Ted,Originally Posted by Ted Bell
The behaviors you've listed would be very difficult to fix or even reduce using any type of OC.
You're basically stating that you want to train your bird to not do something and this is very difficult. Not screaming for example. It's hard to reinforce a bird for being quiet. We never really know what we're reinforcing in a subject but you hope through repitition they will figure it out. But this gets really tough when you're trying to reinforce a subject for not doing something.
I've trained a lot of parrots to scream on cue but none to be quiet (boy I wish I could have). True some will say that you can put the screaming on cue and just not give the cue but it's NOT that easy and it doesn't work. The bird would have to make the connection that you're reinforcing for not screaming and that's a tough leap.
Mantling is another tough concept to train a bird not to do. True you could train a bird to hold its wings tight to the body but I don't think this would be an easy concept for a raptor to learn.
Carrying might be the easiest on your list and this isn't even easy. First you'd need to determine why your bird carries. It can be a trust issue or a safety issue. I find a lot of small raptors are uncomfortable eating in the open. Does your bird carry away from you or just to safety?? The tough part here is that once the bird catches a bird it doesn't need you for reinforcement. Catching and eating a bird is a VERY strong reinforcer. You'd almost certainly have to train this with a lure and hope it transfers to the wild bird.
I in no way want to discourage you from training your bird using OC techniques but I do want to warn that these are NOT easy tasks so don't get discouraged if you don't get the results you're looking for. It's a powerful tool but has its limitations.
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