My Cousin's Cockatiel

[Mangoismybird]

This summer I've been spending a lot of time with my cousin, and she too has a bird. She has a cockatiel whom we presume is male because he can whistle, immitate various sounds, and can say a couple of words.

His name is Spike.

I'm making this post for my cousin Allie because she loves Spike very much, but he has developed a lot of behavioral issues and the rest of her family really doesn't like the bird/is afraid of him. The bird had free-flight but her parents one day took Spike to an All About Pets store and had his wings cliped without her knowing. They hoped this would subdue some bad behaviors (dive bombing Allie's parents and guests), but the wing clip job, is to the best of my knowledge done very poorly. (jagged, rough lines, wings uneven)

These are his issues.

*Spike bites everyone except for Allie. He'll go to another person, but only to bite them. His years of free flight have made him a very confident bird.

This is pretty much the biggest issue, if this was resolved he would be gladly accepted into the family.

*Screams when Allie leaves the room. (minor.)
*Picky eater (working on this though.)

So any thing to help with the biting would be great. Even though this is a little cockatiel, Michael's method of ignoring the bites isn't working, since his bites pinch, draw blood, and are very painful (they are not 'chewing', they are agressive.)

Thank you.

Allie

[Mangoismybird]

NOTE: This is an older bird, and is already aware that biting frightens off people and works. During free flight this was also an issue, because even with the option to retreat from the uncomfortable situation he continued biting.

[marie83]

They will have to learn his body language to try to avoid the bites happening and if he does bite then it must be ignored, regardless of if it draws blood otherwise he will never unlearn that biting frightens people.

Do the rest of the family spend time with the bird? If not they should spend time giving him treats, training and playing with him so he associates positive experiences with them.

[Mangoismybird]

Marie, (I have my cousin here)

The family does attempt to spend time with the bird, but it has lessened to almost nothing nowadays. Allie is the only one who's not afraid of the bird. The bird does open its beak and hiss before biting, so they do know that. When they went to the petstore, the kid who clipped the wings told them to remove the millet from the cage and use that as a treat, and my cousin's mother at least has been giving small treats when she walks by the cage.

I'm feeling a lot more hopeful after today, since I think Spike's agression has to do with his confusion on how to act around strangers. I spent about 30 min face-to-face leveled with him, pretending to eat broccolli and other healthy foods and talking softly (and rewarding him verbally when he nibbled the healthy food!) in an empty room, and he let me eventually give him a head scratch! He did not bite me once during the session even though my fingers were present and I held the greens.