by Pajarita » Sun Dec 24, 2017 11:31 am
Welcome to the forum and don't worry, help is on the way! Michael did not mean anything by what he posted. To him, it's not just a matter of 'making money' and if you read his comments and his books, you'll see that this is the case. But let me explain to you what I think it's happening.
GCCs mature sexually at around the age of yours and that is a BIG factor in the aggression. Let me explain a bit about birds physiology in general and GCCs in particular. ALL birds are photoperiodic - this is just a long word that means that light regulates their endocrine system [glands and hormones]. The length of the daylight hours the bird is exposed to is what tells its body if its time to sleep, eat, play [these are the natural biorhythms within the 'circadian cycle' -circadian meaning 'around one entire day'], molt and breed (these being the natural biorhythms within their 'circannual cycle' -meaning around one entire year] - photo meaning light and periodic meaning season. Keeping a bird to the same light schedule all year round doesn't work for them because what you are artificially doing is telling its body that it's breeding season all year round - something that is NEVER supposed to happen because it makes their sexual organs too big and they hurt. Now, light is not the only thing that can make them hormonal. Feeding too much protein does it too. And GCCs are particularly susceptible to this because, in the wild, they are mainly fruit eaters so, when you free-feed them high protein food [as in filling up their bowl with seeds or pellets and leaving it there all day long], their bodies react to the too rich diet [which, by the way, it also destroys their livers and kidneys after a while] by producing sexual hormones because what guides Nature in determining what season is best for each species to breed is food availability - that's why you have birds that are 'long-day breeders' and 'short-day breeders'.
Now, as to the 'methods' that were recommended to you by 'trainers': the earthquake, the blowing in the face, the pushing against the beak, etc.... well, let me put it to you this way: these people might call themselves 'trainers' but they are definitely NOT bee quickly behaviorists! The ONLY thing to works to break a parrot out of the habit of biting is make it so the bird does not have a reason for it! I know it sounds stupid to say this but it's not - not really. Parrots are not naturally aggressive so if the bird is physically comfortable in every way -not overly hormonal, good fresh food diet, lots of out of cage time and, in the case of GCCs LOTS of one-on-one [and that does NOT mean training!], fully flighted, entertainment, good housing, etc. the parrot will not bite unless he feels threatened or pushed in any way.
I currently have one GCC but had four in total [the other three were rehomed after rehabilitation and they are still doing great]. All of them were given up because of 'behavioral issues'. All of them ended up doing great and the one I have right now, a female named Codee, is the sweetest, sweetest thing ever and she was also given up because of screams and bites. When I open her cage and she comes out, she quickly runs up my arm to perch on my shoulder and give me a kiss [she presses her beak against my cheek and goes 'SMACLon my cheek - and she keeps on kissing all the time she is with me. If I say "I love you!" to her, she kisses me, if I kiss her body, she kisses me, if I scratch her head, she kisses me, if I talk to her directly, she kisses me - the little bird is a kissing fool and she melts my heart every single time she does it!
Now, we have just gone through the winter solstice and the days are going to be getting longer and longer so putting your bird on a strict solar schedule with full exposure to dawn and dusk is not going to show any improvement in her behavior any time soon but it's something that you need to do if you want the biting to stop and a healthy and happy bird. I also strongly suggest you check the diet she is getting -mine gets gloop and produce [a large piece of fruit, much larger that you would think the bird needs] for breakfast and all day picking and a measuring tablespoon of a budgie seed mix for dinner with a small piece of nut [half an almond, a quarter walnut, like that]. This added to a multivitamin/mineral supplement twice a week and a cuttlebone in her cage does the trick.
In the meantime, I suggest you stop aggravating the bird by doing what you were told to do to make it stop biting and limit your physical interactions to after breakfast and before dinner [this time of the year, dinner should happen at 3:15 to 3:30 pm depending on how bright the day is -lights should be off at 3 pm and the cage should be covered no later than 5 pm] and watching its body language like a hawk so as to avoid getting bit as much as possible.
Let me know if there is anything I need to clarify.