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[salderm1]

Ok, Link has become a velcro birdie...I have always placed his cage directly behind the computer chair in the livingroom. Now, he gets ticked if someone is not sitting in the THAT CHAIR! He hops on that shoulder and stays there....He as occasionally hopped to the couch when no one is on the chair, actually only my son. How do I get Link to play with me instead of sitting on my shoulder? Still afraid of hands>what do I do? He only wants to sit on a shoulder????

[Cathy]

Why don't you try putting his favorite snack in your hand where he will have to sit on a finger to eat it. I always hold back the dried fruit that my birds love until they are out of the cage with me, unless I am not going to be home. Jasmine loves papaya and Sham and Mel love it all. They usually can't wait to see what treat that I have hidden in my hand!

[Janie]

My older lovie, Oliver, is a velcro birdie and likes to live on my shoulder for hours every day. I do make sure he gets food and water often. Oliver doesn't like to play and while I can take him off my shoulder and hold him and rub his beak and head, he's happiest just snuggling up to my neck. Sometimes he will explore and climb under my sweater if he's sure he can find his way back out quickly. Oliver was a pet store, parent raised bird that we adopted when he was 7 and while he is very tame, he is not fond of hands. It was at least a year before he'd eat anything I was holding and I think millet was the first thing since it could be held at a safe distance (in his opinion) from my hands and fingers. He will also take a tiny bite of a potato chip (disclaimer: I do not give him a bite of a chip or cracker more than a couple times a month since I know they are not a good food source) and sometimes a long carrot strip. My other two were hand fed and have no fear of hands at all. They'll eat anything out of my hands but I would imagine that is because hands meant a food source to them when they were babies. But, here is the kicker.....they won't stay on my shoulder for any length of time unless I'm on the move. If I sit down, they are all over me and all over the place. Oliver is often on my shoulder when I'm on the computer, he's here right now, the but other two would never sit still for that long so most of their out of cage time is spent in their bird room.

[Tango's_Mom]

I don't want to scare you off or anything, and I'm not saying it will take this long, BUT I had Tango for 6 months before he was willing to step up onto my hands, let me pet him or hold him, he was terrified of hands when I got him, he's alway been willing to take treats from my fingers, as long as he didn't have to sit on my hand to do it, I didn't want to force him because he was so plainly terrified of the idea, so I dowel trained him instead, this allowed me to take him out, put him back and move him around when he was out, he always wanted my shoulder, he progressively got less and less afraid, and one day while I was home form school over the christmas break, he was sitting on the window sill so I offered him a finger, he looked at it for a second, gently beaked it and up he went, he caught on very quickly from that point, so that by the time I was ready to head back to school he stepped up everytime I asked him. After we moved back to school, he wouldn't do it for about a week, still haven't figured that one out, the house at school wasn't exactly new to him, but he started doing it again and has been great about it ever since, he also now allows me to pet and hold him, and is learning to like a beak rub.

Like I said, I don't want you to think it will take this long, just to make you aware that it can take that long, and not to be one of those people who resign themselves to having a bird that just doesn't like hands after a couple weeks or months, because it can still happen even once you think that after this long if it hasn't happened it won't. Alot of patience and letting Link tell you when he's ready to accept hands goes a long way in getting him to the point where he can be handled without fear and stress for either of you. Remember these little guys can live a long time, so yes building a relationship that's based on trust can take a long time, but really the time you'll have to enjoy that relationship is so long that it's worth the time spent making it as strong as you can.

[salderm1]

Thanks Janie,

When did Oliver let you pet him? Link will let me give him millet but bites, not harshley but to let you know he does NOT LIKE HANDS!!! He does like it when I rub my face against him. Isn't it funny how these little birdies have such different personalities?? Link has just started a nasty little habit which I made a new link of, I was wondering if you had any advice or experience with??

Thankyou!!!

[Tango's_Mom]

He does like it when I rub my face against him.



Just thought I'd let you know that that was the first step for me and Tango, he really liked being snuggled up to my cheek or snuggling against my neck

[Janie]

Thanks Janie,

When did Oliver let you pet him? Link will let me give him millet but bites, not harshley but to let you know he does NOT LIKE HANDS!!! He does like it when I rub my face against him. Isn't it funny how these little birdies have such different personalities?? Link has just started a nasty little habit which I made a new link of, I was wondering if you had any advice or experience with??

Thankyou!!!

Here is the deal: I adopted Oliver when he was around 7 years old. He was friendly from day one and always stepped up. I had to work at getting him to trust me but that was all I had to work towards and that took a couple of months. Not fair, I know. I could pet him, rub him and hold him from the start, although I did not hold him for over a month after he moved in till I talked to his former owner and she told me it would be OK to hold him :D I was so afraid I'd hurt him if I held him. :rolleyes:

I think that Jenna's experience is far more typical than mine since Oliver was already tame when I adopted him. She has worked very hard and patiently with Tango and that is far more the "norm" than my experience.