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Mean linnie

Daisy Wolf

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Daisy
Hello

Me and my family have had a linnie for about one and a half years at the beginning he was nice and cute but after about 6 months he has been nothing but mean. He like attacks us and bites we try to play and be nice to him. When I take him out of the cage he doesnt want to be near us he flied away When we give him food he jumps on my hand and bites he is always mean and makes this loud squawk. Hes so cute and I like him but now my dad says were gonna get rid of him since hes not good for anything since he is so aggressive. Is there anything I can try to make him nicer he was handfed and we got him as a baby I dont know what his problem is.

Thank you
 

FeatheredM

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My bird calms down after playing with her favorite toy. Maybe she need more mental stimulation? Make sure to give her plenty to do, feed her veggies and give her space when she asks for it. If she bites you, put her down somewhere else and ignore her for a bit. Some birds don't like certain people. Does she get agressive when a certain person enters the room, or maybe is calm until you walk in? Also make sure she doesn't have any huts or places to hide as that can cause hormonal issues.Try convincing your dad to give you some time to try fixing your linnies behaviors. I wish you good luck, and hope you find a way to keep your linny.
 

Zara

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April

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I've got a young 10 month old DNA male whom I've had about 5 months now and I'm still no closer to hand taming him now than I was on day one. He's just absolutely petrified of hands if they are moving or he can see them it's game over and he bolts in terror. However he's as of yet to be any kind of aggressive or lash out at me. Even when he has to be gently captured to get taken to the vet or when he falls off his cage because he's clipped he'll just calmly stay being held and doesn't try to bite or fight his way out.

But I also don't force myself on him and I don't get in his space unless I absolutely have to. I know the temptation can be there to try to get in their space to make them accept you or to want to keep trying to have them step up or come to you(not saying you specifically are just an in general statement) and for a species as universally hand shy and timid as Linnies are I feel like that's a big mistake and will just put them on the defensive big time and thus more likely to lash out since they just want to be left alone many times.

I'd go back to the beginning as if you'd just gotten him. Talk softly to him and sit by the cage while reading a book or just giving him ambient attention. If you know he likes a favorite treat use a special bowl for that every time you interact with him so he starts to realize you bring him nice things and you won't always try to make him do what he doesn't want like being made to come out and then flying away because he isn't wanting to interact with you.

Bosco is my first untamed bird and definitely my most sensitive and wary bird that I've had so everything with him is very slow and gently done at his pace. Linnies are definitely a unique species and very sensitive to being made to do things they don't want to they are a species that I feel from my brief time of having one that they need to be interacted with very slow and gently to really earn their trust and they seem to be very easy to break that trust with and have to start all over again.
 
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Daisy Wolf

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My bird calms down after playing with her favorite toy. Maybe she need more mental stimulation? Make sure to give her plenty to do, feed her veggies and give her space when she asks for it. If she bites you, put her down somewhere else and ignore her for a bit. Some birds don't like certain people. Does she get agressive when a certain person enters the room, or maybe is calm until you walk in? Also make sure she doesn't have any huts or places to hide as that can cause hormonal issues.Try convincing your dad to give you some time to try fixing your linnies behaviors. I wish you good luck, and hope you find a way to keep your linny.
Hi we usally when we take him out try to get him to sit on a shoulder but hell just fly away or bite my ear. The only person he doesnt like attack is my mom but even if she tries to grab him he will bite her he doesnt seem to like any of us and will fly away from us when we get near in the cage giving him food or water he will like attack me. I dont know what you mean by hormonal issues but he does have like a little tent thing hanging in his cage he loves to sleep in
 

Daisy Wolf

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I've got a young 10 month old DNA male whom I've had about 5 months now and I'm still no closer to hand taming him now than I was on day one. He's just absolutely petrified of hands if they are moving or he can see them it's game over and he bolts in terror. However he's as of yet to be any kind of aggressive or lash out at me. Even when he has to be gently captured to get taken to the vet or when he falls off his cage because he's clipped he'll just calmly stay being held and doesn't try to bite or fight his way out.

But I also don't force myself on him and I don't get in his space unless I absolutely have to. I know the temptation can be there to try to get in their space to make them accept you or to want to keep trying to have them step up or come to you(not saying you specifically are just an in general statement) and for a species as universally hand shy and timid as Linnies are I feel like that's a big mistake and will just put them on the defensive big time and thus more likely to lash out since they just want to be left alone many times.

I'd go back to the beginning as if you'd just gotten him. Talk softly to him and sit by the cage while reading a book or just giving him ambient attention. If you know he likes a favorite treat use a special bowl for that every time you interact with him so he starts to realize you bring him nice things and you won't always try to make him do what he doesn't want like being made to come out and then flying away because he isn't wanting to interact with you.

Bosco is my first untamed bird and definitely my most sensitive and wary bird that I've had so everything with him is very slow and gently done at his pace. Linnies are definitely a unique species and very sensitive to being made to do things they don't want to they are a species that I feel from my brief time of having one that they need to be interacted with very slow and gently to really earn their trust and they seem to be very easy to break that trust with and have to start all over again.
Thank you for the help. We didnt know that linnies were shy the guy that sold him to us said there great pets who love being with humans. We had two parakeets and they loved us and were awesome but they died of old age so my mom thought since they had the name parakeet they were just bigger parakeets. My sister is terrified of this one and i keep trying to get him to be nice but so far hes not. He isnt terrified of my hand he attacks it sometimes i cant even change his water because as soon as I stick my hand in there he attacks me thats why my dad said were getting rid of him nobody can touch him and my dad hates the sqawking noise. Im just trying to give him like a last chance because hes so cute.
 

April

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Thank you for the help. We didnt know that linnies were shy the guy that sold him to us said there great pets who love being with humans. We had two parakeets and they loved us and were awesome but they died of old age so my mom thought since they had the name parakeet they were just bigger parakeets. My sister is terrified of this one and i keep trying to get him to be nice but so far hes not. He isnt terrified of my hand he attacks it sometimes i cant even change his water because as soon as I stick my hand in there he attacks me thats why my dad said were getting rid of him nobody can touch him and my dad hates the sqawking noise. Im just trying to give him like a last chance because hes so cute.
You're so welcome. There's always exceptions but on average most every Linnie weather hand fed or not will at some point in their lives devolpe a fear of hands. Most of the time from my understanding it happens around the year and a half to 2 year old mark. My boy is from a pet store so I highly doubt he was hand raised so I already had that working against me once I got him. There are plenty of linnies out there who will happily hang out with their owners, but every birdie is an individual of course. Just because he doesn't run away from your hands doesn't mean he isnt scared of them. He can be scared of them and get defensive and bite vs running away so please keep that in mind. I'd really encourage you to not continue to reach for him and force him out. With respect he isn't wanting that type of relationship from you at the moment and trying to have him out without this way over and over is just damaging your bond more. Perhaps you could try to train him to step up onto a perch and then place him on a playstand or another safe area that he can be out in with some toys and maybe a foraging tray with some food or treats and see he'd be willing to stay there and entertain himself with you nearby. But ideally if its safe you'd probably have more luck opening the cage and letting him come out on his own if that's what he wants.

Something that's very helpful will be to add a perch to his cage door so that way you can open his door and he can be standing on that perch and then it will be easy for him out be out of the cage without you having to reach inside. He may also be cage defensive since he's getting older which is possibly another reason why now he's attacking your hands even at the food and water bowls. How big is his cage? If its small enough that he doesn't have any room to really remove himself from the immediate area when you are changing his bowls that will also add to his stress and make him more likely to lash out.

Do you have a picture of his cage set up?

He may also be bored if he doesn't have a lot of toys and perches to entertain himself with. I have Bosco in an HQ Flight cage and he uses every inch of it. I have 17 perches and 15 toys in there. Which is a little overkill perhaps, but he's badly clipped from the petstore and he needs all the perches to traverse the cage easier but on average you'd wanna have at least 6 different perches and 4 or more toys in your cage to offer as much fun and stimulation as you can.
He's also at this point sexually mature and that can also cause more frustrations and aggressive behavior especially if he doesn't have a way to get some of that energy out with toys or plenty of activity. That may also be part of why he's so loud. Bosco has definitely become louder as he gets older. For a "Quiet" species he screams almost as loud as my old Conures did and if its anything like the noise, he makes I do feel for you.
I'm very blessed that Bosco rarely uses that level of noise and its pretty much only triggered by the tv being too loud for his liking but I know that any day he could start to scream all the time and I greatly hope he doesn't.
 

FeatheredM

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Hi we usally when we take him out try to get him to sit on a shoulder but hell just fly away or bite my ear. The only person he doesnt like attack is my mom but even if she tries to grab him he will bite her he doesnt seem to like any of us and will fly away from us when we get near in the cage giving him food or water he will like attack me. I dont know what you mean by hormonal issues but he does have like a little tent thing hanging in his cage he loves to sleep in
You shouldn't grab him, because you do not want bad association with your hands. Some birds like being grabbed but it does sound like yours isn't even comfortable around with hands. I would also recommend taking out the tent. Birds will association that with nesting and nesty birds make for more defensive and agressive birds.
 

Lady Jane

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Linnies have a strong flock instinct so he can get lonely and easily frustrated.
 

NorthernGannet

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I know the huts/tents are controversial, but I have a linnie who has to be housed by himself. Giving him a tent was instrumental in helping him feel calmer. At first he spent lots of time in there, but gradually he eased up and now spends more time out than in. I put a small sea grass mat in the bottom so he doesn't chew on the tent itself .

Sorry I can't help with the aggression issue. You've been given good advice from previous posters!
 
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