when can i let her out

[tango10]

hi,mo is about 6-8 weeks old and has not been hand reared so is an arery parent reared peach faced lovebird.
she was bought two days ago and seems fine.my goal is to have him/her hand tame but to tame her i believe i need to let her out of her cage.
if this is correct then how long should i wait to let her out and then how should i catch her.
couple more questions,does she need grit to eat like a cockateil and i read she could do with greens like broccollee or how ever you spell it,how do i give her this?do i cook it first?is there a certain part to give?
please teach me. :confused:

[bellarains]

Hi,

Are your lovies wings clipped? If not, she will need a modified wing clip, about 3-4 flights clipped from each wing to begin your taming process. This will keep her from being able to fly too far, or too high, and make her a little more dependent on you, thus making the process a little easier.

Grit is not needed with lovebirds, as they are hookbills and shell their seed, so grit is not needed for digestion. In fact it can be hazardous to their health.

Veggies are something you can try different ways, raw,steamed, cooked, chopped, clipped to the cage, shredded, etc.... At this young age though, I would try some cooked mixed frozed veggies, as she may take to soft foods better being so young. There is a list of safe and unsafe foods in Robin's new users guide in the "Your Attention Please" forum, and also lots of more useful information.

I look forward to hearing more about little Mo, and please post us some pics when you get a chance.

[Mummieeva]

There are 2 ways you can go about getting her out of cage. one is try and get her out with your hand. Most will not like this though and may bite. Other is open cage door and let Mo come out as she wants. I did this with my birds. You can also take cage to a darkend room..Like a bathroom. it might help.As for getting Mo bacl in cage..lol. I normaly let my birds go back on own. I find if I change food then or put a millet spray in they go back to cage. Few times I have had to catch a bird to put back in I just tried to remain calm and talk to them. Telling them it was time to go back to cage. My two birds now will go into cage sometimes if I tell thme time to go back in. Taming can take a while but they are worth the hard work.


Steph

[tango10]

ok i will look into clipping wings at the vets this week although i did'nt really want to but what you say makes sence,she already responds to my voice.
i say mo she cherps so i repeat and so does she and so on.

[bellarains]

Hey,

With her being so young, make sure they only do a modified clip, or mini clip some call it. No more than 3-4 flights from each wing. Mo does need to know how to fly, and be able to flutter with ease to the ground, and a mini clips will allow that.

[Christine9]

Ok, I am not at all an expert on taming birds, as all four of my birds were already hand-tame, however, I wanted to mention, if you do have to "catch" your bird, once she is out, you should use a rag to do so. You wouldn't want to use your hands, because, for one, she will probably bite (birds generally don't like to be grabbed) and two, you don't want her to develop a fear of your hands. This way, she will see the rag as the bad guy, not you.

Good luck with taming her!

[tango10]

thanks you lot

[Angelwing]

Actually, before I let my babies out of the cage for the first time, I find out their favourite food (which happens to be spray millet). I know that they'll stop whatever they're doing to come and eat it. Their cage is fairly huge, so it's easy to stick my entire arm in it with lots of extra space for them to fly. I get them used to me holding the spray millet, and only allow them to eat it from me (as in, I didn't leave it in the cage). It doesn't take long at all for them to sit on my hand/finger to eat it (hold the millet just out of reach with one hand, and hold out your other hand to them. This way, they'll have to step onto your hand in order to reach the millet). So when they're out of the cage and I want them back in, that's what I do. At least, until they're fully tamed.