Advice on training an oral bird

[fashionfobie]

Pi is a Plumhead Parrot, he is a very oral. He is learning about everything beak first. He is very curious about everything and he clearly enjoys exploring.

Recently he is learning about human feet and legs and hands and fingers and nails, all beak first. He is NOT showing any discomfort of defensive responses, he is just curious about the texture and such. He is a very sweet bird, so I am not going to do anything to break his warm spirit. So please don't give rude or harmful suggestions.

My hands are starting to get a bit sore from his curious nibbles.

I am handing him a foot toy when I pick him up to keep his beak busy, but how can I encourage him to stop pinching human skin so firmly.

I hope he might just grow out of it. His hatch date is 14-Oct-2018. Thank you for thoughts

 

[SandraK]

When he gives curious nibbles, try shaking your hand a little and saying something loudly, like "Ow" or "That hurts" and put him down.

 

[Begone]

I think you are doing right. Don't make anything so he feels bad or get angry.
As you say he is a sweet bird and probably don't know that he is hurting you.

I am handing him a foot toy when I pick him up to keep his beak busy,

That is great. Encourage him to bite something else, so he understand that you doesn't enjoy to get those bites.
You can teach him when you think he bites to hard too. I beak wrestling with my girls, and I have taught them how hard they can bite without hurting me. I just say "to hard" and stop playing. Some seconds I begin to play with them again. No punishment, no negative reinforcement. Just explain to them in a calm way.
Bite to hard = No playing or interaction. That works!

 

[fashionfobie]

@Eloy Thank you for sharing your cute video. My goffin, Peanut, was able to beak wrestle in a very similar way to your Eliy.

Pi seems more beaky than other birds I have had. He is very good at decimating gum tree branches.

Look at his cute little expression, I can't get over him.

 

[Kodigirl210]

Pi does look like he is grinning in his tree.

 

[Rain Bow]

With Buddy, I did the Ow but just before he hurt meme w/ no. I figured this way he'd always do a little less than a real Ow. It worked. Now if he nips to hurt, it's because he's really annoyed @ me. He meant it. Trick to that is don't annoy your fid.

:spinlol:

 

[BlueDoraBarry]

in the wild, they scream then ignore that companion for a while. I assume pi enjoys your company so that would be a suitable method.

 

[fashionfobie]

Quick update on Pi.

He seems to understand skin now. He only time he pinches now is if he pulls on a bra strap when I am wearing a tank top, which makes perfect sense.

I stuck to- the hand him something else method for the most part. If I didn't have anything around I would just pull my head away and make a squawk. This seem to be the way they inform each other ouch or too close. Plumheads don't seem to play the ignore you game. They are too chill. But simply expressing my discomfort through a head movement and he got the picture. It is also possible that the head motion was simply another distraction method. So similar to handing him a twig, he was wondering what I was up to.

He is such a cool bird. Very calm underlying personality. He gets a bit hyper from time to time, but it is nothing like any other bird I have had. I can't wait for his wings to come in. He has been working really hard on building his flight muscles. He hops on the ground and flaps as hard as he can. He is getting pretty good at flying to perches and down and up short distances. I think when he gets his wings back he will burn his hyper energy flying. These are very quiet birds. Even his loudest contact call is not bad at all. He has a nice voice.


Okra! Yum!

 

[Shezbug]

With Burt I noticed how much more gentle he is when preening his feathers so every time I saw him preening I would praise him for NICE GENTLE PREENING he started to learn the words so now I can tell him "nice" or "gentle" if he is getting a bit rough and he usually tones the pressure down for me.
He still seems to think from time to time that my finger nails probably should not be attached to my fingers but he does leave them alone if I ask him to be nice and gentle.

 

[fashionfobie]

That is a very good idea. Plumheads do not share preening with flock mates and not really with their mate either. So normally when he is in snuggle preening mode he is not so happy accepting hands at all. He will sit on my shoulder and fluff and preen and stand on one foot though, which melts my heart.

He has gotten heaps heaps better.

When he cleaned his beak off on my hand (thanks..Pi... so gross) the other day he was very gentle and sweet about it.