PIN FEATHERS, PLEASE HELP ASAP!!

[katelyninreverse]

I recently purchased my very first GCC and I love him to death already. But he is having quite the attitude problem. He is totally fine when he is on my shoulder, on top of his cage, etc. But as soon as I try to hold him in my hands for more than a minute he will start nipping, and eventually biting me (specially when I try to pet him)!
He loves to come out of his cage though, he is often by the door to his cage whenever I walk in, he'll even scream until I get him out! So I'm very confused as to why he was biting. I had planned to return him because I didn't want to have a bird in distress and was taking it upon myself and feeling guilty.
Jasper is only 3 months old, and still has some pin feathers on the back of his head. And I think I have pin-pointed (excuse the pun) the problem he is having.
I just wanted to know if anyone had tips on helping him get rid of them. I've heard rubbing them... is there anything else. ie: misting, bathing, certain diets, etc.
Any help would be great, thank you all so so much!!
I love my baby so much, someone please tell me this is a phase that will soon be over. ): It makes me upset to see him sad.

[marie83]

daily bathing whilst he has the pins will help soften them, you don't need to soak him through every single time though as that will dry out his skin.

If he is already tame enough to handle and he isn't letting you touch them it's probably because they are still sore for him. Once he allows you to touch them you can gently squeeze them between your fingernails to break them up a bit.
The thing with the head feathers on green cheeks is they are quite short and hard to get without pulling them so if you can't do it just leave them, they will come off when he scratches his head with his feet and claws or rubs against his toys.
The main thing is to avoid hurting him as that will lessen the trust between you. In the meantime maintain the trust by just putting your fingers or hand over his head and rewarding him when he doesn't bite and don't react when he does bite, he will learn very quickly.

[terri]

HI theres a difference between biting and nipping .Most young birds nip [and it hurts].Your doing something he doesnt want.[ He doesnt want to be pet then.] Its up to you to train them.As for the screaming hes training you .He knws you will take him out when he does it.My advice read the training blog.Dont give up on your bird.

[hooligan]

I have a GCC, she's not a biter and she's pretty quiet. Using clicker training, keeper her occupied, learning to anticipate her behavior, not encouraging loudness by responding to it, and rewarded quiet attention-getting behaviors by responding to those, she's stayed mellow. Like terri said, I've pretty much just been following Michael's guides since I found his site and Scrubby has been a peach because of them

Scrubby finished her first molt a while ago (it seemed to last forever), and I read a lot of stuff saying birds are sometimes moody during this time. Scrubby was mostly needy though, and wanted help finding relief from the itchiness. She took a lot more baths and we would just (gently) rub her pins to break them up when they were ready.

While she was molting, if a pin wasn't ready to be broken up (like marie mentioned), it would be really sore. If I accidentally touched one, she would beak me to let me know I'd hurt her, and would also squeal really dramatically. This happened a few times until I figured out how gingerly I really needed to treat them, and it made me feel horrible each time.

So, yeah, he's probably just afraid of getting hurt, so just be patient and don't give up

[sidech]

Never let a bird out of his cage when he's sceeaming ! Wait for at least 3 minutes of silence before you do. You're teaching him to scream to get out... You'll be sorry for that in no time !

[susanmaurer]

Many young parrots go through a stage after weaning known as "bluffing," and some are more prone to it than others. It may be a hormonal issue where the parrot is motivated to test his boundaries and establish himself in the flock. In any case, if your baby is bluffing, it's a stage that may last for a few weeks (or sometimes longer), but it does pass (like adolescence - lol). The thing to do is NEVER to let the bird think that biting matters or that it gets a result. Reacting in ANY way (yelling, saying "Ow!", or punishment of any kind) to the aggression only reinforces the behavior and destroys the bird's trust. So, as difficult and painful as it may be to deal with a bird who is biting, simply replacing your fingers with a chew toy as often as possible and persisting in being loving and gentle with him is the best way to ensure that your bird will still trust you and want to be with you when the bluffing stage is over (and it WILL be over). This has worked for me - and I've got the scars to prove it - LOL! - and if you do a web search for "parrot bluffing" you may find some more very useful information.

Good luck with your new baby!

[Bobioden]

Give him tons of baths, They loosen them the pinnies up, and helps them throughs molts.