Aggressive Timnah

[jennifer.gilson]

I have inherited my mother's African Grey. As much as I love to listen to her, I want to be able to get her out and play with her as my mother did. No my mother did not pass, she just cant house her right now. I was not around Angel (the bird) much as I lived 4 hours away. My mother moved in with us, we had a misunderstanding and she left. Now I have the bird, she is 2 years old, I have had her since Aug. 2011 all to myself, well my family, I was hoping that she would lose whatever grudge she has against me so that I can take her out and not lose any blood, fingers, toes, or eyes ( if she lands on my head). I do love her, what I did to make her dislike me I have no idea! She tries to bite me every time I take her out of the cage. Heck, she bites me when ever she has the chance. In the time I have had her, she at least she FINALLY quit lunging at me through the bars of her cage. I have tried to sweeten her up with the baby food that she adores, but still no luck. I did not know that she was in need to be near me until a couple of weeks ago, so now I am trying to drag her cage in every room I go in if it is possible. Do you think if I take away everything that reminds her of my mom that it might help her to adjust to the change? I am an animal lover and want to give her everything my dogs get! It makes me mad that I found out she is supposed to have 4 hours or more out of her cage, and I can't even open the door for her! I feel so bad that she caged and do not want to get rid of her, I do love the way she talks and when she was gone with my mom (back in July) I missed her noise! Please someone help me to give this feisty bird a good life!

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

Greys are very fickle birds.... for them patience is key.

1. Make sure she has some peaceful noise during the day... radio, tv, etc...
2. Good diet (pellets and fresh foods)
3. Lots of toys

She very well may miss your mom, so if you take the time to understand the world from her perspective and give her time to adjust, you'll be remarkably impressed as she settles in. The other very important things to keep in mind are these....

1. Don't push her, and take things at her pace. (She's already stopped lunging at you through the bars, and that's a HUGE step.

2. Don't be afraid of a bite, they aren't as bad as you may think, and if you show fear she'llmost likely take advantage.

She is a little girl that just lost her favorite person, and she needs time to grieve... just take on the attitude that it's about her feelings and you'll make good progress.


Side note: every bird I've ever tamed I started out with telling them this... "you don't have to like me, but I will provide for you anyway, you don't have to love me, but I'll give you everything. Your happiness is all that matters"

In my opinion that's the approach everyone should take with a rehomed parrot. It's not about what we want out of the relationship, but about what they need. This is the big difference between rehomes and handfed babies.... (although all parrots should be placed first).

Good luck, and above all remember this.... Greys are VERY picky about people and birds they love and it takes a lot of time for one to decide what to think of you.

 

[Spiritbird]

Is the bird getting at least 10 hrs. of quality sleep at night? No human sounds like TV or music. good to have a night light on near the cage. Have you had her to the vet yet? Every bird should visit an avian vet yearly. OK to be with her and just leave the cage door open.

 

[harry]

hi there

well i have just brought a new African grey,11 years old and very untamed,

DONT DO THIS

1,never make the parrot scared with a angry voice if she bites,
2,never try getting her to step up on any perches,
3,never reward her any treat if she bitten you,

this will work and has for many parrots ive trained!
DO THIS
OK what i did with mine was,when i opened the top of the cage he climbs to the top and sits there,after 1 hour or so when he is comfy i go over and talk to him like i would me dogs.Then after a while when he has not gone to bite me i give him a treat,then i very slowly and gently touch his beak,then reward him and say good boy,but you must keep the session short 5 mins or so.If she goes to bite you turn around and carry on with what you have to do for a little while then go back and try again,once she lets you touch her beak without going for you,then step one finished.

step 2.
OK you have now been able to touch her beak,with the training treat technique,now you may want to ask her to step up?so what you now do is make a rock steady platform on your hand and ask her to step up while giving her a treat!if she steps up DONT move if she goes to bite you,as parrots or most birds always put there beak on the perch to make sure its steady,if she bites you don't react just move her back to her cage and then carry on what you were doing like step 1,after a while go back and try again,after a few weeks your parrot will no when you touch her beak or ask her to step up she will be given a treat.BUT never think this will happen over night as mine is now on step 3 and i have been bitten a few times and even bloody draw,

Also i leave him out of the cage all day on a play-stand,he loves playing and watching TV,but if i ask him to step up and he goes to bite he goes back in his cage for 10 mins until he is settled again.

Hope this helped if there anything else you want help with just ask,

atvb and good luck keep us updated

 

[jennifer.gilson]

She gets almost 12 hours without noise, as I put her to bed at 9 pm (when the living room quiets down because the kids are going to bed). I wake her up around 9 am (as that is when the house is once again relatively calm.) I have tried the treat thing, she doesn't really care for treats. As for the bite not being bad?! She has bitten me so many times and drawn blood everytime! Mom was late one night getting back and I knew I had to put her in her inside cage. How I ever got myself to hold still so she could bite me 3 times (inside the outside cage) and once she was on my hand, it was no big deal until I went to put her in the inside cage, where she bit me 3 more times ( I held my hand up and I had blood pouring off of it! She bit me so bad the first time, when she was only with my mom that she pulled a chunk of skin from my knuckle and was playing with it in her beak.. Due to the fact that she has drawn blood everytime she has bitten me, well its safe to say, I am scared S*&^less of her beak! Now when I clean the cage I take the whole thing into the bathroom ( no dogs, nothing for her to get herself into trouble with in case she won't let me pick her up) and I can clean the cage, she will climb up and down the cage, mere inches from my side, face and it takes all I can to keep from backing away from the cage. Can anyone give me an idea of how long this will last? I want to have the relationship with her that mom did and that I have with my dogs.

 

[Spiritbird]

TAGS are not aggressive birds. Something has happened to her in the past that is causing her to react this way to people. No one can say OK this is going to take 2 months. It all depends on the bird and you. I would try to keep the entire environment calm and let her make the moves to being with you. If she is ready she will be with you and no bites.
It can take days, months or years to have her natural calm behavior return. You can seek the advice of an avian behaviorist. I include a links for you to read. They are excellent.

https://companionparrotonline.com/Member_Articles.html

http://thetrueparrot.homestead.com/behavioral.html

http://www.africangreys.com/

Here is one more link for general good info. http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/index.htm#toc
Greys are very intuitive birds and can just about read your mind. If you are nervous, angry or frustrated around her she will know it and this will slow recovery. When you are with her take three deep breaths and try to clear you mind of negative thoughts and proceed. good luck. I wish I could be with you to help. You did not say if she has been vetted or not.

 

[jennifer.gilson]

Yes mom and I took her to the vet back in June or July. I have started pulling the cage close and letting her pull my hair through the bars (cleaning them, I hope(lol)) Mom called today and said that her doing that means that she is trying to take care of me, I can not wait until I can have her out and just chilling on my shoulder. When does the sitting still take place? Does she age just like us? She is two and since I have dogs, I would like to know that if I do have her out sitting with me @ the computer or where ever that she will not try to fly down to the dogs. Or will I always have to choose who is out and who is not?

 

[Spiritbird]

Parrots are a lesson in patience. I hope you read each and every article I sent you.

 

[Steph2717]

Greys are very fickle birds.... for them patience is key.


All of your points are PERFECT!!! Thank you! I am applying them to my Jardines... and you just "reminded" me of what I should have known.

THANK you!

 

[critterman]

Well it sounds like you have had lots of very good advice from some of the members on here. Remember patience is the most important factor with a new parrot, especially a African Grey. They are one of the most intelligent birds in the parrot kingdom. Be patient with your parrot and with time it will learn to trust you. Again it is in the grieving phase because it has lost someone it loved and it is trying to readjust. So be patient and continue to give it lots of love and most important don't try to make the parrot do anything it doesn't want to, if you try to do this the parrot will only come to mistrust you and continue in it's bad behavior. Your patience and your love will finally win it over. Good luck and remember the bird has a brain of it's own and wants to do things it's way try to see things from a parrots perspective. Good luck with your relationship with your Mother, hope you are able to mend things and work things out. Remember you only have one Mother, try to work things out so you don't lose out on all the good things life has to offer you with your Mother. Mothers are usually your best friend in life. Again good luck with both your relationships, the parrot and your Mother.

 

[jennifer.gilson]

Well today I let her out of her cage (in my room) and she did what she has always done when free with mom here. She knows I am scared of her bite and tried to use it against me. I will take a small step forward! She did bite me, and for once she did not draw blood. I tried to get her to step up on my arm and she bit it, no blood! Then I had to remove her from the trash can ( I was cleaning her cage) and no bites at all. Granted she had a plastic bottle top in her mouth, but she went straight up no hesitation or anything. Then she bit me again on the wrist but did not draw blood there either.
YEAY! Small painful steps... Now how to get over the fear of the bite. One small step for me, the same step for her...LOL.

 

[Amber]

Does she like bottlecaps? It may be worthwhile keeping bottle caps and small toys she likes to chew on hand then when trying to handle her. This works two ways, if she doesn't respond to food treats very well, she may instead be willing to work for her favourite toys or things. And, if she has something in her mouth already it's much harder for her to bite you!
Have you had, or had a lot of interaction with young children? Grey parrots remind me of children more then any other species when it comes to emotional and cognitive intelligences. (Bit of psychology/multiple intelligence theory/teacher study coming your way here ) We can argue Gardner all week and his theory (worth reading and applying to parrots actually) but it's easy to observe greys have immense cognitive intelligence (Just look at the Alex studies!) paired with a high emotional intelligence. This means, not only are they extremely smart, but also very emotional birds. Like it's been said, you have the equivalent of a 2 or 3 year old who has just lost their favourite person in the world with no explanation why. It doesn't matter that your mum's just not around, to the bird she has vanished, and she doesn't know why or how. She's in grief, she's hurting, she's confused, she's missing your mum. She's emotional enough to feel all this, and she's SMART enough to think about it/go over it in her mind. Not a happy combination when it comes to emotional trauma in parrots.

And, a lot of this emotion can come out as anger and biting when you try to handle her, like a confused child throwing a tantrum. And unlike a 2 or 3 year old, you really can't explain to her what is going on. And these feelings this bird is having are not going to vanish overnight (or in a few weeks, for that matter). You need to understand how she is feeling and realise that those emotions can cause aggressive behaviour, just like in young kids. The difference is we can't really reason with a parrot to curb this! You have to use different tactics.

Understand that she is grieving. She's not a happy camper. She's also stressed about a new environment with new people (or at least people she has not had much interaction with before) with new things she may not be used to (Dogs, etc) that set off her 'prey animal, I am in danger' radar. It takes greys a lot longer to adjust to these things then other species.

I say this because if you realise WHY she is like this, you will see why it's going to take awhile for her to come around.

I'll leave the actual 'how to get her to come around' to people who have more experience with this then me though! I don't want to accidentally push you in the wrong direction.

I often joke on my placement (I'm on placement in a 0-2 learning room for my degree) with the parrot minded staff member in the room that the kids are often like a flock of greys!

 

[lexx510]

TAGS are not aggressive birds. Something has happened to her in the past that is causing her to react this way to people. No one can say OK this is going to take 2 months. It all depends on the bird and you. I would try to keep the entire environment calm and let her make the moves to being with you. If she is ready she will be with you and no bites.
It can take days, months or years to have her natural calm behavior return. You can seek the advice of an avian behaviorist. I include a links for you to read. They are excellent.

https://companionparrotonline.com/Member_Articles.html

Behavioral Concerns for Captive Exotic Birds

Welcome to Africangreys.com

Here is one more link for general good info. Winged Wisdom Pet Bird Magazine, Pet Bird Ezine - Pet Parrots E-zine & Exotic Birds Magazine
Greys are very intuitive birds and can just about read your mind. If you are nervous, angry or frustrated around her she will know it and this will slow recovery. When you are with her take three deep breaths and try to clear you mind of negative thoughts and proceed. good luck. I wish I could be with you to help. You did not say if she has been vetted or not.

Thank you!

 

[jennifer.gilson]

I thank you all, I just wanted to make sure that one thing is clear, While my mom was with us in the home, angel acted the same way she does now as she did with mom here. I messed up the first time I seen her and she bit me, I was shocked, and she took a piece of my knuckle. She liked it so much that she played with it in her mouth. I have since bought an African Grey book and have started reading it. While there is a cage between us, I can pet her(where she wants me to and when she wants me to) and she is loving, when the cage is not in between us, she is a wholy terror! I have decided that when I get the chance to try and get her out I am going to go have her wings clipped in order to hopefully make her "rely" on me more when she is out since she wont have full flight capabilities and cant "charge" me. I am so excited to try the bottle cap thing as I want so bad to have a good and loving relationship with her! Any way to grind the beak a little so that MAYBE when she does bite, it doesn't draw blood? I know I can not get rid of the pressure.

 

[Amber]

Depending on how confident you are with moving her, If you have access to an avian vet they can file the beak. Alex's (my conure) had a beak of a perfect length but the bottom mandible was very sharp and it would cut like a knife if he got even slightly rough while playing. I had the vet file it down .5mm flat. he lost next-to-no beak length but lost the sharpness! They can also wing clip if you want to avoid doing it yourself to avoid the trauma. She's probably due for a check up anyway

 

[jennifer.gilson]

Well the bottle cap thing did NOT work! She still lunged (spell check) at me when I tried to get her out of the cage, I am so sad, I want love on her and have her love on me.... oh when, when will she love me???

 

[jennifer.gilson]

Had a great day out the other day! I opened the cage, went to my desk (about 10' away), ignored her for the most part, once I got sat down and busy, she flew to the back of the chair I was on. Once on the chair she would go up on my head (not to much to my liking, but mom already conditioned her that was ok). She walked up and down my arm, I would not actually go to have her step up, but hey, at least she wasn't trying to bite me. I got to pet her back when she was on the ground, picking up the things she dropped and going after my pretty blue shoes. I would say it was another step forward!

 

[Mamanda]

Had a great day out the other day! I opened the cage, went to my desk (about 10' away), ignored her for the most part, once I got sat down and busy, she flew to the back of the chair I was on. Once on the chair she would go up on my head (not to much to my liking, but mom already conditioned her that was ok). She walked up and down my arm, I would not actually go to have her step up, but hey, at least she wasn't trying to bite me. I got to pet her back when she was on the ground, picking up the things she dropped and going after my pretty blue shoes. I would say it was another step forward!

Sounds like you're keeping at it and making good progress! Congrats!

 

[jennifer.gilson]

How do you return him to his cage if you can not get him to step up?

 

[jennifer.gilson]

hi there

well i have just brought a new African grey,11 years old and very untamed,

DONT DO THIS

1,never make the parrot scared with a angry voice if she bites,
2,never try getting her to step up on any perches,
3,never reward her any treat if she bitten you,

this will work and has for many parrots ive trained!
DO THIS
OK what i did with mine was,when i opened the top of the cage he climbs to the top and sits there,after 1 hour or so when he is comfy i go over and talk to him like i would me dogs.Then after a while when he has not gone to bite me i give him a treat,then i very slowly and gently touch his beak,then reward him and say good boy,but you must keep the session short 5 mins or so.If she goes to bite you turn around and carry on with what you have to do for a little while then go back and try again,once she lets you touch her beak without going for you,then step one finished.

step 2.
OK you have now been able to touch her beak,with the training treat technique,now you may want to ask her to step up?so what you now do is make a rock steady platform on your hand and ask her to step up while giving her a treat!if she steps up DONT move if she goes to bite you,as parrots or most birds always put there beak on the perch to make sure its steady,if she bites you don't react just move her back to her cage and then carry on what you were doing like step 1,after a while go back and try again,after a few weeks your parrot will no when you touch her beak or ask her to step up she will be given a treat.BUT never think this will happen over night as mine is now on step 3 and i have been bitten a few times and even bloody draw,

Also i leave him out of the cage all day on a play-stand,he loves playing and watching TV,but if i ask him to step up and he goes to bite he goes back in his cage for 10 mins until he is settled again.

Hope this helped if there anything else you want help with just ask,

atvb and good luck keep us updated

HEY! I finally figured out how to reply to someone individually... How may I ask if he is/was so antisocial with you did you get him back into the cage when he was naughty????