Training Crippled Birds

I often get asked about training special needs birds. It’s hard to give a blanketed training plan for all special needs birds on what to do because every bird is an individual, and every situation is unique. If you are looking for personalized training advice specific to your special needs bird, feel free to contact us to book a online or in-person behavior consultation.

One thing I’ve noticed about special needs birds is they can be less trusting in the start with new people, meaning more fearful. I believe it’s because they understand they’re at a clear disadvantage. It could also be a history of behavior of people mishandling them from lack of education. I’m a familiar place with Calvin (mealy amazon), but I am still a stranger to him. I’m thankful when I go his cage to get him (2 hand hold) he flaps and runs into my hand, like Rukkas my red lored amazon does.

So, this training is just getting him to approach me. Or he doesn’t have to. I don’t care. But I put a pretty big food lure of a walnut (heart healthy, but not fatty liver healthy, so I’m strategic on how much I give) near me for him to walk up to. I’m sizing reinforcement Size as a way to modify behavior, a larger sized reinforcement for doing something brave and new. Overtime, preforming this behavior at this distance, the reinforcer size will decrease, and repetitions will increase since he will understand the behavior better. But if he was to then approach me without a food lure, then he would get a large size reinforcement that would also decrease overtime to increase repetitions.

The large food reinforcement also keeps him at a certain distance longer, constantly positively associating the experience of being there. Sort of like a high rate of reinforcement but just one half nut instead of multiple very small pieces of nut being delivered quickly.