chick training
I would like to thank Sophie Forsyth for giving me permission to include her article on my web site.
This is written as I train a young 7 week old chick bought from a Breeder in the area. All information & suggestions given in this article are my sole opinion and how I have found training multiple birds best to work.
User Discretion is Advised.
Chick Training
Picking a bird :
Go to a breeder, see his cages, birds, are they clean? Are they happy? Are they reasonably priced?
Avoid pet shops at all costs, most shop birds are well over 4 or sometimes 6 months of age, and are too far gone usually to train as well as a young chick.
Look over all the birds. If you want a male, look for a purple-blue cere. Or, pink in lutino/white. Hens will be powdery blue, almost like dusted with talcum powder. As hens age, this will turn brown.
See current Chick images for a male example colour.
Look for the bird that is calm, happy, preening, feeding, foraging in the cage. Avoid nervy birds that go mental when you come to the cage, avoid lethargic birds fluffy and sick looking, with a bobbing tail. These are not what you want to be taking home with you.
Wink at the bird you choose, talk soothingly, squint your eyes, the bird should begin to return this gesture if it is relaxed enough. Once you have your choice, it will be boxed in a card rectangle. These can frighten chicks so if you have a small carry cage, put a single perch in it, and place the bird straight from one cage to another instead of boxing.
Once you bring your bird home, place him somewhere warm, draught free, and quiet. Cover half the back of the cage with a towel. Don't harass them, leave him for a good hour to settle in a bit. More if required.
After say two hours, come to the cage & talk soothingly to your bird, bring in the winking & squinting again, this is a vital communication between you & bird in the vital first few days. It means “I am no threat, I mean you no harm. I am calm, I am relaxed, I am happy.”
There are two ways to complete the next section of this, which is entirely up to you. I personally get it over & done with the same day the chick arrives. Some leave this until the bird has settled over a few days. If you feel confident and patient, do it within the first day.
Come to the cage, wink & squint as mentioned, place your hand in the cage, and leave it there. Your bird WILL flap about & dart about the cage, this is normal. Hold your hand flat, and still, in the middle of the cage. You can, if you wish, fold three fingers into your palm and only offer forefinger to the bird, it's up to you.
This is an important stage and it's vital in my opinion it's done correctly.
Follow your chick SLOWLY and calmly around the cage, offering your hand in some manner. Don't make any grabbing motion, keep your hand as flat as possible. Wink, squint & praise your new bird for even as much as stopping & looking at your hand. Praise more so if they get on your hand at all, or even touch it. Praise & work in small steps, never expect huge chunks, they don't know what you want of them without being guided gently.
Repeat this until the chick will step onto part of your hand, begin saying “Up!” when he does so, this will later be base for you cues to him in training Step Up, and subsequent recall commands.
NOTE : ALWAYS leave training on a positive note, if he's done what you wanted him to, even a bit of it, that's good enough. Don't push him too much at this stage.
If he sits across the wrong finger, on your arm, on your fingertips, praise him, it doesn't matter how he does it, just make sure he knows your hands are NOT the big scary thing he makes them out to be! All the more important is this step if your bird was caught roughly, which a lot of attendants will do sometimes.
NOTE : Your chick's droppings will be likely loose and green in colour for a day or two until he settles, this is normal. It should return to a brown/white thicker consistency once your chick eats normally again.
Once your chick has a good idea your hands are not such a scary thing, you can leave him for the night. Leave him in his cage, offer him a small bit of millet spray on the floor away from his perches, so he gets used to it. Some breeders chicks don't have millet spray too young.
Don't cover, let your chick go to sleep in natural light, have an early night yourself. Birds settle better when they feel the whole “flock” has gone to bed too.
NOTE : Some chicks will not sleep on perches, but on the floor, or up on the cage bars in a high corner. Accept your chick will likely do one of these things while he is unsettled. They will use the perches eventually.
!IMPORTANT!
Night Frights, Or Terrors.
Chicks especially are prone to something called Night Frights, or The Terrors.
Similar to a Nightmare in children, they awake startled, scared & frankly frightened mindless.
They will scream, squeak, squawk, and flap frantically about the cage from end to end, sometimes beating themselves quite hard on the bars.
It's very important you deal with these terrors in the right way now or your bird may end up with them for the rest of it's life.
Much the same as a child, you need to come in, turn on a light, reassure and calm them. Some will be so petrified they have to be cornered in the cage and held to stop themselves getting hurt, and allow them time to calm down enough to come two.
Hold the bird, wink, squint & speak softly, reassure the bird. Holding it also allows the heart rate to slow back down again, which can cause birds a fatal attack if they carry on too long.
Once the chick has calmed, let it go and observe it for a short period, wait for it to stop flapping about & settle once more before you turn off the light again and leave the room. After this, they should re-settle and go back to sleep after a while.
You may have to deal with this once and a while as the bird is a chick, but they will usually grow out of it after a few months, and after reassurance during the frights.
In the mornings, make an effort to greet your bird, speak to him, consciously make him feel like a part of YOUR routine. Once you've had breakfast, or even during breakfast, change his seed or top it up, let him see you eating, he will likely dive down to his bowl & eat just because you are, if he feels comfortable.
Check his droppings, they will as aforementioned probably be loose & tinted green. Observe him over the days, this should go back to a normal black & white over 3 days or so.
Repeat your hand acclimatising motions. Remember, no grabbing motions, just a straight flat hand, wink, squint, reassure. It's very important he learns sooner rather than later you are part of the family, you can be trusted, you are safe. Your bird will likely find his voice over the first 2-4 days. He will chirrup, often quite loudly, and may make an alarm call if he is in hearing distance of other budgies.
NOTE : If you have other budgies, keep the cages close, make sure the birds can see each other through the bars, but not touch. Treat all birds with Ivermectin for mites & scaly face, and allow a few days for it to work before you allow them contact.
It's important that if your chick calls out, you don't shout at him, don't holler, or yell “SHUT UP!” This will only serve to scare him & unnerve him to shout more.
If he calls, speak softly, start saying his name, or a plain pet name, like Birdie, Chickie or Fluffle (my generic terms for fluffy chicks).
If he hears you communicating with him, he will be less likely to continue shouting for you.
It may take him a few days to get used to the idea you are a safe flock member, but give him time.
NOTE : To begin basic shouting training, wait until the bird has stopped calling before you pay him any attention. Even so much as a glance. Ignore him if he is doing it too much and speaking to him 3 times does nothing. Turn your back & wait for him to fall silent for 3 seconds. Then, turn, wink, and praise him. Keeping up this routine means as he gets to his “teen” later on (sexual maturity, basically) he wont learn that screaming after you will make you pay him attention!
You can now begin offering him toys & things to play with now he has settled. Pick small things, with bells & shiny parts. Chicks are very easily amused by simple things. They will love to chew at this age, so supply wood for them to chew also. Cat bells, swings, beads and wooden sticks are the best to start with.
Here Spud can be seen tugging Mikko's swing after sneaking into their cage.
Also give small 1inch chunks of millet spray on the cage floor. Soak them prior to feeding to remove dust.
Once your chick knows what millet is (and how good it tastes!) you can use it to bribe him into staying on you for longer.
Use small segments of millet, and begin offering them only from your fingers, until he accepts bites of it. Praise him and do the wink thing to him to reassure him.
Over time, as he gets better at stepping up you can feed him this on your hands, he will then see your hands as not only a secure & safe place, but see you & adjoining parts as a means to get a nice treat once & a while.
Once he's eating millet & seeds without trouble, you can start offering small bits of dark green lettuce, spinach, apple & grass heads. Get him into greens & fruits as soon as possible, and I'd also recommend giving egg food this young to get them used to it.
NOTE : This is the IDEAL age to offer new foods, a chick is always roaming, chewing, nibbling, tugging, so use this phase as means to offer him as much fruit & veg as you can. Don't worry if he's not eating it, and dumping it on the floor. Give him time to appreciate it has a taste & to eat it properly!
Over time, he will change from simply tearing & rolling the greens in his mouth, to taking chunks & swallowing them.
If he is now accepting your hands, you can secure the house, close doors/windows, cover mirrors or glass, and place a ladder into the doorway of the cage door. Allow him to see this for himself. The ladder is important as it shows him there is an easy way in & out, aswell as a good landing platform and something holding the door open.
You can use either metal ladders, or short wooden ones.
NOTE : When he comes out, he will probably not have flown distance before, so keep in mind your chick will be VERY uncoordinated & clumsy, maybe even flying into things & falling off what he lands on. Give him time. Stay around, talk to him, pick him up if he falls to the floor. Let him land on you if he wishes to. DO NOT CLIP HIS WINGS. He needs to fly, and fly properly.
Keep the food/water inside the cage so he knows this is “home” to return to if he wants it.
If he doesn't return to his cage himself, get him to step up, then quickly bring him to the level of the door & try to lean over him a little so he cannot bolt back upwards off your hand. Failing that, try to gather him in your hand gently if possible, and sit him back in the cage.
After 5 mins or more, let him out again, and repeat, he will soon have no worries about going “home”. I often say “Home!” to my birds when they are being put back away, so they know it means “Go home to your cage.”
After a time, he will get used to going home himself.
Put up ash or willow branches, washed & dried, on the cage to there is something to play on/in and forage about on. Clip treats like apple or spinach to the branches so he can rummage & find them after a while.
This is basically it, the rest is bonding between you & bird. Remember he is a prey animal, you are a predator animal. He needs YOU to reassure HIM to trust and love you!
2 Weeks Later;
Ultimate Budgie Stepup Control! So.. whats three in the hand worth...?
Biters Tamed, Pluckers Soothed, Screamers Silenced.
Any bird considered, any issue.
Chicks or elder birds tamed.
Antisocial birds rehabilitated.
Any issue, give me a call and book a session. Can come to you, or bring your bird to me.
. Your money back if no progress is made with your bird.
Email Bonesy@gmail.com
Visit the new web site
http://www.freewebs.com/highfourbirdtraining/index.htm
Midlands Region.