Wont get off me!

[lauren]

Hi
I've just received a relatively young green cheek conure. He can step up onto my finger when he's on a perch, in his cage or on a table. But when he is on my shoulder and i put my finger infront of him to step up onto, he backs away or bites. This is new behaviour and makes it hard to handle him.
Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated!

[michellet]

My GCC Missy, occasionally does the same thing...and i take it to mean that she's quite happy where she is and doesnt want to move She'll also occasionally bite my daughter when she asks her to step-up...once again i take as her way of saying "no!". I try to give Missy the right to say no to things she doesnt want to do, but if i need to put her away quickly, i ask her again and she usually complies, and when she doesnt i gently grab her. This isnt an issue as she is very comfortable with being handed and being grabbed doesnt scare her or make her uncomfortable. Also, Missy has never bitten anyone really hard, so its not a huge issue.
Try making every approach of your hand rewarding....either with a treat, a toy or a scratch, or what ever it is that 'floats her boat' The other thing you could try is offering her something else (such as a toy or treat) that keeps her beak busy while you get her to step up from your shoulder. The other thing is to just not let her on your shoulder....but this is easier said than done with a GCC...they can be fast, and super-cute, and good at getting what they want

good luck

[meowingaround]

This is when Windy gets nippy too now.. he'll fly over land on my shoulder .. run up to my face as close as he can and say "HELLO" or "LOVE YOU" .. but if I try to get him off my shoulder he does his open beak gonna bite your face off thing..

Why do you fly over to me then?

Seriously?

I don't want you on me if you wanna bite my face off jerk.. go away.

And I do think he's just being a bit of a jerk.. readjusting to having his Willow back and afraid I'm gonna take his Willow away again...not giving me any opportunity .



O_0

[entrancedbymyGCC]

If it were I, I'd just keep reinforcing the "step up" command from lots of different locations, including the shoulder. I guess I'm lucky with Scooter, because I never really had a problem with this -- Scotty is the one that often takes several requests before he will step off a shoulder.

This amounts to a mild use of force and should be used with care, but my husband taught me that if you approach from the rear rather than the front and touch with your finger at the top of the back of the leg, the bird will almost reflexively step onto the finger. You can use this to get a step up to reward, or in an emergency. It does seem to work rather well on both our birds and neither seems to particularly resent it, although I make every attempt to get a purely voluntary step up first.