A Training Question

[spiritbird]

Most everyone knows that I have a Linnie now that Chipper has passed on. He comes to me as if he were a wild bird from outside even though the person I purchased him from said he was hand fed from the breeder.
Kobe joined our home about 6 days ago. He came with his little sleep hut and I have ordered a new one because his is the fuzzy kind that may cause problems. The issue I am having with him is his attachment to this hut. I am trying to perch train him as he is very much afraid of my hands. So in goes my hand holding a perch and a millet spray. He makes a bee line for the hut to hide for the humans hands. Even if I just walk by the cage and say hello he again runs into the hut to hide. He plays on the hut and sleeps inside of it. Basically it is his security/crutch. Oh and he is 3 months old. I know he will take time to tame, lots of patience and sweet talk. My question is mainly focusing on the hut in his cage. I really do not want to stress him out more by removing the security blanket but it just may be a place for him to hide from me and my attempts to train him.

So my question to our very bird wise members is do I take this hut out of the cage or do I let him have his security? What do you think?

[kendrafitz]

I don't have any experience with this. So my thoughts may not make sense training wise. I would say let him have it as it is his security blanket. Poor little guy had a rough go before you brought him home to live with you. But I am not sure how you go about avoiding him hiding in it.

Are you able to leave his cage open at all to see if he comes out in his own?

[jtbirds]

I have had a few that got very attached to the huts, they sometimes look at it like a nest and that can cause issues. It really boils down to do you want to make him adjust without the hut and handle him or work with him and the hut. I make some toys out of fleece that i usually hang and they preen and cuddle with but dont usually get attached to them like they do the huts. I may be able to get a picture of one sometime and show you what I mean.

[jtbirds]

2579

this is rocky with his sadly the pic is in the dark.

[plax]

You might try mounting the hut outside of his cage so he's at least more accessible. That may also throw him into environment re-acclimation mode, while still providing him the option of feeling secure in his hut if/when he so chooses to climb into it. You could mount the hut outside of his cage for a while and then mount a structure similar what Justin described inside of his cage so there's at least some object of comfort there as well.

[spiritbird]

Perhaps the new hut coming from MSBS will throw him out of his strong attachment to the one that came with him. Your ideas are good ones.