Brief shoulder visits okay for baby senegal?

[c marvel]

When I took my baby senegal to the vet for his wellness check the vet advised me I should not allow the bird, his name is Vest, to sit on my shoulders. At that time he was a bit nippy. Since than he has improved dramatically yet still has the occasional nippy moment.
My bird loves to sit on top of his cage when I let him out. Here's the real problem...He's very stubborn about stepping up onto my hand to come back down. The nippy action returns.
I've noticed when he sits on my arms he frequently tries to get to my shoulders so I've just gently blocked him. Yesterday I had a hunch and turned my shoulders to his cage-I'm tall enough to do that-and he stepped right on to my shoulders and I got him to step down easily. Oh, he's very good with the step ups except for when he's on top of his cage.
Is shoulder access okay only when I need to get him down from the top of his cage?
I hope my post makes sense. I'm a first time parrot owner.


Cap

[Wolf]

Hi;

This is really quite common. Here are a couple of thoughts concerning first of all the nippiness, WhenVest gets nippy it may just be what is called beaking, so when it occurs gently push his beak aside and calmly tell him to be gentle as he may not realize that he is biting too hard and you need to teach him how much is too much pressure. Secondly, it sounds like he gets nippy when you attempt to move him from the top of the cage and this is probably because you are going to put him inside the cage and confine him. If this is occurring then you need to change your approach as he has figured out what you are doing and is trying to tell you that he doesn't want to go into his cage at this time. So set up another perch it a different spot, by a window is a good place and move him from the cage to the perch and then in a few minutes move him to the cage. You need to vary where he goes when you ask him to step up so that he doesn't know when you are going to place him in the cage and give him a peanut or piece of popcorn or some other item that qualifies as a good treat to him when you do put him in the cage.
Now the third and last thing is that my Senegal's favorite spot in the whole world is my shoulder and I do not restrict access to them, I do however make certain that I don't have an earring in my ear as she will take it and might eat it.
I hope that you will find these thing useful for you and Vest.

[Pajarita]

I agree with everything Wolf said. I even allow biters on my shoulder because the aggressive birds that attack, don't have the slightest interest in perching on my shoulder. They don't trust me so why would they? If a parrot loves you, he will want to be on your shoulder. Period. And, as avian vets don't study avian behavior or diet, they should restrain from offering advice on subjects they know nothing about (but, for some particular reason, they hardly ever do).

It also sounds as if your bird is clipped which is a real bad idea with a nippy bird. If so, have you done any in depth research about it?

[Harpmaker]

It's not just the vets who say that. Several of my books recommend keeping birds off shoulders. One reason is to avoid giving them easy access to your face.

Bsbies, however, need to be in contact with you as much as possible. I would recommend allowing your baby to step on your shoulder til he reaches puberty, then reconsider based on how territorial your Sennie becomes about your person.

[Pajarita]

Yes, you are correct, Harpmaker, many books say that but, in all honesty, I haven't found a single book that recommends a solar schedule or a fresh food diet either - so, in my personal opinion, these books are not as accurate as they could be when it comes to bird husbandry.

[Wolf]

Well it definitely serves as a reminder of how far we still have to go just to get the most basic of bird care into the hands of the general populace, assuming that we have that much of it right to begin with.

[Pajarita]

Yes, and that's a fairly big assumption, it seems to me.