Not understanding my Amazon.

[CindyTwogood]

I have a 27 yr old Yellow Nape Amazon. Fargo has been in our family for 22 years. Although he
wasn't handled very much. My parents were afraid.
Anyhow, I have been working with Fargo and he does really well out of his cage. Lets me pet him snuggle him. Do mostly whatever I please.
I have trouble getting him out of his cage. He will fly on me or hop to my arm and then he proceeds to bite me multiple times.
His cage was taller than me, but we just got him a shorter cage. Not sure what to do.
What should I do when he bites?

[CSLFiero]

it can b e hard to tell what is going on without seeing it. parrots "bite" for many reasons, and because their beak can be as gentle as a babies finger or as powerful as a pair of sharp pliers, the level/intensity at which the place something between their mandibles and squeeze can be determined as violent or non-violent based on little more than your own concept of pain, aggression, and fearfulness.

The point I'm trying to make is that your parrot has complex psychology with multiple layers of emotion and thought. This is apparent in so much of it's appearance, actions, and routines that one cannot tell anything about why a parrot might be harming you when you reach into it's cage but like you just fine when it is out without the context of appearance, actions, and routines.

[cml]

I have a 27 yr old Yellow Nape Amazon. Fargo has been in our family for 22 years. Although he
wasn't handled very much. My parents were afraid.
Anyhow, I have been working with Fargo and he does really well out of his cage. Lets me pet him snuggle him. Do mostly whatever I please.
I have trouble getting him out of his cage. He will fly on me or hop to my arm and then he proceeds to bite me multiple times.
His cage was taller than me, but we just got him a shorter cage. Not sure what to do.
What should I do when he bites?

I would suggest starting with target training, that will give you a fun, and reliable, way of getting him in and out of his cage. There should be more info on Michael's blog: http://www.trainedparrot.com/taming I think.

As with the bites, Amazon bites hurt like hell, trust me I know. The best way is to react as little as possible, and if necessary slowly move your hand away. Dont jerk it back, or scream or anything the like. You need to do as little as possible when a bite occurs. This is so you dont reinforce the biting, which can turn it into a real problem.

The biggest thing is to learn to read your parrots body language though, and avoid situations with bites as much as possible, and always praise good behaviour. Dont say anything with bad behaviour, "No" doesnt work, its just attention!