how do i stop my lovebird from biting?

[vikkirikki]

i can't hold my lovebirds anymore because they bite me too much . I have 2 birds. One has started laying eggs, is that why they started biting more? is there any way I can stop this?

[Wolf]

It was my intention to come here to help you earlier in the day, but I have only now managed to get here.

As I noted in one of your other posts the biting that you are experiencing at this time is mostly due to the bird attempting to protect its nesting place as well as its eggs. This applies to the biting that you described in the series of post in this section of the forum. However, after rereading all of your posts including your introduction I am thinking that the biting that you are experiencing is more than just that of the bird defending its eggs. I am thinking that your bird may not be trusting you enough and so may also be biting you out of fear or simply because it does not trust you enough.

I think that we are going to need more information in order to sort this out so that we can help you with this biting problem. There are so many things that contribute to the way that these bird behave that it is hard to believe, Just like us they have good days and bad days which are sometimes just due to a lack of sleep or a poor quality of sleep, for this reason, it would be helpful for us to know when your birds are getting up in the mornings and when they go to sleep. It would also help to know if you cover their cage at night or not.

Diet is also partly responsible for how a parrot acts towards us. If we are feeding the bird the wrong things such as foods that are too high in certain things such as protein then the birds will very often become too aggressive and they will bite a lot. This is often because the food gives them the type of nutrition that causes their body to produce too many hormones, many of which also will cause the birds to try to produce babies all of the time which is not good for them. Because of this we need to know what you are feeding your birds and when you are feeding it to them.

Now it would also help for us to know such things a how long you have had these birds, how much time they get to be out of their cage each day, are your birds able to fly or are their wings clipped. How much time do they spend with and on you? What did you do with them before all of the biting started? Did the biting begin when they started laying eggs? I am not there to observe your birds myself and so I must depend on you to be my eyes and ears, you are my window into the world of your parrots, the more that I know about your birds the better I can understand why they are doing the things they are doing, so that I can make suggestions to you to improve how they are acting.

[liz]

Ignoring all other explanations - for instance, if a child smacks back when smacked and you do not correct the problem right then that child will start smacking you when ever it wants too. What I would do is stay out of a situation that causes it to bite while you are trying to figure out why it is biting.

Choose your battles while adjusting to prevent future problems.

[vikkirikki]

when I first got my lovebirds I clipped their wings and I could hold them and play with them. The the ' boy' nipped a bit so we would mostly have them out on the table with us but we wouldn't give them our fingers. I used a ramp or a stick to move them around or they would jump onto my shirt and I could take them around like that. Then the 'girl' started nipping (maybe after they started laying eggs, I'm not sure) and now they are both really aggressive. I can't even hold them to take a photo with them any more we are all frightened of them out of the cage because they charge at our fingers or ears and bite really hard

I do cover them at night from 8:30pm and I uncover them in the morning about 7:30 - 8am. Very occasionally I cover them in the day for half an hour if they are very noisy and Mum complains because she is talking to visitors or something.

I give them greens from the garden every day and they eat them. They have a cuttlefish in their cage. They won't eat any fresh fruit or vegetable but I do poke some in their cage sometimes, but they never eat it. I feed them Small Parrot Food with fruit and nuts. The packet says 5 different seeds and wholegrains, shell grit, peanuts, currants and nutrivit which has vitamins in it. It says it has vitamins A, B group, C, D3, E, calcium and iodine.

I used to let them out to fly a bit (with wings clipped) and to play. Dad and I made a playground for them but I stopped letting them out when they laid eggs because I thought they would have babies so I left them alone. And now I have no babies and I can't play with them either

They are very cute, they whistle when I whistle and they love the toys I give them and make for them. They spend a lot of time ripping up newspaper and one of them carries it up to the nest box.

I hope this information helps? Mum helped me write this

[liz]

Don't give up. It is just a set back. I have cockatiels that I can't touch but they have good reason to be afraid of humans. They have been mutilated. I would totally understand if they stayed away from me and just flocked. They could be happy that way. The one with the chopped wing, Phoenix, does not let me touch him but runs to me when I go in the room. He gets up close to tell me birdie secrets in my ear, but my hands are off limit. I am really pleased with his progress.
If an abused bird comes to make contact you just have a set back.

[Wolf]

How long have you had these birds? Who makes the small parrot food that you are feeding? It does not sound to me like it is a good brand to be using, one of the reasons that I say this is that parrots do not need any grit and grit can cause them internal problems that could require surgery to fix and that is very dangerous for them and very expensive for you. I would suggest a better quality of food for them. The following is the diet for love birds that is recommended by The World Parrot Trust.

Diet:

Small seed mix such as: mainly canary, also millet and oats; fruits such as: apple, pear, orange, banana; green leaves such as: Swiss chard, lettuce, sowthistle, dandelion; willow catkins; spray millet; rearing food made from: hardboiled egg, wholegrain bread, low fat cheese and carrot, all ground to crumbly consistency; complete kibble for small parrots.

You do not need to be concerned with the part about rearing food. Since they are not eating fresh fruits and vegetables at this time we will have to explain to you how to get them to learn to eat these foods. I will come back to this shortly.

What do these birds do when you first go towards their cage? Do they move towards the far side of the cage from you? Do they rush towards you screaming at you and threatening to bite you? Do they come toward the front of the cage like they are happy to see you? These questions are important as they will give me some idea as to where we need to begin with hand taming them again. Also do they have eggs in the cage right now? We may have to wait just a little bit before we can do a lot with them. One more thing right off, please do not cover them up during the day as it may mess up their endocrine system as its proper functioning is based on the lighting that they receive, which is also a topic that we need to talk about. Sorry, mom.

How to get your birds to start eating their fruits and vegetables. This is a very important part of their diet. In addition to the vitamins and minerals they get from them it also supplies them with a large part of their water as they mostly drink a little bit in the morning and a little bit in the evenings, I hope that you like raw fruits and vegetables. The best and fastest way that I know of to get your birds to start eating their fruits and vegetables is for you to eat them in front of them. This need to be done in the mornings and it should be the first food that they get. Their food should be removed from their cage when they go to sleep at night, they don't eat at night any way as they should be sleeping. But they are going to be hungry in the morning when they first get up. So this is when you want to share breakfast of fruits and vegetables with them.

Since you do not have the best relationship with them right now you will need to cut up some of a fruit, some of a vegetable and some of a leafy green such as romaine into small strips so that they can be offered to the birds through the bars of their cage. go and sit in front of them and talk to them and start eating a piece of one of these foods in front of them, while making happy noises to help you let them know that this is very good food. Show them the piece of food and then start eating it making sure to let them know that it is the best food you have ever tasted. They will get interested in what you are eating, do not give them any of it just keep talking to them and eating the food letting them know how good it is they will begin to ask for some of the food, you still want to wait a little longer before you offer them any of it, so keep eating it and letting them know how great this food is they will start demanding some of the food and then you offer them both a piece of the food. At this time they may take it and eat it or they may throw it down. That doesn't matter. You just move on to the next food, showing it to them and then eating it making happy noises to let them know that this is wonderful food and then offering them a piece of it only when the reach the point of demanding some of it and not before. Then move to the last food that you have prepared for them and do the same thing. Then before you leave them put some of all three foods in a food dish and put it in their cage. Then wait a little bit, maybe half an hour and give them their regular breakfast.

This may take a very long time to work but it will work, it is taken from the way that their parent birds would have taught them to eat the right foods. It will also help them to get used to you again and to think of you as bringing good things to them to eat. It will also help them to start building a bond with you

I am leaving for now, but if you will answer my questions, when I next reply to you we will see where they are and what we can do to help to hand tame them again.

[vikkirikki]

Thank you wolf,
When I go up to the cage my lovebirds don't run to the back of the cage or charge at me screaming. When I go up to the cage they just stop what they are doing and stare at me and listen to me talk to them. They often do a wolf whistle back to me when I do one to them. We have a game sometimes that we do this whistle with each other for ages.

I will start trying the fruit and vegetable thing you said tomorrow morning.

[Wolf]

Alright, I suggest that you get some sprig type millet that you can use for a treat and take some time after their breakfast to sit with them just talking and singing and whistling with them and include a lot of " Good Bird" type of praise using their names. Their names and you using them are very important to these birds. Then let us say that you are setting aside 15 minutes each day for this you need to offer them a bite of the millet through the cage bars about 3 to 4 times while you are doing this. If they come to get a bite praise each of them as they get a bite, using their name. If they do not come for a bite of millet break off a small portion for each of them and put it in their food dishes, they need their very own food dish. At this point you are looking for them to look forward to these sessions. They will move towards you in the cage when they are looking forward to this interaction. Then you want to watch for them to calmly take the bites of the millet from you through the bars of the cage. When they do this, then you are ready for the next step in hand taming them, and not before. You must wait for them. Let me know when they reach this stage for two days and we will move on to the next step of this.

I think that, perhaps, your biggest mistake with them was to stop letting them out to fly and you really need to start doing this with them again, and the sooner the better.
You still have not explained to me what their feeding schedule is and we really need to know what that is. There is not much of a doubt in my mind that I will be suggesting some changes in how you are feeding them as well as probably some changes in what you feed them. Food and especially the eating of food is important to them and can be a very useful thing in helping them to accept and bond with you.

[vikkirikki]

My feeding schedule is that I pick them a dandelion leaf every morning and I give them fresh seed every morning which stays in their cage all day. That's all. And I have randomly given them bits of fruit and vegetable which they never ate. :

I ate the fruit and vegetable with them this morning like you said and they tried the carrot
I would like to hear what you say I should be feeding them.

Mum is getting me some millet spray today. :

thankyou

[vikkirikki]

I spent 15 mins with them and the millet spray. They took it from my hands. I think it went well. Hopefully they will start coming towards me when I go towards their cage after a few millet sessions