Biting

[Munchy]

I've read the responses about biting as Disney is beginning to bite. He didn't when we first got him but starting yesterday he has been biting. He bites HARD and out of aggression. He doesn't want to leave my shoulder. He steps up both when he is inside the cage and out, he knows what it means but when he doesn't want to he bites! after he steps up. He finds a place to bite after is is in place, and I have been trying to ignore it but he is getting worse not better.
He has no problem coming in or out of his cage, he is great at it. His biting is only when he doesn't want to do something like leave my shoulder. It's weird as most times he is o.k. It's like he gets in a mood to only do what he wants. See i just had him step up and he was fine. of course he went directly back up to my shoulder. How do you ignore something that hurts. He drew blood moments ago.

[Munchy]

As a matter of fact if I ignore him he bites down harder and harder. He is looking for a reaction. But I am not sure what as he has usually already stepped up. It's almost like my punishment for having asked him.

[captwest]

Does he only bite when he's on your shoulder? or when you move him from where he wants to be? Could be big bird /little bird thing and biting results in him getting his way. please respond, Richard

[Munchy]

I believe it is when I am asking him to step up and he doesn't want to leave where he is. Which means mostly it is when I am trying to take him off my shoulder, as he seems to love it there, but also if I am moving him from hand to hand and he is comfortable where he is... I just played with him for about 45 minutes and no problems, as I was soft talking and he was free roaming around my shirt, arms and shoulders. He is so happy when he is doing what he wants.
I did notice when I picked him up from the breeder he had a bit of an attitude, not in a bad way as I love his spunky personality, he is always busy when out of the cage. He is kind of bossy. He's a busy bossy birdie.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Sounds a bit like "My First Scotty Bite". In that case it seems to me that the best thing to do is be prepared to do some training under the conditions where the issue exists... which means remembering to be set up for it. If the activity or location the bird is preferring is more appealing than the one we want, I think it does make sense to try to reverse that at least temporarily so they become conditioned to responding even when they are having fun doing something else.

I am definitely getting the impression that, like spooking in horses, biting (or maybe more accurately inappropriate beak use) in birds can have a lot of different causes and that the different causes argue for different mitigations. You can always go back to scratch, in either case, and start all over with the hope of not re-creating the specific situation. But unless you inherently enjoy that, it may not be the way you want to spend time with your bird... and it may not be the only way.

The tricky thing is figuring out what is fear, what is aggression/anger, what is being on their own agenda, what is a test of our influence?

[Munchy]

I did read what I was able to find on this board about biting, and I remembered what one person said about taking their beak in your hands. I also remembered others said it was not a great idea. Given that I could easily tell his biting was aggressive and was getting worse by my not having a reaction, I tried it. I did not raise my voice or grab his beak in a hard or aggressive manner, but took it in my hand to stop the biting. He continued to try and bite, and it wasn't long before he knew what I was doing. Then instead of trying to bite my hand he would aim for the approaching hand, which he did not get ahold of.
Then it almost became a game of try to get my approaching hand, and soon after that, when I did get ahold of his beak, since I was not actually at this time trying to keep him from biting but was winning the game, I held it softly and he buried his head in between my thumb and pointer finger, like he was putting his head up for food or something? In any case since this little game he has not tried to bite me hard. Today he grabbed me a couple of times but made sure not to bite hard. I don't believe he is a changed bird, but I now know I can keep him occupied if he is going to get mean with me again. Which will distract him from causing any harm.

[captwest]

sounds like good advice to me,i have a non biting YN, she loves to play like that, you grab her beak and sort of wresling, that and grabbing and playing with her feet when she;s on her back. She's not the type of bird that "needs" to be on your shoulder, she thinks that I'm the big bird and know what's best. she's happy with her place in the flock, maybe your bird's biting is because you might be a little timid and he feels like the big bird, like others have said, there can be many reasons for the biting, try to put your self in his mind and figure out why, Good Luck, Richard PS maybe something like clicker training , learning little tricks , would cause more inter/actions that would lead to a partner relatoinship instead of him calling all the shots.

[footfoot]

I say "no" in a stern voice when mine bites and he stops. Birds in the wild yell at each other when one is acting up. Works for them works for me.

[kurasa123]

OKAY MY NAME IS NICHOLAS AND MY FIANCE AND I HAVE A NANDAY CONURE HER NAME IS PEAPSY SHE BEAUTIFUL AND I WANT HER TO TRUST ME BUT SHE HATES FINGERS SHE WILL BITE AND THE WHOLE NINE YARDS I NEVER HAD A BIRD BEFORE AND THE FACT OF HER BITING ME IS KINDA SCARING ME I WANT TO FIGURE A EASY WAY FOR ME AND HER INTERACT SHE HAD A PAST OF GUYS AND SHE DONT LIKE GUYS ANYMORE DONT KNOW WHAT HAPPEND TO HER IN THE PAST SHE WAS GIVEN AS A CHRISTMAS PRESENT AND I JUST DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO IM TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET HER STOP BITING AND ACTUALLY TO START TRUSTING MY FIANCE AND I BOTH SO IF YOU KNOW HOW TO HELP POST ME BACK PLEASE

[meowingaround]

I obviously have much reading to do. My bird and I have been having the battle of who exactly is top of this flock since he reached puberty.

As long as other birds aren't around and his cage is set low, everything is cool.

But having four cats and another bird atm due to housing issues with my sister, my baby has turned into a real nasty pile of fluff and feathers.

I returned to room separation today as I have no clue what else to do to hold my own baby.

But if he sees the other bird I become the enemy.

I really don't understand