Encouraging a bird to be more gentle

[LilSprout]

Sawyer likes to nibble me in an exploritory way (so does Charlie but he's gentle about it) but the issue is he does it way too hard and he doesn't seem to realize how strong his beak is. He's never been aggressive with me or Charlie. His favorite nibbling spots are my fingers and my neck (the neck hurts a lot because he pinches it quite tightly) is there any way I can help him understand that it hurts without causing him to want to do it more because he'll start thinking it's funny. Most of the time I totally ignore it but sometimes it can be hard if he gets me the right way

 

[finchly]

When they nibble my finger I say “gentle beak, gentle beak” in a singsong voice. They are praised when they get it. After they know the phrase you can use it for the other chew spots (neck! Ouch!)

 

[janicedyh]

Nelson is such a nipper, I have tried so many things and he just does it out of nowhere. I swear, it hurts worse than a big bird bite.

 

[Familyof12]

When I get nipped or even bitten, I immediately return the bird to their cage and give them a time out. Usually it's because they get too excited and forget or if they do it too hard, I gently tap their beak and say gently "too hard, too hard, be nice, be nice" and they realize they doing it too hard and our skin is much more sensitive. Don't react no matter what you want to do. If they get a reaction, they then believe that's the way to get your attention or even worse, habit forming to the point where you don't know what to do.

Be patient. Never scold. Just let them know nicely (even when I'm bleeding badly) that I still love them but they hurt me. After they've calmed down (possibly hours later) I how them how much they hurt me and to be nice. Return them to their cage immediately without any reaction. They will soon learn, biting hard leads them to boring things and no attention. Be consistent and kind. No matter what.

 

[LilSprout]

When they nibble my finger I say “gentle beak, gentle beak” in a singsong voice. They are praised when they get it. After they know the phrase you can use it for the other chew spots (neck! Ouch!)

We used to do something like this to teach out guinea pigs to be gentle when taking treats close to people's hands. But I think guinea pigs are a lot less likely to bite a trusted human than a bird is lol!
I'll have to start trying that with both Sawyer and Charlie. If he sees Charlie do it gently and hears him be praised maybe he will want to do it as well

 

[TikiMyn]

Fëanor loves to nip too, yesterday morning he wanted to crawl and chew the sleeve of my T-shirt, he was excited and bit quite a few times. When he bites too hard I say “ouch Fea that hurts”, and usually something like be nice boy! Be gentle and patient, he still bites too hard sometimes because I am not consistent enough with it. Sometimes it is just too funny, so I laugh and he is reinforced. He never bites to the point of drawing blood though, only red Marks that disappear in a few hours and he only does it with me, so that is fine.
If he gets really over excited and bites hard a few Times and can’t Be destracted with a toy, I put him on a perch, and reward him for going on the perch.

 

[Hjarta5]

Sometimes Wally has a bad habit of trying to give me a new piercing on my ears If she doesn't stop after I tell her, "no, Wally, that hurts," I will put her on her playstand or cagetop and turn my attention to something else for a few minutes. If she insists on flying back and attacking them once again, then I put her in the cage and turn my attention to something else for a few minutes. In either instances, after her few minutes of time out, I bring her out to play again and will try to engage her in a ball game so she can free up some of that pent up energy instead of focusing on biting.