Major Mitchell's Cockatoo Learning to Come Out of Cage

Here I am practicing having the Pink Cockatoo learning to come out of the cage by stepping onto a handheld perch. In no way do I force him to get on the perch I am holding. I direct him to walk over and step onto the handheld perch by himself by showing him the target stick. If he isn't fully comfortable, he won't do it! This is very important because this prevents biting later on.

I show the Major Mitchell's Cockatoo my target stick over the perch I am holding to direct him to walk closer to it and eventually step all the way on. At first, I keep the handheld perch very steady by leaning it against a perch in the cage. As he improves, I start holding the handheld perch up a bit into the air so it is floating more naturally as would a hand. He gets used to being held for short periods of time this way.

I don't get overly excited and start taking him out right away. Instead, we continue practicing and improving the exercise. The parrot goes back into the cage and comes over again and again to get good at it. We are not only practicing coming out for a nervous bird that doesn't want to come out, we are also rehearsing how to go back in.

Learn all about parrot training from the Parrot Wizard:
https://ParrotWizard.com/Book
https://ParrotWizard.com/Parrot_Academy

My training tools include a Clicker & Target Stick:
https://ParrotWizard.com/Clicker_Target

Handheld perch is essential:
https://ParrotWizard.com/Perch

See all my videos:
https://ParrotWizard.com/Videos

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