Fearful Linnie

[PetiteJadie]

Hey everyone! I just got a 3 month old, hand-fed female Linnie who is extremely fearful. She is not aggressive, quite gentle, but scared of me and my hands. Only in the morning and during the evening is she bold enough to eat spring millet from my hand inside the cage. Otherwise I may get lucky to have her nibble on some through the bars.

Anyways, I am trying to get her to be hand-tamed and was wondering if you had any suggestions on how to build her confidence and get her comfortable with me. Any links to send me to?

One issue is allowing her out of the cage. I heard doing this can build confidence but how do I get her back in without grabbing her? Should I set up some perches and toys along the outside and let her do it all on her own? Will this build confidence?

She is interested in coming out but she is still afraid of me. And i am unsure about how to find a balance that makes us both happy and bond better.

[New Ekkie Mom]

You might try joining the Yahoo group Bird-Click. It's a group dedicated to clicker training all kinds of birds, but it's not limited to just trick training. It also gives advice and info on how to handle other behavior problems.

As young as your little girl is though, your best bet for now will probably just be patience and time.

Congratulations!

[Chicklette]

When I first get a new bird I keep my hands in the cage with a treat very still as much as possible. This may take some time but be patient and persistent and it will happen. She will eventually get comfortable with your hands totally to step up but do not make sudden movements, this will scare her. I know she is comfortable taking the millet so you need to keep doing this. Once she is very comfortable you need to teach her to step up. You do the same process with the treats but gently slip your hands under her belly and get her to step up while giving her the treat.

To get birds back in the cage with they first arrive and is scary, Im very nervous that they will not go back home but they will, you just can’t plan anything that day, lol. But what I do is get their favorite treat and put it in the cage for them. They will probably go back home for this. If not, don’t grab them because this will scare them. Let them go home on their own. The treat trick usually works. But I ALWAYS train birds to go back home fast in case of an emergency by putting treats in their cage. Plus I get them to step up and let me put them back in their cage but they always get a treat. This takes time but I think it’s very important.

New birds are very nervous when they first arrive. Just gentle talk to her, let her know you will not harm them, give her some treats. That is the way to their heart, food, lol. Give her some time to settle in, don’t pressure her to do something she does not want to do, learn her behavior and go from there. The key is patience with training and new birds.

[Greycloud]

Chicklette is spot on with putting a treat in the cage. Show her the treat, pretend to nibble at it and put it in the food bowl. You may have to perch train her before finger training to step up. Offer her a small perch to step up on. Move it slowly. She will eventually begin stepping up and then you can treat her outside the cage as your hand gets closer to her. Eventually she will step up.