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Best way to socialize birds? Anonymous
I currently work in a pet store and we have a few cockatiels, conures and so on. One of them is relatively friendly, the others are assholes. I've little experience with birds but we are told to "play" with them to socialize them. The issue is everytime we go near some of them they hiss, lash out, freak out and so on.

What do you do to get them to warm up to you so they can be held, trained and so on. All birds are hand fed from birth, but only one will gladly jump on your finger, try to talk or sit on your shoulder and watch what you're doing with only an occasional nip of the ear.
>> Anonymous
Separate them from their partners. They will take you as the new partner.
>> Anonymous
if they are cagemates, separate them. (like>>181364) they lash out because they're unsure if you're friendly or not, so take them out ( you kind of have to take the bites) and start out with holding them.. eventually they will start to understand that the biting isnt doing anything and that you're not doing anything either.. then, teach them the step up command. that will start the bonding. try to get every employee to do these things. getting bit and then putting the bird down only reinforces that biting seems to work for the bird. the pet store i work at as all very sweet birds because we have everyone handle them, a lot. they all also know the step-up command.
>> Anonymous
what pet store? it sounds like it sucks.
>> Anonymous
>>181364
>>181370

Before you do that, make sure that their wings are clipped. If they figure out they can't fly, they will depend more on you.
>> Anonymous
>>181421
dont forget to poke their eyes out,if they cant see,they are even MORE depend on you.....
>> Anonymous
a good way to get them to stop biting is to take their beak firmly between thumb and forefinger and blow on their face. it weirds them out without hurting them and they rapidly figure out that they need to stop. also, refuse to show any pain when they bite or scratch, just do the blowing routine.
>> Anonymous
Is it a good idea to socialize birds, as a pet shop worker? I mean, getting them to become just neutral to humans would probably be good enough. Far as I know most parrot-type birds are friendly to just one person, or two on the outside. It'd suck for the future owner to have a bird that's pining for a pet shop worker who's long since resigned.

>>181364
Also, this method sucks for the bird(s). Like completely. Budgies will get depressed almost to the point of not eating if separated from their mates yet knowing they're still alive. But if they're not mated pairs, _then_ by all means separate them -- this breaks the flocking thing where they learn to be timid of (or even hostile toward) humans from other members of the flock... taming birds that see themselves as being members in a flock of other birds is like diluting an ocean of piss one bucket of vinegar at a time.

So yeah. How about instead of trying to play with birds that really would rather not be handled (some birds never want to be handled or even just touched, even if they were super kissy around people), just chat with them? Get them used to having people around. Unlike cats and dogs and cows and such, parrots aren't domesticated, on the species level, and so won't regard people as neutral or anything from birth, so one shouldn't expect just any bird to gleefully hop on your finger and give your face a pinch massage.

Regardless of what happens, the new owners are going to have to tame the new bird, first thing. I wouldn't think there's much that you could do to ease the process, short of printing out a booklet or something about "how to deal with your new feathered friend" or such.
>> Anonymous
>>181490
Sounds like some good advice. I honestly have no understanding of bird behavior and despite bosses telling us to give them attention, I feel like standing there for five minutes chatting with them is a waste of time.

I only ask these questions because our one cockatiel all by himself does the step up command without issue and is rather friendly with only an occasional painless nip. The others tend to be much more flighty and the parakeets...well they can go fuck themselves. Little devils they are.
>> Anonymous
>>181490

The thing is that you'll hear all sorts of different techniques for bird socialization/training from many different sources--some experts and some not. The thing is that none of this is an exact science and none of it is 100% certain.

But, one thing that you can do for sure is get them used to human presence--that you're not going to hurt them, and that it's OK for you and they to interact.
>> Anonymous
>>181627
Oh believe me, standing there chatting for as long as you can reasonably bear is quite likely one of the better things you can do. Gets them used to people. Makes cleaning the cages and so forth less chaotic, eventually. This goes double for the parakeets; they're quite clever for their size, though there's the... attitude.

And standing there chatting is miles easier than trying to handle the birds when they don't want to, too.

As for the cockatiel, it could be handraised. That's the exception rather than the rule, and I wonder how exactly a handraised bird would end up in a store... unless it was brought there after its owner passed on or something.