progress finally!

[esmay211]

as you all might know my kahlua doesn't like hands. when my fingers get close to her she will fluff up and bite(hard:omg: ).

but today i had a bit of a breakthrough! kahlua was just hanging out on top of her cage when(im guessing) something startled her. so she glided to the ground. this happens every once in a while exept for that today my dogs were around. this worried me a little so i rushed over to pick her up but then realized that the dowel i use to pick her up was all the way across the house. i was not about to leave her there on the ground to go look for that thing. so i tried to pick her up with my finger and she kind of wobbled away but eventually stepped up onto one of my fingers! i was so happy:D

over the last week or two i have been trying a new method to get her to trust my fingers. i figured that i would put her into a position were she doesn't like so she will step up on my finger to get out of that place. well she doesn't mind being on the ground but one place she hates to be is the bathtub. so lately(like once every two days) i have been putting her in there and she would just wobble around but eventually she would step onto my finger and then just fly to my shoulder. i figured that she would start to think that my finger was something that would get her out of the bathtub wich she doesn't like.

i had not seen any progress until a couple of days ago. when she stepped on my finger. and then she did it again yesterday. im kind of happy to know that mabye one day she will be able to trust fingers:)

i dont know if this is the right method to use but it seemed to work with my kahlua!:clap

[Kirby]

Oh that is so good to hear!!! Congrats!

Now another method would be to use the flat of your palm to get her to step up on to. Kirby wont step up on my finger.. he'll bite :x and you know.. they bite kinda hard.
Or I use both of my hands and kind of scoop from the back into my other hand.. they are too focused on my hands up front and my other hand can get in behind and gently push them towards the other one. Kirby now understands that when I offer him my cupped hand he's to step up. If he doesn't want to, he will fluff and crack his beak to warn me to go away... in this situation I scoop him up and he has no choice but to go forward onto my hand.

One thing I would be careful of is the bathtub. I remember reading a post on how to take your bird into the bathroom to get it used to you, and one of the points stated was to never let your lovie go in the tub as it breeds bacteria like mould and mildew because it is continually moist. A member also said that you can clean it very well with bleach, but then you have to worry about the smell and if all the bleach has been washed away or heavily diluted.

What you could do for rewarding her good behaviour is find a treat she likes an ONLY offer it to her with your fingers.

[esmay211]

hmmm ok. i didn't know about the bathtub thing. i always wipe it down before i let her go in there but i will make sure to be more careful next time and clean it properly or figure out a different place she doesn't like.

what treats to you recomend that i give to her?
i give her millet as a treat alot so should i cut her off from that and only give it to her when she steps on my hands?

[Kirby]

You could use avicakes or nutriberries or non-butter popcorn or if she has a fruit she prefers like apples or kiwi say. Those make excellent treats.

Definitely reward her for when she steps up.. and make HUGE deal when she steps up, with the baby talk to emphasize what a good girl she was.
But when you want to give her treats, to get her used to fingers and show to her that they aren't scary worms, offer her treats with them. It'll will slowly over time have her understand that "Hey, these scary worm things have good things to give me".

This way MIGHT get her used to them, but it could just be her preference and she could always just hate fingers and take food from them but not like being scratched by them.Kirby is like that and he TOLERATES them and trusts myself and my boyfriend to not touch (scratch him etc...) him and respect his space. If he is provoked with fingers he will bite... then look at me to say "Mommy, I warned you, but you still poked me"

[esmay211]

hmmm avi cakes...i saw those as the store today i think i will go and get them next time i stop by.

kahlua will take food from my hands but when she does she grabs what she likes she will wobble away a safe distant away from me to eat it. i can never actually get her to eat treats ON my hand.

oh also i have noticed something weird(way off subject). she had a bath this morning and after she was pruning herself under my chin. i was watching her do this and i noticed that a couple of times it seemed that she was trying to pluck some of the fluffy grey feathers off. i have noticed that at the bottom of the cage there has been more feathers than usuall. i figured that she was probobly going through her first molt even thoughh shes only about seven months old. but should she be plucking? she only did it once but it still kind of worried me.

[Kirby]

I would hold the treats with my fingers and just hand onto the treat when she tries to pull it to her. She still doesnt trust them, hense why she's running away!

Since every bird has their own moulting schedule, it could be quite possible that she's going through one right now. Both cages I have at home always have the fluffy down feathers blowing around when I walk past them.
I wouldn't be too worried unless you notice that she is getting a 'patchy' look to her. It is perfectly normal to find the fluffy down feathers EVERYWHERE haha. If you start finding larger feathers as well as unusually large amounts of the colouredones, then I would be worried.

[esmay211]

ok i will keep watching her and see what happens. i noticed just now that one of the little down feathers was stick out on her back wich is weird but we'll see.