Behavioural issues starting young

[nibbler]

Iv raised other breeds of birds when i was a child/teen however this is the first time iv raised a bird with within a family (i have a 3 yr old daughter with autism who is unable to walk, talk yet) and a partner.

My bird (unsure of gender yet) has taken a strong bond to me, despite us not wanting a one person bird, i guess i just had more "interest" than my partner and spent more time with "Nibbler".

Nibbler has previously showed signs of aggression towards my 3yr old daughter, she does little things like wiggles her toes, fidgets, rocks, and we assumed it was these movements that caught the infant birds interest and why he had such an interest in approaching her, and assumed he would bite due to not being familiar with her quick movements. We know she has never approached Nib as she is scared of Nib. Once Nib stood on her leg and bit her, ever since then she tries to keep a large distance from Nib.

Now that Nibbler has learnt to fly, he/she targets my daughter and flies over to her, simply just to attack her...and its anywhere he gets a chance, even if shes not moving or is sleeping Nib goes for her, toes, legs, hair, elbow, bottom.... its more-so when shes next or near me that Nibbler does it, but iv witnessed it from another room. Nibbler will even stop eating or whatever he is playing with simply just to walk up to her and try find somewhere to bite her. Iv never experienced this behaviour as when i raised birds i didnt have a child, and i was also the only person involved with the handrearing, so this behaviour is unusual to me. I actually pushed him in the beak the other day - i know NEVER to hit a bird, but a gentle push was the only option i had left. I put a big "wall/block" sign up to his face and said no, but he was adamant at attacking anything even my stop sign simply just to bite my child, so i pushed him away with a full open hand towards his beak. It stopped him during his determined attack however im not sure if this was the appropriate way of teaching the bird that this was wrong?
I want to show Nib that i am infact protecting the person Nib for some reason wishes to attack.

Also is this behavior Nib is displaying jealousy? my partner says its dominance, as Nibbler will flap his/her wings and puff his/her chest out at her first...but reading through the forum apparently parrots dont dominate? yet they feel the need to favour and eliminate those around their loved ones? which i assumed was dominating?

 

[MonicaMc]

If anything, it might be that Nibbler is curious about your child or perhaps feels as if your child is a threat that he can "get rid of". Sometimes we really can't understand why birds do the things that they do.


In Nibblers case, it may be a good idea to teach him to station and ignore your child. It would be your best bet of them "getting along". It would be best to teach Nibbler to station first, without being able to view your daughter, then slowly introduce her to the training by having her close but in another room, then the opposite side of the room he's in, and eventually closer to where he's at - still reinforcing his stationing behavior.


https://larajoseph.wordpress.com/2011/03/12/training-a-bird-to-station-its-importance/

 

[SilverSage]

Agreed. It could be curiosity or jealousy. Dominance is highly unlikely. To dominate is basically to be the boss of. He doesnt necessarily want to be the boss of your daughter, but he likely either likes the noise she makes when he bites her, or feels she gets too much of your attention. The fact that she is so young and as of yet immobile makes her a complicated issue.

I like the idea of station training. Any time you can teach your bird TO DO something (like staying where he is supposed it) instead of trying to teach them NOT TO DO something (like go bite the baby) I find that it is better because it is easier to REWARD.

If he were attacking your partner, it would be easier to handle.

I also suggest a time out cage. I do not like to see the main cage used for this, because I dont want the bird to start hating his cage. But I have used a time out cage for behaviors in the past and it can be effective. Since the baby can't remove herself from the bird, the point of this is to teach the bird that if he bites the baby, he loses contact with his flock, which he will hate. So put the time out cage in a different room, and get a LOUD timer. When he goes to bite the baby (I would say, when he gets to her and before he bites her) sayb "No bite" or something like that, and take him immediately to his time out cage. Set the timer for one minute and put it where you can hear it. I always like to see people use a timer if they are going to use this method, because you dont want to forget him and be cruel, and it helps you measure, because you want to use the shortest amount of time that makes an impact on him. You start with one minute and work your way up slowly. When the timer rings, go get him, and put him somewhere else and give him something else to do besides bite the baby. He needs to have lots of interesting things to do that are NOT bite the baby. This is a version of the method I would usually use for screaming, but since the person being attacked is a victim who can't participate in the training, I think it can be used here. You aren't trying to punish in anger. You want the bird to learn (through station training, etc) that doing acceptable things leads to reward, and biting the baby leads to not getting to hang out with the flock. In the wild if he was a bully the other birds would leave him alone and he would hate this, and learn to be nice. You are just modifying the delivery of that concept "If I am a jerk I am alone" to fit the needs of your family.

And you are correct, never hit a bird, but you also have to protect your child. It sounds to me like you did your best, an Alex beak is nearly the size of a macaw beak.

 

[nibbler]

Thank you for the responses. I havent actually heard of station training, as iv always wanted the bird to be with me everywhere i go, but i guess it would come in handy for situations such as this one or when im doing something alone like colouring my hair, as ofcourse i dont want nibbler near the chemicals.

I think its a mutual fear type thing, as my niece came over- she is the same age as my daughter but doesnt have a disability, and he was excellent with her, he was extra gentle when he took food she offered, Nibbler seemed very accepting of a "little human".

Plus my daughter is petrified of him, if he lands on her head when we are in another room she screams, and he panics. I think i need to clip those talons, as with her sensory issues im sure the extra sharp claws wouldnt help her feel a comfort with nibbler around.
And his response to her loud screams would be a bit of a fright/shock, as iv noticed if she is near me, he is very on edge and will also give his warning nip to me. so yeah i hope that its a threat relation more than jelousy, as i think the threat would be easier to deal with rather than attention/jelousy issue., would be nice to think nibbler is attempting to protect me from "the threat" hahaha. Thanks for the responses, ill look into station standing for sure

Having a bird again has brought so much happiness into our lives. For a while when i posted the original post nibblers behaviour had me puzzled, he went from being a cuddly little submissive bird to suddenly an alert, aggressive fearful bird with bites which cause bleeding (towards other people more-so than myself) but in these last few days its almost as if he has learnt to now control his bite pressue towards all of us, and like all my previous birds, he gives a small vocal warning before he does his warning nip, but even still vocalising he doesnt want to do something, he still does it anyway without issue. We found that when he was going to bite up (and all we wanted to do was give him a stroke on the head) holding our hands flat over his head area and lightly against his beak seemed to be more than enough, he would crouch down, and suddenly snap out of his "anger trance" and let us pat him. Hes a good bird. I forgot how much they love showers to, i swear he can hear it from the other side of the house and flies in on his own, sits on my arm and closes his eyes. As you can tell im really happy with the way hes "natured"

 

[nibbler]

Oh, regarding the naughty cage, i had STUPIDLY left it until last week before ever putting him in a cage, very stupid of me i know, but its because im always home and spend lots of time with him, or allowing his to explore and stretch his wings...It looked the same as putting a wild bird in a cage, i felt terrible, he was going crazy, got his wings stuck in the bars twice - we put his favourite sunflower seeds in there with him, but he didnt want a bar of them. I think he already sees his home cage as a punishment place (but we only want him in there when we need the front door open or arnt home) Also i still have his nest box set up next to my bed, so around 5:30am he flies from his perch into the bedroom and starts pruning my hair, as much as i love it, i want to sleep, and with his nest box (which is a DIY sotrage cube with a heated cat Cave bed lined with waterproof liner and paper towels) i can close the door, and he doesnt mind, but i have also put him in there when i was angry at him for running towards my daughter and biting her, so i hope i haven't confused him to much, and its more of my voice which tells him right from wrong rather than my actions. When i see hes about to chew something he shouldnt, i call his name and say "No" and surprisingly he goes and finds something else to do lol. Orr a deep "AARRRGGHH" "NO" stops him in his tracks. i know its not what your suppose to do as some birds enjoy that noise, but it seems to work well for nibbler