Personality & Behavior

                The typical ringneck personality is alert, outgoing, saucy, and willful. This means you must establish nurturing dominance over these little rascals right from the start. Never let them get away with anything no matter how distracted you might be with something else. Biting will not be a problem if you gently but firmly discourage the practice right from the start.

                Teach the “up” and “down” commands, and make liberal use of them. These orders come in very handy when pet birds are going through hormonal surges and their behavior can be unpredictable. The step-up exercise is an easy way of distracting and controlling your pet.

                The “up” command is particularly useful with a misbehaving bird, one that won’t come to you and plays tag with you when you try to get it out of the cage. Once you’ve got your hands on the little darling, use your fingers to make revolving rungs of the never-ending ladder and make it go through a series of “up, up, up” until you have established your position as the boss, once again, and the bird has reacted as an obedient performer, and the bird has reacted an obedient performer.

                Then place the bird back in its cage right away, with some enthusiastic praise. Never lose your temper with a misbehaving bird, as the minute you do, the bird wins!

                Also, you can place your thumb over its toes and press lightly to restrain it from jumping off, then jiggle the bird to put it off balance every time it reaches out to nip at you.

                Be consistent; whenever a bird has been disobedient put it through its disciplinary routines (multiple step-ups), before you place the bird back in the cage. The idea is to give the bird a task it can obey easily, and then end the time out of a cage on a note of praise.

                Remember that much of your success with your ringneck beauty will depend on your own positive and negative energy. A relaxed easygoing home will always foster quiet, easygoing birds.

                Invest in a book or magazine that teaches behavioral science and follow the wisdom of the experts. The Pet Bird Report, published by Sally Blanchard is a good one, available by subscription. Teaching a young, rambunctious bird requires patience and repetition, not to mention a lot of praise and reward when it does something right.

                Here’s a basic rule to keep in mind with a baby ringneck parrot: these birds have a very short attention span, so, many brief periods of training work better than one long session.

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