WallyBirdie
Crowing
- Aug 2, 2019
- 854
- 1,869
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I brought home a green cheek conure (is it cheek or cheeked?) on May 18th this year.
His name is Monty.
He was skittish, hand wary, and well flighted.
While he wasn't open to being handled, he adjusted well, quickly found joy in toys and treats and learned to play birdie basketball.
He is so smart and funny, very active.
I admit, it was a bit discouraging that he was so wary. He would hide in the corner of his cage when I changed food and water, and he waited for me to set a treat in his bowl and retreat before he checked it out.
But this improved with repetition! He stopped waiting and started coming to me when he saw the treats, though he was reluctant to take it directly from my hand.
He's getting more confident now and will take seeds and fruit from my hand.
Step-up training wasn't going at all how I'd hoped. Any attempt followed up with him flying off. He just doesn like hands. So, I looked into methods to train hand-wary birds...
Today, big triumph! Huge!
One small step for my conure Monty and one giant leap for us as companions!
Today, June 19th, he stepped up on my arm (onto my sleeve, persuaded with millet) and stayed there for nearly ten minutes!
I talked to him and offered him small bites at a time, and I talked to him while he perched on my arm. He might have fallen asleep if I hadn't needed to go feed the chickens. His eyes were blinking slow and he looked relaxed.
I used another treat to coax him from my arm to another perch.
He is such a good boy and I am so excited!
His name is Monty.
He was skittish, hand wary, and well flighted.
While he wasn't open to being handled, he adjusted well, quickly found joy in toys and treats and learned to play birdie basketball.
He is so smart and funny, very active.
I admit, it was a bit discouraging that he was so wary. He would hide in the corner of his cage when I changed food and water, and he waited for me to set a treat in his bowl and retreat before he checked it out.
But this improved with repetition! He stopped waiting and started coming to me when he saw the treats, though he was reluctant to take it directly from my hand.
He's getting more confident now and will take seeds and fruit from my hand.
Step-up training wasn't going at all how I'd hoped. Any attempt followed up with him flying off. He just doesn like hands. So, I looked into methods to train hand-wary birds...
Today, big triumph! Huge!
One small step for my conure Monty and one giant leap for us as companions!
Today, June 19th, he stepped up on my arm (onto my sleeve, persuaded with millet) and stayed there for nearly ten minutes!
I talked to him and offered him small bites at a time, and I talked to him while he perched on my arm. He might have fallen asleep if I hadn't needed to go feed the chickens. His eyes were blinking slow and he looked relaxed.
I used another treat to coax him from my arm to another perch.
He is such a good boy and I am so excited!
