13 weeks old African grey biting training

[haydengoy]

Hi,

I have purchased a a/g and he loves being with me flying to me and has started to love me scratching his head. I try and stop him climbing on my shoulder as I've read this is a no no. He somethings starts to make that young bird noise and then looks for a part of my hand to bite. Also sometimes looks to grab with his foot and then tries to bite. Don't get me wrong 85% of the time the bird is ok it's just the other times. A/g has just tried again so I've told him no and put him away. Oh and he does this with girlfriend as well so it's not a sex thing.

Any tips?? So I go to have feeding? Or any other ideas??

 

[Von1983]

Welcome to the forum

Younger birds instinctively use their beaks to feel things out before they actually step onto them. The action can sometimes look like lunging and therefore your brain automatically prepares for OUCH lol. It's not the case though, just holding....occasional nippiness.

 

[Spiritbird]

CAGS and TAGS are wonderful, loving and intelligent birds. Their guardians must understand their many, complex needs in order to have a bonded relatinship. Please use this web site and read many of their educatinal articles. The greys nutritional and social needs are two of the more important ones to understand.
You did not say what you have named your bird or where you got him or her.

I got my Rosie at 13 weeks old also and she was still clumbsy and not flying very well. Boy are those days gone. There is also a wonderful book titled For the Love of Greys you should be reading. Have fun!!
Welcome to Africangreys.com

 

[haydengoy]

CAGS and TAGS are wonderful, loving and intelligent birds. Their guardians must understand their many, complex needs in order to have a bonded relatinship. Please use this web site and read many of their educatinal articles. The greys nutritional and social needs are two of the more important ones to understand.
You did not say what you have named your bird or where you got him or her.

I got my Rosie at 13 weeks old also and she was still clumbsy and not flying very well. Boy are those days gone. There is also a wonderful book titled For the Love of Greys you should be reading. Have fun!!
Welcome to Africangreys.com

We think he's a boy and his name is charlie, we didnt want the bird DNA tested as we treat all of our animals the same, before I had a jardine and he was a male he was more to me that the girlfriend. Charlie lives in a nice cage inside but i'm purchasing a new one on friday. I can Submit a video to anybody that wants to view the footage. But he loves being with me but just has this moment of madness where he decides to grab some part of me a bite I tell him no and black look him so get him to stop before I remove his beak of my hand.

 

[haydengoy]

Welcome to the forum

Younger birds instinctively use their beaks to feel things out before they actually step onto them. The action can sometimes look like lunging and therefore your brain automatically prepares for OUCH lol. It's not the case though, just holding....occasional nippiness.

I know and have read that this is what they do but I know the diffrence in this i've had birds most of my life and had a jardine for 4 years. I did alot of homework on the internet before I purchased him. I can assure you that if I dont remove his beak from a part of my hand or arm he's got hold of it gets harder and harder to the piont it could start bleeding. Its is as if i'm a toy and he's biting down hard on it.

 

[Pheonix Rising]

My only comment here is to not put him
back in his cage when he bites but make him do what you asked of him

When you put him back into his cage he learns that biting gets this reaction
if this is what he wants then you are rewarding him for biting hense enforcing in his mind that this is what he should do if he wants back In his cage

Instead make him step up or such and easier said than done I know but ignore any bites make him step up even if you return him to his perch again straight away it reinforces that he must do this and that biting will not get him any results

 

[DIR Diver]

I Find that ignoring biting is not really gonna hurt or help. What i found works to get a bird to stop biting for whatever reason the bird is doing it. Is to train the bird that when he/she steps up the will get a reward. However you must give the bird a choice. If the bird doesnt want to step up and shows you this by getting in that position where the head drops low guarding its feet, or lunging with its beak then dont scold the bird just let it be. However when the bird does step up for you reward the hell out it!

This way the bird will learn to trust you and eventually will willingly step up 9 out of 10 times but, also will still know that it has some control in its environment and doesnt have to do what you ask of it if the bird doesnt want to.

So i practiced this with my grey by using a clicker and his favorite treats (fresh jalepenos) I know that he ios grumpy in the morning and doesnt like to step up out of his cage when he first gets up. So i made sure that i wouldnt train at that time. So when i get home from work and he has been caged all day thats when he is more eager to come out. So I wopuld come to the cage open it it up, and ask him to step up, when he did i clciked at the moment he hgot his second foot on my arm and gave him a nice chuck of jalepeno! Then i would put him back in the cage and repeat that process for 5-10 min.
When he didnt willingly step up i would just calmly close the cage and walk away while making sure he saw me give attention to either my wife or one of the dogs. Then after a minute or so of ignoring him...id go back open the cage and ask him to step up again etc etc etc...
Now he will willingly step up for me whether he is on my shoulder, forearm, on top of his cage where he is higher up than the top of my head etc.

The key is to reward the **** out of wanted behaviors and show no response what so ever to the unwanted ones. That way he will have to learn to get what he wants by doing good behaviors since he learned that those unwanted behaviors get him no where.

 

[HRH Di]

The key is to reward the **** out of wanted behaviors and show no response what so ever to the unwanted ones. That way he will have to learn to get what he wants by doing good behaviors since he learned that those unwanted behaviors get him no where.

Positive reinforcement is the best way to teach anyone - bird, dog, child, etc.