Macaws:
Red Shouldered (Hahn's) Macaw
Severe Macaw
Blue And Gold Macaw
Blue Throated Macaw
Military Macaw
Red Fronted Macaw
Scarlet Macaw
Green Winged Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw
Just a day after completing assembly of the Kings Travel Cage that I bought for the parrots, I began introducing them to it. Actually I had already begun introducing them while my brother assembled it by having them sit on nearby perches and watch. When the birds see humans safely interacting with something, it gives them more confidence to try it themselves rather than be frightened by a newly appeared object they are expected to go into.
Don't just shove or force your parrot into the travel cage or carrier immediately. Ok, it's true that I did this with Truman the day I assembled it, but with good reason. The travel cage looks just like his big cage and he is young and ready to explore. So by putting him into it that way, it did not frighten him at all. He was more excited about checking out the toys. However, I would not have done the same with Kili or most other birds. Instead, use the following procedure.
It is important to maintain the carrier/travel cage experience a positive one. The simple fact of getting locked up in it and ignored for some hours (quite likely bumpy and uncomfortable) is quite unpleasant in itself. This is why it is required to do everything in your power to make carrier time be as good as possible to make up for that. If you don't make carrier time enjoyable for your parrot, it will quickly become scared of going in the carrier and resist by all means. It will fly away, bite, and make it really hard for you to get it in there. Let me remind you that good carrier behavior is not only necessary for taking a parrot out on social outings, but also for emergency vet visits and grooming. Unfortunately, most people only end up using a carrier in time of need. This is likely to be rushed and unpleasant for the parrot. So for all of these reasons, I recommend carrier/travel cage training before you actually need to transport the parrot. I urge everyone who owns a carrier (whether your parrot is already accustomed to it or never been in it) to go and practice some carrier time with your parrot in a pleasant way as I will soon get to explaining, I promise. If you don't have a carrier, please go any buy one and practice these techniques because you can't be certain when you might need to take your parrot some place.
While the first step to a successful carrier introduction is letting the parrot see it and see you working with it, next comes a more proactive approach. Don't just force your parrot into the carrier all at once. Instead, put it on top of, next to, or around the carrier/cage.
I started by carrying Kili over and putting her on the cage top handle perch. She wasn't too scared because the dowel perch looked similar enough to other dowel perches she had previously frequented. But more importantly, she has a clear path to fly away should she choose to because I did not immediately confine her in the cage. To get Kili more used to being there, I targeted her back and forth on that perch. Then I targeted her down to the cage top bars.
Meanwhile Truman was at a distance watching. Unexpectedly he flew over to join us. He wasn't going to miss out on all this fun. He landed on the cage top and wanted to play "target" too. So the birds took turns targeting to various spots on the cage top. I took Kili and brought her down to the cage level. I didn't make her go in but rather targeted her from my hand to the travel cage perch. She stepped right in and was thrilled to get a treat so effortlessly. I continued targeting her around inside until she noticed the new toys and went to check them out.
It didn't take any targeting to get Truman to go into the travel cage. The sight of new toys just drew him right in. Getting him away from those toys would probably serve a greater challenge then getting him to go in. If your parrot loves toys, definitely use this to your advantage by providing better than usual toys in the travel cage to make it more worthwhile. It is very important that your parrots actually like their travel cage or carrier. Just tolerating isn't enough. They have to like it because it will serve as their home away from home. They need to feel safe and comfortable in their carrier. Furthermore, for flighted parrots it is good for them to be super familiar with their cage or carrier so that they have a place to fly back to if they get scared when you're out. One more reason I want my parrots to become super familiar and love their travel cage is in the event they ever get lost outside home, I will put the travel cage outside to lure them back in (I know people recommend putting the bird's cage outside but Truman's cage is not going to fit through the door, so travel cage works great).
The travel cage familiarization was a great success, but how would the parrots react to being locked inside for periods at a time? I began with Truman by pouring a meal of pellets in the travel cage's food bowl and leaving him inside for an hour. Without hesitation Truman went right for the food and had an enjoyable meal. Once again, here is an example of providing a positive cage/carrier environment where something good happens every time the parrot is inside. For the next few days I let the parrots take turns eating their meals in the travel cage and being locked inside progressively longer to get used to being in it.
I am very happy with the custom perch layout I configured. The perches came out to be at an ideal height and distance that either parrot can comfortably use the travel cage. Truman uses his beak to lean and step from perch to perch; Kili hops. Although the parrots can easily climb the cage bars, they have little need to.
Now that the birds were accustomed to being in the travel cage at home, it was time for a field test. The day I took Truman flying in an airplane, I brought him to the airport in his carrier, but I let him ride back home in his travel cage. He loved it. He was endlessly entertained by the toys hanging inside. He would make his way back and forth on the perch to play with the two toys. He held on well and never fell off his perch during the drive (even bumpy parts and steep turns). He was even able to balance on one foot while playing with a bottle cap in his beak and dominant foot. He was so busy playing the whole car ride that he did not scream or cause any trouble.
Later that same day Kili got to spend some time and eat a meal in the travel cage while out as well. Both parrots did great in their travel cage and appear to like it better than their travel carriers. Truman didn't step in poop or his his tail on the sides. Although I found some faults in the set up, price, weight, and value of the travel cage, it was a major hit with the parrots. With the modifications I made and training I did, this travel cage is absolutely worthwhile for the parrots. From the bird's perspective, I definitely recommend this travel cage.
Rather than being some unpleasant form of confinement, I had succeeded in introducing the travel cage as a fun place to be. The parrots enjoyed eating and playing with toys in their new cage. They go in willingly and even fly over and land on top of the travel cage for the hell of it. Regardless of what cage or carrier you use for your parrots, just remember to make it a worthwhile experience. Good carrier training is the first step in being able to bring your parrots out for socializing to the rest of the world.
This article is about about to teach a parrot to hang upside down from your finger like a bat. This is a fairly easy trick to train and does not require any requisite tricks be learned previously. The only requirement is to have a hand tame parrot. If your parrot does not step up, let you touch it, and let you grab it, please refer to the Taming and Training Guide prior to proceeding with the bat trick. In preparation for training the bat trick, practice a lot of handling with your parrot including touching the feet, back, and rotating it around in your hands.
The good news about the bat trick is that it is very easy to perform and works every time. It is the only trick I can get Kili to do even if she does not feel like showing a single trick because it is more about taming than positive behavior. If the parrot is rolled upside down, it has little choice about being there. As long as it is tame and knows the trick, it will just hang there until brought back up. While it took a week to teach the bat to Kili and several weeks to teach it to Duke the Budgerigar, Truman learned it in a quick two days. The cool thing is that absolutely any parrot can learn the bat trick including a parakeet, cockatiel, conure, african grey, amazon, cockatoo, or macaw. How long it takes to teach will vary but it is definitely possible to teach any parrot species the trick with the following technique.
To begin teaching the bat trick, begin by holding the parrot on your hand. I always use my right hand for the parrot to perch on for the trick but it just depends what you are comfortable with. It is important that the parrot is perched closer to the tip of your index finger and not too close to your hand. Then place your thumb over the bird's feet and squeeze gently. At the same time put your left hand on the parrot's back. Cup your hand around the back and tip the parrot back about 45 degrees. Hold that briefly and then upright the parrot. Now give it a treat.
At this stage, it is not important to use a clicker because you are simply taming the parrot to the requirements of this trick and there is not a specific action to click for. Continue practicing this tipping behavior progressively increasing the angle until the parrot is completely upside down. The next step is to reduce dependence on being held with second hand. When you tip the parrot back, very slowly ease the holding pressure with the left hand. Then tighten again, upright, and reward. Continue to progressively hold a less tight grip at the upside down phase until you can even let go of the parrot's back briefly and take your hand away a short distance. At first continue holding your hand nearby to reassure the parrot that you will grab it back and not let it fall. As you progress, you can let go and leave the parrot hanging from your hand longer before grabbing it back to upright. Make sure you roll the parrot straight back and not over the side or the trick won't look as impressive.
You don't need to expect the parrot to stay perfectly still and strike a beautiful post at this stage. As long as it is staying upside down while being held by the feet, you are making progress. Now you can continue rolling it back with the hand support but let the parrot upright on its own. Begin rolling your hand (that parrot is perched on) to upright the parrot. Of course reward at this point. Now it is time to begin receding dependence on the supporting hand for going upside down. Place the hand on the parrot's back and begin rolling it back but take the hand away before it is fully inverted. You can continue practicing and letting go earlier and earlier.
Now there should be a special cue emerging. When you grab the parrot's feet and begin rolling your hand back, the parrot should know it has to not resist and go inverted. If the parrot is flapping or trying to upright itself while you are rolling it back, you may need to keep going to overcome that. However, if that doesn't work, you have to practice the earlier stages with back support for longer.
At this point, all the remains is improving the pose and letting go of the feet. I suggest improving the pose prior to working on letting go of the feet or putting the entire trick on cue. Most likely at this point the parrot doesn't hang straight down but rather curled up toward your hand. They feel more balanced this way but it's ok, we can easily solve this. Now's the time to begin using a clicker. Your left hand is freed up because at this point you should be able to roll the parrot back strictly by the hand it is perched on. Hold the clicker and treat in your left hand prior to rolling the parrot upside down.
The simplest way to get the parrot to strike a nice pose to look like a hanging bat, is to lure its head down with a treat. After you roll the parrot upside down, use your other hand to show it a desirable treat. Keep the treat below the head and just barely out of reach so that it has to stretch down to get it. For the first few times, let the parrot get the treat in return for stretching down. As soon as it gets the treat, click and upright the bird to give it a chance to eat the treat. You don't want to continue holding the parrot upside down because it will go to a bad pose to focus on its treat. After a few of these upside down rewards, the parrot will know to reach for the treat. But you won't give it any more. Show the treat but just out of reach. When the parrot is stretching for the treat, click, upright, and reward. This way you are actually teaching the behavior. Once you find your parrot stretching down for the treat like this, you can begin hiding the treat between your fingers and just letting the parrot aim for your fingers. Before long, you can hold the treat/fingers much further away and then not at all. The parrot will remember to stretch its head down. If it does not, continue holding it in the bat a few seconds waiting until it does. When it stretches down, click/reward. If it does not, upright and do not reward. Next time you put it upside down, lure it again to remind it to stretch head down. This way the parrot learns to extend its head down. Keep practicing and waiting for it to hang with head down for longer and longer with each try prior to clicking and uprighting.
If the parrot is jittery and moves around a lot (this especially happened when teaching a budgie this trick) while hanging upside down, the best way to reduce this is practice. Always click when the parrot is in the straightest and calmest pose. Over time and extensive practice, the parrot will learn that it will not get rewarded until it is calm and stops moving. Teaching the trick is quick but perfecting it takes a lot of practice.
By now the parrot should be catching on to what is going on. Use less and less force in your hand to swing the parrot over and back up. Let the parrot shift its weight to strike the pose. Just begin the motion of rolling it back and then slow down, allowing the parrot to put itself in that pose. Same thing goes for uprighting. You can begin uprighting the parrot after clicking but stop halfway and let it work out its muscles to come up. You can show the treat it's about to get for extra motivation. But do not give the treat until the parrot is completely back upright on your hand. This step is important for putting the trick on cue. To put the bat trick on cue, decide what word or gesture you will make and do it right before turning the bat upside down every time. For Kili, I snap my fingers and she goes into the bat position completely on her own. It doesn't have to be finger snapping though. You can just say "bat" or point downward. When the parrot gets used to seeing this cue enough times while being rolled over, it will catch on. The only thing required then is to roll it back less and less so that it would put the effort in to roll back on its own.
The last thing to do is to stop holding the feet. Do it progressively by holding less and less pressure on the feet while the parrot is upside down. Keep your other hand nearby to catch it in case it is not holding on adequately. It will quickly learn that it needs to have a good grip on its own. Just make sure you position the parrot on your finger such that it can still hold on while upside down. Eventually you don't need to put your thumb on its feet at all to perform the bat trick.
The most common questions I receive have nothing to do with advanced trick training or flight. Instead, I am constantly being asked how to get a parrot to do basics like come out of the cage, step up, or not bite. These basic questions are fundamental to parrot ownership. Unfortunately many owners cannot enjoy the most from their parrot if they cannot accomplish basic handling.
Michael, Kili, and Truman
I faced these very same questions when I bought my first parrot, a Cockatiel. I had never so much as touched a bird before in my life and here I was with a bird in the transport box and a cage but absolutely no idea what to do. I spent a lot of time and money to buy training information but unfortunately most of it was unhelpful. Sure there are lots of books and dvds about the methods for teaching specific tricks but few or none of them teach you about the absolute basics. They tell you to take the parrot out of the cage and proceed with training. Well I know from personal experience that this presumption that the owner can get the parrot out of the cage is flawed. Many owners cannot enjoy the thrill of teaching tricks to their parrot because they do not even know how to handle it or reduce aggression in the first place.
A year ago I had written the How to Teach Parrot to Step Up guide on The Parrot Forum and it is still to this day one of my most popular articles. I understand that this basic information is very sought after. Yet I still receive many questions that are even more basic still or that weren't covered in the original article which was predominantly about target training. So now, I sit down to write what I hope to be the ultimate guide to the basics of parrot taming and training. I hope you enjoy the information contained herein and find it helpful. Please read through completely, watch the videos, share with other parrot owners, reread as necessary, and ask your questions on The Parrot Forum. Welcome to the world of parrot training.
Introduction
Why should you read this? You may be a first time parrot owner that just got home with a new bird wondering why it did not come with an instruction manual. Or perhaps you have had some parrots for a long time but regret the inability to interact with them and wish to learn how to approach them. Maybe you found a lost parrot and need information about how to handle it so that you could foster it. Alternatively you got a rescued or rehomed parrot that is anything but friendly. Regardless of how you came upon a parrot or found this article, you are here because you want to improve your relationship with a highly intelligent, beautiful, and complex feathered companion.
This guide is meant to teach you everything you need to know to begin handling a parrot no matter what the history or circumstances. It does not matter how long you have had it, how old it is, what species the bird is, where you got it from, or what its history is. Certainly these things can affect how long it will take or how difficult it will be. But I guarantee you that if properly and patiently applied, these methods will work. These techniques will work just as well for a Parakeet, Conure, Amazon, Cockatoo, African Grey, or Macaw.
The only case that I can think of where this guide does not apply is for unweaned baby birds that are still hand feeding. Please have an experienced breeder or hand feeder take care of the baby or at least coach you through the process and do not attempt to apply these techniques to a young fledgling.
Getting Parrot Into the Cage for the First Time
If you just acquired a new parrot - whether it is from a breeder, store, or rehomed - you will need to transfer it from the transportation enclosure to its new cage. The parrot may be in a travel carrier, crate, or cardboard box. Regardless, the procedure will be the same for getting it into the cage. There are several possibilities of how tame the parrot is. If you do not already know, you're about to find out. Bring the carrier into the same area as the cage. Close all doors and windows.
Most likely the parrot is quite scared so putting the carrier door up to the cage door will not be encouraging for the bird to come out on its own. Food lures won't work either since a scared bird will refuse to eat for several days. Your intervention will definitely be required.
You may be lucky and have a friendly parrot that already knows how to step up. The problem is that you may not know that in fact the parrot is friendly and aware of stepping up. The best way to test this is to open the carrier slowly and bring your hand toward the bird. As you open the carrier door, keep the opening minimal and blocked with your hand so that the parrot cannot rush out. Slowly bring your hand closer and closer to the parrot. If the parrot doesn't react to the hand much, then keep going closer. However, if the parrot is opening its beak and aggressively snapping toward your hand, then the stepping up method is unlikely to work.
For the non-aggressive parrot, keep bringing your hand closer and aim your fingers perpendicular to the feet. Depending on the size of the parrot you'll want to use anything from one finger to your entire arm. The main thing is to place your hand parallel to the perch it is standing on and slightly above its feet. If it was trained by the breeder to step up, it is a good idea to say "step up" as you have your hand positioned. As soon as the parrot steps up, slowly take it out of the carrier and then bring it into the cage. Like with your hand before, aim the bird in such a way that the cage perch runs parallel to your hand and slightly above its feet. The parrot should now step up onto the perch. You can close the cage door and talk to the parrot for a little while but then be sure to give it some time alone to adjust to its new home. I wouldn't suggest handling the parrot anymore at this time unless you are already experienced with parrots.
Getting parrot out of the carrier
If it turned out you are dealing with an aggressive parrot or it didn't step up using the method previously mentioned, you're going to have to get a hold of the bird to get it into the cage. Don't worry about this affecting your relationship. The parrot will eventually get over this. In fact it probably won't even realize what happened if you do it quickly enough. You definitely don't want to draw out this unpleasant experience any more than necessary as the fear will escalate and only make it more difficult to catch. It is especially important not to let the parrot escape the carrier if it is flighted because you will have a much tougher time getting a hold of it somewhere in the room.
Ideally you should just use your bare hand and grab the parrot out of the carrier. If you are too scared, you could wear thin leather gloves or use a towel. The best place to grab the parrot by is actually the neck, just below the head. Not only is it a safer place to avoid getting bit, it's also least likely to harm the parrot. If you grab by the belly, it could restrict airflow, but grabbing by the neck will not. By holding under the beak, you can keep the parrot from being able to turn its head and bite you. You can do the same with a glove. If you use a towel, you can either grab through the towel, or just get the bird in it and wrap it until you can get it in the cage. In one bold motion reach in toward the parrot. Even if it is backing away, just keep moving your hand toward it and back it into a corner. At this point the bird can't get anywhere and you can get a hold of it. Regardless of how you got a hold of it, don't prolong this and hurry up and get it in the cage. Whatever you do, don't let go of the bird (even if it bites). You'll have a much tougher time getting back if it gets loose in the room. If you had to use this more forceful method, it's a good idea to give the bird a bit more time to settle down before proceeding to taming and training.
If the parrot stepped up for you, the bird is probably quite tame and this basic taming should go much quicker. Since it is stepping up reliably, you will be able to ask the parrot to step up to come out of the cage. On the other hand if you had to grab the bird out of the carrier, odds are you will have to continue doing this until it has learned to step up.
No matter what method you had to use to get the new parrot into the cage, do not overwhelm it with attention immediately. Not only does it need some time to calm down and settle in, you also don't want to make it too dependent for attention. It is likely that the new parrot will eat little or none for the first few days. This should not be of too much concern. Just be sure that it has access to food and water and that it is already familiar with the food you are providing. This is not the time to try to do a food change or to instate any kind of food management for training.
Approaching the Cage
It is very important not to make your parrot afraid of you by rushing at the cage. Until the parrot is more used to you, it is essential to approach the cage very slowly. Don't make any sudden noises and walk carefully not to trip, fall, and terrify the bird. First impressions are important and it is critical not to let the first one be a bad one. If you have a particularly fearful bird, don't even make eye contact with it as you approach the cage. Just slowly approach while looking somewhere else. By making eye contact, it may feel like it has been singled out by a predator.
If you take an unnecessarily cautious approach, there is no way that will hurt your relationship. You will be able to speed things up in the future. However, if you rush this and scare the bird, it will be much much harder to undo the fear that is developed.
You must determine your parrot's comfort threshold. It is quite likely that the parrot is accustomed to human presence and will not freak out if you come all the way up to the cage. However, if it does, you'll need to slowly desensitize it to your presence over time. If you find the parrot trying to bite at you, thrashing around the cage, or making any other drastic displays of discomfort in response to your presence, the following technique is necessary.
Start out of the room or out of sight. Approach the cage slowly and wait for the discomfort response. The moment it begins, stop and stay where you are. Do not approach further but do not retreat. Wait for the parrot to calm down. It may still look uncomfortable but as long as it has made a relaxing trend from the original outbreak, you may reward the parrot by turning around and walking away. By using this method, the parrot will learn that it actually takes calming down rather than making a big scene to get you to leave. You are showing the parrot that the only way to get what it wants is to be calm.
Continue this technique over a period of time. You should be able to approach progressively closer and closer. Once you are able to safely approach within touching distance of the cage, you can continue with the following positive reinforcement based techniques.
Determining Treats for Your Parrot
Determine your parrot's favorite treats
First you must find out what kinds of treats your parrot will enjoy. This is fairly easy. Parrots will often enjoy seeds, nuts, dried and fresh fruits. Mix a variety of these treats in a bowl and serve it to the parrot in the cage. If this is a new parrot, it is quite possible that it is not yet familiar with these foods so the first trial may be inaccurate. Give the parrot a few days to familiarize itself to these foods unless a clear favorite is demonstrated up front. Parrots are picky eaters and will eat their favorite food first, then the second, etc. You can determine a pretty clear order of which foods they like. For smaller parrots such as Cockatiels, Budgerigars, Lovebirds, Parrotlets, and other Parakeets, millet spray generally serves as the ideal treat.
Now that you have determined your parrot's favorite treat, never serve it as part of the daily cage meals. The favorite foods are only to be used as treats for training. If you have discovered a secondary and tertiary treat, you can also save those to use for training as well. The most effective method will be to feed only pellets and vegetables in the cage and use all other foods as treats for training. However, if your parrot is on a seed diet and you are unable to convert it to pellets, then at least stop serving the favorite kinds of seeds and save them for training. Use the secondary/tertiary treats for most training and use the absolute favorite treats when the parrot does a major breakthrough.
Getting Parrot Out of Cage for the First Time
Now whether you just acquired a new parrot or have had one trapped in the cage for a long time, eventually you will have to take the parrot out. Not only is daily out of cage time important for the parrot's mental health, but it is also important to be able to clean the cage from the inside on a regular basis.
Now simply opening the cage door and waiting for the parrot to come out to you on its own is pointless. The parrot is already going to be scared of everything and the cage will at least be the most familiar place for it. You're not going to achieve a hand tame parrot by doing this and might spend forever waiting till it comes out. So instead, I will explain how to get the parrot out for the first time and then you should immediately begin the appropriate taming and training exercises so these methods no longer need to be used and the parrot will just step up for you whenever you want to take it out of the cage.
There are two methods that can be used for getting a parrot out of the cage for the first time:
1) Target training 2) Force out & reconcile
TIP
Except for the initial training, do not let the parrot come out of the cage on its own. Always reach in and request it to step up. This will help develop a positive relationship because you will get all the credit for the thrill of being able to come out. The parrot will begin to look forward to seeing you because it will learn that you are the source of good things like coming out.
Although the first method is least stressful, it also takes a much longer time to implement. On the other hand the second method is more hands on. I would say that the force out method is safest to be used on young hand raised parrots. This can range from merely asking it to step up to toweling it out. Either way, the experience outside the cage is made so rewarding that it reconciles being forced out initially. Baby parrots are much more forgiving and less likely to bite so this method can actually work quite well and create no trauma for the bird. Most likely the parrot was already accustomed to the breeder grabbing it to feed it anyway. If you are an experienced parrot owner and not afraid of the potential of being bitten, go ahead and use the force out/reconcile method. Similar to getting the parrot out of the carrier for the first time, you can test step up, just grab the parrot, grab with a glove, or use a towel. Just get the parrot out of the cage but then give it a super rewarding time outside of the cage with additional training. I will detail the taming/training exercises to do shortly afterward.
For everyone else including first time parrot owners, people afraid of getting bit, owners of rehomed/rescued parrots, and owners of parrots that were for a long time cage bound, I am going to advise against forcing the parrot out but instead to train it inside the cage. Not only does this method buy time for the parrot to get used to the owner, but it also helps the owner get used to the parrot. It mutually reduces fear and builds a positive relationship.
Performing target training in the cage begins with teaching the parrot to accept treats from your hand. This part could take as little as a few seconds to as many as a few weeks. The important thing is not to scare the parrot of your hands in the process. If the parrot isn't too shy, you can come to the side of the cage nearest the parrot and extend the treat through the cage bars up to the bird. However, if you find the parrot running away whenever you approach, then just come to a slightly further end of the cage and wait patiently. Just hold the treat through the bars and don't move. Let the parrot come to take it on its own. This may not happen on the first try but if you consistently offer treats like this, eventually it will let down its guard and come over to take it. You can use longer strands of millet spray for small parrots or a strip of fruit for larger ones. This will give your hands a bit more separation from the parrot. Do not worry about biting. Not only do the bars protect your hands, but the parrot is sooner to want the tasty treat than to bite you.
As soon as you feel the parrot feels safe eating treats from your hand, it is time to introduce the clicker. The only reason you don't want to begin using the clicker too soon is because it may scare the parrot from eating treats from your hand. But as soon as it is comfortable, you should click every time you are about to give it a treat. If you find the click to be scaring the bird, you can muffle the sound by holding it behind your back or inside your sleeve. Once it is no longer scaring the bird, you can start clicking closer and closer. The goal of clicking when you give treats is to teach the bird that the sound of a click means it is going to get a treat. This will become the bridge for the remainder of your training. The click bridges the time gap between when the bird performs the desired behavior and receives the reward. This way it eliminates any confusion about what you wanted the parrot to do to earn its treat.
Target training parrot inside cage
The next step is to teach the parrot to target. This is where you hold a target stick (chopstick or dowel) out and the parrot walks over to touch it with its beak. Naturally, at first the parrot will not know that this is what you want it to do. This is why you need to teach it by giving it a chance to touch the stick and earn treats. At first, hold the target stick through the cage bars really close to the parrot. Quite likely, the parrot will bite the stick out of shear curiosity. The moment that it does, click and give it a treat. Repeat this a few times. Eventually, test if the parrot is motivated to make a slightly bigger move to touch the stick by holding it a tiny bit further away. Try to get your parrot to lean in to touch the stick, turn its head to touch the stick, and then eventually to take a few steps to touch it. Bear in mind that this may not happen all at once and may require several training sessions to achieve.
If your parrot absolutely does not make a single effort to touch the stick for the first time (which is necessary for it to realize that it can have a treat for this), you can touch the stick to the beak the first time to give yourself an excuse to treat the parrot. Do not do this too many times though. Eventually the parrot must do this on its own in order to learn to target. If you are having too much trouble, the parrot might not be motivated enough for food. Stop and try again another time when the parrot is hungrier.
There is a possibility that the parrot is afraid of the target stick and runs away from it. In this case, do not chase your parrot around with the stick. Instead, hold the stick steadily in one spot and just watch the parrot's movements. Whenever the parrot moves away from the stick, don't do anything. However, if it makes any motion toward the stick (it could be as little as taking a step toward it or even turning its head that way), click and reward. Reward any effort from the parrot that ventures in the direction of the stick. You can continue this progressively by rewarding bigger and bigger steps toward the stick and not walking away or making smaller steps. This will eventually teach the parrot to get close to and touch the stick. It is like the game of hot/cold when you tell the other person if they are getting closer/further from some hidden scavenger prize. When the parrot moves toward the target stick, that is getting warmer and it gets rewarded for this.
Hold target stick, clicker, and treat
Eventually, you will be able to target the parrot around the cage to any place. The parrot will watch the stick and walk/climb to wherever you point it. This is the point at which you know you are ready to reach into the cage for the first time. If you're not fearful you can use your bare hands. But if you have any reservations, you can wear a leather glove or better yet hold a perch for your parrot to step up on. It is best to use a perch from or similar to the ones in the cage. You will need to master the one handed target maneuver to continue. This involves holding the clicker, target stick, and treat all in one hand because your other hand is where the parrot will be taught to step onto (or the perch it is holding). Hold the clicker in your palm and use your middle finger to click. Slide the target stick into your hand and hold the treat with thumb and forefinger. You may want to practice this a few times away from the parrot to be sure you can do it right. If you fumble with these training aids at the time of training, it may scare the bird and set back progress.
Target parrot out of cage
Prior to proceeding, practice a few known target touches to get the parrot in the mood for training. Then slowly open the cage door and continue practicing targeting inside the cage but with your hands in the cage. This is not a bad exercise to practice a few times to get your parrot used to hands inside of the cage. Next you can hold a perch in one hand and target the parrot from the cage perch to your handheld perch. Don't think that you can immediately take the parrot out and all is done. Target the parrot off of your handheld perch and back to the cage. Practice this a bunch of times so that the parrot can get comfortable. Now after practicing this enough times, you should be able to carry the parrot out of the cage and to your designated training area. At this point you are ready to train your parrot like any other.
Target Training Parrot Outside the Cage
Whether you got your parrot out of the cage with ease, unwillingly, by targeting, or any other method, you will want to begin your parrot taming and training experience by target training the parrot outside of the cage. Parrots can get territorial but also easily distracted inside their cage. Therefore the cage is not a suitable place for training. From my personal experience, Parrot Training Perches are the ideal stand to use for parrot training. However, a free standing parrot stand, chair back, or table top perch can be your next best training solution. Do not provide any toys, feeders, or other distractions in the parrot's training area. It is important for the parrot to focus on you and nothing else.
Get your parrot from the cage to its training stand using methods outlined above. Give it a little time to get used to the stand but as soon as it calms down, proceed to training. The first few times you have it out will only be about teaching it to accept treats from your hand. You should have already figured out what treats are suitable from the procedure outlined previously. Now offer those treats from your hand. You can test your parrot's eagerness and motivation to eat from your hand by holding the treat a few inches from the parrot and seeing if it walks for the treat or not. If the parrot is willing to make a few steps to get the treat from you, you'll know you're ready to begin target training.
User a clicker for training
Once your parrot is comfortably eating from your hand (and remember this may involve several training sessions), you should introduce the clicker. A clicker is simply a handheld box that makes a click noise when you squeeze it. This device is used as a training bridge to communicate to the parrot when it has completed the behavior you are trying to train. The way that the parrot knows that a click means it got it right is because you will start the clicker training with clicker conditioning. This is the process of simply clicking, and giving the parrot a treat immediately. Soon the bird will learn that when it hears a click, it will get a treat. Once you begin teaching the actual tricks, the parrot will realize that whatever it did at the moment the click happened, it has earned a treat. So go ahead and clicker condition the bird for a few sessions by clicking the clicker and giving a treat. You will know that the parrot is ready to proceed to the next step when it becomes more attentive/excited upon hearing the click sound.
Chopstick serves great as target
Now that the parrot accepts treats from your hand and knows what a click is, you are ready to begin target training. Target training involves showing a stick to the parrot and it then walks over to touch the tip of the stick. The purpose of this is to teach the parrot where you want it to walk by having it follow the stick. This is more effective than luring (just holding the treat and waiting for the bird to come get it) because the bird isn't distracted by the food. A chopstick or wooden dowel works best but any non-toxic object can be used for this purpose as long as it is consistent. Even if you used the target method for getting your parrot out of the cage, it is still a good idea to practice this skill with your parrot in the new training area.
TIP
Do not let the parrot attack, play with, or chew up the target stick. Not only will this ruin the training aid but it will also teach the parrot a behavior different from what we are trying to achieve. Use the distraction of the click upon touching the stick to catch your parrots attention. Immediately bring forth the treat while pulling the target stick away. If the parrot continues biting the stick too hard, you can click and reward when the parrot approaches the stick and is about to touch, but before the beak has actually clasped the tip of the stick.
Begin target training by holding the tip of the target stick close to your parrot's beak. Most parrots will bite the stick out of mere curiosity. The moment the parrot's beak touches the stick, click and offer a treat. Do not let the parrot play with or chew the target stick. Try again. After several attempts, the parrot will begin to catch on that touching the stick will earn it food. If the parrot is not approaching the stick, try to wait it out and see if it will go for it eventually. Try to resist the temptation to return the stick closer and closer if the parrot is not approaching. Instead, take the stick away, and try setting up an easier target scenario the next time. As the parrot becomes better at targeting, you can try to hold the stick further and further away. First it may be just far to bend the neck toward the stick, then to turn the head, eventually to take a single step toward it. Before you know it, you'll have the parrot walking all over the perch to touch the stick.
You can improve targeting skills by targeting the parrot toward you and away from you. Also hold the stick higher and lower. The parrot will in this way learn that only touching the tip of the stick is what will earn it a treat. Do not click or reward your parrot unless it touches the tip of the stick. If it touches higher up on the stick, take it away and request it to target again. It is not required, but a good idea to say the word "target" or "touch" as you show the parrot the stick. This will over time develop as a secondary command besides the sight of the stick. This can be used to give extra encouragement for the parrot to go touch the stick when it may not be paying the best attention.
Establishing Training Motivation
Keeping your parrot motivated is the key to successful training. Your parrot must want the rewards. Otherwise they do not serve much purpose. There are several easy ways to ensuring that your parrot is most motivated by food rewards.
Parrots naturally feed in the mornings and evenings so training is best done during these same times. It is best to train your parrot at its hungriest, so it doesn't make any sense to do it right after it ate a meal. Instead, take the food out of the cage overnight. In the morning, do training first and then put the parrot's meal back in the cage. You can let it eat all it wants, but be sure to take the food away again prior to the evening training session.
How long prior to training you need to take the food away will vary. Some parrots are driven by the tastiness of the treats rather than hunger. Meanwhile for others, you may end up using the same food as treats so hunger will be key. For basic food management, you do not even need to use a scale to weigh the parrot (we may introduce this for advanced training but for the purpose of the basic training in this article it is unnecessary). First try training the parrot without taking the food away at all. Next time, take the food away one hour prior to training. Next time try taking it away two, then three, and all the way up to six hours. Do not leave your parrot without food for more than six hours (except overnight while it is sleeping) unless you are capable of tracking your parrot's weight/health. Six hours without food will not harm your parrot but will simply give it the hunger to strive to do what it takes to earn treats during training. You will find the optimum duration to leave your parrot without food when training motivation improves.
After training sessions, let your parrot eat as much as it wants to so that it can maintain a healthy weight. Be sure to provide a healthy balanced diet. Pellets serve as a solid nutritional basis. Fresh vegetables, fruits, and grains can be provided in moderation. Be sure to save the parrot's favorite foods only for training.
Teaching Parrot to Step Up
Practice targeting with parrot
Now that your parrot knows how to target, it should not be too difficult to turn this into stepping up. After practicing a few step ups to get your parrot warmed up, you can start by targeting your parrot to step up onto a handheld perch. This is a good way to desensitize it to your hands without being too forceful. Progressively you can hold the perch closer and closer in so that the parrot has to stand closer to your hand every time it is targeted onto the perch.
Once the parrot is stepping up onto a perch satisfactorily, you can begin training it to step up on your hand. If the parrot still bites a lot and you are scared, you can wear a glove during the earlier parts of this training. However, keep in mind that the glove also encourages the parrot to bite because they like chewing leather. Hold your hand a short distance away from the parrot and slightly higher than its feet. Hold the target stick such that the only way the parrot can reach it is by stepping onto your finger or hand.
You may want to hold out your arm (for bigger parrots) or the back of your hand initially in case you are worried about the parrot biting your finger. Once you get more comfortable with each other, you can have the parrot step up.
Target parrot to step up
on your finger. After you achieve some success doing this, you can begin to recede the use of the target stick. Begin by saying step up every time you practice this exercise. Then stop targeting the parrot onto your hand but hold the stick in the other hand in sight. Eventually you won't even need to show the target stick at all and the parrot will know how to step up.
You should practice step up in all different areas. Have the parrot step up from finger to finger. Practice the parrot stepping up from inside the cage. Also have the parrot step up from you to other people so that it is accustomed stepping up for all people and not just yourself. If the parrot is scared and doesn't want to go to the other person, try targeting it onto their hand rather than forcing it.
Basic Taming and Handling
Once you have achieved some basic skills with the parrot like targeting and step up, you should continue taming the parrot to being touched and handled. I'm sure you want to be able to pet and hold your parrot so the following procedures are important to follow. Also the parrot should be used to being held and toweled for when it visits the vet or groomer.
The taming method is the same every step of the way. It involves figuring out your parrot's comfort threshold, pushing it slightly, waiting till it calms down, removing the discomfort, and then rewarding the parrot with treats.
The first thing you will need to achieve is the ability to touch your parrot. The beak is one of the best places to start because if you are touching the beak, you know where it is and can avoid getting bitten. Start by placing your hand in front of the parrot and slowly move it closer and closer. If the parrot makes any moves to bite or move away, stop right there. Hold your hand in that position and wait for the parrot to calm down. Wait a few seconds after it calms down, take your hand away and give a treat. Keep repeating this procedure so that you can get closer and closer. Eventually your parrot will tolerate you touching its beak. You can scratch the beak with your fingernail; the parrot will like that.
Tame parrot to be used to towel
Next, use the same method to tame the parrot to let you touch its body. Hold your hand over the parrot and approach slowly. At the first display of discomfort stop and wait to calm down, then reward. Eventually you'll be able to touch the parrot with one finger and if you keep practicing this, your whole hand. Once you can put your entire hand on the parrot's back, begin practicing cupping your hand around the back and wings. With every step of the way, apply more pressure until you have such a grip that you can pick the parrot up. At first pick it up only briefly and then put the parrot back down (don't forget to reward). But eventually you will be able to pick the bird up for longer and longer.
Continue using this method so that you can hold the parrot, touch its head, touch its wings, touch its tail, roll it over on its back, etc. Soon enough, you will no longer have to reward these taming maneuvers with treats. Maintain your parrot's tameness with daily handling for the rest of its life.
Putting Parrot Away in Cage
One of the biggest problems/mistakes parrot owners make is making going back into the cage an unpleasant experience for the parrot. If the parrot does not want to go back into the cage but is forced to by the owner, not only will it upset the relationship but it will also make the parrot resist stepping up for fear of being put away.
The solution to this problem though is very simple. Develop a routine of taking your parrot out in the mornings and evenings, prior to meal times. Spend the time you want with your parrot out and do some training. Then put the parrot away in its cage to a delightful meal. The hungry parrot will be looking forward to going back in its home to be fed rather than disappointed for having to be put away.
Also, be sure to use step up for good things other than being put away in the cage. Some people only use step up to put the parrot away and let the parrot roam on its own all the other time. In that case, the parrot will soon learn that step up means being put away and may choose to bite instead of stepping up. So instead, mix things up. Have your parrot step up so that you could put it on a different stand. Have the parrot step up so you can scratch its beak. Have the parrot step up so you can cue a trick and give it a treat. By mixing up what step up is used for and keeping it positive, you can guarantee that the parrot will remain tame and willing to step up.
Conclusion
This article should have answered basic questions such as: how do I get my new parrot into the cage for the first time? How can you take a parrot out of the cage initially? What is the best way to teach a parrot to step up? What do I do to train my parrot to target? How should you go about clicker training? How to teach a parrot to step up onto the hand? What are the steps to taming a parrot to allow being grabbed or touched? How to towel a parrot?
The key to parrot training is the use of positive reinforcement. You need to make things such that the parrot wants to
Michael with Kili
do what you want. Always think of the parrot's perspective and what's in it for the bird. When it comes to taming, it's all about slowly desensitizing your parrot to things. Make your parrot slightly uncomfortable with a new object or place to touch, wait for it to calm down, and then reward by taking it away and giving treats. Make scary things (hands, towel, other people, new objects) less scary by presenting them without any force and giving your parrot the opportunity to make them go away by calming down. Make this super rewarding by providing treats as well.
I hope this training guide will help you on your journey with your feathered friend. After reading this, you should not need to purchase any book, dvd, or online guide for parrot training. You have been given the tools for basic parrot taming and training and I am sure that when put to use, they will bring you surprisingly wonderful results. You can subscribe to the trained parrot blog to receive updates when new parrot training articles are posted.
Update: If you liked this guide, you will especially like my book, The Parrot Wizard's Guide to Well-Behaved Parrots. It's not just a tutorial about teaching a parrot to step up, but a complete approach to parrot keeping. From what parrot to get to flight training and problem solving, this book covers what a pet-parrot owner needs to know. You can purchase the book on Amazon or receive free shipping, clicker, and target stick included when you purchase directly from the Parrot Wizard.
If you have any further questions pertaining to the contents of this parrot training and taming guide, feel free to ask in the comments section below, by joining The Parrot Forum. It is a free parrot discussion group dedicated to helping parrot owners with their birds. Feel free to join and ask any parrot related questions you may have.
You can support the Trained Parrot Blog effort by purchasing a set of Parrot Training Perches to use in training your own bird. These come in either Java or Dragonwood and are sized for small, medium, and large parrots. They are a wonderful training aid and can be seen used in most of the training videos included with this article.
This free training guide is about how to train a parrot to shake its head no on cue. The trick involves the trainer shaking a finger or saying shake to the parrot and then the bird shakes its head in response. The trick is intended for parrots and trainers of all levels, including beginners. It can be taught to any sized parrot from a budgie to a macaw, however, it tends to be easier to teach to all but the smallest parrots. This can be taught as the first trick, however, I suggest teaching at least one or two tricks prior.
The behavior I used for the shake trick on both Kili and Truman is reflexive and innate. By blowing across the parrot's face, particularly the nostrils, it makes the bird shake its head much the same way it does to shake off food, dirt, or bugs. Therefore, unlike the wave trick, there is no need to shape the behavior itself. It is merely a matter of inducing the behavior and capturing it on cue.
For some reason, this technique doesn't seem to work for smaller parrots like budgerigars, parrotlets, lovebirds, and cockatiels. You can still try by blowing across the face from different directions and see if you can get them to shake. If not, you can either use a clicker and capture when they shake their head naturally or you can follow the procedures for shaping the nod trick but instead do it from side to side.
To teach your parrot to shake, simply blow on its face and when it shakes its head, click and reward. If you are having trouble getting the shaking action, just switch the direction you blow. Try the cheek, nostril, eyes, etc, until you can find a place that gets it to shake every time. I had made an attempt to teach Truman to shake over a month prior but it didn't seem to be working so I gave up. But recently I tried again and it worked. I probably just wasn't hitting the right spot last time. So definitely be patient and try blowing in different places around the head before you give up.
I suggest teaching the trick out and away from the cage. Most preferable is a training perch because it keeps the parrot at a convenient height and distraction free. Otherwise you can try doing this on a chair back or table. Although it can be taught with the parrot on one hand, it is really preferable to have both hands free. This way you can use one hand for displaying the cue (shaking your finger or whatever you want it to be) and then use the other hand to hold the clicker and the treat. I like to say the cue, shake my finger, and then blow. I both say the command and show the visual command to the parrot so that it can learn both cues together. Eventually I can use one or the other to cue the trick.
The more important, and somewhat more difficult part, is reducing the reliance on inducing the shake by blowing and having it come from the cue. Primarily it is going to rely on extended quantity of repetitions and motivation. Just keep practicing the trick while showing the cue and blowing simultaneously until the bird catches on. From time to time don't blow to see if the bird will offer to shake its head without blowing on it. Usually this will happen after a bit of a break between training and high motivation. The parrot will get impatient and offer the trick after seeing the cue and before you can blow on it.
If you are following my training program, the order I taught tricks to Truman is as follows:
The exact order you train in isn't critical but my order is such for specific reasons. Since my parrot is flighted, flying to me was a necessary requisite skill. Then I proceeded to click condition Truman and teach him to target as his first behavior. Then I taught him to wave as his first cued trick. Next I switched to a prop based trick and taught him to fetch. Shake is a good trick to follow since it is actually a very easy behavior to teach. In fact, shake is easier to train than wave. This makes it a good follow up trick because interference from the other trick is likely and working on an easier behavior to teach cue differentiation is most important.
The biggest reason I like shake as the second cue based trick is because it can be forced. If wave is the first trick and the parrot is waving instead of nodding, I can "force" the bird to do the second trick by blowing on it. The bird will shake and I can reward. This way I can force the trick to be performed for the sake of rewarding it. If it's a more voluntary behavior, it may be hard to get the bird to do it, especially if it is confused and trying to do the wrong trick.
By the second major training session, Truman was already shaking his head on cue. Unfortunately I reintroduced him to wave the same day so he began getting confused. Wave has been causing interference ever since and he often waves instead of shaking. The only way to solve this is to continue practicing both tricks and reteaching, using the original training methods, whichever trick he is doing incorrectly. Nothing can help here beyond patience and lots of practice. Eventually the bird will just get it. For these reasons, if you are teaching shake as the second cue based trick, it won't be the method of teaching the tricks that will be the challenge but rather differentiating it from the first trick and teaching the parrot to watch for the specific cue.
This article is about how to teach a parrot to fetch. I will only cover the bare basics and get into more advanced object retrieves another time. The basic fetch trick involves giving an object to a parrot, saying fetch, and then the parrot carries the object and drops it into a receptacle. In a later update I will cover how to get the parrot to go to retrieve the object on its own but this most basic version simply involves handing it to the parrot.
Fetch is a basic trick that can be trained to any parrot. Even parakeets can learn how to fetch. The time span for teaching this trick can vary from a few minutes to a few weeks. Typically it should take 3-7 training sessions to get the most basic version of the trick learned. It is beneficial but not absolutely necessary that the parrot knows some basic tricks like target and wave prior to learning the retrieve.
To teach the parrot to fetch is pretty straightforward and simple. You give the parrot an object to hold and then place a bowl underneath and wait for the parrot to drop it. Catch the object in the bowl, click, and reward the parrot. Over many repetitions of this process, the parrot will learn that dropping the object earns it a treat. To teach the parrot specifically to drop the object into the bowl rather than just anywhere, let it miss the bowl when it drops the object from time to time and don't reward. This narrows down the demands specifically to dropping the object into the bowl.
While the first few training sessions simply involve dropping the object straight down or a slight turn of the head, you should eventually work on having the parrot walk across a perch to take the object from you and then to walk some more to drop it. I highly recommend using Parrot Training Perches for the initial training of this trick. By using this kind of stand you can eliminate distractions and alternate paths of travel. The parrot can pay attention to you and since it can only walk in two directions, increases the likelihood that it will bring the object toward the bowl rather than run off with it.
Here is video footage of the original training sessions of how I taught Truman the basics of fetch in just 3 training sessions:
One problem that I encountered while training Truman is that he really enjoyed playing with the objects I gave him. In fact he enjoyed playing with them more than performing the trick. There are several methods for dealing with this kind of situation. First off, let the parrot get it out of its system. Let it play with the objects a bunch so that they become less novel. The parrot still has to be interested enough in the object to grab it but not wanting to play with it all day. Another thing you can do with a parrot that doesn't seem to want to drop the object is to offer it an even better toy to play with in return for dropping it. Often times just showing the parrot a cooler toy will make it drop what it is holding to take the new one. The new one becomes the positive reinforcement reward. The method is differential reinforcement where the new object has more value than the old one so it is worth working harder for the better object.
I did not run into this problem here but I know other people will. On the flip side of a parrot that won't let go of an object is one that won't hold it in the first place. Those parrots require a somewhat different approach. First try to experiment with different objects and see if you can find at least something that the bird will hold on to. If all fails, then try this. Use the target training method to teach the bird to target to the fetching object. Play target with the object a bit and let the parrot get used to going for the object. As the parrot puts its beak on the object, let go a bit and let it pull it out of your fingers. Click and reward this. So at first teach the parrot to pull the object out of your hand. Then start rewarding the times the bird holds the object for longer. At first it might just be a quarter second, then a half. Always reward the best times and ignore the worst ones. If the parrot at least holds the object long enough to fling it, you can use the fetch training method mentioned above (reward falling in bowl, ignore miss). The parrot will begin to learn to hold the object at least long enough to get it to the bowl.
Another issue you may run into is the parrot dropping the objects on purpose. It is important not to reinforce this. Don't immediately bend over to pick up what it dropped and try again. This can turn into a game where the parrot drops the object just to watch you picking it up again. Whenever the parrot drops an object or misses the bowl, turn around and ignore the bird briefly. It is best not to bend over and pick up the object but rather pull out a spare. Pick up the dropped object a bit later.
Once your parrot learns to take the object from you, walk over to the bowl, and drop it, it will have learned the simplest basics of fetch. However, do not stop here. Continue challenging your bird. Use alternative objects for the parrot to fetch as well as alternative receptacles. I recommend starting out with a very large bowl so it's hard to miss but then narrowing down to smaller and smaller ones to develop accuracy. Also change the direction where the parrot has to go to fetch. Don't let it get in a habit of walk left to pick up, right to drop. The parrot might not learn the actual concept then and would just be repeating motions. Instead, keep mixing up the direction but keep the concept of dropping objects into bowl the goal. I begin saying "fetch" from the first time I introduce the trick to the parrot. The earlier you start using the cue, the sooner the bird will pick it up. While it may seem strange to say "fetch" when the bird has no idea what the trick is and just holds the object to play, it just sets the training up and prepares it for hearing that cue once it catches on to the behavior.
This is just the very first stage of teaching the retrieve. Stay tuned for more updates about how to teach a parrot to fetch objects. I have been successful in using this method to train a Budgerigar, Senegal Parrot, and Cape Parrot to learn to fetch. I couldn't see why a Cockatiel, Conure, Amazon, or Macaw couldn't learn to fetch the same exact way. If you have any further questions, feel free to post in the comments or join the discussion on the parrot forum.
Trained Parrot is a blog about how to train tricks to all parrots and parakeets. Read about how I teach tricks to Truman the Brown Necked Cape Parrot including flight recall, shake, wave, nod, turn around, fetch, wings, and play dead. Learn how you can train tricks to your Parrot, Parrotlet, Parakeet, Lovebird, Cockatiel, Conure, African Grey, Amazon, Cockatoo or Macaw. This blog is better than books or DVDs because the information is real, live, and completely free of charge. If you want to know how to teach your parrot tricks then you will enjoy this free parrot training tutorial.
Trained Parrot site content Copyright 2010-2020 Michael Sazhin. Reproduction of text, images, or videos without prior permission prohibited. All rights reserved.
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