Not much progress

[Dante]

Hey, lovebirds plus community!

It's been quite a while since I went over the forums because of a lack of time.
I'm facing quite a situation here. I've had my lovebird for about a month now. I've been trying to tame her almost every day. I've been talking to and eating in front of her all the time. Although she was extremely frightened at first and is a bit calmed right now whenever I try to get her to climb onto my finger she runs away. I can't even get close enough to touch her. I tried to do it in moderation but it seems that she just doesn't get the point :( Everything would be fine if we omitted the fact that it has been over a month! I'm suspecting that maybe she's too old to be tamed even though I don't know her age.
Any help would be appreciated. For the record, she's not clipped.

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/325/79799461.jpg

[CompassionAk]

Have you thought about clipping her? It really is amazing what an attitude adjustment a clip can give! If you have never clipped a bird before you want to start with just a little at a time because you can always go back and clip more, but you can't go back if you clip too much at once. If you clip to far up you can hurt the bird and you also want to avoid any blood feathers. You want the clip to be enough so the bird can't fly where she isn't supposed to,but you also want to have it long enough so she is able to glide down to the floor rather than fall with a thud which could hurt her.

Here is a link to what a proper clip should look like that I got from the resource library here http://www.acstiels.com/Articles/BasicCare/wing.html There are also videos online and we have people here who would gladly answer any question you might have. Some pet stores and vets will also do it for a small fee if you don't feel comfortable doing it.

I have a lovie who was 6 years old when I got her and not tame and it has taken a while to gain her trust,I'd say about half a year to get her to where she is comfortable enough to want to come to me on her own. Now I can hold my finger up and she'll come running over,I still can't give her head scritches but I think it's great that I gained this much trust from the old gal :) Don't give up on her,it might just take a little longer then you expected to gain her trust and it's possible she might not ever like hands, but that doesn't mean you can't bond in other ways!

[linda040899]

As far as forming a trust relationship with your bird, a month is a very short period of time!! Parrots learn trust through experience and some take longer than others. The object of the game is to let your lovebird come to you rather than you going to him/her. He has to see you as unthreatening in order to feel comfortable so I would scale back to sitting by the cage and just talking to him/being there. Try eating meals next to the cage, if possible. Try putting the food dish near where you will be sitting so that he will have to come over to your side if he wants to eat while you are doing so. Nothing may happen the first couple of times, and that's OK. Persistence and patience will get you what you want.

If the flight feathers are no clipped, you may want to clip them just to get him to the point where he is tame. Once out of the cage, it's much easier to capture (for lack of a better word) a partially flighted bird than a fully flighted one. You can always let the feathers grow back once you've accomplished your end.

Instead of offering your hand, try offering a perch to step up onto. Hands can be viewed as threatening where a perch is seen as neutral. Once out of the cage, you can try taking him to a small, dimly lit room do that he can be with you but not be able to go too far. Bathrooms are great for this, as long as precautions are taken to keep him safe.

I don't believe that any bird is too old to be tamed. There are different levels of tame but you can establish a relationship with any bird, even if it takes time. Patience................

[Pips mom]

Pip still runs from hands.....you're going to have to face the fact that sometimes birds just don't like hands and it may always be that way. I've had Pip now for almost three years. He's as tame as can be, as friendly as can be, and we have a really great bond and relationship between us.....just don't expect him to step onto hands unless he's landed on the floor! He will go on hands of his own will, on his own terms, but mostly I offer my arm to him, he'll go on my shoulder, or my head....he likes being on me....riding around on me, just hanging out with me......we're good friends! but I know Pip and I know that it's just part of his personality that he does not like hands and that is that! How is that a problem? It's really not. You can still have a very rewarding life and relationship with a bird who does not like hands.

[michael]

Hi Dante. ... Really, a month is not long at all. Another thing, for some birdies even the most minor details such as the colour of your clothes can make a big difference. .. The only thing I can emphasize, is because running away is so relatively common, last on the list of suspect barriers would be age. ....Hope you keep us posted............:)

[Dante]

Wow... thanks guys. I didn't expect such reassuring replies. The reason I wrote my previous post is that I'm pretty new to this thus I thought that a month is more than enough to get a bird to climb you.
A lot of people suggest clipping but I'm not really a fan of it. I look at it as taking away a bird's freedom to some extent. Birds fly, it's a part of them. Just imagine if you were able to walk but not run no matter how hard you tried...
Anyway, I'm reassured now. I'll keep you posted if anything comes up.
One more question. Is there a way to check a lovebird's age without going to a vet?

[linda040899]

You can pretty much tell the age of a lovebird by physical characteristics up until the first molt is almost over.....age 5 months (roughly). After that, it's anyone's guess. Even your vet can't tell you! :)

As far as flight feather clipping, we're only suggesting it for taming purposes and you would probably only have to do it once. I only have a few that are clipped and it was done initially to control where they could go. After that, I never found it necessary again. It's a matter of personal choice if you do or don't. We are OK with it either way! :)

[Chickobee]

I'd like to chime in on the clipping issue. I know there are differing opinions on it and that watching a bird fly is wonderful.

Unfortunately, if you have a bird that is not tame, it can be very difficult to work with it when the bird can fly away whenever it wants to. And then, how do you safely get it back into the cage again if it will not come to you and isn't trained to step up onto your hand?

If you have to chase it around the room repeatedly and then eventually catch it somehow this can ruin any progress you have made in building a trust relationship with your bird.

My suggestion would be to have your bird clipped so that it is easier for you to train it to step up. This is also safer for your bird in it's new environment. Then later you could choose whether or not to let the flight feathers grow back when your bird molts. There are members here who have fully flighted birds so maybe a couple of them will chime in here also.

We have many things in our own home that are dangerous for our birds so we keep all of them clipped for their safety.

Outside in the wild they need to be fully flighted to excape from predators and to search for food. These are not issues in a house, and many things in our homes are very dangerous for our birds--ceiling fans, open doors, stoves with boiling pots, sinks full of water, windows, poisonous plants, etc. Things happen unexpectedly so it is not possible to anticipate everything that could go wrong all the time.

So, we clip.

Our birds are happy and healthy even with a few feathers trimmed. :)

[CompassionAk]

Mine are clipped and still get around fine,they just can't go where they aren't supposed to and it's for their own safety. I keep their large flight cage in the living room not far from my computer and where I spend the majority of time when home that way they can still fly to me and hang out when they want,they just can't go soaring across the apartment into the kitchen anymore!

[Dave_K.]

one thing that we do with our birds when clipping is to clip only enough that they cannot gain much altitude. On another thread I mentioned our hardwood floors and the danger of a very hard landing. It only took a very few of those for us to get the idea of knowing how strong each individual bird is, and the range of strength is amazing. Some can only tolerate one or two feathers trimmed at the most and then there are Scooter, Gus, Quigly and Marley who all have five to seven feathers clipped and can still go roaring accross the room and do a full slide stop on the floor or navigate perfectly to a limb on the artificial tree that I built.

[Pips mom]

A lot of people suggest clipping but I'm not really a fan of it. I look at it as taking away a bird's freedom to some extent. Birds fly, it's a part of them. Just imagine if you were able to walk but not run no matter how hard you tried...


Honestly.....I really don't think you could ever compare the two....first of all.....how often do any of us really run?? Yes, birds fly and it's a big part of them.....I agree, but what you need to realize is that a wing clip is not meant to keep them from flying, it's just to slow them down a little and keep them out of trouble. Plus what's nice about a wing clip is that it grows out in no time in small birds! so you can do it temporarily and see how it goes and then decide if you want to clip again or not. Clipping really does make a big difference in their sassy little attitudes! and.....they adjust to the clip in a day, make the best of it, and it's probably not even thought about by them again after that. Lovebirds especially I think should be clipped because of how mischeivous they tend to be, plus they are such strong little birds that most times not alot phases them. Lovebirds I think see the glass as half full and will learn quickly to make the best of what they've got and still be happy! On another note.....there are alot of people who are missing a leg, an arm, or handicapped in some way that live active and happy lives....AND....theirs won't grow back!

[bookworm0550]

I'd like to chime in on the clipping issue. I know there are differing opinions on it and that watching a bird fly is wonderful.

Unfortunately, if you have a bird that is not tame, it can be very difficult to work with it when the bird can fly away whenever it wants to. And then, how do you safely get it back into the cage again if it will not come to you and isn't trained to step up onto your hand?

If you have to chase it around the room repeatedly and then eventually catch it somehow this can ruin any progress you have made in building a trust relationship with your bird.

My suggestion would be to have your bird clipped so that it is easier for you to train it to step up. This is also safer for your bird in it's new environment. Then later you could choose whether or not to let the flight feathers grow back when your bird molts. There are members here who have fully flighted birds so maybe a couple of them will chime in here also.



i have to agree here as well. it's hard to build trust when you are always running around after them.

all my birds are fully flighted, but they didn't come to me that way. the only one that came flighted was Pantalaimon and guess what? i had to chase him around to get him to go back into his cage and guess what? he really hates hands and god that boy bites hard! not only that, but it took 7 months of hard work and patience to get him to even eat out of my hands. thats the only time he'll fly to my hands and that's when i have treats otherwise, forget it! he's still that way and i've had him for year and some months now.

the others all came clipped so when they glided to floor, guess what? they stepped up. even chomper who is still pretty scared of hands will step up more than pantalaimon.

the thing w/ clipping is that it grows back before you know it and some birds even still gain good height w/ clipped wings. you can try clipping and as time goes on and you feel like you guys are developing a good relationship, you don't have to keep him clipped. just read about clipping before you do it or have someone experienced do it for you. i had my sister help me clip pan and god, what a horrible experience. she over clipped him so he was crash landing and i felt so bad for him. trust me, that experience made it that much harder to build a trust w/ him.

like everyone else said, a month is really not that long. some birds settle in right away and some take months like pan did. it took him 7 months to settle in and finally be comfortable w/ me and the other birds.

[Birkah]

I think a better analogy (with running vs. walking) would be that instead of running a marathon, they can do a quick sprint! A light clip will still allow them short bursts of horizontal flight (without much "lift"), and let them glide safely to the floor.

[Jally]

My opinion on clipping is it is different for each individual bird. Some I need to clip and some I don't. The ones I need to clip either get clipped and hang out with me or on a play area or stay in the cage.

Our male Sun Conure chases after the famil members he doesn't like (ME!!) and bites our heads, hands, ears...whatever he can get ahold of. I'd rather not have a homicidal bird chasing me around the house LOL

My little girl lovie is a chewer and a shredder. She was shredding our wallpaper and since this is an older house, I didn't want her to be poisoned by the glue on the wallpaper.