# Avoiding flock panic



## M'éanín's Mommy (Jan 20, 2014)

Have question regarding how you go about training your flock to avoid a group panic. Not sure that is the right way of phrasing things. My birds are all very sweet and loving. They need some work in regards to training, but for the most part are good little birds and love to be held. They know their names, come when called, don't mind you reaching into cage to get one, or they come out. Sometimes they will argue over who can be first to come out because they know it means food and then shoulder rides. At the moment they are all sitting on the window perch in my office hanging out.

The problem is when they get separated. So long as they all stay together they are fine, but if I remove one of them for any reason, even if the others can physically see that one they will start with the bird alarms and next thing I know everyone is flapping their wings and flying off to gather as a group. I wonder if part of the problem is that 3 of them are siblings (same clutch) and the lutino, while not a sibling was hatched within a week or so of the others and they were all raised together, so they don't know how to be apart. They make less fuss when Pancake (Lutino) is removed than if it's one of the trio, but they still do it. 

Just wondering about how to approach things so that I can work with them 1:1 for training without pushing their panic buttons.

ETA: Please, no comments about the bad wing clip, i'm not the one who did it.


----------



## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

I'm sorry to say, but you can't. They aren't panicked so to speak, but they just feel they need to know where one member of the flock is. Being siblings doesn't have anything to do with it. They are all one flock and feel the need to check on other members out of sight


----------



## moonchild (Jul 29, 2012)

Mine are the same way...I can't separate the flock. I don't do any one on one training because it's just too impractical. Besides, training them to do tricks and stuff does not interest me. As far as bonding, I just try to make myself available to them so they can hang out with me if they want to. The ones that came to me tame have all stayed tame and all enjoy my company. But if they choose each other over me, it is what it is. As long as they're happy. 

If you really want to do some training, you could try only taking one out at a time, and doing it in front of the cage where the other birds could still see him/her.


----------



## M'éanín's Mommy (Jan 20, 2014)

When I refer to training i'm not speaking of tricks, but appropriate behavior when interacting. Not being nippy, going potty in the wrong place, coming when name called. Things like that. My Parrotlets are naturals to train, very eager, picked up commands quickly. Perhaps I'm just expecting to much, difference in species and all. 

When I work with them 1:1 they are within eyesight of the others, often only a few feet away. As you can see in my photo I have external perches that attach to my Parrotlets cage and they will sit there, or on the window perch while I work with them. It's just that sometimes they get excited, want to cluster together and start the entire panic/wing flapping thing and next thing I know there is seed and papers everywhere. I've tried other places in the house, but I spend so much time in my office so that's what works for me.


----------



## moonchild (Jul 29, 2012)

Nippiness is something you can try to work on when they are in a group...if one nibbles you too hard, I recommend trying to imitate an angry cockatiel "squeal" and maybe shaking your arm/shoulder/whatever body part the bird is on slightly. I think in most cases, babies are beaky and grow out of it. So unless you really have a biter, I wouldn't worry about that.

As for potty training, I think it's an unrealistic expectation and I don't recommend it. I know some birds seem to have natural intuition not to poop in certain places, but none of my tiels fit that bill. They poop where they want, when they want. Potty training can be dangerous, because if the bird strains to go on command it can hurt itself...it can also hurt itself holding it in and waiting for the command. Maybe it's possible to train a bird to fly to a specific spot to poop, but I have no idea how one would go about safely training that behavior.


----------



## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

moonchild said:


> As for potty training, I think it's an unrealistic expectation and I don't recommend it. I know some birds seem to have natural intuition not to poop in certain places, but none of my tiels fit that bill. They poop where they want, when they want. Potty training can be dangerous, because if the bird strains to go on command it can hurt itself...it can also hurt itself holding it in and waiting for the command. Maybe it's possible to train a bird to fly to a specific spot to poop, but I have no idea how one would go about safely training that behavior.


Agree with all that. I've heard people claim that they can tell their birds to "go potty" but I'm suspicious of how mentally healthy it is and I also have a hunch that only a small percentage of cockatiels can be taught to respond to voice commands at all. (I also don't agree with the idea of putting a diaper on any pet, but especially a bird.)

To the original point, I respect birds' flock mentality, but I also understand that when something startles one bird and then all the birds panic and fly off it can be extremely worrisome (especially when we had 3 tiels this was scary since it seemed like one of them would always crash into something). 

Go figure -- I think this is just something you deal with when you have pet birds, and one of the reasons why ours are getting rehomed in the spring (none of the rooms in my BF's apartment are big enough for flight to be safe).


----------



## M'éanín's Mommy (Jan 20, 2014)

I really think when I said potty that people misunderstood. I'm not training them to potty on command, only to potty in the appropriate place. They can go whenever they desire. Really no different than training a cat to use litter box instead of going on floor. Same thing, they can fly off to their spot whenever they need to, they aren't waiting for me to tell them to.


----------



## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

M'éanín's Mommy said:


> I really think when I said potty that people misunderstood. I'm not training them to potty on command, only to potty in the appropriate place. They can go whenever they desire. Really no different than training a cat to use litter box instead of going on floor. Same thing, they can fly off to their spot whenever they need to, they aren't waiting for me to tell them to.


I think the issue of unrealistic expectations still applies here -- birds who can be trained to do this seem to be the exception, not the rule.


----------



## LaurulCat (Jan 4, 2014)

Flock panic reactions are not a behavior the birds have any type of control over; it is a natural 'fight or flight' instinct: a trigger causes one of the flock to make a panic call and the entire flock reacts to the threat and fly off in random patterns to try and confuse the predator and avoid being eaten. 

Birds are prey creatures and that is one reason they have such a hair-trigger flock panic reaction. It is also the reason most birds live in a flock; the numbers present in a flock decrease the probability that any one bird will die from predation.

As far as 'teaching' cockatiels to eliminate only in designated area, you are not being realistic.


----------

