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
This is a quick review of some of my favorite cleaning gadgets that I have found helpful. I have probably spent a thousand dollars on things to make cleaning easier. Some of these items turned out great while others were duds. I'd like to save you the trouble of trying everything out by directing you straight to some of the better cleaning devices you can buy.
#1 - Black & Decker Pivot Vac 18V Cordless Pivoting Hand Vac, PHV1810
A handheld vacuum cleaner is a must have device for every parrot owner from budgie to macaw. Parrots are messy creatures and being able to easily collect that mess is a part of daily parrot care. Not only do parrots throw food around but they also shed a lot of feathers and chew things down to dust.
I have gone through many handheld vacuum cleaners until I tried this model. That is when I stopped having to change brands and stuck it out with one for the longest time I can remember. This one is simply the best. Not only is the battery/motor more powerful, but the filter is less prone to clogging so the power doesn't diminish. The 18V battery gives more umph while maintaining a charge for longer. You can get a good 15-30 minutes of cleaning time with this one so the battery life doesn't end up inhibiting you like on the cheaper models. The suction port angle can be adjusted and cleaning it out is nothing more than opening the door.
The only downside I can think of to this handheld vac is that it is heavy. I don't consider the circa-$50 price tag a downside because of the quality and value. I've had mine for over 3 years now and it's running like new while the cheaper ones I had for $25 had to be replaced more frequently in the same span of time. Since your parrot will put you in the habit of using a handheld vac daily, this is a place where quality/durability are essential.
I have also used this same vac to clean my staircase and car, so it has been by far the greatest cleaning asset. The slightly higher price tag actually makes it seem cheap compared to the longevity and value that it has truly offered. So I highly recommend the 18V Black and Decker handheld vac to all parrot owners. There is no other cleaning gadget I am as thrilled to use as this vac. I rate it 5 stars on all parameters.
The Steam Shark or Shark Steam, whatever it's called, is a "steam cleaner." Don't confuse it with other steam cleaners that just rub the floor with hot water. This one actually blows out steam. The steam should help sanitize surfaces without the need for chemicals. Since chemicals and parrots are a risky combination, the idea of simply blowing hot water on a surface to disinfect it is highly appealing. My main resignation, however, is that I'm not sure that the steam exposure is long enough to do a complete job so I do resort to parrot safe chemicals every now and then. That said, I prefer to use this cleaner on a more regular basis.
I don't find this cleaner as awesome as the vac I previously mentioned, but there are a few things it can help with that make it worth having for most parrot owners. The downsides are that it is cumbersome and slow to use. It takes time for the water to heat up and steam to come out. Since there is water inside, it is pretty heavy to hold. The worst part is that the steam comes out a fairly small nozzle so you can only clean a small area at a time. Cleaning a bird cage with chemicals ends up faster than using the cleaner.
But where this steam cleaner really shines is in the hard to reach places: the cracks and crevices in parrot perches. Poop and dirt seem to find their way into perches, between cage bars, in cage corners, and all those hard to reach/clean places. The steam cleaner not only heats those places but it also blows the contaminants straight out of where they are. Essentially, the steam cleaner is like a miniature power washer. You can blast dried poop out of just about anywhere. It may take you a few minutes to clean a spot only a few inches across, but when you need to clean out the bark on a perch, there is pretty much no other way. This cleaner comes with a long cord so it is convenient when you need to clean multiple trees and cages.
I would not rely on this cleaner exclusively for cage cleaning but if you are already well stocked on other cleaning supplies, this is a good extra gadget to add to your arsenal. It is pretty much the only power cleaning tool you can use for parrot cages (except a power washer outdoors) so it's worth mentioning. If you are very poopy-phobic, which is hard to imagine for any seasoned parrot owner, with enough patience, this cleaner can be used to clean down your parrot's cage entirely without ever touching anything.
Just remember that you can burn yourself or your parrot with the hot steam coming out so always be conscious of where you are spraying it. I use this device a few times a week and recommend it as something that most parrot owners should eventually end up getting. It's not a must have device but it is quite helpful. It's a little pricey but the value is good. The construction and capability leave some to be desired but they are generally good enough for common parrot cleaning purposes. I'd rank it 3/5 on quality, usefulness, and value. But I'd give it 4/5 when it comes to cleaning tight places such as between cage bars, perches, trees, toys, etc. I give it 5/5 as being parrot safe (as long as your parrot is away to avoid getting burned).
#3 - BISSELL Spotbot Pet Handsfree Spot and Stain Cleaner with Deep Reach Technology, 33N8
The spotbot is really cool because it's the only fully automatic cleaning gadget I'm aware of. This one is particularly handy for people with a lot of carpet/rugs. No matter how much you try to potty train your parrot, accidents will happen from time to time. With some, more than others. Kili is pretty good so this device wasn't paying off with her. But, with Truman on the other hand it's been worth every penny. When he was younger and couldn't hold it in long enough, when i would let him out in the morning he would sometimes spill his load while flying across the room. It wasn't just a matter of having a mess on the carpet in one spot. He'd leave a whole trail that was a nightmare to clean. Using my spotbot, I was able to run it a couple times and be done with it.
The way the spotbot works is it has a round opening on the bottom, approximately 9 inches across, that runs a complete wash/scrub/vac cycle for you. All you have to do is add water/detergent to the canister, place it over the mess, and activate it. The machine will run the complete cleaning cycle and then beep to alert you when it is done. Since you don't want it to beep any more than necessary (or else your parrot will be doing that all the times there isn't even a mess to clean), you have to run over right away to turn it off.
Almost every time I've had to run it, the spotbot took care of the mess on the first run. Rarely have I had to run it a second time and I really can't think of a time when it couldn't cope with the mess. It sure beats getting on your knees and scrubbing bird poop out of the carpet for half an hour. The only thing I suggest about using the spotbot is to remove as much of the mess with a papertowel beforehand as possible and then let the machine do the hard work. The device also comes with a hose for handheld cleaning. I've never had to use that for a bird mess but I admit it was handy for cleaning the floor mats from my car. Otherwise, I've found no other uses for the machine.
The spotbot is the most expensive of my parrot-specific cleaning gadgets so I least recommend it for all owners. It's the gadget you'll end up paying the most for and using the least. If you don't mind the expense or have a lot of carpet messes, I do suggest it. The quality of the machine is good but the frequency of these pooping on the carpet accidents are just so rare that the cost effectiveness is the only concern. Perhaps I've used mine 50 times. That still comes out to $3 a cleaning. So keep in mind that you'll be paying a lot for little use. But the amount of tiring effort that it saves is really worthwhile. I'll rate the quality/capability of the gadget 5/5 but 2/5 on price and 2/5 for how essential it is for parrot owners. Not a bad device by any means, just limited in use and expensive.
When it comes to regular vacuum cleaners, etc, I don't feel it worth reviewing. That comes down to your personal cleaning preferences and is impacted less by owning parrots. Whatever vacuum cleaner, mop, or other device you like to clean with shouldn't be affected too much by having a bird. The 3 devices I mentioned above I would not have if it weren't for parrots so that's why I thought they are especially worth mentioning. Over the years I've tried many and have thrown out most of them. The 3 I listed here have lasted for years and served me well. I have no motivation to push those products except that I hope they can make your life taking care of parrots easier like they have mine.
Feel free to leave comments if you've tried these devices or have other cleaning gadgets you'd like to recommend.
Kili and Truman are fantastic examples of how well-socialized a parrot can be. The concept of socialization is a broad scope of everything a parrot may encounter and how it reacts. Simply put, the socialized parrot doesn't get scared and even enjoys visiting new places, handling new objects, and meeting new people.
The main benefit of socialization is that it removes a parrot's fears across the spectrum. As the parrot is exposed to more objects, places, and people in a harmless way, the less fearful and thus better behaved it is in future encounters. Since a lot of biting is driven by fear, teaching a parrot not to fear novelty results in a tremendous reduction in overall biting. Furthermore, other forms of biting such as jealous, displaced, territorial, and possessive are diminished with socialization as well.
Taking parrots outdoors is a great way to expose it to a multitude of random objects, places, people, and situations. The more times the parrot is exposed to these, the less of a big deal these exposures are in the future. The parrot learns to handle situations with greater ease. Also, taking parrots outdoors is essential for their health and well-being.
One of the ultimate challenges is taking the parrot to a busy playground. Anything and everything can happen at a playground. Kids are running around, there's screaming, birds are flying around, bikes are zooming buy, cars are backfiring, you name it. But after several years of going to the park regularly, none of this bother Kili and Truman. They are calm and enjoy the situation. It is very rare for them to take off and even when they do they usually just fly over to me.
I spend a lot of effort teaching controlled outdoor harness flight. On one hand I am giving the parrots exercise and flight practice, but on the other hand I am also teaching them to stay. Since the harness, even with leash extension, isn't terribly long, the parrots have learned that there is no benefit to flying (unless called). Thus they have learned to be more stationary than they would normally be at home. If they kept trying to fly around while being harnessed, crashes and tangles would be rampant. But using the method of encouraging recalled flight only, I have been able to set some very reliable guidelines that make the harness less of a burden.
The training and preparations I do at home make the parrots more prepared to handle the park. But the socialization, desensitization, and extensive challenges of the park also make them better behaved at home.
Considering how Kili was becoming a tremendous biter (toward everyone but me), I have definitely come a long way. My socialization approach not only reversed the biting but made her the sweetest parrot ever. Anyone can walk up to Kili, grab her, turn her any which way, play with her, pet her, hand her off to someone else and all the while she does not bite. In fact I think she enjoys it and will show off her tricks (not for treats) in the process. Truman on the other hand never bit anyone. By using the same socialization approach with him from the start (as well as ignoring any remote attempts at biting), he has never developed a biting issue in the first place. Between solving Kili's biting and solving Truman's biting, I have really come to appreciate the importance of socialization and outdoor time with parrots.
I think this park outing embodies the epitome of all my parrot training endeavors. I can have a fun time with my birds, they can enjoy fresh air, the birds are outgoing and fun, and everyone benefits. This special relationship that I have developed is the basis of my upcoming book, The Parrot Wizard's Guide to Well-Behaved Parrots. The book has now moved into the printing stage and will be coming soon. The book is 296 fun-filled pages about all facets of parrot ownership. But ultimately it is based on my experience achieving well-behaved parrots and helping others achieve the same. The 10 chapter book starts from how to choose a parrot and then goes through an extensive array of easy things you can do with your parrot to achieve the easy-going pet you've always dreamed of. You don't have to be a performer to be able to achieve a well-behaved parrot and that is what my book is going to teach you. If you enjoy my blog, you'll especially enjoy my book because it is written in a similar easy to follow style. But it covers many things I have not considered blogging about and it really ties everything together in one easy read.
Enjoy the following video of how well-behaved my parrots are and then please order my book when it is released. This park outing best embodies what I consider to be well-behaved parrots.
I took Kili and Truman to the park today in the usual manner wearing their aviator harnesses. First I flew Truman using the long leash and he did an outstanding job with over 20 flights. Not only did I call him back and forth the length of the leash from the same perch, I ran around to give him more distance to fly. I had him go to different benches and places in the park. He's been getting pretty good lately, but this was by far his best day.
Before I go any further, I must very sternly warn you: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. Don't do it. Don't think about doing it. Just don't. With extensive research, 5 years of very extensive training experience, and a very special circumstance, I knew that this was something I could safely do. I didn't think it was going to be ok, I knew it (which I'll explain further). This is not a training guide or a suggestion of what you can or should do. You simply shouldn't do it. I'm not sharing this to be a role model but simply because it is something I've done. This is not something parrot owners should be doing with their pets. Watch this video in full and you will lose any thought about taking your pet parrot outside unrestrained (even if it's clipped!).
Now when Kili's turn came to fly, in the spur of the moment I decided to take her harness off and let her fly unrestrained! It's not a decision that came lightly but it wasn't something I set out to the park to do. At that moment, I simply KNEW that Kili would do what I was expecting. I could sense absolute and complete motivation from her. Sometimes her motivation is good and sometimes it is bad. In that range it is often hard to tell if she will really choose to perform or not. However, this time I was able to sense the most intense motivation from her with certainty.
A combination of factors lead to this unmistakable motivation. First of all I weighed the two parrots in before heading to the park and found that their weights were pretty low (still well within healthy range), lower than most park sessions. However, this is not something to exclusively gauge motivation on. Motivation, particular outdoors, can be affected by many factors. Temperature, humidity, wind, distractions, and other birds can play a big role. I've already noticed in the past that my parrots get especially motivated to eat (regardless of weight) prior to rain or thunderstorms and sure enough there is a thunderstorm forecast for tonight.
I can also have a good idea how the second bird will fly based on the first. Usually either both birds fly well or both fly poorly. When it's too hot, both don't want to fly. If there are too many distractions, it usually affects both birds. But today the circumstances were just perfect. The temperature was warm but not too hot. The wind was near calm. The kids at the park were a well behaved audience. This plays an important role because sometimes there are obnoxious kids that distract or bother the birds. Today I saw that they just tagged along but did not get in the way. Given the right group of kids, they actually can motivate the parrots to fly better for their attention.
Given all of these optimal conditions, I knew that it would be no challenge for Kili to do a perfect job harnessing flying all over the park. Having flown her extensively at home, in theaters, in a large gym, and in the park on a harness, I have had enough previous experiences where I experienced this "perfect motivation" that I knew today was the day. I don't remember the last time Kili "flew off" outside and I depended on the leash to save her. After years of socialization, desensitization, and going through this same flying routine at the park, I knew this was going to be like any other day minus the harness. Rather than take Kili to some desert or special place to freefly, I knew she was safest flying in the same park where she is accustomed to flying on her harness. If she can fly outside with the harness without a hitch and can fly in large gyms without a hitch, thus I know she can do this outdoors unrestrained as well.
HOWEVER, there is still the risk. Even if most of the time she does everything right on harness or indoors, there is absolutely no room for error outdoors. If Kili were to end up outside the park, there's no telling where she could end up. Senegal Parrots are particularly unsuitable for outdoor freeflight because they are small, quiet, and green. If one were to get lost in a tree, it would be damn near impossible to find. While some kinds of parrots could be lost and then found again, with a Senegal it's closer to all or nothing which is why I've avoided freeflight all this time.
But after so much routine and habit of harness flying in the park, I felt confident that even if someone were to scare her (which almost certainly wouldn't happen cause she's seen it all over the years), that she would either fly back to me or to some perch in the park. I didn't even fear her going into a tree because she has had opportunities to do this in the harness as well. But out of training and habit, she has learned only to land on the benches and low fences. I know that she simply would not consider landing elsewhere. I could not stand the thought or even the chance of losing her. But this day the circumstances just so happened to be that I knew it couldn't happen.
I took Truman off the leash extension and was about to apply it to Kili's harness. This was the moment when I decided that she would fly without it instead. I put the extension in my pocket, got Truman up on my shoulder, asked the kids to back up and make some more room, got some treats out, and then proceeded to take Kili's harness off. This was probably the most nerve-racking moment of truth and my hands were shaking a little. It was not that I was afraid she'd fly away but it was just something difficult to get myself to do. It was like taking the step out of an airplane to jump with a parachute, it was the moment of truth. I heard folks gasp as I took the leash off. People really couldn't believe what I was about to do. I took Kili's harness off and left it on the ground while I took some steps away and called her.
She instantly flew over to me and got a nice treat prior to returning to where she had perched. By this point I was too focused on the training session and almost forgot that she was untethered. I ran around the park calling her and flying her to different places like she would while wearing a harness. I never had to call more than once because her flight recalls were perfect. She came every time without delay. She got big treats but still not every time. Since she normally flies for a variable ratio reinforcement schedule, I felt no reason to change this now. I did, however, give her bigger and better treats than usual to reward her especially for doing such a great job. I was able to recall her for longer distances than I usually can with the limitation of the leash length. I tried to avoid taking my eyes off of her but I did at moments while stepping away or looking around. But this was ok because it was no different than when she is normally harnessed. She did not do anything she would not have done while wearing the harness which made me certain that I had interpreted her behavior correctly.
I continued to fly her for nearly 20 recalls to different locations in the park, almost no different than if she were harnessed. We did many back to back recalls where she flew multiple times to get just a single treat. I was going to end things early just to be extra safe. I reached in my pocket to get more treats to reward her for putting the harness back on but I could sense her eagerness to keep going. So instead, I had her play flighted fetch unrestrained. She did such an outstanding job flying up off the floor with the ball without the added weight of the harness. I also had her fly to the floor to play dead (again uninhibited by the cumbersome harness). I finished off the session with a few more flight recalls for big treats and then put Kili back in her harness for one final treat. I did not bother flying her any further in the harness and took this as a good opportunity to end the session and go home. Kili got her dinner extra early to celebrate doing such an outstanding job flying. She even had leftover training motivation by normal training time to outfly Truman for some extra treats!
It was a really exciting experience and I am so proud of her ability. She has always proven me right whenever I took chances flying her in challenging environments whether it was on big stages with unreachable ceilings, in gyms, or on the harness. I have a good feeling for when she is motivated, and especially when she is a sure shot. It was a lot of fun and a good experience, but I will not let it cloud my judgement and make me think I can just do that any time. I will continue using a harness (possibly with similar exceptions under the right circumstances) when I take her out to eliminate risks of loss entirely. Losing her simply is not a chance I can take. However, this experience has taught me a lot and I think to Kili as well. We have strengthened our bond and she has proven how capable she really is. Most importantly, doing this even further reduces the likelihood of ever losing her in a circumstance where she could inadvertently find herself unrestrained outside.
Edit: Some Afterthoughts. Although I made no specific preparations for this flight, all of Kili's life we have been preparing for this. I was always taming/training her (and especially when it comes to indoor freeflight and outdoor harness flight) to be able to safely recover her should she end up outdoors. She has been trained to fly down from high places, she has been trained to turn around and come back to me, she has been trained to think on the fly. All of these skills gave me the confidence that she could fly her way back to me and stay within the confines of the park.
Furthermore, there's the endless desensitization and socialization. She's extremely used to everything going on at the park and none of that scares her. I still have a video of her at the park from a few weeks back I have yet to share to show this. I can set off a cap gun right next to her and instead of getting scared she can rationally think through doing her trick. I really can't think of what can spook this bird or what has in recent years. The birds of prey factor was still present but to the same degree it is present for harness flying so that was not something extra to consider. If there was one place Kili could do a flawless job, it was at the park she always flies at.
I did not feel like I was evaluating risk, it was more like evaluating opportunity. Up till then, I always saw the idea of freeflight strictly as risk. However, during this special encounter and the motivation I observed, I felt confident (to the 99.9% degree) that Kili would not fly off in the first place. To compound that, I felt confident (99%) that if she were to fly off, that she would fly to me or remain within the confines of the park. The long harness I fly my birds with affords them the opportunity to fly up and get stuck in a tree and even out of the park at times. Yet they just don't do it. It's not because the harness holds them back but because of the safe places and altitudes they have learned to fly at. Kili did not need a leash to keep her flying between me and the park benches. I also feel that this exercise helps ensure that if she were to accidentally get loose, that she would find her way to the park and I'd end up finding her sitting on a park bench doing tricks begging passerbys for food.
This was not the scariest endeavor I have undertaken with Kili which is also a big part. Having her on the huge stage (like 80+ ft high ceilings) for America's Got Talent with unknown/unrehearsed lights and noises going off had me much more worried. And although we were inside a building, the places she could get lost should she fly off were endless. It was also my first encounter where the stakes were so high regarding a fly off. She didn't perform that well but she didn't contemplate flying off which was a huge deal. Flying her in the huge gym with 60ft rafters and plenty of those high places to land was also a scarier time. I was less certain of the outcome in that gym than I was at the park. Although she would remain confined in the gym should she fly off, I had absolutely no idea how I'd be getting her (and moreso Truman) from those places. At the park, I have seen exactly what she would do countless times with her harness. I try to fly the birds such so that the harness never actually confines them by moving around myself to allow for slack.
I was not out to prove anything or show this to anyone. I did not do it for the purpose of sharing it online either. Just in retrospect I thought it was an interesting story. I was just there in the moment and I knew this was something that could be done. Kili was poised to fly to me no matter what so I realized it really didn't matter if she was harnessed or not.
Kili's first outdoor freeflight was nothing like I might have pictured. There was no safety line, no netting, no transmitter, no pre-printed "lost parrot" fliers (although I do have one made up on my computer for each parrot but more with the mindset of in case of an accidental house escape), no helper or spotter, no camera. I did not even tell anyone in advance to be available just in case. I did not come to the park with the intention of freeflying and this was probably the best part of preparing both myself and the bird. We just did everything exactly the same as we would normally do so it wasn't unpredictable or frightening. In fact it was very predictable. The relationship and training experience holding Kili in my vicinity was far stronger than any harness! This is the main reason I feel safe using the harness in the first place.
All that said, I still have anxiety over all this and will continue to use the harness for my own peace of mind. I am glad her skills are there and perhaps under the same perfect circumstances we will repeat this. But for the most part, I will opt to keep using that lifeline that lets me sleep at night knowing my parrot is alive and well.
The Aviator Harness is awesome. It has played a pivotal role in helping me achieve the awesomely well-behaved parrots that Kili & Truman are. Their beautiful plumage, outstanding social skills, flight capabilities, and showmanship would not be what they are if I didn't take my parrots outside regularly. With the Aviator Harness, I have the peace of mind that I will not lose my parrots to the mayhem that is New York City.
It has been over 3 years since I started using an Aviator Harness for my parrots. Looking back, we've made leaps and bounds in progress going outdoors as such. I'd like to look back at some highlights and offer tips and tricks that I have learned about using a harness.
First there's putting the harness on the parrot. This is where most people start and end. The majority of people that I have come across that purchased a harness gave up because they could not get past this point. But of course without this critical step, all other harness procedures are useless. Why are parrots so unwilling to wear a harness? Part of it is that it is uncomfortable but a bigger part is that they don't like the process of having it put on. The first part can only be solved by time as the parrot gets used to it but the second one gets solved by training. Without solving the second problem, you can't get the duration and practice to solve the first one.
Basically the process of sticking the harness on is a bigger deterrent from the parrot than the discomfort of actually wearing it. I know this, because my parrots can wear it all day long if need be. Even with a tame parrot that let the owner stick the harness on the first few times quickly learns to resist having it put on. After all, why should the parrot let you stick that uncomfortable thing on it? It really gets no direct benefit from it. The parrot doesn't realize that going outside is the result of putting the harness on. But even then, going outside for a house body of a parrot isn't necessarily a good thing! Until the parrot is accustomed to going outsides, it may be scary and unpleasant in itself.
The secret to teaching a parrot to wear a harness is to make it WANT to wear it. Forcing the harness on only makes the parrot want to wear it less and avoid it. But if you can convince the parrot that it is to its advantage to be wearing the harness, you're in business and the rest is just technical! Now how do you convince a parrot to voluntarily commit the equivalent of putting on a straight jacket? Well it's simple. On one hand you bribe it, but on the other hand you make a solid promise to take it off really soon.
So let's take the straight jacket example further. If I wanted to get you to put on a straight jacket, you'd tell me I'm nuts. If I said I'll give you a hundred bucks, you still wouldn't do it because you'd be afraid I'd just leave you tied up like that. But if you had a solid promise from me that all you had to do was wear it for a minute and then have it removed and get a hundred bucks, that's not so bad is it? So how can we demonstrate the promise of removal to the parrot? A verbal promise is useless because the parrot does not understand. Well, we can demonstrate the promise behaviorally.
If you briefly touch the parrot with the harness material, and then take it away and give a treat, you are demonstrating what will become the promise of removal. Continue in baby steps where the parrot is briefly enveloped in the harness but then it is removed. Progress with putting more on and for longer, but always going back to removal. Since you build up the duration, prior removals act as negative reinforcement for future ones, thus you develop the promise of removal. Yet the reward is still mandatory because that is what the parrot is working for!
Another aspect, and going back to the straight jacket example, is force vs volunteering. Think about the difference of being physically forced into that straight jacket (despite being paid and promised of removal). Someone grabs your hands and holds you down while the jacket is applied... That is painful, frightening, and uncomfortable. Now on the flipside, what if someone holds that straight jacket and you can walk over and put your arms into it yourself at your own pace? That is far more painless. Still, someone will have to do up the straps in the back, but you weren't stressed while putting it on so the hundred bucks makes it worthwhile. Don't you see how putting a harness on a parrot is like putting on that straight jacket!? This is why it is so important to let the parrot volunteer to put on the neck collar, promise imminent removal, and give good rewards for the process. With time and practice, the duration can increase, the rewards can diminish, and the entire process will become easier.
However, the Aviator Harness is no straight jacket. It is very unintrusive and allows the parrot full flight capability while wearing it. But at first, to an animal, putting anything on may be analogous to my example.
I'm not going to elaborate on the process further here but I strongly urge you to watch my Harness Training DVD on how I taught an adult rescue Green-Winged Macaw to wear an Aviator Harness voluntarily.
I always clip my parrot's harnesses to my belt loops before even putting the harness on them. I never trust just the wrist strap alone, plus it gets in the way. By clipping the harness to my belt using a 99 cent keychain carabiner, I have the peace of mind that the parrot is secure.
I keep my parrots on the short leash of the harness at all times except when I intentionally want to fly them. At that point, I take out the special yellow kite string that I measured out and prepared for this. I made loops at both ends of the string and secured them so they can't untie. The way I make the swap from harness only to harness plus extension leash is a neat trick. I pass one end of my string through the harness wrist strap. Then I run the other end of the string through the end loop in the string, thus tightening one end of the string around the harness wrist strap. Then I add the other loop end of the string to my carabiner hook. Finally I take the wrist strap out of the carabiner hook and the parrot is now on the long leash. This special exchange ensures that my parrot is never disattached. At this point I'm not particularly worried about the bird flying off in this short exchange but it is still a good practice to maintain.
I never "freefly" my parrots outdoors wearing a harness. That is I don't let them fly at will. I encourage them to always stay on me, a perch, or to only fly to me on command. I don't want them to think it is acceptable to fly at will because there is too much they can get the harness tangled in if they were to just fly. To keep things more controllable and limited to my judgement, I always set things up to allow only controlled recall flight. At first I flew the birds only to the length the short harness leash would allow. Then I proceeded to use longer and longer leash extensions. Virtually every time the parrots flew off "at will" they ended up hitting the end of the line and realized that it's a bad idea. Thus the harness automatically punishes flying behavior. By rewarding only requested flights, the parrots eventually learn to stay put except when called. This works out well in the end because the parrots stay put when they are me wearing a harness. At home they fly off at will but outdoors they stay which gives me confidence to take them places.
Don't forget that hawks and other predators (including cats/dogs) pose a huge threat to your parrot outside even if it wears a harness. I live in a busy city where there are few birds of prey but I do occasionally spot them so it's a point I am aware of. I keep my eyes open and am ready to protect my bird as best as I can. I do avoid taking them to large open rural fields where birds of prey may be more abundant.
I keep challenging my parrots to wear their harnesses for longer. Whether it's taking them to an event (even indoors if things are hectic), camping, on trips, or just about, it helps make them more accustomed to wearing harnesses.
Not only is it fun to take the parrots places but it is also one of the best things for them. Besides the health benefits of receiving natural sunlight, the socialization experiences make them far better pets. As they experience more people and places, they are far more prepared to cope with anything that life may throw at them. It makes them better behaved and less likely to bite.
Finally here is a video that shows how quickly and easily I can put harnesses on my parrots. It's not a race but I want to show how quickly we can do it. By wasting no time, it gives the parrot less time to play around with it or resist. Since we have done this so many times, they cooperate and assist in putting it on by moving their body and wings to go with the flow. When a parrot resists, it is far more difficult to get all the straps on in any reasonable span of time.
My upcoming book is just days away from shipping out for printing! It includes information about harness training parrots but more importantly it presents an approach to attain the relationship that prepares you and your parrot to make use of that harness and beyond. So please stay tuned for more announcements about the book.
The primary purpose of training our pet parrots is to get them to behave more how we would like. Whether that's not going on your furniture (by staying on parrot perches), flying to you on command, or going back in the cage when it is time, training can help. However, training is useless with motivation. The owner needs to be motivated to train as well, but I'm talking about the parrot's motivation to do as the trainer requests.
From a behavioral standpoint, motivation can be measured by the rate of learned responses to stimuli by the parrot. The motivated parrot is more likely to perform the behavior, with quicker promptness, with greater accuracy, for more repetitions, for a great span of time. A motivated parrot will also learn new behavior quicker.
In the early stages of parrot training, motivation may be less crucial. The very basic things you need to teach at first such as step up, targeting, and taming may be successful with the bare minimum unmanaged motivation. However, when you wish to proceed to more challenging behaviors, motivation will play a tremendous role in whether your succeed or not. Besides teaching or performing tricks, motivation is essential for flight training exercise, harness training, socialization toward strangers, solving biting and problems, and for all around good behavior.
Since food motivation is most universal and replenishable, I will mainly focus on managing motivation with food. However, I similar approach can apply to toys, attention, petting, and other things you may find motivate your parrot. There are three key elements to controlling motivation from food:
-Quantity/hunger -Quality/desirability -Effort to gain it
I covered the importance of weight management in my previous article. The main reason to manage your parrot's weight is to keep it healthy rather than for training. However, with your parrot's weight already managed to keep it at the optimal healthy weight, motivation for food can exist. An overweight parrot with constant access to food will not only be unmotivated to eat, but it will also be less motivated to participate in activity because it is physically harder.
Besides establishing a healthy weight for your parrot, it is also important to implement a feeding schedule. Twice a day for most species, three times a day for the smallest ones, works great. Many zoos and professional shows will go so far as feeding a lot of food but only once a day so that the parrots are inevitably super hungry and motivated by show time. I do not recommend their approach because I believe it is more stressful than spanning food out some.
Another reason why weight management is imperative is to compensate the parrot's training treats from meals. If you don't adjust your parrot's food portions, the training treats (which are normally fattier or sweeter) will implant excess calories and cause weight gain. By weighing your parrot before all meals and adjusting food portions to maintain the target healthy weight, you will be able to compensate for treats and maintain a stable weight long term. Some days the parrot may train better than other days (aside from motivation factors) and thereby receive more or less treats. Feeding the same sized meals may be unfair when the treat portions are different. Compensating this with an adjustment in meal portions will ensure the weight stays healthy and that the parrot is free to volunteer to train or not. Since the parrot's training is voluntary, it is up to us to find ways to solicit maximum motivation without food deprivation that can impact health.
By scheduling food meals and training just before (rather than after), you can expect maximum motivation from mealtime hunger. You can further enhance motivation at training time by padding the prior meal with low calorie foods such as broccoli or carrots. That way the parrot still feels filled up but since it received fewer calories, will be more eager to fill on the next meal. This will be balanced out by the weight management approach by analyzing empty weights and adjusting pellet portions accordingly.
Desirability of treats highly impacts motivation. Part of it is how much the parrot enjoys the treat food but part of it is relative to the food it normally eats. If the parrot is fed nothing other than pellets or vegetables in the cage, it leaves all other foods to be more desirable. I never feed fruit, pasta, seeds, nuts, or pretty much anything else my parrots get (other than pellets or vegetables) in the cage. Since they don't need these other foods in abundance anyway, saving them exclusively is treats not only helps motivation but is healthier.
There is also the desirability of certain treats over others. This can be a great aide in training. There are two ways to improve motivation based on the relative value of different treats. You can generally use less favorable treats but then mark major success with the better treats. The other approach is to mix all treats and provide different ones randomly. This approach is good for sustaining motivation because the parrot never knows what it's going to get. It must keep trying because the next treat may just be a whole nut. This also helps ensure the parrot does not get bored of the current treat. If you keep using the same treat, once the parrot no longer wants that specific food, motivation will diminish. Learn about choosing and evaluating treats here.
But now I want to get to some of my more interesting discoveries about managing parrot training motivation. My goal is to maximize motivation for specific tasks and to sustain it for a longer period. The reason both of these are important in training is because if you can get your parrot to do difficult tasks or endure long sessions at home, you'll have much greater success for easy/short tasks when you really need your parrot to deliver. For example if my parrots can fly 50 flight recalls (50ft out and 50ft back) in a training session, the likelihood of them making the one critical recover flight when lost outdoors is greatly improved. So you see this isn't strictly for training them to perform in shows.
Strong motivation is needed for the more complicated or strenuous tasks. Flying requires greater motivation than waving. A lot more. The parrot can probably wave 100 times for the amount of energy it takes to fly 100 feet. Does that mean we have to give a treat that is 100 times better? No. The biggest reason is because the treats we are giving for something small like wave is far excessive of what it could be. If my parrots can fly a dozen 50ft out and return flights for a single sunflower seed, then they can do the wave trick for an infinitesimally small treat or do an insanely large amount of waves for a normal treat.
Now this doesn't mean that the parrot just learning to wave thinks it's any easier than flying. While teaching the trick and shortly after, high motivation is in fact required. But once the trick is learned, in order to increase motivation for other things, you MUST challenge your parrot further. You must always strive to get your parrot to do more for less. This is the secret to achieving outstanding motivation. When my parrots normally have to do 20-50 flights an evening for a dozen treats, performing tricks at a show is comparatively easier and the motivation is extremely high. Likewise when I needed to work on Socialization to teach my parrot to stop biting strangers, I was able to make the situation far more desirable by differential reinforcement. Since the parrots normally have to do so much for so little, I can solicit an insanely strong level of motivation for comparatively easier task. For example step onto a strangers hand for 5 seconds without biting and I'll give you the same treat you normally have to fly your butt off to earn.
Obviously you're not going to jump from teaching a parrot to wave to flying 20 times for a treat. You need to build your way up there. This is why I always say you must challenge, challenge, challenge your parrot. When you challenge your parrot to wave a little higher, wave a little longer, wave for a smaller treat, wave more times for the same treat, you are teaching your parrot to be motivated by less! After some months or years of this constant sort of challenge, the parrot develops a tremendous level of capability and motivation. When you go from 1 treat for 1 wave to 10 waves for a treat to 50 waves for a treat (using variable ratio reinforcement), you have diluted the treat ratio so far that it virtually looks like your parrot does the trick without any reinforcement at all. All you have to do is occasionally reward that trick out of the blue to maintain that variable reinforcement ratio level. But this goes even further where you can maintain tricks with no food reinforcement at all. When the parrot can wave 20-50 times (and I mean in separate instances, not at once) before getting a treat, that parrot can just as well wave for a little attention or a head scratch. The motivation level required for performing the trick has become so low that virtually any minor reinforcement will suffice!
If you are not challenging your parrot to do better, more, for less, you are actually regressing in your training. Think about a parrot with a foraging toy. At first it can't figure it out but once it has, it gets the treat out in no time and the foraging toy becomes useless. It is similar with trick training. After the parrot "gets it" that picking up its foot gets it a treat, it takes less effort to do it. There is also the exercise component as well. After waving daily for a week, that foot is stronger and it is even easier still to wave. So if you are still giving the same quantity/quality of treat for the same behavior, you are in fact making your parrot give you less motivation (not more and not the same as before)! The only way to increase motivation is to increase the challenge, reduce the quality of the treat, reduce the quantity (break off a smaller piece), or increase the number of behaviors it takes to earn it (chaining or variable ratio reinforcement).
The point about exercise is not to be taken lightly either. If you fly your parrot regularly, their flight muscles become stronger and the amount of motivation to take an extra flight becomes less. You can challenge your parrot to fly further, more times, and for fewer or less desirable treats. This ensures that motivation continues to increase in the long run.
Sustaining motivation for duration is another part of the equation. If you can manage a 30 to 60 minute training session at home, 5 minutes of glory in front of your friends or an emergency flight recall are going to be more successful. Sustaining longer durations of motivation is also great for molding good day-long behavior from your parrot. If the parrot can spend an hour doing what you ask, it can also learn to do it any time of day outside of training. Here are three tips for sustaining motivation longer. First do all of the above for maximizing motivation and minimizing treats. By giving smaller treats, using variable ratio reinforcement, and making the tasks easier with time/challenge, your parrot will be able to continue to go longer before it is too tired or full. The second thing is to compensate the treats/difficulty with time. In the beginning of the session, start out with small and less desirable treats. But as the session progresses, you can squeeze motivation for longer by increasing the desirability of treats to keep the parrot going. Lastly, begin the session with tougher training and progress to easier tasks as you wrap up.
Varying levels of motivation required depending on challenge: (from low to high motivation requirements)
-not doing anything (being tame) -overcoming minor fear (taming) -stepping up -performing easy known tricks -performing complex known tricks -learning new tricks (training) -overcoming bigger fears (i.e. socialization/strangers) -flight recall (and other flighted behaviors) -flight recall amidst distractions (outdoor harness/freeflight)
So to make the most of the motivation in a training session (after a warm up if one is needed), begin with more difficult or strenuous tasks first and then work your way back toward easier things by the end. For example, let's say your parrot knows 5 tricks, step up, and flight recall. But at the same time you're teaching a new trick and working on getting the parrot to let you grab it. To maximize training motivation and get the most out of a single training session, work on some flight recalls first, then teach the next portion of the new trick, then practice some old tricks, and end the session by taming. Since the taming process for grabbing merely involves the parrot tolerating your hand's presence or touch (without spending any effort), the parrot will still gladly take treats while you work on desensitization. If you worked on the taming in the beginning of the sessions, your progress would have been marginally better. Yet the parrot would not be hungry enough to be motivated to flight recall to you after getting a bunch of treats for taming.
Finally, here are a few more little tricks you can use to maximize motivation during the training sessions when you really need it (or inadvertently get it). My parrots seem to get really motivated to eat when rain is approaching. That makes sense, they probably naturally want to fill up before they can no longer feed. Even if this is occurring midday or when motivation isn't expected, it's worth trying some training and it gives your parrot the opportunity to earn food when it wishes. Sometimes I have to leave early so I uncover my parrots and leave their meal. Naturally they eat it right away but a byproduct is that they are more hungry come training time. I take advantage of this heightened motivation since it is already there. I don't normally do this intentionally but if there is a training session where I want to stimulate greater than usual motivation this technique can help. It doesn't work long term though because then they just get used to a different feeding schedule. The last strategy that can sometimes help boost motivation is skipping training on occasion. Sometimes the birds just get bored and need a break. By skipping a session, it also means they are missing a chance to get treat foods. After a few days of not getting to have treats, even without major hunger, there may be a stronger motivation to earn it.
Thus the secret to teaching your parrot to be more motivated is to keep training and challenging it! The more difficult stuff you can get it to do, the easier it will be to get it to do the easy stuff. Sustain motivation longer by diminishing the difficulty of tasks throughout a training session while increasing the reward value. Exercise your parrot's muscles and brain through extensive flight training. As your parrot becomes stronger, flying will be easier and likewise it will be more motivated to fly. So there's nothing silly about teaching your parrot dozens of tricks, it just makes the parrot even easier to teach something new. Have fun.
Check out this video that demonstrates varying degrees of motivation from some previously unused clips.
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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