Advice Needed for Biting Lovebirds

[Nightguest]

Hi there folks!

*Sorry for the wall of text, but I think that being detailed is needed for this question*
I know that this topic has been brought up countless times - and that it's pretty much perfectly normal for Lovebirds to bite, but I've got a rather strange unique situation that doesn't really match what I've read here so please do forgive this 'yet another biting advice thread'.

So first, a bit of background as I'm sure environmental situations are important in these cases.

I live with my girlfriend and we have 2 Lovebirds - one Fischers Lovebird (Apple) and one Blue Masked Lovebird (Blueberry).

We got Apple from a pet store (looking back, that probably wasn't the best place to get a Lovie, but we were inexperienced back then) and Blueberry about a year later was from a guy who had 'show birds' but she had a beak deformation and was picked on by the other Lovebirds, so he was looking to rehouse her, when we heard that we felt that we had to take her.

Apple did have his wings clipped when we got him, but about 2 years after his wings grew back and he's a happy flying birb! Blueberry never had her wings clipped, and though we know that it can be done 'ok' we decided not to do it. So these 2 fly around our house all the time and have their own 'favorite places' in the house. Basically, we put them to sleep at 9pm, and they get up with us at around 8:30-9am, and we then let them out by 10am, and they alternate between in and out of their cage as they please (we don't mind, and they sometimes like to snooze inside, other times they snooze outside).

Now to the problem. They both HATE fingers. I can kill both with my lips, I can scritch them with my nose, rub my cheek on them, and so on, with no problems at all.

However, if either of us try to touch them with our fingers, or pick them up...all hell breaks loose. Apple will turn from a fluffy happy birb to a raptor on defensive mode and lunges with all his might, what's more, he bites to pierce your skin and will pretty much always draw blood (like an injection). Blueberry will bite, but in a vice/chomp mode - so she does not draw blood unless she literally rips the skin off...which unfortunately has happened. Blue also has a tendency to bite on ears, while Apple does not (we wear hoodies or headsets as 'bird protection). And that's it, they don't bite anywhere else.

In the first half year of having Apple, I could gently scritch his head, and he loved it (he would fly to my laptop while I worked and demand scritches by actively pushing his head under my fingers), but at some point that just stopped and he hated fingers ever since.

We actually had to completely re-train him to even step-up on hands first, then fingers after (he could at first, then stopped). So right now, he now will 'sit/stand' on hands, but for a long time, even if we had millet in hour hands, he would not get on a finger. Blueberry never had that problem - she would always eat from our hands/fingers/never said no to millet.

We're totally sure that the birds like us as they sleep on our shoulders/preen our hairs/chirp happily/play with us/let us feed them - and so on. Basically beyond the vicious finger biting, they're awesome and make it well known that they like us. (They made it well known that they disliked one of our friends - it was rather funny to see!)

So we don't have any issues with them coming in and out of their cage, and the birds definitely like us (me/gf) as they play with us/sleep on our shoulders, preen hair, perch on us and sing around happily etc (generally really nice bird behavior)

They're both also definitely bonded together they hate being separated and follow each other around. When Apple couldn't fly and Blueberry could, she basically gave up flying and walked/climbed everywhere with him.

Regarding genders, I refer to Apple as a he and Blue as a she, however we have not yet got that checked properly. Blueberry's original owner did tell us that it was a she, and the pet store did make us believe that Apple was a he. But lately Apple has been getting fed by Blueberry (watching her do the regurgitating dance is funny), and both do the female wing/mating dance. They also seem to 'mate' when they think we're not watching (they will stop the moment they notice one of us is watching them) but...they take turns being on top...and they both seem to do the female dance. So until we do a DNA test, we're no longer certain what gender they are - but they don't fight each other that much (nothing dangerous) and 99.9% of the times they're inseparable.

So the question based on what I've written - does anyone have any advice on what I can do to teach these 2 birds to not see our finger as a deadly predator that needs ripping apart? (Quite literally...just our fingers!)

 

[birdy.929]

I also have a lovebird who likes to bite fingers... I've worked with him for over a year now with getting him used to hands and people in general. I've noticed that feeding your birds treats from your hand or through the bars works really well. You can also hold them on a perch to get them used to having your hands close to them. My bird used to be afraid that hands were going to grab him, since workers used to that to him at the store, so making your hand seem as least intimidating as possible can also work. Lovebirds really like being stubborn, so you have to make sure to be calm and patient. If anything is ever received negatively by them, it's ok to take a step back and let them work at their own pace. They seem to be comfortable with you already, so that's a good sign.

I hope this helps!

 

[Nightguest]

We have been feeding them through the bars for a while and that seems to be ok - however the moment the food in our fingers run out (regular seed/grain/veggies/millet), then they will become territorial and bite in a very defensive way. We've been doing that for about 4-5 months. It doesn't help that Blue sometimes goes to eat seed, misses and gets the finger instead (but I laugh that off because the look on her face is so confused)



It's like they are under a food hypnosis (even if there is food in their cage at the time of us feeding) until the food runs out!

 

[birdy.929]

It's common that birds are food-motivated... but ignoring the bites can also work, because you aren't giving them a reaction to their bad behavior.

 

[Nightguest]

I'm able to ignore Blue's bites - it's Apple's bites that are hard to ignore. I'm not used to having pin like beaks deeply penetrate my skin.


I am trying however and looking back at everything I do think that Apple is getting better. I am able to 'boop' is beak with a finger - essentially I show him my finger and he gives it a beak five - though I usually have to say 'boop' (somehow taught him that as a command word). Though he will get bite-y if I try it more than 2 or 3 times.