My conure is bowing

[lee ireland]

Hi, My green cheek conure has been bowing to me lately and then starts scratching his head, i understand that this is a sign asking for a scratch, however my bird is not tame and is afraid of my hand so im fairly confused as to why my bird is asking to be scratched.

Over the last 2.5 months i have been doing taming and bonding sessions and have actually started to get somewhere ( finally ) and i dont want to upset the bird by taking him up on his offer for a scratch without confirming that i should indeed give him a scratch.

So when he displays the bow should i scratch him or should i wait until iv tamed him?

p.s he doesnt even allow me to hod him on a step up hence why im asking for the advice before i go ahead and attempted touch contact

Thanks

[Wolf]

If he is asking, I would scratch his head.

[lee ireland]

Ok thanks wolf!

[Pajarita]

Same here. For one thing, I always give them what they want as long as it's not dangerous to them but, for another, just because a bird doesn't want to step up, it doesn't mean that he won't allow you to scratch its head. It's called allo-preening and it's something that parrots not only enjoy but also one of the best ways to release stress for them so it's not a luxury but actually a necessity with captive parrots.

[lee ireland]

Thanks for the advice things are looking up now, I've been teaching not to bite by having my arm next to him waiting until he stops biting for at least a minute and the click and treat, now he steps into my arm without me even asking so good sign for sure, he now just nips without aggressive tones but only one time per session

[Pajarita]

You are actually allowing him to bite your arm until he stops on his own?! That's NOT a good idea, my dear.

[lee ireland]

I must admit so far that method has been the only thing that has stopped biting, I've now gone 3 days of no bites, the method is to wear clothing that stops the bite from hurting at all, I never even felt it when he did it.

He bites I stay, if he gets really aggressive I back off slightly and then get close again... after a while he keeps calm so that's a click and then treat and I repeated the process, now he steps onto my arm no bites no hassle no worry.

Everything else iv tried has not worked but this has

[Pajarita]

I don't think he/she is stopping because of the method you are using but because he is slowly beginning to trust you more. Because allowing them to bite you and not showing any reaction has never worked before regardless of what people say on the internet - why would it? There is no rational basis to it and, if anything, it's just telling the bird that biting is OK because there is no consequence whatsoever to the action.

[lee ireland]

but if a bird is biting you because it doesnt want you near it isnt going away just showing it if it bites you will leave it alone?

i think with a hand raised bird this would be effective because they are dependent on our company when a parent raised is not.

as iv seen on here and loads of other places the only way to punish the bird so to speak is to leave it alone because locking it away, shouting ect is only going to make the bird distrust you more, so really the only way to punish the bird for biting is to walk away and try again later. with a hand raised bird the treat will be to leave it alone because of the fear that comes with our presence.

whether that technique has worked or not i must say since using it the bird has became friendly towards me, i know never get bitten during sessions and on its own accord the bird has now started stepping onto me without me even needing to ask it.

As for the technique never working for anyone i have to say iv seen the effects of this on youtube, a video made by someone who knows nothing about birds and had demonstrated that by pulling your hand away made the birds more aggressive and then by keeping your hand with the bite had stopped it after.

if you had to show the bird it did wrong what would you do? so lets say your new untamed bird bites to show that bird thats not on what would you do?

[Wolf]

I am going to start out by saying that I have no idea of what you said in your last sentence, could you clarify it for me?
The second thing that I would like to say is that I do not ever attempt to punish a bird. Why would this concept even exist in your mind in relation to a bird, especially since you are dealing with a species that only bites as a last resort when it is afraid, or to defend itself? The age of this bird is such that defending its nest, offspring and mate don't apply neither does hormonal biting.
Now that I have said this I am ready to address the remainder of your post. You have not had your bird for any length of time as the bird is just now becoming comfortable enough to begin to act normally in its new environment. You see when you got this bird you changed its world and regardless of whether it was in a good or bad place it lost everything that it knew and was familiar with. This would be a major shock for a human but much more so if you are a baby bird who is flock dependent for feeling safe and yet you are taken alone to a totally new place. This to the bird is like a death sentence as that is what would occur in it natural environment. With a captive bred and hatched bird being hand raised or parent raised until weaning makes no difference as to how dependent the bird is upon you, it does make a difference in how easy it is for the bird to learn to trust you. Although it should also mean that the parent raised bird is more emotionally stable and that it is healthier, there is no way to verify this with the current standards of husbandry in effect. The reason that your bird was biting was not because it didn't want to be near you, it was because the bird did not yet trust you enough to override its fear of you. It is a baby bird despite its near adult size and as such it is dependent on you even though it is scared and it has an instinctual drive to bond to you as its parent so it actually does want to be with you, it is just afraid of you because you are new and unknown to it.
Now as to whether what you did to resolve the issue of the birds biting actually worked or not is another thing. The bird pretty much quit biting you which was you goal and in that regard it appears to have worked, but the question remains as to why the bird quit biting, and is this going to come back on you in the future. You are dealing with an intelligent creature and this leads us to ask what did you teach the bird by your course of action? Did your action in any way show the bird that you could be trusted and to not be afraid of you or did you teach the bird that no matter how strenuously that it objected to what you were doing that you were not going to listen to it and just do whatever you wanted to do to it? From this point only time and what you do from this point is going to provide any kind of answer to this question. I can only hope that your chosen course of action did less ham than good, but time will tell.