Bird Catching

[helenut]

My birds Jem and Ripley are now cage mates

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs886.ash1/179458_10150396328610714_540545713_17207619_496627 6_n.jpg

However, Jem is tame and Ripley is not (was going to keep you guys up to date with how the taming of Ripley was going but I was in hospital for a while and we're basically back at square one again!)
My problem is getting Ripley back in the cage - it is a complete nightmare! If she goes back in the cage for food/water, she watches me carefully and if I stand up to close the cage she goes crazy and gets out asap. So every time I have her out, I have to catch her in the evening and I really don't like doing it. At the moment I just turn the lights off in the room and she flutters around in a panic and generally lands on the floor where I can get her in a towel. It's not a pleasant experience for either of us because she does get quite distressed.

I can't see how to make it any easier! She loves being out the cage, and when she's out she even lands on my chair, desk and monitor which is quite nice to see. I'm afraid I am just making her even more scared of me if I keep having to catch her.

Does anyone have any advice on what to do? I would like to change what I am doing now but I don't know how.

Thanks! Helen x

[carrier]

It sounds as though your birdie does not like hands! :)

A way to try to work around this is to teach Ripley to step up onto a dowel, or a perch. Most birds will easily learn to do this, and it causes a lot less stress for the both of you. That way you can carry Ripley to the cage and allow her to enter on her own. Also, treats can aid in this process as well. Does Ripley have a favorite? Maybe if you put some millet or other coveted yummy inside the cage they will both go in without incident.

Anyhow, that's my :2cents:.

Good luck!!

[linda040899]

I agree with Carrie on this one! Bribery could very easily get you everywhere! My birds will all head towards their cages or favorite sleeping places when light gets dim. Make going back to the cage pleasant and I'm also betting that Ripley will find his way there more easily.

[thebubbleking]

I use treats and in case of emergencys bleeding foot bites and what not i use a butterfly net. I use dowels bribery and flattery, some of my flock step up to go home..some i heard useing a flat hand basicly just follow them with my hand and lead them to thier cage door and some i just point and say thier name and say go home time for bed and they do... experiment every birdie is different, the reason i wouldnt turn off the lights and have her go to the ground is multipule she may run under your foot as you go toward her, she could crack her keel bone or get internal injurys from landing to hard or god forbid break a neck flying into a wall. please be carefull with your baby it only takes a minute for something bad :)

[lyndak]

with Pickle (who's a very shy and timid bird) I had her start stepping up onto my shoulder from her cage door. Once she got use to that I started introducing my hand on my shoulder and slowly she started stepping up on my shoulder closer to my hand and eventually she actually stepped onto my hand. It took awhile and still to this day, sometimes she hesitates. She will only step up onto my hand from the cage, no one else has been able to convince her yet. Although, if I'm away it's amazing how much she starts to like my hubbie. she's a bit of a floozy in that respect ;)

Having a bird really makes on understand the statement "patience is a virtue"

good luck and enjoy your two feathered friends they are real cuties.

lk

[helenut]

The problem with Ripley is she is just so terrified of everything, I bought her in September because I felt sorry for her, she seemed very scared of everything so I think her progress so far is pretty good.

When I first got her, even if I walked in the room she would panic and run up and down on the bottom of her cage but she's better now. For a while instead she would hide behind her toys or just sit really near the top of the cage hoping I won't see her.
It got to the point where I could open the door to her cage without her even flinching, which is when I introduced her to Jem. Because Jem's pretty fearless, I thought it might help Ripley calm down a bit more.

However I am still in a place where if I hold some millet in the cage on the other end of the perch she is on, there is no way she would try and have a nibble. This is the same for out of the cage too, she generally just stares at me while Jem eats it all!

Should I work with her more one-on-one inside the cage before letting her out? I know this would probably help a lot but it seems a shame to not let her fly around when she enjoys it so much.

[linda040899]

It sounds like Ripley has a lot of trauma in her background and it's going to take time for her to overcome her fears. Just the fact that you are seeing any improvement at all is a HUGE plus!! Try working with her one on one in her cage but do it at her pace. Making her feel like a captive audience may not help her recovery. Try putting her cage in a place (even if you have to move it temporarily) in a place where you can sit near her, eat near her and just generally let her experience your presence and see if that helps any. If she's willing to eat while you eat, once she's comfortable, try offering her one of her most favorite treats through the bars of the cage.

Ripley is far better off where she is now than where she came from, even though it's taking her a while to realize that.

[Jally]

I haven't had birds for very long so take my advice with a grain of salt. But I wanted to share what's worked for me. My one lovebird is very very scared of me. He's a rescue bird with past injuries. I don't want to make him any more scared of me so I'm letting him set the pace. This has worked with my blackmasked wild child. She saw how I interacted with Peanut, my Velcro child, and decided that I'm not a threat. She now flies to me and steps up on various body parts and perches but no hands.

When we need our budgies to go home for the night, we use a perch and say "time to go to bed". It's a phrase that they associate with cage time and readily go home :)

[helenut]

Thank you, I will try all these things! I think I will put them in different cages for a while and set more time to work with Ripley.

It just seems like I've hit a roadblock at the moment, but you're right I just need to be extremely patient and work on her terms.

[Pips mom]

I don't know how long you've had Ripley, but believe me.....nobirdy is more scared than when I first got Rudy. He came from not the best home where kids probably poked at him, dogs barking loudly and he was never let out of his cage. Ohhhhh, those first days with him getting back into his cage! Nightmare was putting it mildly! He'd get SO tired out from flying away from us that he was all out of breath and it scared me seeing him like that. First step.....wing clip. I know that some people are against wing clipping and think it's not always the best solution......but when you have a bird this scared that they could end up hurting themselves, I feel that it's necessary. Once they calm down and get used to things, you can always start over and let the wings grow out!
My little Rudy is still not hand tame.....even after over a year, but he's so much better now and seems to love attention from me and is not so freaked out by people and hands anymore. Little stinker will always insist on sitting right next to his water while I change it and will sit right there when I put the fresh water back in, no matter how close hands get to him! He comes to me now when he's out of cage and will go back into his cage on his own for me.......just about as well behaved as a lovie can be! He's come a long way, and even though still not as tame as the rest of my flock, I look at how far he has come and be happy for that and give him all the time that he needs! I know it's hard dealing with the dreaded job of getting a bird back in when they are still so scared. I've noticed though with Rudy that when a bird is scared like that and insecure, they will alot of times return to their cage and place of security, so try dimming the lights, enough so she can still see where she's going, then just go near her slowly enough to make her fly away, and try this a few times and see if she'll go back to the cage, even land on it.....this is what Rudy does, then I would just get closer slowly and try to slowly nudge him to back to the door of his cage. It's amazing how fast they catch on to what you want them to do! Good luck!

[helenut]

Rudy sounds exactly like my Ripley, she used to get very tired when we tried to catch her, the noises she made :(

I had never even considered clipping Ripley, but from all the comments I now think it is probably be the best idea. I especially don't want her hurting herself from flying around distressed.

Thank you very much, I will let you know how it goes!

[linda040899]

Helen,
Yes, clipping her flight feathers will limit where she can go and how fast. Depending on how much flight you want to have, start with 4 flight feathers on each wing and see how she does with that. You can always clip additional feathers but keep in mind that she should still be able to fly horizontally enough to be able to land without falling. 6 feathers on each wing is usually enough to accomplish what you need as far as limitation. When you go to retrieve her, offer her a perch or your covered arm to step onto. Use the "up" command so she knows what you expect from her.

[Pips mom]

Helen,
Yes, clipping her flight feathers will limit where she can go and how fast. Depending on how much flight you want to have, start with 4 flight feathers on each wing and see how she does with that. You can always clip additional feathers but keep in mind that she should still be able to fly horizontally enough to be able to land without falling. 6 feathers on each wing is usually enough to accomplish what you need as far as limitation. When you go to retrieve her, offer her a perch or your covered arm to step onto. Use the "up" command so she knows what you expect from her.

Yes......be very careful how many flights are clipped! Too many and she could end up getting hurt.......so make sure whoever clips her only clips four to start, then let her fly and see how that works.....if she still looks as if she's flying pretty good, clip one more, and so on......she has to be able to have some flight and enough to have safe landings.