Piper is about a year old.
He is very extroverted and self confident.
He loves to chirp and sing.
He mates with Emma, but he also woos Silver at times, coming up to him, beak to beak, and singing to him.

Piper will come to my finger if I am giving out sunflower seeds. Other than that, he has no interest in perching on me in any way.

When it is time to go into the cage, sometimes he's not doing it. So, I try to get him on my finger. But, every time, he flies away. He will do this two or three times. Then, he flies to the cage door, and goes in on his own. I think he has a big ego, and he just doesn't like the idea that I am going to PUT him in.

I think that, in Piper's mind, he's a BIG important bird.

Sometimes I try talking to him. But, he doesn't show much interest at all. He's mostly interested in the tiels and his toys.

He's a very cute little fellow. I don't necessarily need him to be more tame. I'm glad I have him, because he brightens things up in the cage and helps keep the tiels active.

If I had the patience to get out the clicker, maybe I could get somewhere with him. But, it's hard, because the other two are always around. I can't really get him to go to another room with me.

That's how I feel with my budgies. If you don't get them tame they are quite hard to train because they are so flighty. I work with macaws, cockatoos and amazons, so of course they all are aggressive biters. Too big to fly away, so they learned to bite, which I know how to work with.

Beck is out of the question not willing to be worked with, and Poppy will step up if he is on the floor. But at least he's not afraid of your fingers. He may suffer from BBS though.

Can you try closing the light and try to get him to go in his cage before you turn the light on?



What is BBS?

Can you work with him in the same room as the other two, with him out of the cage and the other two in the cage? Flock-bonded birds often don't want to leave their flockmates, and will be more focused in the same room with them than they would be in a different room.

Have you tried using the sunflower seeds to get him to cooperate with going into the cage? The two basic techniques are (1) give him the seed after he's in the cage as a reward, or (2) give him the seed just before you put him in the cage so he's too busy munching to object to going in the cage. Some birds do better with one technique than the other.

Big Bird Syndrome. It's a common thing for little birds who act bigger than they are. Most often found in parrotlets.

Also, you can change his food before you put him in so he canearm that going in his cage means new food. Or you can make him hungry enough for him to want to go inside to eat.

Oh, that's good to know. Thanks

I like "big bird syndrome." Piper definitely has that.

It's not really a problem getting him in the cage. It's just so funny that he has to set it up so it looks like his idea instead of mine!

I do give all the birds a treat just after they go in, and it works pretty well. They definitely expect it.

I don't know why I didn't think of working with Piper when he's outside the cage and the others are in. I do think that could work, and I will try it. It would be fun if he related to me a little bit more.

Thank you all, for your comments and suggestions.

It's traditional to work with a bird all by itself so we all tend to think in those terms. But when you have bonded birds it doesn't work too well, because the bird you've isolated is much more interested in getting back to his friends than in earning rewards. You'll accomplish more if the friends are still nearby. The distraction of having them in the room is less than the distraction of NOT having them in the room.