of the target and won't go near it, nor will she even go near her treats if she actually does get near the target by accident!
How can I tame her if she's scared of treats?!?!

I don't particularly want to clip her wings, I think she's had enough shocks just recently what with losing her partner and moving home. So I've been trying to train her in her cage, but then she gets moody about not being allowed out because she was out all the time in the past!

Please help me, I don't know what to do.. can anybody give me some steps to follow... please :)

Kay

[Elle]

Hi Kay,

Congratulations on becoming Bebe's new mom. Lovebirds are amazing little creatures. :) I don't think it's impossible training a lovebird taht is fully flighted but to tell the truth, I never have.

All birds who enter my home gets their wings clipped. It helps with taming and also, since they are in a new environment, they won't fly into things in a moment of panic. Wing clips are a way of comtroling how far, how fast and how high they will go. It's not meant to prevent them from flying.

I highly recommend that you do a wing clip. Once Bebe is tamer and used to you, you don't have to clip if you preffer a fully flighted bird.

[allovera]

Thanks for your reply, I will seriously have a think about having her wings clipped.

However, it still won't make her less scared of me (and everything else)... how do I do that?

[Jally]

Is she trained to step up on a perch? If she is, then I see no reason not to let her out. I have 2 lovies myself. One is tame, too tame if you ask me LOL and the other is like your Bebe. He is a pet store lovie. But, the first thing I did when we got him home was to train him to step up on a perch.

You have to earn her trust. Start slow and small with just talking to her, reading to her, singing silly soft songs to her.

Put some treats in a little treat cup and let her see you do that. Then you can gradually put the treat cup closer to her. After you establish a better trust with her, then you can see if she will take a treat from you.

Good luck! Patience is key :)

[allovera]

No she isn't trained to do anything. If I go near her with a perch in hand she "shouts" and goes mad so I can't even start with that yet!

I feel sad for her that she's so scared of everything...

[Elle]

I have some birds that are not fund of the human contact but all of them will step up. I had to lock myself in a small room and work on it. I chose a calm and quiet environment. I started by just talking to them. I don't believe in getting them to step up on a perch first. In case of emergency, I don't have time to go look for a perch, but that is my personal opinion.

If you clip their wings, you will find a difference in their behavior. Offer millet and sunflower seeds. Those are two treats they love. Place it between Bebe and you. And wait. Talk to him. He might go over to eat the treats. Once he is comfortable, try to offer the treats from your finger. He might or might not take it.

For the step up part of it, I ususally place them on a perch. I offer my hand and the commend. Once he step up, praise him. You can offer a treat but make it a big deal that they stepped up. Place him pack on the perch and start over. You should be able to take a rythm doing it.

Don't do it more then 5 or 10 minutes at a time. Stop before the bird gets frustrated. End on a positive note. It takes time, patience and consistency :)

[Chickobee]

I was able to tame several adult birds by going very slowly and letting them learn to trust me.

I would hold a long stalk of millet in my hand inside their cages and then wait for them to finally come forward to take a bit of it. After they finally got comfortable with that I began moving it nearer to the cage door so they had to come a bit closer to me. Eventually they got so they would come right over to it on a perch.

Then I began holding it so they had to put at least one foot onto my hand in order to get the millet. Eventually they would stand right on my hand while eating it, but still inside their cage. Then I started slowly inching my hand closer to the cage door until I could finally get them out still sitting on my hand.

Whenever they would get scared and retreat to the safety of a perch at the back of their cage I let them do it and didn't grab at them or make them do anything they were afraid of. Try to make all of your training sessions a positive experience for your bird.

This can be a long process, or some birds who are more brave can go through these steps faster. Sometimes if they see another bird do something it makes them more brave also.

It also helps to just spend time near your bird so they can get used to seeing you. I would also talk to them a lot so they got used to my voice.

Just don't try to go too fast. Any steps in the right direction are good, and if you scare your bird it could become bitey in self defense.

:2cents: Also another tip: reserve all treats for training and taming. A bird who is already stuffed full of millet won't come to get it from your hand.

Good luck! As Jally said - Patience is key. :)

Oh, and one last thing--I'm also a true believer in wing clips. They produce an immediate attitude adjustment for a sassy lovie! :)

[Pips mom]

Oh, and one last thing--I'm also a true believer in wing clips. They produce an immediate attitude adjustment for a sassy lovie!

Definitely with a lovie! Lovies are such strong willed little stinkers and a wing clip definitely does wonders with their little sassy, bold behaviours! Just make sure the clip isn't too severe and the bird will still have some flight. She might need some time to adjust to it after having full flight and won't be too happy at first, but lovebirds are strong little things and she won't be too sad about it for very long! Maybe a couple of days, then after that keeping them clipped they never have to go through a huge change from being full flighted again and it won't even phase them. I would be losing my mind here is Pip wasn't clipped! and he's perfectly happy being a clipped birdie. He still gets where he wants to go, just a little more work, but lovies are up for the challenge!

[Jally]

I've been debating on whether or not to trim Peanut's wings a little because he is such a brat. But, flying has made him so much more independent. I think I would go insane if he were to become the velcro birdie that he was before. Doesn't clipping them make them more dependent?

I really am so undecided about it. Oreo is clipped but he was when we got him and it is so sad to see him sit watching Peanut fly about. He tries so hard to catch up to him only to land with a thud on the floor :(

[Enko_chan]

I clip 3 or 4 flights on each wing and it keeps them from being able to get too much lift, but they're still able to get around. Especially when dealing with a bird that spooks easy, its safer to work with them. When Odinn was still very skittish, he would take off and fly in any direction when frightened, and any little thing would spook him.

You may need to take some time for your bird to get used to you and his new surroundings before you begin training. Take it very slowly. He'll pick up the pace when ready. There's a lot of excellent advice in this thread that I won't reiterate.

[allovera]

Thankyou all of you who gave advice! I will get Bebe's wings clipped later today if I have time. Then let the training begin :-) I'll keep you updated.

[allovera]

Update: Bebe has had her wings clipped, she was very grumpy about it at the time, but it only took two seconds - I had no idea it was so fast!

When we got home I let her out of the cage in another room that we never go in, she tried to fly but quickly settled down when she realised that she couldn't anymore. (She has had four flight feathers clipped on each wing so she can still get a bit of lift but not enough to get into trouble!)

I have to say the change in attitude is astounding! I never knew she could be calm!

We've already begun work on stepping up onto a perch that I'm holding and she's done that a few times with no problems!

Things are looking good, great actually!! I know that we need a lot of time and hard work but I'm feeling very positive.... thankyou, thankyou, thankyou for all your advice and help!! :happy:

[linda040899]

Clipping just a few flight feathers can have amazing results and you don't have to eliminate flight completely. That's not the idea behind it.

I'm glad this suggestion is working for you. :) Once Bebe has calmed down, you are free to let those flights grow back so that she has full flight ability. For now, you are giving her reasonable limitations and that will work for you. This community does not advocate no flight at all but limited flight for safety purposes.

[Chickobee]

This is great news about the positive changes you are seeing with Bebe. Now you can have lots more fun with your lovie. :)

[FuzzyAga]

I'm glad that a moderate clip is giving you the leverage you need to start to tame your bird. The first thing to do is to get your bird's attention. :)

I found that after I first had Juanita (I found her outside) and I was taking a crash course in Lovebirdmanship, before I knew anything more about her personality, lack of physical agility, or her intellect, I had her wings clipped. She was a very dependent birdie after that clip. She would stay on my forearm, facing out, and l-e-a-n to the right or to the left if that was the way she wanted me to go, or strain way forward, and I was always asking her, "What? Where do you want to go?"

I remember I spent virtually the whole day being her taxi. Drove me mad!

Now, I've learned that because of her mild disability, she needs her wings so she's fully flighted and goes whereever she wants. And I'm no longer driven mad!

But I must say, those periods of togetherness while joined at the limbs helped forge a strong bond between us. She's my little darling, the queen of the flock!

[BarbieH]

Congratulations on your progress with Bebe!

Part of the bonding process includes simply letting her get used to you. Spend some time every day sitting near her cage, talking to her (of course you probably already to this), and eating near her. If she sees you eating, and starts eating herself, that means she feels safe around you. Birds eat together, and you want her to adopt you into her flock! Answering her calls produces a similar effect.

[allovera]

Latest update: I just wanted to let everyone know how it's going.. Today Bebe has taken her first step-up onto my arm and then shoulder!!!

I can't believe how fast she is learning, and how calm and sweet she has become! I have spent hours sitting next to her and taking her into another room to train her little by little. She got the step-up onto the perch quite quickly and then today I tried my arm and she just leapt up there when I gave her the step-up command!!

Then she did it again later and stayed there for about 2 minutes before slowly getting off! I am a very happy and proud mommy :)

[BarbieH]

:clap:clap:clapYay!!!:clap:clap:clap

[shylevon]

Birds with wings do seem to be stressed out all the time, especially when they want to go-go-go. Once they know they ain't goin' anywhere fast, they get that calm look about them.

I don't know what target training is, but it sounds positively terrifying. I can't say that I would step in front of a target if I was around a stranger and I'd be worse if I were a birdie. They use pidgeons for target practice and I'd be saying, "You know I'm not a pidgeon, right.... right??? I'm a lovebird... not a pidgeon. You know that, right.... right????"

[allovera]

LOL! Target training is basically getting her to touch a stick (the target) with her beak in order for her to get a treat. It then (should) progress to following the target a few inches to get a treat, all the way to moving where we tap or put the target. I can be used to help with stepping-up, especially if you have a bird that bites (she/he then bites the target and not you!). It's basically just another way to get your bird to do or go where she/he needs to. I also read that it can be used to do tricks later on.
Check out this link
http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww51eii.htm

[shylevon]

Ah, I see. It looks like a magician's wand. "You aren't gonna make me disappear, right... right??? I don't want to disappear. You know that? Right??... RIGHT????"

[allovera]

LOL! daft! :)