Green Cheek attacking me!

[tonycgi]

My bird is a little more than 2 years old. She was parent raised and has always been nippy, but she has started to attack me, with serious bites.
The vet, called her a wild bird, had clipped her wings a little to slow her down, but she has molted and that may be a factor. She is so fast that the only way I could handle her is by covering with something, and trying to get her in the cage. I probably could have reacted better, trying to fend her off, but I don't like having my face attacked. I wish I had done better. I have numerous bites from the last few days, especially my ear. The interaction has definitely made her more hostile, and me wary of her. She will cuddle up to my chin and I will scratch her for a while, and at some point when she goes on my shoulder, she will suddenly attack my ear. After several bites it is pretty painful. My doctor wanted to put me on blood thinners, good thing I refused.

Tomorrow I will get her wings clipped so I can at least handle her, I'm not sure where we go from here. If anyone can offer suggestions it would be appreciated.

 

[wrench13]

In a word; shunning. WHen properly done, it is the most effective way to address behavioral biting. This instant change jeykl/hyde type is likely just hormone driven. Those you don't shun for. The bird's got little control over itself during puberty and the first few mating seasons. And make sure you get fluent in your conures body language. Its not likely to be as obvious as an Amazons, but its there.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

If your Dr wants you to take "blood thinners" they have a good medical reason for it that you should not ignore in fear of your parrot. These drugs are not going to cause you to bleed too much out of a parrot bite. A wing trim is the thing to do to prevent facial attacks.

 

[wrench13]

A blood thinner is not going to cause you to bleed out due to a parrot bite! I take them and Salty nails me all the time.

 

[tonycgi]

Thanks for the advice, yes I started shunning her as soon as I got control. The question is how long should I do it. I've tried a couple of hours I'm not sure what is the most effective. I thought she was a little to young for changes. She has always been rough, and I've tried to teach her to be more gentle.
btw, The blood thinner remark was a joke!

 

[wrench13]

Shunning works like this, below. Shunning for long periods is totally ineffective. Read on..

Biting, whether intentional or not, just over preening your skin or actually taking chunks of meat out - all are PAINFULL! In the wild that sort of behavior is not tolerated by the flock. They ostracize flock members who continue to act like that. We call it 'Shunning'. This WILL work, but needs to be done correctly to get the message across and it needs to be done IMMEDIATELY so the parrot can associate the bite with the shunning action. And it needs to happen every time and with anyone involved with the parrot.

When the bite or over preening occurs:

• Say in a forceful but not shouting voice "No Bite" or other endearments.
• Immediately place the parrot on a nearby, handy chairback. NOT the cage (that would only teach the parrot to bite when he wants to go back to his cage).
• Turn your back to him and ignore him for 1 minute. No peeking, no talking about or too him, NADA. NO eye contact. No less or the message is lost, no more or the bird will not associate the action with the bite.
• After a minute you can try to re-establish contact.

Rinse, repeat as needed. Most parrots get the message after a few times, some may need more. Also very important - make sure the bite is not your fault. Annoying your parrot, asking him to step up when he is otherwise preoccupied with eating or playing, bothering him during known moody times like mating season, or ignoring the warnings and body language of your parrot - these are bites that you deserve! Learn, and be a better parront !!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I know that you know what you're talking about. I hope they follow your advice to the letter for all the reasons you state. Parrots are social creatures and must learn acceptable behaviors from their flock, feathered or otherwise.

 

[tonycgi]

Thanks for clarification on the shunning, wrench, I was not doing it correctly. I'll do better.
I tried to get her in the carrier for a trimming, but I couldn't get a hold of her. She is so fast! I chased her around trying to get a towel over her, but gave up as she was panting, and I didn't want to make thinks worst. She was on my shoulder for a while and had some treats , and put her in the room, where she is hanging out in my Cockatiel's cage, which is her preference. She has her own cage, which I put her in to sleep, but she has never liked it. She must be pretty upset with me , she usually is like glue. I have to figure a low stress way to get her in the carrier.

 

[TiredOldMan]

if they will step up I will have them step up and then step down to a table and if I have help will gently put my hand over them then have the helper drape the towel over them. They are much calmer this way. First time I did this at the vet they were shocked at the ease.
Redneck taught the vet something LOL

 

[DonnaBudgie]

A helper holding a second towel out as a blocker helps cut off their escape routes.

 

[TiredOldMan]

The way I do it is the helper brings the towel from behind.

 

[TiredOldMan]

However you have to do what works for you

 

[DonnaBudgie]

In case you want to do it yourself, I trim my birds wings myself. I have a method that doesn't require stretching their wings out. I put a towel or hand over the bird's front end (head and upper body from above) and take a pair of scissors and cut off only the tips of their flight feathers. For a budgie that's only less than an inch of feathers. For a green cheek I would cut off about 1.5 to two inches from the tips because they have longer wings. This trim is very conservative and doesn't prevent flying but slows them down. If I need to do more I just repeat cutting a bit more off.

 

[tonycgi]

Thanks to all of you!
She only steps up when she wants to, unfortunately, she is my only helper. She's afraid, or don't like strangers.

I don't trust clipping her myself, the Vet and assistant had their hands full with her. Too bad you aren't local!
I was reading some other posts, and one from wrench13, about hormones, was right on. The last few days, she's been rubbing herself on my hand, and ripping up my paper towels. I'll have to learn more about dealing with this behavior.

She has chilled out some, and came on my shoulder for a head rubbing. I'll wait a day or two before trying to get her in the carrier.

 

[Vampiric_Conure]

I stick-trained my brats. It helps prevent nasty hand bites, and they get super excited when I pull out their perch for handling. Means PLAY TIME! LOL!