Hey you, c'mere...

[Kumashe]

Indy's warming up to me a bit, me thinks. I moved his sand perch to eye level a few days after the new cage came. So whenever I come up to talk to him, he jumps onto his sand perch (which is only a few inches away from me) to listen. Its so cool. I could come up to his cage and say "C'mere Indy" and he comes. :)

[bellarains]

Yep,

Sounds like he is looking for some interaction. Trust takes awhile, but it is soooooo worth it:)

[Ladybri]

Yes, I've had my bird for one day now, and whenever I put my finger out for her to "step up", she flies away from me like crazy and starts chirping. I can pick her up, and she'll sit on my shoulder though. I know it's just gonna take time.

The other thing she does is when she hears my parakeet, she tries doing somersaults to get out of the cage. I hope when I put the cages near one another, she'll stop doing that. Can I eventually take them out to play together on top of one of the cages?

[bellarains]

Lovebirds are for the most part very territorial. There are some who have good relationships with other bird species, but that is more the exception than the rule. Any time out together should always be closely supervised. At the first sign of aggression, you will need to seperate them.

They very well may get along fine, but as for being cage mates? Most likely not. There would be too big a chance that your lovie might do bodily harm to your parakeet, or kill him if s/he chooses:( I know you didn't mention them in the same cage, but thought I'd put it out there. If they do play in or on another's cage, I would make it the parakeets cage, or better yet a neutral area, to keep territorial issues in check.

[Ladybri]

Thank you. I read on another post where someone earned her birds' trust by sitting quietly and reading to them, and then they came over to her and she was able to take them out of the cage. I do what the breeder did, put my hand in and grab her and then she'll sit on my finger or shoulder, but she is scared at first. Should I not do this?

[Oscar]

You should NEVER grab a bird, they will never begin to trust you if your grabbing at her, let her come to you in her time.. She will sooon, and it will be all worth it, be patient and the results will show. Just talk to her softly and spend time with her beside the cage , she will soon come to recognize your voice and begin to trust :). I never really had trust issue with my two, they were so god darn friendly haha SO it was easy.

[Janie]

Well, I'll admit that I have "grabbed" a bird (or two) but that was long after the trust was there. My two that are almost one year old now do have to be grabbed sometimes to get them back in their cage or OFF my other birds cage or OFF me. :D But I do agree, you never grab one when you're trying to build trust.

When I first adopted Oliver, an older bird who was already tame but didn't know me or trust me, I did read to him a lot. I bought the "Lovebird Handbook" and read it out loud. I learned about lovebirds and he learned the sound of my voice. :)

Kumashe, I'm glad to hear that you are continuing to make good progress with Indy! I read in that same book that earning trust and building a solid bond might take up to 6 months and that takes a lot of patience on our part when we are so anxious to cuddle with them. Keep at it and you'll have a trusting birdie before you know it! :D

[Elle]

For my part, I had to grab Phoebe to administer medications. I didn't have a choice but took advantage of that to start working with her. Once out of the cage and medications swallowed, We'd go in a neutral room and work on step up.

I would say that if you decide to grab your bird out of the cage (not that I agree or encourage it), turn it into a positive and constructive experience. Reward your bird with treats and start working on step up right a way. Once this command is learned (it really doesn't take that long. Lovebirds are very smart) you won't have to grab the bird out of the cage anymore.

Kumashe, I'm really glad you are making progress. Try to talk to him with the cage open. See what happens?

Regards,

[Ladybri]

Also, when she flies down to the floor, she tries to get away from me, so I have to pick her up with my hand. I was teaching her to step up last night, and she was doing good, but then she might fly to the floor and run from me, so that's when I pick her up.

Do any of your baby birds try to get out of the cage? My bird does, she climbs all around the inside of the cage and squaks. I take her out then. Should I be doing that right when she wants to?

She also does that when she hears my parakeet, so I put the parakeet in the other room when I'm working with her.

[Mummieeva]

Normaly when my birds do the cage climbing that means they want to play. So I normaly let them out to play then. My bird Whisper never goes to the floor though. Bandit my masked I am trying to tame goes to the floor to try and run and hide from me. I had keets for awhile but my lovebirds were to agressive to them. I would keep moving the keet to another room when you have your lovie out.



Steph