Olive&Rudy
05-08-2011, 03:54 PM
Hi everyone :) i'm new to the forum and i'm hoping i can get some advice! Sorry its quite a long post but i'm trying to get all the info in! I'm a new lovebird owner, i've had my 2 birds, Olive and Rudy, for about a month now. They are peachfaced male and female pair, they are about 6m old and were hand reared but are not hand tame. They have not been clipped.
I read up on taming etc before i got them and planned to work with them one at a time, however, they hate to be separated! It has worked in my favour when i want to get them back in the cage but can't see me ever being able to hand tame them! The 1st time they came out of the cage was by accident when i 1st cleaned out the cage so i had to catch them to put them back. They were a bit disorientated so wasn't too difficult. I have had to do this a couple of times since and they both tried biting me when i got hold of them (gently of course!) These bites didn't hurt and i didn't react in any way, just talked to them gently. Now i have them going back into the cage themselves but i have to chase them around a bit 1st until they land on top of the cage and i then say "in" as they go in. This works quite well now, although i have read that letting them come out and go in their cage on their own can cause terrotorial behaviour. This morning, the female, Olive, bit me quite hard as i put some apple in the cage for them. She's never done anything like this before, i actually thought they were becoming more comfortable with my hands being in the cage as they stay on the perch now rather than move away but i don't want the biting to become a bad habit! Olive is usually the more curious and is always the 1st to eat any fruit and veg i put in, so she is usually just eager to see what it is, not bite the hand that feeds her!!
I can't have the birds clipped as i have 2 dogs aswell and they cant easily be separated from the birds when they are out so i would rather the birds are able to fly away if a situation arose (although my dogs have been unexpectedly good about the new arrivals!) I always closely supervise them and there have been a couple of muzzle to beak situations but the dogs have moved straight away when i've told them, but still, clipped wings could make them a sitting target and its not worth the risk.
So basically, after all that info, i just want some general advise, am i doing the wrong things with them? To be honest, i'm not too unhappy with the routine of them coming out for a fly and going back in, but it would be nice to be able to interact with them a bit more when they are out. They seem to like me being around, when i go upstairs (the cage is downstairs in the lounge) they start calling, and when they are out they tend to come to the room (only 2 rooms!) where i am, and if i move rooms they tend to follow! But they still keep their distance. I can go towards them but if i move my hand towards them they move away (although Olive now tries to see if she can get a bite in!)
Any advise appreciated :)
Thank you if you've read this far!! :rotfl
I read up on taming etc before i got them and planned to work with them one at a time, however, they hate to be separated! It has worked in my favour when i want to get them back in the cage but can't see me ever being able to hand tame them! The 1st time they came out of the cage was by accident when i 1st cleaned out the cage so i had to catch them to put them back. They were a bit disorientated so wasn't too difficult. I have had to do this a couple of times since and they both tried biting me when i got hold of them (gently of course!) These bites didn't hurt and i didn't react in any way, just talked to them gently. Now i have them going back into the cage themselves but i have to chase them around a bit 1st until they land on top of the cage and i then say "in" as they go in. This works quite well now, although i have read that letting them come out and go in their cage on their own can cause terrotorial behaviour. This morning, the female, Olive, bit me quite hard as i put some apple in the cage for them. She's never done anything like this before, i actually thought they were becoming more comfortable with my hands being in the cage as they stay on the perch now rather than move away but i don't want the biting to become a bad habit! Olive is usually the more curious and is always the 1st to eat any fruit and veg i put in, so she is usually just eager to see what it is, not bite the hand that feeds her!!
I can't have the birds clipped as i have 2 dogs aswell and they cant easily be separated from the birds when they are out so i would rather the birds are able to fly away if a situation arose (although my dogs have been unexpectedly good about the new arrivals!) I always closely supervise them and there have been a couple of muzzle to beak situations but the dogs have moved straight away when i've told them, but still, clipped wings could make them a sitting target and its not worth the risk.
So basically, after all that info, i just want some general advise, am i doing the wrong things with them? To be honest, i'm not too unhappy with the routine of them coming out for a fly and going back in, but it would be nice to be able to interact with them a bit more when they are out. They seem to like me being around, when i go upstairs (the cage is downstairs in the lounge) they start calling, and when they are out they tend to come to the room (only 2 rooms!) where i am, and if i move rooms they tend to follow! But they still keep their distance. I can go towards them but if i move my hand towards them they move away (although Olive now tries to see if she can get a bite in!)
Any advise appreciated :)
Thank you if you've read this far!! :rotfl