Chewing bars

[jancijen]

Hello, I am back here... But I am still sad I need to solve problem... My lovebird is chewing bars and it is so annoying !!!! I would kill him when he is doing this and he looks like agressive retarded parrot... Pls help me

[Pajarita]

He might have a vitamin/mineral deficiency (bad diet?). Or he might be spending way too much time in the cage (is he out flying 3 to 4 hours a day). Or he is intensely lonely (no parrot does well by himself but the smaller species do worse) -which means anxious- and is developing stereotypies (abnormal behaviors brought on by captivity). You first need to identify which is the cause in order for us to tell you how to solve the problem.

[marie83]

Sounds like stress or a habit that developed from a time when your bird was stressed even if it isn't now.
How big is the cage? How much out time does he get? Is he alone all day or long periods of time? Does he have plenty of toys and natural branches etc to keep him occupied. does he have access to a natural light cycle?
There are loads of questions you should be asking yourself to see what you can improve.
Also why don't you post details of your parrots diet to see if we can make any suggestions which might help.

[Dave & Karen]

Sounds like stress or boredom, or his cage is too small... It might be big enough or what might be recommended, but if your bird thnks it's too small for him he'll be looking for an escape point and chewing the bars etc...
It could be a vitamin deficiency or his diet is out of balance too.
Try giving him some new toys, preferably something he can shred or chew, if his cage is small, try putting him in a bigger one, and also try giving him more out of cage time.
There are lots of posts in here concerning proper diet and nuitrition that you can read up on as well. They can also do this to tell you they're hungry or out of water etc...

[jancijen]

I ll try to get some toy for him... Cage isnt the biggest but i dont have money for new but i dont think he doesnt have enough space He doesnt fly outside I am scared of that He is still nipping me so this is the reason why i am scared of flying outside I changed mix and now i am using this one Versele Laga PRESTIGE Big parakeets... And i spend with him about 15-30 mins per day (target traning, changing food and wate) and talking with him while i am on computer... i am studying so i am busy.. but thats not only reason.. i am really disappointed because he is still nipping
Thanks for replies

[Dave & Karen]

After seeing this last reply and getting a bit more info I'd say your bird isn't getting enough time with you and not enough out of cage time as well. can you let him out while you're in your room studying? just letting him free fly in the room and maybe putting a few things he can perch on as well as a few things he's allowed to play with while out of the cage will definitely be apriciated by your bird. You can also interact with him while he's out by setting rules, boundries and limitations for him to learn. He will actually learn to stay away from areas or things you point out to him by giving him a correction when he gets too close to anything you don't want him to mess with. the correction simply consists of telling him "no" then removing him from said area. You can also teach him to stay on a play gym or perch that has a few toys or food/water/treat bowls attached.
PetSmart and other large pet stores carry the play gyms and they're not that expensive... (about $20 or so for his size). He may not want on it at first but with the bright colors and placing the treats on it, he'll quickly learn that it's fun and will keep him occupied for hours between perching on the perches and playing on the ladders, swing, rope, etc...
You can also make these pretty easily out of wooden dowels and a piece of plywood for a base. This is what we got for our parrotlet and it took him a few days before he really warmed up to it, but after that, he loved to fly over to it and would play on it for hours at a time, flying over to one of us occasionally for attention or a scritch etc, then returning to it for more playtime, he also liked to perch on it and take a nap from time to time... http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... lInUS%2FNo This one costs $20 but they do make bigger ones and in different styles too depending on where you go and what name brand etc. but your bird would love it and you could teach him to stay on it while you're studying or watching tv etc... The way you teach a bird to stay put on something like this is by letting him get used to it first and let him play on it at will, but if he flies off and goes somewhere else, just step him up and put him back on it. He'll learn that he's allowed to only play and hang out here unless you release him to play in the rest of the room. What else is good about these is that they're small enough to place on your desktop or move from place to place.
They also sell these mini perches that you can put on your desktop or wherever that you can get one at a time until you have 3 or 4 of them so you can provide him plenty of places to land and hang out, or you can make your own pretty easily out of wooden dowels and plywood, or pvc pipe.

The more you can let him out of his cage, the happier he'll be and the less noisy he'll be when he has to be in his cage. Don't worry about the nipping too much, they usually don't hurt and very rarely break the skin, he'll grow out of that as well once he has things to do. Birds, especially parrots are very intelligent so they do get bored pretty easily, and they will resent you for keeping them in the cage and not paying them much attention which will also cause a lot of nipping and biting when you do bring him out and try to do anything with him.

And lastly, when a bird is really bored for long periods of time, they may start feather plucking which once they start that, it's very hard to get them to stop that habit. If you absolutely can't give him the time he needs with you and you want to keep him you can buy him a mate to keep him company, but by doing this he'll bond with the other bird and want little to do with you. he'll definitely be happier, but he will definitely prefer the other bird over you.

[jancijen]

Thanks for that really nice reply I would like to spend time with him out of the cage... But he is nipping He doesnt know step up, too.... The only thing he knows is target training in cage.. When i give finger to him he is trying to nip it through the cage bars Ahh.. That is still so hard :/
And i think i dont want partner for him... I wanted to have him as pet... And he is old enough i think he is 1 year and half or so

And he is cleaning his feather (i think)... Sometimes i find 3-4 little feathers or so but i dont think it is plucking or ?

[Dave & Karen]

your bird will want to stay as clean as possible, birds are very clean animals so the feather cleaning is perfectly normal, it's when they just pull them out for no reason that isn't.

For the step up, he should step up onto a stick once outside his cage and he's been allowed to fly around a bit first, You'll notice that he'll bite the stick right before he steps up, this is normal behavior as he's testing the stick to see if it'll hold him. He'll do this with your finger as well, it's just a quick grab to see how strong your finger is, not a bite or nip.... this won't hurt.

Maybe try letting him out of his cage when you have some time, let him fly around the room a bit, most birds will do this either before they come to you or after they come to you once they're allowed out of their cage. Most smaller birds will land on top of your head which is a safe place for both the bird and you. Use a small dowel or stick to step him up, he won't know what to do yet, but if you put the stick in front of his feet where he can step up, he may do it on his own or you can gently put the stick to his chest, but low enough down so he can step up easily, then just gently push the stick against him just enough to take him off balance and he'll step up. This usually works best from a perch or the top of his cage. If you can get him to fly into a bathroom or a different room, he'll be easier for you to train since he don't have the distraction of his cage nearby. A really good place for basic step up training is to put a shower perch on the bathroom mirror for him to perch on, then you can use your finger or a stick and do a few step up drills.

You can use his favorite treat or millet to reward him for stepping up, and also to make friends with him. Having him in a different room will also turn the tables on the bird so he now depends on you for safety and to get him back to his normal surroundings etc so he'll be a lot less likely to bite when you're trying to hand him a treat or step him up with your finger.
You can also try to pet his beak, they like beak rubs anyway, but by reaching for his beak, he can see you so he won't be as nervous, and it's harder for him to nip or bite if your finger is on his beak. Just touch his beak at first, then try to rub it a little and he should let you. You can work towards his cheeks or forehead after he lets you rub his beak, and at this point he' ll most likely like the way it feels and fluff up his head, they'll also roll their heads to "tell" you where they want to be pet. If he stretches out his neck and opens his beak like he's yawning, that means he's really enjoying it.
If you can get him to this point, you can tame him the rest of the way pretty easily without getting bit.
If possible, take him to a different room for taming and training, but let him fly in your room for about 5 to 10 minutes before trying to get him to do anything for you, giving him that little bit of freedom before asking him to do anything for you also helps a lot both in taming and training.

He'll stop nipping and biting as your bond forms, but by trusting him more, he'll also begin to trust you,and the more he trusts you, the less he bites you.

[jancijen]

Again thanks But have to do this all when he is nipping? How to rub him on beak when he is nipping ....? I know something about pet because I have one hand-fed (i dont know if i said that well) indian ringneck.... But this is parent raised parrot :/ I would love to pet him etc. But his is nipping

[Dave & Karen]

The bad part is that you will get nipped a few times while teaching him not to nip, just be prepared to get nipped but try to touch his beak, this works best when he's out of his cage, or even in a different room that he's not accustomed to.
When you reach for his beak, he can see your finger so that helps him since he can tell if you're going to try anything so he should allow it if you aproach him calmly. If you reach for his beak but you're nervous, he'll detect this and be ready to defend himself so you'll need to be as confident as possible, then just touch it and reward him. even if he's trying to nip at you, reward him if you can touch his beak, even if it's just a split second. Work with this for a while and you should see him begin to get comfortable with your finger on his beak. This can take anywhere from about 10 minutes to a few days... just reward him anytime you can touch his beak, but when he starts to bve more comfortable with it, try to pet his beak and reward every time you can pet his beak, work with this until he's ok with you petting his beak, and reward every time. Once he's ok with this, you can pet his beak but work your way to his cheek feathers. Birds love being pet on the cheek and the forehead so this should become easy rather quickly.
Just work your way to where you can pet him, then you can begin teaching him other things like stepping up to your finger instead of a stick etc...
Also see my replies in this thread for "gentle beak" training your bird... viewtopic.php?f=11&t=11062
I've trained all of our birds with this and it does work, it works fastest on a yourn hand raised bird, but it can be done on any bird, it just takes longer on parent raised birds and birds that have been caged most their life etc. Once your bird catches on to the gentle beak training the biting and nipping will stop and then you can teach him just about anything or just put him on your shoulder while you're reading, studying, or watching tv etc... Birds love to sit on our shoulders and there's a nice warm neck for them to cuddle into so this is a way to form a bond with them and help them lose all fear of you rather quickly.