by Pajarita » Sun Apr 24, 2022 9:51 am
Hi, Sunny and his humans, welcome to the forum.
I think you are expecting too much, too soon. Let me explain, male sennies can be VERY aggressive and, although they are small, they pack a powerful bite - and I know because I have one that made my life hell for years. Sweetpea was a special case because he had been not only fed wrong and kept at a human light schedule (which makes them hormonal, and that means aggressive) but he had also being kept in cage for eleven years without coming out precisely because of his aggression so, when he came to me, he pretty much hated all humanity. Yours is younger but you did not say anything about his background: what was and is his diet? was he kept clipped or for too many hours in a cage?
was he kept and is he now being kept at a human or a solar schedule? The reason I am asking these questions is that the answers will tell us what, exactly, is his problem.
Now, if I had to guess, I would say that he sounds as if he is overly hormonal and fixed on your husband and, if that is the case, it can be resolved. ALL birds need to be kept at a strict solar schedule with full exposure to dawn and dusk and cannot be free-fed any protein food - not doing this results in an aggressive bird which is, most likely, the reason why the previous owners no longer wanted him. So the very first thing you need to do is start with good husbandry (right light schedule, right diet, right housing, plenty of flying time, etc). Then you need to win him over but do not use your hand to move him (use a stick as you did when he bit you) and do not take him out of his cage (not even with a stick), simply open the door and let him decide what to do. Parrots are not only super intelligent (they actually use their brain the same way we do), they are very independent birds and usually dislike not being able to make their own decisions so just allow him to move around as he likes. If he is clipped, I STRONGLY recommend allowing his wings to grow back because clipped birds are stressed and anxious (they have been deprived of the only mode of transportation they have which is also their only predator-avoidance mechanism) and this often translates into biting (he can't fly away so he bites you to keep you away). So, like I said, just open his cage and, if he doesn't come out, it's OK, he eventually will. Spend as much time as you can during the day (parrot interactions times are after breakfast and after noon rest) in the same room with him but do not stare at him (predators do that and, because we have our eyes in front of our face, we look like predators), look at him out of the corner of your eye to see what he is doing. Talk, sing, dance and, every now and then, give him a treat (a piece of a nut, mine -I have two senegals- love cashews and walnuts) and, when he takes it, praise praise praise with 'Good boy' or whatever phrase you decide to use. When you offer him the stick, tell him to 'Step up' and, when he does, praise, praise, praise and give him a little reward - same thing when you ask him to 'Step down'. Praise goes a very long way with birds - so much so that I never actually train or reward my birds, I just use words of either praise or scold ('Bad bird').
If he is overly-hormonal, it will take months for him to calm down because you need to get rid of all the sexual hormones in his bloodstream and that takes time. Also, senegals are short-day breeders so, even he loses all his sexual hormones, he will start producing them again in the fall. But you need to do it because, although all birds get hormonal during their breeding season, a normally hormonal bird is not very aggressive. It's only when they have been producing sexual hormones for years without stop (which never, ever happens in the wild) that they become really aggressive.
You will need to be patient, very consistent with his daily schedule (nothing -and I do mean NOTHING- makes a bird more comfortable than having a never-changing daily schedule and routine) and be vigilant about his solar scheduled and diet but, if you do everything right (unfortunately, they are not like dogs or cats whose physical wellbeing does not depend on strict schedules or even diets so there is no leeway with parrots), he will become your friend (Sweetpea is now perching on my shoulder while I type this).