Cockatiel

There are so many aspects to the training experience for both the trainer and the parrot. It’s about bond building and mutual trust. It’s wonderful enrichment for a caged bird. It’s about cooperation. Mostly, though, it’s about communication. It provides a common language through which a human and a parrot can begin to converse and understand one another. It is exciting and deeply rewarding for everyone.

That I would suggest that someone NOT train their bird is troubling to me, especially when it is such a positive thing. But there are circumstances when the time is not right – more troubling is the idea of someone failing so miserably at training that they will hesitate to ever pick up the target training stick again, or that a bird would be so put off by the experience that is unreceptive to the experience in future attempts. When all the proper elements are in place, it is difficult to fail.

Sulphur crested cockatoo

The following are four scenarios that will tell you that you are not in the right place to consider training. Instead of attempting a start knowing that there are hurdles blocking your path to success, place your efforts today on correcting those problems for when you DO begin:

YOUR BIRD IS ON A SEEDED DIET: The reward your bird receives for performing a requested task is crucial to successful training. Most birds are motivated by a food reward. The bird performs to your approval, you click, and it receives a favorite treat.
It just so happens that seed is a preferred food for most birds. If your bird receives seed regularly and that is its expectaion, the motivation to “earn” treats is greatly diminished and the training process falls apart. Please read this article on how to convert from a seeded diet.

YOUR BIRD IS NOT IN GOOD HEALTH: This is particularly true of birds on a seeded diet. They often suffer from serious vitamin deficiencies without their owner’s awareness that can affect their general mood and willingness to train. Birds with known illnesses might be difficult to train as they are sometimes unable to complete tasks because of ill health.

Additionally, a bird whose mood is altered by surges of seasonal hormones is not a good candidate for training. They can be temperamental and aggressive during this time and it serves everyone to wait until the breeding season passes.
The plan is to always set your bird up for success and an ill or moody bird might not succeed. It would be a frustrating experince for you both.

NOTE: This does not apply to birds that are handicapped but are in otherwise good health. You would simply tailor your training expectations so that they don’t exceed physical limitations.

YOU ARE UNWILLING TO USE FOOD MANAGEMENT: As stated above, birds are food motivated. Food management is simply an adaptation of your feeding schedule that ensures your bird is hungry enough to to be willing to work for food during a training session. When done properly, hunger is not excessive (overly hungry birds do not train well) and there is the perfect window of opportunity for you to train your bird and for your bird to get a full tummy. Win/win.

YOU ARE NOT MOTIVATED OR IN THE RIGHT FRAME OF MIND: Sometimes we are our own biggest obstacle in training. There are times when we are not at our best, perhaps grouchy and impatient. Our birds are highly receptive to our emotions and will surely recognize that you are feeling aggitated or pressed for time. Their reaction to this will be skittishness and it will interfere with their ability to focus on the task at hand.

If you are in the midst of a stressful time in your life and are unable to decompress before a training session, it is better not to train at all. (That said, some people find that disconnecting from life and concentrating on their bird is the ideal release from daily pressures.)

Rosebreasted cockatoo

Each of these scenarios have one thing in common: they all lead to potential failure in training. I have included links in each section to offer further explanation and guidance on how to move past these road blocks. Please take the time to read them so that you can begin training with all the tools you need to succeed.

Military macaw

When my daughter was young, it was a seldom that she was allowed to eat candy, chips, cake or ice cream. These were rare treats that were reserved for holidays, birthdays or other special occasions. In fact, it wasn’t until she entered grade school that she even realized that this was not the norm in other households. When she was in school, and away from my direct supervision, she started to be influenced by the other children in her class.

I knew, of course, that I couldn’t shelter her forever, but it was always a source of frustration to me. Until that time, fruit was a snack to her and she was satisfied with that. She would come home from school and ask for an apple. I was very proud of that – it wasn’t easy to keep a child eating well in a world overflowing with Big Macs and Twinkies. She was blissfully unaware, for a while.

Congo African grey

Snacks are a part of any child’s life and they should be part of your bird’s life. They are that extra bonus that makes life feel good. But the word snack is a relative term in today’s world. Where one person looks forward to carrot sticks, another will accept nothing less than a Snicker’s bar. It depends on a person’s upbringing.

This holds especially true for our parrots. Wild parrots know nothing of candy. They don’t know about Fritos or cookies. They don’t hold out for butter on their daily veggies. Unfortunately, many companion parrots have been made familiar with all of these things and for the majority of those, the more nutritious choices become unacceptible. Foods without sugar, salt or butter no longer satisfy. Once your bird has developed a taste for junk food, it is a slow road back to a healthy diet.

The very best way to avoid the development of bad snacking habits is to never let your bird try human snack foods in the first place. Be more conscientious with your choices and remember that parrots do not need to experience the tastes that we humans so relish.

If you have a bird that is already stuck on human snack foods, try offering more healthy versions of the foods as an alternative:

• Plain popcorn (preferably made in an air popper) with no butter or salt is a healthy parrot snack.
• Homemade oven baked potato slices or wedges can be replacements for chips or fries. (You can also use sweet potatoes.)
• Oven baked corn tortilla strips will appease the corn chip munchies.

Some other snacks that are okay to offer daily:

• Whole grain cereal pieces
• Nutriberries
• Veggie chips. Baked NOT deep fried and, of course, no salt!  These are easy to make yourself.
• Birdie Breads. You get a lot of bang for your buck with birdie breads or muffins because you can load it up with healthy foods and your bird will still regard it as a treat.

Occasional snacks:

• Dried fruits or banana chips. (These are healthy, but the sugar content is concentrated during dehydration.)
• Millet. Millet is a very healthy grain and something that all birds should have access to either cooked or on the stalks, but it contains fats and feeding should be moderated.
• Nuts. For some species of birds, nuts are a dietary requirement. But for most, they are a snack food. They are a great source of protein and EFAs, but they are high in fat and should be offered in moderation.

I learned from raising my daughter that if you don’t introduce foods that are unhealthy, they will not be missed.

We acquired a single dove whom we called Mr. Dove until our facebook fans renamed him Ari, from a local magician. As we brought him home for his quarantine in the garage, away from the other birds, for the 30 days, we realized pretty fast he had what we thought and assumed were mites – which turned out to be feather lice (we’ve not had much experience with either). Thank goodness we abided by the quarantine period so that the lice didn’t spread to the other birds.

Shown: Feather lice on the inside of the wing of the dove

In order to get rid of the lice we grabbed a mite/lice spray from PetSmart and did 3 different ‘doses’ of it on Ari. Dave would hold him and spread one wing out at a time and I would spray wherever I saw the mites on his wing and tail. We made sure to spray more towards the wing bone where the feathers are small and cover the bone because often times lice nest in there and hide. Although a lot of the time when you first open the wing up they are obviously visible on the feathers.

After doing this on 3 different days/occasions, the lice were gone. The spray was probably $9 and we made sure it keep it away from his head/eyes/etc. We did spray his neck just barely a bit to be sure no lice had made their way up there, as well.

For the difference of mites vs lice check out this image.

Have you ever dealt with mites or lice on your bird(s)? Did you find a better way to treat it? Leave your advice in a comment and if your bird shows signs you can always rule on the side of caution and take your bird to your certified avian vet.

PS… writing “mites” and “lice” is hard without writing “mice” and “live”. So if you see those anywhere from me, just translate them appropriately I tried to find them!