How do I hand train a conure that likes to bite?

[Quail]

Hello! My black capped conure is my second bird ever. My first bird was hand fed, so he was very easy to handle right away. Dash, however, was in a questionable pet store before we decided to get him, and has damage in his tail feathers. He is surprisingly very quick to come up and greet me for a bird that is not hand trained, he will climb up to the top of the cage to say hi to me when I walk by. He has also let my hands quite close on a number of occasions, but he always bites them. I've done a lot of looking around about how to get them to stop, but not much that will help me with an untrained bird.

My main questions here: Why is my conure biting despite not taking any aggressive stances, hissing, etc? How do I hand train a conure that likes to bite?

 

[elitys]

Conures in general are pretty beaky birds. My GCC, Poppy, will often use her beak to check things out, and she does bite hard sometimes without meaning to be aggressive.

I don't know if I have a lot of advice for how to train them completely out of the behavior as it seems quite natural for them to explore this way, but you can sort of teach them to control their bite force/frequency. If it isn't an aggressive bite, you can remove your hands and walk or turn away from them for a little bit, showing that a too hard bite or too much biting means playtime is over. Basically remove the reward from them when they are getting too feisty.

However, note that if they are biting to tell you to go away, turning and walking away rewards the behavior. If it's an aggressive bite, the better route is to recognize the pre-bite signals in order to avoid it altogether.

Another thing is to avoid punishment as much as possible. Training through punishment is ineffective and your relationship will suffer because of it. Try to influence through rewards instead. It goes better for everybody if they want to do what you want them to do, too.

They are also very active, playful birds. I've found that if I can redirect Poppy's high energy bitey moods towards a toy instead of my hands, we are much better off. She gets to be wild and rambunctious, and I get to keep my fingers.

I would also like to recommend target training and training to step up on a perch. This will help you immensely with a bird who isn't hand comfortable. You can learn more about these training methods online. I recommend Flock Talk on YouTube for target training and other training tutorials. Target training in particular is pretty simple and Poppy was able to pick it up after one session.

I'm by no means a training expert, and I'm sure you'll get other advice as well. That's just my take having done some reading and conure parenting myself. Good luck!

 

[Quail]

I would also like to recommend target training and training to step up on a perch. This will help you immensely with a bird who isn't hand comfortable. You can learn more about these training methods online. I recommend Flock Talk on YouTube for target training and other training tutorials. Target training in particular is pretty simple and Poppy was able to pick it up after one session.
[/QUOTE]


Thank you for the help! I have started perch training and he picked it up fairly quickly, but he likes to run for my fingers to bite them.. Maybe I'll bring a toy to distract him next time. I did not know about target training! That would probably help me out a lot.

 

[JLcribber]

How do I hand train a conure that likes to bite?

You don't. What you do is earn this birds trust and respect over time so it does not want or need to bite you. There is no shortcut. Chances are you will never be able to "handle" this bird because hands are the biggest natural predator in your birds environment. If you try to force the issue you will just break any progress made. This is a relationship and a journey. Treat it like that.

 

[elitys]

Yes, the target training is great. It is simple, hands off, and can be used to branch into training other behaviors as well. It is the easiest way to get a not hand tamed bird to go where you need them to with as little stress as possible.

 

[Quail]

You don't. What you do is earn this birds trust and respect over time so it does not want or need to bite you. There is no shortcut. Chances are you will never be able to "handle" this bird because hands are the biggest natural predator in your birds environment. If you try to force the issue you will just break any progress made. This is a relationship and a journey. Treat it like that.

I understand. The strange thing is, he's progressed quite quickly trust-wise. He lets my hands pretty close without running or biting as long as I move slowly. He also squawks for my attention when I leave the room or ignore him.

However, I think it might be mating season for him. Like I said, he makes tiny squawks every now and then (like barking almost) but sometimes he'll sit on top of his food bowl and vibrate his wings strangely. He also will occasionally make a very high pitched noise that kind of sounds like laughing when I ignore him. I don't know what this behaviour means, as I can't find many guides.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Birds are social creatures; they live in flocks. You are part of his flock now and he is trying to make a bond with you. You have to allow him to call the shots, move at his comfort level. If he will not step up on a hand, it is probably because all hands have done in the past is grab him to move from from cage to cage. He doesn't understand hands can give yummy treats, give scritches to his neck and head and help him get from place to place. Keep your hands in a loose fist and present the top of you hand as a step up perch. Top of the back of the hand, your forearm, a hand held perch, but probably never your fingers. The fingered hand is a predator and so is not trustworthy.