Why should I train my pet bird?
A tame, affectionate, and interactive bird makes a great family pet. Training takes patience, but the rewards of your new relationship with your bird will be fulfilling and long-lasting. The goal is to earn your bird’s trust and respect.
Some larger urban centers have reputable bird trainers. Speak to your avian veterinarian for recommendations and get references.
What do I need to know before I train my bird?
When selecting a pet bird, try to choose a young bird, as it will be easier to tame and train. Young birds also adapt better to new environments and situations. Hand-raised babies usually make better pets because they are completely socialized with humans and bond readily. Older, wild, colony- or parent-raised birds may take a considerable amount of time to tame. Small birds such as finches and canaries may prove very difficult or challenging to hand tame.
After purchasing a new tamed or untamed bird, give it a week to get used to its new environment. The bird has abruptly changed locations and has lost its familiar cage mates and handler. A new bird is usually moderately stressed, and beginning daily training too soon can cause additional stress. Remember that you and the bird are strangers and need to get to know each other and gain trust in each other.
Everything in your house is new to the bird. Daily activities, people, sounds, smells, and routines are all new experiences. Place the new bird in a quiet part of the house away from a lot of commotion. Keep it on its former diet and do not change any of its familiar foods for a couple of weeks. It is important not to alarm the bird with sudden movements or loud noises. Taming and training can begin when your bird appears to be settling comfortably into its new surroundings.
Some people recommend having your bird’s wing feathers clipped by your veterinarian, but it is not necessary in many cases. Wing clipping makes the bird more dependent on you during the taming process, but it may not be needed if your new pet bird is tame to start with.
Birds can bite and even a small bird like a budgie or a cockatiel can break the skin. Gloves may provide some protection from bites, but your bird may become frightened of them and may not distinguish between the five-fingered shape of the gloves and the five fingers of your hand. You do not want the bird to become fearful of your hand.
How do I hand-train my bird?
To hand-train your bird, start slowly. A good start is one or two sessions per day, each five to ten minutes in duration. Gradually work up to two 20-minute sessions each day. Too much attention may produce an overly dependent bird. Your new bird must be able to entertain itself, and you should encourage this skill.
Ensure your bird is introduced to lots of different people over time (e.g., young, old, big, small, male, and female). It is helpful to provide positive reinforcement for allowing handling and training. You can reward your bird with healthy food items such as almond slivers, pieces of carrot, Nutri-Berries®, or sunflower seeds.
Simple commands like “step up” and “stay” should be taught to all pet birds. The command “step up” prompts the bird to step from their cage or another surface onto the handler’s offered hand or finger. The command “stay” instructs the bird to remain in a specific position, typically on a perch or stand.
To teach “step up,” your bird must be comfortable with the presence and closeness of your hand. You can accomplish this goal by getting the bird to take food out of your hand.
The next step is to slowly and gently train your bird to step onto a stick. Slowly but deliberately introduce the stick into the cage, toward your bird’s upper legs and lower chest area, talking quietly to the bird as you move the stick closer. Once your bird is comfortable perching on a stick, move the hand holding the stick closer to your bird until your hand replaces the stick as the perch.
Remember that birds, especially larger birds, use their beak as a third hand for balance. They will often reach out with their beak to hang on while they step up. When they reach out, try to show confidence and try not to move. Pulling away suddenly may frighten your bird and lead to a bite. Your bird may also learn to control you by simply reaching out with the beak to make you “go away.” Food may help to distract your bird as well as reward it.
Coach and encourage your friends and family to work with your bird in the same way as you. You have now made great steps forward in the training process. Touching, petting, head scratching, and snuggling will follow, with persistence and patience in training.
What if my bird bites me?
If your bird tries to bite you, keep your fingers together and curled inward. It is harder to bite a flat surface than individual fingers. Pull your hand a short distance out of the bird’s reach but hold your ground.
If your bird does bite, try to remain calm. If your bird is on your hand and biting, some recommend a short downward shift of the bitten hand. A stern verbal “NO” is useful. Never hit your bird, as they do not respond to this type of discipline. They will lose their trust in you and may learn to fear hands.
Can my bird learn to talk?
Budgies, cockatiels, some Amazon parrots, African Grey parrots, cockatoos, and macaws all have the capacity to “talk” or mimic speech. Some species speak better than others. Even among the same species, some individuals may never talk while others will not stop talking.
Individual birds may develop extensive vocabularies of words, songs, verse, whistles, sneezing, coughing, and electronic noises, such as telephones. The bird is simply mimicking what it hears, and it will generally repeat those sounds frequently. Many of the words and sounds a bird learns are those they hear all the time, even when you do not “teach” the bird.
Generally, male birds tend to be better talkers, but there are also talented female talkers. It is sometimes suggested that, if you want your bird to talk, you should not teach it to whistle, since whistling is easy and your bird may prefer whistling to talking.
There are many documented cases of parrots learning to associate words with objects, learning to count, and learning to differentiate colors and shapes. As with any training, it takes time, patience, and repetition to learn these skills.
