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My birds have various behaviors which one might wish to modify. I have been successful in finding solutions for these behaviors except when it comes to my splendid parakeet. His flightiness is getting the best of me. I am writing to ask for advice.
Roni, my senegal, used to contact call incessantly. I even started a thread on this. With consistency of response she has modified this to something that works for my family and for Roni. She also bites down with her beak too hard at times, but, again, she and I have learned to deal with it in ways that keep it at a minimum. My daughter does not handle her at all because she cannot tolerate the behavior, and frankly Roni is brattier toward her than she is toward me. This works for us, though, because my daughter has her own birds and she and Roni interact from afar. Roni wakes her up in the morning imitating me and so forth, and she scolds Roni and talks to her, almost like sisters.
I find that these behaviors are ones I can work with without loosing my cool, but the splendid parakeet, Isaac, makes me nervous with his own nervousness, and our relationship doesn't seem to be getting any better.
I will say that the longer he is with us, the less things frighten him, so that shows me that he is actually making a great deal of progress. It is not Isaac's progress that bothers me. It is my own feelings of frustration and helplessness.
Isaac is a sweet bird. One could not ask for a sweeter bird. He does not attempt to bite. I don't think he could hurt if he did, but he never tries. The sounds he makes are all very pleasant. He will eat anything. He is, in fact, the most adventerous eater in the entire household. When he wishes to be on us, he crawls all over us, preens our hair, and is overall quite loving in nature.
The only issue we have is that he gets frightened and flies off and gets himself into various predicaments in nearly impossible to reach places, and we are always nervous whenever he is out for fear this is going to be the time when he does himself in.
All three of the little birds get along very well, but I won't allow Isaac to be out of the cage when the other two are out because invariably he gets scared, takes off and gets into some predicament, and the other two get scared because he is scared and fling themselves down so that we are having to resuce all three of them every few minutes. Elisa, the linnie, and Stanley, the bourkes, just don't get into trouble when they are out unless Isaac is also out.
I force myself to take Isaac out of the cage, because I don't really enjoy it. I almost find myself resenting the time I spend with him out because I can't be with the other birds. I'm sure he senses this, and I do try to force myself to enjoy him.
He might be happy if I left him in the cage and did not interact with him, but I don't think so. He preens us and seems to enjoy interacting with us. The bird store has advised me not to let him become cage bound, so I am trying to keep getting him out. When he is out, he will go from a food dish I have for them when they are out to a portable perch to me, back and forth, on his own. He is not being forced to interact with me. He is doing that of his own volition. The only time I feel he is ever forced to do anything is when he flies off, gets in a spot he can't get out of or is simply unsafe to let him remain in, and I have to retrieve him.
I hope this post hasn't offended anyone. I hate to admit that I feel this way about him. Does anyone have any suggestions? He is a sweet bird. I feel he deserves better than this.
Oh, I forgot to say that we have tried leaving him flighted, and this made this exponentially worse. I try to keep him clipped now, but he can fly pretty well even when he is clipped.
Roni, my senegal, used to contact call incessantly. I even started a thread on this. With consistency of response she has modified this to something that works for my family and for Roni. She also bites down with her beak too hard at times, but, again, she and I have learned to deal with it in ways that keep it at a minimum. My daughter does not handle her at all because she cannot tolerate the behavior, and frankly Roni is brattier toward her than she is toward me. This works for us, though, because my daughter has her own birds and she and Roni interact from afar. Roni wakes her up in the morning imitating me and so forth, and she scolds Roni and talks to her, almost like sisters.
I find that these behaviors are ones I can work with without loosing my cool, but the splendid parakeet, Isaac, makes me nervous with his own nervousness, and our relationship doesn't seem to be getting any better.
I will say that the longer he is with us, the less things frighten him, so that shows me that he is actually making a great deal of progress. It is not Isaac's progress that bothers me. It is my own feelings of frustration and helplessness.
Isaac is a sweet bird. One could not ask for a sweeter bird. He does not attempt to bite. I don't think he could hurt if he did, but he never tries. The sounds he makes are all very pleasant. He will eat anything. He is, in fact, the most adventerous eater in the entire household. When he wishes to be on us, he crawls all over us, preens our hair, and is overall quite loving in nature.
The only issue we have is that he gets frightened and flies off and gets himself into various predicaments in nearly impossible to reach places, and we are always nervous whenever he is out for fear this is going to be the time when he does himself in.
All three of the little birds get along very well, but I won't allow Isaac to be out of the cage when the other two are out because invariably he gets scared, takes off and gets into some predicament, and the other two get scared because he is scared and fling themselves down so that we are having to resuce all three of them every few minutes. Elisa, the linnie, and Stanley, the bourkes, just don't get into trouble when they are out unless Isaac is also out.
I force myself to take Isaac out of the cage, because I don't really enjoy it. I almost find myself resenting the time I spend with him out because I can't be with the other birds. I'm sure he senses this, and I do try to force myself to enjoy him.
He might be happy if I left him in the cage and did not interact with him, but I don't think so. He preens us and seems to enjoy interacting with us. The bird store has advised me not to let him become cage bound, so I am trying to keep getting him out. When he is out, he will go from a food dish I have for them when they are out to a portable perch to me, back and forth, on his own. He is not being forced to interact with me. He is doing that of his own volition. The only time I feel he is ever forced to do anything is when he flies off, gets in a spot he can't get out of or is simply unsafe to let him remain in, and I have to retrieve him.
I hope this post hasn't offended anyone. I hate to admit that I feel this way about him. Does anyone have any suggestions? He is a sweet bird. I feel he deserves better than this.
Oh, I forgot to say that we have tried leaving him flighted, and this made this exponentially worse. I try to keep him clipped now, but he can fly pretty well even when he is clipped.