Charlie my 3 year old African gray help training plz

[dee1984]

Hi ive recently got a 3 year old African gray parrot he lets me stroke him but he bites me to and he swears hes previous owner never gave him the time and love he needs dos anybody have any good ideas or a good book I can get any help welcome

 

[BruceV]

Barbara Heidenreich is supposed to be very very good. I have her first DVD but haven't watched it yet. Here's the link:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Parrot-Behavior-Training-DVD-Introduction/dp/B002HIYM5C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385137231&sr=8-1&keywords=barbara+heidenreich]Amazon.com: Parrot Behavior and Training DVD: An Introduction to Training, vol 1 - Barbara Heidenreich: Movies & TV[/ame]

Best of luck with your training!!!

 

[dee1984]

Thanks bruce he s talking now when I leave the room its a start but we getting there he still trys to take my finger of but he just needs to ajust

 

[BruceV]

Just be patient. I just got a 16 year old macaw 2 weeks ago. There is obviously an adjustment period for them (and you). Just love the heck out of him!

 

[dee1984]

Or hes lovly hes part of the family already ive got a question if u dont mind he grinds his beak when going to sleep is that normal

 

[BruceV]

Yep, that's a sign of contentment

 

[dee1984]

Sorry one more question lol will he always bite me if not could u plzz tell me aeay around it

 

[BruceV]

That's just out of my area of expertise. I'm sure there are others here who will answer that MUCH better than I could. I'm still working on that with mine.

 

[Betrisher]

G'day dee1984! It sounds as if you're off to a good start with your bird and it's great to see you asking questions. There's lots of experienced people here to help.

My birds were a bit beaky when they first arrived, so I searched all over YouTube for videos to help me stop the biting behaviour. If you type in 'stop a bird biting' or 'taming an aggressive bird', you'll come up with lots of ideas to show you how to train your bird.

Here's a few things I've learned.

Don't start an argument you can't win. If you ask the bird to step up and he doesn't want to, chasing him around and trying to force him to step up will only result in you getting bitten. It's the bird's only defence and he'll use it if you corner him. If he refuses to step up, wait a minute or two and try again. Or leave it for half an hour. Or,try using a stick for him to step onto - he may be afraid of hands.

When you offer your hand to a bitey or strange bird, always offer the back of your tightly stretched closed fist. That way, they can't get hold of your skin and it's harder for them to bite you. If you're clever, you can learn to turn your hand this way and that so that you never have to 'back down' from a bite. This is handy when you're trying to remove your bird from chomping on something you treasure!

Use bribery! I've used treats to coax my birds onto my hands and then more treats to keep them there. If they bite, I put them back on their perch. (NB. They really don't bite any more - just occasionally when they forget themselves). I've also used treats to teach recall and that's the most important lesson your bird will ever learn! My pair is fully flighted and they will fly to me from wherever when I call them. Mostly. Usually. Well, pretty often. It's a work in progress.

Someone once told me that a bird can't bite you if its mouth is full. So, you can offer a chopstick or pencil or stick for the bird to chomp on while you step him up or do whatever it is you need to do. Theoretically, while the bird's chewing on the stick, he's not chewing on you.

Lots of members like to use touch training and clicker training with their birds. (I haven't - simply because my guys began responding to simple 'good boy' and a treat - it's been easy for me, luckily). These methods have been proven to work with most birds, even aggressive ones. Again, search on YouTube for helpful videos - there's heaps of 'em.

Hope some of this helps? Please never hesitate to ask questions (we have a section called 'Questions and Answers' especially for that) and if you don't get a timely answer, then ask it again! Sometimes, people are sleeping, or bathing or at work or just in a coma. Answers will come eventually!

 

[dee1984]

Thaanks alot betrisher ive only had him a week so im going to give him time hes 3 hes old owner sed he never had time for him I think they were yo pushey with him he comes in and out his cage now when I leave the door open and he started talking today when I left the room hes very keen to bite but I hope its cos he just sceared of me he will let me stroke him some times but nealy always goes for the bite ive orded a clicker il go that root but its up to him hopefully with alot of love and care he will come to like me

 

[MonicaMc]

If you don't want to get bitten, then avoid being bitten.

Young birds nibble as a form of curiosity (much like puppies having to chew *EVERYTHING*). Adults bite as a form of communication. If you can figure out why your bird bites, then you can take steps to avoid being bitten and learn to communicate with your bird, and thus work with them.



How are you trying to stroke your grey?

 

[dee1984]

Hi monicmc im going in from under his head hes getting a bit better now I called him to come to me today out if his cage and he walked a kong the topp and put his head down so I stroked him for a bit it went good but he must have got sick cos he turned and tryed to get me again his old owner learned him to swear and he called me a b lol lol

 

[MonicaMc]

He may not fully trust you yet.


My new conure was pretty "bite happy" when I first got her, but I avoided the bites as best I could and didn't force her to do anything if I didn't have to. Giving her scritches at first I did have to worry about my hands. As time went on and she learned to trust me, she would bite me less and less, or at least try to bite me less often.


Now she might give the occasional nip, but it doesn't hurt. It seems at times these nips are from her getting a little too excited. However, she *loves* to have her head scritched and she'll accept them almost any time from me!