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Constantly on head/shoulders

4K views 21 replies 13 participants last post by  CheshireKat 
#1 ·
Hi everyone,
Just a question about my new 6 week old parrotlet Pippin. I've only had him for about 4 days, and he is very sociable. He loves to be with my bf and I, but he only likes to be on our heads. If we have him on our finger, we will jump to our shoulders and climb up to our heads. If we put him on his perch (outside the cage), he will fly down to our heads. He doesn't protest when we take him down, but he just goes right back up. He also doesn't like to be on surfaces (ie table, food dish, bed) without having some part of his body on one of us. He won't even eat food off the dish on the table, we have to give him little pieces and lure him down.
Should we be stopping him from only going to our head/shoulders? I've heard this is a sort of "power struggle" and that he is being territorial or domineering. He does it to both of us, and like I said, doesn't bite or protest when we take him down. Is there a good method for encouraging him to interact with us, whilst on our finger or on a table/perch?
 
#2 ·
When Azuki does this, I take him down and put him on my shoulder and say "shoulder. stay", repeatedly until he stays, then I give him lots of praise. I dont use food as reward since it doesn't really work for him. When he doesn't do what I want and he's being really stubborn I act sad then he'll do it. Yelling doesn't work with birds but a quiet sad demeanor followed by happy praise does with mine.

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#4 ·
Since he is so young and you have had him for such a short time I would be inclined to allow it to continue for a while. He has lost everything he has ever known. Parents, siblings, flock, nest and is now in a strange place. That he is seeking comfort and security with you is a good thing. I would let the relationship build and then start to gently correct the behavior.
 
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#5 ·
You guys sound just like my fiance and I recently :) When we got Mako, the breeder was very strict about banning shoulders completely. Since I have long tangly hair I figured this was for the best, but the baby's whole goal in life was to get up onto my shoulder. He was just like yours and wasn't content on fingers but would do his best to hop to head/shoulders. If he did, he would of course get tangled in my hair and I'd have to puzzle him out. He was also so small I'm sure if his wings weren't clipped and he had free range of the house, I wouldn't know he was on my shoulder half the time! After a few days of banning it and just removing him when he tried, he was happy enough to sit on my little desk setup and eat the foods I had out for him, or sit on my hand or lap as I typed, or the perch we installed in the wall between our computer desks.

After all that, though, I'm not sure how I feel about the 'no shoulder' rule we were trying to follow. It seems like such a cozy little spot that would be a comfort and secure place to them. I'm not sure how strict I will be enforcing the rule with baby #2.
 
#7 ·
He is young but I would remove him from your head. The shoulder is ok for now. Mine loves to sit on my shoulder but shoulder time is a priveledge and has to be earned. If he gets a little aggressive he should not be allowed shoulder time. I just take him down and put him where I want and then praise him. Praise works the best with these guys and positive reinforcement.
 
#8 ·
Great advice guys, thanks. He does like to be high up, I think that's part of it. He flies around until he can find something high, like a curtain or a picture frame, to sit on. He has a swing thats hung from the ceiling, which he does like, but if we put him up there, he will fly down to our heads. I'll try and encourage only the shoulders for now. He's a quick learner; we've had him only 5 days and he already almost always comes when he's called. Millet does that to a parrotlet! :)
 
#9 ·
Hi cheshirekat

I know you got a ton of good advise on this subject already, but I wanted to add my experience. My parrotlet was the same way at first, but he learned extremely quickly!!!

First, I ALWAYS remove him from my shoulders if he gets up there on his own.
Second, I would hold him on my finger, away from my body, or sit him on my knee, or let him sit on my stomach (depeding on what I was doing or how I was sitting), and while he would stay in one spot I would praise him and smile at him constantly.
Third, If he left the place I put him, I would pick him up and put him back. He learned within three days that he should stay where I put him.

Also, importantly, I made being on my shoulder a reward. If he is good or acting sweet and he steps up nicely, I will ask him "Do you want to come up on my shoulder?" I always use the same tone of voice, and he gets very excited and LOOKS at my shoulder, but he is NOT allowed to fly to it, so he doesn't. He steps down nicely when I put him on my shoulder.

He knows what I want, and he does it. He is very sweet. But the point is parrotlets are such good learners, and they know how to manipulate you and how to be stubborn. So you just have to be more stubborn. haha
 
#11 ·
When Puzzle was about 6 weeks, his absolute favorite place was the top of my head! I think also because it made such a good landing pad for him haha. But the reason I would take him off was simply the poop matter - I've had birds for years and never really had dominance issues with allowing them on my shoulders. It is good to get your little one used to you being in control, though, so start training with 'no' and removing him from where he shouldn't be! Right now at his age he is just looking for comfort, being such a baby still, so take him off your head and instead cuddle him in your hands or do something else loving with him so he isn't just feeling lonely and afraid.

That being said, there are rules. If my ears/neck/face get bitten, the bird is off the shoulder for at least half an hour or so. Puzzle learned that really fast! In general, though, I don't put Puzzle on my shoulder unless he is in a calmer mood - putting a crazy playtime parrotlet near your chewable ear is just asking for a bite! Usually his shoulder time is in the mornings and evenings, or at night around bedtime. Then he just wants to make a nice little hair nest, crackle his beak, and doze for a bit!
 
#13 ·
Myself, I really do not want my bird to sit on my head, so it isn't something I'd let my bird get into the habit of doing...I do, however, enjoy a trustworthy shoulder bird who can ride around in my while I'm doing things and get extra attention that way, so my Sky is allowed on my shoulder, as long as she behaves herself, and I've been training her to run up to my shoulder with me just saying "shoulder" to her, and she has gotten quite good at that lately. I do a lot of holding her in, and on my hands though, and a lot of play with my hands, so there is a balance, and she is fine with not being on my shoulder...mine's seven or so months old.

When I first got my little one, in the first few weeks she did not want to explore off of me, and such, but that's changing now...and boy does she like to make games to play with me. It does take time for them to reveal their personality and expand their horizons...and it sure is cute as they do.

Enjoy your new bird! :)
 
#15 ·
Now that he is getting older, Pippin loves to fly around and explore, but unfortunately the landing pad is more often than not our heads. We take him right down though. I would love to have him on my shoulder, but I have freckles and skin tags on my neck, and he bites them! When he gets a hold of the skin tags, it hurts enough to make me cry..so I can't ever let him stay on my shoulders. Which is a pain, because when I try and do things (ie tidy, sit at the computer) he always wants to be with me.
 
#16 ·
We figured out that when Jules starts biting our freckles and skin tags that it means that she is hungry. We take her back to the cage for a fill up then we can put her back on our shoulder without the biting. We think that she prefers to be on us to going back to the cage and eating but then she sees the freckles and decides to have a snack :)


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#18 ·
Bobby's favourite place is my shoulder. I stopped him going on my head, but he always goes straight to my shoulder. Once there he'll sit there for ages, even if I'm walking round the house and doing things. I think it's a secure place for him.

He's an older bird (5) and I've only had him a year. Do you think it will be too late to train him to hang out in other places?
 
#19 ·
Bobby's favourite place is my shoulder. I stopped him going on my head, but he always goes straight to my shoulder. Once there he'll sit there for ages, even if I'm walking round the house and doing things. I think it's a secure place for him.

He's an older bird (5) and I've only had him a year. Do you think it will be too late to train him to hang out in other places?
Well as always it depends on personality but he should be trainable. I had 2 parrotlets that were older when we got them that we were able to train, we lost one recently so the remaining ones (Jules) training and behavior has become disrupted with the loss of her cage mate but we are once again making progress. The key is to be patient, be gentle and be more stubborn then they are.

BTW-Jules tends to sit on my collar when with me, she likes my wife's head when she is with her. Everybody has to find out what works for them.
 
#22 ·
Update on this: Still a work in progress. Pippin will sit on the couch or table or whatever for a little while, but then it's right back up to our heads. When he sits on my boyfriend, he will lean over his forehead then go to bite his eyebrows! Or he gets his ears. With me, he just sits and get tangled in my hair. We remove him everytime, but he always flies there unless theres a finger up to catch him. Still working on it everyone, but thanks for the help! I think we just picked a stubborn one. (We did choose to get a p'let, after all!!!)
 
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