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
A week since I got Truman, my new baby Cape Parrot, I have already had my first successful flight recall. Since he came to me not clipped - and never will be clipped - safely managing his flight is essential. He is not yet a good flier and does not know well how to get from point A to point B. I can use his ignorance to my advantage by catalyzing his learning of flight and shaping it in direction and purpose that suits me. The number one most important thing is that I want him to learn to fly to me. Then I'd like to teach him to fly to appropriate places in my apartment and not others.
I began the basis for Truman's recall training just a few days after he had arrived. I built a pair of training stands similar to the ones I used to teach Kili to fly. I immediately began familiarizing Truman with the stands by putting him on them frequently. I also got him used to eating food on those stands and did some clicker conditioning while I was at it.
I kept the two stands with the perches parallel to each other and within walking distance. I lured Truman to walk between the stands when offering treats. Originally I was putting food straight into his beak because he wasn't eating well on his own so I decided why not at least make him walk for it. As I spread the distance he would reach harder and harder to get across. But as soon as the gap got too large to step across, he would give up trying to cross. It amazed me because he could fly across the room but not across an 8" gap. I continued the walk across exercises with him.
On occasion he would slip as he crossed and reflexively would flap his wings to stabilize. This is the part of the exercise that actually teaches the parrot to use his wings to make it across the gap. I taught Kili to get across the gap in exactly the same way except that I targeted her across with a stick. Since Truman doesn't know the target behavior yet, I simply offered him goodies on the other end. I would rather teach him flight recall before target training (although target training is an excellent method for teaching recall) because I want him to have the longest practice of flight recall in his life. I want it to be his first and most practiced trick. If he forgets everything, I want flight recall to me to be the most remembered and reliable thing in his repertoire. This is why I'm skipping the other stuff for now and going straight to flight recall which is generally a more advanced behavior to teach. Also I want to use his quick baby age learning and willingness to make the most of teaching recall.
A cue is already starting to emerge although it is just temporary. I no longer have to show him the treat or toy that he will get for coming across. I can just tap and point to the perch I want him to go to and he flaps across to it. I am going to practice this just a little more but as soon as he is recalling to my hand I will only practice the recall cue specifically and stop all luring and temporary cues.
Managing Truman's motivation for this basic informal training was fairly simple. He is not on any sort of food or weight management. In fact, he seems to be more motivated by toys many times than food. He's a curious baby and likes to explore so anything that is of interest to him can be positively reinforcing for preempted behavior. However, since Truman has been eating rather poorly on his own in the cage (mostly from a fear of climbing down to where the bowls are), he's been pretty hungry and would gladly take pellets from my hand. I have not yet even developed any treats for him and just feed him any of bland or colored pellets and almonds.
Thus I put all of these skills together and produced the first preempted flight recall with Truman. It is true that he has flown to me prior, however, that was either because he himself wanted to or because I happened to be a convenient place to land. However, this time, by doing the pointing cue like I had used on the perch, I was able to call him to my hand specifically. I just turned the second training perch away and put my arm where it used to be and in the same manner as cuing him to the training perch, I cued him to my hand.
Now increasing distance is quite simple and merely a matter of practice. Now the important thing to work on is developing a solid recall cue and practicing to no ends.
I highly recommend these training stands to anyone that has a flighted parrot or wants to teach a fledgling (or if they let the feathers grow back) to fly and eventually flight recall. You can use the stands to build practice jumping across a gap and then eventually flying to your hand. The height is adjustable so that you can keep the parrot at a comfortable height for your training. Very soon I will be offering these stands at 2x for $99 + shipping so stay tuned.
I would like to try something different this time in terms of target training. I have already target trained three different parrots in the past and it was incredibly easy to teach as it is. Anyone that is looking for a demonstration of how to teach target training, you can check out this article. This time, I would like to see if I can teach one parrot the behavior strictly by watching another behavior perform the trick. I am curious if it would be possible to target train Truman without even food rewards but for him to do it merely because he sees the other parrot(s) in the flock doing it. Mimicking behavior may in itself be reinforcing for a young parrot.
At least there is no hurt in trying. The worst case scenario is that it does not work and I target train him using the typical clicker training method. But if it does work, the results may be interesting. To teach him, I will target Kili back and forth on a perch outside Truman's cage so that he can watch without being part of it. I intend to do this for several days to a week and then see if Truman comes to the target stick from some distance consistently on his own.
Another fantastic thing about this exercise is that it is bringing Kili closer to Truman but in a non-aggressive way. She definitely gets very territorial and looks aggressive like never before when I bring Truman past her cage. However, during the target training exercise, Kili wanted to show off so much that she did the exercise and additional tricks flawlessly. Kili was paying more attention to me than Truman and in the process was learning that she can earn treats around Truman by doing tricks which distracts from aggressive thoughts toward him. So not only does this set up the potential for Truman to model the behavior but it also prepares Kili to be introduced to the new parrot.
As a progress update, Truman is eating pellets on his own already and learning to climb around his perch. He's taken a few flights so far and he landed on my arm for the first time. He is getting stronger and more confident and both parrots seem very healthy and happy.
As I await the arrival of my new Cape Parrot, I would like to outline some of my goals with the new bird. The order is ballpark of how it would go but not a rigid sorting:
-Get parrot, let it get used to me and new surroundings -Develop strong flock mate/trainer relationship bond -Encourage independent play as well as social time -Develop a daily routine that sets feeding regimes, flight time, out of cage time, and outdoor time -Desensitize to wide array of household objects while naming each object -Configure clicker as bridge and eventually a strong secondary reinforcement -Teach target training through modeling rather than trial/error if possible -Develop strongest flight recall possible (recall by visual, whistle, and name) -Minimum dependence on food for reinforcement -Develop strong alternative reinforcements -Progressive taming to allow uninhibited touch of entire body -Make minimum intrusion introduction between Kili and Cape -Maximum comfort harness training -Outdoor desensitization while wearing short harness -Begin training outdoor harnessed recall -Socialize parrot to as many people as possible both indoors and out -Differentiate social time and focused training time -Develop safe petting cue and method -Reduce beaking, biting, and nipping by ignoring -Ignore all unpleasant vocalizations and present acceptable alternative ones -Train necessary maintenance behaviors through positive reinforcement -Voluntary carrier training through empowerment -Start training full trick routine -Goal is to train each trick in the shortest and most effective manner possible -Develop visual and verbal cues for every trick -Take parrot on social outings, car drives, and airplane flights while still young -Begin implementing variable ratio reinforcement on cued behaviors -Say same words to encourage talking -Develop special (not annoying) contact call specific for this parrot -Combine flight and cued tricks -Train highly complex trick behaviors to challenge parrot -Test cognitive capabilities through challenging puzzle tricks -Provide occasional foraging opportunities in/out of cage -Continue flight training optimized toward outdoor freeflight -Perfect each trick to develop best trained parrot role model
Having extensively learned trick training on Kili and Duke, I think I will be able to train the Cape more quickly and efficiently. At the same time, I would like to experiment with alternative training methods like modeling, empowerment, and differential reinforcement. I am going to make the strongest possible effort to do all training through positive reinforcement and avoid resorting to flooding, negative reinforcement, or punishment. I do know that these methods can be effective but I am curious to accept the challenge of trying to train without them.
Here are some my goals for the trainedparrot blog:
-Provide regular updates about the Cape's progress -Post photographs/videos of every step of training the new Cape Parrot -Write step by step articles about how I train every single trick/behavior -Present my thoughts/opinions about parrot ownership and care -Develop the training blog as an alternative to costly training products -Write objectively about the good, the bad, and the ugly -Cite outside sources where applicable -Lead the parrot community by example -Make all information public and hold nothing back -Create a definitive source of parrot training knowledge from my own experience -Eventually open the blog up to additional willing writers -Turn training blog posts into a complete/organized training guide
Here is a progress update about the upcoming Cape Parrot. Originally I was supposed to get the older of the two babies. Jean expected the older one to end up bigger because it was born from a larger set of wild caught parents. However, as time progressed, it turned out that the younger baby not only caught up but grew bigger than the older one. The younger Cape comes from a domestic pair named Angie and Magnum. Jean said this baby not only turned out larger but also has a sweeter disposition. The older is now 295g but the younger is 315g. They are somewhere from one to two weeks apart. Jean has done the same extensive efforts with both parrots and I am currently the only paid buyer so I have the option of choosing either one. She taught both parrots to drink from a water bottle, eat the same pellets, and to wear an aviator harness. So based on everything Jean advised, as well as all the good things I've heard from someone else that bought a Cape Baby from the same breeding pair, I decided to go with the younger/larger Cape.
This Friday, Jean will be taking the Cape to her vet on my behalf. I asked her to get the vet checks for me because she has a very good vet and I don't like the one I worked with in my area. If the parrot checks out healthy before being shipped, I don't really see any need in duplicating the check afterwards. The visual inspection the vet did when I bought Kili I can so easily do myself now at this point. I'm quite confident in Jean as a breeder so the vet check is only precautionary. The vet will also take care of some final grooming and place an open band on the parrot's left (non-dominant) foot. Pending all results being good from the vet check, Jean should be shipping the Cape Parrot to me early Tuesday morning to avoid the Florida heat. Thursday is the back up day.
Here are more pictures that I just received from the breeder:
Thank you for visiting the parrot training blog trainedparrot.com. The website will be up soon but in the meantime please visit the parrot forum.
This is a blog about how I trained my Senegal Parrot but it is relevant to training any kind of parrot
People often ask me how I trained my parrot but unfortunately I do not have videos of the early training sessions with Kili. So now that I am getting a new Cape Parrot, I intend to record videos and write articles about it from the very beginning
This parrot blog has been created to discuss, display, post about and talk about how to teach and tame parrots. This blog will show experiences in methods of how to train a parakeet a trick. This blog will also reveal experiences with how to tame and bond with a Senegal Parrot. Experiences training an African Grey to talk on cue will be discussed on this blog. This blog will show that parrots are incredibly entertaining and fascinating animals that can bring a lot of joy to their owner's lives. Owning one may involve training tricks, taming, bonding, and caring for these intelligent animals. Although parrots are extremely enjoyable companion pets, this blog will show that they do have downsides. Parrots love to chew, and they will make a mess. Many parrots have are aggressive or scared. Some parrots will bite, lunge, screech, scream and fly away out of aggression, to defend their territory, or out of fear. Problems can be overlooked or overcome if you teach, train and tame a parrot with the correct techniques used by contributors of this blog.
For anyone who is considering a parrot as a pet, a considerable amount of research and evaluation should be done before a decision is made. Some companion bird species can outlive their owner. An Eclectus may live for 65 years, an Amazon has a life expectancy of about 50 years, a Macaw may reach the age of 60 years, Budgies can live to be about 20 years old, and some Cockatoos can live to be about 65 years old but a Cockatiel may live for 20 years. As a result of such a long lifespan in many species, a parrot should be a lifetime commitment. You must imagine yourself later into your life and consider if you would still be willing to care for your pet decades from now.
This blog will depict a log of experiences of parrot owners who teach their parrots how to perform a trick and the process involved to train one to mimic an entertaining word, phrase, or sound. Some basic tricks to teach a parakeet how to perform are wave, shake, nod, spin or turn around, and show or lift and spread wings. This blog will depict experiences with target or stick training, using a clicker, and this blog will depict experiences with how to use this technique and a clicker to train tricks. Teaching tricks shown on this blog is an incredibly fun and enjoyable way to bond with your parrot. Target or stick train and clicker techniues apply to parrots of all sizes, including a parakeet, a parrotlet, a lovebird, a lorikeet, a caique, a senegal parrot, a meyer's parrot, a red bellied parrrot, an eclectus parrot, an african grey parrot, an amazon, a cockatiel, a cockatoo, and a macaw.
Many parrots are chosen for specific desired qualities that generally occur in that type. Amazon parrots are bold, friendly and confident talking parrots and they can learn to sing songs. African Grey parrots are known to be one the best and clearest talkers. Cockatoos are extremely cuddly, playful and affectionate but demanding birds. Macaws are large, brightly colored and loving parrots with the potential for a very big bite. Poicephalus parrots are small, quiet birds with a bigger bird type of personality. Conures are parakeets with some varieties having extremely beautiful plumage but they are known to be loud. Budgerigars, parrotlets, and lovebirds are small, inexpensive and widely available parrots with many beautiful genetic mutations.
Blog Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get my Alexandrine parakeet to step up?
Training a bird to step up is a universal technique that can be applied to a parakeet, as well as a macaw, grey, cockatoo, amazon, conure, poicephalus, lovebird, parrotlet, caique, and more. In order to teach your parakeet how to step up, you must think of a command you would like to use to cue your Alexandrine parakeet when you would like it to step up. You can choose to say something such as "Up", "Step Up" or "Hop Up" and always use it as your cue. To teach your parakeet how to step up, you simply hold your finger out under your Alexandrine parakeet's abdomen, press it gently against your Alexandrine parakeet, and your bird will become unbalanced. In order to correct its balance, it will step forward and up onto your finger. To make this training effective and rewarding, always reward your parakeet with praise each time they step up onto your finger. Saying "good" or "good bird" and giving your parakeet attention when they step up will teach your parakeet that if they step up onto your finger, they will enjoy it.
What are the essential items needed to own for an Amazon parrot? What supplies do I need to buy from a pet supplies store when I purchase my Amazon parrot?
The Amazon parrot is a large sized parrot and needs an appropriately large sized cage. Your Amazon parrot should be able to move around a bit inside of its cage, as well as have room to stretch its wings completely. A cage for an Amazon would most likely also be appropriate for an African Grey, a Cockatoo, an Ecelctus, and possibly a Macaw. You will need to make sure that the spacing between the bars of your cage is appropriately sized for your bird. Your Amazon should not be able to stick its head through the bars of the cage because that is a safety hazard for a parrot and it is extremely dangerous. Some pet supplies store items that are essential for owning an Amazon are a variety of types of parrot toys, a variety of natural wood perches, food bowls, a water bottle, a cuttle bone or mineral block, food, treats, and vitamins. In addition, you should purchase a book about owning your Amazon, a carrier for traveling, and supplies to clean your Amazon parrot's cage.
How do I stop my Sun Conure from screaming when I leave the room?
The Jenday Conure, the Nanday Conure, and the Sun Conure are known to be very loud. If your Sun Conure has learned to scream for you whenever you leave and you responded to the scream by giving it attention instead of leaving, it has learned to scream to get your attention. In order to get your Conure to stop screaming for attention, all you can do is simply ignore the behavior. Never respond to your Conure screaming whenever you leave and your Conure will figure out on its own that screaming is a waste of effort and time. It may take a while to undo all the reinforcing you have made to the screaming and your Conure may have screaming fits for days or weeks before it learns to stop trying, but you cannot be sympathetic to the screaming.
Why do you need to weigh your Blue and Gold Macaw on a scale?
It is important to weigh your Blue and Yellow Macaw on a gram scale because Macaws, like all parrots, hide illnesses. You may not realize that your Blue and Yellow Macaw is ill you have weighed it on a scale and noticed that your bird is underweight. Being underweight may be a sign of a disease of some kind such as a bacterial crop infection, a virus or another kind sickness. A large gram scale may be needed with a perch on it to weigh large species of Macaws. It is important to continually weigh your Macaw and find out your Macaw's average weight based on its normal fluctuations and watch for this seemingly unnoticed symptom. If you notice that your Blue and Gold Macaw continues to have a very low weight or is losing weight dramatically, it is important to take your bird to a veterinarian immediately for an examination and treatment.
Should I clip my Senegal Parrot's wings?
Clipping your Senegal parrot's wings has many downsides. If your clipped Senegal parrrot falls, it may not be able to catch its own fall and it may suffer from an injury. A poicephalus parrot without flight feathers would be very vulnerable to a serious injury from a hard fall. If your clipped Poicephalus parrot molts in new feathers, the new primary feathers will stick out. As the new flight feathers molt in and they are developing, they may break. If a blood feather breaks, your Senegal parrot may suffer from a tremendous amount of bleeding. These problems can be avoided by not clipping your Senegal Parrot's wings. All poicephalus parrots can benefit from being flighted, including the Meyer's Parrot, the Red Bellied Parrot, the Brown Headed Parrot, the Jardine's Parrot, the Cape Parrot, and the Ruppell's Parrot.
How do you target train your Congo African Grey parrot?
Target training is a fundamental skill your parrot should learn. To begin to teach or train your African Grey parrot how to target, you should obtain an unused, untoxic chop stick. Hold the stick out in front of your Africa Grey parrot in the hopes that they might bite the very tip of the chop stick. If they touch it at all, even by accident, click your clicker and reward them with a treat. If they are not interested, you may have to force them by touching the stick to their beak and rewarding them. Always reward for them touching the end of the stick. Always wait for them to touch the stick or take it away out of their sight, wait a minute, and then try again with an easier distance. Be sure to vary the distance and the direction as much as you possibly can. Targeting is the most useful behavior to teach an African Grey or any other species because it can be used to teach your African Grey to perform a trick or follow the target stick where you want your parrot to go.
How do you stop a Lovebird from biting you?
It is impossible to stop your Lovebird from biting. Start teaching your Lovebird to behave the way you'd like it to by never reacting to any of the bites your Lovebird is giving you. Do not ever try to punish your bird, yell at your bird, or put your Lovebird away as a result of a bite. You must ignore a bite at all times to prevent bites from being reinforced. Luckily, lovebirds have a small beak and they cannot bite very hard. Similarly, Budgies, Parrotlets, Cockatiels, and Parakeets have very small beaks and very weak bites. However, you can distract your Lovebird when it is biting you in several ways. You can misbalance your Lovebird if it is perched on you, you can cue your bird to do a trick and you can make your bird step up onto your fingers repeatedly to tire your bird. If you train your Lovebird to perform a trick, it will most likely try to do a trick to earn a treat instead of trying to bite you. If you teach your bird how to target to a chopstick, you will have an effective hands off method of handling your Lovebird. In addition, your Lovebird will have a positive association with you if you are giving it a reward. These tips can be applied to all other species of parrots regardless of size in avoiding and preventing bites or any aggressive behavior.
Is it safe to have nonstick pans if I own a Parrotlet or are they dangerous and toxic to birds?
The fumes given off from overheating the nonstick coating on nonstick pans is toxic and fatal to a Parrotlet, Lovebird, Budgie, Parakeet, Conure, Cockatiel, Caique, Poicephalus, Eclectus, Grey, Amazon, Cockatoo, Macaw and all other parrots. You should immediately dispose of and purchase an alternative to your nonstick pans. People think that nonstick pans are safe to keep as long as they are not overheated, but this is not true and too risky for the safety of your Parrotlet. You can use affordable alternatives to your nonstick pans such as stainless steel pans and cast iron pans which do not give off toxic fumes.
Is it safe to have a pet cat or dog along with my Budgies?
Cats and dogs are predatory, meat eating animals who they can and most likely will injure, kill and consume your Budgies. It is extremely unsafe to own a cat or a dog with any kind of parrot because there is an extreme risk that a cat or a dog would get into your their cage and harm your bird if you are not there to watch your pets all of the time. A cat or a dog would also be dangerous to keep around larger parrots that they may not be capable of eating such as the African Grey, Cockatoo, Amazon, and Macaw because of bacteria present in cat and dog saliva. This bacteria could cause a fatal blood infection in your Budgies.
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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