Little bird rescues

[Pajarita]

AHA! See? It does work for people same as it does for other birds. When I have a doubt or a dilemma on how to deal with any particular behavioral issue, I always go to their behaviors in the wild because, as these are NOT domesticated species, their instinctual response to stimuli is the same for our pets as it is for the wild birds and, in the wild, a strong bird would never allow another bird to attack them without retaliation. This reaction to strength is what makes people confuse dominance (which parrots do not have) with simple smarts for survival (which all animals have but, parrots, been smarter than most other animals, have perfected).

[Bird woman]

Okay miss smarty pants , what word would you use when all the birds in the flock except each other as flock mates but will always move out of the way when the head honcho shows up or give up there spot , food etc. with out a fight. Buttttt play kissey face , beak tapping and preening with each other when the queen bee wants too. Is that where the old saying {PECKING ORDER} came from BW And yes your scary monster approach is still working , I'll give you that one. We will see how long of a memory Nigel has ( so far so good.)

[Pajarita]

The 'Head Honcho' is the strongest or the most assertive bird but not necessarily the leader or alpha which is what hierarchy-based social groups have. When you talk about 'dominance', it implies a hierarchical role with alphas, betas, deltas, etc. It's a social structure that repeats itself generation after generation and in grouping after grouping of the same species (like horses, wolves, elephants, etc). It's a survival mechanism that allows the individuals in the group to achieve the most efficiency in their daily activities because having an established order eliminates constant fighting which consumes time and energy that needs to be used for survival. The Alpha is more than just the strongest animal in the group (although strength is the way to acquire, maintain and assert the role), it's the leader and/or the protector and/or the one that breeds, etc. The 'pecking order' expression comes from a German scientist who studied chicken social groupings in the early 1900's and determined that, within the group, the hens established their 'place' by pecking each other. The rooster is the alpha and protector of the harem of hens he keeps where he is the only male that procreates. But, within the harem, there are hens that have more 'stature' than others and which have better access to resources (nests, food, water, etc) - thus, the 'order'. The adult strong hens are the ones that have the higher status, with the older, younger, weaker ones having the lower echelons. But this order changes as the animals grow up, get older, etc.

[Bird woman]

Should have known you'd have that ALL studied up. There seems to be a lot discussed on the web about this very subject , even a lot of scientific study's. Well all I know is I haven't been bit for 2 days now and Nigel is not chasing me around , just calmly walking beside me with out trying to sneak bite me from behind. The worse he's done is chased Lilly and I made the scary monster body and went after him and he hasn't done it since. Also you will be happy to know I have also applied this approach to Huey monster and we are making progress with his lunging at me. He now backs off and crouches down and bites his fingernail instead of trying to eat me through the bars. God life is good !!! Maybe my arms and face will have time to heal BW

[Wolf]

I had read that with some of the cockatoos and macaws that sometimes one has to use intimidation type of tactics to " put them in their place" to keep them from biting and getting too aggressive with their humans, but was unsure that it would be a good idea. I guess that this proves it out.

[Bird woman]

This is something that i have read about and struggled with for years and has caused a lot of problems as my husband has no patients with the fids. I'm very loving and patient with the birds and have a very high tolerance for pain. (He doesn't) so once he gets bitten he's done with them and runs from them or puts a clothes basket over them so they can't get him. It makes me angry but on the flip side the birds know how to menuver the baskets like bumper cars and have great fun with each other . They also have learned that if they go real fast and hit the edge of the throw rug the basket flips off. THEN HES IN FOR IT! I'm only making a stand with Nigel and Huey and becoming large and in charge and in just a few days things are changing drastically. Huey Instead of lunging at me when I walk by , he backs off and chews on his nail . I keep him and Mathew separated to opposite sides of the room now because he was teaching Mathew to be mean. Nigel had apparently just needed to be put in his place. He chased Lilly a few times yesterday but I got in between and backed him off , pretty aggressively as it was crazy in the house anyway and they were all acting out so I didn't put him in time out. Come dinner time everything was all good and calm. Time to get the brats up and get breakfast strted

[Pajarita]

I think the 'big, mean bird' maneuver works with any species of parrot, actually. Of course, one doesn't really need to use it at all with the aviary species because they never attack, they just bite when people don't know how to deal with them. The companion species are different because most of them are not only bigger but all of them are also more imprinted to people (while aviary species, regardless of what people say about their own pets, don't really bond that deeply with humans) so they react to us the same way they would react to another bird. And, if you look at the interactions of parrots in the wild, you see that there is hardly ever any real conflict between individuals (only during breeding season) because the weaker bird simply stays out of the way of the stronger one.

Personally, I think that the idea of not reacting to a bite is ludicrous and completely self-defeating because there is no way that the bird will recognize the wrong if we don't make it clear to them. No animal would not react to pain - they either retaliate or run/fly away and the ones that don't get picked on all the time are NOT the ones that 'take' it and run away.

[Bird woman]

Well I think you've got it right especially with the too's. Nigel is a little more rambunctious today and tried twice the sneak bite behind me thing this morning , but both were very gentle as to just get my attention or to let me know he was behind me. Nevertheless I always know when he's behind me and he's learning about my third eye in the back of my head thing ( no pun intended Brandon):lol: No more going to kill you actions, day 4 yea !!!! LSC'S seem to be much more high strung of the cockatoo species , not much to compare too because loomy my little girl LSC came to me perfectly scocialized , well adjusted and great eating habits but she's a very busy girl all the time. Her home is where Rickey came from after they rescued Rickey and couldn't deal with her. They had got loomy as a baby , raised her very well then opened there home to a rescue which obviously was a nightmare for them. They came and visited a few times and were so impressed with Rickeys progress they just short of begged me to take loomy when there situation changed. These species of too's don't seem to be as needy as the larger ones and much more independent. Wish Nigel would take a page out of loomys play book. Alyha although pretty rambunctious is a little needy cuddle bug , she's the new goffin with half a head ( what people do ). BW

[liz]

Sweetie the Cockatiel was the leader of the flock. She did not enforce control of the flock but had control because she was a natural leader. She was always the first to try something new. If she did something twice the others would follow.

[Wolf]

I have thought about the use of intimidation as a means of putting the more aggressive parrots in their place for quite some time and know how well it can work with other species of animals other than birds, but am always reluctant to mention its use as some people would come to rely on that rather than trying to understand and work with the bird or other animal, but there is a time and place for its use, just not as often as I think that most people would use it.

I also do not believe in the grin and bear it type reaction when my birds bite and make sure that they are aware that their bites are not appreciated nor desired. But I also don't get carried away with it either, just enough to make them realize that they don't need to bite me and most of the time my birds will either not bite or if they start I can now be relatively calm and just tell them " Don't bite me" and they quit right away.