I think a great place to begin is this link, Michaels article called "Complete Guide for Beginners." It covers the basics of clicker training and target training:
http://trainedparrot.com/Taming/There's also a lot of info in this post:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=227There's also a lot og great information elsewhere on the forum and in the blog articles. If you go to the Sitemap (Index) of the Blog, you will see a list of all the blog articles. All of them will not be relevant to your situation. but the benefit of reading through them is that it will give you a sense of an active parrot lifestyle. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that your birds wing feathers are not permanently damaged. here's the sitemap:
http://trainedparrot.com/sitemap.phpOK..... now youre probably wondering OH MY GOODNESS do I really have to read all this? well... here's the thing. Reading and reading and reading as much as you possible can, to educate yourself about OPTIMUM parrot care, is what will enable you to plan a way forward for your bird.
This situation is not going to improve overnight. You will have to set yourself a long term goal. And not get disappointed if you don't see immediate improvement. sometimes it takes a while.
Youve made a great first step in joining this forum and asking questions. Now its time to get a notebook, and start listing down, in bullet form, EVERY single thing thats been mentioned in this thread that can improve the birds quality of life. I can begin such a list for you here.... but it is up to you to continue to add to this list in your notebook, as you continue to do reading and research.
From this thread, we can start the list as follows:
- avian vet appt, ASAP.
AND ALSO:
- larger cage, as large as possible. (if at all possible, space and finances permitting, I think an aviary style cage will TREMENDOUSLY help your bird.)
- start working toward a better diet. theres FANTASTIC information in this forum on diet, and SO many knowledgable people to help you with it.
- start making a list of the birds favorite foods (this is necessary for the clicker training)
- scrunchies and a cone/jacket/sweater for the bird to wear when its not training, something that can protect the wingfeathers
- a clicker
- a target stick
- reading and research - the more you read, the more likely your chances of success in tackling this situation.
comb through this thread for the all the other things mentioned by the various posters, add them to your list, and please continue to maintain your notebook. Once youve learned what clicker training and target training are, then you would basically do this:
(take bird to avian vet first, before beginning this training)
target the bird toward a toy that's preenable, and fun for it to beak. you would click and treat when its beak makes contact with the toy. You will do this as many times as possible, BEFORE the bird loses interest. then give it a break, distract its attention to something else. and then when the break's over, begin the lesson again. set aside a whole weekend just for your bird, with no other commitments. DONT REACT TO (do not even look at your bird when it selfmutilates or plucks) any self mutilation that takes place. DONT SHOW CONCERN OR WORRY (this is very important) act nonchalant all the time. and during the lessons, make the preening toys VERY EXCITING. get excited each and every time the birds beak touches the toy. eventually, (at least in my experience with my GCC) the toys become satisfying for their own sake, and you can retire the clicker and the treats. but you will have to practice these lessons with your bird, in very short lessons, over a span of time, as long as necessary. and success is not guaranteed. but this is what worked for me to get my birds mind off of attacking its own feathers, and onto other things.
if things are looking real bad and you need immediate improvement, then you can also try this simpler method, without clicker, and without target stick:
Before you begin these steps, avian vet asap.
1. watch what your bird eats. remove your birds top three favorite seeds/food items from your birds diet. set these aside. do not feed them to your bird anymore, but reserve them to be used as treats.
2. dangle an interesting preening type toy in front of the bird
3. when the bird beaks the toy, say "GOOD BIRD!! " in a very excited and high pitched happy voice, and give a treat immediately as a reward.
4. do this for about four or five reps. then take a break, for about 10 minutes.
5. repeat steps 3 and 4.
6. you can do this throughout the day. just make sure that you have your birds interest when youre doing this
7. place this toy in the cage with your bird, where the bird can reach it comfortably while just "hanging out" in his cage. your goal is to make this toy your bird's best friend.
8. if you see him beaking the toy on his own while caged, you should say "GOOD BIRD" act excited and rush over to give him a treat, if you are nearby.
9. through all this, DONT REACT to any self-mutilation/plucking that takes place.
IMPORTANT: even if these preening toy- distraction strategies (with or without clicker ) work to temporarily halt the self mutilation at a behavioral level, you will still need to take the bird to the avian vet, and follow through with the improvement in environment/diet/flight exercise/mental stimulation etc, all the things thatve been mentioned in this thread by all the posters, to sustain the good results and to prevent recurrence of this problem, and the cropping up of other problems. AN AVIAN VET MUST SEE THE BIRD TO MAKE SURE THAT YOUR BIRD DOES NOT HAVE AN UNDERLYING ILLNESS THATS CAUSING THIS. a lot of plucking and self-mutilation is caused by internal illness. so if theres illness, it needs to be treated medically by the vet ) also, a bird who is ill, or whose flight needs, mental stimulation needs, or other needs are not met is likely to start plucking and self mutilating again. its really important to see improvement HOLISTICALLY - the birds WHOLE life has to be as good as possible, and it needs to be medically healthy. its not a matter of just correcting away the self mutilation/plucking, and leaving it at that. the problem behaviors will persist/recur if the birds environment, diet, flight exercise, mental stimulation, etc are not ideal or if its sick.
also, please bear in mind that a bird can decide to resist or override the preening-toy training described above and still continue to self-mutilate, despite your best efforts. thats why its good to implement an overall improvement in quality of life, environment, diet, flight, and mental stimulation, combined with sound medical care.
sorry for the long post, but I tend to be longwinded
I hope this was helpful. Please do check in again to give us updates, and to check to see if others have offered you further advice on this thread!
all the best with your