Healthy Balance (Part 4)

Now that you have read about non-food motivators and how to ration them so that you can be the distributor of these rewards, let’s looks at the actual balance required for a healthy relationship.

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Fearful                                       Aggressive

In this range of parrot behavior you can see two polarities of a bird that has an issue with the owner or visitor. But as a parrot owner, you want to find the middle ground. You do not want the bird to be fearful and run/fly away from you but neither do you want it to bite and be aggressive. It is important to find that middle ground without favoring one way or the other.

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Hates                                               Loves

This is the range of love/hate from a parrot and obviously no one want to be hated by their parrot because that will lead to the fear/aggression scale we saw above. So if you find the balance of neither fear nor aggression, you will be out of the hate zone for the parrot. Now the bigger question is where should your relationship fall on the love scale? The obvious answer may seem t0 be 10 out of 10, that you want your bird to be head over heals in love with you. But this may not actually be a healthy relationship because the bird will be so dependent on you that it will get very depressed or out of control in your absence.

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Independent                          Too dependent

So since we are trying to figure out how much you want your bird to love you, let’s consider how dependent the bird should be. If your bird is completely independent, then it wants nothing to do with you because it can sit in its cage on its own and keep itself busy. The other extreme is an utterly spoiled and dependent bird. This is one that will scream or pluck feathers the moment you leave its site. The spoiled bird will be constantly demanding attention and drive you crazy. So a healthier balance is a bird somewhere in the middle. A bird that can keep itself busy but be happy to see you and want to spend some time with you as well. The toy diet I mentioned is a great way to help maintain this balance by keeping the best toys out of the cage. Ignoring screaming and giving your bird independent downtime in the cage are vital components to maintain this balance.

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Can’t pick up                          Can’t keep off

This range sums up the last few quite well. If your bird hates you, is too independent, fearful, etc, you won’t be able to pick it up or take it out of its cage. I know many people have this problem. But on the other hand, many people can’t get their bird off their shoulder or can’t get it back into the cage. Both of these cases are taking things to an extreme and cause problems for the owner and the bird.

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Neglected                                     Spoiled

This final range can shed some light on which way a relationship is being swayed. It is not a good idea to spoil your bird whether it is with toys, food, or attention because it will become too dependent on having that. But of course you do not want to neglect your bird either and leave it bored and under stimulated. This is where you need to find your own routine and healthy balance.

It is necessary to balance the bird’s time out of the cage with time in the cage. If your bird doesn’t like to come out, then vice verse, you have to get it out of the cage some more and get it more used to being out. It is important that the bird has toys in the cage to keep it busy but it should not have too many toys to the point that it would rather stay in the cage than come out. You should feed it a healthy diet and never starve your bird, yet it is necessary to train it when it is hungry and feed it the food it likes best. All of these are elements of a balanced relationship with your bird. Check back to this blog frequently for more tips about maintaining balance with your bird.