Argh, a step backwards with Kirby

[Kirby]

I had the two brats out this morning to just hang out with me until I got ready.
I go grab Skittles, of course, she's so easy to handle because she has a hard time walking :rofl:
KIRBY on the other hand was a pain in the butt as usual. I go to offer him my hand... and it was pretty much the bird running, flying and doing EVERYTHING as fast as his little body would allow, to get away and go to Skittles.

So by then I'm late for work because I cannot catch Kirby. FINALLY he latches onto the side of the cage and hangs on for dear life.

I grabbed a shirt to try to get him off without sacrificing another chunk of skin, and lo and behold, I forgot to cover my thumb and just lost a huge bit of it.

But he did his lock jaw and twist bite, and since I'm not honestly used to being bit like this anymore, I jerked my hand away by instinct and Kirby went and hit the floor.


I feel like such a bad mommy for pulling my hand away. He wont even look at me now and just looks so lost. I think I'm going to give him some time to just not be handled by Chris and I because he's just getting nasty again no matter what we do. And when we handle him without Skittles he just runs everywhere and bites us when he cant get his own way.

Argh this bird makes me so stressed... I can't figure out how to read him and understand why he gets so worried. I know I MYSELF am stressing him out. But I can't figure out how I am doing it

[graushill]

I don't really handle my birds so this is probably not what other people who do will advice , but FWIW, here it comes: have you considered teaching Kirby to step on a dowel? I have 6 masks, some of them tamer than others but all hand haters. The only thing I ever expect of them is to learn to step on a dowel, otherwise I'm not sure how I would cope. I get bitten very seldomly and it's usually not so difficult to get them back on their cages when I need them to, even though they're all fully flighted. Maybe this could help you with Kirby while you two work out on your relationship :).

Gloria

[dani]

Gloria:
I've been trying to teach Haku to step up but so far it's been awful :(... he'll step up with one foot or bite the dowel, and then run away. Can you give me a little run down on how you do it? it would probably be really helpful to Lauren also.
Thanks:D

[Kirby]

Hahah I would use a dowel if I could.

He had learned that if he puts his head down he can avoid having me put it on his toes.

:x I havent been bitten in about 4 months to actually draw blood... this was the first by Kirby in that long (and not by skittles yet :p)
I'm thinking I'm going to just give him some R&R by just letting him do what he wants and just handle Skittles (she loves it ) and bond more with Kirby by just verbally interacting with him and not handling him at all...

[graushill]

He had learned that if he puts his head down he can avoid having me put it on his toes.

Oh yeah, mine do that too, believe me. When they don't want to step up, down comes that little black head and pfff, offending dowel gets pushed away. Mamma persists or cleverly (and gently) presses dowel on chest instead so that it can't be pushed away that easily. :2cents:

Dani, I've been trying to remember how I teached mine to step up, and I've come to the conclusion that there are only two of my birds where I can really take any credit for that. All the others have learned by watching another flock member stepping up. It's one of the good things in my experience with having more than one lovie: monkey see, monkey do :).

Anyway, with two of my lovies, my Houdini who was my first lovie and a single one, and Nemo, my sweet wild bald lovie, things weren't that easy. With Houdini it took about three months of concerted effort for him to step up for the first time, but after that it was fairly easy. Nemo learned faster but he doesn't like it and I'm afraid he never will. Here's a run down of the things I tried:

1. With both, training sessions worked better on late afternoons. That way I could keep the room semi-dark, so they would be calmer and less willing to fly away without it getting too dark for them to actually hurt themselves if they freaked out.

2. I trained in the usual bird room (aka our bedroom) because the bathroom never worked out. They were just too scared there, so for me training in familiar surroundings worked better. Others may have different experience.

3. With Houdini I had to try all different types and lengths of dowels until I found one he wouldn't automatically fly away from. The one that worked for him, and which I now use for all my birds, is a sturdy natural willow branch. In the beginning it was about a foot long, but as Houdini got more comfortable it became shorter. Now I can mostly use any length I want but Nemo still likes it better if they are on the longish side.

4. Both Nemo and Houdini were clipped until they learned how to step up. I usually don't clip them but in Nemo's case I had no other choice since he was so wild and I was afraid he would hurt himself in the beginning. Masks are very light so in my experience at least, clipping has never prevented anyone from flying almost as well as ever, except for those first couple of days after a clipping, before they get used to it. That's when I pounced!

5. With Houdini, it helped to tie a sprig of millet to the dowel in the beginning to make him more willing to step up. Nemo was not swayed by that in the least, despite being a huge millet junkie.

6. The first time they both stepped up, I just let them sit on the dowel for a little while. I didn't try moving it or anything. Every day after that I would move them a little bit more than the previous day. With Houdini it went fairly fast and by the end of the week I could take him around with me all over the apartment on the dowel. With Nemo, I can only move him from the top of the cage or the curtain rod back to the cage and sometimes viceversa, but I can't walk with him on the dowel.

That's it for the most part. Like I said, it took a very long time but in the end it happened. I'm not sure though if any of the above methods worked or if it was mostly time that did it.

Hope this helps in any case!

Gloria

[Kirby]

Hi Gloria!!!

Thanks for the advice. Very much appreciated.

I unfortunately have tried all of these techniques, especially for when he is in his cage. He is a very stubborn bird, so I have grown to adapt to his "lack of stepping up" on a dowel and found other techniques.
We have sort of trained him to respect us away from his cage, aka no biting when he is in OUR SPACE. and we respect his space (aka his cage). So far it's working for the best and we never get bitten. With the execption to the start of this thread :x

3/4 of the time he when he is outside his cage, I offer him the palm of my hand or flat of it, and he jumps to it. Very rarely does he go to bite it unless he doesn't want to leave, in that situation i then scoop him up with a t-shirt (and yes on occassion he will step up on a dowel or his swingy toy).

I know these arent usual techniques for a lovebird, but they are working, and I will take ANYTHING from Kirby that is positive :)



Oh and we had a BIG talk after he bit me. Where I put him on the bed stared him in the eye and told he he has to listen to me when I am getting ready to go to work. And that it hurts when he bites.
So i get home from work, he practically launched himself at me and started grooming me. :happy:
Maybe he did listen after all... i thought it was quite humerous :p