Helping Your Pet Bird Develop Behavioral Skills
The skills required to create well-adjusted, happy, adult birds are best acquired during early development, when young birds are eager to learn from their owners. Ideally, baby birds should be exposed to gentle human voices and finger massage from the time they’re removed from the nest and separated from their parents. Covering the chicks with cloth that approximates the weight of a mother’s wing is also ideal. Feeding the chicks on demand when they waken verses sticking to a rigid feeding time schedule helps to develop birds that are relaxed and more comfortable with their human parents.
Development of Curiosity
As our baby birds develop keen eyesight, we must provide them with an environment that will encourage continued comfort and skills that result in happy, energetic, and interactive adult birds. As our baby birds begin to “peek out” and become curious about their environments, we as human parents must provide a dark hiding place similar to a natural nesting site. This allows the baby bird to choose when to peek out (curiosity) and when to seek privacy (comfort). Simple cardboard boxes can be configured for this habitat, outside which a stimulating environment is created. Colored towel covers, toys, brightly colored fresh foods and hanging edible greens are added to the bird’s environment. Consequently, visual skills are enhanced and the baby birds soon learn varieties of colors, shapes, and movement. In addition, instead of a quick and sterile syringe feeding of formula, try and offer hot and wet foods with clean hands to encourage the human-avian bond.
Exploration: Curiosity in Motion
Domestically-raised baby birds should be encouraged to flap their wings and be taught about the configuration of the human household during their exploration stage. Lessons about boundaries, the mysterious solidity of glass windows, and approximate landing places should be instituted for pre-fledged neophytes. Additionally, new toys, perches, and crocks should be introduced in order to provide the babies with further visual and tactile stimulation. Abundantly-fed neophytes will learn to eat food from crocks, spoons, and many pairs of clean hands during active exploration.
Fledgling
This is the stage of a baby bird’s life just prior to flight. Appetites will diminish and may disappear altogether for a day or two prior to this all important event of first flight. This does not mean that weaning is taking place and the bird owner must be vigilant to continue providing nutritional foods to help develop lean muscle mass. All baby birds should be allowed an opportunity to learn how to fly prior to severe wing clipping so that they can learn the skills of flight, balance and landing. At the same time, teach the young bird its environmental boundaries and show them safe landing places. Birds raised in this way are not only happier and less stressed, but are also less subject to traumatic injury from “crash” accidents that can occur if severe wing trims are instituted at the fledgling time. Once the bird has learned some flight skills, institute gradual wing trims that allow some flight, yet limit the distance flown. This will allow for the continued development of coordination and confidence.
Coordination and Confidence
As mentioned above, we recommend that all baby birds learn the skill of flight. With competent management and gradual wing trims the babies will be able to fly and explore, all of which enhances coordination. The coordinated bird will engage in athletic activities such as wing flapping, climbing, swinging, and showering with vigor. This leads to the development of important physical attributes such as balance, dexterity, eagerness to exercise and continued delight in exploration. This confidence building contributes to the fledgling’s healthy interaction with a variety of caregivers and other birds. In addition, continued offerings of a variety of new, diverse, and unusual foods helps to develop the young birds inexpert but growing eating skills.
Promotion of curiosity, coordination, confidence and nutritional well-being during the early stage of a bird’s development will go a long way in making the pet bird a happy, curious and engaging pet. Promoting these skills as well as social interaction with the owner will lead to a lifetime of enjoyment for both the bird and bird owner alike. Through this promotion of behavioral development at a young age, our goal is to avoid behavioral problems such as aggression, excessive vocalizing, phobias, and feather picking as the birds mature into adults.
