Raiju has started biting...

[Britnicorn]

Phoenix went through a phase where he was biting me for seemingly no reason, he'd come out of nowhere and just chomp. I've gotten him to stop, he rarely bites me now and whenever he does it's usually because I pushed him into doing it (too many pets or grabbing my phone at bad times I guess )

But now Raiju is biting me, and it's even worse! Raiju bites me so hard he leaves a swollen spot, and he also refuses to let go when he bites. His bites are also out of nowhere like Phoenix's was, I'll be minding my business at the computer and he'll chomp that spot between my palm and my thumb and will not let go. It's agony, really.
It's so funny though because he will still be gentle whenever he is wrestling my fingers, you would think he would take that opportunity to strike
At least he is comfortable enough with me now to feel safe enough to bite me?

I think part of his biting is because of the massive pins on his head. They've been there for days, he won't let me scratch him to open them up and Phoenix doesn't understand the concept of preening other birds (He was handraised by me, so I assume that's why he doesn't know its a thing). I have no idea how to soothe those poor pinheads, he bathes daily or even multiple times a day, I see him just sticking his head in the water fountain a lot.
The humidity in my room is usually around 75, sometimes less because I forget to turn on the humidifier

Is there any way I can open the pins for him? Or encourage Phoenix to do it? I feel so bad for him

 

[GreenThing]

The pins makes sense as a cause, Merlin and Percy even fought more with each other when they were at the height of discomfort (and they are STILL molting, I pity all birds in the world, molting seems to go on forever). I just had to wait it out-- Merlin let me preen him a few times, but recently I can't even touch his head, he is so fixated on singing to my fingers. No matter how hard I try he jumps or climbs on to my finger before I can get to his cheek.

Does he have a good, textured head-rubbing stick? I think mine prefer different perches depending on how sensitive the pins are.

 

[Britnicorn]

The pins makes sense as a cause, Merlin and Percy even fought more with each other when they were at the height of discomfort (and they are STILL molting, I pity all birds in the world, molting seems to go on forever). I just had to wait it out-- Merlin let me preen him a few times, but recently I can't even touch his head, he is so fixated on singing to my fingers. No matter how hard I try he jumps or climbs on to my finger before I can get to his cheek.

Does he have a good, textured head-rubbing stick? I think mine prefer different perches depending on how sensitive the pins are.

Phoenix is the same way, he gets too hyped most of the time to let me actually preen, but he'll let me do it occasionally

There's a lot of soft and hard perches for him to rub on, but I rarely see him do it. Phoenix will use them whenever he's molting, so I know they're up to par. I mostly see Raiju begging his toys to preen him, it's sad.

 

[Wardy]

They become the devil when they moult

 

[MR. Mango]

Do u have pictures od his pins

 

[camelotshadow]

Can never figure these things out sometimes but best defense if to try to avoid his beak & not give him the chance to learn chomping is fun & OK & hope he just forgets or gets over whatever it is.

 

[stephanieh]

How do i train my baby pineapple conure from biting me?

 

[Britnicorn]

Do u have pictures od his pins

Hard to get good pics of them since my phone camera isn't the best, but he has a few huge pins where his bars start
Edit to add: Those pins have been there for over a week, they just aren't opening and he won't let me preen them open

 

[Britnicorn]

How do i train my baby pineapple conure from biting me?

Any time Phoenix bit me I would pretend to cry, put him down, and avoid him for a few minutes. He stopped biting me after a couple weeks of doing that, but he still bites me occasionally

 

[camelotshadow]

Any time Phoenix bit me I would pretend to cry, put him down, and avoid him for a few minutes. He stopped biting me after a couple weeks of doing that, but he still bites me occasionally

I agree with the last two but I would avoid the drama of any sounds as birds really don't truly understand & can associate it as a reward for reinforcement. I think its better to just put him down & take away all attention that gets the best results.

Some think No may work with a bird to reduce or stop an unwanted act but maybe it could if its just a stern unemotional No they can learn it if they are immediately ignored after it. Still any response made to a bird tends to reinforce whatever act preceded it. They associate not really understand but the withdrawal of attention I thinks sends
the message without introducing too many other thought processes. Just my thoughts as its so hard to know what they think & its best to avoid a behavior becoming ingrained than to try to remove it after its become habituated which does not take much to inadvertently cause by unknowingly rewarding it.

 

[Wardy]

I agree with the last two but I would avoid the drama of any sounds as birds really don't truly understand & can associate it as a reward for reinforcement. I think its better to just put him down & take away all attention that gets the best results.

Some think No may work with a bird to reduce or stop an unwanted act but maybe it could if its just a stern unemotional No they can learn it if they are immediately ignored after it. Still any response made to a bird tends to reinforce whatever act preceded it. They associate not really understand but the withdrawal of attention I thinks sends
the message without introducing too many other thought processes. Just my thoughts as its so hard to know what they think & its best to avoid a behavior becoming ingrained than to try to remove it after its become habituated which does not take much to inadvertently cause by unknowingly rewarding it.

I agree with this however i did also say No in a tone i would not talk to Mojo in non aggressive but distintively different. So would say No Mojo, put her down on the table and turn my back on her. She would generally fly directly back to me only to be returned to the table .

 

[MR. Mango]

Poor Raiju, does look like a lot of sensitive pins tho

 

[GreenThing]

I thought Merlin had his new adult white cap, but lo and behold, he has a crown of pins again, too. Merlin dropped his first flight feathers way back in July or August and he acted a lot like a sick bird (daytime head-tucking, quieter, polyuric) for a full week, too. Even though he's pinny again it must not feel as bad as those initial pins (or what it was taking for his little body to push them all out, I guess)-- maybe that's where Raiju is, too.

The "make a sound" vs. "don't make a sound" camps have always befuddled me. I mean, Merlin definitely makes a sound when Percy nips him! It seems like there is this grey area between "sound that communicates information (association of sound with my flock mate withdrawing)" and "sound that itself becomes stimulating and I want to see it again please", and we can only really tell the difference by the effect our actions have on the individual bird.

 

[Tazlima]

The "make a sound" vs. "don't make a sound" camps have always befuddled me. I mean, Merlin definitely makes a sound when Percy nips him! It seems like there is this grey area between "sound that communicates information (association of sound with my flock mate withdrawing)" and "sound that itself becomes stimulating and I want to see it again please", and we can only really tell the difference by the effect our actions have on the individual bird.

When I was in college, I stayed with a friend's family in Italy for a couple weeks. One day, my friend's very young sister accidentally hurt me somehow (I don't recall the details, maybe pulled my hair or stepped on my hand, something minor but quite painful).

I, being American, reflexively said "Ow!"

Unfortunately for me, when Italians are hurt, they say "ai!" so it didn't register to this little girl that she had really hurt me. Instead, she thought "ow!" was hilarious - the sort of thing you might hear from a 70's radio announcer, a silly and dramatic sort of word. Little booger proceeded to pinch and hit at me, trying to get me to say it again.

I had to sit her down and explain, "no... that really did hurt me, and 'ow' to me is the same as 'ai' to you." to get her to cut it out. She wasn't hurting me on purpose - she legitimately had no idea that the funny noise came from a place of pain. She was quite apologetic when she realized.

Whenever I hear of birds finding our reactions amusing, I think of that little girl. How would I have handled it if I didn't speak Italian? If I couldn't explain to her, in words, that she was really hurting me and needed to stop?

That's where "no sound" method comes in. Some folks figure, "if I don't make the funny noise, eventually the bird will get bored and stop trying to make it happen." I suppose that's true, but it's awfully hard to not react to pain in any way. In the meantime, you're getting torn up and giving the bird an unreasonable idea about just how roughly you can be handled without being bothered.

I find it's far more effective to go ahead and make your noise... but 1) try to make it a squawk. If you can speak the bird's pain language, they're more likely to respond appropriately, and 2) whatever noise you make, use your body language to convey "that hurt me physically, emotionally, or both" which is most easily conveyed the same way another bird would respond. You fly away. Put the bird down (if you're holding it), maybe give it a dirty look, and leave the room. Eventually they'll figure out that "ow" means "ai" and that hurting you will just scare you away.

 

[Lady Jane]

You dont want to reinforce biting behavior by give him a reaction.

For the pinnies, if they are dry you can roll them between your fingers and the dry sheath will flake off.

 

[Britnicorn]

For the pinnies, if they are dry you can roll them between your fingers and the dry sheath will flake off.

He won't let me touch them I always preen open Phoenix's pinnies but Raiju won't let me

 

[Momof3litt]

Every bird in my house is either moulting or just finishing a moult. It does seem to go on forever, sigh. My budgies have recently discovered the hanging abaca swing on the playgym and have been ecstatically rubbing their heads against it. Does Raiju have access to any perches with a similarly rough texture? I would thing anything like abaca, sisal, jute or seagrass would work. Mine only do that on the fibrous perches, not the wood ones.

 

[Britnicorn]

Every bird in my house is either moulting or just finishing a moult. It does seem to go on forever, sigh. My budgies have recently discovered the hanging abaca swing on the playgym and have been ecstatically rubbing their heads against it. Does Raiju have access to any perches with a similarly rough texture? I would thing anything like abaca, sisal, jute or seagrass would work. Mine only do that on the fibrous perches, not the wood ones.

Yes they have a ton of variation in perches, they have really rough ones and really soft ones... there is just a few pins right on the top of his head that refuse to open.

Honestly if they stay closed for much longer I might grab him and open them myself, I don't want to do that but it seems like the better option than letting him suffer. I've heard of birds becoming feather pluckers because they couldn't open their head pins