Recipe ~ Spicy chick peas

I have been using this simple (and very yummy) recipe for my birds for about two years now and it still goes down a treat. Unlike the last recipe I did, I don't have a photo tutorial for this one but it is so simple you really don't need one! 

Ingredients

- Dry chick peas
- Ground cayenne pepper
- Ground chili peppers

Method

1) Place the chick peas in a bowl and fill generously with water, making sure they're all covered. Leave them to soak for 24 hours

2) Wash the chick peas thoroughly and simmer for 60 minutes 

3) Rinse well with warm water 

4) Sprinkle cayenne pepper and crushed chili peppers in a shallow dish

5) Roll the chick peas over the mix until they are well covered 

And that's it! That's all there is to it. Serve immediately and do not freeze or reheat! You can use a can of chick peas in water as opposed to dry chick peas however you will have to use the whole can (unless you don't mind waste, or can find a way of incorporating them in to your own meal!)

I use them as a training treat for larger birds or I quickly whizz them around the food processor to make a mush for any of the birds. My aviary flock of budgies really enjoy them but they have to be chopped up finely or mushed up as they're just too big to bite into and certainly too big to hold

By all means try them, but they're a little too hot for me!

Clicker training parrots ~ Stepping up and recall using target training

Another easy blog post to understand, again about target training but with recall and stepping up being the main focus 

I cannot express how important I believe it is to teach your bird recall training. Whether you do it to free fly outside, or fly on a harness or whatever, it doesn't matter. As long as you can get your bird to recall indoors then if they ever do get out you have a very good way of finding them. I will mention a personal story soon 

If you did read the previous post, then you will have gained the knowledge to start target training and you should already have your bird following the target back and forth on their stand (or wherever you're training them) and once they have got this perfected you can then work on stepping up 

If you have bought a young bird, freshly weaned from a
breeder, then they should already know how to step up
had they of put the effort into teaching it to them. It is one
thing all of my babies learn before they go to their new
homes!

To teach a bird to step up, simply follow these steps;

- Put your hand near the bird and the target in front of it. Get the bird comfortable with your hand around them by rewarding them for touching the target when your hand is close

- Gradually move the target over the top of your hand so that the bird is having to stretch over you to get to it. This will help get over their fear of your hand directly in front of them and will encourage them to make the big step

- Put the target just out of reach behind your hand. Fingers crossed your bird will understand that to reach the target, they have to put a foot on to you

- Again, move the target further away from your hand and the bird should be able to put both feet on you to get the reward

At this point you're going to be adding in your cue if you wish to use one. Most bird owners say 'step up'

- Once your bird has gotten the hang of stepping up on to your hand comfortably to reach the target, take it away. Hopefully your bird will now know that to step on to your hand (or arm, depending on the size of the bird) means an awesome reward will be coming their way

Keep it up from there! Teaching a bird to step up is important. You can get them out of situations you don't want them to be in, you can move them from A to B quickly and you can spend more time with your bird hanging out on you

Teaching recall is essentially the same. You just have to increase the distance from the perch to your hand/arm with the target behind it and get them to come further each time. Hopefully you will soon be able to do that without the target too

Once I began 'station' target training with Clyde, he became
very approachable and I was able to get very close to him
whereas before I couldn't even be on the other side of the
room without him yelling or panicking

I highly recommend that you teach your bird to fly to other 'stations'. Before Clyde (orange winged Amazon parrot) flew to me, I taught him how to fly between cages. He would happily do that without having to worry about coming to me. This built his confidence up over time and allowed me to get through to him in the end 

I just want to include here a little story about losing one of my birds, Kona. Kona (Alexandrine parakeet) was completely hands off when I got him but seemed to take a shining to myself immediately. He caught on with recall very fast and soon I was doing it with him all around the house. My intention was to get him a harness and start letting him explore the great outdoors. A few months into training, he managed to escape his cage AND get out of the house. I had absolutely no idea how... not one clue! But that's not the important part. As soon as I found out that he was missing I began ringing around, posting pictures and any information on the internet to get my baby back. He had been found within a VERY short period of time and I was able to collect him first thing in the morning! Do you know how I got him back? He flew to an older couple enjoying their time outside in the sun. He just went straight to them! Had it not been for the training, he wouldn't have known how to get to them. He had to go to the vets as soon as I got him back as I believe he was caught by a cat on the way to them, but at least they found him. He was put on antibiotics and had some subcutaneous fluids. Had I not have decided to train him recall, he would have probably just flown to some woods and would have been impossible to locate. I would absolutely love to free fly parrots in the (hopefully) near future and since losing my flock I haven't been able to carry on with that, but I will eventually try again 

Kona flying to me from the top of a wardrobe
Teaching birds to drop from heights can help if they ever say
get stuck in a tree or land on a roof (you get the idea!)

Clicker training parrots ~ Target training explained easily!

For some reason, whenever I mention target training to people they give me a response somewhere along the lines of 'I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about'. And there I was thinking it was something simple to get your head around! Well, it is and it can be very simple once you've read this so don't give up just yet. I find it by far the best way to build a relationship between yourself and a bird, especially if the bird is fearful

First of all, you don't have to generalize target training with unsteady, fearful birds. You can use it to train any bird! Don't let it stop at birds either, most animals can be trained this way

I find that the best targets are the clickers with a built in target! If you don't have one, just use a clicker and a chop stick, or anything long and pointy

Once you have got your bird establishing that click = treat, then you can move on to target training. I'll write it down now in some easy-peasy steps 

1) Put the target near the bird at eye level. If the bird backs off then leave it be for a moment. When the bird looks back at the target click and treat. Eventually the bird will learn that if s/he looks at the target then they get a reward

2) Once the bird is comfortable with the target next to them, get them to look at it but don't click and treat. Wait and see what happens. If they touch it (beak it, lick it, whatever) then give them the click immediately and a big reward

3) The bird should be becoming confident touching the clicker either side of their body for a reward. Now you will push them to actually move their position all together just to reach it. Hold the clicker just out of neck reach to their side and fingers crossed they will shuffle across to get to it. Click and treat. Keep doing this for all of your sessions and when you feel that the bird is getting faster and is going further then you can start trick training and recall training*

It's that simple! The process can take a day, a week, a month, a year. It all depends on the individual bird you're working with but I have had a lot of fast success with it and recommend that anybody tries it. Again, don't just stop at your bird. Give it a go with your cat or dog, or hamster... or fish!

Click on the below link to watch a video of two of my green cheek conures on their second day of clicker training. See the difference between the two? The green bird was an aviary bird, no human interaction what so ever. The blue bird was hand raised very well. It really doesn't matter what species, what age etc. All birds are unique

clicker and target training with a pair of green cheek conures

Always reward good behaviour (Warning! Millet is a great
reward but it sure is messy!)

*The next post will be about recall training

Getting a fearful bird out of their cage

I hear very often people say that they cannot get their bird out of its cage and as a result of this they never get to come out at all. To me this is extremely sad. Unless they have an aviary, a bird should never have to be confined to its cage. Whether it be 'tame' or not, they should have the opportunity to express natural behaviours and I believe that flying is number one on that list. A cage does not give them that opportunity

Wanna know the biggest mistake people make when it comes to getting a bird out of their cage...? They put their hands in 

If you stick your hands in a bird's cage you will either spook them or you will get bitten. The best way to get a bird out of their cage is to open the door (or open the top if the cage opens like that) and let them come out on their own terms and in their own time

Allowing birds to come out on their own terms works!

Think of it this way. A bird's cage is their comfort zone. It is where they feel safe and protected. They own it and it is their territory. When you put your hands in there you are taking that away from them. A bird who bites you is either defending themselves or is being territorial. A bird who flees you is not comfortable

A lot of trust is lost if you push a bird too far and the last thing you will want is a set back