Conure's vicious biting

[T's Bird Gang]

We adopted a Crimson-Bellied Conure named Arco, from an individual who owned the bird for seven years, since he was just a few months old. Arco has always been free flighted and was permitted free range within his previous home; i.e., without boundaries. He was surrendered for two reasons: His owner had a new born baby & was afraid Arco would bite the child & secondly, they were moving out of state in summer & would not be able to keep him. Now that Arco has joined our family, I have learned that he abides by his own terms. He refuses to step up when asked. Instead, he will attack my own or my husband's hand quite viciously, cutting into the skin of our hands or fingers, drawing much blood. Once he is out of his cage, he becomes his own master. Arco flies to me (when he choses), but then postures with his head feathers (crest) erected. He is quite unpredictable. Interestingly, our Sun conure, Green Cheek, and Blue Crown, do not like Arco. They were initially curious of him, but then some vicious fights broke out involving bloody injuries. As a result, Arco is now separated from the rest of the "bird gang". If he ventures into their air space, our Sun Conure goes after him like a jet fighter. Arco now resides in our living room where we watch TV. We will sympathetically open his cage, while we are reclining. Arco wastes no time emerging from his cage, in order to make his way onto our legs or arms. Without failure, he ventures to our hands or feet and will bite us with painful severity. Several times he has bitten my face. At another time he bit my lip causing it to bleed profusely, this all the while saying, Give us a kiss. Arco has succeeded in scarring my hands, fingers & the corner of my lip. It is now rare for me not to have scabs on my hands from his unprovoked bites. I really hate to have him "free range" in our home, as he insists on perching at a place where I either don't want him, or its upon my shoulder, or on the top of my head, where I will not be able to easily remove him. Once he is on me, the only way to remove him, is to have him step up onto a wooden dowel (usually preceded by several failed attempts). It is in these situations that I feel extremely vulnerable, kind of like the school teacher in Alfred Hitchcock's, The Birds, whose eyes were pecked out.

For a bird who was raised by one owner for seven years, a bird who is familiar with handling, I cannot fathom as to why Arco has no bite inhibition and is so unpredictable. My other adopted birds come from situations that would justify such behavior, but do not. Arco has now been in our home, with daily one-on-one handling interactions for five months. Today, he attacked my hand so badly after I attempted to get him off of my shoulder, that I wanted to ring his neck!! I can't deal with such a head strong, blood-lustful bird. The only solution I have is to incarcerate him, confining him to his cage, but I am overcome with guilt.

What would you suggest I do?

Sincerely,
Therese

 

[Lesley Yeung]

Poor you. Poor Arco. I have a GCC, Bird, who would call Arco "brother". Bird is the same way. If and when he can get away with it.

There are a lot of people who will disagree with my advice. But we all agree that every bird is different, so it stands to reason that different approaches work for different birds.

I have had to lay down the law with Bird. I am never cruel. I would never hurt or deprive him. But I am stern. My husband is "the good cop". I mean business. Bird loves my husband and my husband spoils him rotten. Guesa who gets bit more often.

It doesn't lessen our bond. In fact, without my dominance we wouldn't have a bond at all. Bird or I would have moved out.

Bird is a jerk and a bully. He is also fearless. He is also very sweet and funny. I know most birds would not respond well to being treated like Bird is by me. Bird isn't scared or intimidated by me. Rather the opposite.

Give Arco a chance. Try different approaches. What works for one bird may not work for all. Same goes for people.

 

[finchly]

Ouch I feel your pain!

Poor Arco. They turned him into a monster. Thank goodnes they let him go to a new home before they had the baby - can you imagine?

Anyway, @Lesley Yeung gave some good advice. I just want to throw in my 2cents.

IMO you need two things. You need to establish boundaries, and you need to teach him behavior other than biting. Right now he’s like the kid that became an obnoxious bully because his parents let him do whatever he wanted.

I would start him over at zero — inside the cage. Grab a clicker and do some target training. You can find lots of info on target training by searching this site.keep the cage door closed for your safety and let him target a stick (chopstick or whatever) until he’s REALLY got it.

When he has earned the right to come out, use your dowel or an even longer one. Put him on the perch and reward him for staying there, even for a second. If he bites, IMMEDIATELY put him back in the cage. Once he’ll sit there continue the target training. You want to train so well that he does what you want every time - well, almost.

I don’t know if he gives signals before the bite. People say that they always give one, but i had a bird like this and he went after me so hard and fast..... it was difficult to see the signs. However I somehow started to sense it, it was like he got excited right before. And I would sternly say “ah-ah-ah! No bite! Nooooo.” He’d look at me out of the corner of his eye and not bite for a minute or two.

This is behavior that has been reinforced for seven years, it is going to take time and patience to get him re-trained. But we are all here to help.


BTW Arco in violin speak means ‘with the bow.’ I’m going to remember Arco’s name by thinking ‘with the BITE.’

 

[Roxhum]

Excellent advice finchly. I know nothin’ accept what came to mind reading finchly’s post. In dog training there is a technique that nothing in life is free. The dog has to work for and earn his/her privileges. With human it would be tough love. Good luck and you are awesome to give Arco a chance and the training/behavior modification to be a good birds citizen.

 

[finchly]

Excellent advice finchly. I know nothin’ accept what came to mind reading finchly’s post. In dog training there is a technique that nothing in life is free. The dog has to work for and earn his/her privileges. With human it would be tough love. Good luck and you are awesome to give Arco a chance and the training/behavior modification to be a good birds citizen.

Yes! I’ve done NILIF with many foster dogs. It works.

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

First, thanks for giving Arco a home. Second, crimson bellies are ( in my opinion since I own them and have raised them) VERY outgoing birds. I've always said if you want a bird that loves to be in your business you'll want a crimson belly. They can also be very pushy and aggressive towards other birds. All of mine have dominant personalities. Ruby would shred or kill her sister if she had a chance. Rocket invades my green cheeks space every evening when he and she are out but he doesn't go after her... he just horns in on her space, eats her food and hangs out on her cage. Neither have an interest in touching each other. You have four different species of conures, non of which would interact in the wild but quite often some people that keep multiple species will have birds that will buddy-up because they have no other choice. I know the bite too well and they can deliver a good one! Casey is my only biter. He was given to me when he was around 2 years old, probably because he was a biter but his owner was indeed moving and hauling a bird wasn't in her options. Casey is flighted but he prefers to hang out with the two girls when I open their doors... mostly Miss Scarlette but Ruby will fly over and horn in for some preening time with Casey and Scarlette will retreat to the safety of her cage. I only handle Casey with a perch.

I don't think you should let guilt get the better of you when it comes to keeping him in his cage. @finchly has some great advice for starting over in training. It's a must and you'll have to stick to a routine with that training.

 

[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

 

[cab124]

Wow, this sounds like an awful situation. I feel so bad for you!!!

I think you have been given some excellent advice. Arco needs to stay in the cage until he has earned the right to come out. Allowing him to shred you is simply not an option!!

 

[2parrotsmom]

Hello good morning bird lovers I thought since I have a crimson belly I would like to add my experience n I think it would b beneficial to clip his wings n u would c a big difference n personality more of a sweeter bird I feel there’s a lot of pros including he couldn’t fly n attack Don’t get me wrong I love how beautiful they r when they fly n how it can b fun but some birds I think it’s for the best I have a parrotlet he’s flighted n I wouldn’t have it any other way

 

[Colbon2]

I think I agree with the target training first before he can be trusted. If you are wanting to skip that and have him out of cage then I would agree with maybe clipping some of his primary feathers so he can still adjust to not being flighted and won't land hard. Seeing as he has always been flighted keep in mind taking this away may mean he may not trust you, So I would recommend someone else like a vet or tech doing it so he doesn't associate you with the event.