My brother's parrots hate me :/

[City]

Serious thread. They fucking hate me and I don't know why!!

Whenever I visit him and I get in the living room (where their cage is), it's like [jazz music stops]. I sit next to the cage? They STEP BACK.

For a moment I thought hey, maybe my brother is a dick and he treats them badly, but no. They absolutely love him. So I thought "hey maybe they hate guests", but no, they don't step back or stop singing when other people visit him.

So what do I do to make myself more likable? I even offered them a piece of fruit but they refused it.

 

[hippy dave]

They know your dark secret.

 

[AncientBoi]

And now We know your Dark Secret

 

[zxr750j]

Pretend to be a chicken, make the sounds en the gestures and see if the like you more. If it doesn't help, whip out a taser and just zap them a couple of times, show who's the boss. And you really should get some professional help for dealing wit your dark secret...

 

[FAST6191]

Favourite food is good, monkey see-monkey do is also something that works on birds if they are reticent (you can even mime eating it if you want). If that is not working then you can put it on the bars of their cage/perch and go from there. If it is something simple like a sunflower seed then once that one is eaten carefully put another down, you can work up to hand feeding from there.

If they know a song then sing/whistle it with them. If they have a game/trick they can do then same. They start associating you with fun times.

Sometimes these things take time as well. Sit with them/next to them. No sudden movements, generally be calm, wander off later, repeat over the course of many visits. Once they accept you more then it gets far easier.

If they are not bity (and do not get bitten by a parrot, really hurts and can be worse still) you can try handling them. I don't know if they are taught to sit on fingers (hold it next to their chest, most will naturally climb onboard. Hold for a bit and then move to another perch to let them climb off, repeat) but that is a good one to try and allows you to hold very still for a long time so they can overcome their fear or whatever vs trying to give a head scratch/rub.

Sometimes certain clothes can set them off as well -- once had one that was seriously fond of a guy I know (as in sit on shoulder for long time while moving around) but when he wandered in wearing a high vis coat then in an otherwise fairly sweet little bird the swooping/dive bombing would start.
Had others that had preferences as well -- my cockatiels are not fond of many people but if a blonde lady wanders in (whether they have met them before or not) then watch them prance, sing all their best songs, click, show off and more.

 

[Hanafuda]

Serious thread. They fucking hate me and I don't know why!!

Because parrots imprint/bond with one person.

When I was in college I bought a 'cherry headed conure' from a roommate who was leaving town. Beautiful bird. Took it to my parents' house over break. It snuggled up to my dad, hated everyone else even the dogs. Hated me especially.

 

[KimKong]

Bribe it with a treat everytime you come over, and soon he will come to love you!

 

[City]

They know your dark secret.

*flashback to the first day I met them. He was ordering KFC on the phone*

Fuck.