Hi I have a green cheek conure since July 2015 he always been playful and sweet. Since about 6 month I noticed that he's changing it's at different times of the day and different occasions. Sometimes in the mirning coming out of the cage ir just being with me playing, it's on different occasions that he just starts to lash out at me and starts biting very hard it could be my shoulder my neck my ear my face my fingers. As he bites me he says " no biting" because I say that to him. I try to stay calm and not aggravate it more but it comes to a point where he bites stronger and stronger so I just usually try to get them off my shoulder with a towel and then wrap him up and put him back in his cage I leave him in there a few hours and try again. Sometime he us ok and friendly again ithere times I can't touch him for the rest of the day. Nothing has changed with schedule and feeding, I only stopped giving him Nutry Berries some people told me it makes them aggressive. He has a huge cage his own room with TV, lots of toys. I cant let him fly around the house because I have other animals. His wings have grown back so he loves to fly in his room ir when he is with me in the bedroom. I dont know what to do it comes to a point that I think I want to rehome him and it hurts me. Can you help with advice, thanks
It is easy to point the finger and blame hormones... it's the go to for misunderstood behaviors. The painful truth is that BITING people is a LEARNED behavior in parrots. A wild bird would rarely (if ever) be aggressive and bite you. It would fly away instead. However, a bird that cannot fly away, i.e., a clipped bird in particular - yours was clipped until recently, quickly learns that to get you to leave it alone or to be put back into its cage... simply biting works! The expression is flight or fight after all, and clipping reduces the bird's choices to only one option, fight.
Sometimes biting is caused by “displaced aggression;” aggressive feelings directed towards an alternate object, in this case, you. Elevated aggressive behavior and displaced aggression are common with nest or mate defense situations. Is the aggression a respondent behavior, which is an involuntary component, similar to a reflex, that we simply cannot change through training techniques, If this is the case, you need to remove the stimuli causing the behavior.
The reality is you first need to identify the cause so you can evaluate and determine a solution for the biting behavior properly. You need to examine all the conditions that are present when the biting behavior first starts to occur the next time it happens. Did you do something to cause the bird to classify you as TTA (Things To be Avoided) at that particular moment? Understanding the cause allows us to identify operant components of the behavior of which we can change. For example... if the bird is biting to defend its mate or nest, then you can begin using your clicker to reinforce more appropriate behaviors. You need to provide and reinforce the bird with acceptable non-biting solutions. By training a new behavior, the bird can meet its involuntary response requirements in such a way that we can both be satisfied. IE: When the bird wants us to back off from its perceived mate (bird or human) or nest area - then we will immediately start to back off when it does some less aggressive behavior, such as puffing up and raising its wings... we click and back off.
To alter the biting behavior the first rule is ALWAYS AVOID BEING BITTEN. It never helps to let the bird bite you. Contrarily, an actual bite only makes things much worse. Being bitten changes your attitude toward the bird. Indeed you are already considering a rehoming solution... and it also often teaches the bird you will keep more distance from him.
If you fail to identify the cause, all hope is not lost... One thing you can do, often with great success, is to change your relationship with the bird straight away. Start clicker training. By teaching a few simple tricks, you will improve your communication and relationship with the bird as well as learn new skills and training techniques. Trick Training can be effective in modifying troublesome behavior such as biting, screaming or phobias of people. As the bird learns and is trained to perform a few simple tricks, typically many old troublesome behaviors will eventually vanish on their own. Whether you are planning on teaching basic tricks or tackling tough behavioral problems, it will be very helpful if both the trainer (you) and the trainee (your bird) learn a few basic concepts. Selecting an appropriate training environment for beginners is essential- a calm, quiet location with few to no visual or audible distractions will greatly help the bird remain focused. Once both you and the bird have mastered the learning process, it's an excellent practice to train in busy and loud locations - starting with already known behaviors and then advancing to new behaviors as the bird learns to remain focused and adapt to a variety of situations and conditions.
Selecting the “first” action to train can be important. The best behavior due to its simplicity and usefulness in the future is Targeting. Targeting = touching the end of a target stick. Targeting is specifically chosen as the first behavior because it initially consists of only two options, touch or not touch. There is no in-betweens steps to confuse the bird. Additionally, it is a prop behavior which is important because the bird is prevented from performing the action on its own to beg for additional treats. Treat begging prevention assists us in teaching and learning the concept of good stimulus control. Good stimulus control is quickly developed with advanced targeting concepts. Moving a distance to touch the stick. Touch the targeting stick on cue. Only touching the targeting stick on cue, etc.. Targeting can be trained with additional variations: Touch the stick with a different body part, Touch or move to a specified location (like inside a travel cage), fly to me to touch the stick. The targeting stick can be used to teach colors and shapes by cueing the yellow ball or the blue square block.
Its important to select a target stick that can be used for this purpose and this purpose only. To prevent the bird from becoming confused as to the purpose of the targeting stick, it is a good idea NOT to use a stick that are also used as a perch. Frequently target sticks include chop sticks, a wooden cooking spoon handle, or drinking straws.
Place the end of the target stick near the bird’s face and wait until it reaches out and makes contact with the target stick. The action of touching the stick should be the bird’s action and not the trainer’s action. When the animal does make contact, immediately bridge (click) the action, reinforce with a treat and repeat. It does not matter why the bird touches the stick, only that it does make contact. Some birds will reach out in curiosity, while other birds will react in anger or fear, and will defensively and aggressively attack the stick. This will not interfere with the animal learning to touch the target stick.
Some birds will respond with fear and make every effort to avoid or get away from the stick. With fearful birds, you may need to shape the desired behavior by breaking it down into smaller steps. You may need to start by reinforcing for merely looking at the target stick. Then reinforce the bird for allowing the target stick be a little closer, and so on. You might find it helpful to use a smaller target stick or hide most of the target stick behind your arm or up a sleeve and presenting only the very end. Usually with only a few repetitions of successful touching and being reinforced, the animal begins to loosen up and progress will be made quickly after that.
