Before starting any type of training sit down with your family, if there are more than one person involved in the every day life of your bird, and decide exactly how your are going to train. Decide what words your going to use for the command, how your going to hold your hand and what your birds main motivation is. Motivators can be your birds favorite treat or just plain scratches on the back of neck. Once you have decided on a plan then start the training with your bird.
One thing you can do to maintain leadership over your flock, whether it be a flock of one or many, is to teach your parrot the “Step up” command. Teaching this will help maintain a positive relationship with your bird. This can be accomplished with much patience and consistency.
The command should be used whenever you want to pick your bird up and move them around. This could be to move from the counter to your shoulder, or to get them out of their cage. It also is a simple and clear way to establish leadership in a passive and proactive way.
It is important to use the step up command when getting your bird out or away from any place that they can claim as territory. Places for claiming territory can be the cage or a playstand. Some people always just let their bird just climb out of their cage on their own; by doing so you lose an opportunity to establish leadership. When you use the step up command to get your bird out of the cage you establish leadership and reduce the opportunity for your bird to have territorial aggression. Birds that establish territory aggression will snap at your hands or you when you reach into their cage. Sometimes they can simply to refuse to come out of their cage. Often this will cause us to not want to interact anymore with our bird. This will create a situation where your bird believes they are in fact in charge and the leader of the flock.
If you already have problems like this your bird may be “hand shy”. If this is the case don’t even offer your hand. It is important to realize that birds not only use their beaks as a way to defend themselves but also as a third foot to gain balance, or as a tool to open things like seeds, or rip wood. So if when trying to teach step up and you pull your hand away as your bird tries to use his beak to pull up he will learn you are an unreliable perch and will not be able to trust your hand.
So, if your bird is hand shy it will be best to use a stick to train your bird. Get a stick that is a good size for your bird to perch on and long enough that your hand won’t be a factor. Take the stick and gently press against your bird’s chest, low near the perch they are already sitting on. With confidence give your bird the “step up” command and push gently against the bird until the bird has to step up onto the stick. Don’t use too much pressure and know the bird off the perch. A bird will generally step up as soon as it feels that it is leaning back off the perch. Remember to be very clear about what you are looking for, if you let your bird run away from you or start to chase/attack the stick your will not be able to establish your leadership.
The other important thing to understand is what type of species you have brought into your home. Some species can become aggressive during breeding season or when their hormones are raging. Also keep in mind that certain species seem to have raging hormones year round. Knowing this about your bird will help you understand when you have a digression in your taming capabilities. It is said that using a stick for some species is the best way to keep up with them. Use the stick throughout their formative years and then when they reach sexual maturity they will be comfortable with stepping up.
Keep in mind that training is not only for your larger parrots but also your small parrots. Don’t let the size of your bird fool you. Small parrots like Lovebirds and Parrotlets can be quite the big bird in a small package. Teaching this command to any size bird when it is young can prevent future behavioral problems.
Once you have trained your bird to step up onto a stick with consistency, you can start to train your bird to step up onto your hand. Start this away from the cage, if your bird has some cage aggression issues. You may not encounter this with a hand tame or hand raised bird that you have just brought home from the breeder. For all others place your bird on a perch, or the back of a wooden chair and press your hand gently against his chest and say “step up”. Reward your bird with either their favorite treat or some scratching on the back of the neck. Don’t over praise with treats or your bird will expect to see your treat before doing a command. Most of the time praise is the best way to reinforce wanted behaviors from your bird. Most of the time they know that we love them when we Gush over them.
