B&G Max's biting

[PrimorandMoxi]

Man, oh man I am in deep.
My Blue and Gold, Max bites hard, and he draws blood, and he enjoys it.

I feel like a complete loser and an utter failure.

it makes me sad and angry that he doesn't realize how much I love him and how my stupid life revolves around him being well taken care of.
He is spoiled.

This morning he almost chomped thru my knuckle on my index finger and at times like these I contemplate the most terrible things.

i have tried everything.
every method.
ignoring/scolding.

he has so many bad habits and we are only reinforcing them.
screaming in the morning (or whenever he wants something) and we jump.
obsessed with fabric and towels (I know how dangerous this is)
allowing him to overly bond with my flat mate (who pets him under the wings)

Max was raised by a family for twenty years.
when the son moved out they essentially neglected him.
They must have saw us fools from a mile away because
Who is gonna give away a well behaved, well brought up B&G??

Now we've been stuck for about six years with this effin monster that they created.

I tell my fat mate that it will take two of us to train this bird but it falls on deaf ears. God forbid the ignoramus ever read a book or joined a parrot forum.
but then again what good did it do me and my bleeding, throbbing knuckle?

i am losing my patience along with any sanity if I ever had any in the first place.

He is such a beautiful creature, but charm will only get you so far in my book.

 

[Gemster]

Does your macaw bite when he is in his cage? He could be cage territorial. Whether or not he is cage territorial, learning to read his body language is so important. This way you can avoid being bit.
Target training will definitely help, all the bird does is touch the end of a stick and you reward. This may seem like a useless trick but it is the most important trick you can train.
You could target him out of the cage, Target him to step up, target him to a perch or target him off your shoulder.
Aggression can be cause by forcing your bird to step up because nobody or nobirdy wants to be forced to do anything.
You can teach this using your bird’s curiosity. Put the stick (you can use a chopstick or something unharmful) in front of your bird and out of curiosity they should touch it. You can train this in the cage or outside whatever is better for you. Then when the bird understands the concept you can have them move their head towards the stick, then walk..
Make sure that the bird is touching not biting or chomping down on the stick.

 

[PrimorandMoxi]

Thanks so much Gemster for reading my whiney rant and replying.

unfortunately unlike my Amazon who gives you a clear signal that he is going to bite
(which is rare because he is a sweetie-pie)

Max uses deceptive body language as a tactic.

He will actually entice you to come pet him by putting his head down, using his talons to scratch his head and begins to make doe eyes at you. So you foolishly begin to give him scritches and BAM he bites and then he laughs! I swear he giggles and chuckles cause he fooled you and its a big game to him.

more often than not that is when my birdie-partner will run over with a ton of positive reinforcement, "ooohoo Max, MAX you bit Robert, Max! Maxie, don't bite Robert, awwww Maxxx, Robert wont like you anymore Maaaxxx, awwwha-ohhhhwa max." all the while petting him.
Then to seal the deal he tosses Max a cashew.

 

[Gemster]

We had a B&G in the past. I had read that they can pretend to want a head scratch but then bite, that never happened to me but I think that happens when you reinforce a bite.
In the future try your best not to reinforce a bite in any way. Shouting or blowing in the face and saying no is a great reinforcer.
Scolding does not reinforce but your bird’s trust with you will go back a long way.
When your macaw bites try to remember if there was any subtle body language changes or what was the situation. Was he protecting his food or cage? Did he feel threatened? Does he love the shouting? Try to figure out why your macaw bites that way it will be a lot easier to stop this aggression.
I would try target training and trick training to create your own language and communication between you and your macaw.

 

[Birdman666]

Thanks so much Gemster for reading my whiney rant and replying.

unfortunately unlike my Amazon who gives you a clear signal that he is going to bite
(which is rare because he is a sweetie-pie)

Max uses deceptive body language as a tactic.

He will actually entice you to come pet him by putting his head down, using his talons to scratch his head and begins to make doe eyes at you. So you foolishly begin to give him scritches and BAM he bites and then he laughs! I swear he giggles and chuckles cause he fooled you and its a big game to him.

more often than not that is when my birdie-partner will run over with a ton of positive reinforcement, "ooohoo Max, MAX you bit Robert, Max! Maxie, don't bite Robert, awwww Maxxx, Robert wont like you anymore Maaaxxx, awwwha-ohhhhwa max." all the while petting him.
Then to seal the deal he tosses Max a cashew.

I call that the Macaw "Gotcha" game... not at all uncommon.

To win at this game, all you need to do is put two fingers on the beak when he lowers his head, and prevent him from raising up again.... while using the other hand to give him scritchies all over. Once he is into it, you can let go of the beak...

My Rosie was a MASTER of the gotcha game...