Will I lose all my progress??

[boxxofroxie]

Hello all! I am a new owner of a pair of lovebirds, I have had an African Grey in the past that was beautifully tame. I absolutely loved having her, we decided it was time for birds again since my boys are 7 and 5 and we have many animals on our farm and they know how to behave around them. We decided to start smaller so the kids would not be intimidated. When I purchased I was told that they were both hand tame, it was clear by the end of day 1 they were clearly not. No biggie, once they are in my home, they stay and are family! It’s been just over a week now and they no longer freak out when I’m near the cage and this morning they called for me until I came into the room! I have two little boys that are wonderful with them too, nice and respectful of space. My concern is their flight. They are getting free time out of the cage but are NOT clipped. So they are on the ceiling fans most of the time; tonight I am at work and my husband can not get them down from their chosen perch in the fan! When I had my grey, she came trimmed and I allowed them to grow out. This gave us time to get used to each other and the “rules”. The pet store I got these two from does not believe that trimming is fair so they are fully flighted. I feel that maybe trimming them will help our progress and keep them safe with the intent to allow them to grow again in the future. However, I am terrified that this will ruin all of our progress because I will have to catch them in order to do it. Any advice or experience here??

[linda040899]

Hi and welcome to Lovebirds Plus Community!

Flight feather trimming (to clip or not to clip) is usually a hotly debated topic. My personal feelings are that it depends on the individual birds and circumstances. I'm a retired breeder who opted to keep my breeders, plus I have 7 larger parrot and I've had to make this choice any number of times. I really don't feel, personally, that you would do much damage to the taming work in progress if you were to clip flights. It truly is for their safety, at least at this point. Parrots live in the top of the canopy in their natural habitats, and, in captivity, it's natural to seek out the highest points to perch!!!

I would probably clip the 4 or 5 outermost primary flights on each wing and see how they fly. You want them to glide to a landing rather than just dropping. Many parrots fear human hands so you may find more luck getting them to step up if you use a perch/dowel.

The pet shop may have told you the truth when they told you these 2 are hand tame. They probably were, until they went from a familiar situation to something completely different. Birds are prey animals and are naturally frightened when their situations change. They have no idea, in the beginning, that you don't intend to make them your next meal! They have to learn that by experience and that takes time. Sounds like you are doing well with them, especially since there are 2.

Hope this is helpful. Please let us know how things are progressing!

[boxxofroxie]

Thank you for replying! I did call the shop and the manager happened to answer. She explained that they were at a different store for their first 4 months (how they bonded) and were put in the same cage and not handled at all. So they were tame prior to that. She offered to exchange and while I appreciated that there is no way I’m giving these babies back! However tame they end up being is up to us and them! I was a vet tech prior and have a few animals that never “came around fully” and we just work with whatever level of human interaction they are comfortable with! We have a cat that hissed and spit at us for the first 3 years because he was abused prior and given all the time he needed is now a wonderful trusting cat! My husband was never able to get them back into their cages last night so ultimately we decided trimming was the safest for now since we are terrifying them while trying to coax them into safer places to be. It took a towel to catch them but while restraining there were no bites received, just a few warning nibbles so that makes me hopeful that this is the only trim that will be needed. I trimmed 4 and that worked for one and well, the other can still get up to the ceiling fan with some effort. I’m not going to trim more at the moment because she returns quickly to her friend! By this afternoon they are already accepting the dowel here and there. We have all been eating meals together near them, kids included and they are joining in with their own feed so I know we can make sure these gals (or guys) as comfy here as possible! Like I said, once they enter my home, they stay!! I’m loving looking through all of the articles here it has been helpful for sure! Thank you again and if you have any more advice I’d gladly accept it!!

[linda040899]

Thank you for the wonderful update and extra information! I've found that simply accepting whatever relationship develops between birds and humans is usually the best for all concerned. Not every bird is going to be cuddly. Some just don't like that. I have a Congo Grey imported female who has lived with me since 1991 and Ginger is NOT tame. If I pick her up (with a towel, of course), she will growl and scream like you are killing her! She loves to interact with us, but touch me not! I also have a male DYH Amazon who was given to me because he hates men, or at least he used to. He was badly abused by a man and he had very serious trust issues. After 12 yrs, he's unpacked most of the baggage and he's working on the rest.

Since the one lovie who can fly a bit better comes back to the other one, I agree that it's best to leave well enough alone. Including them in meals is always a great idea. Food/treats can be great aids in taming. Bribery will get you everywhere if you use treats for acceptable behavior.