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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 went out to buy some more perches for Truman because he was having trouble reaching perches in his cage. I bought a comfy rope perch to hang diagonally across the cage to make it a bit easier for him to get up and get around. I added some more intermediate perches to help him get from the bars to the perches. Eventually I should be able to remove this safety perches but for now he is clumsy and these save his butt from falling down an extra time. I also needed to buy perches to use to make special training stands for Truman similar to Kili's.
Since I drove nearly an hour to get to this wholesale place for parrot supplies, I figured I'd make the most of it. I bought a year's worth of toys and some additional swings/perches. I didn't buy any toys for Kili - not only because she has a ton of old toys I can reuse - but also cause when Truman breaks his toys down to smaller pieces, I'll be able to recycle them and make smaller toys for Kili out of those. This way, effectively I can spend one bird's worth on toys and keep a second equally well supplied.
I bought a boing to put in Truman's cage eventually. I got him a large bird kebab, a rope swing, new basketball prop, swinging ladder, comfy perch, and a bunch of other toys. I also got a handful of mounting clasps. Not that I lose them, but somehow certain toys end up coming without them and I always find myself borrowing clasps from other toys. Now I should be set for a long time and will be able to rotate toys for Kili and Truman without having to do any more shopping.
Here is a video showing off Truman's wondrous shopping list worth of toys and then gives you a look inside his cage. You can see the way I changed the set up around to make it a bit easier for him to climb around. He's been having trouble climbing the dome top and the vertical bars. The cage is great for a smarter/older bird but kind of tough for a baby parrot to get used to because there are many aluminum dividers that make getting from one set of bars to the next difficult.
Several outbursts of territorial aggression have already been broke out from Kili against Truman. So I know that this problem exists and will need to be dealt with. Until Truman arrived, I had Kili trained pretty well not to ever land on that cage but since his arrival she has landed on there at least several times and tried to attack through the bars. Whenever I walk by Kili's cage with Truman on my arm, she jumps onto the cage bars and gets really big. She fluffs up her feathers and starts showing her beak, eyes pinning. I have never seen such demonstrations of aggression against any other person from her before but the new bird seems to provoke her more than anything. Finally, there was one instant where I had both birds out at once. It was Kili's time to be out but I just wanted to gauge Truman's weight. Kili was at the far end of the room minding her own business but as soon as I got Truman out of the cage she flew over. She then flew at Truman and I had to deflect her attack by putting my arm in the way and knocking her off her flight path.
Needless to say, quarantine has been violated multiple times already. Truman has landed on Kili's stuff and Kili has landed on Truman's stuff. Living in a single room with flighted parrots makes a successful quarantine nearly impossible. I have been weighing the birds regularly and both seem to be doing just fine. Kili has been healthy for two years and Truman got a full array of blood tests by the breeder's vet. I am not having a strict quarantine anymore but I am keeping the cages apart and only taking one parrot out at a time until this aggression issue is dealt with better.
Luckily Kili really likes training and food. These two things can keep her focused enough often times to ignore other things that are distracting her. So by having her do tricks near Truman's cage and eating treats, it teaches her to "look but don't touch." She is thus developing a habit of not landing on Truman's cage and not attacking Truman. This in effect is an application of differential reinforcement and teaches her what not to do by making an alternative even more rewarding.
I brought over one of Kili's training stands and put up high (about 5ft) to put her at the same height as Truman and just one foot away from him outside his cage. I had her do some tricks and then munch away at her carrot dinner while looking at him. This should also serve as a learning experience for Truman because he refuses to eat carrots. Hopefully watching Kili eat them will make him more likely to eat carrots now as well.
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.
I have never dealt with a remote breeder before so I was uncertain about having a bird flown across the country. I was not only worried about the parrot's safety but also comfort during the long passage. I would like to share some of my thoughts about the concept in general and my personal experience.
First off, the good news is that the United States can be traversed by air north to south in 3 hours, east to west in 6. So if a direct non stop flight can be achieved, it should be possible in 6 hours or less. We must add at least a 1 hour drive to the airport and one hour from upon pickup. Next we can add at least 1 hour for pre-departure processing and 1 hour for post-arrival processing. So without any delays, realistically the bird can be expected to spend between 7-10 hours. However, flights that require transfers can easily add another 2-4 hours to this estimate. What I am trying to demonstrate is that a good chunk of the time the parrot needs to spend in the carrier, it isn't even in an airplane at all. Therefore, whether you are shipping across the country or a few states away, the flight time plays less of a roll.
I would recommend driving to pick up a parrot when possible but only as long as the total drive time is equal to or less than the total time required for air shipping as outlined above. You see, whether the parrot is being flown or driven, when it is bouncing around in a carrier all day, it won't eat or go about its business anyway. So you may as well search for the quickest solution possible. A 24 hour drive is definitely more stressful than a 3 hour flight (totaling about 8 hours of carrier time). Of course driving affords an element of security because you know where your bird is and can monitor its well being. When it is handed over to the airlines you can only guess at what kind of care they take. But this is where I'd like to bring my personal experience forward.
I wasn't sure what to expect when I received the carrier with Truman. I half expected to see a dead parrot nailed to the perch just inside. I was absolutely shocked to find him peering out by the door and looking excited! After being cooped up for 8 hours, I'm sure I'd be more cranky myself. I must say, it was a pleasant surprise to find how smooth everything went. The plane arrived on time (actually a few minutes early), the bird was out and handed to me within an hour of the airplane's arrival. The carrier wasn't tampered with and the bird was in good health and spirit. All and all I find that the air trip had little impact on the parrot.
Some suggestions if you are getting a parrot sent by air to you from a breeder:
-Make sure they send it out on an early flight. Not only does that give more opportunities in the case of a missed flight, earlier flights also tend to be on time. -Have them put your name, phone number, and address on the carrier itself and the identifier for your airport. -Watery foods like fruit are a better bet than water which can spill -Wire tie all the doors shut and anywhere the carrier snaps together should also be zip tied. -Always try to go direct non-stop flight because that reduces the variable of missed connection and the extra time it takes. -Get to the airport early to pick up your bird because the cargo terminal or baggage area where you are to pick up your parrot may be difficult to find. Airports tend to have ring roads so if you miss the turn off, you may have to go all the way around the airport again until you have another chance. I went around LaGuardia 6 times I think before I finally found the proper cargo area. -Have a second person come with you to help and in case you have to split to wait in different areas (like one to baggage and one to cargo) -Make sure you bring ID to the airport and even alternate ID just in case.
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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