Macaw Bite?

[BirbBrain]

What should you do if you get a macaw bite? Does it hurt?

 

[Hankmacaw]

Some hurt some don't. If you are worried about the pain from a bite from a bird (macaws included) don't get a bird.

 

[sunnysmom]

Try not to get bit. I've never been bitten by a macaw, but any bite from a bird hurts to a degree. A lot depends on where the bite is and how bad the bite actually is- a nip or a full on chomp. There are degrees of severity.

 

[Hankmacaw]

To expand on what @sunnysmom said - everyone has a different pain tolerance what I can tolerate in pain may send someone else into screaming, crying, blubbering, (perceived) agony.

 

[SumitaSinh]

Like Sunnysmom said, my budgies bite harder than my zon... Because my OWA barely nips and my budgie chanchu bites with full force due to fear... So it depends.

 

[flyzipper]

There's an old joke... a patient says, "Doctor, it hurts when I do this", so the doctor says, "Then don't do that!".

So... if you get bit by a bird, don't do whatever it was that caused you to get bit by the bird.

While tending to your wound (superficial usually), pay attention to the lesson you were taught. Not only will this help you avoid future bites, but it will help ensure the bird isn't put it a situation where it feels the need to bite you.

That's good for everyone.

 

[redindiaink]

Anything from doing nothing at all to a trip to the hospital to get stitches. It all depends on where they bit you, how hard it was and how you feel about it. Anticipating pain and fear of beaks play a role in how you'll experience it too.

I find cockatoo and grey parrot bites smart more, and the most traumatizing bite wasn't the one to my face from my macaw who grabbed a chunk of cheek, but the one to the back of my hand from a Senegal.

 

[Kassiani]

A bird won’t resort to biting unless we have missed the 1,000 other signals they’ve given us to stop. If you approach a bird’s cage and they are facing you with head feathers up, wings slightly out, and eyes pinning, that is not the time to ask them to step up.

 

[redindiaink]

A bird won’t resort to biting unless we have missed the 1,000 other signals they’ve given us to stop.

That's assuming so much about the interaction and the reasons why they bit in the first place. It also falsely assumes it's always the humans fault that they were bitten, and I don't think that's always true.

Rosie at the shelter never gave us a hint that she would be aggressive towards either of us, and in fact, a lot of people thought she was a mans bird. When we got her home and let her out for the first time her first impulse was to run across the floor and attack my partner. He wasn't doing anything to provoke her. The first time she bit my face she was excited up on my shoulder and I turned ... that's all it took. I have no idea what the impetus was for her she grabbing my cheek. Two days after that I let her out and she's now lost shoulder privileges ... she was upset she couldn't have my shoulder so she climbed my leg to get up there. I went to take her back to the cage and she attacked my face.

I'm walking away from this ... I kinda regret saying anything at all.

 

[flyzipper]

I'm rarely dogmatic, but I am in this regard.

It's always your fault.

If you don't adopt that mindset, you're putting your own safety in the hands (beak) of a bird, and by shifting the blame to them, you lose the ability to learn from the mistake, and avoid it in the future.

 

[Kassiani]

That's assuming so much about the interaction and the reasons why they bit in the first place. It also falsely assumes it's always the humans fault that they were bitten, and I don't think that's always true.

Rosie at the shelter never gave us a hint that she would be aggressive towards either of us, and in fact, a lot of people thought she was a mans bird. When we got her home and let her out for the first time her first impulse was to run across the floor and attack my partner. He wasn't doing anything to provoke her. The first time she bit my face she was excited up on my shoulder and I turned ... that's all it took. I have no idea what the impetus was for her she grabbing my cheek. Two days after that I let her out and she's now lost shoulder privileges ... she was upset she couldn't have my shoulder so she climbed my leg to get up there. I went to take her back to the cage and she attacked my face.

I'm walking away from this ... I kinda regret saying anything at all.

I am sorry and did not at all mean to offend. Sometimes the written word comes across in ways I don’t intend. I have budgies and a CH conure. I’ve never had any of them on my shoulder because I never want my face bitten.

I’m so sorry your partner was attacked and that your face was bitten. When I was visiting my conure before adopting him, I did not have any indication that he was anything but a sweet bird. When I brought him home, every expectation I had was removed by his aggression.He was scared, in a completely new environment, and he let me know he was not happy. He has since settled down considerably, but I am still dealing with his hormonal behavior.

I’ve never owned a macaw so I can’t advise. I hope others can help you improve your relationship with him (her?).

 

[Mizzely]

That's assuming so much about the interaction and the reasons why they bit in the first place. It also falsely assumes it's always the humans fault that they were bitten, and I don't think that's always true.

Rosie at the shelter never gave us a hint that she would be aggressive towards either of us, and in fact, a lot of people thought she was a mans bird. When we got her home and let her out for the first time her first impulse was to run across the floor and attack my partner. He wasn't doing anything to provoke her. The first time she bit my face she was excited up on my shoulder and I turned ... that's all it took. I have no idea what the impetus was for her she grabbing my cheek. Two days after that I let her out and she's now lost shoulder privileges ... she was upset she couldn't have my shoulder so she climbed my leg to get up there. I went to take her back to the cage and she attacked my face.

I'm walking away from this ... I kinda regret saying anything at all.

Sometimes before we get them, birds are taught that Humans Don't Listen. The bird talks with very clear body language, but the human doesn't listen, so they bite. After a while of that conditioning, they decide, "why should I bother with the warning when only bites are heard?"

And that's where we get a bird that bites without warning. It's so hard and definitely not your fault that you are dealing with this. It takes some time and patience for them to learn you respect them and their wishes.

Hormones also can lead to "unprovoked" and "no warning" biting.

So yes, some birds do bite without warning, but it's usually (not always, as of course no good comes from absolutes!) because of someone before us who essentially trained the bird to do so.. Whether they meant to or not.
Or hormones. Because hormones suuuuck.

 

[Kimberla]

I have an umbrella cockatoo that was the sweetest thing ever until he reached maturity. I could take him anywhere and do anything with him. Now he seems to be hormonal constantly and he has bit me super hard a few times. One of those times I lost sensation in the top of my hand for 6 months because he bit into a nerve in my wrist. I tried to train him to step up on a T and he just won't have it. It has really impaired the relationship I have with him. I didn't treat him any differently from one day to the next until he got so hormonal so I am not sure how that would be my fault. There is no physical change in him before he lays me open. No pining of the eyes, no movement of the feathers and he doesn't fluff up at all. He just lunges and bites.

 

[justabirb]

from what i know when birds get hormonal after they reach maturity it will at least take 2 years for you to rebuild your relationship with it after it calms down. So it is not your fault! Just do what you are doing and eventually once it gets calmer everything will be fine

 

[flyzipper]

Birds are sentient creatures and hormones are very real.

• We create our own expectation for what the relationship with the bird will look like.
• We created the expectation that they behave the same today, as they did yesterday.
• We need to adjust to their changing behaviour.
• We assumed they would behave the same in a new environment as they did in the old.
• We don't realize that proximity equals opportunity.
• We give too much trust too quickly.
• We didn't know a certain person would trigger the bird.
• We decided to allow a bird with an unknown background, with an uncertain state of (non) attachment, on our shoulder.
• We made the decision to return them to their cage when they did something we didn't like.
• We didn't know how to safely stop them from climbing up our leg to get to our shoulder.
• We chose to hold them close enough to our face so they could reach it (twice).
• We expect that if we keep doing the same thing, the bird will eventually give us different results.

The only thing I'm more certain of, is that when people start a thread about their biting bird... they always blame the bird.

 

[Hankmacaw]

My GW Hank, who was a beast, trained me how to not get bitten. Until I learned and learned well I had some doozy bites. When he bit, he tried to remove an appendage and almost succeeded. I got Hank 23 years ago and there was no helpful help - there almost wasn't an internet. Took three years, but we became best buddies.

He was a magnificent bird and I miss him as much today as the day he died.

 

[Sparkles!]

I had my thumb almost severed by an angry macaw that didn’t warn before she lashed out. Four surgeries later, I have full use of it and it’s no longer in constant pain. Cold weather is hard on it, and the arthritis is permanent but the tendon is just fine now. Thanks to plastic surgery, the scar isn’t even bad!

Some birds, (some macaws included in that) are just not suitable for pet life. Whether they be very sad, tragic stories of smuggling and abuse at the hands of humans or just souls never meant for captivity....they will bite and occasionally it’s a bad one. Had this bird not somehow gotten my thumb in her mouth and refused to release for as long as she had it in there, the damage would have been bad but not as extensive like my injury.

Do I blame her? No. She spoke in the only way she could, in a situation that was already bad. Her beak was her voice, and had she not been a part of a criminal case, I would have brought her home with me- even after the bite. While she was in animal control’s care (because she was awaiting the court case) she killed a kitten there. A judge signed her euthanasia order later that day. I still dream about that bird.

 

[Sarah13]

Some bites can hurt and some do not hurt at all.
Usually if you are reading and respecting body language and there's a clear path of 2 way communication going on, bites are very rare.
Unfortunately though, many birds learn that humans ignore or do not notice the subtle signs and so they learn to forgo all polite means of communication and go straight for the bite as that is the only effective way to get a desired response.

What you should do is contingent on why the bird resorted to biting you in the first place.
Prevention, like mentioned above, is the ideal route to take granted there is no immediate danger as we want to prevent the rehearsal of undesirable behaviors.
The punch line is that your response to the bite should not inadvertently reinforce the behavior.

There are countless examples so it's impossible to list them here but there are some common ones that seem to occur. If the bird bites you because it wants to be left alone, putting it away reinforces the behavior. If it bites you as it finds the loud animated reaction from you fun, you are reinforcing the behavior. If the bird is scared of something in the environment and it redirects a bite towards you or is attempting to resource guard you/something, where you move the bird and or the item or yourself, that can reinforce the behavior. If the bird doesn't want to go back into the cage, setting it down or tossing it into flight still free of the cage reinforces the behavior. If the bird is aroused and behaving in a hormonal manner and you do not redirect or move away because it bites, that reinforces the behavior.
Because there are so situations that can potentially illicit a bite, there isn't really one set thing to "do when you get bitten".

The only hard fast rule is to never hit the bird. I understand it can be a sudden reaction to yank away, swing/flinch but hitting will only, but not always, just suppress the behavior and will very likely damage your relationship.
Instead, you should try to address the issue from the bird's perspective so that you can identify what prompted the bite in the first place. That way, the core issue can resolved or managed. Biting is just a symptom/reaction so to speak of a negative state of mind.
I like to train and address the bird's perception versus their behavior. When you do this and change the bird's outlook on something for the better, the good and bad behaviors naturally take care of themselves.

 

[Birbs man]

I'm rarely dogmatic, but I am in this regard.

It's always your fault.

If you don't adopt that mindset, you're putting your own safety in the hands (beak) of a bird, and by shifting the blame to them, you lose the ability to learn from the mistake, and avoid it in the future.

Dogma starts where reason and understanding ends. I am the recipient of the some of the unprovoked attacks that redindiaink was speaking about. Generic statements like yours serves no one and most certainly they don't serve the well being of the bird in question.

Birds are sentient creatures and hormones are very real.

• We create our own expectation for what the relationship with the bird will look like.
• We created the expectation that they behave the same today, as they did yesterday.
• We need to adjust to their changing behaviour.
• We assumed they would behave the same in a new environment as they did in the old.
• We don't realize that proximity equals opportunity.
• We give too much trust too quickly.
• We didn't know a certain person would trigger the bird.
• We decided to allow a bird with an unknown background, with an uncertain state of (non) attachment, on our shoulder.
• We made the decision to return them to their cage when they did something we didn't like.
• We didn't know how to safely stop them from climbing up our leg to get to our shoulder.
• We chose to hold them close enough to our face so they could reach it (twice).
• We expect that if we keep doing the same thing, the bird will eventually give us different results.

The only thing I'm more certain of, is that when people start a thread about their biting bird... they always blame the bird.

Dogma, absolutes, point form presentation, all to impress us with the volume of your understanding. Dogma begins where intellect and reason ends.
"They always blame the bird", that statement in and of itself is worthy of challenge and ridicule. Most people that care enough to be here to ask about their bird biting them are frightened, sad, and seeking understanding that will lead to a resolution of their circumstance.
Formulaic vomit on a page that is placed there to fulfill the author's need for self-aggrandizement doesn't help birds or bird owners that are struggling with behaviour that seems beyond their influence. If your intent in your preceeding two post was to educate and enlighten then you failed miserably. You simply, by ignorance or convenience, left out genetic components amongst other unobservable influencers of bird behaviour.
People like you that post commentary so that you appear knowledgeable serve no one but yourselves.

 

[flyzipper]

People like you

Thanks for the post.

I'm suggesting that people should adopt a mindset of taking responsibility when we're the adults in the room.

What are you suggesting?