GCC Beaking

[JellyBean]

Hi Everyone,

I got a 12-week-old Pineapple Green Cheek Conure six days ago; he's really sweet, and loves spending time with me. He isn't afraid of me at all, likes coming out of his cage, and loves any new items/toys I introduce into his cage. He immediately will check out whatever I give him.

Anyway, my concern is that he is constantly beaking my hands to the point that if my hand is anywhere near him, he wants to nibble on it. None of these bites hurt or are indicative of danger/anxiety or wanting me to leave him alone--he comes over to me; I never force my hands near him, but let him decide what he wants to do and he always chooses to approach my hand. But it's gotten to the point that he won't stand on my finger because he thinks my fingers are chew toys--he doesn't understand that they can serve any other purpose. I tried not letting him beak my fingers by putting them behind my back, but now he's getting frustrated and wants to chew on them even more.

Should I let him beak my fingers or is this a behavior that should be stopped early on? I'm worried because I can't really do anything with him because of the constant beaking and am afraid to take him out of the cage. I tried giving him other things to chew on to distract him and he isn't interested in them--he just goes for my fingers holding the items!

Any advice would be great! Thanks!

[Pajarita]

Beaking is normal. All babies do it... human babies put things in their mouth, puppies chew, etc. But baby birds don't beak all the time and they like hands for many more reason than just to use them as a birdy 'teether'. Is it possible that your bird is hungry? I am not trying to imply that you don't feed it, mind you! I am sure you do. But breeders usually tell the people they sell baby birds to that the bird is fully weaned and eating adult food when, in reality, this is not so. One doesn't feed adult food to a toddler, a puppy or a kitten and baby birds also require baby food. Baby bird food is what we all soft food and it's just what the name implies: food that is wet and soft and, if at all possible, a bit warm. It's supposed to resemble the food the parents feed them because, at this age, the parents would still be feeding the baby in the beak. And that's what I think your baby is looking for when it beaks your hands: for you to feed it soft, warm food. You can use gloop, polenta, couscous, etc. Try it and see what happens.

[liz]

I have learned with Myrtle that birds go through phases just like kids. She has given up some of her habits and added new ones. Example: she no longer chews up ink pens but has started pinching me when she does not like what I tell her.

[Perroquet]

What liz says, they do go through periods of changes and you just work through it.

[Wolf]

I don't know if this will be of help or not, but will share it in the hope that it will be useful to you.

I have a Senegal parrot named Kiki, she is now close to 9 or ten years of age, she came to me as an adult bird about 4 years ago. She just showed up at my home and I had to let her in or she would not have survived due to the weather.

At first she did not want anything to do with me as she wanted to bond with my Lady, but then she changed her mind and chose me.

She has always been mouthy and right at first, before she decided on me to bond with, she tore me up with her biting. After she chose me this stopped very quickly, but she is still mouthy. She does not bite me very often and even then it is nothing like at first. Her favorite pastime now is to perch on my shoulder or on my arm and them work her beak between my thumb and forefinger like she is biting me but her beak just works open and closed between them without any bites. The result for her is that it is like a prolonged period of beak rubbing on either side of her beak. If she is not doing this she is grabbing my finger and playing with it very gently in her beak only stopping to get head scratches.

Have you tried beak rubs for your bird? It might help you with this or it might not, but I thought that it just might. Parrots are all different and like us they have different personalities and different likes and dislikes and what works with one may or may not work with another. But if you have not tried this it might be worthwhile or not.

[Perroquet]

The Senegal parrot I have came with my husband and she adores him and spends long periods of time just being with him. I have worked hard to be able to handle her and she is mouthy like yours is with me, but after dealing with the small conures she is easy. I think it is because she is slow moving compared to the conures and less agressive and her body language is easier to understand. My conures you have to stand up to and not back down, if they think you are afraid they will take advantage of that. The Green Cheek and the Pineapple which is a color variety of Green Cheek are the nippiest and I have to really keep on top. The Maroon Bellied is a much gentler Conure, but can be nippy still if jealousy raises it head. I rarely get bit because I learned when it can likely happen and avoid them. When all are out if one wants to be with me, then they all do and I end up with 3 Conures on me. They hang off my clothes when I am walking. They are such good flyers that I can do housework with them hanging on me, if they fall off they never hit the ground.

[Wolf]

I am Kiki's favorite perch and once she has gotten enough of the beaking/ beak rubs then she still wants to remain perched on my, mostly on me shoulder. She really want to be right in the center of whatever it is that I am doing and likes to hang over to get a better view of what my hands are doing as well as , I suspect, to get a faster start at getting down to my hands to help me. The biggest problem with this for me is that I am not always sitting still when I have things to get done and she lets me know in no uncertain terms, She hits me in the back of the head with her beak, that she is there and that I should remain relatively still and in one place so that she can better relax and take a nap if she wants to. It is really surprising as to how hard this small of a bird can hit you with its beak.

In addition to being a real stickler for building a relationship with my birds through trust, I am a very firm believer in learning as much of their individual body language as is possible, I know that it has saved me from numerous bites so far and has helped me to better understand my birds. I am also a believer in that the best way to stop a parrot from biting is to avoid getting bitten in the first place.

[Pajarita]

The OP's question was about a baby bird and constant beaking... Adult birds that nip is a different story, altogether.

[Wolf]

Excuse me, I thought that distracting the bird through the judicious use of beak rubs might be beneficial to the OP and bird. The rest was just conversation with another member as has been common in many threads and done by others, including myself and you. I will endeavor to refrain from this practice in the future.

[Pajarita]

No, no, I did not mean it that way and I am sorry if I came through that way. I just thought that the OP, as a first timer, might end up been confused if we mix up baby beaking with adult nipping or biting.