ive bought a grey 3 days ago now.
he is 10 months old and can do various words,telephone and door shutting.
i cant speek to the previous owner now as they moved away.
i have taught him on day 2 to nod to a command using clicker,and today he learnt to somersault.so doing very well so far.
the problem i have is he will not step on to my hand? will this suddenly come later?? is this normal? if i lift my hand towards him he will hold it(small nibles)but if i get to close he will bite me very hard!!
however if he flys to the floor or anywhere in the room other than the top of his cage i can walk straight over,show him my hand and he will either step on straight away or fly on to it. i turn round to his cage and off he flys back to the top of the cage,so hes kinda using me.so he must trust me????
i know its only been a few days but was wondering what your thoughts are?
we he just suddenly step onto my hand? at the moment if i show him my hand and use the command he will move away in a mood.
doesnt matter where he is in the room,he will fly back to his cage!
he makes it his main mission to get back,even when he steps up from the floor he will only sit on me for a couple of seconds before taking flight back to the cage.
My grey does the same thing too, but it's due to the fact that his previous owner let him do anything he wanted. No discipline whatsoever.
My first inclination is that you should trim his wings. We trimmed DaVinci's wings today and the first thing he did was plummet to the floor (the carpet) and kinda looked at us like, "Huh?" Since greys are smart, he learned quickly, and now he kind of just has to sit wherever we put him. He's not too happy about it right now, but we plan on letting him get used to it. People are telling me to be patient and keep working with him, but he won't even let us touch him. It's frustrating, I love greys.
As with any parrot training them doesn't happen over night it takes time and patience and you must earn their trust.I am owned my quite a flock which includes 7 Greys.It didn't come easy either.Learn to read their body language and move slowly.Try giving treats and go from there.Once they learn to trust you they will allow you to do more things to them.The key word is TIME.
try clicking and treating him when he steps up on your hand after fluttering to the floor. Once he gets the hang of it, you will want to start using other forms of praise and phase out the treats.
You got the best answer.clip the wings so flying away from you is not an option the bird has.The nibble is his way of telling you he dose'nt want to comply...in the end if you are to continue he must always comply. I keep Macaws..believe me, when they don't want to comply they do alot more than "nibble"...I never take no for an answer, even if I know they are going to bite to resist my request.Believe me, if I had'nt had this attitude from the beginning I would have two large Macaws thet would be impossible to handle.
I disagree with clipping to control your bird.I am owned by quite a flock and they are fully flighted something I decided to do some time ago.I own Macaws and Greys as well as Eclectus and others.They are more willing to do things when they are not restricted.I used to clip but I saw how unhappy my parrots were.Now they are more active and I won't trade that for
anything.My house is safe and there's no need to limit my flock.
Each to his/her own....regardless clipping will help you work easier with your bird and in the end the bird will be safer,besides, who wants bird crap all over there house???...Far more Authors support and reccomend you "CLIP" the wings.
Just because your bird is not clipped does not mean that you will have bird crap all over the house. One of the first things I taught my bird is potty training. He will only go on newspaper. That means one of his cages or one of his playstands with paper under it. He flies from my office back to his playstand in the den several times a day to poop.
A light clipping may help control the bird or it may make the situation worse by him trying to fly back to his cage and then hitting the ground. Regardless of if you clip him or not, clicking and treating/praising him after he does step up is best. After a while withhold the click/treat/praise for longer periods of time to keep him there and from flying to the cage.