Oct 7, 2011 16:29:59 GMT
MattJ
Normal Green
Puck
Posts: 329
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Post by MattJ on Oct 11, 2011 11:34:05 GMT
I posted on the old forum about Puck nipping and pecking me .. Its about 2 months since that started and its pretty much stopped so thought I'd give an update as I've seen other ask about similar things When it started he was just going through his first moult at about 3 months old, before this time he was pretty comfotable and hardly ever nipped me. He would go to nip my finger when I put it in the cage mainly He'd had his wings clipped before we got him, so I think he may have felt more vulnerable, with the "flight" of "fight or flight" not an option. I would say the main change was that I learnt when to leave him alone. Like always when he was on 1 foot (sounds obvious I guess or difficult for me to easily reach parts of the cage. Also, that the precursor to a nip was him slightly opening his beak at me. As I found him more defensive when inside his cage I came up with some ways to get him out without touching him. Millet worked for this but also putting a ping-pong ball on his landing ramp as he cant resist knocking it off. I guess other budgies will have similar temptations, just a matter of finding them When out he was much less likely to peck, but if he did I'd say "naughty boy" put him back in close the his door and walk out the room for 10 seconds. This seemed quite effective. To get him used to getting out his cage (again), I'd wait till he seemed to be in a good mood then practice taking him out his cage. So putting my finger out to him, taking him out the door then give him a couple of bites of millet and praise, put him back in then repeat. (something we could do easily before 'the change'). His molt hass pretty much finished now, we're still getting the odd clipped feather falling out (much to my excitement). He's much happier and any nips are usually my fault for miss reading him. He's now happy on my shoulder and will fly across the room to my finger. Very happy
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Apr 29, 2024 13:34:45 GMT
sibylle
Guest
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Post by sibylle on Oct 14, 2011 14:16:07 GMT
Very nice work, what an example of how patience and persistence pay off Do you have any pictures of Puck? Or is Puck the bird in your avatar?
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Oct 7, 2011 16:29:59 GMT
MattJ
Normal Green
Puck
Posts: 329
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Post by MattJ on Nov 2, 2011 12:44:16 GMT
Very nice work, what an example of how patience and persistence pay off Do you have any pictures of Puck? Or is Puck the bird in your avatar? Totally missed this reply - guess it fell off the "New Topics" list Puck is the little guy in my avatar .. a more recent picture here I wanted to put this in the competition then I realised it was "Preening" not "Grooming", so we ended up with that other awful picture lol
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Post by Hezz on Nov 3, 2011 1:52:48 GMT
Puck is beautiful! He couldn't take an awful photo! Wash your mouth out Matt!!! ;D
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Post by stace on Nov 3, 2011 2:02:06 GMT
In the early days with mine, I kinda discovered that part of the training was training yourself to understand why and when they did things. If we understand their natural behaviour, it's easier to work with it. Patience and persistence sure help, too.
It helps if you've had to train other animals before as well. My dog for example. You're already aware of how much work you have to put into it over time to get good results.
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Feb 29, 2012 21:44:11 GMT
Bird Junky
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Posts: 458
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Post by Bird Junky on Mar 22, 2012 0:02:18 GMT
Hi Matt. A miner point. Grooming= Make ones appearance neat & tidy. Preening=Smarten oneself up. Yours B.J.
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Apr 29, 2024 13:34:45 GMT
Deleted
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2012 9:11:52 GMT
Hey Matt! Nice post I'm having the same problem with Munchy right now. He was so docile before that the personality change came as a bit of a shock. Do you think he'll grow out of the biting by himself? Because teaching him otherwise is going to be difficult... He's never really been keen on coming out of his cage anyway, unless, like now, there's millet and his mirror outside near a perch that's attached to his cage, only flies when he has to and has never really chosen to be with any of us. It had gotten to the stage where he'd step onto a finger without being touched though, or would walk across the floor a little way to step up if his cage wasn't there. Trouble is, because he's hard to get out it's pretty hard to try to get him to stand on a finger without biting and then being able to reward him for it. In fact, it was hard to reward him for anything anyway because he hardly ever pays attention to the reward. And he's now devouring his millet. Perhaps I should take it away for a few hours. He has a habit of stripping the spray bare ^^;
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Feb 29, 2012 21:44:11 GMT
Bird Junky
Normal Green
Posts: 458
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Post by Bird Junky on Mar 23, 2012 10:52:36 GMT
Hi Ira. A reward for correct behaviour, like any other reward has to have some worth in the eyes of the receiver. The solution to your problem is to find the treat, (reward) that your bird likes above all else. With humans it's usually love or money. Once having found the treat /treats. It should be saved & not fed as part of the normal diet, but only fed as a reward to encourage wanted behaviour & withheld for unwanted behaviour. If you want your bird step up & he's busy thinking about or doing something else. why should he step up, what's in it for him? It's your job to make yourself the most interesting thing in his world. Not just a boring lump of wood that expects him entertain them. No insult intended just try looking at the situation through his eyes. Yours B.J.
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Apr 29, 2024 13:34:45 GMT
Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2012 13:51:54 GMT
I'm well aware of that, B.J. All I was wondering was if Matt had done anything about the biting directly, or whether Puck just stopped of his own accord.
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Oct 7, 2011 16:29:59 GMT
MattJ
Normal Green
Puck
Posts: 329
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Post by MattJ on Mar 24, 2012 18:37:30 GMT
Heya Ira,
I think its mainly I changed my habits, I learnt when he would bite me and avoided those situations (in his cage, when he was doing something else). Also I found he'd open his beak at me like a long yawn, which was a threat before biting me, so I'd back off then.
I avoided putting my hand in his cage for months, and now we're more bonded (or he's forgotten) and is happy to let me put my finger in his cage and take him out.
The other time he'd bite me is when he'd go nuts over my ring, get over excited and start biting me. Now when I see that happening I take my ring off and that tends to stop him getting too excited.
These don't sound like a possibility in your case really as he doesn't seem to have much good interaction, so simply avoiding the bad stuff isn't going to work. You might have some luck starting off just feeding him a bit of millet from in between your fingers like this
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Oct 6, 2011 7:41:27 GMT
Marianne Marlow
Administrator
George, Daisy, Iris, Billy, Peter, Chipper, Dinku, Barney, Ayla and Rocky
Posts: 28,770
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Post by Marianne Marlow on Mar 24, 2012 18:56:09 GMT
What sweet little sounds Puck makes!
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Apr 29, 2024 13:34:45 GMT
Deleted
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2012 22:07:08 GMT
Thanks Matt Munchy met his match today because he started biting my boyfriend, who just took it, which really confused poor Munchy because everyone else pulls their hands away XD I've been feeding Munchy millet whenever I go over to his cage and only letting him have the millet when I'm giving it to him (although tonight I've put it on the outside of his cage because he's been in his cage most of the day and I thought he might have been a bit scared from me and my bf trying to teach him to step up like he used to without biting ^^; ). The other day I was feeding him seed from my hand and he bit my finger then, although it was inside his cage and he didn't bite my hand when it was the other way around. I'll try to feed him a millet 'bud' the way you did with Puck tomorrow. Hopefully he'll learn to trust me again even if he doesn't ever really want to spend much time with me.
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Apr 29, 2024 13:34:45 GMT
Deleted
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2012 20:31:30 GMT
I've given it a try but I keep flinching a bit when it gets to Munchy eating the seeds nearest to my fingers, and I'm even a bit awkward with the millet in my palm, so at that point I had to resort to using my arm ^^; I need to work on that.
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Apr 29, 2024 13:34:45 GMT
Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2012 9:17:28 GMT
Things could have been going well, but I think my granddad might not have helped my chances to appeal to Munchy's better side. We couldn't get him to go back into his cage this morning so my granddad ended up scaring him into flying so he'd go back in...with his hand... So now Munchy might like my hands even less. I guess I'll have to use the gloves to get him back inside. They scare him, but at least then it's not necessarily hands that he's scared of. I wish we could just leave the door open when everyone's out but the only non-alarmed rooms are the conservatory, which could get too hot when it's sunny, or the bathroom :/
Also, does anyone know where I could get something like a stand for him etc so that he's away from his cage and maybe more approachable.
And what should I do about his love of his mirror? Should I just take it away from him completely? Sadly that and millet are the only things that make him leave his cage...
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Mar 29, 2012 20:48:16 GMT
sunnyjo
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 18
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Post by sunnyjo on Mar 31, 2012 7:35:38 GMT
Are gloves a good solution if you persisted with gloves and treats do you think they would view them as not scary?
Putting an unprotected hand in my hen's cage is a challenge that I don't think I'm up to. We have along way to go before we get to that stage but I would like to know for the future.
Puck is beautiful, thank you for the useful thread.
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