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
For anyone wondering how to touch your parrot's beak or what is the best way to develop personal confidence handling a biting parrot, this article should be particularly helpful. This is a taming technique I have rarely seen discussed but has helped me personally with all parrots I've ever interacted with. This taming method is for everyone beginner through expert and can be used on any parrot from tame to aggressive as long as you can safely approach the parrot. This should apply to all parrot species except for the smallest ones.
This incredible parrot taming technique is beak touching. The first step of hand taming a parrot is to be able to touch it without getting bitten. The only place on the parrot's entire body that you can safely touch and not get bit is the maxilla. This is the upper beak on a parrot. The reason you cannot get bit when touching the maxilla is because you are too far from the mandible (bottom beak) but too close for the parrot to be able to move and get your finger in its beak. By touching the upper maxilla, you are safely out of range of getting bit. Touching the parrot's head, tail, wings, feet, or head are far more likely to result in a bite if it isn't accustomed to being touched. And don't think you can touch its back. Parrots can turn their head over 180 degrees and will bite behind them in a flash.
When familiarizing myself with a parrot that I'm uncertain of, I like to start by touching its beak and seeing how it reacts. First as I approach my hand slowly towards its beak (from the front and above), I am gauging the body language and trying to see if it is aggressive or calm. I check to see if the parrot opens its beak and leans in for my hand or stays still. I continue holding my hand above and just far enough that there is no way the parrot can reach to bite. Then I move steady and deliberately right to the upper maxilla and put my hand or finger on it. I like to get my thumb and index finger around the beak and kind of hold on. I may add a scratch from my finger nail. The parrot cannot bite me in this position and I can safely retract my hand upward at any moment and out of range if I need to.
Besides the fact that this is the safest place to touch, the parrot is actually likely to enjoy it. It's one of the places they can't reach to scratch when they want to. The parrot will really like you for scratching off bits of food stuck or beak that is flaking off. So the act itself becomes positively reinforcing. The parrot will learn to remain calm and let you handle its beak. This serves as a behavior alternative to biting. Any attempt at biting will be negatively punished by the termination of beak scratches. As the parrot becomes more accustomed to this sort of hand to beak relationship, it will be less likely to bite the hands because it is used to hands touching the beak rather than the other way around. I'm not suggesting that this will eliminate biting all together. Other taming methods are certainly required, but this is a great supplement to them.
As you touch the parrot's beak more and more, you will develop more confidence around it yourself. Both you and your parrot will have less fear of each other. While you worry about the parrot using the beak for biting, the parrot also fears you using hands for grabbing or hurting. But as you practice the beak touching/scratching, you will both learn that beak/hands are not meant for harm. As you gain more confidence you can scratch the lower mandible as well and move on to the cheeks and head.
Besides the mutual trust this technique develops, it also serves a practical application. This allows you to file your parrot's beak if needed and to scratch off any dirt. So instead of fearing your parrot's beak, turn that around to a game that results in positively reinforcing beak scratches for your parrot.
Last time I brought Kili to the street carnival I discovered that one of her new primary feathers was out of alignment on her bad wing. I kept trying to figure out what was wrong with it and couldn't tell if it was broken. This one had just grown in and was the first feather from her second molt to grow on the wing missing all but one primary. All of the other primaries (except for outer most one) broke off since her first molt.
Later that evening I spotted the new feather completely rotated 180 degrees and essentially connected upside down. I figured it must have broken across the quill but I could not find any damage. I gently pulled and it came right out. The quill was still intact and there was some blood. This feather was just changing from the blood feather to mature feather stage. I was really disappointed because I was really counting on this feather to give support to the one remaining primary and to give protection for when that one molts.
I had been considering bringing Kili to the new vet that I have been using for Truman and had mentioned to them Kili's wing condition previously. At this point with a freshly broken primary I decided it would be a good time to bring her in for analysis. I was also a bit concerned that there could have been some irritation or infection where the new feather broke out from. From my own research and consultations I have received, I figured this was just a case of post-clip regrowth trouble but I was still worried in case there was any kind of actual problem.
You can see recently fallen feather on top, broken feathers in middle, and intact molted feather on bottom
Kili behaved very well and everyone was amazed at how tame she is. They didn't need to towel her, just a normal grab and head restraint did the trick. She showed all signs of being a healthy parrot. I brought in samples of broken primary feathers, intact, and the newly fallen one. The vet examined the feathers and Kili's wings but could not find any abnormalities. My earlier suspicions were confirmed that the lack of support from additional primaries causes the remaining ones to break. There is nothing that can be done about it and no dietary changes are needed.
The vet proposed to take a blood test to check for Polyoma or PBFD as they can cause feather problems. But I pointed out that the other wing is in excellent condition and that the disease should probably apply symmetrically. Nothing else can be done to stimulate or check the feather follicles so it is only a matter of chance and time that Kili mends her wings.
To justify the visit I asked if they could trim Kili's talons. They have become razor sharp and she was really doing damage to my skin by that point. The vet requested her assistant to bring out the dremel. I was shocked that they would apply a tool 3 times the size of the bird and asked if they could use scissors instead. The vet used an ordinary nail clipper and barely removed anything at all. While the groomer at the bird store I bring Kili to can do an outstanding job, even I can trim a lot more than that. The vet barely took 1/32" off and I'm sure they'll be back to where they were in a week. The reason I don't like doing it myself is because I get really stressed out and worried about cutting too far but generally get it spot on. But it takes me an awful long time to do it because I reward each clip and am super careful. I thought the vet would at least trim as much as I do if not even more but this kind of trim job really did not help much at all. This reaffirmed to me that the bird store is the most skilled and practiced when it comes to grooming. I would estimate that the groomer at the store will take about 1/8" off at a cut, I'll go as far as 3/32", but the vet did a mere 1/32". I could do that much in a single session of hand filing but I find that a good cut makes the talons bluntest.
I am relieved to find out that there is nothing wrong with Kili but disappointed that there is absolutely nothing that can be done. It's been hard on her because she still flies with one whole wing but the other wing is pretty helpless. Right now I'm taking it easy with her and avoiding flight training. I'm feeding her abundantly in hopes that this molt will bring fresh primaries and help build her wing up. When she has her wings back, then we can always go back to flight training.
To finish off the vet visit Kili impressed the vet with how smart she is. She did wave, shake, nod, hello, wings, and play dead. There was no need for treats, Kili was just happy to be such a show off.
On Saturday I took Kili and Truman into their aviary together for the first time. I finally added toys and perches to the aviary, some old and some new. Many of them you might recognize from Truman's toy shopping I did after getting him. Unfortunately cause of his injury much of that had gone unused for a while but came in quite handy for decorating the aviary. I reused many of Kili's old swings though to make comfortable hanging perches for her.
Truman just hung out wherever I'd put him. Kili got comfortable quite quickly and was moving from perch to perch. Sometimes she would fly but mostly she found it more convenient to climb up the toy to the ceiling bars, hang upside down, make her way across the ceiling, and then down the chain for the next toy. The boing spiral rope perch quickly became Kili's favorite. This is a bit of a problem because when I put Truman on that and Kili elsewhere, Kili flew over and started attacking Truman until he fell off and landed on the aviary bars. This is why for the time being I am keeping Truman in the aviary daily (when weather and time permits) but only putting Kili in on occasion when I can be inside to supervise. I want Truman to become more familiar with the aviary so he could have at least a little advantage over Kili. Until I can feel confident that Truman is healed and that Kili cannot hurt him, I have to stay inside whenever they are together.
For the next few weeks there is a street fair going on nearby so I've been taking Kili there quite frequently. I am using this as a way of desensitizing her to people and noise because some day I might have to take her to a TV studio. So to teach her not to be scared of novel environments, I think these outings are very effective. The first time I walked through the fair I had her perch on my hand and held her leash pretty tightly. She can only fly to the end of the leash but in such tight crowds I could not risk her going even that far.
As we continued, Kili was becoming much more relaxed and used to the situation so I let her sit on my shoulder the entire way back. I have brought her several more times since. With every successive time I bring her, the less time it takes before I can stop holding her and just put her on my shoulder. She may flinch a little when a balloon pops but she does not try to fly away. There was not a single time she tried to fly off and in fact the more scared she is, the tighter she clings to me instead. So even without a harness I could have made all of these outings much the same way. It's just that in that very unlikely even that she does try to fly off, the harness is my backup plan.
Kili would get really vocal during these walks with many "hellos" and noises that she does. A girl wanted to hold Kili so I let her. She began asking if it's ok to pet Kili and just as I was uttering the word no she stuck her finger in and got a good bite. Didn't have the patience to hear the answer. Really it is ok to pet Kili but only in a certain way. She didn't give me the chance to show her. But hey, a good lesson for the girl no less. She was surprised that parrots can bite but really I would not even classify it a parrot bite as there wasn't any blood. Some other parrot owning people took notice and wanted to talk. I was surprised that otherwise these parrot outings went quite unnoticed. Typically Kili brings out a much bigger gathering at the park.
I often get asked, "what kind of parrot should I buy for my children" or, "is a parakeet a good bird to get for my 10 year old child?" I do not really like getting asked this question because I know the answer I will give is bound to disappoint the questioner. The simple fact is, I do not believe a parrot is a suitable pet for young children. The good news is that I've discovered a fantastic solution. So this article will be presented in two parts. First, why parrots do not make suitable pets for children and then about a fantastic alternative.
Parrots and parakeets are complex social birds. They require daily interaction and extensive care. They are not domesticated and do bite. Even hand fed parrots end up reverting to their wild state if not properly tamed, socialized, and continued for its entire lifespan. Speaking of life span, parrots live for a very long time. Budgerigars can live up to 20 years; many of the other parrot species may live 30-50 and possibly more. Children's interests change rapidly as they are growing up and it is often difficult to look a few years ahead, let alone 20.
Parents often won't take into consideration the lengthy lifespan of a parrot when impulse shopping at a pet store. For any child between 5-15 years old, it is quite likely that even the shortest lived parakeets will still be around by the time they are off to college. Most campuses do not allow pets and a busy college student is hardly in position to take care of a pet anyway. Buying a parrot for the short term with the idea of setting it free or giving it away in time is not a solution. They cannot survive in the wild if captive raised because they lack the skills to survive and often the climate is unsuitable. Rehoming a parrot on the other hand is likely to cause it major trauma and separation anxiety. They have major difficulty adapting to a new home.
Owning a parrot requires daily care and attention. While a very young child may have enough time to do all the daily parrot chores (cleaning cage, washing bowls, providing clean food/water, changing toys/perches), as the child grows older may become busier and unable to care for the bird. High school and college preparation are very time consuming, forget even teenage activities. Since the bird lives inside a cage, it entirely depends on its caretakers to clean and provide for it. It cannot for one day be neglected. It needs to have fresh food and water provided daily.
Cape Parrot chewing my shoe!
Then there are things that only the parent can take care of. The parrot may need occasional vet checks and grooming (trimming nails and possibly wings). Supplies go fairly quickly as parrots are very destructive. New food, toys, and perches need to be purchased regularly. This can get expensive pretty quickly. While a budgie costing a mere $20 may sound appealing, the store is not dumb. They will sell the bird at cost or even a loss because over a hundred dollars in supplies is necessary. Under the most meager estimates, it will cost $100 in supplies for a $20 bird. More realistically it should run $200-$400 in the first year and at least $100 a year thereafter for its entire lifespan. So we're no longer looking at $20 for a cheap little pet. $100 a year for 20 years is $2,000. Let's not forget the $20 for the bird there, so you're looking at $2,020 and up across the lifespan to own a budgerigar. Other parrots are even more costly. $100 a year is the most conservative of estimates as a bag of food for a few months will run $10-$20, toys typically cost $10 each. With a $100 a year budget that is only enough to treat the bird to the most meager of living. Any owner that is more involved will likely be spending a lot more than that.
Parrots are quite difficult pets to own. They are not domesticated and have a lot of personality. Being terrestrial mammals ourselves, birds are quite unfamiliar to us. While it may be a bit more intuitive how to hold or pet a dog, we require much greater knowledge about how to take care of a bird. Parrots require taming and training to maintain handle ability. It is very important not to encourage biting by doing whatever the parrot wants (typically to be left alone) in response to biting. It is difficult for a child to resist a bite and even more so not to be scared in the future. It is actually very likely that after getting bit by the parrot a few times, the child will no longer want to have anything to do with it. In order to understand the basics of handling a parrot, reading some books and online websites is highly advised.
I advise parents only to acquire a parrot if they want one as a pet for themselves. They can allow the child to learn about responsibility and caring for a pet but only under parent supervision. If the child gets older, moves out, or loses interest, it would simply remain the parents' bird.
Now I've learned a fantastic alternative to buying an actual parrot for children that are interested in one. My little sister has been obsessed with Nintendo DS since she got one for her birthday. Recently I had learned that she was playing a parrot game on it called Parrot Pals. She came over to tell me what the game is all about.
I apologize in advance if I make any technical mistakes as I have not actually played the game myself but am just going by what a six year old told me. So apparently the player gets to choose from an African Grey, Lovebird, Budgie, Sun Conure, or Cockatiel as their pet and then has to monitor the bird's status. The player can choose which foods to feed and can even clean the cage. Of course none of this is difficult or time consuming as it is in reality. Also, the player can speak into a built in microphone to teach the parrot to talk.
There are many reasons why I think this game is better for children than a real live parrot. First of all, I think it provides instant gratification. If you push a button to feed the parrot, the parrot goes and eats. Everything happens in the now. Whereas a real parrot has distinctive free will and cannot be forced to eat, talk, or play on demand as the ones in the game can be.
The game can be played on demand but also be abandoned at will. There is no long term commitment and a living animal does not have to face the consequences of a poor decision or neglect. A little effort goes a long ways in the game and can bring happiness to the child with instant feedback. Real parrot training can take weeks or months before any results are visible.
A Nintendo DS runs a little over $100 but can be reused for multiple games. The Parrot Pals game seems to retail for around $20. This is still less than the cost of purchasing the cheapest available parakeets (budgies) and bears no long term costs (besides buying additional games, haha). It's great to give the child a taste of what parrot ownership is about and then when he or she is independent, can make the choice of buying a parrot for him or herself.
Showing parrot game to Truman
Another great alternative is the Webkinz series of stuff animal toys. They come in all different kinds and there are several parrot ones available. They usually cost under $20 and come with a code so that the child can play with them on the internet. These are fantastic for anyone on a tight budget but not as realistic as the Nintendo parrot game.
In conclusion, I believe being brought up around parrots is a fantastic experience for children but only as long as there is a primary adult care taker responsible for the bird. Buying a parrot with the intention of a child taking full responsibility is risky and may be impossible in the long term. The Parrot Pals game made for Nintendo DS is a great way to give children the thrill and experience of owning a parrot without purchasing a live animal. So if you are wondering whether to buy a parrot for a child or are yourself a parrot owner and get asked this question, the line of virtual games has come such a long way that this is the best recommendation to make.
My World Record 20 Parrot Tricks in 2 Minutes has now received over one million views on youtube. I would like to thank everyone who watched that and my other parrot videos. But most of all, I would like to thank my regular readers and youtube viewers because if it weren't for them, I wouldn't be making all of these videos. It is because of their continual support that I have been motivated to put in all the work of capturing and presenting the parrot training that I normally do for my own pleasure anyway.
Actually, the footage was seen much more than a million times. Between all the unauthorized copies of the video floating around the internet and the fact that it was featured on Japanese television, I wouldn't be surprised if it had been viewed at least another half of that outside of my youtube channel (or more, really not possible to count). Here is a small selection of websites the twenty parrot tricks in two minutes video was featured on:
I'd like to answer a few of the frequent questions I received about the video. I am going to try to paraphrase them from memory:
How long did it take to teach Kili 20 tricks for the video?
The video was taken in early January of 2010 while I acquired Kili in September of 2008. This would mean that I would have had Kili for about a year and four months by the time the video was recorded. Considering I didn't start training her immediately and that she had known these tricks for some months before I made the complete video, basically it took one year of consistent training to get her to that point. I estimate an average of an hour of training per day across that range would mean that I spent around 500 hours training her to be able to do that. Please don't forget that she knew 25 or closer to 30 behaviors by that point but I chose not to include some for lack of time.
Why did you choose to do 20 tricks in 2 minutes?
I wanted to create a high paced medley to show all of the tricks that Kili knew up till that point. I was having a hard time counting how many tricks she knew in total but I was certain she knew at least 20. I thought it would sound nice to do 20 tricks in 2 minutes and I knew it couldn't take much longer or I'd lose the viewers' attention span. So I simply set this as my goal and attempted it. I had no idea if it was possible or not until I began rehearsing it and doing some time trials with Kili. Originally it was taking closer to 3 minutes but with mistakes here and there so I was convinced that if I could move quickly and organize all of the props in order, I would be able to make it in 2.
How many takes did it require to make the video
It took around 30 tries to get the performance required and in time. One of the difficulties was that she would have to do all 20 tricks accurately and quickly. If she messed up just one trick, whether in the beginning or the end of a run, the entire video was compromised. I wanted to show the entire sequence in a single uncut video so that people could see that a single parrot really did all those tricks in such a short time and without any fancy editing.
What was the hardest part about making the 20 parrot tricks in 2 minutes video?
Actually, believe it or not, the hardest part was for me to remember the order of all the tricks I had to cue Kili and when I could give her treats. I made a list of the tricks in order and highlighted the ones when there would be time to give her a treat. Unfortunately it wasn't big enough and I couldn't see it while I performed it. So I was messing up a lot at first with the order and that was slowing me down. One of the reasons we had to practice a lot was so that I could get the order right. Also I wanted Kili to get a bit accustomed to the order so she would be able to do it quicker as well. She was actually performing very well at first but beginning to lose focus by the time I got the take I would use. This is why I was caught assisting her with hand cues on a couple of the tricks cause it was the only way I could encourage her to do them quicker. I think it was on wings and turn around that I showed a hand cue in addition to verbal. In earlier takes I had her doing them strictly off the verbal cue but by the take I used, she wasn't opening her wings wide enough unless I showed her the signal.
The training was complete by this point and Kili knew all the tricks well. The challenge was sooner to have her stay focused and perform quickly rather than demonstrate knowledge of the tricks themselves. Under a little bit less pressure and slower pace, Kili was able to perform all the tricks flawlessly. In fact I was a bit peeved that she did a fantastic run during practice but then wasn't doing as well for the video. There were a couple rough spots in the routine that ended up in the video. I would have liked to have perfected those but I was really tired and so was Kili after so many takes. I really didn't want to have to leave all the props out in their spots for yet another day so once I got a workable run through, I decided to call it quits.
What's the song in the background? Was it playing during recording?
The song is called Paradigm Shift by Liquid Tension Experiment. They are an instrumental offshoot from Dream Theater and make some incredible music. I chose the song to match the high paced excitement of doing the routine so quickly. The music was not playing during recording but was mixed in afterward. While the distraction may have been a concern, it was mainly that it sounds better if mixed on computer rather than through the microphone. I have trained Kili in the past with music playing or noisy environments so I know that she could do it. As long as she can see me and hear the cues she will perform if she is motivated enough.
Who was holding the camera?
My then girlfriend, Kathleen helped me record the video. Following all of the action was no less of a challenge than performing the routine with Kili itself. I configured all the tricks around a semicircle so that the camera could follow me and the bird around and have the tricks be sequential. This was the only way to keep things moving quickly and show it all uncut. It took several takes to learn the camera tracking but fortunately that was perfected by the time the bird improved at the routine.
Did you intend for the 20 parrot tricks video to become this famous?
While I didn't have specific intentions or guesses at the magnitude of the popularity, I did hope this would be my most popular video. I was actually pretty disappointed that my Flighted Parrot Tricks Medley did not become popular. That was a well developed video that demonstrated a lot of advanced tricks involving flight but for some reason it just did not take off. It was meant to replace my Play Dead and Other Tricks video as an update of Kili's talents but just wasn't happening. So I set out to make an even more awe inspiring video.
Surprisingly, the 20 parrot tricks in 2 minutes video didn't take off immediately either. Viewers liked it but didn't really give it much thought. It took over half a year until the video got really noticed and went viral on the internet. Now people are acting like they made an incredible discovery when they post the link. But really the video has been around a while and just wasn't so noticed before. Also it by no means Kili's most complicated video. I have videos where Kili does a four piece puzzle and another where she does 4 rings on peg by color. And these videos came way before 20 parrot tricks. So in some ways I actually had to dumb down her routine in order to be able to meet the target 2 minute time frame. I couldn't show the puzzle because it takes nearly a minute for her to complete. I reduced the rings on peg by color to just 2 for the video so that it still demonstrates a knowledge of colors but eliminates the delay.
What treats are you feeding the parrot?
She likes many foods so I can use any of a number of things. Often I just giver her seeds and stuff out of a typical parrot seed mix. Other times I'll give her apple, banana, almonds, peanuts, oatmeal, bread, popcorn, or even pellets as treats. She's not that picky. She just likes getting rewarded. However, in the video I think I mainly used little peanut crumbs as treats because they were the fastest treat she could swallow whole and yet motivating enough for her to work for them.
Why did she take so long to flip the card?
The issue was that it was getting too repetitive. I had run through the entire routine with her many times trying to improve the timing or get a perfect take. She was figuring out on which tricks she was getting the treats and which ones she wasn't. She knew damn sure she was not getting it after the card so she didn't want to do it. I later began making the rewards more random but it was still difficult to do because there were certain tricks I couldn't reward after in order to maintain the flow. The ideal way to do this is to practice with the treats coming completing at random so that the parrot has to attempt all the tricks to see when it gets the rewards.
Is your parrot special or can any parrot do tricks like this?
I don't believe that Kili was born with any special capabilities that any other Senegal Parrot would lack. She's a pretty ordinary parrot but I just took the time to teach her one trick after another. I'm not sure how the speed would work with other species but I think any parrot can learn 20 tricks. Duke the budgie had learned over 10 tricks and demonstrated 8 in under a minute. So if a parakeet can learn so many tricks, I don't see why any parrot couldn't do at least the same.
Is the world record official? Is it in the Guinness Book of World Records?
No, it's not an official. I don't know of any record keeping in regards to parrots anyway. I simply thought it would be cool to call it that because I have never seen any parrot come even close. I have not met or seen a video of another parrot that could do 20 tricks period, let alone all 20 in just 2 minutes. Most parrots used in shows are actually far less skilled. They are often taught just a few tricks and then they interchange parrots based on the trick they want. However, with Kili I wanted to show that a single parrot can know so many tricks and do any of them on cue. If anyone knows of a parrot that can do more than 20 tricks and/or quicker than in 2 minutes, I would definitely like to know.
So what's next? Are you going to try to beat your own record?
I am putting a lot of focus into training Truman right now and would like him to eventually be capable of the same routine. There are some new tricks I am testing on Kili but in the future I would like to do 15 tricks in 1 minute and using only a single treat. This wouldn't be a greater number of tricks shown but would demonstrate a quicker pace, fewer mistakes, and variable ratio reinforcement at its max. Ideally I'd like her to do the tricks for the sake of doing the tricks.
How can I teach my parrot the 20 parrot tricks in 2 minutes routine?
Well you've come just to the right place. I started the Trained Parrot Blog to share with everyone (for free) how I teach Truman all of the same tricks from the very start. You see with Kili, I never really recorded the training sessions. She was my first experience so I really didn't even know if the tricks would work. I simply recorded results as they came. However, having succeeded with Kili and Duke, I feel that these same techniques should work on Truman. He's become used to cameras/lights from the day I got him so he's by no means camera shy. I simply record all of my training sessions and then share the results here on my blog. So keep checking back and I will show you how I train Truman the 20 tricks routine all from scratch. There's no need to spend a fortune on books, dvds, seminars, or online programs because I'm willing to show you how I do it just for the hell of it. Feel free to subscribe to the blog so that you can receive email updates when new articles come out. I would recommend you get a set of parrot training perches because they make training much easier (particularly for flight) and you can see that I used one for the first portion of my trick routine in the video.
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.
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