Jealousy

[GreenWing]

Chance sees me as her "person" and she is slow to trust others. She likes my mum and prefers the company of women it seems. She talks to others and asks them to "step up" but then tries to bite them, like she's trolling or something.

Is this a jealousy thing? Does it take time for a CAG to accept others into the "flock"?

[liz]

It is a fear factor.

[Wolf]

Long time no hear from you so I am very happy to hear from you again. I an not really sure what Chance is thinking, but it could be a jealousy thing, or at least related to it in some way.

Greys bond to one person, generally, and do not seem to care for the attention of any other person feathered or otherwise. Kookooloo, my Grey, does not speak if there is anyone other than myself present, but she will invites others in and then when they are close enough she will strike and bite the _&%$ out of them. She will not allow anyone near me if she is on me and she will not allow anyone other than me to touch her.

[Pajarita]

I think all grays are pretty much a one-person bird - actually, I think ALL parrots are, actually, one-person birds only there are some species that are more gregarious and outgoing than others. Sophie doesn't bite anybody but I don't allow anybody to really interact physically with my birds... they can look at them, talk to them, offer them treats but they can NOT touch them or ask them to step up.

Chance might think that 'Step Up' is her name and when she says it to the 'strange' people, she might not be really be asking them to come over closer and offer a finger to her -as the phrase would indicate- but, instead, she might be introducing herself to them. That's what parrots do. They introduce themselves by their name (or what they understand to be their name) to people or other birds by saying their name - problem is, people don't really teach parrots to speak cognitively so the poor things learn 'as God gave them to understand' (as we say in Spanish) and would, often, confuse the first thing that the owner says directly to the bird as their name. I have had several birds that thought that Hello was their name, for example.

[GreenWing]

I don't think Chance thinks step up is her name, as she calls me Chance and also her nickname, and I think I heard or read parrots calling others by their names, so I think she knows her name... but yes, it seems that she is a one-person bird but seemingly tolerates others more (such as my mum). She gets jealous, though, and has even bitten me after watching me spend time with others, does anyone know why she would bite ME out of jealousy?

[liz]

Punishment. Myrtle pinches me to punish me for giving attention to another and not just to her.

Rambo never like men. One day he was on my shoulder when a man came too near. He could not reach the man so he bit my ear.

With my son it turned into a power game. Rambo would call "Chuck c'mere" until he could get my son to go to him. Then Rambo would flog him. It has been many years and though Chuck thinks Rambo is someone special he is still deffensive and protects his toes. Rambo follows my son all over the house.

[Wolf]

Chance is mate bonded with you and you belong to her. Since you are her mate, she has a vested interest in keeping you from straying and giving others the attentions that as your mate is rightfully hers. If she can not get to them to make them leave then she will bite you in the hopes that you will move away from this rival for your attentions and affections. If you must make physical contact with others it is better if she does not see you doing so.

[GreenWing]

Punishment. Myrtle pinches me to punish me for giving attention to another and not just to her.

Rambo never like men. One day he was on my shoulder when a man came too near. He could not reach the man so he bit my ear.

Yikes! Chance is the same. She is a "girl's bird" - Greys are known to prefer a gender, in her case, she too likes women. Like Rambo Chance also bit me a long time ago when a I had a visitor with my brother. She was freaked out by the visitor (also male) and bit me on my face, drawing a little blood. Chance never bites me hard (she just pinches/beaks like Myrtle) and this was one of the very few times that she actually drew blood. I think she was just scared.

Chance only has let women handle her in the past, before rehoming. She doesn't like men. She has attacked men outright although she seems to semi-tolerate my brother, but she bit him, too.

Chance is mate bonded with you and you belong to her. Since you are her mate, she has a vested interest in keeping you from straying and giving others the attentions that as your mate is rightfully hers. If she can not get to them to make them leave then she will bite you in the hopes that you will move away from this rival for your attentions and affections. If you must make physical contact with others it is better if she does not see you doing so.

Thanks Wolf, that makes sense, I do believe Chance is gay.

[Wolf]

I would not go so far as to think that she is gay. That is something that you would not know unless you had a variety of male Greys for her to choose from for a mate. Greys know that they can't mate with a human, but if they are bonded to a human they may or may not mate bond with another bird, but this actually has very little to do with sexual orientation.

If chance was mistreated or even neglected by a male in her past she may very well dislike most if not all human males, Greys have a very well developed sense of what is right and wrong as it pertains to themselves and they have a very long memory as well as a predilection for holding grudges over mistreatment intentional or not. They also seem to have a well developed sense of humor, although humans might not get their humor.

[Pajarita]

Birds choose their 'new' humans based on the gender of the person who raised them and the owner's own 'qualifications'. If all Chance knew were good women in her previous life -say, her breeder or previous owner was a loving woman, for example-, she will trust women more readily than she would a man but the premise that parrots choose to love the opposite gender they are is a myth and a leftover from when we did not know enough about them.