taming q's about my baby birdie

[MrsDutchy]

Hello there! I posted in the introduction forum also but wanted to post here as well with my few questions :)

My hubby and I got Sushi last Saturday from a petstore here in Holland (I am american fyi). We were told she/he was 4-5 weeks old or so, not handraised but young enough to work with her/him to tame. She has a tiny bit of black left on her beak but not much (its spotty). Is she really that young? Most of the pics I have seen of that age show the beak fully black.

I've only had her a few days and she isnt handtame yet but she doesnt run when we approach the cage and now doesnt freak much when my hand is in. she seems more interested and watches everything I do. She will even give my hubby kisses through the cage bars hehe. Yesterday I was working with her for the first time and using millet as a bribe she will now step up on my finger and sit there and eat millet. Though if she can get to my thumb she will bite/attack it. Not really hurting me much but I do have small hands and the little pinching is like OUCH and can leave little tiny beak holes in my skin! will she stop the bitting as she gets more tame? I can pick her up in my hand and she just gives warning nips to my hand, nothing more. I can't believe the progress I made yesterday with her just working with her inside the cage. Is this progress good in a single day of working with her?

I know that clipping her wings will help with training and I can do it myself no problem but simply cant do it alone as when I hold her and pull out her wing she clamps down on the flesh between my thumb and finger and boy does THAT hurt. My father-in-law is going to hold her tomorrow for me while I quickly do a partial clip and then can bring her out on my hand and see how she does.

She is very curious and I love it! Today she's hanging upside down in her perch and attacking things in her cage. Though she hasnt touched her birdie bread that her mommy slaved to make her last night teeeheee. but I do love that it seems I can use millet as a bribe and she'll come right to me in the cage when I have it hahaha.

Any help with the training would be appreciated. I want her to trust me and be my little buddy. (right now she is screeming and attacking her rope toy, oh boy!)

[BarbieH]

Hello Gina, welcome. :)

I'm sure the pet store was mistaken about her age. At 4-5 weeks Sushi wouldn't even be eating on her own yet, and yes, her beak would have much more black on it. If you could send us a link to a picture, we could probably give you a better idea of how old she truly is.

Young birds will bite just about anything. It's kind of like teething, and it's a way for them to explore the world. Since you had the millet around your hands, she might be checking to see if your hands taste good, too. :D Try not to let her see your thumb if that's what she is going after.

She sounds like a delightful little bird, very sweet and outgoing. :) Keep offering the birdie bread, a little bit every day. You might let her see you eating some of it yourself, or pretending to eat it, and making yummy sounds. As strange as it may sound, this really helps lovies recognize that what they've got is food. She will probably touch it with her beak first to test it, and may even do only that for a couple of days. Leave it in her cage for about an hour or so, then replace it with her regular food.

You did great work for one day! :):) Keep interacting with Sushi every day and you will have a wonderful companion.

Best wishes,

[bellarains]

Gina,

I did post to your questions in the introduction forum, but just wanted to say that is appears you are doing everything right. For first day progress, you and Sushi have done very well. Time, love, time, love, patience, and yep, bribes work very well :D

[MrsDutchy]

thanks for your help! Here are three pictures maybe you can help me to tell her correct age...

http://www.masterdesigns.nl/sushi/1.jpg
http://www.masterdesigns.nl/sushi/2.jpg
http://www.masterdesigns.nl/sushi/3.jpg

So far today we had one quick training session where she willingly stepped up on my finger a few times with the up command, back to the perch with the up command, and ate millet from my other hand while on my finger only. I tried to keep my thumb out of the way but if she doesnt have the millet to bite, she reaches down for my fingers hehe. Seems like she learned the Up command in a matter of 2 days which is good but whats the best next step? Keep in mind I dont want to bring her out of the cage until her wings are clipped tomorrow so any work I am doing is with my hand in the cage kinda thing.

(too funny that she likes to attack things as right now she is fighting with her cage bars lol)

Thanks!
Gina

[Mummieeva]

Could be wrong but she is closer to 10-12wks. At 4-5 wks old she would not have nearly that many feathers and alot more black on beak.



Steph

[Keltoth]

Could be wrong but she is closer to 10-12wks. At 4-5 wks old she would not have nearly that many feathers and alot more black on beak.

I agree. She is much closer to 4 MONTHS than she is to 4 weeks, and you can take that to the bank. Very pretty little girl.

[MrsDutchy]

thanks for the input so much! I assumed that she wasnt 4-5 weeks as we were told but the guy didnt understand english from what I could tell since all he did was speak dutch to my hubby. Regarless I love my little Sushi girl/boy even though she may not love me quite yet. She's still a beautiful young birdie to me :)

On a funny note, I put a branch of brocoli through the cage this evening and she is eyeing it like its a monster.

[Janie]

Gina, do keep offering the broccoli daily for a couple of weeks. My older lovie was a 100% seed eater and it took me three weeks to get him to try the broccoli. That was 2 years ago and he still eats it almost every day. My young boys, 5 months old, took right to it on the 2nd or 3rd try and love it. Since your bird is so young, you will likely have success in offering lots of healthy foods. :)

[MrsDutchy]

yay I sure hope so. Tomorrow she will get some birdie bread and broccoli again.... Crossing my fingers! With the birdie bread today she tasted it then spit it out and rubbed her beak on the bars. Then threw it out of the dish to get to the seed underneath haha I was laughing.... Smart birdie!

[Mummieeva]

Try changing food in morning and tossing the seeds out and jsut offer the bread. She will get the hang of it. My birds love carrots and green peppers.lol.


Steph

[Z28Taxman]

Ditto loves his birdy bread. He'll actually tear it apart to get the veggies inside. Then he'll nibble on the bread later.

Sugar snap peas are his favorite, followed by carrots.

He also loves chili peppers, the hotter the better it seems. I think I have one of those rare Mexican lovies. :rofl:

[MrsDutchy]

great news tonight!! Sushi started nibbling on broccoli and ate like half of it over an hour! First time I offered it was yesterday and today she is eating it woohoooo!

wing clipping went so smooth tonight, no biting, struggling, nothing and she ran up to "mommy's" shoulder afterward and hid in my hair. Maybe she's already bonding with me?!?! I still can't believe the progress in 6 days with her. I hope I have a velcro birdie on my hands :D

[Janie]

Gina, that is such good news about the broccoli! I figured that she'd try it soon since she is young and curious! Also good news about the wing clip.....something that I'm too chicken to do myself! :D

[Z28Taxman]

:cool: It souds like you may be well on your way to a velcro birdy.

[Paulette]

Congratulations Gina!....it took me more than a month to convert everybirdie over to a healthier diet at my house....You Rock!!!....& Suchi Rocks!
Recently, Linda told us that you can tell the sex of the masked by looking at the shape of the eyeball. I beleive your Suchi is a hen. Linda said...Females have an oval eyeball and Males have a round eyeball. She sure is pretty and blue....my favorite color by the way.

[butterfly1061]

WooHoo! Gina, way to go!! Little Sushi is getting a good start toward veggies. I did some of the same things - birdie bread, broccoli, etc... Mine love sweet peas, carrots (sliced with a veggie pealer), corn, sweet snap peas, baby broccoli, sweet potatoe, rice, pasta... Just offer things like these a little at a time and what you want her to eat and she doesn't, you can put in the birdie bread. We have to be sneaky fid parents. :D

[Janie]

Big Boi and Shy went on a broccoli frenzy yesterday! I offered them one large piece on a clip and they devoured it. After Oliver picked on his (he only likes the stem) I gave them his left overs and they devoured that! So, I gave them two more large florets, one whole one for each and they ate all of that!!!! :D Course, there was a lot of broccoli on the bottom of the cage but still, they ate a lot! I don't know if they thought that shredding it was a game or what but I was very happy to see them enjoy it that much. :)

[MrsDutchy]

thats too funny Janie! but also awesome to see them enoying their healthy veggies that much :) sushi still wont touch her birdie bread but I will keep trying every morning.

well now that sushi's wings are clipped I have her cage door open and a sprig of millet ouside of the cage to see if she is comfortable enough to come out of her home and so far she keeps eyeing it from inside the cage but doesnt want to venture much outside of it. I also had her step up on my finger inside the cage, which she does now completely fine but when I try to bring her out of the cage on my finger she jumps to a perch instead of coming out with me. I dont want to rush her but also on the other hand want to work with her outside of her cage to get more comfortable with me. I am pretty sure she wont bite me if I grab her and bring her out but I also dont want her to perceive me as a bad guy by forcing her out for more training outside the cage. What's the best thing to do? give her a few days to come out on her own or bring her out of the cage myself?

Thanks for any guidance!

[MrsDutchy]

hmmm right after I typed that. sushi has ventured out onto the open cage door and is munching on the millet! woohoooo! So what should my next training step be?

[MrsDutchy]

yeah sorry for all the posts but I am just so excited by sushi's progress. She finally got on my finger after some coaxing and now she's walking around the coffee table and checking everything out, including the millet and broccoli I put on it :) She keeps eyeing her cage like she wants to figure out how to get back there and doesnt quite understand yet that her wings are clipped. I think it would be fun to have some toys on the table here to see if she is interested in them. Right now she's just sitting on her treat bowl here. Once she did climb up my arm to hide in my hair lol

I am blown away that a week ago yesterday she was completely untame :)

[Janie]

Gina, you are making progress by leaps and bounds! :D I would have suggested that you do let her venture out on her own and then read that she already had done that! :) I know it's very hard to let them do things when they are ready and I'm certainly guilty of not always following that rule but I do know it builds trust much faster when you don't force them. I took things very slowly with my older adopted lovie. I never held him once in the first couple of months because I didn't know how he would react to that plus I was horrified that I'd crush him! He LOVES to be held! :D My new boys are so young and so forgiving so sometimes I do force myself on them. If they don't come out, I reach in and take them out. If I take one, the other is ready to step up just to be with his brother. My husband and sons are working very hard at getting them used to men! They walk up to their cage or play gym and talk to them but do not try to remove them. It's working very well.....they used to try to fly away when anyone but me approached them but they are learning to calm down and will even step up for one of them if they happen to glide to the floor. I was surprised how how differently these birds would react to other family members since they are right smack dab in the middle of the household activity. Guess all the hours that I spend talking to them, playing with them (especially letting them swing from the leather strips that hang from the ceiling in their bird room) has paid off. :D

Keep us the GREAT work! You'll probably see positive progress almost daily! Sushi will let you know what she does and doesn't like and when you've figured that out, she'll probably change her mind! :lol

[BarbieH]

This is very cool, Gina. It sounds like Sushi is training you very well. :D

Keep up the good work!