Needing some advice on biting

[Annie & freddie]

My 5 month old African grey Freddie has started to bite, and I'd like to stop it before it becomes a bad habit, he is mostly a very well behaved parrot, steps up, whistles, he isn't scared and seems happy. He has lots of toys, gets out regularly and most days is perfectly well behaved , some days it's as if he wakes up in a bad mood! Jumping on my hands to bite, or flying onto my head, hanging from my hair to bite my ears! I don't shout and try not to react to it, I just say 'no' in a firm voice am I doing somthing to upset him?

[Wolf]

I really can't say with only this amount of information. I do apologise for not getting to your post sooner and will try to respond sooner in the future.
Why don't we begin this with you filling me in on your birds background and current living conditions, including its eating and sleeping schedules and the normal everyday routine for getting out of his cage and interactions with you. What does he eat and when is this food provided? Are there other animals and/ or humans involved with the bird? Tell me about what is going on just before and during these times when your bird is biting you. All of these things could be factors in why your bird is behaving in the manner that he is.
You are my eyes and ears into your parrots world and the information that you provide me with is all that I have to go by to work out why your bird is biting you.

[Annie & freddie]

Thank you for your reply. Freddie was Hand reared in Northumberland and we brought him up to Caithness, I was keen to get a parrot from a good breeder to explain the distance. His cage is in the living room against a wall.
At home we live with my parents and boyfriend (we are saving to build a house) he spends most of his time with me, he gets on well with my boyfriend and is ok with my mum and dad although doesn't spend as much time with them, my mum is scared now from him biting and I fear it will make him worse.
I own my own bakery attached to our house so work around him, he comes out for an hour from 7am , half an hour around 11 , an hour abound 2 and from 4/5 he gets out until bedtime, he is happy to hop around the kitchen, living room and my bedroom, plays by himself on the counter/ my bed or on his play stands. He also likes a head scratch and cuddles at night times. He steps up on demand although he dose hop over my hand or fly away when he knows its cage time!
He gets a sead mix with dried fruit in it, and I was advised to mix it with a pellet mix but I couldn't get him to eat it. He gets fresh fruit and veg in his cage every day, is favourite is peas, apples, broccoli and as a treat cherries are his favourite. In the mornings and evenings he gets mashed up fruit& veg mixed with egg food which he gets warmed up and eats of the spoon, he loves warm things and looks forward to it, he flys over as soon as he sees the cup.
He likes having a shower and sits on my knee on a towel in the bottom of the shower... It's a rather messy situation but it is what he is comforable with.
When he is out his cage playing with his toys he seems to get very into it , so much so that he falls over or rolls around, this is sometimes when he can bite.
It's as if he just gets over excited and can just fly up and starts almost dive bombing over us/ bouncing of our heads! He dose this in the living room mostly so I thought it was because of my other family members wheather he was jealous or scared but he also also bites / pounces on my hands, hanging of them biting when we are alone, as I said he is perfect most of the time I just want to make sure I'm doing things right, he also bites if he doesn't get his own way!, he loves to sit on my arm when I play the piano( I can't play the piano or sing but he loves when I plonk away on it!!) so I try to do this as a reward for when he is good but when it's time to stop playing he gets mad! I love him to bits.
Any advice is apriciated and I hope I'm not doing everything wrong! Thanks

[Annie & freddie]

Ow and we have a dog but hey just ignore each other and are never in the same room when he is out. I say goodnight and switch of the living room lights at around half ten and he doesn't make a sound until I come down stairs just before 7.

[Wolf]

He is much too young for hormones to be an issue so thankfully that can be ruled out for a while, but you are right about his getting excited any parrot that gets overly excited is likely to bite the state of excitement is very close to being the same as rage so you do need to either exercise caution when he gets excited until he calms back down or you need to watch him so that when he starts getting too excited that you can intervene to stop what he is doing so that he can calm himself, Once he has calmed down you can either let him resume what it was until he gets excited again or move him on to doing something else that he will not get as excited doing.

I am not a proponent of keeping a stiff upper lip, so to speak, when I have a parrot biting me. I am also not into over reacting to it either. I guess what I am saying is that I react to bites in an honest and direct manner. If they bite hard enough I will yell ouch or something similar and them tell them to be gentle, not to bite or something of that nature and at the same time I set them down on the closest safe place for them to be for a few minutes and pretend to ignore them. I say pretend because other than keeping an eye on them to be sure they are safe I will not talk to them or respond to them for up to 5 minutes after which I act as if nothing has happened. I am honest with my birds as they are experts in reading our body language so they know when we are lying to them, we can't fool them so why bother.

Yes they very often learn to discipline us by biting as well as using this as a means of manipulation to get their way at times, they are far more intelligent than most of us give them credit for. In the example that you gave with the piano the thing that might work the best is that when it is time to quit and go to bed offer him a treat when he steps up as requested ( in this case show him the treat before asking for the step up) then stand up and go to his cage and let him see another treat or two and let him see you place them in he food dish and then place him in the cage, if he still bites when you go to put him in then give him one treat just as you are going to put him in, put him in the cage with the treat in his beak and place another one in his food dish. If you make this a normal routine then it will or should stop this biting.

Keep me up to date as to his progress, please. Let's see if this will end your biting problem shall we?

[Annie & freddie]

Thank you so much for your advice, he is much improved and hasn't evin tried to nip or bite in days .

[Wolf]

That is wonderful !! Please let me know if I can be of further help or just post to talk about your bird if you would like to.