Blowing on face/"earthquaking"?

[daydreamhaze]

My baby GCC came out of the cage for the first time today, yay!

She's not trained to step up yet, but we're having issues training her to do so because she likes to bite, and hard. I've read on other posts that this is typical in babies, as they don't quite know how much pressure to use when nibbling a human.

The countless videos I've watched and articles I've read about discouraging biting all give different advice, and usually require your bird to have learned how to step up. A couple pieces of advice that I've seen often but am skeptical of is blowing in your bird's face/purposefully putting them off balance. Does anyone advise for or against this?

I've grown fearful of her bites, and I'm worried that's detrimental to building trust and training. I don't think she bites out of fear, as we always make coming to our hands her choice and she doesn't shy away from us at all.

Any advice is appreciated!

 

[kokatiel]

I have a newly adopted cockatiel, i was searching the same thing. He was running away from me or biting every time i bring my finger close. I searched for blowing to face and decided to try. I still regret it. It felt awful for me and I believe for him as well. She bites because she is scared and she knows that you are scared. Give her time,get a t perch and dont be afraid of bites. She will not bite heavily if she sees that you are not scared. Treat her when she steps up and say good gurl. She is a good gurl and she will step up eventually.

 

[issajoy]

If you blow in their face or get them off balance, it will make it much harder for them to trust you. Especially if they are still weary of a new home - do not do this. It will make it so so much harder for your bird to trust you or listen to you. Same thing with spraying them with water as a punishment.

Get a T-stick and use that to teach her step up instead of fingers at first. You can also teach "nice", where they let you put your finger on their beak without biting for a treat.

 

[daydreamhaze]

If you blow in their face or get them off balance, it will make it much harder for them to trust you. Especially if they are still weary of a new home - do not do this. It will make it so so much harder for your bird to trust you or listen to you. Same thing with spraying them with water as a punishment.

Get a T-stick and use that to teach her step up instead of fingers at first. You can also teach "nice", where they let you put your finger on their beak without biting for a treat.

Does teaching "nice" help curb biting altogether? I'm hoping this is just a result of her teething phase, but it's making it quite hard to work and bond with her when she goes for someone's fingers/toes (she's really fascinated with toes) as soon as she sees them.

 

[Monica]

The better thing to do is to figure out why they are biting in the first place and avoid or redirect the bites before they occur. Think about it this way... the only bite that can't be rewarded is the bite that never occurs. If you do get bit, get the bird off of you! Don't ignore, don't punish, just calmly get the bird off of you. If you aren't near the cage, then get them off of you to the closest thing possible. Once the bird is off, go nurse your wounds and figure out where you went wrong. What happened before the bite, what happened after the bite, how can you avoid that situation in the future?

Free Training Resources | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

 

[Barbara jasko]

All the birds I have, had tested the boundaries in regards to biting. When i got them, 2 were babies, a lovebird and a cockatiel. The cockatiel was not hand fed/tamed and delivered the worst bite ever. Took quite a while to get him to come around. The lovebird was much quicker and we bonded without too much bloodshed. My Senegal was 10 months old and it took about a year before I could depend on not getting bitten. My GCC was about the same. He was a 3 year old rehome and was having a difficult time adjusting. My home was a multibird home and he was used to being an only bird in his old home. My Meyers was a 4 year old rehome. I have had her 12 years and we are still working on her behavior with me. She is an absolute lovebug with my husband. I still after all the years, keep a sharp eye on the body language. Keeps my fingers intact.

It can take awhile to train the bird to not bite, depending on the bird and the person. Don't give up or be afraid of geting bitten. Your CGG will come around with persistance and patience.

 

[issajoy]

Does teaching "nice" help curb biting altogether? I'm hoping this is just a result of her teething phase, but it's making it quite hard to work and bond with her when she goes for someone's fingers/toes (she's really fascinated with toes) as soon as she sees them.

With the birds I've lived with, "nice" definitely helps let the bird know when the nibbles are too much. It doesn't stop nibbling all together, I don't think anything will ever do that! Birds use their beaks to interact with the world around them. I use "nice" if my bird is nibbling too much or too hard. She knows when I ask her "Can you do nice?" to stop nibbling and let me touch her beak without reacting to my fingers. If she listens, she knows she gets a treat or cuddles, whichever she wants at the time... she is then able to control her urge to nibble while she gets scritches. She still nibbles because she's a baby, but teaching her this has helped her nibble much more gently.

Birds can't get enough of toes for some reason Ollie is fascinated by them too, especially if the nails are painted!

 

[webchirp]

With blowing you take a chance that one mad little cheekie might go for your lip. Look up @Monica posts...she has posted tons on training.

 

[daydreamhaze]

With the birds I've lived with, "nice" definitely helps let the bird know when the nibbles are too much. It doesn't stop nibbling all together, I don't think anything will ever do that! Birds use their beaks to interact with the world around them. I use "nice" if my bird is nibbling too much or too hard. She knows when I ask her "Can you do nice?" to stop nibbling and let me touch her beak without reacting to my fingers. If she listens, she knows she gets a treat or cuddles, whichever she wants at the time... she is then able to control her urge to nibble while she gets scritches. She still nibbles because she's a baby, but teaching her this has helped her nibble much more gently.

Birds can't get enough of toes for some reason Ollie is fascinated by them too, especially if the nails are painted!

Thank you so much! I'll try this next time I have her out, considering we both have curious babies.

 

[aooratrix]

Some foot toys on hand would be a good distraction, as @Monica suggested. If the bird pinches due to exploration and/or rambunctious play, I think it's perfectly acceptable to remove them from your person without drama and ignore them for a brief period. Give the bird time to figure out that when I do this, I don't get hands-on time for a period of time.

I always have to have acceptable chewing options when Daff or Annie are with me; when they get excited and cross the line, they go to a java tree. No muss, no fuss.

 

[Revali]

I recently came across this. Some might like others may not from what I'm learning.

 

[Shezbug]

Thanks for sharing, I did not watch it all as I found him to be very unorganized in what he was trying to tell me which kind of overwhelms me.
I do a similar thing to this guy when my bird is a little rough with his beak (which is not often and most times I deserve it for not listening anyway) and because my bird knows my happy sounds and my not impressed sounds the rough behavior is usually a once off type of thing which I can nearly always find a reason for if I look/think hard enough.

I can not understand how people think a baby bird does not beak pressure.....of course they do, if they did not they would have bitten their own toes off already lol. They have not yet learned what people say is an acceptable beak pressure would be a better way to put the situation I think.

There are so many training videos out there and not every one will appeal to all people but if you like watching and learning from this guy then that is all that matters

 

[Revali]

Thanks for sharing, I did not watch it all as I found him to be very unorganized in what he was trying to tell me which kind of overwhelms me.
I do a similar thing to this guy when my bird is a little rough with his beak (which is not often and most times I deserve it for not listening anyway) and because my bird knows my happy sounds and my not impressed sounds the rough behavior is usually a once off type of thing which I can nearly always find a reason for if I look/think hard enough.

I can not understand how people think a baby bird does not beak pressure.....of course they do, if they did not they would have bitten their own toes off already lol. They have not yet learned what people say is an acceptable beak pressure would be a better way to put the situation I think.

There are so many training videos out there and not every one will appeal to all people but if you like watching and learning from this guy then that is all that matters

I'm just watching everything that's not nonsense at this point. I've only had a bird for 8 days.

 

[Revali]

My baby GCC came out of the cage for the first time today, yay!

She's not trained to step up yet, but we're having issues training her to do so because she likes to bite, and hard. I've read on other posts that this is typical in babies, as they don't quite know how much pressure to use when nibbling a human.

The countless videos I've watched and articles I've read about discouraging biting all give different advice, and usually require your bird to have learned how to step up. A couple pieces of advice that I've seen often but am skeptical of is blowing in your bird's face/purposefully putting them off balance. Does anyone advise for or against this?

I've grown fearful of her bites, and I'm worried that's detrimental to building trust and training. I don't think she bites out of fear, as we always make coming to our hands her choice and she doesn't shy away from us at all.

Any advice is appreciated!

I'm new to owning a bird but with my bird so far we've build a little relationship through sunflower seeds! Maybe if there is something in your birds diet it really likes exclude it and use it to build trust. So far he will take them through the bar then out of my fingers and now hands. I'm trying to get him to step up but he just bites and grabs the seed HAHA.

 

[M_Riddly]

Ok. The whole blowing on your bird thing got out of hand and that's why it has a bad connotation. The wind you create is meant to change your birds state of mind and not stop them. It's like when your bird is angry with you and you try to get them in a better state of mind by training. It can work when used correctly. My first conure, Yoshi, was a dream when it came to working with him. My other two conures, checkers and mochi (mainly mochi) are less of a dream. They are great now, for the most part, but have their moments. I blow gently on the back of their heads when they are biting harder than they are allowed to snap them out of the mindset. They normally only bite hard when they start with nibbling because they are bored and curious. The wind on the back of their head makes them look up to see what's going on. It isn't suppose to make them stop biting me because they dislike it, it makes them think a bug or feather brushed up against them so they look up out of curiousity and instinct. They don't distrust me because of this because there isn't anything I'm doing that they dislike. It's just a small amount of wind that redirects their attention.