Good morning,
I need some advice. Yesterday I brought home a 2 year old orange breasted Senegal named Kiwi. This is my first bird. My husband has had an African Grey for 10 years and his family has had birds for quite a while. He is very comfortable and confident with birds. I am not. When we saw Kiwi she was very sweet to both of us even though the woman at the pet shop said she was aggressive and bit a lot. Kiwi let both of us hold her and only bit my husband once because I moved too quickly and frightened her. She has been very sweet since we got her.
Kiwi isn't the problem. I am. I love birds but I have a fear of being bit that I'm having trouble overcoming. My husbands mother had a cocatoo that I was told was very nice. Loved to cuddle, very much like a baby. One day she flew off her perch to me and didn't get a good grip of my hand and bit me to keep from falling. It was my first bird bite and at the time I didn't understand that she was trying not to fall. It seemed like an attack to me at the time. It was painful and took a while to heal. Ever since then I've kept my distance because I don't understand the body language. On a different occasion my husband's African Grey bit me on a day when he was being really nice and accepting of my presence. My husband told me to scratch his head but I was bit due to my nervousness.
When I got Kiwi I was very brave and due to the reasearch I had done on her species I felt comfortable with her. Once we got home that fear came back. My husband has told me not to flinch if she nips at me but I find that to be hard. He's told me that I just need to let her bite me once to see it's not so bad and then I won't fear it anymore. I love this bird and I want to be able to take her from her cage and pet her while I hold her. My husband can hold her and do tricks with her and pet her and even kiss her beak but I just hold her and try to be as calm as I can. The only time I feel completely confident in getting her to step up is when she flies off her perch and she's on the floor. When she is in her cage she snaps at me every time and when she is on her perch and eye level with me it makes me nervous.
I don't know bird body language. I have no idea what I'm doing. I want to be good to my bird and have a great relationship with her but the problems are all mine. How can I overcome these issues? Do you have any tips that I can work on over time to help?
Thank you in advance.