Chewing, nibbling young quaker

[afaubl]

Hi,
I have a 19 week old male blue quaker named Pip. He is very sweet, but every time he is on me, he picks at my skin with his beak. He is not biting in a mean way, but it definitely hurts! He does this constantly and now my hand has little scabs all over it. Has anyone else experienced this? What is the best way to break him of this?

 

[wrench13]

Start training him early, Bites , nips are not acceptable.

 

[Pinkbirdy]

Slow your energy when you bring him out.Touch very softly (works for me).Remember too they are like little kids when they first come out .They want to play

 

[lplummer52]

Yeah, my Sun did the same thing when I first got him and still does sometimes. I usually grab his beak and say, "Ah, Ah, Ah," then distract him with a foot toy or something. He does it less now than he used to do. I've had him about 2 months.

 

[Allee]

Quakers tend to approach absolutely everything beak first. To stop the behavior you will need to be more consistent than Pip. I don't know if Pip is flighted but either way, the most affective way I've found to pressure train quakers is a time out perch attached to the outside of their cages. When Pip starts to chew your arm or hand, immediately ask him to step up to your other hand and redirect his attention, if he persists, choose a short word or phrase and use it every time, careful, gentle, easy, or simply no, use a firm tone but don't shout or raise your voice too much. Most quakers love drama and enjoy watching a human overreact. Pip should catch on fairly quickly that chewing people is frowned upon. He enjoys spending time with you, taking him to a time out perch and walking away will give him a chance to calm himself, short time outs work best, five to ten minutes is long enough to get the point across. Once Pip is calm reward him with praise or a small treat. This may need to be done repeatedly at first, quakers can be stubborn when they don't get their way. The good news is, quakers are also clever and quick to catch on, once they understand biting doesn't get a positive reward of any kind, they will be more pleasant for everyone to be around.