Bird Training Dvd Review Part 1

As discussed in my previous post the reason I needed this help was due to the fact my new conure did not seem to be getting any friendlier after several weeks of living with us and had developed a habit of screaming incessantly. What you’ll find here is a report/review of the product I found. When sitting down to write this I quickly realized I would need to break it up into two parts as it got quite long.

So my search for some help began….What I was looking for was one of two things. I hoped to find either a detailed account of someone elses experiences (Such as mine here) or an affordable product that would give me step by step instructions on how to tame my wild beast

Search after search returned no results for any sort of account that would provide me with useful info on bird training. I hope to provide that here so people that are in my situation may stumble upon this and get some use out of it.

Led to the conclusion I was not going to find the detailed experience I was looking for I decided plan b it was! If I was going to pull some sheckles out of my own pocket for this product I had a few things in mind I wanted it to include:

1. Step by step instructions that were dummy proof
2. Something visual I could watch that was also believable. I didn’t want to watch someone training birds that were already tame.
3. It absolutely had to cover the issues I was dealing with including screaming and Kiwi’s lack of interest in our friendship.
4. And last it needed to provide me with some ongoing support. Hey I might have questions!

Well Google treated me a little better with this search. While there is certainly not a wide array of products on the market there were at least a few! I sifted through the choices and most of them did not come close to fitting the guidelines I had set forth. They were either just e-books or audio cd’s and most did not provide any sort of support for my dumb questions.

Then I found the diamond in the rough! Chet & Dave Womach from birdtricks.com had what I was looking for. Chet and Dave had obviously experienced many of the same problems I had but instead of turning to someone else for answers they decided they’d sovle the problem themselves. Going a step above and beyond this they even recorded their progress and produced it for all of us to benefit from.

I highly highly recomend checking out their site birdtricks.com Sign up for their three day newsletter just to get a taste of the high quality information they provide!

Listed below are the reasons other than the quality content I decided to pull the trigger and buy:

1. They admitted they made mistakes along the way and show you those mistakes so you can avoide making the same ones.
2. The product is a DVD so I can actually watch what happens. They do also provide audio cd’s and e-books so you get all kinds of info
3. They provided many many testimonials on their site from satisfied customers. What says more than a satisfied customer?
4. The best money back guarantee I have ever seen. 6 MONTHS! I didn’t test this out as there is no way I’d send it back but you could if you want.
5. The only downfall to the site was it’s rather long and can be confusing in some parts.

This is where we’ll break it off today. I will finish this up either tomorrow or Monday though with a breakdown of what you get for the cost and why I think it’s the best thing on the market. Until then.. have a great labor day weekend!

Let the Screaming Begin!

We spent about a 1/2hr with the folks we bought Kiwi
from discussing different things such as how Kiwi’s
cage was set up at their house, what toys she liked,
what kind of schedule she was on, and so forth. We
learned quite a bit about her and felt ready to bring
her home!

The first couple days were a breeze. We set the cage
up just like we were told she liked it, provided her
the same food she had been eating, and even put her
old toys in her cage to try and make it homey!

Kiwi for the most part just sat in her cage and looked
at us as we looked at her. Once or twice we would
try to approach her but it quickly became apparent she
wasn’t ready for that kind of contact by scurrying away.

We did not want to force affection on our new found friend
and decided to give her several weeks before we started
to befriend her more actively. One of things we read
was spending a lot of time in close proximity to the cage
will help your bird get comfortable with you quicker.
My wife works from home and with Kiwi’s cage right next
to her desk we felt this should help speed up the
“friendship” process.

Well I was wrong then and I’m sure I’ll be wrong again
many times in my life but boy was I wrong then! About
3 days after Kiwi’s grand homecoming the screaming started.
I was very aware that birds made screaching noises but
I was not prepared for the noise that came from this
little bird.  I found the information at this Conure page
very helpful!

As mentioned in my previous post we live in a condo and
after about 2 days of screaming off and on, from sun up to
sundown I thought our eviction notice would be forthcoming.
Thankfully the screaming did come to a hault at bed time.
Once her cage was covered and the lights were off or dimmed
she would give her lungs and our poor ears a break.

Several more days of this led me to this conclusion. Either
we need to get this behavior fixed or I was going to have
to find a padded room somewhere for my wife. Keeping
in mind she works all day within an arms distance of our
little siren! We both loved the bird (I convinced my
wife daily of this) so giving her away was not an option.

I started doing some research online as I was sure
someone else somewhere had run into this very problem
and conquered it. Not only that but they probably shared
their experience online as I am now. Isn’t the net a great
thing?

Tomorrow I am going to do a quick review of what I found and
what worked. I now have a well behaved bird whom both Janell
(my wife) and I are happy to have!

Cage Placement for our conure

Hi again, this is the continued escapades of my bird
Kiwi and I. Prior to Kiwi’s arrival at our house we
spent a fair amount of time going through the home to
determine what we needed to change as well as where we
wanted to place her cage.Our first thought was to place it in the living room
between our couchand next to the TV. After doing a
little research on birds/conures and theirlikes and
dislikes we decided against this.

The reason being, birds often do not like being next
to big windows as was the case in thissituation. Apparently,
it often makes them nervous as they feel theymust keep
a look out at all time for bigger birds and other predators.

The other draw back to this location was it being right
next to the TV. My wife nor I are night owls but we do
usually stay up until 10pm. Conures and birds in general
need a fair amount of sleep. Typically between 10-14 hours
per day. Not getting this sleep can cause them to be
irritable and cranky just like my wife

So in the end we decided the best place for Kiwi was in
our dining room. here she would be somewhere she could
see all of the household action during the day but still
be put away at night so she could get the beauty rest she
needed!

Great, now we had a place. We were lucky enough that one
of our friends Who owned a bird had an extra cage they
weren’t using and gave it to us. After checking around
we found it was plenty big enough for a Conure.Approximate
dimensions should be 44″x26″x40″.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about our first couple days with Kiwi
the conure and how we realized she was going to change our
life or we were going to have to change hers.
I’ll give you a hint…we live in a condo

Meet Kiwi My Conure

Hello All!  I want to take a minute and introduce myself Jason and my feathered friend Kiwi a white eyed conure.  The reason I am writing this is to do what I can to help educate others about training their birds as well as pass on experiences I’ve had with Kiwi.

 My wife and I purchased Kiwi from a nice couple who were going to be unable to keep her due to a move out of state about a year ago.  While both of us were very excited about the prospect of a new family member we  knew there would be some ups and downs that come with purchasing a juvenile bird. 

Studies show that birds have about the same intelligence as your average 2-4 year old child so this move would not be unlike pulling a toddler out of their home and introducing new parents.  You simply can’t expect this to be smooth from day one.

Over the next couple days I’ll update you on some of my successes as well as my failures in Kiwi’s training.  Now Kiwi is a White Eyed Conure but these experiences can be used with most other domestic birds like, African Greys, Macaws, Cockatoos, Quakers, and even Cockatiels.  I will also share some things that have made owning her much easier.  Hopefully I can include things that will make your bird experience much more enjoyable!