Pics of Riff & Raff

Geordie · Post by **Geordie** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:53 am

I promised someone ages ago to post some before and after pics of my 2 Javas, Riff & Raff. I posted a couple of pics last september when they were about 6 weeks old, here they are now as promised:

Riff Before (age 6-8 weeks)

Riff Now (age 10 months)...click for larger images

Raff Before (age 6-8 weeks)

Raff Now (age 10 months)

Riff Raff Now (age 10 months)

And finally, here they are arguing about whose turn it is to get the beers in

williep · Post by **williep** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:28 am

Great pics geordie, whish I had the time and patience to hand tame some Javas.

Geordie · Post by **Geordie** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:40 am

Hey williep, cheers.

Despite what you may read it is relatively easy to tame young birds, you need about 3 days in total. Let them see you constantly and copy their peeps. Don't show them your hands during the 1st day, only your face and move slowly while whistling, they get very curious. 2nd day whistle and do lots of slow hand gestures, let them see you eating. 3rd day, open the cage and the curiosity got the better of Riff & Raff, they came out of the cage and within 30 minutes they were sitting on my head, at the end of the day they were perched on my hands, they refuse to leave me alone now and now have the run of the house in the mornings.

I've even got one hilarious pic which I am not going to post here as I don't want everyone to see me in this state. I got home one night, pretty drunk and as usual fell sound asleep on the sofa with my mouth wide open and snoring, Riff decided to sit on my chin...I was oblivious to him...and then he stuck his head right inside my mouth to see where this strange sound was coming from, just then my wife got the pic...lol

Anyway taming might not work if you have lots of birds though but with only a couple it worked fine for me.

Post by **Sally** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:45 pm

Wonderful photos! From what I've read, Javas can be tamed easier than many other species, though I still think people who can tame birds have a gift for it.

Geordie · Post by **Geordie** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 3:20 am

I think at the end of the day Sally it comes down to the birds personality. Raff was much, much easier to tame than Riff, mainly because Raff has always been more curious and likes taking risks, Riff on the otherhand is much more conservative. Raff these days will fly to any guest but Riff will check them out first with a few flybys before deciding.

A friend of mine who lives nearby asked me to try and tame a pair of Zebra finches for him as I am free most days (yes living in luxury and not working) so I decided to give it a crack...worked the same as Riff & Raff. The female of the Zebras was a little more tricky though but she came round in the end.

FeatherHarp · Post by **FeatherHarp** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:30 am

What amazing photos!!!

I am so impressed with your ability to tame your birds....truly a special gift.

You are most certainly a "Finch Whisperer".

Laura · Post by **Laura** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 6:39 pm

Whoa! I can't believe you've tamed them!
Congrats! Love their names by the way.

Kiko · Post by **Kiko** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 6:46 am

Riff and Raff and just adorable, and I love that you have hand tamed them. It would be so cool to have my finches land on me!

Geordie · Post by **Geordie** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:01 am

There are positives and negatives to hand taming your birds, everyone should know that hand tamed birds depend on you a lot more than birds that are more independent. So unless you have the time to play with them then I don't recommend trying to tame them.

For me, I have lots of time so they are always with me, usually on my shoulder or head and I love their company...but make sure you have the time to continue what you start.

RATTIE · Post by **RATTIE** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:54 pm

They are very cute birds.

Stephen · Post by **Stephen** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:12 pm

Great job! Their colors are amazing, as well. May I ask a question? Do you think that it would be any easier for me to tame a single Java finch rather than a zebra finch? Or about the same? By the way, I'm currently have 3 budgies so during the day, my finch would not be alone.

Thanks for any help!

B CAMP · Post by **B CAMP** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:07 pm

Do you keep your budgies in the same cage with your finches or are they seperated?

Geordie · Post by **Geordie** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:14 am

When taming, a lot of it comes down to the individual bird. The Zebras took about the same amount of time to hand tame as the Javas but the Javas are by far more fun both during and after taming because of their curious nature, seriously, I never stopped laughing with my Javas, but the Zebras were a bit tedious at times.

Also, when taming, either do all birds together (providing you don't have a lot of birds) or tame a single bird alone when it cannot see any other birds, the latter is easier, birds can easily be influenced by other birds so if you have one bird that is already tamed and the other birds can see that then it makes it easier to tame the rest.

These days Raff likes to ride in the back bay of my sons remote controlled toy Ford truck...Riff however is a bit more posh and won't ride in anything less than a Porsche...

Anyway, my next mission is to house train them

But believe it or not, they have stopped doing their jobbies on me and will fly onto the top of the cage, let thunder rip and fly back to me, don't ask me why they suddenly started doing this because I have no idea...maybe it's a respect thing

Geordie · Post by **Geordie** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:09 am

Oh, and one more thing if anyone tries to tame birds...always wash your hands before handling the birds, don't wear any perfume etc., etc. Common sense really. Some daily things that we take for granted can sometimes be harmful to the birds depending on the species...luckily the Javas are tough little buggers and they can deal with almost anything.

hilljack13 · Post by **hilljack13** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 4:43 pm

Geordie,

Awsome pics, thats cool you were able to get your birds tame. Maybe one day......