So, after some days of drastic changes the household, things seem to be going swell! Henri was introduced to the fam on Saturday (and wasn't that an interesting story!) and he seems to be doing well with Buddy, who we now believe is a girl (perhaps we'll get chicks in the Spring?).
Here you can find their stories/backgrounds. :)
Kiki (Previously Buddy)-Lutino Cockatiel
Kiki is our first addition to our new flock since our last Cockatiel, Holly, passed away. She grew up in a home with two dogs, so she's not too afraid of ours, and we don't exactly know how old she is. She's really easy to train; she's currently learning to spin, show her feathers, and fly to us. She's a bit iffy on fingers and would rather be directed somewhere with a perch, but we're slowly making progress.
Henri--Normal Grey Cockatiel
Henri is quite the talker! His background doesn't seem to be quite as nice as Buddy's; we bought him in a basement. It looked to be very dark and it didn't seem that he had much contact with women, so trying to train him has been more difficult. I'm not very sure if he ever saw sunlight before we got him, because of how dark the basement was! He looked outside the box the whole ride home and when we got him home, he wouldn't stop singing! The first moment our dog greeted him Henri let out a nice wolf whistle. He sure is a charmer!
I do have Christmas presents for both of them (which I need to start wrapping) and maybe I'll shoot a video when it's Christmas time! That way you get to see both of my fids.
My last 24 hours have been a success with teaching Buddy to control his flying! Buddy has been uber anxious to get out and explore the house, but he constantly flies into things, on frames, and whatnot. Last night I had come into my kitchen, and Buddy flew through 3 rooms to find me, but wouldn't land on my hand. He landed above our fridge, which took a couple of minutes to get him down from.
Nonetheless, this is why I started our training with flight control. This is a great way (I believe) to get out of wing clipping, but it might still be advised.
In fact, just as I'm typing this and trying to eat my lunch, Buddy flies out of nowhere and can't find a spot to land in our kitchen. Is that perfect timing or what?
I'm creating a video to help you visualize what you can do to teach your Cockatiel to fly to you, and the first steps to making that happen. In all, it's really fun! Buddy's been so motivated to keep practicing, that it's become more of a game than a training session.
If your parrot doesn't wan't to start with flight training, them don't push him/her into doing it--find something else that they'd rather learn for the time being.
Otherwise, let's go through the steps!
1. Get your parrot used to stepping onto a perch (when offered); when they do, click and give treat.
2. Make that space between the perch and your parrot just a tiny bit larger, click and give treat. Continue this until your parrot has to really reach for it/jumps for it. Jumping looks like your parrot's jumping (duh) but his/her wings will spread out just a tad.
3. Make the space even bigger and call your parrot by his/her name. They should fly to you by this point. Click and give treat. Continue to make this space between the perch and your parrot bigger and bigger.
4. Begin using your hand. One thing I have seen parrot owners do is trick their parrot into thinking the hand is their perch. While in flight, move your hand in front of the perch, and your parrot most likely will land on your hand. Continue this until you don't need the perch anymore.
To see my video explaining most of the above steps, watch the video below.
And that's pretty much it! If you have any questions or requests on what you'd like to me to demonstrate or answer, please feel free to do so!
