How to Safely Pet and Cuddle Your Bird | Parrot Behaviour | TheParrotTeacher
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- Hi everyone, thanks for watching my video on how to pet and cuddle your bird!
These tips will apply to most parrot species such as cockatiels, conures, macaws, ringnecks etc. But remember birds are all individuals!
This video won a poll I did on my community tab so I thought I'd make it for everyone who voted. Do please check it out as I often pop on polls, photos and little teasers on there!
How to pet your bird is a very common question people ask, so hopefully the tips come in handy. I've broken the video up into tips to encourage petting and then how you should do it!
Remember to keep interactions around the head and neck!
I hope you found it useful and some of the tips come in handy. If you have any questions please feel free to leave them in the comments as I’d love to chat to you.
🦜Check out my Amazon store for all kinds of parrot items as well as other goodies!:
www.amazon.co.... *
Support my content and our flock via my Patreon and get access to exclusive content!: / wargamingparrot
🦜 Need help and advice on your bird's behaviour, care and training? Get in touch with us at Best Behaved Birds for an affordable and bespoke consultation!:
Website: bestbehavedbir...
Facebook: / bestbehavedb. .
Instagram: / bestbehaved. .
Some video links:
Cockatiel Care: • Cockatiel Care Guide |...
Conure Care Guide: • Conure Care Guide | Ev...
Target Training: • Parrot Training Tutori...
Cockatiel Cage Set Up: • Guide to Choosing the ...
Cheap & Easy DIY Toys: • Cheap and Easy DIY Par...
A Complete Guide to Choosing the Best Cockatiel & Conure Toys!: • Guide to Choosing the ...
How to Train Your Parrot to Tidy Up!: • How to Train Your Cock...
How to Recognise and Manage Parrot Hormonal Behaviour: • How to Recognise and M...
Check out the great parrot goodies at Northern Parrots*: scripts.affilia...
*Disclosure: This is an affiliate link, meaning at no cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. The funds will go solely towards food, toys and vet bills for the birds!
My Instagram: / wargamingparrot
The Birds' Instagram: / chip.and.fish
The Birds' Channel: / @chipfishandpickles9428
Sophie's Instagram: / birdnerdsophie
Sophie's Channel: / @birdnerdsophie
#pets #parrots #birds
My female cockatiel was hand raised in a very beautiful way. When I met her first the first time and three weeks of visits before I could introduce her to her new home with me.
She immediately took to me.
She jumped down onto my arm, ran up to my cheek and gave me a kiss on my cheek. She turned and started walking down my arm, turned around and looked at me. She ran back up my arm and gave me another kiss on my cheek. Stunned, all I could say was, "She's flirting with me."
I didn't realize at the time that she had chosen me to be her lifetime companion. She is a great blessing and I adore her and treat her with love, respect and dignity that she is entitled to. ❤😘
Hey Denise,
Sounds very cute! It definitely sounds like she likes you!
My lovebird never wanted to be petted and cuddled and I respected that. Suddenly after 4 years he decided he 'd try it... I pet him once and since then he's the cuddliest pet I have.
Never lose hope! Sometimes it takes even years for a parrot to suddenly change their mind!
That’s very true, it can take a while for a bird to warm to the idea!
Fluffy likes scritches sometimes, but other times she doesnt like it
That's normal, their moods are similar to ours!
We just got Grogu our GCC a week ago, he LOVES being petted and his favorite thing in the world is cuddles ❤️ love him so much (not sure if him or her lol, but calling him a him 🤷♀️). He’s only a few months old and has bonded within 2 days, makes my heart swell, we lost our Coco female cockatiel which broke my heart, this little GCC of ours is AMAZING!
Hey Celeste,
Grogu is a cute name! It's adorable that he's so into his petting and cuddles!
I'm glad the little GC is settling with you and bonding!
War gaming parrot you have a very nice nature with your birds. My conures a fidget, he's small obviously I keep the petting head and neck. My one is 13 months old, love him and I'd never rehome, but he's vicious sometimes. He's fine with my flatmate and myself, with no particular preferences it seems, he has 6 hours out of the 2 cages he has a choice of per day. He is vicious with strangers, what would you suggest because all of my friends won't tolerate his aggression now. Any tips appreciated. He's a gcc. And I love him very much indeed, but I seem to be the only one.
@@chickyface7537 Hey Clare,
I'd work on de sensitization and looking to see if any of it is caused my hormonal behaviour.
Training is the biggest tool in your belt for this one!
@@TheParrotTeacher yes thankyou I'm going to attempt. Some of my from need training too.....they panic and cause him to react and get over excited 😆xx
@@chickyface7537 Sounds good, keep at it!
Lol ur poster on the wall is hilarious 😂 😂😂
Thank you! We love them too!
@ARIEL BISSRAM Glad you like them Ariel!
Thank you. This helped. I am pretty sure Gordon's just not a touchy feely kinda bird, i just want to get him used to it to properly checking him if needs be. Great tips as usual!
Glad it helped Kirsten! Cockatiels generally aren’t as a rule but one day he may ask for scritches!
It's always a pleasure to watch your videos and learn from your experience👍
Thank you!
Yes, very nice to see we all have the same gcc experiences 🐦xxx
Hey Clare,
Awesome!
Once again 'Thank you' for valuable info ! My GCC & I are benefitting from these videos. 😊
Hey Nitzy!
Glad they are coming in handy!
Thank you so much for these videos! I’ve been binge watching both your and your partners channels!! I rescued a cockatiel from a bad home 3 weeks ago and he’s warming up more and more everyday! ✨ thank you so much for helping me on this fun adventure with Wesker! ♥️
Thank you for the kind comment! I’m so glad you and Wesker are getting on well and he has a great home with you!
Great topic as usual. I saw a video of a girl petting her bird on the back and under the wings. A lot of people in the comments were explaining to her why that’s not a good idea. It’s good to know that the parrot community can help each other that way. She needs to subscribe to your channel😁👍.
Lots of people do it thinking the bird enjoys it and misread the reactions! I see it TONS on social media. Then they wonder why the birds hormonal or bites!
Its anthropomorphism at work!
Smokey likes his back petted most of the time even in his cage.
I would avoid doing that as it can cause hormonal and aggressive behaviour!
New sub here, you have such great info!
Welcome aboard!
Cool vid!
Thank you!
Bless
Thank you!
My cockatiel likes to hide under my neck whenever she's scared or cold
That's adorable! It must feel like a nice place to be if she's nervous!
Ye
I getting a cockatiel tommorow!!!!!!
Awesome! Decided on a name?
My two cpckateils LOVE talking to your birds. They hear your voice and they go crazy calling. We are still "working" slowly. The female is so shy. She has come out to fly and shows flying skills of landing in certain places. My boy just takes off and zooms around and crashes then waits for me to rescue him. While the female will come back to the cage. Not quite re a dy yet for our conference. Where do yo live?
Is the exchange rate the same there as in the US?
Hey Yvonne, that's adorable!
Flying just takes practice and training. They may have atrophied muscles which need to be worked on.
We are based in the UK, so for a half hour conference it would be approx $40-42 (£30) or $55-60 (£47.50). We just raised our prices due to the amount of work we put in to each consultation. However as I quoted you our original prices we will hold to that for your consultation.
Check out our links on any of my videos, it has links to our FB and Instagram channels. You can contact us via either of those or via email.
Tbh it takes 2 yrs or less or more to gain this much trust
I had a budgie that was hand tamed when I got her but I was like 8 at the time and I did now know that grabbing them from their back made them loose trust, as a little kid I lightly grabbed her because I was scared I might squish her. She lost her trust so I began to tame her again so I always put my finger on her cage and it took a 1 year and a half to get her comfortable sitting on my shoulder
Gaining trust can vary. Sometimes it takes little time, other times ages. It depends on the birds individual experiences and personalities and how much effort is put in!
Yes my budgie was learning to fly to me but she died 😔
So our cockatiel will hiss whenever I come near him even when I need to change his water and food but he will bow his head when he gets close to one of his easily shreddable kabobs and basically scratches his head on it. He doesn’t chew or really shreds the toy either
It sounds like he almost sees the toy as a friend! It’s not too uncommon in smaller parrots especially if solo! Watch out if he begins showing hormonal behaviour towards it, otherwise it’s fine to leave in.
Hopefully in time, with bonding work he will begin doing so with you!
@@TheParrotTeacher you know now that you mention it from time to time he will yell at it and kind of act like he’s biting it
Ps thank you so much for responding I deeply appreciate it!! ❤️❤️
@@oliviapadilla2778 no problems!
The last time i tried petting my conure i touched him slowly then removed my hand then he jumped to my other hand and bit it so HARD which got me bleeding!!!!
Ouch! That's pretty harsh. Scampi can be pretty bad for it, although he is much better with training!
@@TheParrotTeacher yeah i tried training them Today but the wouldn’t want any cuddles
@@LHEEBB Always down to patience and personality sadly!
@@TheParrotTeacher 100% annoying
@@LHEEBB I can imagine! But keep at it!
hello david, first of all thanks for the great video, second i would like to ask a question, my conure loves to cudle next to my face while am lying down and some times he sleeps near my nose and mouth is that a problem!? should i prevent it!?
It depends, if he never nips or beaks or mouth or nose! It’s not uncommon for conures to do so and unless it’s making him hormonal I’d say it’s ok to do so!
@@TheParrotTeacher thank you very much for answering my question, one more thing if you dont mind, his cage is infront of a big window with a garden overview and there are lots of birds that come and lately he screams alot during the day when the birds come, is that normal(territorial behaviour!) Or does that cause too much stress and i should move it to another place!? Especially because he wanst screaming that much before(i have had him for 5 years).
@@tishkofuad8876 it’s normal for sure, especially if he is unused to them. You can approach it from a couple of angles. You could let him get used to it or if it is stressing him out move him elsewhere or provide curtains sometimes so he isn’t always looking out!
@@TheParrotTeacher yeah i use curtains cause i dont want to move him into a room with only walls, tho he is always out of the cage, thank you so much david for your input i appreciate it greatly.
hiya I have a cocktail that takes millet from my hand and stuff like that but will not let me stroke him at all do u know how to get him more comfy with being stroked
Hey Ewen,
Some parrots just dislike it, or prefer it at different times. I believe the video mentions contact training which is basically teaching your cockatiel to tolerate your hand being near his head or being touched by using positive reinforcement (millet!)
That would be the best way to increase the odds off him accepting petting in the future!
My adult male cockatiel will only allow contact training if I distract him with a treat (feed him a treat) while I touch him. Is this considered forcing? Or is this a good way to introduce contact training? My female is receptive to petting her head through the cage bars but I have to initiate it by asking her if she wants to be pet or touching her and see if she bows her head. I don’t think she’s ever just bowed her head or if she has it’s very rare.
Remember contact training doesn’t actually involve contact initially!
It’s about building tolerance of hands being near not actually touching!
@@TheParrotTeacher yes that’s true - I did take a step back and just have my hand near him on the outside of the cage and move it around a bit and reward him for calm behavior. I’ll work on this a bit more before moving on but what do you think would be a good next step? He also seems to take treats from my hand just fine (whenever treats are involved all is good for the most part but he’s still not totally comfortable even when eating the treat like I mentioned before).
Keep in mind they never flew. For 5 tears they were in a cage
Hey Yvonne,
Ahh I see!
Hi So I Have A Cannary Named Antonio And As U Can See In My Profile Thats Him My Bird Loves To Cuddle But Do U Have Any Tips Of How To Gain Ur Birds Trust To My Mom Recently When My Dad Holds My Bird I Have Like Anxiety Cuz Im Not Sure If My Bird Is Comfortable As U Can See My Dad Is Holding My Bird In My Profile But I Think That Was My 3/4 Day Cuddling Him But Now I Get To Hold Him And One Time I Got A Bath Robe Not The One I Use Another One If Im Ever Cold I Gently Put It On Him On His Back And He Felt Warm And Never Wanted To Leave But Lets Get Into The Bird Mom Situation Every Time I Put My Bird Next To My Mum He Suddenly Bites Her For One Reason He Thinks My Mom Is Gonna Put Me In Danger And Since The First Day That He Came Hes Been Doing That He Has A Really And I Mean REALLY Deep Friend Ship With Me And One Time He Let Me Pet Him In The Cage Im Just Wondering If U Have Any Tips That Will Help
Hey there,
So regarding trust building, I have videos on that topic both for all birds and specific species. It's mostly about being patient, getting him used to your mum, getting her to give him treats, work on training (even canaries can do target training!) and generally get him used to her as a positive thing!
My cousin has a bird that doesn’t like cuddles but comes up to me a lot I feel bad running from it but I’m TERRIFIED of birds what do you think I should do? 😭😭
It could be a good opportunity for both you and the little one to do some desensitization and bonding work!
@@TheParrotTeacher Thanks for your help! I’m gonna try to play with the birdy!
My male cockatiel wants me to rub he’s beak! He is very hormonal right now. Is this a mating behavior.
Hey Maria,
It's not unusual for parrots to consider "beak to beak" contact as mating behaviour. It could be best to avoid it until he's a little less hormonal and even then keep it brief and light!
@@TheParrotTeacher thank you David
Still not sure why Buddy loves being pet with my nose. My fingers he is like NOOOOOOOOPE!
Gives me an opportunity to give him a good full sniff at least, love how he smells lol (weirdo?!)
So many people sexually frustrating their birds lol xD (aka constantly petting under the neckline)
Haha same I like to sniff my bird
I swear Marlene has started a craze with parrot sniffing lol. We all do it!
Ye my cockatiel smells like baby food lol lol
@@starriq9083 I'm not sure I'd like that smell lol!
@@TheParrotTeacher haha still trying to get her to eat pellets and seeds and veggies instead of her baby food
If i try to touch my bird he thinks im telling him to step up so he jumps on to my finger ;:
Hey there,
How do you approach your bird? Usually if you're using contact training or trying to initiate petting it's best to come from above. It's possible your little one is just extra enthusiastic!
OMG now I can cuddle my bird
WOOHOO!