Las Vegas Parrot Training

Abstract

Bright lights, cameras flashing, the noise of the crowd, and dazzling showgirls dancing on stage-you are one of the lucky few who have VIP tickets to the open-

ing night of the newest and biggest show on the Las Vegas strip. The pyrotechnics are cued and with a deafening sound and

a plume of smoke a flock of nine macaws soars above the crowd so close you could practically touch them, making it an interactive experience that stimulates every one of your senses. Then, as if by magic, they fly to the entertainer on the stage and the show has only just begun. The birds perform like precision instruments and you feel like they must have performed like

this thousands of times before, but that is yet another Las Vegas illusion and this is only the first night of the show.

How do we do it? How do we have our birds in newspapers, on television, on stage and on the big screen before their first birthday? The answer is simple and if you have read my blog before you know it is no secret. Ideally, I begin training birds when they are very young. It is now apparent to me that parrots can learn as soon as their eyes open. Many trainers do not start training with their birds at such a young age because they feel they are too young. I have found that my birds are often capable of performing shows before they are fully weaned onto solid foods. How do I do it? Let's take a look.

Here I will let you in on my biggest trick as to how I do what I do, and why I do what I do. These techniques are proven, working night after night and this is not a rehearsed DVD or presentation, but training methods that have to work because the birds' lives might depend on how well they are trained. If you want a bird that flies outdoors you will not find anything that works better than this process, a process where juveniles are raised from infancy to be Super Parrots. This is an A-to-Z guide to how I work with training subjects, from selecting them, to eventually performing in shows.

Before Their Eyes Open

Ideally, birds are chosen for training before their eyes are open. Most of the birds I raise and train are pre-ordered, or the potential owner is put on a waiting list even before the egg is laid. Once a deposit is placed on a bird, its destiny is set in stone: to become a Super Parrot. Although I breed many of the birds I train from my own pairs, ifI don't have the species that a particular entertainer or show is looking for, I may consult my network of trusted breeders in an attempt to match the client with the perfect bird. Sometimes these performers are hatched in an incubator and hand-raised from Day One, or sometimes they are parent-reared for 10 days to two weeks, basically until their eyes open. From here the number of feedings per day is naturally reduced and can be cut down from every few hours around the clock to four hand-feedings per day. This is dependent on the species, but it usually around the time that the baby birds finally open their eyes.

If possible, I prefer not to be handrearing birds that are younger than this. Instead I choose to leave the bird with its parents, if at all possible. A typical and comfortable hand-feeding schedule for me would be 8 a.m., noon, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Training is not an option before this time because before their eyes open, baby parrots spend much of their time sleeping, eating and pooping. But as they mature to the stage where their eyes begin to open, I have noticed they become more aware of their surroundings with every passing day. At this stage of development they will respond to sounds as well as light (although at the time of hatching to the first 10 days or so their eyes aren't even fully formed yet). After they are chosen for training I usually have an idea of what tricks or behaviors each particular bird will be performing and I start getting prepared by gathering the props and other items needed for later, as I plan the individual training of each subject. At this early stage of growth, the main health or biological concerns we have are cleanliness, and of course warmth and food.

 

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