Hand Training

[Claire+Charlie]

So is it possible to hand train my new baby zebras without hand feeding them?
If so, any suggestions on how to go about that?

[TailFeathers]

Stick your hand in the cage everyday for 20-30 mins without moving it so they get used to it.

Try to leave the food dish out as much as possible and force them to feed from your hand.

Put seeds in hand formed as cup. DO NOT flinch otherwise it you'll scare them.

Put seeds on hand with honey and continuously approach them with it daily. Make multiple attempts.

Next step, take something they like such as lettuce approach them with lettuce in hand so they approach the lettuce first. After they eat from it, they will begin to jump on your hand.

Maximum time 45 days to hand train. Naturally tame birds 0-10 days.

[MiaCarter]

Absolutely!
You can definitely tame a finch without handfeeding.

Ideally, you should handle the baby as much as possible, starting around 10 days old (when they open their eyes). But the parents would need to be amenable to this or you risk abandonment.

If there's a question of whether the parents will tolerate handling, then I would opt to be more cautious and wait until the baby fledges.

At fledging, they will have some natural fear, but it's not well engrained and it's relatively easy to overcome.

You can even tame an adult. I've done it many times. The process is the same, whether it's a finch or a parakeet or a macaw or a raven or a starling or a chicken (yes, I've made friends with a chicken.)

The timeframe for taming depends upon the individual and the amount of time you invest each day. But it is ESSENTIAL to work with them daily, even if it's just for a few minutes.

You just need a food that they really enjoy. I usually use millet. It's key that you avoid offering that special food outside of a taming exercise. So no millet unless it comes from your hand!
Millet is great too because it's long, so you can offer it initially without putting your hand super close. Then, over time, you shorten the length of the millet spray and ultimately graduate to letting them eat it from a cupped hand. (This forces them to perch on your hand --- something that takes a LOT of trust. They'll be more keen to eat while standing on a perch or similar, so putting the millet seeds or a seed cluster in the center of your hand makes them hop onto your hand to access it.

I wrote detailed directions here:
http://www.petfinchfacts.com/all-posts/ ... her-birds/

And some general tips:
http://www.petfinchfacts.com/all-posts/ ... ing-birds/

[Airlyn]

Friends with a chicken! I cracked up laughing!
I use to have a pet salon and somebody brought a chicken in. You should have seen me trying to blow dry a chicken!

[MiaCarter]

Airlyn - Ha! That's great! Trying to blow dry a chicken! I bet that was one helluva project!

I have a friend here in Florida who has a whole bunch of show chickens. All sorts of odd varieties with the prettiest plumage, like laced polish and mille fleur bantams and silkies. They're the prissiest chickens I've ever seen! Nearly all hand raised too, so they're super friendly. They follow her around the grounds like ducklets following a mama duck. She even had a custom chicken house built. It looks like a mini version of her house. Every visit is like a trip down the rabbit hole! (And it takes every ounce of self control to avoid leaving with a bunch of eggs and Terry's spare incubator so I can grow my own batch of prissy chickens!!)

Chickens are great! As are turkeys. My friend had a big male turkey who would follow you around, squacking at you until you gave him a head rub. He'd close his eyes and just loved it. So funny!
He had the softest caruncle and snood (that red fleshy skin on their chin and above the beak. I've always called it a gobbler.) So velvety. I'd love a big tom turkey to add to my lot of prissy chickens.

But indeed, you can tame them too, just like finches or hookbills. Poultry is much easier to tame, as they're not too swift and even the wild ones don't seem to have an intense fear of humans.