Calming Remedies for Territorial Birds?

[Kirsten]

Skittles ( ) is still getting very territorial whenever someone he doesn't recognize comes near him. Yesterday though, was pretty extreme. He was already agitated for whatever reason and then my cousin and her boyfriend came over. Then he went nuts.

What he usually does is start puffing up and leaning towards whoever he wants to bite with him beak open and hisses. Then, if you don't let him go over and he happens to be near a body part he bites unusually hard. Last night, he bit my face.

I've socialized him and usually after he's had a week or so to observe someone from afar, he usually is fine with them picking him up and petting him. In the meantime though, it's very difficult to play with him or even have him out if there are visitors. When he bites, he either is put back on his perch (which he never wants to go to) or is put up in his cage for alone time.

So right now I'm also reconsidering some remedies I've heard are good for avian stress. One I've heard is good that's usually used for plucking is Avicalm by Avitech (which costs around $30 with shipping for a 4oz tub) and the other is a diluted chamomile tea. Since chamomile is cheaper, I was thinking trying that on him first.

Does anyone know of any recipes or remedies I haven't mentioned and how to prepare them?

[Michael]

Recipes or Remedies? How about just giving the bird things to look forward to around strangers? This is where training comes in. The simplest form of this is to withhold food (and especially treats) for a reasonable amount of time before strangers arrive (3-6 hours is safe, more if you read all the training articles and understand what you're doing). Then let the strangers give treats to the parrot. If the parrot is so aggressive that it's dangerous for strangers to give it food, you can do it but only in their presence. Let the parrot know that special treats arrive with strangers. Eventually work this into strangers being able to hold, pet, and cue tricks from your parrot for these treats.

Of course on the flipside it is important to prevent any bad experiences with strangers so warn them up front about what not to do.

[Kirsten]

Oh yes, we definitely warn people first. We gave him peanut butter this last time as a distraction but I haven't tried having the guests give it to him.

This last time wasn't ideal anyway. It was past his bedtime and he was probably already cranky from being sleepy. Thanks though, I'll try that.