Transitioning Baby Parrots to a New Home

All that training paid off! The baby parrots have transitioned to their new home at the Kaytee Learning Center. I mentioned in a previous blog, that one of the best things we can do for a young parrot is train him. Young parrots are sponges. During this critical time of development they are often quite receptive to new things and new experiences. Instead of waiting until a behavior is needed or when a problem develops, I highly encourage people to build a foundation of behaviors early in a young parrot’s life. Just like taking our pups to obedience classes, we can offer the same type of early instruction to set our young parrots up for success.



Beni the blue throated macaw and Wrigley the double yellow headed Amazon parrot are evidence of how well this works. Traveling with them was stress free thanks to advance training. And their first day at the center was remarkably easy. As soon as we arrived at Kaytee we brought the parrots to a meeting room and let them out. They were completely unaffected by the new environment and eagerly interacted with John and Michelle their new caretakers. They didn’t even need time to adjust to the new space. The first few clips in the video are from that first session.

As the week progressed we tried flying them with new people and in new environments. Our biggest fear was some large windows in the main room of the Learning Center. The windows had decals on them that birds can see, but are clear to humans. If the parrots got flying fast, we worried would they see them? Both Beni and Wrigley had experience with windows and mirrors at my house. Smearing bar soap on these surfaces can help parrots learn to avoid these hazards. This is an “old zookeeper’s secret.” There are many zoo bird houses that feature glass barriers. To help birds acclimate to them bird keepers smear soap on them. Over time they gradually wipe the soap off until it is all gone.

Our hope was that the decals would offer the same function, but could stay on the windows forever. The good news is that they did. During one session Beni headed towards a glass door and in mid air did a 180 and headed a different direction. In another session he circled the room and got going pretty fast, each time he headed towards the windows he banked and kept going. After that we felt pretty confident, the windows would not be an issue.

Throughout the week Beni and Wrigley interacted with a number of different people and in several new environments. They did really well. In fact on the last day they participated in another school program. This one was for high school students. Wrigley stepped up on each student and Beni flew to a dowel rod each student was allowed to hold. Beni also did his flighted retrieve and Wrigley flew over the students as they sat on the floor. The teacher for the class was kind enough to share his photos of the event. You can see them at the end of the video clip.

I wrote a blog a while back about “Preventing the One Person Parrot.” Because Beni loves attention and had been receiving it primarily from me for the past three months, I was a bit of a distraction during training sessions. Beni would often seek me out and fly to me. However because the goal was for him to interact with others, I was careful to avoid giving him attention or treats for flying to me unless I cued him. Instead everyone else would now be the ones to deliver treats and attention. It also meant I did not get as much footage of his training sessions. I had to hide to help improve his success with others. It did help and I am happy to hear he continues to be working really well for everyone at the Kaytee Learning Center.

The week flew by and before I knew it was time to say goodbye. They are in good hands and as you can see from the video are already well loved by the staff. I heard the baby parrots recently made their debut at a company meeting and performed perfectly. They will be great ambassadors for their species and will help a lot of people learn about responsible parrot care. I am honored to have had them in my life and will look forward to visiting them in the future. I hope their story has helped you with the parrots in your home.

Barbara Heidenreich
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2009
www.GoodBirdInc.com

Traveling with Parrots

Twenty hours in a car. That is how long it took to get the baby parrots to their new home. And I am happy to report the journey proceeded without incident. This is in part because of some advance training. Both Beni and Wrigley had already learned to enter crates. I had practiced moving them in the crates and eventually going for short drives. On the days we did not work on this behavior, the crates were always set up with treats hidden within. This meant if they felt like exploring an open crate on their own when they were out playing they would discover something special inside.

Needless to say, they soon learned to check the crates for goodies first thing. For the long drive I decided I wanted to use something larger than a crate and purchased some collapsible wire cages. I set these up where the crates usually sat. Transitioning to the new travel cages was a breeze. I also loaded them up with tons of toys which were too tempting for the baby parrots to resist.

Beni and Wrigley had also experienced several new environments in their training. This meant the hotel rooms were just another interesting place to explore, instead of a potentially frightening experience. I also brought along some familiar perches to give them a recognizable prop in a new environment. These ended up being their preferred roosting location for their nights in the hotel room.



Even though the drive was tiring and when we arrived it was snowing, there was still time for a bit of playing on the hotel beds as the video clip shows.

Their transition to their new home at the Kaytee Learning Center went really well too. But I will save that for the next blog!

Barbara Heidenreich
Copyright Good Bird Inc
www.GoodBirdInc.com

Training Baby Parrots

It is a bittersweet week. The baby parrots, Beni and Wrigley have completed their training with me and are about to make the journey to their new home at the Kaytee Learning Center. I know I will miss them terribly, but at the same time I am excited to see them get started as avian ambassadors, teaching the world about responsible pet ownership and conservation. Here is a video clip of all they have learned…plus their first appearance at a school!



As I reflect back on our time together, I realize they have taught me as much as I have taught them. Every time I have the opportunity to train it is a learning experience for me as well. A few important lessons I am reminded of are as follows:

Training a young parrot is much like a new puppy or kitten. In order for them to learn to behave well in our homes, it is ideal to provide instruction early on. There were days in the beginning when I was frustrated when the babies would land on an unsanctioned perch. But I knew that meant I needed to either remove the temptation and/or heavily reinforce the birds for sitting on approved perching. In the beginning this took my undivided attention when they were out exploring. Now after being reinforced for the correct behavior so many times, my confidence is high that they will be playing and perching in acceptable locations. So much so, that I can often leave the room and check on them periodically. By investing the time to train desired behavior in the beginning, I can look forward to a well behaved parrot down the road.

When a parrot is quite young we have a great opportunity to expose them to many things they may encounter later in life. Many young birds are receptive to new things. By pairing these things with known positive reinforcers, we can set them up for success. This means it is good goal to plan on introducing things like nail clippers, towels, new people, etc. Both Beni and Wrigley experienced those things and much more.

Food is a great reinforcer….but it is not the only one. I presented a paper at a bird trainer’s conference a few years back about expanding your list of reinforcers. The more I grow as a trainer, the more I love to experiment with this. Baby parrots are usually great candidates for using other reinforcers. In many cases they are curious and interested in things like toys, play, attention and tactile reinforcers. I used all of these, as well as food to train the baby parrots. As you watch the video clip, take note of those other reinforcers.

Even though both birds have learned so much, their training is not done. In fact it is never over. These parrots will be learning for the rest of their lives. What we see in the video will only last if it is reinforced. Just because it was trained once doesn’t mean it sticks forever. This means every behavior I or their future trainers want to see repeated needs to be reinforced. Behaviors that are undesired should go unreinforced and/or redirected to acceptable behaviors. So the journey does not end here! I will look forward to hearing and sharing updates on their progress in their new home.

I will try to get another blog up about their transition to their new digs once we make the trip. I hope you have enjoyed following their story.

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2009

Parrots and Children

Recently, the baby parrots had their first introduction to children. This was going to be a big new experience. There were four children who were very excited to meet the parrots. There were also three adults (including myself) to make sure the situation was safe for everyone involved.

Because this introduction was also occurring in yet another new environment, the baby parrots were going to have to adjust to two criteria at once. This is usually not an ideal training situation. Usually it is advised to focus on one criterion at a time. To help make the transition easier, the first goal was to have the children sit patiently and quietly on the couches while Beni and Wrigley took a look at the new environment. The kids did great!

Wrigley came out first and was definitely a bit distracted by the super tall ceiling, high paned windows and open space. Our host’s house has a two story living room. Wrigley needed a few moments to look around. But once he relaxed he flew calmly over to the oldest child, Jay and decided his head was perfect for perching. Jay responded in the best way possible. He held still and kept calm. Wrigley stepped from Jay’s head to my hand with ease, and we were all impressed with Jay’s reaction.

Beni came out and quickly relaxed in the new environment. He was ready to fly to his perches and to me right away. Both birds were receptive to treats, and the children asked if they might hold a parrot. Because both birds appeared relaxed we thought we would give it a try. After some instructions for the children, Wrigley stepped onto their arms. Beni tried to fly to one child’s outstretched arm. But we decided a macaw might be a bit too heavy for these youngsters. Instead Beni found his way to my friend Rebecca’s arm a few times.


After a while the birds began a few more exploratory flights. Wrigley even ended up on the ceiling fan, but flew down within just a few minutes. This was an important experience for him. In the future he may be in other rooms with high places to perch. I wanted to be sure he had some opportunity to recall from much higher perches than those he had experienced in the past.

As time passed 3 of the 4 children ventured onto to other activities. Beni and Wrigley were also starting to lose interest in the session. John stayed focused on the birds. The big grin on his face made us think “future bird trainer!”

Lessons I learned from the experience are that we need to explore some more diverse environments. I have some ideas for the next venues to address that.

I also think I will have one parrot out at a time if my attention will be directed elsewhere. When working with the children and Wrigley, Beni wanted to fly to me. Normally I step aside when he flies before he is cued and he will land on a perch. I then cue him to fly to me so he can learn a cue is required for permission to launch to me. However because I was focused on an important task with another parrot and child, I had set it up so that Beni could easily land on my head or shoulder. This is a behavior I would prefer he not do. But I had not set either of us up for success in that particular moment. However as mentioned, that can be easily addressed in the future by making sure I will be able to give him my full attention next time.

Another piece learned from this excursion is it's time to start training some specific behaviors, flight patterns and/or routines for these guys. This will help give them direction and focus when they are in front of a group of people. Time to brainstorm!

*Special thanks to Rebecca for the pictures and to Jenny and all the young bird trainers!

Barbara Heidenreich
ww.GoodBirdInc.com
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2009

Teaching Parrots to Like New People and Places - Making Progress!

Beni and Wrigley are progressing nicely. To keep things moving forward we traveled to another new environment. Travel in the crate would be a bit longer this time as our destination was about 20 miles away. My friend Heather is an animal lover and also manages a hotel. She was happy to have us visit.

I had a feeling based on our last excursion that the baby parrots would do fine. So I came prepared to videotape their reaction to the new environment. As the video shows, to them it was just another fun place to be. There were no flights in which the parrots seemed confused or unsure of where to go. They simply headed to their perches, to me or Heather, however Beni did discover that the luggage cart was quite fun. He ended up sliding down the sides like a fireman. Who knew enrichment was so easy?



Both parrots responded well to Heather. One factor that could have been a distraction for them was that Heather was wearing dark nail polish. I have not worn nail polish around the parrots, so this would be a new experience. I had Heather offer a few treats slowly at first. Fortunately neither parrot reacted to the nail polish. They did however really want to work on the buttons on Heather’s shirt. A few treats, toys and head scratches for staying on the hand or a perch seemed to get their minds off of buttons.

As in our past excursions, both parrots started playing with toys. Beni sat calmly while I put the harness on him. And both parrots were recalling like champs in the new space. After about 45 minutes of training and fun, Wrigley starting grinding his beak as if he was ready to take a little snooze. I decided it was time to return to the crate. As usual Wrigley was a dream. Beni hesitated, but went in. Back at home they both went in and out of the crates freely for goodies and toys before they returned to their cages for an afternoon nap.

Our next goal is to find a larger space and add a few more people to the mix.

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com
Copyright 2009 Good Bird Inc

This Parrot is Gonna Be a Talker!

Wrigley the double yellow headed amazon was quite entertaining last night. He is certainly starting to stretch his vocal abilities. He is mostly just producing sounds at this point, but every once in a while says "good bird", "hi", "hello" and does a little aria. He seems to be trying to copy the sounds my yellow naped amazon Delbert makes...including "Hi Delbert!"

I just had to share a video clip as I find it fascinating watching him develop his vocabulary....and he is pretty cute too.


Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2009

Introducing Parrots to New People

It was another big day for the baby parrots. I packed two familiar perches, toys, treats, my dog and the babies into the car for another excursion. This meant a little more time in crates for each parrot. Beni the blue throated macaw still has some hesitation on occasion with the crate, so we practice entering the kennel daily. However he did pretty well with the experience today. I do think he is becoming more accustomed to it.

Wrigley the double yellow headed Amazon on the other hand seems to find crate travel akin to luxury cruising I think. He loves it! It is definitely a solid behavior for him.

My dog Waylon came along because our destination included fun doggie times too. We were off to my friend Sue’s house. She is a dog trainer who runs a website called Raising Canine. Her site offers instructional courses for professional animal trainers. Her dog Jimmy Jo and Waylon are buddies.

Sue is new to parrots so this was going to be a fun learning opportunity for the babies and for Sue. I was extremely happy to see the baby parrots show absolutely no hesitation when they emerged from the kennels. Their body language showed they were at ease with the new environment. Each flew around the room a few times, but found their perches rather quickly and was ready to present behaviors. After snacking on a few treats from Sue, they were ready to fly to her.

This quickly turned into the baby parrots wanting to be on Sue all the time. She’s fun! She’s a treat dispenser! Beni is quite fond of head scratches in addition to treats. I wanted to see if he would be open to a new person touching him. To transition to this, I started giving Beni a few head scratches. Sue slowly took over. Pretty soon Beni was all but melted on the perch soaking up some all over touching. Beni later let me put his harness on and also spent a chunk of his time playing with toys alongside Wrigley on top of a crate.

Their next test was to see how they would respond to a new dog, Jimmy Jo. Jimmy Jo gets pretty excited around birds as his breed (Springer spaniel) was designed to hunt for birds. Just to be safe we had Jimmy Jo on the leash. He barked a lot but never tried to go after the birds. The baby parrots just sat there with a “what is with this guy?” look on their faces. I can happily report they were pretty much unphased by yet another new dog. Although one did somehow manage to poop on Waylon’s nose.

Going back home, meant going back into the crate. I had a feeling this might be tough after having so much fun at Sue’s. But I came prepared. Instead of their usual treats, I brought a nice hunk of birdie bread to use to reinforce going back into the crate. Smart move on my part, if I do say so myself. Wrigley went in perfectly. Beni did pretty well too.

They did so well at Sue’s I’d say we are ready for yet another new environment tomorrow!

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2009

The Baby Parrots Take a Trip

What an adventurous day. The baby parrots took a small excursion….. planned of course. So far both Wrigley and Beni have had the chance to spend time in each room of my house and also the back yard. They now appear relaxed and comfortable in these environments. This means it was time for us to push the envelope and try a completely new environment. I had done quite a bit of training to get both birds ready for spending more than just a few minutes in a crate for travel. And it paid off. Both birds entered their crates without hesitation. I had already worked on walking them around the house in the crates, and also placing the crates in the car and taking a short drive around the block. Today we took it a bit further and drove to my friend’s house.

I packed a familiar perch, lots of treats and a few toys. My friend had recently hurt her ankle and was stuck in her room with her foot propped up on a pillow. Time for some feathered entertainment! I placed the crated parrots on the bed. I set up the portable perch. Now it was time to open the crate doors.

One of the things that never ceases to amaze me is how what you think will be so predictable often ends up being exactly the opposite. I was so sure Wrigley the double yellow headed Amazon would be calm as a cucumber and Beni the blue throated macaw would be wide eyed about the new environment. Instead Beni could have cared less. He was just thrilled to be hanging out with people and sucking up tons of attention. He flew with confidence to the perch, to my hand and to the top of the crate. To him it was just another room.

Wrigley on the other hand had to take a moment to observe his new environment. He then launched into a few loops around the room before finally landing on his familiar perch. But once that moment passed he was all about exploring, flying to my friend for treats and playing with toys. That was actually my favorite part. The fact that both parrots were comfortable enough in just a few minutes to play with toys was a great sign. It also meant all that time spent practicing behaviors in new environments was working. Beni and Wrigley are learning to generalize their behaviors. This is an important goal for these future ambassadors for their species.

Although they did really well in the new environment we did have one small set back. The crate training suffered a small breakdown. Beni was not so eager to enter the crate for the return trip home. This means the short drive was too big of an approximation for him.

Training Beni to crate has been a challenge from the start. I think this is because his first experience in the crate was a 4 hour drive from the breeder’s place to mine. This was more than he was ready for at the time. This has meant a lot of work on this behavior, and no doubt we will spend another session just practicing some repetitions of going in and out of the crate for our next sessions, and building our approximations from there. Even though there was a slight glitch, the good news is we can get back on track. Thankfully, even less than perfect situations can be turned around with a little positive reinforcement.

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2009

Parrot Training in New Environments

If you are a parrot training fan, you have probably already trained your bird to do a few cute things like maybe wave or turn around on cue. Have you ever tried to ask your parrot to present those behaviors in a new environment? Such as a bird club meeting or at a friend’s house or maybe the veterinary hospital. For some parrots this can be very challenging. Suddenly your outgoing social butterfly freezes up and seems to have forgotten all the things you have taught him to do.

In truth he probably hasn’t forgotten, he is just not yet learned to present behaviors in other environments. The process of teaching an animal to present a behavior under many different conditions is called generalization.

Beni, the blue throated macaw has done so well with harness training it was time to let him experience some new environments while wearing his spiffy blue harness. First we visited different rooms in my house. The bathroom was particularly fun. He got quite excited by his reflection in the mirror. I think he even tried to say “hello” in macaw language.

He did well in each of the rooms of the house. They weren’t much different from what he was used to. He would take treats, and fly to me and other perches on cue. However when we ventured into the back yard, it was a different story. This environment was quite unusual for him. So we took it slow. For the first few days I kept the sessions short and gradually walked him to more areas of the yard. He accepted a few head scratches and treats after some initial looking around, but did not look quite as relaxed as I wanted.

Finally today he started to seem a bit more comfy. I thought now would be a good time to try a favorite strategy of mine. One great way to help a bird move onto the next steps toward generalization is to cue a super simple behavior over and over a few times. This gives the bird something to focus on that he knows earns some positive reinforcers. What Beni does best is fly to me. I grabbed a familiar perch and placed it in the yard. With the leash safely wrapped around my wrist, Beni recalled like a champ. Next thing you know his body language looked much more relaxed and he began to show an interest in exploring this new world with confidence.

For Beni, recall is an easy behavior. For your parrot it might be something like saying “hello” or lifting his wings or foot when cued. Any behavior your parrot offers readily is ideal for this strategy. Your bird may need some time to desensitize to the environment first before he will present behavior, just like Beni did. But after just a few sessions of looking around, Beni was ready.

Once Beni has a few more days of relaxed body language in the back yard, it will be onto another new location and a repeat of the process. Eventually Beni will learn that presenting behaviors in any environment is easy and earns you favorite things like head scratches and treats.

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2009

Preventing the One Person Parrot

There was a recent discussion on my yahoo group about innate vs. learned behaviors. It seems the two are not so mutually exclusive. There are many behaviors we tend to chalk up to genetics and assume we can never change. But the good news is even these so called hard wired behaviors are often heavily influenced by experience. This is especially important as we work to shape the behavior of our parrots.

Beni the blue throated macaw is a great example. As his photos show, he can be a love……once he gets to know you. Guess who he knows best now? Me. I spend more time with him than anyone. And all those wonderful head scratching sessions, treat fueled training times and fun play encounters make me a special person to Beni. Although I certainly enjoy this, Beni has more important things to do in his future than just be my buddy. Soon he will be teaching others about responsible pet ownership and parrot conservation. This means Beni needs to play nice with others too.

Even though parrots may have a tendency to choose one person as their preferred companion, I know that I can use positive reinforcement training to teach Beni that it is fun to interact with other people as well.

Recently one of the staff members of the Kaytee Learning Center came to visit the baby parrots. This was the perfect opportunity to help both Beni and Wrigley learn that other people are also great fun. John will be the baby parrots primary trainer at Kaytee. I was very pleased to see Wrigley warm up to John right away. Within the first hour he was rolling over onto his back for play sessions and flying to John on cue.

Beni on the other hand was not so sure. He did fly to John that first session, but showed body language that indicated he was not so sure about the situation. One thing that was not helping is if I was in close proximity to Beni. Because Beni can fly, if he saw me, he would often choose to come to me instead of John. While I am flattered all that great training has worked to build a strong relationship with Beni, I really want Beni to respond positively to other people. To help Beni and John succeed, I decided it would be better if I did not interact with Beni for the rest of the visit. Instead John would let Beni out of his cage, and also deliver all treats and toys. And it worked!

Eventually we were able to work up to a session in which Beni enjoyed lots of head scratches from John. The goal was to reduce my value to Beni and increase John’s. It did mean I had to temporarily reduce my interactions with Beni a bit, and let John do more fun things with him.

The good news is even though Beni may want to choose one person as his favorite, we can teach him he doesn’t have too. Everyone is a blast.

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2009

Baby Parrot Names

Recently I mentioned that the young parrots at my house had been given new names. This created a few puzzled responses from folks. I thought I would elaborate as I now know a bit more about how the new names were chosen.

The double yellow headed Amazon parrot was previously called Joker. His name was given by the breeder with the thought that it might be changed at some point by the folks at his new home at the Kaytee Learning Center. This was the same situation for the blue throated macaw formerly known as Jackson.

The staff at Kaytee had a brainstorming session and came up with some clever ideas.

Joker’s new name is “Wrigley” as in Wrigley’s double mint gum…..double yellow headed Amazon…get it?

Jackson’s name was changed to Beni, because this is the name of the region in Bolivia where blue throated macaws are found in the wild. This macaw species is quite endangered. Connecting his name to the plight of his wild cousins can help raise awareness to parrot conservation.

So there you have it! Beni and Wrigley. I have to admit their new names have grown on me.

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2009

Who Wants a Parrot that Talks?

Everyone! Well, sometimes it seems that way. One of the popular requests I receive is for information on training a parrot to talk. The truth is there is no guarantee that you can get a parrot to talk. Otherwise we would think of great talking parrots as a dime a dozen and everyone would have one. You can be a great trainer, but part of the equation is the bird and its learning history.

If you are one of those people who has a parrot who is trying to copy sounds, all I can say is “Woohoo!” You have it easy. All you have to do is create the situations in which your bird is likely to make a few sounds, reinforce and then put the sounds on cue.

One of the parrots staying at my house for some training is a double yellow headed Amazon parrot, newly renamed “Wrigley” (Yes, Jackson and Joker have new names. Jackson is now Beni and Joker is Wrigley) Wrigley is already showing an interest in talking. One thing that helps is that my yellow naped Amazon parrot Delbert talks up a storm. So Wrigley hears Delbert’s phrases and sayings throughout the day.

This morning when Wrigley stepped onto my hand to come out of his cage he blurted out “How are you!” I must admit I had a little tingle in my stomach. It is exciting when a parrot starts to pick up sounds you like. And one of my training mantras is “if it happened once, it will happen again” I suspect I will be hearing a lot more of our Wrigley in the days to come.

Those of you who do have parrots that talk probably have noticed that they often get chatty when there is a loud continuous sound such as the vacuum cleaner or water running. This is a great way to encourage your parrot to vocalize so that you can reinforce sounds you like. Here is a little video clip of Wrigley practicing his various sounds with the vacuum running in the back ground.....and a slight interruption from Beni. Enjoy!

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2009

Training a Parrot to Love a Towel

How much do I love this behavior? Let me count the ways. Training a parrot to look forward to being wrapped in a towel has become one of my favorite behaviors to train. I think in part because I know most parrots at some point in their lives will likely be wrapped in a towel for a medical procedure. Knowing that I can reduce stress that may be part of that situation by using positive reinforcement, makes it easy to add this behavior to my list of training goals.

In my DVD Training a Parrot for the Veterinary Exam, I go through the approximations of training this behavior with a yellow collared macaw and also a hybrid macaw. Both were re-homed birds who had a history of unpleasant experiences with towels. This makes it a little more challenging to train the behavior, but certainly not impossible. It just means taking it slower, using smaller approximations and of course lots of positive reinforcers. And as you can see in the video, both birds learn towels are now associated with good things.

One of the great things about working with young parrots, is often they have not yet been exposed to things in a way that might create a fear response. Both Jackson and Joker, the young parrots at my house, have seen a towel. But I have been very careful to make sure all towel encounters include positive reinforcers.

Joker thinks towels mean you get to roll around on your back and play with toys. Jackson thinks towels means you will get your head scratched for a nice chunk of time. My own yellow naped Amazon parrot, Delbert will fly to a towel if he sees one in your hand. He has had so many pleasant experiences associated with a towel he can’t wait to get into one.

People often ask what happens to all that great training when you go to the veterinarian and the parrot is restrained in the towel for a not so pleasant procedure. Will a traumatic experience cause the behavior to fall apart? The answer is “It depends.” If the experience is extremely difficult, the bird may need to be retrained on the behavior. However if you bird has a very long history of positive reinforcement with the towel, one not so great experience will probably not cancel out the plethora of wonderful times he has had in the towel.

Of course the best approach is to train the behavior to the point that actual restraint in the towel is not a problem for your parrot. Jackson and Joker are well on their way towards that goal.

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com
Copyright 2009

Parrots Who Can’t Wait To Do What You Ask

Joker the yellow naped Amazon parrot made me proud today. As mentioned in an earlier blog, both Joker and Jackson the blue throated macaw showed some hesitancy in returning to their cages after a few hours spent outside their cages training and playing. With some positive reinforcement training Jackson got back on track rather quickly. Joker was a bit more challenging. This is because he primarily works for food treats. While play, toys and attention can be good reinforcers for him, when the behavior is a tough one, treats are by far the best solution in his case. However this means timing training sessions for when he is most receptive to a goodie. Jackson on the other hand will do practically anything for a head scratch at most anytime.

Usually when I open Joker’s cage door, the first thing he wants to do is stretch his wings and fly around for a bit. I usually wait until after he has expended some of the energy before seeing if he is interested in a training session.

However this morning he stuck around the cage, while I removed bowls, cleaned, etc. “I thought to myself “Hmmmmm, maybe this is a sign he is ready for a session right now.” I pulled some treats out of my pocket and sure enough he was ready for some training. We went through a number of repetitions of him entering the cage for a treat and exiting for no treat. What made me so proud was that instead of leaning away or even sitting upright, he began leaning towards the cage door as if to say “Hurry up! I want to get inside that cage!” I love it when positive reinforcement creates a parrot that is an eager participant, one that can’t wait to do the behavior because he knows it will result in great consequences.

This is also Joker’s response to a crate as well. He almost can’t wait to go inside one. Even though at the moment training sessions are timed for when Joker is most interested in treats, overtime that will be less important. All those excellent training sessions will add up and Joker will learn returning to the cage, or entering a crate anytime you are cued is worthwhile.

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com
Copyright 2009

Training Two Parrots at the Same Time

Working in free flight bird shows for so many years, you quickly learn or develop techniques to work with more than one bird at a time. At one zoo where I consulted we flew 17 macaws together as a flock. They all lived together in one giant aviary. But we taught them all to wait on perches to be cued to step up. Otherwise we had 17 birds flinging themselves at us in hopes of getting a treat. Yes positive reinforcement can be pretty powerful. But when used to reinforce what you want, you can change chaos to cooperation.

Training two parrots I suppose is a cakewalk compared to 17. But even so, training more than one bird at the same time presents some challenges. With the two flighted baby parrots at my house, one of the challenges is that one bird, Jackson the macaw, is always looking for a cue that might mean he gets to come over and get a treat or get some attention. This means poor Joker, the Amazon parrot, gets the short end of the stick if I am not careful. If I cue Joker to fly to me and Jackson sees it, he will try to get to me first and make sure there is no room for Joker.

To address this I look for moments and situations in which Joker can see my cue and Jackson can’t. I also look for ways to reinforce the bird not needed at the moment for staying put. For example, I might get the macaw engaged in playing with a toy, or reinforce him with treats for sitting calmly nearby while I work with the other parrot.

When I work with Joker on entering a crate, I reinforce Jackson for sitting on my left hand. Joker walks into the crate on his own and I can reinforce him with my right hand. Both parrots are relaxed and comfy and earning reinforcers for doing behaviors I want. If I only need Jackson, usually Joker can easily be redirected to some fun toys as seen in the photo above.

Some people opt for only working with one bird at a time. This is certainly an excellent option. However I found that one bird will pace if left in the cage and ends up being a big distraction to the other parrot. Therefore having them both out and reinforcing one for staying out of the way, or training while one is preoccupied has worked well for these two parrots.

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com
Copyright 2009

Training a Parrot to Lie on his Back

“Uh, excuse me! You need to stop being so cute. Really. I am having a tough time getting to all those other responsibilities I have.”

I think that is the inner dialog I have whenever I am working with Jackson. But seriously look at that bird! How cute is he? Makes a person just want to play with parrots all day long. Doesn’t it?

Believe it or not, this is a behavior I am training Jackson to do. (Not look cute. He does that on his own.) What I am training him to do is lie on his back. He actually learned to do it in record time.

I will explain the steps I used to train this behavior. Jackson will step up readily. He enjoys sitting perched on my hand for attention, treats and head scratches. With Jackson perched on my hand I started the behavior by gently bringing my right hand towards his back. I reinforced him for remaining calm and relaxed. Sometimes I reinforced with a treat and sometimes a head scratch or cuddle. Overtime he became quite comfortable with my hand resting on his back.

The next step was for me to bend slightly at the waist and support Jackson’s back with my right hand. I then straightened back up and offered him a treat. This method allowed Jackson to experience being on his back in tiny increments of time. Eventually I extended these intervals to about 30 seconds.

At this stage I wanted to work towards having Jackson hold this position without having his feet hold onto my left hand or using my right hand to support his back. This meant moving to the couch as seen in the picture.

This time when I bent over, he rested on my palm on the couch. Overtime I was able to slide my hand out from under him. He also began to gradually loosen his hold on my left hand with his feet. This allowed me to cover him with head scratches which he adores. Next thing you know, Jackson doesn’t want to move from his new favorite spot on the couch. Ah, the power of positive reinforcement!

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com
Copyright 2009 Good Bird Inc

This Blue Throated Macaw Knows his Best Angle

Apparently Jackson the Blue Throated macaw has modeling experience. It seems more often that not he strikes a very specific pose. It’s almost as if he has rehearsed it. Hmmmmmmm. Judge for yourself!

A Great Day of Parrot Training

Not too many things compare to a great day of parrot training for me. And today was one of those days. Crate training is an important behavior for the two baby parrots, Jackson and Joker. They both traveled from the breeder to my house in crates. Both seemed pretty comfortable in the crates for the four hour drive, but the next day they were a bit hesitant to consider entering a crate again. (Four hours in a crate was probably a bit more than they were ready for) Since then I have been working on retraining the behavior.

I was very pleased today when both parrots entered their kennels voluntarily. I had to break it down into small steps. In other words I reinforced with treats and attention any movement towards the crate and eventually stepping inside it (Find more details on training this behavior in my second DVD Training for the Veterinary Exam).


Joker, the Amazon parrot, was by far the star on this behavior. I had also loaded the crate with toys. He kept running in and out to play with different toys as well as get treats. At one point I worked with Jackson (the macaw) on another behavior in another room, Joker was being so quiet I had to check on him. There he was asleep on his perch inside the crate! The door was off the crate so he had the choice to be anywhere at all, and he chose to be in his crate. Woohoo!

Jackson also was a training superstar today. The behavior at which he excelled was harness training. Harness training can be a really difficult behavior. It often involves some manipulation of the wings to achieve. Many parrots are not too comfortable with this. Because of this it is really important to focus on pairing positive reinforcers with the situation. Fortunately Jackson is a sucker for a good head scratch. He practically melts. Using head scratches as his reinforcers Jackson sat calm as can be while I gradually adorned him with his harness two times. It is really important that Jackson views this behavior as something that results in copious amounts of good things. And right now he is learning harness time, means scratches galore.

Joker is also working on the harness, but doesn’t respond as enthusiastically to head scratches as Jackson. This means using other reinforcers to train this behavior. One reinforcer Joker likes is playtime. He will roll around on his back and kick his little feet up in the air. Right now I am pairing the presence of the harness with playtime, toys and also food treats. He is progressing a little slower than Jackson on this behavior, but his excellent crate training makes up for it.

My reward was some playtime with both birds after our nice training sessions.

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com

When a Parrot Does not want to Go Back in the Cage

Having a baby Blue Throated Macaw (Jackson) and baby Double Yellow Headed Amazon (Joker) parrot in the house is fun. And apparently it is fun for them too. I like to think so as my house has a number of very entertaining play areas for parrots. There is this super cool play stand, perches all around the house, and two training areas loaded with all sorts of toys and treats.

So when the sun rises, the birds are ready to stretch their wings, participate in some training and play, play, play. This makes for a great morning for the birds, but at some point they do need to return to their cage for a little down time for everyone. This can be a challenge when being outside of the cage is such a blast. Why go back inside if all the fun happens outside?


When I felt one of the birds leaning back on my hand when I approached the cage one morning, I knew it was time to take action. If I forced the bird into the cage, I pretty much knew I was asking for trouble. What would happen is, in the future the birds would be even more hesitant to go back inside.

Instead we had a training session right then and there. As soon as I felt the lean, I stopped in my tracks and took a step back from the cage. When Jackson’s body language relaxed I gave him some head scratches for sitting calmly on my hand while we were close to the cage. Over time we were able to get closer and he even stepped on a perch in the cage for a treat. I then let him step right back on my hand and come back out.

We repeated this until he was back to stepping into the cage easily. He learned going in the cage doesn’t mean all the fun stops. I now also rotate different toys into the cage, so that every time he goes back there is a new toy to play with. This helps keep this behavior strong.

Because this behavior can be challenging, I know I will always be careful to look for body language that says the bird is uncomfortable. And if I see it I will slow down and go through these steps again. This will be important to helping to maintain that behavior for the long haul. For now I am also going to be sure to give myself plenty of time to return the birds to their cages, just in case I see any hesitation. I don’t want to have a set back by not planning ahead.

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com

Baby Parrots!

My blog has been kind of quiet lately. But my house hasn’t! Both are the result of some new visitors to my home. Two baby parrots. Jackson is a young Blue Throated Macaw and Joker is a young Double Yellow Headed Amazon parrot.

These two adorable youngsters are here for some training. The Kaytee Learning Center is their intended home. There they will help educate people about responsible pet ownership, as well as be ambassadors for conservation education. (Blue Throated Macaw numbers are quite low in the wild, and captive hatched Jackson will help spread the word and raise awareness!)

Because of their role in education there are some specific training goals I am working towards with these two birds. They are both flighted and will not only educate at the Kaytee Learning Center, but also at special events. This means both birds need to be comfortable with travel, be comfortable wearing a harness and interacting with new people in new environments.

For some birds, those can be challenging behaviors. With Jackson and Joker being youngsters they are a little more receptive to change at the moment. I am taking advantage of this time in their development and exposing them to many new things and pairing these experiences with positive reinforcers.

They recently met two new people and also some puppies! Both birds responded as I had hoped. No fear whatsoever…….just a bit of curiosity. They flew to new people for treats. However they soon discovered playing with one new friend’s curly hair was more tempting than a treat. I had to spend the next day teaching Jackson that other places were for perching….not heads.

It is an easy trap to fall into. A parrot flies to someone’s head and starts to have all sorts of fun. That makes flying to heads reinforcing. This means that flying to heads is likely to happen more often. To address this the following day, whenever Jackson tried to fly to my head, I simply stepped aside. He is a very confident flyer at this point and remained aloft and looked for another perch. As soon as he landed I reinforced him. This quickly got him back on track. It was now hard to land on a head and super easy to land somewhere else. Plus you get a treat for it. Problem solved!

These two young parrots will be with me for a number of weeks. I will continue to post on their training and their progress. Keep checking back for updates!

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com