New to board w/general taming questions

[Booda's Butt]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the board, I just posted in the Introduce Yourself Section, so I won't repeat everything here as well.

I've only had my newly adopted lovebird for about a week. She's so charming, I just can't wait to interact with her more. She was clipped when she left her breeders, but her previous owner let her become fully flighted, and so for 6 months she had slowely started to become less tame. When I went to pick her up, the first thing I did was clip her wings. She was cage aggressive, bit me through the cage bars and drew blood. But after I clipped her and she knew it, she let me hold her, and she steps up like a pro! (given she can't see her cage).

Now that she's in a new home, she has not shown any cage agression. She has not met any of my birds (quarantine) but she does "talk" with them during the day. She is in my bedroom, and I have made a point of sitting in there with her, doors closed, allowing her to come out and roam and get used to me. Once in a while I make her step up, but she will only tolerate sitting with me for a minute tops, and she takes off.

I know she needs time, but I'm wondering if there was anything unique to lovebirds that could help me gain her trust? With my other birds (Senegal and Quaker, senegal from a breeder at 3 months, quaker adopted at 5 yrs old) it was just a matter of sitting there and trying to get their interest, whether it was playing with something they seemed to like/want, or eating foods by them and sharing if they wanted, etc. But with the lovebird, this doesn't seem like it would do the trick.

Also, she was fed a Seed only diet, with the occasional raisin or dried date. I'd like to expand her diet to include everything my other guys get, fruits, veggies, sprouts, etc. (can lovebirds eat pasta/rice/oatmeal, beak appetit, table scraps etc??) The problem I am having is she seems to not recognize anything else beside seed and millet as food. What's the best way to solve this problem?

Thank you all in advance, and I apologize if this was a very long and tedious post! And also if I'm asking a bunch of questions that every new member askes...I know that gets annoying, I apologize!

Karin

[Mummieeva]

First off let me say WAy to go about quarintining(i doubt i spelled it right) birds. Not many know to do that. You did a good thing doing a wing clip. it should help. Your doing right thing letting her out. you cna keep trying her on stepping up. hens(if she is one) can get aggressive about cage. I use a perch to get my lovie out often casue she has a strong beak when comes to home. Some lovies do not care for hands. Baggy will bite my hands but not when she is on arm(shoulders are another things she likes ear piercing..lol) But Whisper Baggys child lets me stroke her feathers and never bites.Lovies can eat pasta and rice. Just remember not to season it. There are some good recipes in the food section. Alot of lovies here go crazy for birdy bread. A good way to get them to eat veggies. It might take some time to get them eating them. But mine dive in for most foods now. Offer same thing for 2wks and if not go to a new thing and try old later on. Ask anythign you want. We were all newbies once. Old and new learn something new here.


Steph

[Janie]

Karin, I think your bedroom plan and time out of the cage there is perfect and in time, you will see a lot of progress. Even the older lovie that I adopted (he did step up and is very non aggressive....doesn't bite) was not really friendly until he learned to trust me. I spent lots of time with him and I could see changes almost daily. Within a couple of months, he was a totally different bird and when his former owner (teenage girl who gave him to me when she left for college) came by to see him, 4 months after we adopted him, she was stunned by his "sweet" disposition. I am at home a lot during the day so Oliver got hours and hours of attention from me and that speeded up our bonding process.

He was also a 100% seed eater and I learned that it IS hard to teach an old bird new eating habits. He is between 8 and 10 years old so I knew I had an up hill battle BUT, I offered broccoli (raw) every single day for three weeks and he finally took a wee bite! I clapped and cheered like a crazy person and that apparently pleased him and he continues to eat his broccoli nearly every day and I continue to praise him for it! :D He will try birdie bread sometimes and also kale. He'll never be a healthy eater but I'm happy with any improvement I can make with his seed diet. Your bird is young and I think that you can improve his/her diet with time. :) Try offering ONE thing at a time and give your bird a couple of weeks with that one thing. I've read here that it is easier to start with veggies than fruit but since she is already eating the dates and raisins, you've got a head start on that. Rice and pasta are both good. The two items that are a definite NO for birds are chocolate and avocado's (they can kill them) but there are other items that should not be offered, too. Check out "Your Attention Please" and you'll find a list of the good stuff and the bad stuff. My vet told me that since Oliver is such a poor eater that even a potato chip, occasionally, is OK in hopes that by trying one new thing, he'll try lots of others. I am NOT recommending potato chips, I'm just telling you that lots of things in very limited quantities are alright when trying to get your bird to be open to more choices. My husband told me that he was eating chips yesterday and Oliver ran off his shoulder, down his arm and took a bite! :D.....just like a kid, they will eat the junk food if they have a chance!

[Booda's Butt]

Janie, I'm familiar with the bird can eats and shouldn't eats, I just wasn't sure if Lovebirds should be getting the same sorts of food my Sennie and Quaker may get. (I'm really not sure where i got that notion from..)

But my Big guys Booda and Mia get their pellets, their fresh foods daily, but for dinner, they eat whatever we eat - pasta, rice, etc. This really helps us out, because we have to make a more conscious effort to eat healthy - or at least have one healthy choice on the plate! But, even if we are just eating salsa or pizza or something, the birds still get a little taste. I think it's a great bonding process, and besides, I'd never hear the end of it when I don't share! But, when it comes to unhealthy stuff - potato chips, chocolate chip cookies, candy, etc that's when I have to hide in the closet to eat it...and I keep everything i give them in moderation. It's good to know I can also try this bonding process with Cali!

LoL, and birds being like kids!? that's what they do best!! Booda will play dead for yogurt, LoL.

[Janie]

Karin, my avian vet told me her birds (she has 20!) all love pizza! My picky boy, Oliver, won't touch it but my new guys will try anything so I'm already having success giving them healthy stuff. If I just happen to be eating pizza and they just happen to want a bite, I will give 'em a little! :D

I figured that you would know about the toxic stuff because of your other parrots but since I knew NOTHING when I got Oliver, I always figure it should be mentioned, just in case. :D

[Booda's Butt]

I just got finished with baking some birdie apple bread. (got home from grocery shopping...and also because it was better than sitting down and studying for tomorrow's physics exam...)

Used a box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix, little milk, little oil, eggs w/shell, whole diced apple, some blueberries, broccoli, carrots, mustard greens, turnip greens, a chopped up jalapeno, bit of seed, handful of pellets and threw it in the oven. Smells pretty good! I'd be tempted to taste it if it weren't for the egg shells!

Tomorrow I'll try it with the birds...I hope they like it or the squirrels and wild birds outside will get a treat!

[bellarains]

Hey Karin,

The thing that works best is gaining your lovies trust is patience. They are so cute and adorable it's hard to give them the time they need, but in the long run it really pays off. Keep doing what you are doing, and let her come to you on her terms. Any force will make her withdraw and you will be going two steps backward.

After each session out, offer her a little millet spray treat by hand to let her know what a good girl she is, and tell her so in a sweet, soft, loving tone. Your one on one sessions in the bedroom is exactly what I did with Lacey, and she was a two year old, parent raised, aviary bird. She had never been out of the cage much, never held or socialized with, and within about 2 months she started to let me hold her on one finger. I've had her almost 2 years now, and she lets me pet her back,give her kisses on her beak and breast, and the occasional cheek skirtch. Oh, and she absolutely loves to be talked to, so we do that often.

I hope the birdie bread goes over well. Mine eat it everyday and adore it :)

[Booda's Butt]

Birdie Bread was Such a Success!!! I'm so happy!! My Senegal and Quaker eat every little crumb of it - but that doesn't surprise me as much. But Mia (quaker) will have her head in her stainless steel dish to eat, then I'll walk close to her cage to **** her off (she hates me but adores the bf) she'll do the really loud quaker squawk in the dish and it makes this weird echo sound - now she does it on her own, she must get a kick out of hearing herself echo!

But the big accomplishment - the first 2 days, Cali would not touch the bread, today, instead of filling her dish with mostly seed and pellets, I just put some seed on the bottom, and made sure she saw that i did. Then i put the bread over that, and sprinkled some small seeds over that. The trick worked! She flung alot of the bread out of the dish, but she ate a good amount of it, and then got to the sunflower seeds at the bottom of course.

[Janie]

Karin, that's the same way I got my older lovie, Oliver, to try it. He had to dig through it to get to the seed and found that he actually liked it! :D He doesn't always eat it but I'm happy with any little bit of something healthy that he eats. :)

Congratulations on your progress! :)

[Z28Taxman]

Karin, that's the same way I got my older lovie, Oliver, to try it. He had to dig through it to get to the seed and found that he actually liked it! :D He doesn't always eat it but I'm happy with any little bit of something healthy that he eats. :)

Congratulations on your progress! :)


That's how I get Ditto to eat new veggies. Sugar snap peas are his favorite thing in the world (I think he likes them even more than millet). So I put the the peas at the bottom of the bowl, then the carrots, then the brocoli. On top of all that will be whatever new stuff I want him to try (this week it's arugala). He knows the peas are on the bottom and will dig to get them, nibbling at the other stuff along the way. 8)

[Janie]

Dave, AIN'T we sneaky????? :D

[Z28Taxman]

Dave, AIN'T we sneaky????? :D

Who me? :D

Just make sure the peas are in there. I had to throw them away once (they got nasty) and he didn't have any one night. He dug and dug and dug so hard you could hear his little beak hitting the bottom of the stainless steel bowl. Then he looked up at me with a pathetic disappointed lovie look accompanied by some pathetic sounding cheeps. Won't let that happen again.

[Booda's Butt]

well guys - i tried the same technique today - seed at the bottom, bread on top and Cali is just way smarter than I gave her credit for. She flipped the whole food dish over to get to the seed on the bottom - there was just food spilled all over. and this was only the second day I've done this. How do I outsmart this bird!!!

I think I may just need to get a nice heavy duty food dish she can't flip over....

[Mummieeva]

I give my birds veggies and bread when I am cleaning out their food and water cups.Do not have a second set right now and they need food the hour takes for dishwasher to run. They have their own plate for it and I try to let them hav outside time when they eat it. My cage is on a table at moment and i put plate there too.Along with a bath bowl but they will not touch that yet.



Steph

[Janie]

Karin, :lol......yes, they are smart! A heavy bowl would help. That and patience. Cali is testing you and probably hoping you'll forget about all of the healthy food nonsense and give her straight seed again! :D Don't give up, out-smart her! :)

[Booda's Butt]

oh yes....I just ordered a nice, heavy stainless steel bowl set to replace her flimsy plastic ones. muahaha...lets see her try to flip this one over!!! (haha, but with my luck, she'll end up doing it somehow...)

My plastic bowls have those little hood/guards over them, and yesterday I went in there and did not see her sitting on her swing like usual, and flipped out! I looked all around and found her, drenched like a wet pigeon, sitting in her water dish. I didn't think I believed it when everyone on here said lovebirds were addicting - but I'm quickly beginning to see why now!

[Janie]

Karin, another great little bowl to use, if you're serving on top of the cage or a counter or table, is the smallest of the Corningware type bowls. I bought several at a Bed, Bath & Beyond store for around $2 or $3 each and they won't tip over. There is no way to hook them inside the cage but I do use them on top.