A Good Place

[Deleted]

I think we're in a pretty decent place as far as hand-taming is concerned. It's only when they're busy with something that they won't respond to the sight of millet, so that's a pretty good way to get them to go somewhere if we need to.

They'll sometimes hop onto an offered finger, particularly Indie in the morning when outside of the cage as he's waiting for his breakfast.

Yuki will occasionally land on a head and preen hair.

I'm still taking them downstairs for some one-on-one time, though this currently only lasts a few minutes so isn't much. I can take Indie and Munchy down together and if I work with them one at a time then Indie gets very excited whilst watching Munchy. I had then been working with Yuki upstairs as he goes very skittish in new places, but then I thought that I need him to learn to step up and not freak out in an unfamiliar space as that's the whole point of trying to work with him.

Today's sessions went poorly. I was feeling a bit off so wasn't sure if I should, but thought it best to maintain routine and just keep the sessions short.
Well, Munchy decided that he was not going back into the travel cage when asked so I ended up catching him (in hindsight I should have just fetched his ball to lure him). I now have nice little holes in my thumb and forefinger.
So then I just ended up transferring the other two into the cage by catching. Indie's session went okay, though he took two attempts to go back in.
Yuki was also having none of going back into the travel cage. I swear he hated his quarantine in there because he often tries to bolt out of it. So I had to catch him to get him back in too, because I couldn't fetch Indie to lure him with.

So Munchy's not allowed his ball today because apparently he now thinks he can misbehave. And now I'll be trying to make things up to Yuki with millet for the rest of the day.

It's one of those days where I feel like I should feed them, water them, open the cage door and just leave them to it rather than bothering to try establishing any sort of bond with them, but it's not the same not getting any form of interaction with them, especially when I'm at home by myself.

Ah well, we'll just keep working at it and see what happens. Less fear, more trust is the only thing I'm particularly hoping to achieve, because I know they're not going to want to spend time with me rather than each other. But we're doing pretty good I think.

[Deleted]

I think we'll have to go back to taking Munchy and Indie down together and working with Yuki up in the room. Indie is the only one not being a complete tinker when they're separated down in the book nook.

I may need to set up the spare cage for night shifts. I think staying in the travel cage overnight and for a few hours in the morning may have put them off it. Or maybe they just hate training.

I'll see how it goes but we may just go back to me offering them breakfast in the morning and then randomly waving millet at them throughout the day.

Trying to establish a routine is somewhat challenging with them in the bedroom because every day is inconsistent. For instance, if they were in a living room I could uncover them at a set time regardless of whether everyone was up. Or today I suddenly remembered that I need to change the bedding, and we always put a spare sheet over the bed because sometimes the droppings stain the duvet cover, so they had to wait whilst I did that, etc.

But they seem happy, and that's the main thing really.

Indie has started to experiment with toys, which is amazing.

So now I just need to establish if Munchy's unformed droppings are due to the weather, fresh food, or the stress of sharing a cage and we'll be hunkydory.

[willowsmum]

I think you're doing brilliantly @sillycat84 . There'll always be good days and bad days and the whole training process is going to be pretty unpredictable . I think the main thing is to keep enjoying your time with them. You have a gorgeous flock with great personalities, I love seeing/hearing about them

[Deleted]

Thanks willowsmum. They are such characters.

I may have to let Munchy have the spare cage because he appears to be having stressy poos, but we're just checking if it's that or the fresh food.
OH feels bad for him every time he gets chased away from the food too. He figured out my little puzzle for them but then gets chased off by Indie (who in turn gets chased off by Yuki ).
He may just prefer a bachelor pad.

[willowsmum]

Poor Munchy hope his dodgy poos are over soon.

[Deleted]

Hopefully!
Indie's currently in time out because he kept intentionally chasing Munchy off of perches whilst being chatty with Yuki. Munchy was nowhere near them but Indie would move just to be a pain, apparently.
After Indie was removed, Yuki cuddled up to Munchy to chat.
We'll see if removing Indie overnight fixes Munchy's droppings, although that might be a sudden change/we also didn't give them any veg to see if that sorted it.
But I get the feeling that I will be buying a new spare cage and housing Munchy in the Vision.

[willowsmum]

Indie, you little tinker

[Deleted]

Tinker is right!

And yet if I split them they always want to be back together.
Unless Munchy is the one by himself, then he seems pretty chill.

Part of the squabbling is my fault for how I feed them. If I didn't put out multiple containers for them to forage through then they wouldn't bicker over the one container that someone's managed to uncover.