Advice Please :)

[Zoey]

Hi there I had a question for my fellow parrot lovers. I have a 2 year old Hahns Macaw. He's a wonderful little bird, always talking and playing, except when he can fly. I've let him grow in his flight feathers before because I like it when they can fly. But his attitude did a complete change, he started screaming all the time, he would bite me (hard!) for no reason then fly away. I ended up cutting his wings shortly after because he just turned into a big jerk. He has his flight feathers again and now he's doing the same thing. Constant screaming, biting and flying away when I'm trying to get him to come up up. Does anyone else experience this problem? Or do you have some advice for how I can re-train him to act properly while hes able to fly? I really would rather not cut his wings again, but I don't know if I can handle the constant screaming (and I mean constantly, if hes out with me hes screaming, if hes in his cage hes screaming. Usually when he want something he tells me by talking, not screaming). I've tried bribing him with treats, I've been remaining as calm as I possibly can when he acting up but I'm obviously doing something wrong. Thank you for reading this and for any advice you can give me on this issue.

 

[ShellyBorg]

No advice, I just want to follow this. I have heard of flight lessing screaming never making it worse.

 

[MonicaMc]

Why is he screaming? Why is he biting?


Have you gone back to clicker training/positive reinforcement training with him?

 

[weco]

Need some more information.....how long have you had the bird, what training have you done? Do you continue with training/refreshers?

Did the biting screaming begin as soon as it realized it could fly again? How long have you had your other birds...was your Hahns the last bird added to your flock? Other than its wings growing back out, what might have changed around the house?

 

[Zoey]

I have no idea why he's started screaming and biting when he can fly. I haven't changed our routine or his diet since he started flying again. He's been out of his cage for the same amount of time that we was before, he get the same amount of attention (if not a bit more). I have changed absolutely nothing. That's why I'm asking for advice, I'm stumped. I've went back to positive reinforcement training without a clicker (I can't find mine so that will be something I'll have to go pick up today). Like I said before this exact same thing happened last time I let him fly and as soon as I cut his wings and he realized he could no longer fly he almost instantly went back to being a big sucky baby that talked when he wanted something and actually played with me. It's just the strangest thing to me, my other birds fly and I did not have this experience when they started flying. Their attitude never changed like this. So, I'm very confused

 

[Zoey]

Need some more information.....how long have you had the bird, what training have you done? Do you continue with training/refreshers?

Did the biting screaming begin as soon as it realized it could fly again? How long have you had your other birds...was your Hahns the last bird added to your flock? Other than its wings growing back out, what might have changed around the house?

I've had Odin for 2 year, I've done clicker/positive reinforcement training with him since the day I brought him home. I honestly have been slacking on keeping up with training, we've been doing it more again ever since the attitude change happened. The screaming started happening the day after the first time he flew and the biting came right after that. He'd fly off, I'd try to get him to come back, he wouldn't, I'd go get him to come up up, then he'd bite me hard then fly off again. I've had my Lovebird Scooter for around 3 years and Mickey the Orange Wing is a relatively new addition, hes been here for almost a year. Mickey was a given to my boyfriend by a friend of a friend. Mickey was the last one added to the flock. The only change I can think of around the house would be some new workout stuff like a exercise mat, dumbbells and an exercise ball. Which I usually have put away after I'm done using it.

 

[Zoey]

No advice, I just want to follow this. I have heard of flight lessing screaming never making it worse.

That's what I've hear too, that's one of the main reasons why I'm confused :S

 

[MonicaMc]

Is he target trained? Having him exercise more may be beneficial. I asked you why he's doing those bad behaviors because we aren't there and we can't see what's going on. It's hard for us to guess why he's doing those behaviors so you need to see if there's a reason behind why he's doing it. Try to figure him out. Study his new behaviors. See if there is anything that sets him off.

A clicker is not required in clicker training... it's really more about the concept of the training itself rather than the clicker.


I can't say that I've ever had that issue either since I keep flighted birds as well, and the only one who can't fly came to me with her wings clipped. She can definitely do better than when she first got here three months ago, as she has molted in her outer flights, but she still does not have enough to attain full flight.

The screaming started happening the day after the first time he flew and the biting came right after that. He'd fly off, I'd try to get him to come back, he wouldn't, I'd go get him to come up up, then he'd bite me hard then fly off again.

To me, this says that he doesn't want to step up. He has a choice and his choice is to fly away rather than be with you. He's biting because you are trying to make him do something that he doesn't want to do. His behavior changed when you clipped him because he realized he no longer had a choice. You removed it.

Definitely go back to clicker training or positive reinforcement! Pull out all his favorite treats and start working with him again!

 

[Zoey]

Is he target trained? Having him exercise more may be beneficial. I asked you why he's doing those bad behaviors because we aren't there and we can't see what's going on. It's hard for us to guess why he's doing those behaviors so you need to see if there's a reason behind why he's doing it. Try to figure him out. Study his new behaviors. See if there is anything that sets him off.

A clicker is not required in clicker training... it's really more about the concept of the training itself rather than the clicker.


I can't say that I've ever had that issue either since I keep flighted birds as well, and the only one who can't fly came to me with her wings clipped. She can definitely do better than when she first got here three months ago, as she has molted in her outer flights, but she still does not have enough to attain full flight.

The screaming started happening the day after the first time he flew and the biting came right after that. He'd fly off, I'd try to get him to come back, he wouldn't, I'd go get him to come up up, then he'd bite me hard then fly off again.

To me, this says that he doesn't want to step up. He has a choice and his choice is to fly away rather than be with you. He's biting because you are trying to make him do something that he doesn't want to do. His behavior changed when you clipped him because he realized he no longer had a choice. You removed it.

Definitely go back to clicker training or positive reinforcement! Pull out all his favorite treats and start working with him again!

Thank you so much. I'm going to start observing him more closely like you said and see if there is something that's upsetting him. I have not tried target training but I do have a book on it, so that's something else I will start. Yes, not being here makes it very hard to know what exactly is going on. You have some fantastic ideas and I'm really excited to start doing them and see if I can get him back to his adorable self.

 

[MonicaMc]

I've actually noticed less biting, not more, when I allowed my birds to fly! And if I didn't have to chase them, I didn't! Instead, I'd offer them food by hand and this made it a positive experience with them! I think that's one of the issues with having flighted parrots... people think they must chase the birds down to interact with the birds rather than trying to make it a positive experience that the bird will enjoy.

If the bird is freaked out/afraid when out of the cage and *wont* come near a person, then the training can start from *inside* the cage! A few weeks of training inside the cage vs clipping them, a clip that could easily last several months?


You may find some good info in the following article. Although your hahns may not be fearful, the advice is still sound! And it helps to try and look at things from the birds point of view... which is exactly what that article is trying to do! Give you another insight into a behavior you may not have thought about before!

Working with Fearful Parrots: A Study in Videos | Learning Parrots



A lot of people say that it's difficult training a flighted parrot, but if you really learn to read their body language and learn to work with them in a certain manner, it's rather quite simple! It does force you to slow down and think things through... and tries to force you to think of where you went wrong when a problem behavior occurred, and tried to help you in figuring out ways to fix that issue.



As one person described it, gaining a birds trust is like a bank deposit box! Do things the bird enjoys, it's a deposit. Do things the bird dislikes and it's a withdrawal. A fun twist on how to think of how our behavior affects them!

Does your parrot have a trust account?