Unprovoked Aggression Help

[Good_birdy]

I posted this in another avian forum and I would like to share this here to get as many ressources possible!

Tookie hatched in july 2016, i have had her since she was 4 months old.

I knew what I was getting into in terms of gcc being bitey and nippy. With persistance we overcame the infuriating habit of her crawling up the arm and biting ears. Every time she would bite an ear we would say no bite and put her away in the cage.

She very rarely bites ears to this day. However she has started to get testy and agressive. I figure that it might be the start of sexual maturity but theres no sure way to tell.

My rising issue lately has been that she has started to be aggressive with absolutely no telltale signs and no provocation that I can see. Examples are I am sitting on the couch while she's flying about and if I try to take the tv remote she will lunge towards my hand to bite. If I am holding a gaming controller or my cellphone she also decides to lunge and bite. Her neck feathers did not fluff, her tail didn't fan, no growling sounds, just a lunge and and a bite and usually its a very nasty bite.

Also I used to be able to kiss her neck or have her kiss my nose but after 2 nasty bites to the face all face activities are discontinued forever.

This bird gets attention and a healthy diet and regular training and a regular sleeping schedule no matter the sun. So what the f*ck? Lol. I've stuck to the method of saying no bite and putting her in the cage. But its just not working and I refuse to stop living my life because of a parrot.

Since I now work from home, she is pretty much out of her cage 90% of the time.

The day starts anywhere from around 8am to 10am, I uncover her cage, she poops and gets some outside time while I am preparing both of our breakfasts, usually fruits and some chop(green veggies, leafies, carrots, etc) mushed together to make gloop I suppose. I put her back in the cage to eat meals, after meals she comes back out and hangs out until I need to start working.

I have deadlines to meet so I cannot allow too much time to be "wasted" by being distracted by her. Usually she tries to hang around the keyboard and attacks my fingers on occasion while I am working. I dont have time to relocate her to a chair or somewhere else every 2 seconds. (I am taking the time during weekends though and it's getting better.) At first I would leave her in her cage with me in my workroom but she would scream and carry on. So I have since chosen to leave her cage in the living room with a youtube playlist of running water, or nature sounds and such. Every 2 hours or so I take a break and let her out for some fly time from anywhere to 20 minutes to an hour while I procrastinate. These times we hang out and get scritches or do some flight recall or shred some stuff or do chores, etc.

Her cage door is always opened to have access to her pellets, toys, water unless we have placed her there to get things done.

During the early evening she goes back in the cage if I am cooking and she comes out after cleanup until I prepare her cage for bed, which usually was 7pm, but I knocked back to 8pm to allow her more time out of the cage.

Don't get me wrong, she is a sweet little bugger, she loves to cuddle and is pretty velcro, unfortunately. It just blindsides me when I am reaching for my tv remote or my cellphone and she attacks with no warning.

I use walnuts/sunflower seeds for training, could that be causing her to be aggressive towards things I pick up? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[sunnysmom]

I've never had a conure, but I know with cockatiels they talk about the terrible twos- where they just become hormonal little things. My guess is that's what's going on with your bird. Does she come out of the cage on her own or do you take her out? Also does she have a play area near you? A playstand by your desk might help keep her occupied.

@webchirp ?

 

[Mizzely]

So what toys does she have available around your work area to distract her?

Give me an example of something like, before you take the TV remote is she being engaged by you? Are you giving her attention or is she using that as a way to get your attention? Because it could be a jealousy type thing too. Remotes and cell phones tend to distract us from them, so it could be that she sees it as a rival almost.

Have you tried to give her a foot toy or treat prior to taking an item near her to distract? Does she have clear and easy access to her cage in the areas that she is biting? Because she could also be saying she is bored and wants to go back to her cage since that is the result of her behavior.

It may seem unprovoked, and it may seem like aggression, but I would wager its neither, and is more a communication error between the two of you.

 

[Whoviana]

Sunflower has declared war on TV remotes and loves to go after controllers and cellphones. It is mostly a playful thing, but she can get way too rough. She also attacks lids being twisted and bags being opened. I think she just thinks anything in our hands is for her. After all, isn't everything for her?

Sunflower is a 9 month old GCC who loves to wrestle and give kissies.

 

[orphansparrow]

I've had Duckie for about 8 years now (she's around 9), and she still goes through biting fazes. She's in one right now as a matter of fact. She'll do well for months, and then suddenly (it seems) gets extra aggressive. I am like you, work from home 5 days of the week, and she's out of the cage about 90% of the day. I barely trust her on my shoulder, but when she's there I make sure my hair is wrapped around my neck for some protection. I do as you do. I say "don't bite!", and put her away and turn my back on her. I just keep doing that over and over, forever. It seems she gets it, but there are times she just does not care.

 

[webchirp]

There are certain things they determine to be either harmful to you and try to chase you away or it could just make her angry. Zia will do this if I have another cheekie in close contact or my phone. I know the cheekies make her angry and she wants to chase them off...figuring she wants the phone down too. I think its a good idea to leave her for periods of time so she can adjust and be self sufficient.

 

[JLcribber]

This bird gets attention and a healthy diet and regular training and a regular sleeping schedule no matter the sun. So what the f*ck? Lol. I've stuck to the method of saying no bite and putting her in the cage.

This is a "drama reward' and will actually work to "increase" the behaviour. A reward does not have to be good or bad. Just a reward. Your reaction, verbal response, getting up and taking her to her cage is the reward.

But its just not working and I refuse to stop living my life because of a parrot.

You probably should not have got a parrot because sometimes that's what's required. Don't ever have children then.

Don't get me wrong, she is a sweet little bugger, she loves to cuddle and is pretty velcro, unfortunately. It just blindsides me when I am reaching for my tv remote or my cellphone and she attacks with no warning.

So now that you know she does not like cellphones/remotes (which is very common) you are not being blindsided anymore. You are not paying attention because you know it's going to happen.

 

[Heather F]

Congratulations, your bird is not a baby anymore. She is in the middle of green cheek teenagerhood. It'll get better, but right now she's cranky as heck.

If the beak is in range of something you are reaching for, pick up bird in your other hand so you can then pick up the thing safely.

If you have something in your hand that isn't bird, that thing is an evil interloping demon attention stealing demon and both you and it must be attacked. My roommate has become a master of browsing the internet using the trackpad of her laptop with her left hand because Frodo demands to snuggle up next to her right one.

Video games may have to wait until after she is in for the evening.

Honestly I don't put my fingers in range of my (now adult) green cheek's beak at all unless he is sitting getting scritches. Fingers waving in front of him are an invitation to nip. I accept this. I even pick him up and move him in order to clean up after he poops, because if I come near him with a tissue he will aggressively guard his "treasure." (When I want him to "step up," I offer him my forearm to hop down onto, or if he is on the floor, I drape a kitchen towel over my hand and he steps readily onto that. Could I try to train him to "step up" in a more "standard" way? Probably, but this works fine for us so why stress it?) My other bird is much more docile so I don't have to worry so much about that unless she is feeling hormonal which makes her cranky.

It takes some adjustments to learn to watch your bird's body language and figure out what triggers aggression, but once you do and learn to work around those triggers instead of trying to fix them, it gets much easier and more peaceful.

 

[orphansparrow]

This is a "drama reward' and will actually work to "increase" the behaviour. A reward does not have to be good or bad. Just a reward. Your reaction, verbal response, getting up and taking her to her cage is the reward.

This is a good reminder from John. A good reminder for me actually. I'm finding that I often have to retrain myself when I've fallen into a pattern that is not working to create the happiest relations between us. I do the "no bite", and turn my back on her, but I think John is correct about the "drama reward". The less drama in the correction, the better. Learning to read body language/read her cues, are probably best. And maybe instead of getting up to put her away, you can just remove your eye contact and let her see you are unfazed. (Even though you probably aren't). If you really need to get work done at the moment, and aren't able to deal with her antics, I think putting her inside her cage with her toys, and things to do, with you in sight, if fair enough. Better probably than getting up to put her away every few minutes, as you said.

It takes some adjustments to learn to watch your bird's body language and figure out what triggers aggression, but once you do and learn to work around those triggers instead of trying to fix them, it gets much easier and more peaceful.

Absolutely true I think. You kind of have to get on their level and see the world from the sort of alien perspective of your bird. That way you'll let her be her without as much frustration on either side.

P.S. It DOES seem common that many birds hate the things we often put in our hands. I'm almost never on my cell phone at home, but Duckie hated when I used a mouse, and hates when I now type on my keyboard. If I need to do those things, I simply do them without her, or yeah, I'll get bit.

 

[Lesley Yeung]

Bird is the same. Always on the attack. I swear he wakes up everyday and thinks to himself; "how much trouble can I cause today"?

 

[greys4u]

And if they feel that something is going to hurt you, they bite to alert you that the monster is coming!! I usually take Valentine with me to the office. The exception is when I have to measure jewelry pieces, she goes nuts and tries to bite the tape measure, its the same thing with towels so she stays in her crate. A playstand is a good idea. If you have a window in your office put the stand there so she could look out and see her world.

 

[Shinobi]

BITING IS NOT A NATURAL CONFLICTS RESOLUTIONS OR COMMUNICATIONS IN BIRDS. Instead they are handled with body language and vocalizations. They convey their feelings beforehand or will fly off to avoid physical contact. If needed, the beak is a protection against predators such as snakes and raptors or if it feels cornered and frighten then the need to bite will be from the natural instinct of self -preservation. But not against others in their own flock. In their natural environments, competition and/ or conflict between parrots rarely escalates to physical violence. Instead, they vocalize (scream) and/or use body language by strutting, posturing, and fluffing feathers to make themselves look bigger. Beaks are used for climbing, eating, playing (wrestling) and preening... not for biting another flock member.

I was told many years ago not to use the earthquake method. (Shake your hand when the bird goes to bite). When your bird is on your hand don't shake your hands to unbalance the bird has this will cause trust issues between your hand and the bird. This person told me the idea is to make your hands a safe and trusted place for your birds and if you shake your hand to unbalance the bird then the bird will come to see your hand as unsafe and will learn to distrust your hands. If your bird views your hand has unsafe and distrusts your hand it will more likely bite the hand, then fly away. The use of gloves can also cause problems further down the line. It would probably be better to find out what is triggering the bite and there are many different types of triggers. Watch the eyes.

Just keep in mind that patience is key. Never mistreatment a bird who bites. Birds remember mistreatment, and they hold grudges. Any interaction you have with your bird should be bonding and trust-building. Parrots and other animals learn best when wanted behaviour is rewarded right as it occurs and BAD behaviour is not. (It’s that simple).

I tolerate the bite, which can be really hard at times. Under NO circumstances should you yell. Instead say No biting or naughty bird in a firm and displeased voice and give the bird a very dirty look. Show the bird your displeasure by giving it a REALLY DIRTY LOOK ("The Evil Eye"). Serious -- you have to look at it as if it were the lowest of the low, or pond scum, or something you might find stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Parrots are extremely empathetic creatures who watch our facial expressions closely. He will understand your displeasure if you give him a tremendously dirty look. The bird will understand that you are unhappy and will try very hard not to do it again.

Do not leave the room. The bird bit you because it wants you to go away. So, you leaving the room is what the bird wants. Therefore, you are teaching the bird that by biting, you will leave. This is a learnt bad behaviour.

I don’t put my birds back in the cage has I feel this makes for resentment. Instead I put the bird on its stand and scold it.

For the record, in the two and half years that we had Marlin, our Alexandrine Parakeet I was bitten hard once. I put him on the stand and scolded him and after that he never bit anyone else. This happened when he was around 7 months old. Henry our male Eclectus did the same thing and I also put him on the bird stand and scolded him and he hasn’t bitten since. In fact, I trust him enough to have him sit on my shoulder. Not bad for a bird who is 3 years old.

But if you make a show out of being bitten then the bird can find it quite entertaining and can be encouraging to bite. This is called learnt bad behaviour.
So the parrot will nip again, because the human inadvertently rewarded it for nipping by yelling. Sooner or later, the experimental nips will actually hurt the human (emotionally as well as physically), and the human's response becomes, yelling something to the effect of "YOU BAD BIRD, YOUR MOMMY (or DADDY) LOVES YOU, HOW COULD YOU BITE YOUR MOMMY (or DADDY)??!??!! The bird doesn't understand what's happening here, of course...... It thinks this is a wonderful new game. You know, bite a finger and your person makes lots of LOUD and WONDERFUL noises.... Bite hard enough and your person will also jump around... Bonus points…… This becomes learnt bad behaviour and they will actively hunt out skin to play this wonderful game of entertainment.

You can use a Toy/treat as a distraction, But it's just that 'a distraction'. It's not really teaching the bird acceptable behaviours. What you're really teaching the bird, is that by biting, it gets a toy/treat. Again, learnt bad behaviour.

Contrary to human beliefs, parrots think yelling is a fantastic and fun response and it will actually reinforce a behaviour. Parrots really enjoy it when humans yell at them. Parrots often scream simply for the fun of it so it is a fallacy to think they perceive that yelling is a reprimand. On the contrary, they generally interpret yelling as positive feed-back. This is what called The Drama Reward.


Teach targeting, the bird must first be clicker trained, this means that the birds understands that a click equals reward, the reward can be praise or a food item

Then you need to decide what to use for the target, I use a chop stick and it can’t be a hand-held perch that the birds step up onto. The chop stick must only be used for training sessions and not for play outside the training sessions, otherwise they lose their meaning.

Use T-stand to confine the bird to the area which helps it to concentrate on the chop stick. Start by holding the chop stick near the bird and Click and reward for any movement toward the chop stick. Then withhold the reward until the bird touches the chop stick, Click and reward.

Teach him to touch it with a gentle grip of the beak as birds have a tendency to open their beak to touch it. If you have a bird that is very aggressive and wants to grab the chop stick out of your hand, then you will need to hold onto the chop stick and not let him pull it out of your hand.

The first time he does a gentle grab Click and reward with extra treats and praise. This is an “recognition moment ". He should soon get the idea of the gentle grip. Once he understands that, only Click and reward for gentle grip touches.

 

[Heather F]

BITING IS NOT A NATURAL CONFLICTS RESOLUTIONS OR COMMUNICATIONS IN BIRDS. Instead they are handled with body language and vocalizations. They convey their feelings beforehand or will fly off to avoid physical contact. If needed, the beak is a protection against predators such as snakes and raptors or if it feels cornered and frighten then the need to bite will be from the natural instinct of self -preservation. But not against others in their own flock. In their natural environments, competition and/ or conflict between parrots rarely escalates to physical violence. Instead, they vocalize (scream) and/or use body language by strutting, posturing, and fluffing feathers to make themselves look bigger. Beaks are used for climbing, eating, playing (wrestling) and preening... not for biting another flock member.

Be careful of overgeneralizing. Not every species of bird, or even every species of parrot, communicates the same way. Green cheeks are well known to be beaky birds, particularly the males. They may treat us as companions and substitute flock mates but we are not actually fellow birds. What to an actual green cheek would be a playful or warning "beaking" only contacting feathers, to us is an actual nip on skin, and that's not their fault because they don't realize this, so it's something we as humans need to understand and work around.

Because I understand that I have a territorial bird full of sass, I respect his beak and don't approach him with my hands in a way that to him looks like an intruder and I save activities that I know will cause him to get overexcited and/or aggressive and/or possessive towards my hands for after he goes in or when I know my roommate can wrangle him. I can tell the difference between a real bite and a "hey!" nip (as well as the "I tried to get my balance and grabbed on to the perch which happened to be you" which tend to me more painful than either of the previous two), and I rarely get either these days because I know how to read him and how to avoid setting off his aggression.

 

[Mizzely]

I feel like birds in the wild fight more than we think...

It is not purely a mechanic of being in captivity.

 

[Familyof12]

Thanks for all the advice!!! I have a new caique and he uses his beak to communicate whether he wants you to keep your hand in a spot or to get your hand away. I have to be focused on his body language, the situation he is in, and what he's trying to say. Often he likes to whistle once to call me. Like a dog. I don't go running every time. I figure he's got food/water, tons and tons of toys to keep him occupied. He loves screaming in the morning (normal) and when he see's birds or is on sentry duty (don't bug him-he's working) and he will nip us. We know when he's on sentry duty because he'll climb really high and squawk if he see's any danger. LOL

I'm still learning. Charlie hasn't bitten through skin but he's bitten kind of hard and I gently touch his bean and say "too hard Charlie, too hard Charlie" and he starts getting much more gentle. They really know the strength of their beaks but don't know how our skin is really soft and we an feel it. Charlie now likes to see what parts are sensitive on us. He knows to gently use his beak now but man I got tired of saying "too hard Charlie" but as long as it works. I'll keep doing it as he knows what that means.

Charlie hates cellphones and laptops. He wants to destroy the keys, the screen, the cover on the cases (mine's been replaced twice now). We hide them as often as possible so he won't destroy or get upset with them. He hates hates us watching other parrot videos by the way. I feel like he thinks we'll replace him with anther bird. I have no idea but he attacks the TV if bird videos are on. So now we watch them after he goes to bed at 7:30. Plenty of time for us to use the TV without him screeching. Sorry for the long story but biting in stages is normal and you just have to keep them busy with chewing instead. If they bite you, give them something that is okay to bite and replace it with your finger while you hold him. That's what we do with Charlie too.

 

[Good_birdy]

I've never had a conure, but I know with cockatiels they talk about the terrible twos- where they just become hormonal little things. My guess is that's what's going on with your bird. Does she come out of the cage on her own or do you take her out? Also does she have a play area near you? A playstand by your desk might help keep her occupied.
@webchirp ?

She's always playful and flying about, she comes out on her own. We just need to get her to wait on her door perch and we open the door and get her to "up" out. I think the playstand is a great idea, probably should move it to where she can see my face since its currently sprawled across the bookshelf behind me, haha. Thanks for the help.

So what toys does she have available around your work area to distract her?

Give me an example of something like, before you take the TV remote is she being engaged by you? Are you giving her attention or is she using that as a way to get your attention? Because it could be a jealousy type thing too. Remotes and cell phones tend to distract us from them, so it could be that she sees it as a rival almost.

Have you tried to give her a foot toy or treat prior to taking an item near her to distract? Does she have clear and easy access to her cage in the areas that she is biting? Because she could also be saying she is bored and wants to go back to her cage since that is the result of her behavior.

It may seem unprovoked, and it may seem like aggression, but I would wager its neither, and is more a communication error between the two of you.

Like I said to sunnysmom, she has toys and such on a bookshelf behind my work area, but it might be best to get one where she can see my face instead! Tookie is usually getting scritches or flying around or playing with a bell we hung from the ceiling. When I'm about to take the remote she's either A, right on me and zooms down my arm to attack it, or B she's across the room and zooms over to attack it =_=. She seems to have calmed down a bit towards my phone, I just need to distract her first, or I pet her before/after engaging with my phone.

For sure a communication error, it's two different languages, haha. She has very easy access to her cage and usually never hesitates to go back into it.

There are certain things they determine to be either harmful to you and try to chase you away or it could just make her angry. Zia will do this if I have another cheekie in close contact or my phone. I know the cheekies make her angry and she wants to chase them off...figuring she wants the phone down too. I think its a good idea to leave her for periods of time so she can adjust and be self sufficient.

I do leave her on her own sometimes Thank you for the reply.

You probably should not have got a parrot because sometimes that's what's required. Don't ever have children then.

The first thing you mentionned was good feedback. I agree that I regret having a parrot sometimes, but you voicing a very uncalled for comment on children is NOT appreciated and flat out disrespectful. This is a forum about parrots, any jab towards personal life is just undiplomatic.

Congratulations, your bird is not a baby anymore. She is in the middle of green cheek teenagerhood. It'll get better, but right now she's cranky as heck.

If the beak is in range of something you are reaching for, pick up bird in your other hand so you can then pick up the thing safely.

If you have something in your hand that isn't bird, that thing is an evil interloping demon attention stealing demon and both you and it must be attacked. My roommate has become a master of browsing the internet using the trackpad of her laptop with her left hand because Frodo demands to snuggle up next to her right one.

Video games may have to wait until after she is in for the evening.

Honestly I don't put my fingers in range of my (now adult) green cheek's beak at all unless he is sitting getting scritches. Fingers waving in front of him are an invitation to nip. I accept this. I even pick him up and move him in order to clean up after he poops, because if I come near him with a tissue he will aggressively guard his "treasure." (When I want him to "step up," I offer him my forearm to hop down onto, or if he is on the floor, I drape a kitchen towel over my hand and he steps readily onto that. Could I try to train him to "step up" in a more "standard" way? Probably, but this works fine for us so why stress it?) My other bird is much more docile so I don't have to worry so much about that unless she is feeling hormonal which makes her cranky.

It takes some adjustments to learn to watch your bird's body language and figure out what triggers aggression, but once you do and learn to work around those triggers instead of trying to fix them, it gets much easier and more peaceful.

Theres always something new and an adjustment to make. My partner and I are still learning. And the remotes trigger is still an adjustment, its just infuriating to be relaxing one second and needing to be on guard the next and stressed about pierced skin. When it's too much and we need to watch a movie without being actually afraid of a bit, we place her back in the cage and its scritches when its over. I have worked with Tookie and towelling, mainly burrito wrapping her, she actually really enjoys it! Thanks for the reply!

This is a good reminder from John. A good reminder for me actually. I'm finding that I often have to retrain myself when I've fallen into a pattern that is not working to create the happiest relations between us. I do the "no bite", and turn my back on her, but I think John is correct about the "drama reward". The less drama in the correction, the better. Learning to read body language/read her cues, are probably best. And maybe instead of getting up to put her away, you can just remove your eye contact and let her see you are unfazed. (Even though you probably aren't). If you really need to get work done at the moment, and aren't able to deal with her antics, I think putting her inside her cage with her toys, and things to do, with you in sight, if fair enough. Better probably than getting up to put her away every few minutes, as you said.



Absolutely true I think. You kind of have to get on their level and see the world from the sort of alien perspective of your bird. That way you'll let her be her without as much frustration on either side.

P.S. It DOES seem common that many birds hate the things we often put in our hands. I'm almost never on my cell phone at home, but Duckie hated when I used a mouse, and hates when I now type on my keyboard. If I need to do those things, I simply do them without her, or yeah, I'll get bit.

An issue I seem to have is Tookie seems disinterested in 98% of the toys we give her, but will readily chew a chair, lol. She does enjoy shreddable paper toys and bells, but thats the limit of her interest and its usually held for 10 minutes at most. I make foraging toys for her on occasion and that keeps her attention for much longer.

Body language is a struggle for me, but it's getting better with time. Though as I said in my original post, when she reacts its very much .02 seconds before the fact :/. I've seen her become aggressive in the course of a few minutes, so I recognize some of the signs. Her eyes are too dark to see pinning and she really doesn't fluff her neck feathers.

I tolerate the bite, which can be really hard at times. Under NO circumstances should you yell. Instead say No biting or naughty bird in a firm and displeased voice and give the bird a very dirty look. Show the bird your displeasure by giving it a REALLY DIRTY LOOK ("The Evil Eye"). Serious -- you have to look at it as if it were the lowest of the low, or pond scum, or something you might find stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Parrots are extremely empathetic creatures who watch our facial expressions closely. He will understand your displeasure if you give him a tremendously dirty look. The bird will understand that you are unhappy and will try very hard not to do it again.

Oh yes, we started doing this recently and have had success

Thank you for the long reply, it was informative.

 

[Shinobi]

Be careful of overgeneralizing. Not every species of bird, or even every species of parrot, communicates the same way. Green cheeks are well known to be beaky birds, particularly the males. They may treat us as companions and substitute flock mates but we are not actually fellow birds. What to an actual green cheek would be a playful or warning "beaking" only contacting feathers, to us is an actual nip on skin, and that's not their fault because they don't realize this, so it's something we as humans need to understand and work around.

Because I understand that I have a territorial bird full of sass, I respect his beak and don't approach him with my hands in a way that to him looks like an intruder and I save activities that I know will cause him to get overexcited and/or aggressive and/or possessive towards my hands for after he goes in or when I know my roommate can wrangle him. I can tell the difference between a real bite and a "hey!" nip (as well as the "I tried to get my balance and grabbed on to the perch which happened to be you" which tend to me more painful than either of the previous two), and I rarely get either these days because I know how to read him and how to avoid setting off his aggression.

I feel like birds in the wild fight more than we think...

It is not purely a mechanic of being in captivity.

These videos that show fighting between wild parrots, and most people would look at those videos and agree that the parrots are fighting. When I look at those videos I see at least four possible scenarios.

These scenarios can be birds squabbling over food, being a breeding pair of parrots defending their territory from an intruder, two Parent parrots disciplining their offspring for unacceptable behaviour, two Parents parrots have decided that their offspring is now old enough to become independent of the protection of its parents and to take up its place in the flock. It’s all about perception and interpretation. It’s obvious that I’m have a different perception and interpretation of these videos.

This is not what I would term biting, but more has beak sparring and wing flapping. There was not any hard biting shown in any of these videos it was all lunging, beak sparring and flapping wings, other words posturing or bluffing. A parrot’s beak is designed to crack open nuts, seeds and chew through wood. So soft body tissue would not be a challenge. If a parrot bit its fellow flock member hard, there would be bird body parts on the forest floor. Biting hard is a survival tool, not a social etiquette. All Communities have a set of rules for standard behaviour, predator recognition, song, mate choice and foraging. Without these standards the community would fail and perish.

Its seem that you both fail to understand the point I was making, and that is birds do teach their offspring how to behave within the flock. There are numerous unacceptable behaviours and biting hard is just one. There have been observations that some breeds of parrots assemble their offspring in the same tree on which they establish a sort of kindergarten to teach the social niceties of being a Flock member. It seems that this Social etiquette teaching class was observed in African Greys, budgerigars and Galahs. This led to concluded that early bonds between birds are very important for their social development.

It's not about assuming that Birds behaviour is a discomfort, good, bad or wrong and must be corrected. It's about teaching your bird acceptable behaviours within the flock, just has the bird’s parents would have done in the wild. The parents would have disciplined their young if they were displaying unacceptable behaviour. Biting hard is an unacceptable behaviour

The behaviour information is woefully incomplete on Parrots in the wild, most behaviour information is based on captive birds. It’s known that many species of animals stay together as a family unit for as long as two years. During this time, the parents and their flock members, educate the young essential survival skills. Then, the adolescent bird has learnt and develop the required survival skills to become independent of the protection of its parents and to take up its place in the flock.

Also the development of the juvenile bird’s normal social behaviour seems to go beyond their nesting period and involves many components that must be learned by interaction and the observation of other individuals in the flock. Not all flocks are of the feathered kind, some have feathers, fur and skin. Sometime all in the one flock.

Henry Doesn't bite us because we taught him not to.

 

[BrianB]

Birds can be thrown off by little things. There was a discussion on another thread about something similar. I have a wedding ring, and a ring on my right hand. I stopped wearing the right hand ring, and my bird has an issue with it. If I tried to pet her with my left hand, it was fine, but with the right hand, she shied away and acted terrified of it. When I put the ring back on, the behavior stopped. My point is that something in the environment may have changed and the biting is in response to it. Mine goes through moods like she's a bipolar hormonal teenager. Sweet one minute, and hating everyone and everything the next. They don't last very long and she's back to her sweet self. She doesn't bite my ears anymore, but she will pull on a stud I have in it. It doesn't hurt. It's like a little kid exploring their world by putting everything in their mouth. My solution for biting fingers is to move her away and tell her No Bites!. If she gets too wound up then she goes back in the cage for a bit of a time out. Sometimes she will throw a fit and bang stuff and scream at me. I ignore her. When she's calm again, then I let her out. If she keeps it up, I take my laptop and leave the room. I try to be as consistent with it as possible, but some days she does try my patience.

 

[Shinobi]

I don’t put my birds back in the cage has I feel this makes for resentment. Instead I put the bird on its stand and scold it.

Good Birdy

I suggest you teach targeting, the bird must first be clicker trained, this means that the birds understands that a click equals reward, the reward can be praise or a food item

Then you need to decide what to use for the target, I use a chop stick and it can’t be a hand-held perch that the birds step up onto. The chop stick must only be used for training sessions and not for play outside the training sessions, otherwise they lose their meaning.

Use T-stand to confine the bird to the area which helps it to concentrate on the chop stick. Start by holding the chop stick near the bird and Click and reward for any movement toward the chop stick. Then withhold the reward until the bird touches the chop stick, Click and reward.

Teach him to touch it with a gentle grip of the beak as birds have a tendency to open their beak to touch it. If you have a bird that is very aggressive and wants to grab the chop stick out of your hand, then you will need to hold onto the chop stick and not let him pull it out of your hand.

The first time he does a gentle grab Click and reward with extra treats and praise. This is an “recognition moment ". He should soon get the idea of the gentle grip. Once he understands that, only Click and reward for gentle grip touches.

Once the bird is reliably touching the chop stick from the perch, by having him move up, down, right and left, we can then move the bird to the table top training area. If the bird seems nervous at first, go ahead and move the chop stick close to him to begin with. Then start moving it back a little at a time, and Click and reward for each gentle grip touch. Soon you should have him following the chop stick anywhere on the training area. This usually only takes two or three short sessions to train, but don't be discouraged if it takes longer.

The benefits of teaching a bird to target with a gentle grip, is that grabbing something with his beak is natural for him.

If your bird is cage bound, then start target training in the cage. This may have to take more time, but no need to rush things. Empty the food bowl and then when you Click and reward, you simply drop the treats into the food bowl. When you are finished with your training session. refill the food bowl.

Once a cage bound or aggressive bird has learned to target, you can start teaching him to step up using the target. Just don't use your arm first to step up on if there is any chance of being bitten. In training, we ALWAYS aim to avoid bites. Use a hand-held T- perch for the bird to step up on. You can either hold the clicker on the target stick and the perch with the other hand or use a mouth click. Hold the target where he will have to step onto the perch to reach the target. Take your time and don't worry if you must back up. We don't want to frighten the bird. When the bird becomes better at stepping up, you can then teach behaviours away from the cage.

Targeting is just one of the tools we use in training. The important things to keep in mind about this behaviour are:

The basic idea of targeting is to have the bird follow an object to touch it.

Once he has the idea of the gentle grip only reward him for that.

Always Click and reward for every gentle grip of the target.

Use “recognition moment " to help keep up his interest.

Try and end sessions on a positive note.

Have fun, keep training simple and never train if you are in a bad mood.

Once a bird has learned a behaviour, he won't forget it.

Happy training.

 

[karen256]

As others have said, for whatever reason, it's common for conures to go into 'attack mode' when you pick up certain objects (most commonly phones or remotes). Mine goes into attack mode for scissors and for my old flip phone (the smartphone doesn't interest her much). In the case of my GCC, she isn't afraid of or threatened by these objects, but seems to regard it as a game. With her, bites are easily avoidable by picking her up with one hand while I pick up or put down the object with the other hand.
I remember a few occasions where I casually started to put my phone down on the table, only to notice, at the last second, Cheeky waiting there for me, bouncing up and down in excitement, and I don't doubt she would've bitten in excitement if I had actually put the phone down in front of her. But it's just generally not a problem once you get used to it, and your GCC will calm down with age as well.

I think the routine you have with your GCC is a pretty good one. You might try making a more interesting play area for her in your office, but it's perfectly fine to have her in her cage part of the day as you do. It helps keep her more adaptable in case there are changes in her life later on, like you being gone during the day and not able to have her out.