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IRN has become uncontrollable!

Discuss indoor freeflight and managing freeflighted birds around the house. How to live with a flighted parrot.

IRN has become uncontrollable!

Postby kenthebird » Tue Sep 30, 2014 7:02 pm

My 1.5 year old male Indian Ringneck Parrot, Devi, had his first full molt this summer and molted out the feathers that had been clipped by the breeder. I have had him since he was 3 months old, and he was generally well-behaved when he was clipped. He loved to cuddle and would allow me to scratch his feathers, would step up practically 100% of the time with no struggle, would do tricks for sunflower seeds (I used clicker training), and very rarely bit me.

After his molt, he is able to fly. I had read how good flight was for parrots and told myself I would let him keep his full wings with every intention of doing indoor flight and recall training. I purchased an aviator harness and everything! But as soon has he had the ability to fly, he became very unruly, refusing to step up (or stepping up only to launch himself away from me), lunging at my hand, refusing to go nicely into his cage, flying laps around the room to avoid me, landing on lampshades and curtain rods, etc. I have recieved several nasty bites, and as frustrated as I am with getting bitten, mostly I am sad that my bird that was once so loving now hates being near me.

He will tolerate some trick training, or commands like "target" to a perch or his cage. But I haven't been able to pet my bird in months!

What can I do to correct this behavior?
kenthebird
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Indian Ringneck Parrot
Flight: Yes

Re: IRN has become uncontrollable!

Postby Wolf » Wed Oct 01, 2014 12:44 am

As I have said on several occasions, I don't have any IRNs. I put this up right away because it does mean that my experience is somewhat limited when it comes to this species. I do know that if they don't receive enough attention that they are prone to reverting to wild ways. So given the age of your IRN, I am doubting that this change in behavior is due to regaining the ability to fly. I think that if due to anything other than mistakes made on your part that these changes are far more likely due to the onset of puberty. When parrots go through puberty they release the old bond with their human parent and seek to make a new bond with a new human mate, just as they release their bond with their parents in the wild and seek to find and bond with a mate.
To know to what extent mistakes on your part came into play in this, I would have to know more about the background of this bird and your relationship with it. I think that at this point in time that this avenue is pretty much a dead horse and that the thing to do is to start all over again with bonding with your bird, just as if you had just gotten a brand new bird who had not been handled much.
Wolf
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 8679
Location: Lansing, NC
Number of Birds Owned: 6
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal
African Grey (CAG)
Yellow Naped Amazon
2Celestial Parrotlet
Budgie
Flight: Yes

Re: IRN has become uncontrollable!

Postby Pajarita » Wed Oct 01, 2014 12:15 pm

IRNs are notorious for reverting to 'wildness' when they become adults or have not had constant and experienced handling on a daily basis (and I do mean hours every single frigging day!) so I doubt this is because he is now flighted and I would think (have no way of knowing as info was a bit sketchy) that puberty and not enough or experienced handling caused it (target training is not bonding and when done to a too young a bird, it backfires)
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: IRN has become uncontrollable!

Postby Wolf » Wed Oct 01, 2014 3:17 pm

Exactly my thoughts.
Wolf
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 8679
Location: Lansing, NC
Number of Birds Owned: 6
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal
African Grey (CAG)
Yellow Naped Amazon
2Celestial Parrotlet
Budgie
Flight: Yes


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